Table of Contents

The Book of Genesis

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

The Book of Exodus

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

The Book of Leviticus

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27

The Book of Numbers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

The Book of Deuteronomy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

The Book of Joshua

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

The Book of Judges

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

The Book of Ruth

1 2 3 4

The Book of 1 Samuel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

The Book of 2 Samuel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

The Book of 1 Kings

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

The Book of 2 Kings

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

The Book of 1 Chronicles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

The Book of 2 Chronicles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

The Book of Ezra

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The Book of Nehemiah

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

The Book of Esther

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

The Book of Job

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

The Book of Psalms

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

The Book of Proverbs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

The Book of Ecclesiastes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The Song of Songs

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

The Book of Isaiah

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

The Book of Jeremiah

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52

The Book of Lamentations

1 2 3 4 5

The Book of Ezekiel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

The Book of Daniel

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

The Book of Hosea

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

The Book of Joel

1 2 3

The Book of Amos

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

The Book of Obadiah

1

The Book of Jonah

1 2 3 4

The Book of Micah

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The Book of Nahum

1 2 3

The Book of Habakkuk

1 2 3

The Book of Zephaniah

1 2 3

The Book of Haggai

1 2

The Book of Zechariah

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

The Book of Malachi

1 2 3 4

The Book of Genesis

Chapter 1

1 In a beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth.

2 As for the earth, it came to be a chaos and vacant, and darkness was over the surface of the abyss. And the spirit of Elohim was vibrating over the surface of the waters.

3 And Elohim said: Let light come to be! And light came to be.

4 Elohim saw the light that it was good. Then Elohim separated the light from the darkness.

5 And Elohim called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And evening came to be, and morning came to be: day one.

6 And Elohim said: Let an atmosphere come to be in the midst of the waters, that it may be separating waters from waters. And it came to be so.

7 Elohim made the atmosphere and separated the waters under the atmosphere from the waters above the atmosphere.

8 And Elohim called the atmosphere Heavens. And evening came to be, and morning came to be: the second day.

9 And Elohim said: Let the waters under the heavens flow together into one confluence, that the dry ground may appear. And it came to be so.

10 And Elohim called the dry ground Land, and the confluence of the waters He called Seas. And Elohim saw that it was good.

11 And Elohim said: Let the land become verdant with vegetation: with herbage yielding seed on the land and the fruit tree bearing fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in it. And it came to be so.

12 The land brought forth vegetation: herbage yielding seed according to its kind, and the fruit tree bearing fruit, whose seed is in it, according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

13 And evening came to be, and morning came to be: the third day.

14 And Elohim said: Let luminaries come to be in the atmosphere of the heavens to separate between the day and the night, that they may be for signs, for appointed seasons, for days and years.

15 Let them be for luminaries in the atmosphere of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it came to be so.

16 Elohim made two great luminaries, the greater luminary for ruling the day and the smaller luminary for ruling the night, and also the stars.

17 Elohim placed them in the atmosphere of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18 to rule the day and the night, and to separate between the light and the darkness. And Elohim saw that it was good.

19 And evening came to be, and morning came to be: the fourth day.

20 And Elohim said: Let the waters swarm with the swarming thing, the living soul, and let the flyer fly above the earth on the face of the atmosphere of the heavens. And it came to be so.

21 Elohim created the great sea monsters and every moving, living soul with which the waters swarm according to their kind, and every winged flyer according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

22 And Elohim blessed them, saying: Be fruitful and increase; fill the waters in the seas, and let the flyer increase on earth.

23 And evening came to be, and morning came to be: the fifth day.

24 And Elohim said: Let the earth bring forth the living soul, each according to its kind: domestic beast, creeper and land animal, each according to its kind. And it came to be so.

25 Elohim made the land animal according to its kind, the domestic beast according to its kind, and every creeper of the ground according to its kind. And Elohim saw that it was good.

26 And Elohim said: Let Us make humanity in Our image and according to Our likeness. Let them hold sway over the fish of the sea and over the flyer of the heavens, over the domestic beast, over every land animal and over every creeper that is creeping on the earth.

27 So Elohim created humanity in His image; in the image of Elohim He created it: male and female He created them.

28 Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them: Be fruitful and increase; fill the earth and subdue it. Hold sway over the fish of the sea and over the flyer of the heavens, over every domestic beast, over all the earth and over every animal that is moving on the earth.

29 And Elohim said: Since I have given you all seed-yielding herbage that is on the face of the entire earth, and every tree on which there is the fruit of a seed-yielding tree, it shall be yours for food.

30 And to every animal of the earth, to every flyer of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth in which there is a living soul, I have given all green herbage for food. And it came to be so.

31 And Elohim saw all that He had made; and behold, it was very good. And evening came to be, and morning came to be: the sixth day.

Chapter 2

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host.

2 On the sixth day Elohim finished His work that He had made; and He ceased on the seventh day from all His work that He had made.

3 And Elohim blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, for in it He ceased from all His work that Elohim had created by making it.

4 These are the chronological records of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh Elohim made earth and heavens.

5 As for any shrub of the field, it had not yet come into being on earth, nor had any herbage of the field yet been sprouting, for Yahweh Elohim had not made it rain on the earth, and there was no human to serve the ground.

6 But mist, it ascended from the earth and irrigated the whole surface of the ground.

7 Yahweh Elohim formed the human out of soil from the ground, and He blew into his nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living soul.

8 Yahweh Elohim planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there He put the human whom He had formed.

9 So Yahweh Elohim made sprout from the ground every tree desirable to the sight and good for food, with the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A stream was flowing forth from Eden to irrigate the garden; from there it parted and became four headstreams.

11 The name of the first one is Pishon; it is the one surrounding the whole land of Havilah where the gold is.

12 The gold of that land is very good; the pearl is there and the onyx stone.

13 The name of the second stream is Gihon; it is the one surrounding the whole land of Cush.

14 The name of the third stream is Hiddekel; it is the one going east of Asshur; and the fourth stream, it is the Euphrates.

15 Then Yahweh Elohim took the human and settled him in the garden of Eden to serve it and to keep it.

16 And Yahweh Elohim instructed the human, saying: From every tree of the garden you may eat, yea eat.

17 But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you must not eat from it; for on the day you eat from it, to die you shall be dying.

18 And Yahweh Elohim said: It is not good for the human to be alone by himself. I shall make for him a helper as his complement.

19 Yahweh Elohim had formed from the ground every animal of the field and every flyer of the heavens; and He brought each one to the human to see what he would call it. And whatever the human would call it, each living soul, that was its name.

20 So the human was calling the names of every domestic beast, of every flyer of the heavens and of every animal of the field; yet for the human no helper was available as his complement.

21 Then Yahweh Elohim caused a stupor to fall on the human. While he was sleeping, He took one of his angular organs and closed up the flesh over its place.

22 Yahweh Elohim built the angular organ that He had taken from the human into a woman and brought her to the human.

23 The human said: This time, it is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. This shall be called woman, for this was taken from her man.

24 Therefore a man shall forsake his father and his mother; he will cling to his wife, and both of them will be one flesh.

25 Both of them were naked, the human and his wife; yet they were not ashamed.

Chapter 3

1 Now the serpent, it became more crafty than any other animal of the field that Yahweh Elohim had made. The serpent said to the woman: Indeed did Elohim say, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?

2 The woman replied to the serpent: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;

3 yet of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden Elohim said, You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it lest you should die.

4 But the serpent said to the woman: Not to die shall you be dying;

5 for Elohim knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be unclosed, and you will become like Elohim, knowing good and evil.

6 Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it brought a yearning to the eyes and that the tree was desirable for gaining insight. So she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were unclosed, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made girdle skirts for themselves.

8 Then they heard the sound of Yahweh Elohim walking about in the garden in the windy part of the day, and the human hid himself with his wife from the face of Yahweh Elohim among the trees of the garden.

9 Yahweh Elohim called to the human and said to him: Adam, where are you?

10 He replied to Him: I heard the sound of You walking in the garden, and I was fearful because I was naked; so I hid.

11 Then He asked: Who told you that you are naked unless you have eaten from the only tree that I instructed you by no means to eat from it?

12 The human replied: The woman whom You have given to be with me she gave me of that tree, and I ate.

13 Yahweh Elohim said to the woman: What is this you have done? The woman replied: The serpent he lured me, and I ate.

14 Then Yahweh Elohim said to the serpent: Because you have done this, Cursed shall you be away from every domestic beast And from every animal of the field! On your torso shall you crawl, And soil shall you eat all the days of your life.

15 And I shall set enmity between you and the woman And between your seed and her Seed. He shall hurt you in the head, And you shall hurt Him in the heel.

16 And to the woman He said: I shall increase, yea increase your grief And the groanings of your pregnancy. In grief shall you bear children; Yet by your husband is your restoration. And he shall rule over you.

17 And to Adam He said: Because you hearkened to your wife’s voice and ate from the only tree that I instructed you, saying you must not eat from it, Cursed is the ground on your account; In grief shall you eat of it all the days of your life.

18 Thorn and weed shall it sprout for you, And you will eat the herbage of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow shall you eat your bread, Until you return to the ground, for from it were you taken. For soil you are, and to soil you shall return.

20 The human called his wife’s name Eve, for she would become the mother of all the living.

21 And Yahweh Elohim made for Adam and his wife tunics of skin and clothed them.

22 Then Yahweh Elohim said: Behold, man has become like one of Us in knowing good and evil. Now lest he should stretch out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live for the eon .

23 So Yahweh Elohim sent him out of the garden of Eden to serve the ground from where he was taken.

24 After He drove the human out, He made him tabernacle at the east of the garden of Eden, and He set the cherubim and the flame of the revolving sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

Chapter 4

1 Now the human knew Eve his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Cain, saying: I have acquired a man through Yahweh.

2 Then she proceeded to give birth to his brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd of the flock, while Cain was serving the ground.

3 And it came to be at the end of a year’s days that Cain brought an approach present to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground.

4 As for Abel however, he brought some firstlings of his flock and their fat portions. And Yahweh gave heed to Abel and his approach present.

5 But to Cain and his approach present He did not give heed; so Cain’s anger grew very hot, and his face fell.

6 Then Yahweh said to Cain: Why is your anger hot? And why is your face fallen?

7 If you had done what is well, would you not lift up your face? But since you have not done well, at the portal there is a sin offering, a recliner; And for you is restoration in his sacrifice; You are ruling over him.

8 Cain said to his brother Abel: Let us go into the field. Now it came to pass while they were in the field that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

9 So Yahweh said to Cain: Where is your brother Abel? And he replied: I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?

10 Then He said: What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground.

11 Now you are cursed, away from the ground which has opened wide its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand.

12 When you serve the ground, it shall not continue to give its vigor to you. A rover and a wanderer shall you become on earth.

13 Cain replied to Yahweh: Too great is my depravity to bear.

14 Since You drive me out today, off the surface of the ground, and since I shall be concealed from Your presence and will become a rover and a wanderer on earth, it will come to be that anyone finding me shall kill me.

15 Yet Yahweh said to him: Not so; anyone killing Cain, sevenfold shall he be avenged. So Yahweh placed a sign for Cain, by no means to smite him, should anyone find him.

16 Then Cain went forth from the presence of Yahweh, and he dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

17 Cain knew his wife; she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Then he engaged in building a city, and he called the city’s name by the name of his son Enoch.

18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methusael, and Methusael begot Lamech.

19 Lamech took to himself two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah.

20 Then Adah gave birth to Jabal; he became the father of the tent dwellers and the cattlemen.

21 And the name of his brother was Jubal; he became the father of all who handle the harp and the shepherd’s pipe.

22 As for Zillah, she too gave birth to Tubal-cain who forged every artifact of copper and iron. Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.

23 Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice! Wives of Lamech, give ear to my saying! Truly a man I have killed for my injury, And a boy for my welt.

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.

25 Adam knew Eve his wife again. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She called his name Seth, saying: Truly Elohim has set for me another seed instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.

26 As for Seth, to him too a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then this one was wounded; yet he called on the Name of Yahweh.

Chapter 5

1 This is the scroll of the genealogical records of Adam. On the day Elohim created Adam, in the likeness of Elohim He made him.

2 Male and female He created them, and He blessed them and called their name Human on the day they were created.

3 Adam lived two hundred thirty years and begot a son in his likeness and after his image; he called his name Seth.

4 And the days of Adam, after his begetting Seth, came to be seven hundred years, and he begot sons and daughters.

5 So all the days of Adam which he lived came to be nine hundred thirty years; then he died.

6 Seth lived two hundred five years and begot Enosh.

7 After his begetting Enosh, Seth lived seven hundred seven years and begot sons and daughters.

8 So all the days of Seth came to be nine hundred twelve years; then he died.

9 Enosh lived a hundred ninety years and begot Cainan.

10 After his begetting Cainan, Enosh lived seven hundred fifteen years and begot sons and daughters.

11 So all the days of Enosh came to be nine hundred five years; then he died.

12 Cainan lived a hundred seventy years and begot Mahalalel.

13 After his begetting Mahalalel, Cainan lived seven hundred forty years and begot sons and daughters.

14 So all the days of Cainan came to be nine hundred ten years; then he died.

15 Mahalalel lived a hundred sixty-five years and begot Jared.

16 After his begetting Jared, Mahalalel lived seven hundred thirty years and begot sons and daughters.

17 So all the days of Mahalalel came to be eight hundred ninety-five years; then he died.

18 Jared lived a hundred sixty-two years and begot Enoch.

19 After his begetting Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years and begot sons and daughters.

20 So all the days of Jared came to be nine hundred sixty-two years; then he died.

21 Enoch lived a hundred sixty-five years and begot Methuselah.

22 Enoch walked with the One, Elohim. After his begetting Methuselah, he lived two hundred years and begot sons and daughters.

23 So all the days of Enoch came to be three hundred sixty-five years,

24 while Enoch was walking with the One, Elohim. Then he was not found, for Elohim took him away.

25 Methuselah lived a hundred eighty-seven years and begot Lamech.

26 After his begetting Lamech, Methuselah lived seven hundred eighty-two years and begot sons and daughters.

27 So all the days of Methuselah came to be nine hundred sixty-nine years; then he died.

28 Lamech lived a hundred eighty-eight years and begot a son.

29 He called his name Noah, saying: This one shall console us because of our doings, and because of the grief of our hands resulting from the ground that Yahweh has cursed.

30 After his begetting Noah, Lamech lived five hundred sixty-five years and begot sons and daughters.

31 So all the days of Lamech came to be seven hundred fifty-three years; then he died.

32 Noah came to be five hundred years old; Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

Chapter 6

1 Now it had occurred when humanity had started to increase on the surface of the ground and daughters had been born to them,

2 the sons of the elohim saw the daughters of the human that they were good-looking. So they took wives for themselves from any whom they chose.

3 Then Yahweh said: My spirit shall not abide in the human for the eon, in that he too is flesh. So his days will continue a hundred twenty years.

4 As for the distinguished, they were on earth in those days and also afterward, when the sons of the elohim were coming to the daughters of the human, and they bore them offspring. They were the masterful ones, who were from the eon, mortals of renown.

5 Yahweh saw that the evil of humanity was multiplying on earth, and every form of the devisings of its heart was surely evil all the day.

6 Yahweh regretted that He had made humanity on earth, and He grieved in His heart.

7 So Yahweh said: I shall wipe out humanity that I have created, off the surface of the ground, from human unto beast, unto the creeper and unto the flyer of the heavens; for I regret that I have made them.

8 Yet Noah, he found grace in the eyes of Yahweh.

9 These are the genealogical records of Noah. Noah was a righteous man; he became flawless in his generations; with the One, Elohim, Noah walked.

10 Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

11 Now the earth was ruined before the One, Elohim, and the earth was full of violence.

12 Yahweh Elohim saw the earth, and behold, it was ruined, for all flesh had ruined its ways on the earth.

13 So Yahweh Elohim said to Noah: The era of the end of all human flesh has come before Me, for the earth is full of violence because of their presence. Now behold, I am about to ruin them with the earth.

14 Make for yourself an ark of sulphur wood; with nests shall you make the ark, and you will shelter it from the inside and from the outside with a sheltering coat.

15 This is how you shall make it: three hundred cubits the length of the ark, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its rise.

16 Narrowing from its middle shall you make it, and to a cubit shall you finish it from above. You shall place the entrance opening of the ark in its side and make lower, second and third decks.

17 Now behold, I Myself am about to bring a deluge of water on the earth to wreck all flesh under the heavens which has the spirit of life in it. All that is in the earth, it shall decease.

18 Yet I will set up My covenant with you, and you must come into the ark, you and your sons, your wife and your sons’ wives with you.

19 Of every living creature, of all flesh, you shall bring pairs from all into the ark to stay alive with you; they shall be male and female.

20 Of the flyer according to its kind, of the beast according to its kind, and of every creeper of the ground according to its kind, from all shall they come in pairs to you to stay alive.

21 As for you, take for yourself from every food which is to be eaten; you will gather it up for yourself, so that it will come to be food for you and for them.

22 Then Noah did according to all that Yahweh Elohim had instructed him; he did just so.

Chapter 7

1 Then Yahweh Elohim said to Noah: Come, you and all your household, into the ark, for I have seen you righteous before Me in this generation.

2 Of every clean beast you shall take with you seven by seven, the sire and his dam, and of the beast that is not clean, of them pairs, the sire and his dam.

3 Also, of the clean flyer of the heavens seven by seven, male and female, and of the flyer that is not clean, of them pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive on the surface of the entire earth.

4 For in seven days further I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will wipe out, off the surface of the entire ground, everyone who has risen, whom I have made.

5 Noah did according to all that Yahweh Elohim had instructed him.

6 Noah was six hundred years old when the deluge of waters came to be on the earth.

7 So Noah came into the ark, and with him his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives, because of the waters of the deluge.

8 Of the clean beast and of the beast that is not clean, and of the flyer and of everything that is moving on the ground,

9 pair by pair they came to Noah into the ark, male and female, just as Elohim had instructed Noah.

10 It occurred after the seven days that the waters of the deluge, they came upon the earth,

11 in the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month on the twenty-seventh day of the month. On this day all the springs of the vast abyss broke forth, and the crevices of the heavens were opened,

12 and the downpour was coming on the earth forty days and forty nights.

13 On this very day Noah came into the ark with Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah’s sons, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them,

14 they and every wild animal according to its kind, and every domestic beast according to its kind, and every creeper that was creeping on the earth according to its kind, and every flyer according to its kind, every bird, every winged thing.

15 They were coming to Noah into the ark, pair by pair of all flesh which has the spirit of life in it.

16 And those entering, male and female of all flesh, came just as Elohim had instructed him. Then Yahweh Elohim closed the ark about him.

17 Now the deluge was coming forty days and forty nights on the earth, and the waters were increasing. They lifted up the ark so that it was high above the earth.

18 While the waters were gaining the mastery over the earth and were exceedingly increasing, the ark was floating on the surface of the waters.

19 Exceeding exceedingly, the waters, they gained the mastery over the earth, and all the lofty mountains under the entire heavens were covered.

20 At fifteen cubits upward, the waters had gained the mastery, so that all the lofty mountains were covered.

21 All flesh that had been moving on the earth had deceased, of the flyer, of the domestic beast, of the wild animal, of every swarming thing swarming on the earth, and every human.

22 Everyone who had the breath of the spirit of life in his nostrils, everything that had been in the drained area, they all died.

23 Thus He had wiped out everyone who had risen on the surface of the ground, from human unto domestic beast, unto the creeper and unto the flyer of the heavens; they were wiped off the earth; only Noah remained and those with him in the ark.

24 The waters had the mastery over the earth for a hundred fifty days.

Chapter 8

1 Yet Elohim was mindful of Noah and of every wild animal and of every domestic beast that was with him in the ark. So Elohim caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.

2 The springs of the abyss and the crevices of the heavens were held in check, and the downpour from the heavens was shut up.

3 The waters were returning off the earth, going and returning, and at the end of a hundred fifty days the waters were abating.

4 Then in the seventh month on the twenty-seventh day of the month the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat.

5 The waters continued to go and to abate until the tenth month. In the eleventh month, on day one of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

6 It was at the end of forty days that Noah opened a porthole of the ark that he had made

7 and sent out a raven to see if the waters were slight. And it was faring forth to fare forth and to turn about until the waters had dried off the land.

8 Then he sent out from him a dove to see if the waters were slight above the surface of the ground.

9 Yet the dove did not find a resting place for the sole of her foot and returned to him to the ark, for there was water on the surface of the entire earth. So he stretched out his hand and took her and brought her to him into the ark.

10 He then waited still another seven days and proceeded to send out the dove from the ark.

11 When the dove came back to him at eventide, behold, a torn-off olive leaf was in her beak. Then Noah knew that the waters were slight above the earth.

12 So he waited still another seven days and once more sent out the dove; yet not anymore did she return to him again.

13 It occurred in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, in the first month on day one of the month, that the waters had drained off the land. When Noah took off the covering of the ark, he saw, and behold, the surface of the ground had drained.

14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the land was dry.

15 Yahweh Elohim spoke to Noah, saying:

16 Come forth from the ark, you and your wife, your sons and your sons’ wives with you.

17 Every wild animal that is with you, some of all flesh among the flyer and the domestic beast, also every creeper that is creeping on the earth, bring them forth with you, so they can swarm in the earth and be fruitful and increase on the earth.

18 So Noah came forth, and with him his sons, his wife and his sons’ wives.

19 Every wild animal, every creeper and every flyer, everything moving on the earth, they came forth from the ark by their families.

20 Then Noah built an altar to Yahweh; he took some of every clean domestic beast and some of every clean flyer and offered up ascent offerings on the altar.

21 Yahweh Elohim smelled the fragrant smell, and Yahweh Elohim said in His heart: Not anymore will I maledict again the ground on account of humanity, for the bent of the human heart is evil from its youth. And not anymore will I smite again every living flesh, just as I have done.

22 In the future, for all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, cold and warmth, summer and winter, day and night, they shall not cease.

Chapter 9

1 Elohim blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fruitful and increase, fill the earth and subdue it.

2 The fear of you and the dismay due to you shall come on every animal of the earth and on every flyer of the heavens, on everything that is moving on the ground, and on all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hand.

3 Every moving animal that is alive, shall be yours for food; as with the green herbage, I give to you everything.

4 Only flesh with its soul, its blood, you must not eat.

5 However I shall require your blood for your souls; from the hand of every animal I shall require it, and from the hand of humanity. From the hand of each man, as regards his fellow man, I shall require the soul of a human.

6 Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human his blood shall be shed; for in the image of Elohim He has made humanity.

7 As for you, be fruitful and increase, swarm in the earth and hold sway over it.

8 Then Elohim said to Noah and to his sons with him, saying:

9 And as for Me, now I am setting up My covenant with you and with your seed after you,

10 with every living soul that was with you, flyer, domestic beast and every wild animal of the earth that was with you, all that came forth from the ark, every animal of the earth.

11 And I will confirm My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a deluge, and never again shall there be a deluge to wreck the entire earth.

12 Elohim further said: This is the sign of the covenant that I am giving, between Me and you and every living soul that was with you, for eonian generations.

13 My bow I have set in a cloud, and it will be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.

14 And it will occur when I make the sky cloudy over the earth with clouds and My bow appears in a cloud,

15 then I will remember My covenant between Me and you and every living soul among all flesh, so that never again shall the waters become a deluge to wreck all flesh.

16 When My bow comes to be in the cloud, I will see it to remember the eonian covenant between Elohim and every living soul among all flesh which is on the earth.

17 So Elohim said to Noah: This is the sign of the covenant that I have set up between Me and all flesh which is on the earth.

18 The sons of Noah who came forth from the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (As for Ham, he became the father of Canaan.)

19 These three were Noah’s sons, and from these the entire earth became inhabited.

20 Noah, a man of the ground, started to plant a vineyard.

21 When he drank some of the wine, he became drunk and exposed himself inside his tent.

22 When Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, he came forth and told his two brothers outside.

23 Then Shem and Japheth took raiment, placed it against both their backs, and, walking in backward, they covered the nakedness of their father. While their faces were turned away, they did not see the nakedness of their father.

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and realized what his youngest son had done to him,

25 he said: Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he become for his brothers.

26 And he added: Blessed be Yahweh, the Elohim of Shem, and let Canaan become a slave for him.

27 May Elohim make room for Japheth; may he tabernacle in the tents of Shem, and let Canaan become a slave for him.

28 Noah lived after the deluge three hundred fifty years.

29 So all the days of Noah came to be nine hundred fifty years; then he died.

Chapter 10

1 These are the genealogical records of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the deluge:

2 Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

3 Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

4 Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Rodanim.

5 From these the nations of the coastlands parted, in their lands each with its spoken language by their families, in their nations.

6 Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan.

7 Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

8 Cush begot Nimrod. He started to become a master in the earth;

9 he was a master hunter before Yahweh. Therefore it is said, Like Nimrod, the master hunter before Yahweh.

10 The principal cities of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh in the land of Shinar. (

11 From this land Asshur came forth; and he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, Calah

12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah, that is the great city.)

13 Mizraim begot the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,

14 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from where the Philistines came forth) and Caphtorim.

15 Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth,

16 and the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite,

17 the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite,

18 the Arvadite, the Zemarite and the Hamathite. Afterward the Canaanite families scattered;

19 so the Canaanite boundary came to be from Sidon as you come toward Gerar as far as Gaza as you come toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.

20 These are Ham’s sons, by their families, by their spoken languages, in their lands, in their nations.

21 As for Shem (father of all the sons of Eber and the oldest brother of Japheth), to him also sons were born.

22 Shem’s sons: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.

23 Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash.

24 Arphaxad begot Cainan, Cainan begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber.

25 To Eber were born two sons; the name of the one was Peleg; for in his days the land was distributed. His brother’s name was Joktan.

26 Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

30 Their dwelling place came to be from Mesha as far as you come toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.

31 These are Shem’s sons by their families, by their spoken languages, in their lands, by their nations.

32 These are the families of Noah’s sons by their genealogical records, in their nations; and from these the nations parted over the earth after the deluge.

Chapter 11

1 Now the entire earth continued to have one language and the same words for all of them.

2 It came to pass when they journeyed from the east, that they found a valley in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 They said, each man to his associate: Grant attention! Do let us mold bricks, and do let us burn them with a burning process. So the brick served as stone for them, and asphalt served as mortar for them.

4 And they said: Grant attention! Let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens. Let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the surface of the entire earth.

5 Then Yahweh descended to see the city and the tower that the sons of humanity had built.

6 Yahweh said: Behold, they are one people with one language for all of them; and this is what they start to do. Now anything they plan to do will not be restricted for them.

7 Grant attention! Do let us descend, and do let us disintegrate their language there, so that each man may not hearken to the language of his associate.

8 Then Yahweh scattered them from there over the surface of the entire earth, and they left off building the city and the tower.

9 Therefore one called its name Babel, because there Yahweh disintegrated the language of the entire earth, and Yahweh scattered them from there over the surface of the entire earth.

10 These are the genealogical records of Shem. Two years after the deluge, when Shem was a hundred years old, he begot Arphaxad.

11 After his begetting Arphaxad, Shem lived five hundred years and begot sons and daughters.

12 As for Arphaxad, when he had lived a hundred thirty-five years, he begot Cainan.

13 After his begetting Cainan, Arphaxad lived four hundred three years and begot sons and daughters. As for Cainan, when he had lived a hundred thirty years, he begot Shelah. After his begetting Shelah, Cainan lived three hundred thirty years and begot sons and daughters. Then he died.

14 As for Shelah, when he had lived a hundred thirty years, he begot Eber.

15 After his begetting Eber, Shelah lived three hundred thirty years and begot sons and daughters.

16 Eber lived a hundred thirty-four years and begot Peleg.

17 After his begetting Peleg, Eber lived two hundred seventy years and begot sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived a hundred thirty years and begot Reu.

19 After his begetting Reu, Peleg lived two hundred nine years and begot sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived a hundred thirty-two years and begot Serug.

21 After his begetting Serug, Reu lived two hundred seven years and begot sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived a hundred thirty years and begot Nahor.

23 After his begetting Nahor, Serug lived two hundred years and begot sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived seventy-nine years and begot Terah.

25 After his begetting Terah, Nahor lived a hundred twenty-nine years and begot sons and daughters.

26 Terah lived seventy years and begot Abram, Nahor and Haran.

27 These are the genealogical records of Terah. Terah, he had begotten Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran, he had begotten Lot.

28 Then Haran died in the presence of his father Terah, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29 Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, while the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 Terah took his son Abram, and his son’s son, Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and he went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. When they came as far as Charan, they dwelt there.

32 The days of Terah came to be two hundred five years. Then Terah died in Charan.

Chapter 12

1 Yahweh said to Abram: Go by yourself from your land, from your kindred and from your father’s house to the land that I shall show you.

2 I shall make you into a great nation, And I shall bless you; I shall indeed make your name great, And you will indeed be a blessing;

3 I shall indeed bless those blessing you, And I shall curse the one maledicting you. In you all the families of the ground will be blessed.

4 So Abram went just as Yahweh had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he went forth from Charan.

5 And Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot and all their goods that they had gotten and every soul they had acquired in Charan; they went forth to go to the land of Canaan, and they entered to the land of Canaan.

6 Then Abram passed through the land as far as the place of Shechem to the high oak. The Canaanite was then in the land.

7 Yet Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him: To your seed I shall give this land. Then Abram built there an altar to Yahweh Who had appeared to him.

8 From there he shifted toward the hill country to the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. He built an altar there to Yahweh and called on the Name of Yahweh.

9 Then Abram decamped to go in stages toward the Negeb.

10 Now there was a famine in the land; so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was heavy in the land.

11 And it came to be just as Abram got near to enter Egypt that he said to his wife Sarai: Behold now, I know that you are a woman, lovely of appearance.

12 So it will occur when the Egyptian men see you, they will say, This is his wife. Then they will kill me, but keep you alive.

13 Please say that you are my sister, so that it may go well with me for your sake, and my soul will remain alive owing to you.

14 It came to be when Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptian men saw the woman that she was very lovely.

15 Also Pharaoh’s chief officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.

16 On account of her it went well with Abram; and it came to be that he had a flock of sheep, a herd of cattle, and donkeys, menservants and maidservants, jennies and camels.

17 Then Yahweh touched Pharaoh and his household with great and evil contagions on account of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

18 So Pharaoh called Abram and said: What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife?

19 Why did you say, She is my sister, so that I was about to take her for me as a wife? Now here is your wife; take her and go.

20 And Pharaoh instructed men to oversee him, and they sent away him and his wife and all that he had, and Lot went with him.

Chapter 13

1 Then Abram went up from Egypt toward the Negeb, he and his wife and all that he had; and Lot went with him.

2 Abram was very heavily stocked with cattle, with silver and with gold.

3 So he went his way by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the start, between Bethel and Ai,

4 to the place of the altar that he had formerly made there. And there Abram called on the Name of Yahweh.

5 Lot too, who was going along with Abram, he came to have a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle and tents.

6 But the land would not sustain them while dwelling together, for their goods had become so abundant that they were not able to dwell together.

7 There was dispute between the shepherds of Abram’s cattle and the shepherds of Lot’s cattle; and besides the Canaanite and the Perizzite were then dwelling in the land.

8 So Abram said to Lot: Please, let there be no argument between me and you, and between my shepherds and your shepherds, for we are men that are brothers.

9 Is not all the land open before you? Please part from me. If it is to the left, I shall indeed go to the right. And if it is to the right, then I shall indeed go to the left.

10 Lot lifted up his eyes and saw the whole Jordan basin, as you come to Zoar: It was like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt; for all of it was well irrigated before Yahweh wrecked Sodom and Gomorrah.

11 So Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan basin; and Lot journeyed eastward. Thus they parted, as a man from his brother.

12 Abram, he dwelt in the land of Canaan, while Lot, he dwelt among the cities of the basin and moved his tent toward Sodom.

13 But the men of Sodom were vicious and intense sinners against Yahweh.

14 Then Yahweh, He said to Abram after Lot had parted from him: Now lift up your eyes and see from the place where you are, northward and to the Negeb, eastward and to the sea.

15 For all the land that you are seeing, I shall give it to you and to your seed unto the eon.

16 And I will make your seed like the soil grains of the land, so that, if a man were able to count the soil grains of the land, then your seed too might be counted.

17 Rise, walk about in the land throughout its length and its width, for I shall give it to you and to your seed, unto the eon.

18 So Abram moved his tent and came to dwell among the oaks of Mamre at Hebron; then he built an altar there to Yahweh.

Chapter 14

1 It came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam and Tidal king of Goyim,

2 that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar.

3 All these, they joined forces and came to the vale of Siddim, that is, the Salt Sea.

4 For twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they revolted.

5 In the fourteenth year Kedorlaomer came and the kings who were allied with him. They smote the Rephaim at Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim at Ham, the Emim at Shaveh-kiriathaim,

6 the Horites in the mountains of Seir as far as the terebinth of Paran, which is by the wilderness.

7 When they turned back, they came to En-mishpat, that is, Kadesh. They smote all the chiefs of the Amalekites and also the Amorites who dwelt in Hazezon-tamar.

8 Then the king of Sodom marched forth with the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim and the king of Bela, that is, Zoar. They drew up in battle array against them in the vale of Siddim,

9 against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar and Arioch king of Ellasar, four kings against five.

10 Now the vale of Siddim had wells upon wells of asphalt, and when the king of Sodom and the king of Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the remainder fled into the hill country.

11 The invaders took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food and went away.

12 They also took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, and his goods, before they went along; for he had been dwelling in Sodom.

13 Then one who was delivered came and told Abram the Hebrew. He was tabernacling among the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and brother of Aner who had entered into a covenant as Abram’s confederates.

14 When Abram heard that his brother had been taken captive, he emptied out his dedicated men, three hundred eighteen born in his household, and he pursued them as far as Dan.

15 At night he and his menservants split up against them. He smote them and pursued them as far as Hobah which is to the left of Damascus.

16 He brought back all the goods, and he also brought back his brother Lot and his goods, and the women and the people too.

17 In the vale of Shaveh, that is, the king’s vale, the king of Sodom came forth to meet him after he returned from smiting Kedorlaomer and the kings who were allied with him.

18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem, he brought forth bread and wine, for he was a priest for El Supreme;

19 he blessed him and said: Blessed be Abram by El Supreme, Owner of the heavens and the earth.

20 And blessed be El Supreme, Who has awarded your foes into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of all the booty.

21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the souls and take the goods for yourself.

22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, I raise my hand high to swear to Yahweh El Supreme, Owner of the heavens and the earth:

23 I shall assuredly not take anything from all that belongs to you, from a thread to a sandal lacing, so that you should not say, It is I who made Abram rich.

24 Nothing for me, but what my retainers have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol and Mamre; they should take their portion.

Chapter 15

1 After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying: You must not be fearing, Abram! I am your Shield, your exceedingly increased Reward.

2 Abram replied: My Lord Yahweh, what shall You give to me? I am going heirless, and the successor to my house he will be Damascus Eliezer.

3 And Abram added: Behold, You have given no seed to me; and now a son of my household will take over from me.

4 Yet here the word of Yahweh came to him saying: Not this one shall take over from you, but rather the one who shall come forth from your internal parts, he shall take over from you.

5 Then He brought him forth outside and said: Now look up toward the heavens and count off the stars if you can number them. And He promised him: Thus shall become your seed.

6 Now Abram believed on Elohim, and He reckoned it to him for righteousness.

7 He also said to him: I am Yahweh, Who brought you forth from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to tenant it.

8 Yet he replied: My Lord Yahweh, whereby shall I know that I shall enjoy its tenancy?

9 Now He said to him: Do take for Me a heifer in her third year, a goat in her third year, a ram in his third year, a turtledove and a fledgling.

10 So he procured all these for Him and sundered them through the middle and put each sundered part to meet its corresponding part; yet the birds he did not sunder.

11 Birds of prey descended on the severed corpses, but Abram turned them back.

12 When the sun was about to set, a stupor fell on Abram, and behold, the dread of a towering darkness was falling on him.

13 Then He said to Abram: You shall know, yea know, that your seed shall become a sojourner in a land which is not theirs; and they will serve them, and these will do evil to them and humiliate them for four hundred years.

14 But I will indeed adjudicate the nation which they shall serve, and afterward they shall come forth with a great many goods.

15 As for you, you shall come to your fathers in peace; you shall be entombed at a good greyhaired age.

16 And in the fourth generation they shall return here, for hitherto the depravity of the Amorite is not yet total.

17 It came to pass when the sun had set and the darkening came, behold, a smoking stove and a fiery torch passed between these severed parts.

18 On that day Yahweh contracted a covenant with Abram, saying: To your seed I give this land, from the stream of Egypt as far as the Great Stream, the stream Euphrates:

19 the Kenite, the Kenezite, the Kadmonite,

20 the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Rephaim,

21 the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite and the Jebusite.

Chapter 16

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, she had borne him no children; yet she had an Egyptian maid, and her name was Hagar.

2 So Sarai said to Abram: Behold now, Yahweh has restrained me from bearing children. Please come to my maid. Perhaps I shall be built up through her. And Abram hearkened to Sarai’s voice.

3 Thus, at the end of ten years that Abram had dwelt in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took her Egyptian maid Hagar and gave her to her husband Abram as wife for him.

4 So he came to Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she saw that she was pregnant, her mistress was lightly esteemed in her eyes.

5 Then Sarai said to Abram: My wrong is on you. I gave my maid into your bosom. Now that she sees that she is pregnant, I am lightly esteemed in her eyes. May Yahweh judge between me and you.

6 Abram replied to Sarai: Behold, your maid is in your hands; do to her what is good in your eyes. So Sarai humbled her, and she ran away from her face.

7 A messenger of Yahweh found her at a spring of water in the wilderness; it was the spring on the way to Shur.

8 He said: Hagar maid of Sarai, from where have you come, and where are you going? She replied: I have been running away from the face of Sarai, my mistress.

9 Then the messenger of Yahweh told her: Return to your mistress and humble yourself under her hands.

10 Besides, the messenger of Yahweh spoke to her: I shall increase, yea increase your seed so that it cannot be numbered for multitude.

11 Again the messenger of Yahweh spoke to her: Behold, you are now pregnant and shall bear a son. You will call his name Ishmael, for Yahweh has heard of your humiliation.

12 And he shall become a man like an onager: his hand against all, and the hand of all against him, and against the face of all his brothers he shall tabernacle.

13 Hagar called the Name of Yahweh Who had spoken to her: You are an El-of-Seeing, for she said: Have I indeed seen here after the One Who sees me?

14 Therefore one called this well: Well of the living One Who sees me. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

15 Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore for him, Ishmael.

16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael for Abram.

Chapter 17

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him: I am El Who-Suffices; walk before Me and become flawless.

2 I am determined to give My covenant between Me and you. I shall increase you exceedingly, exceedingly.

3 Then Abram fell on his face. And Elohim spoke to him, saying:

4 As for Me, behold, this is My covenant with you: You will become the father of a throng of nations.

5 So your name shall no longer be called Abram; but your name will become Abraham, for a father of a throng of nations have I appointed you.

6 I will cause you to be exceedingly, exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you.

7 I have set up My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you, throughout their generations, as an eonian covenant, to be Elohim to you and to your seed after you.

8 And I give to you and to your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, as an eonian holding; and I will be Elohim to them.

9 Then Elohim spoke to Abraham: As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you, throughout their generations.

10 This is My covenant that you shall keep between Me and yourselves and your seed after you: Every male among you is to be circumcised.

11 Namely you will be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and this will be the covenant sign between Me and yourselves.

12 Throughout your generations, every male among you shall be circumcised when he is eight days old, anyone born in the household or acquired with money from any foreigner’s son who is not of your seed.

13 He shall be circumcised, yea circumcised, the manservant born in your household or acquired with your money. Thus will My covenant be marked in your flesh as an eonian covenant.

14 As for the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, this soul will be cut off from his people; he has annulled My covenant.

15 Elohim spoke further to Abraham: As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her name Sarai; for Sarah will be her name.

16 I will bless her; indeed, I will give you a son by her. And I will bless him. She will give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.

17 Then Abraham fell on his face; he laughed and said in his heart: Can a child be born to one who is a hundred years old? Or could Sarah, a ninety-year-old, possibly bear a child?

18 So Abraham said to the One, Elohim: O that Ishmael should live before You!

19 Elohim replied: Nevertheless, your wife Sarah will be bearing a son for you, and you will call his name Isaac. I will set up My covenant with him as an eonian covenant for his seed after him.

20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I will bless him and make him fruitful and increase him exceedingly, exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of him.

21 But My covenant I shall set up with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear for you in the next year at this appointed time.

22 When He had finished speaking with him, Elohim ascended from Abraham.

23 Then Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household and all those acquired with his money, every male among the people of Abraham’s household, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very day, just as Elohim had spoken to him.

24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised.

25 And his son Ishmael was thirteen years old when he had the flesh of his foreskin circumcised.

26 On this very day Abraham was circumcised and also his son Ishmael;

27 and all the men of his household, the homeborn and those acquired with money from a foreigner’s son, they were circumcised with him.

Chapter 18

1 Yahweh appeared to him among the oaks of Mamre as he was sitting at the opening of the tent when the day was brightly warm.

2 When he lifted up his eyes, behold, he saw three men standing by over against him. As he saw them, he ran from the opening of the tent to meet them and bowed down toward the earth.

3 He said: My Lord, if now I have found grace in Your eyes, please do not pass by Your servant.

4 Let a little water now be taken, then wash your feet and lean back under the tree.

5 Let me take a morsel of bread and brace your heart. Afterward you may pass on; for on this account you have passed by your servant. They replied: You shall do so, just as you said.

6 Abraham hastened toward the tent to Sarah and said: Take quickly three seah measures of meal flour; knead it and make ember cakes.

7 Next Abraham ran out to the herd and took a bull calf of the herd, tender and good, and gave it to the lad who hastened to prepare it.

8 Then he took clotted cream and milk and the bull calf of the herd that he had had prepared; he set it before them and was standing by them under the tree while they ate.

9 They asked him: Where is your wife Sarah? He replied: Behold, in the tent.

10 Now He said: I shall return, yea return to you; according to the season of life, behold, your wife Sarah will have a son. Yet Sarah had been hearing at the opening of the tent, and she was behind Him.

11 Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in days; and the path in accord with women was halted to continue for Sarah.

12 So Sarah laughed within herself, saying: After I have become worn out, will luxury occur to me while my lord is old?

13 Then Yahweh said to Abraham: Why was this that Sarah laughed, saying: Shall I indeed truly bear a child, when I am old?

14 Is anything too difficult for Yahweh? At the appointed time I shall return to you, and according to the season of life, Sarah will have a son.

15 Yet Sarah dissimulated, saying: I did not laugh for she stood in fear. He replied: No, but you did laugh.

16 When the men arose from there, they gazed down overlooking Sodom. And Abraham went with them to send them off.

17 Then Yahweh said: Shall I keep covered from Abraham what I will do?

18 Abraham, he shall become, yea become a great and staunch nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.

19 For I have become acquainted with him in order that he may enjoin on his sons and on his household after him to keep the way of Yahweh to do what is right and duly just, so that Yahweh may bring on Abraham all that He has promised concerning him.

20 Then Yahweh said: The outcry over Sodom and Gomorrah is great indeed, and their sin, it is exceedingly grave indeed.

21 I shall now descend and see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry over it that has come to Me, and if not, I will know.

22 From there the men turned around and went toward Sodom. Yet Yahweh, He was still standing before Abraham.

23 So Abraham came close and said: Will You indeed sweep off the righteous with the wicked?

24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous in the midst of the city; will You indeed sweep off and not bear with the entire place on account of the fifty righteous who are within it?

25 Far be it from You to act in this manner, to put to death the righteous with the wicked, so that it would occur with the righteous as with the wicked. Far be it from You; the Judge of the entire earth, would He not execute right judgment?

26 Yahweh replied: If I should find in Sodom fifty righteous in the midst of the city, then I will bear with the entire place for their sake.

27 Abraham answered and said: Behold, now, I have ventured to speak to Yahweh, though I am soil and ashes.

28 Perhaps the fifty righteous lack five. Will You ruin the entire city because of five? And He replied: I will not ruin it if I should find there forty-five.

29 Yet he again proceeded to speak to Him and said: Perhaps forty shall be found there. And He replied: I will not do it, for the sake of the forty.

30 Yet he said: Now my Lord must not be angry, but let me speak; perhaps thirty shall be found there. And He replied: I will not do it if I should find there thirty.

31 Yet he said: Behold, now, I have ventured to speak to my Lord; perhaps twenty shall be found there. And He replied: I will not ruin it, for the sake of the twenty.

32 Yet he said: Now my Lord must not be angry, but let me speak only this once; perhaps ten shall be found there. And He replied: I will not ruin it for the sake of the ten.

33 As soon as Yahweh had finished speaking with Abraham, He went away; and Abraham returned to his place.

Chapter 19

1 The two messengers came to Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he arose to meet them, and he bowed down with his brow toward the earth.

2 And he said: Behold, now, my lords, please turn in and lodge at the house of your servant and wash your feet. Then you can rise early and go on your way. Yet they said: No, for we shall lodge in the square.

3 But he urged them so intensely that they turned in with him and entered his house. He made a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 They had not yet lain down when the men of the city, men of Sodom that they were, surrounded the house, from youth even to old man, all the people without exception.

5 They called out to Lot and said to him: Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them forth to us, and let us know them.

6 So Lot went forth to them, toward the portal, and closed the door after him.

7 He said to them: Oh do not do such evil, my brothers.

8 Oh behold, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Oh let me bring them forth to you. Do to them as is good in your eyes. But do not do anything to these men; for on this account they have come under the shadow of my rafters.

9 But they replied: Come close, yonder! And they added: This one came to sojourn here as an alien, yet he is judging, yea judging. Now we shall do more evil to you than to them. And they urged intensely against the man, against Lot, and they came close to break the door.

10 Then the two men stretched out their hands and brought Lot in to them, into the house, and closed the door.

11 As for the men who were at the portal of the house, they smote them with a dazzled perception, from the small unto the great, so they tired of finding the portal.

12 The two men said to Lot: Do you have anyone else here? Son-in-law and your sons and your daughters and all who are yours in the city, bring them forth from the place.

13 For we are about to bring this place to ruin, because great is the outcry over them before the face of Yahweh. And Yahweh has sent us to wreck it.

14 So Lot went forth and spoke to his sons-in-law who were to take his daughters, and he said: Get up, go forth from this place, for Yahweh is about to bring the city to ruin. But in the eyes of his sons-in-law he was as if one making fun.

15 As dawn came up, the messengers rushed Lot on, saying: Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are found here, and come out, lest you be swept off in the depravity of the city.

16 Yet he was dallying, and so, with a fast grip, the men took him by the hand, and his wife by the hand, and his two daughters by the hand, for Yahweh was sparing him; and they brought him forth and let him rest outside the city.

17 It came to pass when they had brought them forth outside that one of them said: Escape for your soul; do not look behind you; and do not stand still anywhere in the basin; escape to the mountainous area lest you be swept off.

18 Yet Lot said to them: Oh certainly not, my lords!

19 Oh behold, your servant has found grace in your eyes, and you have magnified your kindness that you have shown me in preserving my soul alive. But I, I cannot escape to the mountainous area, lest evil cling to me and I die.

20 Oh behold, this city is near enough to flee there; and it is inferior. Oh let me escape there! Is it not inferior? Let my soul live!

21 He replied to him, Behold, I will lift up your face even in this matter by my not overturning the city that you speak of.

22 Hasten! Escape there, for I cannot do anything until you have come there. Therefore one calls the name of the city Zoar.

23 The sun, it came forth over the earth when Lot, he came to Zoar.

24 Then Yahweh, He caused sulphur to rain on Sodom and on Gomorrah, and fire from Yahweh from the heavens.

25 Thus He overturned these cities and the entire basin and all those dwelling in the cities, and everything sprouting from the ground.

26 Yet his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a monument of salt.

27 Abraham rose early in the morning to go to the place where he had stood before the face of Yahweh.

28 And he gazed down on the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah and on the entire surface of the basin area, and behold, he saw that the fumes ascended from the land like the fumes of a limekiln.

29 So it came to pass when Elohim wrecked the cities of the basin that Elohim was mindful of Abraham and sent Lot off from the midst of the overturning, as He overturned the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

30 Now Lot went up from Zoar and dwelt in the hill country, and his two daughters were with him, for he was fearful to dwell in Zoar. So he was dwelling in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

31 The firstborn said to the junior sister: Our father, he is old, and there is no man in the area to come on us according to the way of all the earth.

32 Do go, let us give our father wine to drink; then do let us lie with him and keep seed alive from our father.

33 So they gave their father wine to drink that night. Then the firstborn came and lay with her father. Yet he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

34 It came to pass on the morrow that the firstborn said to the junior sister: Behold, I lay with our father yesternight. Let us give him wine to drink tonight also; then come and lie with him, that we may keep seed alive from our father.

35 So they again gave their father wine to drink that night; and the junior sister got up and lay with him. Yet he did not know when she lay down or when she arose.

36 Thus the two daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.

37 The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab, saying, From my father. He is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38 As for the junior sister, she also bore a son and called his name Ben-ammi, saying, Son of my kinsman. He is the father of the sons of Ammon unto this day.

Chapter 20

1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negeb area and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur. While he sojourned as an alien in Gerar,

2 Abraham said of his wife Sarah, She is my sister, for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest the men of the city kill him on account of her. Then Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3 But Elohim came to Abimelech in a dream by night and said to him: Behold, you are to die on account of the woman whom you have taken, for she is the spouse of a possessor.

4 Now Abimelech, he had not gone near her, and he said: My Lord, are You going to kill even an unknowing and righteous nation?

5 Did not he himself say to me, She is my sister? And moreover, did not she herself say, He is my brother? In the sincerity of my heart and in the innocence of my palms have I done this.

6 The One, Elohim, replied to him in the dream: I too know that you have done this in the sincerity of your heart, and I was also keeping you back from sinning against Me. Therefore I did not allow you to touch her.

7 Now restore the man’s wife, for he is a prophet that he may pray about you, so that you may live! But if you are not restoring her, know that you shall die, yea die, you and all who are yours.

8 So Abimelech rose early in the morning and called all his servants and reported all these things before their ears. And all the men became exceedingly fearful.

9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him: What have you done to us? And wherein have I sinned against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom so great a sin? You have done to me things that should not be done.

10 And Abimelech said to Abraham: What did you have in view that you did this thing?

11 Abraham replied: Because I said to myself, there is surely no fear of Elohim in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.

12 And besides, she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother. And she became my wife.

13 It came to pass, when Elohim made me stray from my father’s house, that I said to her: This is your kindness that you should show me; at every place where we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.

14 Then Abimelech took a thousand shekels of silver and a flock and a herd, menservants and maidservants, and gave them to Abraham; he also restored his wife Sarah to him.

15 And Abimelech said to Abraham, Behold, my land is before you; dwell where it is good in your eyes.

16 To Sarah he said, Behold, I have given a thousand shekels of silver to your brother. Now this will serve you as a covering of eyes before all who are with you. So in all respects you are now publicly vindicated.

17 Then Abraham prayed to the One, Elohim, and Elohim healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could bear again;

18 for Yahweh had restrained, yea restrained tightly every womb in Abimelech’s household on account of Abraham’s wife Sarah.

Chapter 21

1 Now Yahweh, He took note of Sarah, just as He had said; and Yahweh did for Sarah what He had promised.

2 So Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the appointed time of which Elohim had spoken to him.

3 And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore for him, Isaac.

4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as Elohim had instructed him.

5 Now Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.

6 Sarah said: Elohim has prepared laughter for me; everyone who hears it, is laughing with me.

7 And she added: Who would have declared to Abraham that Sarah would nurse sons! Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.

8 The boy grew up and was weaned. And Abraham prepared a great feast on the day when Isaac was weaned.

9 Now Sarah observed the son whom the Egyptian woman Hagar had borne to Abraham, making fun about her son Isaac.

10 So she said to Abraham: Drive out this maidservant and her son; for this maidservant’s son shall not take over from you with my son, with Isaac!

11 This request was very displeasing in Abraham’s eyes on account of his son.

12 Yet Elohim spoke to Abraham: Let it not be displeasing in your eyes about the lad and about your maidservant. In all that Sarah said to you, hearken to her voice; for it is through Isaac that seed shall be called for you.

13 As for the son of the maidservant, I shall also constitute him a great nation; for he too is your seed.

14 So Abraham rose early in the morning; he took bread and a flask of water and gave them to Hagar, placing them over her shoulder, and gave her the boy. Then he dismissed her, and she went and strayed in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 When the water from the flask was finished, she flung the boy under one of the shrubs.

16 And she went and sat down by herself, aloof from him, as far off as a bow shot; for she said, Let me not stare on the boy’s death. So she sat there aloof from him; and she lifted up her voice and lamented.

17 Elohim heard the voice of the lad, and a messenger of Elohim called to Hagar from the heavens and said to her: What troubles you, Hagar? You must not fear; for Elohim has hearkened to the lad’s voice where he is.

18 Arise! Lift up the lad and take a fast grip on him with your hand; for I shall constitute him a great nation.

19 Then Elohim focused her eyes, and she saw a well of living water. She went and filled the flask with water and gave the lad to drink.

20 Elohim was with the lad; he grew up and dwelt in the wilderness and became a great bowman.

21 He dwelt in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

22 It came to pass at that time that Abimelech, with Phicol the chief of his military host, spoke to Abraham, saying: Elohim is with you in all that you are doing.

23 So do swear now to me here by Elohim that you shall assuredly not deal falsely with me or my progeny or my posterity. According to the kindness that I have shown to you, you shall deal with me and with the land in which you sojourn.

24 And Abraham said: I swear it.

25 Then Abraham reproved Abimelech on account of the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had snatched.

26 But Abimelech replied to him: I do not know who has done this thing; and moreover, you did not tell me; and besides I had not heard of it until today.

27 Then Abraham took a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle and gave them to Abimelech; and the two of them contracted a covenant.

28 When Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock aside by themselves,

29 Abimelech said to Abraham: What is the meaning here of these seven ewe lambs that you have set aside by themselves?

30 Abraham replied: You must take the seven ewe lambs from my hand in order that it may be a testimony for me that I have delved this well.

31 Therefore one called this place Beer-sheba because there the two of them had sworn an oath.

32 When they had contracted the covenant at Beer-sheba, Abimelech got up with Phicol the chief of his military host, and they returned to Philistine land.

33 Then Abraham planted a tamarisk at Beer-sheba and called there on the Name of Yahweh, the eonian El.

34 Abraham sojourned many days as an alien in Philistine land.

Chapter 22

1 It came to pass after these things that the One, Elohim, He probed Abraham and said to him: Abraham! And he answered: Here I am.

2 Then He said: Take now your son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and go by yourself to the land of Moriah and offer him up there as an ascent offering on one of the mountains which I shall indicate to you.

3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took his two lads and his son Isaac with him. When he had split the wood for the ascent offering, he set out and went to the place which the One, Elohim, had indicated to him.

4 It was on the third day that Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

5 Then Abraham said to his lads: You sit here with the donkey while I and the youth shall indeed go thus far; there we shall worship, and we shall indeed return to you.

6 Now Abraham took the wood for the ascent offering and placed it on his son Isaac while he took the fire and the knife in his hand; and the two of them went along together.

7 Then Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham: My father! And he replied: Here I am, my son. Now he said: Behold the fire and the wood; yet where is the flockling for the ascent offering?

8 Abraham answered: Elohim, He shall see for Himself as to the flockling for the ascent offering, my son. And the two of them walked on together.

9 They came to the place that the One, Elohim, had indicated to him. Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He trussed up his son Isaac and placed him on the altar above the wood.

10 Then Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son,

11 when the messenger of Yahweh called to him from the heavens and said: Abraham! Abraham! And he replied: Here I am.

12 He continued: Do not stretch out your hand on the youth, and do not do anything to him; for now I know that you fear Elohim, since you have not kept back your son, your only one, from Me.

13 When Abraham lifted up his eyes, he observed, behold, there was one ram, held back in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as an ascent offering instead of his son Isaac.

14 Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh-yireh, of which is it said today: On the Mount of Yahweh, He is seeing to it.

15 The messenger of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from the heavens.

16 He said: By Myself have I sworn, averring is Yahweh, that because you have done this thing and have not kept back your son, your only one, from Me,

17 I shall bless, yea bless you, and increase, yea increase your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the sand on the seashore. Your seed shall take over the gateway of its enemies,

18 and all the nations of the earth will bless themselves in your seed, inasmuch as you have hearkened to My voice.

19 Then Abraham returned to his lads; they set out and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt in Beer-sheba.

20 It came to pass after these things that Abraham was told, saying: Behold Milcah, she too has borne sons to your brother Nahor:

21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Yidlaph and Bethuel.

23 And Bethuel begot Rebecca. These eight sons Milcah bore to Abraham’s brother Nahor.

24 And his concubine ( her name was Reumah), she also gave birth: to Tebah, Gaham, Tahash and Maacah.

Chapter 23

1 Sarah’s life came to be a hundred twenty-seven years; these were the years of Sarah’s life.

2 Sarah died in Kiriath-arba which is in the vale. It is now Hebron in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to bewail Sarah and to lament over her.

3 Then Abraham arose from beside his dead. He spoke to the sons of Heth, saying:

4 Although I am a sojourner and an alien settler among you, give me a holding for a tomb among you, and let me entomb my dead from before me.

5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying: Suppose

6 you hear us, my lord: You are a prince of Elohim in our midst. Entomb your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us shall prevent you from entombing your dead in his tomb.

7 Then Abraham arose and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.

8 Abraham spoke to them, saying: If there is consent in your soul to let me entomb my dead from before me, so hear me and intercede for me with Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,

9 that he give me the cave of Machpelah which is his, which is at the end of his field; at the full current price let him give it to me as a holding for a tomb in your midst.

10 Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham before the ears of the sons of Heth, all those who had come to the gateway of his city, saying:

11 No, my lord, hear me! I give the field to you, and the cave that is in it, I give it to you; before the eyes of the sons of my people I give it to you. Entomb your dead.

12 Again Abraham bowed down before the people of the land

13 and spoke to Ephron before the ears of the people of the land, saying: Suppose you would hear me! I will give silver shekels for the field. Take them from me, and let me entomb my dead there.

14 Ephron answered Abraham, saying: Suppose

15 you hear me, my lord; a piece of land at four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? Entomb your dead.

16 Abraham hearkened to Ephron. Then Abraham weighed out for Ephron the money that he had named before the ears of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver at the rate current among the merchants.

17 Thus the field of Ephron at Machpelah that is adjoining Mamre, the field and the cave that is in it, and all the trees that are in the field, within all its boundary round about, became confirmed

18 to Abraham as his acquisition before the eyes of the sons of Heth, all those who had come to the gateway of his city.

19 After this Abraham entombed his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah that is adjoining Mamre. It is now Hebron in the land of Canaan.

20 Thus the field and the cave in it became confirmed to Abraham by the sons of Heth as a holding for a tomb.

Chapter 24

1 Abraham was now old; he was advanced in days, and Yahweh, He had blessed Abraham in all things.

2 Abraham said to his servant, the eldest of his household, who was ruling over all that he had: Put your hand please under my thigh.

3 I shall make you swear by Yahweh, Elohim of the heavens and Elohim of the earth, that you shall not take a wife for my son, for Isaac, from the daughters of the Canaanite among whom I am dwelling.

4 Rather you shall go to my land whence I came, and to my kindred, and that you will take a wife for my son, for Isaac, from there.

5 The servant said to him: Perhaps the woman shall not be willing to come following me to this land. Shall I bring back, yea bring back your son to the land from where you came forth?

6 Abraham replied to him: Be on your guard lest you bring my son back there.

7 Yahweh Elohim of the heavens and Elohim of the earth Who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred whence I came, and Who spoke to me and Who swore to me saying: To you and to your seed shall I give this land, He shall send His messenger before you, and you will take a wife for my son, for Isaac, from there.

8 But if the woman should not be willing to come following you to this land, then you will be absolved of this my oath; but you shall not bring my son back there.

9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham, his lord, and swore to him concerning this matter.

10 Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his lord, and with gifts from all the goods of his lord under his hand, he set out and left for Aram-naharaim, for the city of Nahor.

11 There he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at eventide, at the time when the women go out to draw forth water.

12 And he said: O Yahweh Elohim of my lord Abraham, I pray, let it happen before me today, and show benignity to my lord Abraham.

13 Behold me standing by at the spring of water, and the daughters of the people of the city are going out to draw forth water.

14 So let it come to pass that the maiden to whom I say, Please lower your jar that I may drink, and she says to me, Drink, and I shall also give your camels to drink until they finish drinking let her be the one You have made ready beforehand for your servant, for Isaac. Thereby I shall know that You have shown benignity to my lord Abraham.

15 This came to pass ere he had finished speaking in his heart; and behold, Rebecca was coming forth, who had been born to Bethuel son of Milcah, wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, and her jar was on her shoulder.

16 The maiden was of very good appearance, a virgin; no man had known her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar and came up again.

17 The servant ran to meet her and said, Please, let me sip a little water from your jar.

18 She replied, Drink, my lord. And she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and gave him to drink.

19 When she had finished letting him drink, she said, Also for your camels I shall draw forth until they finish drinking.

20 And she quickly emptied out her jar into the trough, ran again to the well to draw forth water, and drew forth for all his camels.

21 And the man was gazing wonderingly at her, silently waiting to know whether or not Yahweh had prospered his way.

22 Then it came to pass, just as the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden nose pendant, a beka in weight, and two bracelets, ten gold shekels in weight, for her wrists.

23 Then he asked her and said, Whose daughter are you? Tell me please, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge for the night?

24 She replied to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah whom she bore to Nahor.

25 She further said to him, Besides we have enough crushed straw and provender as well as room to lodge for the night.

26 Then the man bowed his head and worshipped Yahweh.

27 He said: Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of my lord Abraham, Who has not forsaken His benignity and His faithfulness with my lord. As for me, Yahweh has guided me in the way to the house of my lord’s brothers.

28 The girl ran and told her mother’s household about these things.

29 Now Rebecca had a brother, and his name was Laban. And Laban ran to the man outside at the spring.

30 This came to pass as soon as he had seen the nose pendant and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and as he had heard the words of his sister Rebecca, saying, Thus the man spoke to me. So Laban came to the man, and behold, he was still standing by the camels at the spring.

31 He said to him, Come in, blessed one of Yahweh. Why should you stand outside, when I myself have cleared out the house and a place for the camels?

32 Then the man came to the house; one unharnessed the camels and gave crushed straw and provender to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

33 Yet when bread to eat was placed before him, he said, I shall not eat until I have spoken my words. He replied, Speak.

34 Then he said: I am Abraham’s servant.

35 Yahweh, He has blessed my lord exceedingly, and he has become great; He has given him a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle, silver and gold, menservants and maidservants, camels and donkeys.

36 Sarah, my lord’s wife, bore one son for my lord after she had grown old; and he has given him everything he has.

37 My lord made me swear, saying: You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanite in whose land I am dwelling.

38 But rather you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and you will take a wife for my son from there.

39 And I said to my lord: Perhaps the woman shall not come following me.

40 He replied to me: Yahweh Elohim, before Whom I walk, He Himself shall send His messenger along with you, and He will prosper your way, and you will take a wife for my son from my family, and from my father’s house.

41 Then you shall be absolved of my oath of imprecation; when you come to my family, and they should not give her to you, then you will be absolved of my oath of imprecation.

42 When I came today to the spring, I said: Yahweh Elohim of my lord Abraham, I pray, if You are prospering my way on which I am now going,

43 behold me standing by at the spring of water, where the daughters of the people of the city are going out to draw forth water. So let it come to pass that the damsel who is coming forth to draw forth water, and to whom I say, Please let me drink a little water from your jar,

44 and she says to me: Drink, even you, and I shall also draw forth water for your camels let her be the woman whom Yahweh has made ready beforehand for my lord’s son. Thereby I shall know that You have shown benignity to my lord Abraham.

45 Ere I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebecca was coming forth, and her jar was on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew forth water. And I said to her: Please let me drink a little water from your jar.

46 So she quickly let down her jar upon her hand and replied: Drink, and also your camels I shall give to drink. Then I drank, and she gave the camels to drink also.

47 I asked her and said, Whose daughter are you? She replied, The daughter of Bethuel son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore for him. Then I put the pendant on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

48 And I bowed my head and worshipped Yahweh and blessed Yahweh Elohim of my lord Abraham, Who has guided me in the reliable way, to take the daughter of my lord’s brother for his son.

49 And now, if you really mean to show kindness and faithfulness to my lord, tell me, and if not, tell me, that I may turn around to the right or to the left.

50 Laban and Bethuel answered and said: This matter comes forth from Yahweh. We are unable to speak evil or good to you.

51 Here is Rebecca before you. Take her and go, that she may become the wife of your lord’s son just as Yahweh has spoken.

52 And it came to pass, just as Abraham’s servant heard their words, that he bowed in worship toward the earth before Yahweh.

53 Then the servant brought forth articles of silver and articles of gold and garments, and he gave them to Rebecca; and he gave costly gifts to her brother and to her mother.

54 Then they ate and drank, he and the men who were with him; and they lodged there for the night. When they arose in the morning, he said: Dismiss me, and let me go to my lord.

55 But her brother and her mother said: Let the maiden abide with us a few days or even ten. And afterward you may go.

56 He replied to them: Do not delay me, since Yahweh, He has prospered my way. Dismiss me, and do let me go to my lord.

57 And they said: We shall call the maiden; do let us ask her at her mouth.

58 So they called Rebecca and said to her: Will you go with this man? And she replied, I will go.

59 Then they dismissed their sister Rebecca with her wetnurse, and Abraham’s servant with his men.

60 They blessed their sister Rebecca and said to her: You, our sister, may you give rise to thousands of myriads, and may your seed take over the gate of those who are hating it.

61 Then Rebecca and her maidens got up and rode on the camels and went after the man. Thus the servant took Rebecca and went his way.

62 Now Isaac, he had come back from having set out to the well Lahai-roi; for he was dwelling in the Negeb area.

63 Isaac went forth to meditate in the field before the evening. When he lifted up his eyes, behold, he saw camels coming.

64 When Rebecca lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac, she swooped down, off the camel,

65 and said to the servant: Who is this man there who is walking in the field to meet us? The servant replied, He is my lord. So she took her veil and covered herself.

66 And the servant related to Isaac all the things that he had done.

67 Isaac then brought her to the tent of Sarah his mother. Thus he took Rebecca, and she became his wife, and he was loving her. Now Isaac was comforted after the loss of his mother.

Chapter 25

1 Abraham again took a wife; her name was Keturah.

2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuach.

3 Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan became the Asshurim and the Letushim and the Leummim.

4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Enoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were Keturah’s sons.

5 Abraham had given everything he had, to his son Isaac.

6 But to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts and while he was still alive sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east.

7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life that he had lived, a hundred seventy-five years.

8 Abraham breathed his last and died in a good and greyhaired age, old and satisfied with days, and was gathered to his people.

9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael entombed him in the cave of Machpelah, adjoining Mamre, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite,

10 the field that Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was entombed, and also his wife Sarah.

11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham that Elohim blessed Isaac his son. Isaac was dwelling by the well Lahai-roi.

12 These are the genealogical records of Abraham’s son Ishmael whom Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant Hagar bore to Abraham.

13 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, their names in accord with their genealogical records: Ishmael’s firstborn, Nebaioth; then Kedar, Adbeel and Mibsam,

14 Mishma, Dumah and Massa,

15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah.

16 These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names by their hamlets and by their nomadic domiciles: twelve princes according to their clans.

17 And these are the years of Ishmael’s life, a hundred thirty-seven years; then he breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people.

18 They tabernacled from Havilah as far as Shur, which is adjoining Egypt, as you come to Assyria. He fell in against the face of all his brothers.

19 These are the genealogical records of Abraham’s son Isaac. Abraham begot Isaac.

20 And Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebecca, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-Syria, the sister of Laban the Syrian.

21 Isaac entreated Yahweh on behalf of his wife; for she was barren. And Yahweh granted his entreaty, and his wife Rebecca became pregnant.

22 When the sons buffeted each other within her, she said: If so, why has this happened to me? So she went to inquire of Yahweh.

23 And Yahweh said to her: Two nations are in your belly, Two folk shall part from your internal organs. But one folk shall be more resolute than the other folk, And the senior shall serve the junior.

24 When her days were fulfilled to give birth, behold, there were twins in her belly.

25 The first came forth ruddy, all of him like a hairy mantle; so they called his name Esau.

26 And afterward his brother came forth, and his hand was holding Esau’s heel; so they called his name Jacob. Now Isaac was sixty years old when Rebecca bore them.

27 As the lads grew up, Esau became a man knowing how to hunt, a man of the open field; yet Jacob was an unsullied man, dwelling in tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, for it meant game in his mouth. Yet Rebecca was loving Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob had a stew simmering, Esau came from the field, and he was faint with hunger.

30 Esau said to Jacob: Let me glut now from the red, this red stew, for I am faint therefore one called his name Edom also.

31 Jacob replied to Esau: Do sell me, as of today, your birthright.

32 And Esau said: Behold, I am going to die anyhow. What good then is a birthright to me?

33 Jacob replied to him: Do swear to me, as of today! So he swore to him. Thus Esau sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew; he ate and drank, got up and went away. Thus did Esau despise the birthright.

Chapter 26

1 There came to be a famine in the land aside from the former famine that occurred in the days of Abraham and Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, to Gerar.

2 Then Yahweh appeared to him and said: You must not go down to Egypt. Tabernacle in the land of which I apprise you.

3 Sojourn in this land, and I shall be with you and bless you. For to you and to your seed am I giving all these lands. And I will carry out the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.

4 I will increase your seed like the stars of the heavens, and I will give to your seed all these lands. All nations of the earth will bless themselves in your seed,

5 inasmuch as your father Abraham hearkened to My voice and kept My charge, My instructions, My statutes and My laws.

6 So Isaac dwelt in Gerar.

7 When the men of the place were asking about Rebecca, his wife, he said, She is my sister, for he feared to say, She is my wife, lest the men of the place kill him on account of Rebecca, for she was of good appearance.

8 It came to be, when he had been there long days, that Abimelech king of the Philistines was gazing out through his window, and behold, he saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebecca.

9 So Abimelech called Isaac and said to him: Behold, she is surely your wife; and how could you say, She is my sister? Isaac replied to him: Because I thought, otherwise I might die on her account.

10 Then Abimelech said: What is this that you have done to us? Quite easily someone of my people might have lain with your wife, and so you would have brought guilt upon us!

11 Abimelech then gave instruction to all his people, saying: Whoever touches this man or his wife shall be put to death, yea death.

12 Isaac sowed in that land and found the barley yield in that year to be a hundredfold, for Yahweh was blessing him.

13 Thus the man became great and went on getting greater until he became very great.

14 It came to pass when he had a stock of flocks, a stock of herds and many servants, that the Philistines were envious of him.

15 As for all the wells which his father’s servants had delved in the days of his father Abraham, the Philistines had obstructed them and had filled them with soil.

16 Abimelech then said to Isaac: Go away from our people, for you are very much stauncher than we are.

17 So Isaac went away from there and encamped in the wadi of Gerar and dwelt there.

18 Isaac again delved the water wells which the servants of his father Abraham had delved; but the Philistines had obstructed them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names by the same names that his father had called them.

19 When Isaac’s servants delved in the wadi of Gerar, they found there a well of living water.

20 But the shepherds of Gerar contended with Isaac’s shepherds, saying: Ours is the water. So he called the name of the well Esek, for they had annoyed him there.

21 When Isaac shifted from there and they delved another well, they contended again over it. So he called its name Sitnah.

22 When he shifted from there and they delved another well, they did not contend over it. So he called its name Rehoboth and said: Because now Yahweh has given us wide spaces, and we will be fruitful in the land.

23 From there he went up to Beer-sheba.

24 That night Yahweh appeared to him and said: I am the Elohim of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you! I will bless you and increase your seed for the sake of My servant Abraham.

25 And he built an altar there and called on the Name of Yahweh. Then he pitched his tent there, and Isaac’s servants dug a well there.

26 As for Abimelech, he came to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his associate and Phicol the chief of his military host.

27 So Isaac said to them: For what reason have you come to me, since you hate me and sent me away from you?

28 They replied: We have seen, yea seen, that Yahweh is with you. And we said, Let there be an oath of imprecation between our two sides, between us and you. Do let us contract a covenant with you,

29 that you shall assuredly do us no evil, just as we have not touched you, just as we have done you only good and let you go in peace. You are now the blessed of Yahweh.

30 So he made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.

31 They rose early in the morning and swore an oath to each other. Then Isaac let them go, and they went from him in peace.

32 It came to pass that same day that Isaac’s servants came and told him concerning the well that they had delved, and they said to him: We have found water.

33 So he called it Shebah; therefore the name of the city is Beer-sheba until this day.

34 Esau was forty years old when he took as wife Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hivite.

35 And they gave rise to an embitterment of spirit for Isaac and Rebecca.

Chapter 27

1 It came to be when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, he called his elder son Esau and said to him, My son. He answered him, Here I am.

2 And he said: Behold now, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.

3 So now, please take up your gear, your arrow holder and your bow; go out to the field and hunt some game for me.

4 Prepare for me a tasty dish, just as I like. Do bring it to me and let me eat, in order that my soul may bless you ere I die.

5 Now Rebecca had heard Isaac speaking to his son Esau. When Esau had gone into the field to hunt game for his father,

6 Rebecca said to her junior son Jacob, saying: Behold, I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying,

7 Do bring me some game and prepare a tasty dish for me. Let me eat that I may bless you before Yahweh, before my death.

8 And now, my son, hearken to my voice in what I am instructing you.

9 Go now to the flock, and take for me from there two kids of the goats, tender and good, and I shall prepare them as a tasty dish for your father just as he likes.

10 You must bring it to your father, and he will eat in order that he may bless you before his death.

11 Yet Jacob said to his mother Rebecca: Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am a smooth-skinned man.

12 Perhaps my father may feel me; and I will become in his eyes like one leading him astray. Then I would bring on me a malediction and not a blessing.

13 His mother replied to him: Upon me be your malediction, my son. Only hearken to my voice. Now go, take them for me.

14 So he went and took them and brought them to his mother; and his mother prepared a tasty dish just as his father liked.

15 Then Rebecca took her elder son Esau’s festal garments that were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.

16 And with the skins of the goats’ kids she clothed his hands and the smooth-skinned part of his neck.

17 Then she gave the tasty dish and the bread she had made into the hand of her son Jacob.

18 So he came to his father and said, My father! And he replied, Here I am. Who are you, my son?

19 Jacob said to his father: I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done just as you told me. Arise now, do sit up and do eat of my game in order that your soul may bless me.

20 Isaac asked his son: How is this that you found it so quickly, my son? And he answered, Because Yahweh your Elohim had it happen before me.

21 Then Isaac said to Jacob: Do come close, please, so that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.

22 So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he felt him and said: The voice is Jacob’s voice, yet the hands are Esau’s hands.

23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of his brother Esau. And so he blessed him.

24 He asked again, Are you really my son Esau? And he replied, I am.

25 Then he said: Do bring it close to me, and let me eat of the game, my son, that my soul may bless you. So he brought it close to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

26 Then his father Isaac said to him: Do come close now and do kiss me, my son.

27 So he came close and kissed him. When he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said: See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of the full field that Yahweh has blessed.

28 So may the One, Elohim, give you Of the dew of the heavens, Of the fertile soils of the earth, And abundance of grain and grape juice.

29 Peoples shall serve you, And folk shall bow down to you. Be master over your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those cursing you, And blessed be those blessing you.

30 Now it came to pass, just as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, it came to pass as Jacob had scarcely gone out to come forth from the presence of his father Isaac, that his brother Esau came back from his hunt.

31 He too prepared a tasty dish and brought it to his father. And he said to his father: May my father arise and eat of his son’s game in order that your soul may bless me.

32 His father Isaac asked him, Who are you? And he answered, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.

33 Then, in great trembling, Isaac trembled unto excess and said: Who was he, indeed, who hunted for game and brought it to me? I have already eaten it all ere you came in. I blessed him, and indeed, he shall remain blessed.

34 And it came to pass as Esau heard his father’s words, he cried with a loud outcry, bitter unto excess; and he said to his father, Bless me too, my father.

35 Yet he said to him: Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.

36 And he replied: He rightly calls his name Jacob, since he has circumvented me this twice; he took my birthright, and behold, now he has taken my blessing. Then he asked: Have you not laid a blessing aside for me?

37 Isaac answered and said to Esau: Behold, I have appointed him master over you, and all his brothers I have given him as servants. I have supported him with grain and grape juice. Indeed, what, then, shall I do for you, my son?

38 Esau replied to his father: Have you only this one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father! Yet Isaac was still. Then Esau lifted up his voice and lamented.

39 His father Isaac answered and said to him: Behold, far from the fertile soils of the earth shall be your dwelling, And far from the dew of the heavens above.

40 By your sword shall you live, And you shall serve your brother. But it will come to pass, as you hold sway, You will break off his yoke from your neck.

41 Esau held a grudge against Jacob on account of the blessing with which his father had blessed him. And Esau said in his heart: The days of mourning for my father are approaching. I am determined to kill my brother Jacob.

42 When Rebecca was told the words of her elder son Esau, she sent and called her junior son Jacob and said to him: Behold, your brother Esau is comforting himself with regard to you, intending to kill you.

43 Now, my son, hearken to my voice. Get up! You have to run away to my brother Laban, to Charan.

44 You must dwell with him several days until your brother’s fury is relenting,

45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you, and he has forgotten what you have done to him. Then I will send word and take you away from there. Why should I be bereaved of both of you in one day?

46 Then Rebecca said to Isaac: I am irritated in my life because of the daughters of the sons of Heth. If Jacob should take a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of this land, of what good is life to me?

Chapter 28

1 So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him; he instructed him and said to him: You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.

2 Get up; go to Padan-Syria to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father; and from there take yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.

3 May El Who-Suffices bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you become an assembly of peoples.

4 May He give to you the blessing of my father Abraham, to you and to your seed with you, so that you may tenant the land of your sojournings that Elohim gave to Abraham.

5 Then Isaac sent Jacob off; and he went to Padan-Syria, to Laban son of Bethuel the Syrian, brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him off to Padan-Syria to take from there a wife for himself, and that while blessing him he had enjoined on him, saying: You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,

7 and that Jacob had hearkened to his father and to his mother and had gone to Padan-Syria,

8 then Esau realized how displeasing the daughters of Canaan were in the eyes of his father Isaac.

9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took as wife Mahalath, a daughter of Abraham’s son Ishmael, a sister of Nebaioth, in addition to his wives he already had.

10 Jacob went forth from Beer-sheba and kept going toward Charan.

11 He came upon a certain place and lodged there for the night, for the sun had already set. He took one of the stones of the place, put it as his headrest and lay down in that place.

12 He dreamed, and behold, there was a stairway set earthward, with its top touching the heavens. And behold, messengers of Elohim were ascending and descending on it.

13 And behold, Yahweh was standing up over him and said: I am Yahweh Elohim of your father Abraham and the Elohim of Isaac. Do not fear! The land on which you are lying down, to you I shall give it and to your seed.

14 And your seed will become like the soil grains of the land. You will breach forth westward and eastward, northward and southward. All the families of the ground will be blessed in you and in your seed.

15 And behold, I am with you; I will keep you in all the way you are going, and I will bring you back to this ground, for I shall not forsake you until I should have done all that I have spoken to you.

16 When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said: Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not realize it.

17 He was fearful and said: How fear inspiring is this place; this is none other than the house of Elohim, and this is the gateway of the heavens.

18 And Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put there as his headrest, set it up as a monument and poured oil on its top.

19 And he called the name of that place Bethel, howbeit the name of the city was Luz formerly.

20 Then Jacob vowed a vow, saying: If Elohim is with me and keeps me in this way which I am going, and gives me bread to eat and a garment to put on,

21 and I return in peace to my father’s house, then Yahweh will be my Elohim.

22 And this stone that I have set up as a monument, it shall become a house of Elohim for me. All that You give me, I shall tithe, yea tithe it for You.

Chapter 29

1 Jacob lifted up his feet and went toward the land of the sons of the east, to Laban son of Bethuel the Syrian; brother of Rebecca, the mother of Jacob and Esau.

2 And behold, he saw a well in the field. And behold, there were three droves of small cattle reclining beside it, for from that well they gave the droves to drink. And the customary great stone lay on the mouth of the well.

3 When all the shepherds were gathered there, they would roll the stone off the mouth of the well, give the small cattle to drink, and then restore the stone to its place on the mouth of the well.

4 Jacob said to them, My brothers, from where are you? They replied, We are from Charan.

5 He asked them, Do you know Laban son of Nahor? They replied, We know him.

6 And he said to them, Does he fare well? They answered, He fares well. Now behold, his daughter Rachel is coming with the flock.

7 Jacob said to them: Behold, it is still great daylight, and it is not yet time to gather the cattle. Why don’t you give the flock to drink and go and graze them?

8 They replied: We cannot until all the shepherds are gathered, and they roll the stone off the mouth of the well. Then we will give the flock to drink.

9 While he was speaking with them, Rachel herself came with the flock that was her father’s, for she was the shepherdess of her father’s flock.

10 Now it came to pass as soon as Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his mother’s brother Laban, and the flock of his mother’s brother Laban, Jacob came close and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and gave his mother’s brother Laban’s flock to drink.

11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.

12 Jacob told Rachel that he was a nephew of her father and that he was a son of Rebecca. So she ran and told her father these things.

13 It came to pass as soon as Laban heard the report about Jacob his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, embraced him, kissed him and brought him to his house. He related to Laban all these things;

14 and Laban said to him: Surely my bone and my flesh are you. When he had dwelt with him a month of days,

15 Laban said to Jacob: Just because you are my nephew, should you serve me gratuitously? Do tell me what shall be your hire.

16 Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

17 Leah’s eyes were tender; Rachel, she was of lovely shape and was lovely in appearance.

18 Jacob was loving Rachel, and he said: I shall serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.

19 Laban replied to him: It is better that I give her to you than that I give her to another man. Do dwell with me.

20 So Jacob served for Rachel seven years; and they came to be in his eyes like several days because of his love for her.

21 Then Jacob said to Laban: Do grant me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, and do let me come to her.

22 Then Laban gathered all the men of the place and gave a feast.

23 And it came to pass in the evening that Laban took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he came to her.

24 Laban had given his maidservant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as a handmaid for her.

25 And it came to pass in the morning, and behold, it was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban: What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? Why did you deceive me?

26 Laban replied: It is not done this way in our place to give the junior before the firstborn.

27 Fulfill the week with this one, and I shall indeed give you that one too for the service that you can serve with me yet another seven years.

28 Jacob did so and fulfilled the week with this one; then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

29 Laban had given his maidservant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as a handmaid for her.

30 Then he came to Rachel too; and he was loving Rachel as well, more than Leah; and he served with him yet another seven years.

31 Yahweh saw that Leah was disliked, and He opened her womb; yet Rachel was barren.

32 Leah became pregnant and bore a son for Jacob. She called his name Reuben, for she said: It is because Yahweh has seen my humiliation; and so He has given me a son; now my husband shall love me.

33 Then Leah became pregnant again and bore a second son for Jacob. She said: It is because Yahweh has heard that I am disliked; and so He has given me this one also. And she called his name Simeon.

34 Then she became pregnant again and bore a son. She said: Now at last my husband shall be obligated to me, for I have borne him three sons. Therefore she called his name Levi.

35 Then she became pregnant again and bore a son. She said: Now this time I shall acclaim Yahweh. Therefore she called his name Judah. Then she stayed from bearing.

Chapter 30

1 When Rachel saw that she did not bear children for Jacob, Rachel became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob: Grant me sons; and should there be none, I shall die.

2 Jacob’s anger grew hot at Rachel, and he said to her: Am I in the place of Elohim Who has withheld from you the fruit of the belly?

3 So Rachel said to Jacob: Behold my maidservant Bilhah; come to her that she may give birth on my knees and that I, even I, may be built up through her.

4 And she gave him her handmaid Bilhah as wife; and Jacob came to her.

5 Bilhah became pregnant and bore a son for Jacob;

6 and Rachel said: Elohim has adjudicated for me, and, moreover, He has heard my voice and given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan.

7 Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah became pregnant again and bore a second son for Jacob;

8 and Rachel said: Twistings of Elohim I have twisted with my sister; and, moreover, I have prevailed. So she called his name Naphtali.

9 When Leah saw that she stayed from bearing, she took her handmaid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as wife; and Jacob came to her.

10 Leah’s handmaid Zilpah became pregnant and bore a son for Jacob;

11 and Leah said: A raid is coming; so she called his name Gad.

12 Then Leah’s handmaid Zilpah became pregnant again and bore a second son for Jacob;

13 and Leah said: Happiness is mine; for daughters will call me happy. So she called his name Asher.

14 In the days of the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah: Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.

15 Yet Leah said to her: Is it a little thing that you have taken my husband? Will you also take my son’s mandrakes? Rachel replied: Not so! He shall lie with you this night in return for your son’s mandrakes.

16 When Jacob came in from the field in the evening, Leah went forth to meet him and said: To me are you coming tonight; for I hired, yea hired you with my son’s mandrakes. And so he lay with her in that night.

17 Elohim hearkened to Leah, and she became pregnant and bore for Jacob a fifth son;

18 and Leah said: Elohim has given me my reward because I gave my handmaid to my husband. So she called his name Issachar.

19 Then Leah became pregnant again and bore for Jacob a sixth son;

20 and Leah said: Elohim has endowed me, yes me, with a bountiful dowry. Now at last my husband shall prefer me, for I have borne him six sons. So she called his name Zebulun.

21 And afterward she bore a daughter; she called her name Dinah.

22 Elohim remembered Rachel; Elohim hearkened to her and opened her womb.

23 She became pregnant and bore a son for Jacob; and Rachel said: Elohim has gathered up my reproach.

24 She called his name Joseph, saying: May Yahweh add to me another son.

25 It came to pass when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban: Dismiss me, and do let me go to my place and to my land.

26 Do give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and do let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.

27 Laban said to him: If now I have found grace in your eyes I have practiced augury and know that Yahweh has blessed me owing to you.

28 And he added: Do specify your hire to me. I am determined to give it.

29 Jacob replied to him: You yourself know how I have served you and what has become of your cattle under me.

30 For only a few were yours before my coming; now they have unfolded abundantly, since Yahweh has blessed you at my footsteps. Yet now, when shall I also provide for my own household?

31 Then Laban said to him: What shall I give you? Jacob replied: Not shall you give me anything. But if you will do this thing for me, I shall again indeed, graze and guard your flock.

32 I shall pass today among all your flock taking away from there every speckled or flecked flockling, and every brown flockling among the sheep, and every flecked or speckled among the goats; that will be my hire.

33 My righteousness will answer for me, on the morrow day, when you come on my hire before you: Everyone that is not speckled or flecked among the goats and brown among the sheep, that one shall count with me as stolen.

34 And Laban said: Behold, agreed; let it be according to your word.

35 But on that day he took away the striped and flecked bucks and all the speckled and flecked she-goats, everyone that had white on it, and every brown one among the sheep; and he gave them over into the hands of his sons.

36 Then he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob was grazing the rest of Laban’s flocks.

37 Then Jacob took for his use sappy staves of white poplar and hazel and plane trees. He peeled in them white strips of peelings, laying bare the white on the staves.

38 And he put the staves which he had peeled in the gutters (in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink), before the flocks; for they mated when they came to drink.

39 So the flocks mated by the staves, and the flocks gave birth to striped, speckled and flecked young.

40 Jacob kept the sheep apart, and he put the faces of the flocks toward the striped ram and all the brown among Laban’s flocks. Then he set his own droves aside; he set them for himself alone and not with Laban’s flocks.

41 So it came to be in every season when the sinewy of the flocks were about to conceive, that Jacob set the staves in the gutters before the eyes of the flocks that they might mate by the staves.

42 But he did not set them when the flocks were drooping. So the drooping came to be Laban’s, and the sinewy Jacob’s.

43 Thus the man unfolded more and more, and many flocks and herds came to be his, also maidservants and menservants, camels and donkeys.

Chapter 31

1 Now Jacob heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying: Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father; and from what was our father’s, he has established all this massive wealth.

2 And Jacob saw Laban’s face, and behold, it was not with him as heretofore.

3 Then Yahweh said to Jacob: Return to the land of your fathers and to your kindred. I shall be with you.

4 So Jacob sent word and called Rachel and Leah out into the field to his flocks.

5 He said to them: I have seen your father’s face that it is not toward me as heretofore. But the Elohim of my father, He has been with me.

6 And you yourselves know that I have served your father with all my vigor.

7 And your father, he has cheated me and changed my hire ten times. Yet Elohim did not allow him to bring evil on me.

8 If he said thus: The speckled shall become your hire, then all the flocks gave birth to speckled young. But if he said thus: The striped shall become your hire, then all the flocks gave birth to striped young.

9 So Elohim has despoiled your father of his cattle and given them to me.

10 It occurred in the mating season of the flocks that I lifted up my eyes, and behold, I saw in a dream that the he-goats and the rams mounting up on the small cattle were striped, speckled and dappled.

11 And a messenger of the One, Elohim, said to me in the dream: Jacob! And I replied: Here I am.

12 Then he said: Lift up your eyes now and see that all the he-goats and the rams mounting up on the small cattle are striped, speckled and dappled; for I have seen all that Laban has done to you.

13 I am the One, El, Who appeared to you at Bethel, where you anointed the monument and where you vowed a vow to Me. Now get up, go forth from this land and return to the land of your kindred. I shall be with you.

14 Rachel and Leah answered and said to him: Have we still any portion or allotment in the household of our father?

15 Are we not reckoned as foreigners by him? For he has sold us and, moreover, has devoured, yea devoured the money he got for us!

16 For all the riches of which Elohim despoiled our father, they belong to us and to our sons. And now, all that Elohim has said to you, do it.

17 So Jacob got up and lifted his children and his wives on the camels.

18 He drove off all his cattle and all his goods he had gotten, the cattle of his acquisition that he had gotten in Padan-Syria to set out to his father Isaac, toward the land of Canaan.

19 Now when Laban had gone to shear his flock, Rachel stole the household idols that belonged to her father.

20 And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Syrian by not telling him that he was running away.

21 So he ran away, he with all he had; he got up and crossed the Stream and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.

22 Laban the Syrian was told on the third day that Jacob had run away.

23 He took with him all his brothers and pursued after him for a distance of seven days’ journey; he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.

24 But Elohim came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night and said to him: Be on your guard lest you speak with Jacob good or evil.

25 Then Laban overtook Jacob when Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country; and Laban too pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead.

26 Laban said to Jacob: What have you done that you stole my heart and led away my daughters like captives taken by the sword!

27 Why did you have to hide and stealthily run away from me and not tell me, that I might see you off with rejoicing and songs, with tambourine and harp!

28 And you did not let me kiss my sons and my daughters. Now, you acted unwisely.

29 My hand would have the disposition to inflict evil on you. But yesternight the Elohim of your father, He spoke to me saying: Be on your guard not to speak with Jacob good or evil.

30 Yet now, you left to go, since you longingly longed for your father’s house. But why have you stolen my elohim?

31 Jacob answered and said to Laban: Indeed, I was fearful. I thought, otherwise you might snatch your daughters away from me and all that is mine.

32 Yet with whomsoever you should find your elohim, he shall not live. In front of our brothers identify for yourself what is with me, and take what belongs to you. But Jacob did not know that Rachel, she had stolen them.

33 So Laban came into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the two maidservants’ tent, but he did not find it. He came forth from Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s tent.

34 Now Rachel had taken the household idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle basket. She was sitting on them while Laban went feeling over all the tent, and he found nothing.

35 She said to her father: Do not let there be anger in the eyes of my lord, that I am not able to rise in your presence; for the way of women is on me. So Laban searched in all the tent, but did not find the household idols.

36 So Jacob grew angry and contended with Laban. Jacob retorted and said to Laban: What is my transgression? What is my sin that you dashed after me?

37 Now that you went feeling over all my furnishings, what of all the furnishing of your house have you found? Put it thus in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them arbitrate between us two.

38 Now, for twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your she-goats have not miscarried. I have not eaten the rams of your flock.

39 I have not brought to you any animal torn to pieces; I expiated for it. You sought to exact it from my hand, be it stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 I have been where the scorching heat devoured me by day, and the ice by night; and my sleep would flit from my eyes.

41 Now, for twenty years I have been in your household; I have served you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flocks; and you have changed my hire ten times.

42 Unless the Elohim of my father, the Elohim of Abraham, and the Awe Inspiring One of Isaac had been with me, you would now have sent me away emptyhanded. But Elohim saw my humiliation and the weariness of my palms, and He reproved you yesternight.

43 Laban answered and said to Jacob: The daughters are my daughters, and the sons my sons; the flocks are my flocks, and all that you are seeing here, it belongs to me! As for my daughters, what could I do today for them or for their sons that they have borne?

44 Now do come; do let us contract a covenant, I and you; it will be a witness between me and you. Yet Jacob said to him: Behold, there is no one with us; see, Elohim is Witness.

45 And Jacob took a stone and raised it up as a monument.

46 And Jacob said to his brothers: Pick up stones! So they took stones and made a mound. And they were going to eat there by the mound.

47 Laban called it Yegar-sahadutha, and Jacob, he called it Gal-ed.

48 Then Laban said to Jacob: This mound is witness between me and you today. Therefore he called its name Gal-ed,

49 and Mizpah; because he said: May Yahweh keep watch between me and you when we are concealed, each man from his associate.

50 If you humiliate my daughters, or if you take other wives besides my daughters there is no one with us. See, Elohim is witness between me and you.

51 And Laban said to Jacob: Behold this mound, and behold the monument that I directed to be set up between me and you;

52 witness is this mound, and witness is the monument that I should not pass beyond this mound to you, and that you should not pass beyond this mound and this monument to me to do evil.

53 The Elohim of Abraham and the Elohim of Nahor, the Elohim of their father, shall judge between us. So Jacob swore by the Awe Inspiring One of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice on the hill, and he called his brothers to eat bread. So they ate bread and lodged by night on the hill.

55 Laban rose early in the morning; he kissed his sons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban went and returned to his place.

Chapter 32

1 As for Jacob, he too went his way; and messengers of Elohim came upon him.

2 And Jacob said as he saw them: This is the camp of Elohim. So he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

3 Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

4 And he instructed them saying: Thus you shall say to my lord, to Esau: Thus speaks your servant Jacob: With Laban I have sojourned, and I have remained there until now.

5 Bulls became mine and donkeys and flocks, also menservants and maidservants. So I am sending word to tell my lord that your servant may find grace in your eyes.

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob and said: We came to your brother, to Esau; and he is already coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.

7 Jacob was very fearful, and it was distressing to him. So he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks, the herd and the camels, into two camps.

8 He thought: If Esau should come to the one camp and smite it, then the remaining camp would come to be delivered.

9 Then Jacob said: O Elohim of my father Abraham and Elohim of my father Isaac, O Yahweh Who told me: Return to your land and to your kindred, and I shall do good to you!

10 I am less than worthy of all the benignities and of all the faithfulness that You have shown to Your servant. For with only my stave I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

11 Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. For I am fearful of him lest he come and smite me, and the mother with the sons.

12 Yet You Yourself have said: I shall do good, yea good to you, and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea which cannot be numbered for multitude.

13 So he lodged there for that night. And from what came to his hand, he took an approach present for his brother Esau:

14 two hundred she-goats and twenty bucks, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

15 thirty milch camels with their foals, forty young cows and ten young bulls, twenty jennies and ten colts.

16 He put them under the hand of his servants, drove after drove by itself alone. And he said to his servants: Pass along before me and leave an interval between drove and drove.

17 Then he instructed the first, saying: In case my brother Esau should encounter you and ask you, saying: To whom do you belong? Whither are you going, and to whom do these before you belong?

18 so you say: To your servant, to Jacob. It is an approach present, sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he himself is coming behind us.

19 Thus he instructed also the second and the third as well as all those going after the droves, saying: According to this word you shall speak to Esau when you come upon him;

20 and you must also say: Behold, your servant Jacob is coming along behind us. For he thought, I am determined to appease his face with the approach present going before me. And afterward I shall see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face.

21 So the approach present passed along, ahead of his face; yet he himself lodged for that night in the camp.

22 In that night he got up and took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.

23 He took them and let them pass through the wadi; he also sent across all that he had.

24 When Jacob was left alone by himself, a Man wrestled with him until the dawn ascended.

25 Then He saw that He did not prevail against him. He touched the palm of his thighbone; and the palm of Jacob’s thighbone was strained in his wrestling with Him.

26 Then He said: Let Me go, for the dawn has ascended. Yet he said: I shall not let You go unless You first bless me.

27 Yet He said to him: What is your name? And he replied: Jacob.

28 And He said to him: No longer shall your name be called Jacob, but rather Israel; for upright are you with Elohim and with men, and you are prevailing.

29 Then Jacob asked and said: Do tell me, I pray, Your name. Yet He said: Why is this that you are asking for My name? And He blessed him there.

30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. For I have seen Elohim face to face, and my soul was rescued.

31 And the sun rose on him as he passed by Penuel. And he was limping on account of his thigh.

32 Therefore the sons of Israel are not eating the sinew of the thigh nerve, which is on the palm of the thighbone, until this day; for He had touched the palm of Jacob’s thighbone at the sinew of the thigh nerve.

Chapter 33

1 Jacob lifted up his eyes, and behold, he saw his brother Esau coming, and with him four hundred men. So Jacob divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maidservants.

2 Then he put the maidservants and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last.

3 He himself passed on before them, and he bowed down toward the earth seven times until he came close to his brother.

4 Yet Esau ran to meet him; he embraced him and fell on his neck and kissed him; and they wept.

5 Then he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children; and he asked: Who are these with you? He replied: The children whom Elohim has graciously given to your servant.

6 Then the maidservants came close, they and their children, and bowed down.

7 Leah also came close with her children, and they bowed down. And afterward Joseph and Rachel came close, and they bowed down.

8 Now he asked: What is all this camp to you that I have encountered? And he replied: To find grace in the eyes of my lord.

9 Yet Esau said: I have much, my brother. Let what is yours be yours.

10 But Jacob replied: Oh no! If now I have found grace in your eyes, then you must take my approach present from my hand because I have seen your face as one sees the face of Elohim, and you are benevolent toward me.

11 Please take my blessing gift that I have brought to you, for Elohim has been gracious to me, and because I have everything. So he urged him, and he took it.

12 Then he said: Do let us journey, and do let us go. And I shall indeed go in front of you.

13 But he replied to him: My lord knows that the children are of tender age, and that the flock and the herd, recently freshened, are under my care. If I drive them hard a single day, all the small cattle shall die.

14 So let my lord, please, pass on before his servant. But may I myself conduct them gently, according to the pace of the property before me, and the pace of the children until I come to my lord at Seir.

15 Then Esau said: Let me now put with you some of the people who are with me. Yet he replied: Why this? Only let me find grace in the eyes of my lord.

16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth and built himself a house there. And for his cattle he made booths. Therefore he called the name of the place Succoth.

18 Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, after he had come back from Padan-Syria; and he encamped before the city.

19 Then he acquired the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs.

20 And he set up there an altar and called on the Elohim of Israel.

Chapter 34

1 Dinah, the daughter of Leah whom she had borne for Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land.

2 Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; he took her, and lay with her and humiliated her.

3 His soul was clinging to Dinah daughter of Jacob, and he was loving the maiden and spoke to the heart of the maiden.

4 So Shechem said to his father Hamor, saying: Take this girl as wife for me.

5 Now Jacob, he heard that the son of Hamor had defiled his daughter Dinah, but his sons, they were with his cattle in the field. So Jacob kept silent until they came back.

6 Then Shechem’s father Hamor came forth to Jacob to speak with him.

7 As for Jacob’s sons, they came from the field as they heard of it; and the men were grieved. Their anger grew exceedingly hot because he had committed an outrage against Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter. And they said: Such a thing ought not to be done.

8 Yet Hamor spoke with them, saying: As for my son Shechem, his soul is attached to your daughter. Give her, please, to him as wife,

9 and intermarry with us. You give your daughters to us, and you take our daughters for your sons.

10 And you may dwell with us; the land shall become open before you. Dwell and go as merchants on it, and have holdings in it.

11 Then Shechem said to her father and to her brothers: Let me find grace in your eyes, and whatever you tell me I shall give it.

12 Impose on me very much as bride-price and gift; and I intend to give whatever you tell me; only give me the maiden as wife.

13 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit; and they spoke so because he had defiled their sister Dinah.

14 Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, said to them: We can not do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin; for this is a reproach to us.

15 Only on this condition shall we consent to you and dwell with you, if you become like us and have every male among you circumcised.

16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and we shall take your daughters for us as wives. We will dwell with you and become one people.

17 Yet if you do not hearken to us and be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.

18 Their words seemed good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem son of Hamor.

19 The youth did not delay to do this thing, for he delighted in Jacob’s daughter; he was the most illustrious of all his father’s household.

20 So Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gateway of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying:

21 These men, they are peaceable toward us, so they may dwell in the land and go as merchants on it. Behold, the land is wide enough on either side before them. We can take their daughters as wives for ourselves, and we can give our daughters to them.

22 Only on this condition shall the men consent to us so as to dwell with us and to become one people, that every male of ours be circumcised just as they are circumcised.

23 Their cattle and their acquisitions and all their beasts, will they not be ours? Only do let us consent to them, and they shall dwell with us.

24 And they hearkened to Hamor and his son Shechem, all those who went out of the gateway of his city. And they were circumcised, every male, in the flesh of their foreskin.

25 It came to pass on the third day when they were in pain that the two sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares and killed every male.

26 They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house and went out.

27 Then the sons of Jacob, they came upon the slain and plundered the city because they had defiled their sister Dinah.

28 And they took their flocks, their herds and their donkeys, all that were in the city and that were in the field.

29 They captured all their estate, all their little ones and their wives; and they plundered even everything in the houses.

30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have brought trouble on me by making me stink among the dwellers of the land, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, while my men are few in number; if they are gathered against me, they will smite me; and I will be exterminated, I and my household.

31 Yet they replied: Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?

Chapter 35

1 Elohim said to Jacob: Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there, and make an altar there to El Who appeared to you when you ran away from the face of your brother Esau.

2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him: Put away the foreign elohim that are in your midst. Clean yourselves, and change your raiments.

3 Then do let us arise, and do let us go up to Bethel. I intend to make an altar there to El Who answered me in the day of my distress and was with me on the way that I have gone.

4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign elohim that were in their hands and the pendants that were in their ears; and Jacob buried them under the terebinth which was near Shechem.

5 As they journeyed, the dismay of Elohim came on the cities round about them; and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6 And Jacob came to Luz in the land of Canaan (that is Bethel), he and all the people that were with him.

7 Then he built an altar there and called the place: El of Bethel; for there the One, Elohim, had been revealed to him when he ran away from the face of his brother Esau.

8 And Deborah, Rebecca’s wetnurse, died and was entombed below Bethel under the oak. And Jacob called its name Allon-bacuth.

9 Elohim appeared to Jacob again in Luz during his coming back from Padan-Syria, and Elohim blessed him.

10 Elohim said to him: Your name is Jacob; yet your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but rather Israel, it shall be your name. Thus He called his name Israel.

11 And Elohim said to him: I am El Who-Suffices; be fruitful and multiply. A nation and an assembly of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come forth from your loins.

12 And the land that I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, I shall give it to you, and to your seed after you I shall give the land.

13 Then Elohim ascended from him in the place where He had spoken with him.

14 And Jacob set up a monument in the place where He had spoken with him, a monument of stone, and he libated a libation on it and poured oil on it.

15 Jacob called the name of the place where Elohim had spoken with him, Bethel.

16 As they journeyed from Bethel, while there was still some distance of land before coming to Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had a hard time in giving birth.

17 It came to pass when she had it hard in giving birth, that the midwife said to her: You must not fear, for this one too shall be a son for you.

18 And it came to pass when her soul was going out (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni; yet his father, he called him Benjamin.

19 So Rachel died and was entombed on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

20 And Jacob set up a monument over her tomb. This is the monument of Rachel’s tomb until today.

21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.

22 It came to pass while Israel was tabernacling in that land that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine. Israel heard of it, and it was evil in his eyes. So there came to be twelve sons of Jacob.

23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun.

24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali.

26 And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Padan-Syria.

27 Then Jacob came to his father Isaac, to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac came to be a hundred eighty years.

29 Then Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and satisfied with days. And his sons Esau and Jacob entombed him.

Chapter 36

1 These are the genealogical records of Esau (that is, Edom).

2 Esau had taken his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah daughter of Anah son of Zibeon the Horite,

3 and Basemath daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.

4 Adah bore for Esau Eliphaz, Basemath bore Reuel,

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

6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters and all the souls of his household, his cattle, all his beasts and all his acquisitions that he had gotten in the land of Canaan; and he went to a land away from the face of his brother Jacob.

7 For their goods had become too great for dwelling together; the land of their sojournings could not sustain them because of the multitude of their cattle.

8 So Esau was dwelling in the hill country of Seir (Esau, that is, Edom).

9 These are the genealogical records of Esau, father of Edom, in the hill country of Seir.

10 And these are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, son of Esau’s wife Adah; Reuel, son of Esau’s wife Basemath.

11 The sons of Eliphaz came to be Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz.

12 Timna became the concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz; she bore for Eliphaz Amalek. These are the grandsons of Esau’s wife Adah.

13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These became the grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.

14 And these came to be the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah son of Zibeon: She bore for Esau Jeush, Jalam and Korah.

15 These are the sheiks of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn: sheik Teman, sheik Omar, sheik Zepho, sheik Kenaz,

16 sheik Korah, sheik Gatam, sheik Amalek. These are the sheiks of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the grandsons by Adah.

17 And these are the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: sheik Nahath, sheik Zerah, sheik Shammah, sheik Mizzah. These are the sheiks of Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the grandsons by Esau’s wife Basemath.

18 And these are the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: sheik Jeush, sheik Jalem, sheik Korah. These are the sheiks of Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their sheiks.

20 And these are the sons of Seir the Horite, the dwellers of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon and Anah,

21 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These are the sheiks of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom.

22 The sons of Lotan came to be Hori and Hemam; Timna was Lotan’s sister.

23 And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

24 And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. He is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while he was grazing the donkeys for Zibeon his father.

25 And these are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.

26 And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Cheran.

27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan.

28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

29 These are the sheiks of the Horites: sheik Lotan, sheik Shobal, sheik Zibeon, sheik Anah,

30 sheik Dishon, sheik Ezer, sheik Dishan. These are the sheiks of the Horites according to their sheiks in the land of Seir.

31 And these are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before a king reigned over the sons of Israel.

32 Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

33 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his stead.

34 When Jobab died, Husham from the Temanite land reigned in his stead.

35 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith.

36 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his stead.

37 When Samlah died, Saul from Rehoboth by the Stream reigned in his stead.

38 When Saul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

39 When Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, Hadad son of Bered reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pau. The name of his wife was Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

40 So these are the names of the sheiks of Esau according to their families, according to their places, by their names: the sheik of Timna, the sheik of Alvah, the sheik of Jetheth,

41 the sheik of Oholibamah, the sheik of Elah, the sheik of Pinon,

42 the sheik of Kenaz, the sheik of Teman, the sheik of Mibzar,

43 the sheik of Magdiel, the sheik of Iram. These are the sheiks of Edom according to their dwelling places in the land of their holding; (that is, Esau father of Edom).

Chapter 37

1 Now Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

2 These are the chronological records of Jacob. Joseph, seventeen years old, came to be grazing the flock with his brothers (since he was but a young lad), with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought their evil muttering to their father.

3 Now Israel, he loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a distinctive tunic.

4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his other sons, they hated him so they could not speak peaceably with him.

5 Once Joseph dreamed a dream; when he told it to his brothers, they hated him still more.

6 He said to them: Do hear this dream that I have dreamed.

7 Behold, we were binding together grain-sheaves in the midst of the field, and behold, my grain-sheaf got up and stood upright. And behold, your grain-sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my grain-sheaf.

8 His brothers replied to him: Are you going to reign, yea reign over us? Or shall you rule, yea rule over us? And they hated him still more on account of his dreams and his words.

9 Then he dreamed still another dream and related it to his father and to his brothers. He said: Behold, I have again dreamed a dream. Behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.

10 When he related it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him: What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we come, yea come, I and your mother and your brothers, to bow down to the earth before you?

11 So his brothers were jealous of him; yet his father, he observed the word.

12 Once his brothers went to graze their father’s flock at Shechem.

13 So Israel said to Joseph: Are not your brothers grazing at Shechem? Do go! I shall send you to them. And he replied to him: Here I am.

14 Then Israel said to him: Go now and see about the well-being of your brothers and about the well-being of the flock, and bring me back word. So he sent him off from the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15 A man found him, behold, straying in the fields, and the man asked him, saying: What are you seeking?

16 He replied: I am seeking my brothers. Do tell me, please, where they are grazing.

17 The man said: They decamped from here; for I heard them saying: Let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

18 They saw him from afar; and ere he came near to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.

19 And they said, each to his brother: Behold, this dreamy person there is coming.

20 Come now, let us kill him and fling him into one of the cisterns; and we will say: A wild animal, it has devoured him. Then we shall see what will come of his dreams.

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. He said: Let us not smite his soul.

22 Reuben further said to them: You must not shed blood. Fling him into this cistern that is in the wilderness. But you must not lay a hand on him. He said this that he might rescue him from their hands in order to restore him to his father.

23 So it came about, that as soon as Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the distinctive tunic that he had on him.

24 And they took him and flung him into the cistern. Yet the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat bread. When they lifted up their eyes, behold, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying tragacanth gum, balm and labdanum; they were going to bring it down to Egypt.

26 Now Judah said to his brothers: What is to be gained if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

27 Come, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites. Do not let our hand be upon him; for our brother, our own flesh is he. And his brothers acquiesced.

28 When the men, the Midianite merchants passed by, they drew and brought Joseph up from the cistern and sold Joseph for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites who brought Joseph to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the cistern, behold, Joseph was not in the cistern. He tore his clothes,

30 returned to his brothers and said: The boy! He is no longer there! And I whither am I now going?

31 Then they took Joseph’s tunic, slew a hairy goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood.

32 They sent the distinctive tunic and had it brought to their father, and said: This we have found. Do identify it; is it your son’s tunic or not?

33 He recognized it and said: The tunic of my son! A wild animal, it has devoured him! Joseph was torn to pieces, yea torn to pieces!

34 Then Jacob tore his raiments and put sackcloth on his waist and mourned over his son many days.

35 All his sons and all his daughters got up and came to console him; yet he refused to be consoled and said: For I shall go down mourning to my son, to the unseen. Thus his father lamented over him.

36 Meanwhile the Midianites sold Joseph into Egypt, to Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh and chief of the bodyguard.

Chapter 38

1 It came to pass at that time that Judah went down away from his brothers and pitched his tent near an Adullamite man; his name was Hirah.

2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man ( his name was Shua). He took her as wife and came to her.

3 She became pregnant and bore a son, and she called his name Er.

4 She became pregnant again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

5 And yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. She was at Kezib when she gave birth to him.

6 Judah took a wife for his firstborn, Er; her name was Tamar.

7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in Yahweh’s eyes; and Yahweh put him to death.

8 So Judah said to Onan: Come to your brother’s wife, perform the levirate for her, and raise seed for your brother.

9 But Onan knew that the seed would not become his. And it occurred, when he came to his brother’s wife, that he spilled the semen on the earth so as not to give seed to his brother.

10 What he did was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, and He put him to death also.

11 Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law: Dwell as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah has grown up; for he said to himself: Lest he die too as his brothers did. So Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

12 After many days had passed, Shuah’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. When Judah was consoled, he went up to Timnah to the shearers of his flock of sheep, he and his shepherd Hirah the Adullamite.

13 And Tamar was told, saying: Behold, your husband’s father is going up to Timnah to shear his flock.

14 So she took off the clothes of her widowhood from her, covered herself with a veil, bedecked herself and sat down at the entrance opening of Enaim which is on the road to Timnah; for she realized that Shelah had grown up; and yet she had not been given to him as a wife.

15 When Judah saw her, he accounted her a prostitute; for she had covered her face, and he did not recognize her.

16 So he turned aside to her by the roadside and said: Do grant me that I come to you! For he did not realize that she was his daughter-in-law. She asked: What shall you give me that you may come to me?

17 He replied: I shall send you a kid of the goats from the flock. And she said: If you give me a surety until you send it to me.

18 He replied: What is the surety that I should give you? She answered: Your seal with your twist and your staff that is in your hand. He gave them to her and came to her; and she became pregnant by him.

19 Then she got up and went away; she took off her veil from her and put on the clothes of her widowhood.

20 Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his shepherd the Adullamite in order to procure the surety from the hand of the woman; but he did not find her.

21 He asked the men of her place, saying: Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim by the roadside? Yet they replied: No cult prostitute has been in this place.

22 So he returned to Judah and said: I have not found her, and moreover, the men of the place said: No cult prostitute has been in this place.

23 Then Judah said: She may take them for herself, lest we become despised. Behold, I sent this kid, but you did not find her.

24 About three months later it occurred that Judah was told, saying: Your daughter-in-law Tamar has committed prostitution; and moreover, behold, she is pregnant by prostitution. Judah said: Bring her forth that she may be burned.

25 As she was brought forth, she sent word to her husband’s father, saying: By the man to whom these belong I am pregnant. She further said: Do identify to whom these belong, the seal with the twist and the staff.

26 Judah recognized them and said: Tamar is more righteous than I, for the reason that I did not give her to my son Shelah. But he did not know her again anymore.

27 When the time came for her to give birth, behold, twins were in her belly.

28 And it happened while she was giving birth that one put out a hand. The midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying: This one came forth first.

29 Then it happened as soon as he retracted his hand that, behold, his brother came forth. And she said: How have you breached a breach for yourself? So she called his name Perez.

30 Afterward his brother came forth on whose hand was the scarlet thread. And she called his name Zerah.

Chapter 39

1 As for Joseph, he had been brought down to Egypt. And an Egyptian man, Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh and chief of the bodyguard, had bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

2 Yahweh was with Joseph, so that he became a man who prospered; and he remained in the house of his lord, the Egyptian.

3 When his lord saw that Yahweh was with him and that Yahweh was prospering under his hand everything he was doing,

4 then Joseph found grace in his eyes, and he ministered to him. Then he made him supervisor over his household, and all that he had, he gave into his hand.

5 And it came to be that, when he had made him supervisor of his household and over all that he had, from then on, owing to Joseph, Yahweh blessed the household of the Egyptian. Yahweh’s blessing was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

6 So he left all that was his in Joseph’s hand. He gave no thought about anything concerning himself, except the bread he was eating. Now Joseph was well-favored in shape as well as well-favored to the sight.

7 It came about after these things that the wife of his lord lifted up her eyes to Joseph and said: Do lie with me!

8 But he refused and said to his lord’s wife: Behold, with me around, my lord gives no thought about anything in the house; and all that he has, he has given into my hand.

9 He is no greater in this house than I am; and he has not kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How should I do this great evil and sin against Elohim?

10 And it came to pass as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he would not hearken to her to lie beside her, to be with her.

11 One day like this it occurred when Joseph came to the house to do his work, that there were none of the men of the household there in the house.

12 So she grasped him by his cloak, saying: Do lie with me! But he left his cloak in her hand and fled and went out, outdoors.

13 And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had fled outdoors,

14 that she called the men of her household and spoke to them saying: See! He brought us a Hebrew man to make fun of us. He came to me to lie with me; but I called out with a loud voice.

15 And it came to pass, when he heard that I raised my voice high and was calling, that he left his cloak beside me and fled and went out, outdoors.

16 She kept his cloak laid up beside her until his lord came to his house.

17 Then she spoke to him according to these words, saying: The Hebrew slave whom you brought to us came to me to make fun of me; and he said to me, Lie with me!

18 And it came to pass when I raised my voice high and called out that he left his cloak beside me and fled outdoors.

19 Now it came about when his lord heard his wife’s words which she spoke to him, saying: In this manner your slave has treated me, that his anger grew hot.

20 So Joseph’s lord took him and put him into the round-house, the place where the king’s prisoners lay bound. And there he remained in the round-house.

21 Yet Yahweh was with Joseph and stretched out kindness to him in that He granted him grace in the eyes of the warden of the round-house.

22 And the warden of the round-house gave over into the hand of Joseph all the prisoners who were in the round-house, so that he was instituting everything they were doing there.

23 The warden of the round-house was not supervising anything whatsoever under his hand, because Yahweh was with him, and all that he was doing, Yahweh would cause to prosper.

Chapter 40

1 It came to pass after these things that the chief cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the chief baker sinned against their lord the king of Egypt.

2 Pharaoh was wrathful over his two court officials, over the chief of the cupbearers and over the chief of the bakers;

3 and he put them under guard in the house of the chief of the bodyguard, at the round-house, the place where Joseph lay bound.

4 The chief of the bodyguard assigned Joseph to look after them; and so he ministered to them while they were under guard for some days.

5 Both of them dreamed a dream, each man his own dream in the same night, each man his dream with its own interpretation, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker of the king of Egypt who both lay bound in the round-house.

6 When Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them, behold, they were languid.

7 So he asked Pharaoh’s court officials who were under guard with him, in his lord’s house, saying: For what reason are your faces troubled today?

8 They replied to him: We dreamed a dream, yet there is no one to interpret it. Joseph said to them: Do not interpretations belong to Elohim? Relate it to me, please.

9 So the chief of the cupbearers related his dream to Joseph and said to him: In my dream, behold, there was a vine before me.

10 And on the vine were three intertwining branches; as soon as it was budding, its blossoms came up, and its clusters ripened their grapes.

11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; so I took the grapes, pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and put the cup in Pharaoh’s palm.

12 Then Joseph said to him: This is its interpretation. The three intertwined branches, they are three days.

13 In another three days Pharaoh shall lift up your head, and he will restore you to your post; and you will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, according to the former custom when you were his cupbearer.

14 So if you still remember me being here with you, as soon as it should go well with you, then, I pray, you do me the kindness and mention me to Pharaoh and bring me forth from this house.

15 For I was stolen, yea stolen from the land of the Hebrews; and even here I have not done anything that they should put me in this confinement.

16 When the chief of the bakers saw how well he had interpreted, he said to Joseph: I too was in my dream, and behold, there were three wicker trays on my head,

17 and in the uppermost tray there were some of every sort of Pharaoh’s food, handiwork of the baker; and the flyers were eating them out of the tray over my head.

18 Joseph answered and said to him, This is its interpretation: The three trays, they are three days.

19 In another three days Pharaoh shall lift up your head off you, and he will hang you on a tree. And the flyers will eat your flesh off your bones.

20 It came to pass on the third day, the birthday of Pharaoh, that he gave a feast for all his officials; and he lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers in the presence of his officials.

21 He restored the chief of the cupbearers to his cupbearing, so that he again put the cup in Pharaoh’s palm.

22 As for the chief of the bakers, he hanged him just as Joseph had interpreted for them.

23 Yet the chief of the cupbearers did not remember Joseph; he forgot him.

Chapter 41

1 It came about at the end of two full years that Pharaoh was dreaming. And behold, he was standing by the waterway,

2 when, behold, seven young cows, lovely in appearance and plump of flesh, were coming up from the waterway and grazed in the marsh grass.

3 And behold, seven other young cows, ugly in appearance and thin of flesh, were coming up after them from the waterway; and they stood beside the other young cows on the ridge of the waterway.

4 Then the seven young cows, ugly in appearance and thin of flesh, ate the seven young cows that were lovely in appearance and plump. At this Pharaoh awoke.

5 He fell asleep again and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were coming up on one stalk.

6 And behold, seven other ears of grain, thin and blasted by the east wind, were sprouting after them.

7 Then the seven thin ears of grain swallowed up the seven plump and full ears of grain. At this Pharaoh awoke; and behold, it had been a dream.

8 It occurred in the morning when his spirit was agitated, that he sent and called all the sacred scribes of Egypt and all her wise men. And Pharaoh related his dream to them; but there was no one to interpret them for Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief of the cupbearers spoke to Pharaoh, saying: I am reminded of my faults today.

10 Once Pharaoh was wrathful over his officials and put me under guard in the house of the chief of the bodyguard, me and the chief of the bakers.

11 We dreamed a dream in the same night, both I and he. We dreamed, each one his dream with its own interpretation.

12 And there, with us, was a Hebrew lad, a servant of the chief of the bodyguard. We related them to him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; he interpreted for each one according to his dream.

13 And it came about just as he had interpreted for us, so it happened. For me it was restoring to my post, and for him it was hanging.

14 So Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. They brought him rapidly from the confinement; when he had shaved and changed his raiments, he came to Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph: I dreamed a dream, yet there is no one to interpret it. Now I myself have heard it said about you, when you hear a dream, you are able to interpret it.

16 Joseph answered to Pharaoh, saying: It is not in me. Elohim, He shall answer for the well-being of Pharaoh.

17 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph: In my dream, behold, I was standing on the ridge of the waterway.

18 And behold, from the waterway seven young cows, plump of flesh and lovely in shape, were coming up, and they grazed in the marsh grass.

19 And behold, from the waterway seven other young cows, poor and very ugly in shape and scrawny of flesh, were coming up after them. I have never seen any so ugly as these in all the land of Egypt.

20 And the seven scrawny and ugly young cows ate the first seven plump young cows.

21 When they had come into their inwards, it would not be known that they had come into their inwards, for their appearance was ugly just as at the start. At this I awoke.

22 Then I fell asleep a second time, and I saw in my dream, behold, seven ears of grain, full and good, were coming up on one stalk.

23 And behold, seven other ears of grain, puny, thin and blasted by the east wind, were sprouting after them.

24 And the seven thin ears of grain swallowed up the seven good ears of grain. When I told this to the sacred scribes, there was no one to unravel it for me.

25 Joseph said to Pharaoh: The dream of Pharaoh, it is but one. What the One, Elohim, is about to do, He has told to Pharaoh.

26 The seven good young cows, they are seven years. And the seven good ears of grain, they are seven years. The dream of Pharaoh, it is but one.

27 The seven scrawny and ugly young cows coming up after them, they are seven years. And the seven empty ears of grain, blasted by the east wind, they shall be seven years of famine.

28 This is the word that I have spoken to Pharaoh: What the One, Elohim, is about to do, He has shown to Pharaoh.

29 Behold, seven years are coming with great plenty in all the land of Egypt.

30 But seven years of famine will arise after them; and all the plenty in the land of Egypt will be forgotten; the famine will consume the land.

31 The plenty shall be unknown in the land in view of that famine thereafter; for it will be exceedingly heavy.

32 The reason the dream was repeated to Pharaoh, given twice, is that the matter is already established with the One, Elohim. And the One, Elohim, will make haste to do it.

33 And now let Pharaoh select an understanding and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh act and appoint supervisors over the land and take a fifth of all the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of plenty.

35 They should get together all the food of these seven good years which are coming, and they should heap up cereal grain under Pharaoh’s hand for food in the cities, and they must safeguard it.

36 This food will be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine which shall come in the land of Egypt, so that the land should not be cut off in the famine.

37 The proposal seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his officials;

38 and Pharaoh said to his officials: Shall we find one like this, a man in whom is the spirit of Elohim?

39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: After Elohim let you know all this, there is no one so understanding and wise as you.

40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall obey at your bidding. But in the throne I shall be greater than you.

41 Pharaoh further said to Joseph: See! I have set you today over all the land of Egypt.

42 Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He had him clothed in garments of cambric, and he placed a decorative chain of gold about his neck.

43 He had him ride in the second chariot that he had; and they called out before him: Attention! Thus he was putting him over all the land of Egypt.

44 Moreover Pharaoh said to Joseph: I am the Pharaoh, yet without your consent no man shall raise up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him as wife Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera priest of On. Then Joseph began to go out over the land of Egypt.

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. After Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, he traveled across the whole land of Egypt.

47 While the earth yielded in overabundance during the seven years of plenty,

48 he got together all the food of the seven years of copiousness that came to be in the land of Egypt. And he stored the food in the cities; the food from the field that was round about the city, he stored in the midst of it.

49 Thus Joseph was heaping up cereal grain, exceedingly much, like the sand of the sea, until he halted counting , for there was no more enumeration possible.

50 Two sons were born to Joseph ere the year of the famine came. Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bore them for him.

51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For Elohim has made me oblivious of all my toil and all my father’s house.

52 He called the name of the second Ephraim: For Elohim has made me fruitful in the land of my humiliation.

53 Then the seven years of plenty that had come to be in the land of Egypt concluded,

54 and the seven years of the famine started to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was found bread.

55 When the whole land of Egypt was famishing too, then the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Yet Pharaoh said to all Egyptians: Go to Joseph; what he says to you, you shall do.

56 Meanwhile the famine, it had come to be over the entire surface of the earth. When the famine held fast in the land of Egypt, Joseph opened all the storehouses, all that was in them, and he rationed out grain to the Egyptians.

57 Also all the earth came to Egypt, to Joseph, to purchase because the famine held fast in all the earth.

Chapter 42

1 When Jacob saw that there were grain rations to be had in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons: Why are you staring at one another?

2 And he added: Behold, I have heard that there are grain rations in Egypt. Go down there and purchase for us a little food from there, that we may live and not die.

3 So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to purchase cereal grain in Egypt.

4 Yet Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said: Lest mishap befall him.

5 Thus the sons of Israel came along to purchase in the midst of others who were coming; for the famine was also in the land of Canaan.

6 As for Joseph, he was the man in authority over the land; he was rationing out to all the people of the land. When Joseph’s brothers came, they bowed down to him with their brow to the earth.

7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them; yet he made himself unrecognizable to them. He spoke harshly to them and asked them: From where have you come? And they replied: From the land of Canaan, to purchase food.

8 While Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

9 Now Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them: You are spies. You have come to see the land in its nakedness.

10 Yet they replied to him: No, my lord. Your servants, they have come to purchase food.

11 All of us, we are sons of one man; we are forthright men; your servants have never been spies.

12 But he said to them: No, for you have come to see the land in its nakedness.

13 They replied: We, your servants, were twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And, behold, the youngest is with our father this day, and the one he is no more.

14 However Joseph said to them: It is just as I told you, saying: You are spies.

15 By this you shall be tested, as sure as Pharaoh is alive. You shall assuredly not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother comes here.

16 Send one of you, and let him take your brother here, while you shall be bound. Thus shall your words be tested whether there is truth in you. But if not, then, as sure as Pharaoh is alive, you are spies! And they said: The youth cannot leave his father. When he would leave his father, then he would die!

17 Yet he had them gathered under guard for three days.

18 On the third day Joseph said to them: Do this, and you shall live! I am fearing the One, Elohim.

19 If you are forthright men, let one of your brothers be kept bound in your guardhouse. The rest of you, go and bring the grain rations for the famine of your households.

20 But you shall bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified, and you shall not die. And this is what they did.

21 Now they said, each man to his brother: Verily, we are guilty on account of our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he supplicated with us, but we did not hearken. Therefore this distress has come upon us.

22 Reuben retorted to them, saying: Did I not tell you, saying: Do not sin against the boy? But you did not hearken. As for his blood, indeed, here it is required from us.

23 Yet they did not know that Joseph was making out their words, for there was a translator between him and them.

24 Now Joseph turned around, away from them; and he was weeping. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. He took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.

25 Joseph gave instructions to fill their vessels with cereal grain, to restore their money, each man’s into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Accordingly one did so for them.

26 Then they loaded their grain rations on their donkeys and went off from there.

27 When, at the lodging place, one of them opened his sack to give provender to his donkey, he saw his money pouch; here it was in the mouth of his bag.

28 And he said to his brothers: My money has been restored. Indeed, here it is in my bag. At this their heart tensed up, so that they trembled, each man looking at his brother, saying: What is this that Elohim has done to us?

29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying:

30 The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly with us and put us under guard as spies against the land.

31 But we said to him: We are forthright men; we have never been spies.

32 We were twelve brothers, sons of our father; the one he is no more; and the youngest is with our father this day, in the land of Canaan.

33 Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: By this I shall know that you are forthright men. Leave one of your brothers with me; take the grain rations for the famine of your households and go.

34 But bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but you are forthright men. I shall deliver your brother to you, and you may go as merchants in the land.

35 It came to pass when they were emptying their sacks, behold, each man found his money pouch in his sack. When they saw their money pouches, they and their father as well, they were fearful.

36 Then their father Jacob said to them: It is me that you bereave. Joseph, he is no more, and Simeon, he is no more. And you would take Benjamin away. On me come all these things.

37 Now Reuben spoke to his father, saying: You may put my two sons to death, should I not bring him back to you. Do give him into my hand, and I shall restore him to you.

38 But he replied: My son shall not go down with you since his brother is dead, and he is remaining, he alone. If mishap would befall him on the way which you go, then you would bring down my grey hairs with affliction to the unseen.

Chapter 43

1 As to the famine, it was heavy in the land.

2 So it came to pass, as soon as they had finished eating the grain rations which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them: Return, purchase for us a little food.

3 Yet Judah spoke to him, saying: The man who is lord of the land bore witness, yea witness to us, saying: You shall not see my face unless your youngest brother is with you.

4 If you will send our brother with us, we are determined to go down and purchase food for you.

5 But if you will not send our brother with us, we shall not go down. For the man, he said to us: You shall not see my face unless your youngest brother is with you.

6 Then Israel said: Why did you bring this evil on me by telling the man, you had another brother?

7 They replied: The man questioned, yea questioned us about ourselves and our kindred, saying: Is your father still alive? Have you another brother? So we told him in accordance with these facts. How could we know, yea know that he would say to us: Bring down your brother?

8 Yet again Judah said to Israel his father: Do let the youth go with me. And do let us set out and go that we may live and not die, not only we, but also you and our little ones.

9 I shall be the one to be surety for him. From my hand shall you seek to exact him; if I do not bring him back to you and put him before you, then I will be at fault before you all my days.

10 For if we had not procrastinated, we would now have returned this twice.

11 So Israel their father said to them: If that is the case, indeed, then do this: Take some of the land’s superior products in your vessels and bring them down to the man as an approach present; a little balm and a little honey, tragacanth gum and labdanum, pistachio nuts and almonds.

12 Also, take a double amount of money in your hand; and the money that was restored in the mouth of your bags, you must bring back in your hand; perhaps it was an inadvertent error.

13 Take your brother too, and set out; return to the man.

14 And may El Who-Suffices grant you compassion before the man, so that he sends back with you your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am to be bereaved, I shall be bereaved.

15 So the men procured this approach present. And they took a double amount of money into their hand, and Benjamin. Then they set out and went down to Egypt where they stood in Joseph’s presence.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the one who was to oversee his house: Bring the men to the house. Have an animal slaughtered for slaughtered meat, and have it prepared. For the men shall eat with me at noon.

17 And the man did just as Joseph had said. So the man brought the men to Joseph’s house.

18 Yet the men were fearful because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said: It must be on account of the money which was restored in our bags at the start that we are brought in, so that one may roll himself upon us and cast himself upon us and take us for slaves, and our donkeys too.

19 Hence they came close to the man who was to oversee Joseph’s house, and they spoke to him at the portal of the house.

20 They said: O! my lord, we came down, yea down at the start to purchase food.

21 And it occurred when we came to the lodging place and began opening our bags, behold, there was the money of each one in the mouth of his bag, our money in its full weight. Now we brought it back in our hand.

22 And we have brought down other money in our hand to purchase food. We do not know who put our money into our bags.

23 He replied: It is well-being with you. You must not be fearful. Your Elohim and the Elohim of your fathers, He gave you a buried treasure in your bags. Your money came to me. And he brought forth Simeon to them.

24 Then the man brought the men toward Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet. When he had provided provender for their donkeys,

25 they laid out the approach present for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they should eat bread there.

26 When Joseph came home, they brought the approach present in their hand to him into the house, and they bowed down before him to the earth.

27 He asked them about their well-being and said: Is it well-being with your old father of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?

28 They replied: It is well-being with your servant, our father; he is still alive. And they bowed the head and prostrated themselves to him.

29 When Joseph lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked: Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to bring him to me? And he added: May Elohim be gracious to you, my son.

30 Then Joseph left quickly, for his compassions were fervid for his brother, so that he sought to weep. And he entered his own chamber and wept there.

31 After he had washed his face, he came forth, checked himself and said: Serve the bread.

32 Then they served him alone by himself, and them alone by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him, alone by themselves; for the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews since that would be an abhorrence to the Egyptians.

33 Now they sat facing him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the junior according to his inferior status. So the men, looking each at his associate, were amazed.

34 Then he had helpings carried from before him to them; yet Benjamin’s helping was fivefold more than the helpings of all of them. Thus, with him, they feasted and drank freely.

Chapter 44

1 Then Joseph instructed the one who was to oversee his house, saying: Fill the men’s bags with food as much as they are able to carry; put also each one’s money in the mouth of his bag.

2 And you shall put my beaker, the silver beaker, in the mouth of the bag of the youngest together with the money for his grain ration. So he did according to the word of Joseph that he had spoken.

3 When the morning was light, the men were dismissed, they and their donkeys,

4 and they went forth from the city. They had not gone far when Joseph said to the one who was to oversee his house: Set out, pursue after the men. When you have overtaken them, then you must say to them: Why have you repaid evil for good?

5 Why did you steal my beaker, the silver beaker? Is this not the one from which my lord drinks? It is the same by which he practices augury. You have done evil in what you did.

6 He overtook them and spoke to them with these words.

7 But they said to him: Why does my lord speak words as these? Far be it from your servants to act in this way.

8 Behold, the money that we found in the mouth of our bags, we brought it back to you from the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?

9 With whom the beaker may be found among your servants, he would die; and we also shall become slaves to my lord.

10 He replied: Now then, so be it, according to your words, yet only the man with whom the beaker is found, he shall become a slave to me. As for the rest of you, you shall be held innocent.

11 So they quickly let down each one his bag to the earth, and they opened each one his bag.

12 And he made the search, starting with the oldest, and finishing with the youngest. And the beaker was found in Benjamin’s bag.

13 At this they tore their raiments; they reloaded each man his bag on his donkey, and they returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell to the earth before him.

15 Joseph said to them: What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that a man such as I practices augury?

16 Judah answered: What shall we say to my lord? What shall we argue? How can we justify ourselves? The One, Elohim, He has found out the depravity of your servants. Behold, we are slaves to my lord, both we and he in whose hand the beaker was found.

17 But Joseph said: Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose hand the beaker was found, he shall become a slave to me. As for the rest of you, go up in peace to your father.

18 Then Judah came close to him and said: O! my lord, let your servant speak now a word in my lord’s ears, and let your anger not grow hot against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.

19 My lord, he asked his servant, saying: Have you a father or a brother?

20 And we said to my lord: We have an old father and a child of his old age, the youngest. Since his brother is dead, he alone is left of his mother, and so his father loves him.

21 Then you told your servants: Bring him down to me; I am determined to set my eyes on him.

22 And we said to my lord: The youth cannot leave his father. When he would leave his father, then he would die.

23 But you told your servants: If your youngest brother does not come down with you, you shall not see my face again.

24 And it came to pass as we went up to your servant our father that we told him the words of my lord.

25 Later our father said: Return, purchase for us a little food.

26 Yet we said: We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if he, our youngest brother, is not with us.

27 Then your servant our father said to us: You yourselves know that my wife bore two sons for me.

28 One went forth, away from me, and I said: Surely he was torn to pieces, yea torn to pieces. And I have not seen him hitherto.

29 If you take this one also from my presence and mishap would befall him on the way, then you would bring down my grey hairs with evil to the unseen.

30 So now, if I should come to your servant our father, and the youth were not with us, since his soul is tied up with his boy’s soul,

31 then it will come to pass, as soon as he sees the youth is not with us, that he will die; and your servants will bring down the grey hairs of your servant our father with affliction to the unseen.

32 For your servant became surety for the youth to my father, saying: If I do not bring him back to you, I will be at fault before my father all my days.

33 So now let your servant stay instead of the youth as a slave to my lord, and let the youth go up with his brothers.

34 For how could I go up to my father if the youth were not with me, for fear that I may see the evil which would come upon my father?

Chapter 45

1 At this Joseph was no longer able to check himself before all those who were stationed by him, and he called out: Have every man go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

2 He raised his voice in lamentation, and the Egyptians heard it; and Pharaoh’s house heard about it.

3 Joseph said to his brothers: I am Joseph! Is my father still alive? But his brothers were not able to answer him, for they were flustered at his presence.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers: Now come closer to me. When they came close, he said: I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold to Egypt.

5 And now do not be grieved nor let it be hot in your eyes that you sold me hither, because Elohim has sent me on before you for the preservation of life.

6 For this is just two years that the famine is within the land; and for five more years there will be no plowing nor harvest.

7 But Elohim sent me on before you to set up for you a remnant on earth and to preserve lives for you in a great deliverance.

8 So now, not you sent me here, but the One, Elohim; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord over all his household and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.

9 Make haste and go up to my father, and say to him: Thus says your son Joseph, Elohim has made me lord over the whole of Egypt. Do come down to me; do not stay behind.

10 You will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your sons and your sons’ sons, also your flocks and your herds and all that is yours.

11 I will provide for you there, since there are yet five years of famine, lest you become destitute, you and your household and all that you have.

12 And now your eyes and my brother Benjamin’s eyes are seeing that it is my mouth that is speaking to you.

13 So you tell my father about all my glory in Egypt and all that you have seen. And you must make haste and bring my father down here.

14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept. And Benjamin wept on his neck.

15 He also kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

16 The news was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brothers have come. And it was well pleasing in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his officials.

17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: Tell your brothers, Do this: Load up your livestock and go; enter into the land of Canaan,

18 and take your father and your households, and come to me. I am determined to give you of the best of the land of Egypt; you shall eat the fat of the land.

19 And you are instructed to tell them: Do this: Take for yourselves carts from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives; and you must lift your father on one and come.

20 Let not your eye commiserate over your chattels, for of the best of the whole land of Egypt, it is yours.

21 The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them carts at the bidding of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

22 To each and everyone he gave changes of raiments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of raiments.

23 And to his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys carrying some of the best things of Egypt, and ten jennies carrying cereal grain, bread and sustenance for his father on the journey.

24 Then he sent his brothers off. When they were going, he said to them: Do not be disturbed on the way!

25 So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob.

26 They told him, saying: Your son Joseph is still alive; indeed, he is ruler over the whole land of Egypt. But Jacob’s heart was torpid, for he did not believe them.

27 Then they spoke to him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them; and when he saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him, then the spirit of their father Jacob revived,

28 and Israel said: Enough! Joseph my son is still alive! I am determined to go and see him ere I die.

Chapter 46

1 So Israel journeyed, he and all that he had. When he came to Beer-sheba, he sacrificed sacrifices to the Elohim of his father Isaac.

2 Then Elohim spoke to Israel in appearances of the night and said: Jacob! Jacob! And he replied: Here I am.

3 Then He said, I am the One, El, the Elohim of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I shall make you there into a great nation.

4 I Myself shall go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself shall also bring you up, yea up; and Joseph shall set his hand on your eyes.

5 After this Jacob set out from Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

6 They also took their cattle and their goods that they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him;

7 his sons and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed, he brought them with him to Egypt.

8 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn;

9 Reuben’s sons: Enoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi.

10 Simeon’s sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Saul the son of a Canaanite woman.

11 Levi’s sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

12 Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah; yet Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan. Later, the sons of Perez came to be Hezron and Hamul.

13 Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puvah, Job and Shimron.

14 Zebulun’s sons: Sered, Elon and Jahleel.

15 These were Leah’s sons whom she bore for Jacob in Padan-Syria, besides his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and daughters were thirty-three.

16 Gad’s sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli.

17 Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, besides Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore for Jacob, sixteen souls.

19 The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

20 And sons were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera priest of On bore for him: Manasseh and Ephraim. And Manasseh’s sons came to be (whom the Syrian concubine bore for him) Machir; and Machir begot Gilead. And the sons of Manasseh’s brother Ephraim were Shuthelah and Tahan; and the sons of Shuthelah: Edem.

21 Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel. And Bela’s sons came to be Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim and Huppim. And Gera begot Ard.

22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born for Jacob. All the souls were eighteen.

23 Dan’s sons: Hushim.

24 Naphtali’s sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem.

25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore for Jacob. All the souls were seven.

26 All the souls belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt, who had come forth from his thighs, aside from the wives of Jacob’s sons, all the souls were sixty-six.

27 And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy-five.

28 He had sent Judah before him to Joseph to point out before him the way to Goshen. Then they came into the land of Goshen.

29 Joseph had his chariot hitched up and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he appeared before him, he fell on his neck and wept long on his neck.

30 Then Israel said to Joseph: I am willing to die at this time, after I have seen your face, and that you are still alive.

31 After this Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household: I must surely go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him: My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, they have come to me.

32 The men are shepherds of small cattle, for they became cattlemen. They have brought with them their flocks and their herds and all that belongs to them.

33 And it will occur that Pharaoh shall call for you and ask you: What is your occupation?

34 Then you must say: Your servants are cattlemen from our youth until now, both we and our fathers, in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd of small cattle is an abhorrence to Egyptians.

Chapter 47

1 So Joseph came and told Pharaoh. He said: My father and my brothers, their flocks, their herds and all that belongs to them, have come from the land of Canaan, and they are now in the land of Goshen.

2 From the whole number of his brothers he had taken with him five men that he might put them before Pharaoh.

3 When Pharaoh asked Joseph’s brothers, What is your occupation? they said to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds of small cattle, both we and our fathers.

4 Then they told Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in this land; for there is no pasture for the small cattle that your servants have, because the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan. And now, we pray you, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

5 After this Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying: So your father and your brothers, they have come to you.

6 The land of Egypt, it is before you. Have your father and your brothers settle in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know that there are among them able men, then you may appoint them chiefs over the cattle that belong to me.

7 Joseph then brought Jacob, his father, and stood him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 Then Pharaoh asked Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life?

9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred thirty years. Few and troubled have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not overtaken the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.

10 After this Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went forth from before Pharaoh.

11 Then Joseph had his father and his brothers settle and gave them a holding in the land of Egypt in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, just as Pharaoh had given instruction.

12 Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with bread corresponding to the number of their little ones.

13 Yet there was no bread in the whole land, for the famine was very heavy; and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were pining away because of the famine.

14 So Joseph took in all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan in payment for the grain rations which they were purchasing. And Joseph brought the money to Pharaoh’s house.

15 When all the money from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan was spent, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying, Grant us bread; why should we die in front of you since our money is expended?

16 Joseph replied, Grant me your cattle, and I will supply you in exchange for your cattle since your money is expended.

17 So they brought their cattle to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for their horses, their stock of flocks, their stock of herds and their donkeys. In that year he got them through the famine with bread in exchange for all their livestock.

18 When that year came to end, they came to him in the second year and said to him, We should not suppress the fact from my lord that, since our money is spent and the stock of our domestic beasts belongs to my lord, there is nothing left before my lord barring our body and our ground.

19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our ground? Buy us and our ground for bread; and we and our ground shall become serfs to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may sow and may live and not die, and the ground may not be desolate.

20 So Joseph bought all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all Egypt sold to Pharaoh, each man his field, because the famine held a fast grip on them. So the land became Pharaoh’s.

21 As for the people, he made them pass over to the cities, from one end of Egypt’s territory unto its other end.

22 But the ground of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a statutory allowance from Pharaoh. So they lived off their statutory allowance that Pharaoh had granted them. Therefore they did not sell their ground.

23 Then Joseph said to the people: Behold, I have bought you today with your ground for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you, and you must sow the ground with it.

24 Yet this will apply to the harvest yields: You must give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be for you as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and for all those in your households, and as food for your little ones.

25 They answered, You have preserved our lives. May we find grace in the eyes of my lord; we will be serfs to Pharaoh.

26 And Joseph made it a statute concerning the ground of Egypt, still valid to this day: Pharaoh must have a fifth; but the ground of the priests, theirs alone, did not become Pharaoh’s.

27 Thus Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen. They had holdings in it and were fruitful and increased more and more in number.

28 Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that Jacob’s days, the years of his life, came to be a hundred forty-seven years.

29 When the days drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him: If now I have found grace in your eyes, place your hand please under my thigh that you mean to show kindness and faithfulness to me. I pray, do not entomb me in Egypt.

30 I would lie with my fathers. So you must carry me away from Egypt and entomb me in their tomb. He replied, I myself shall do according to your word.

31 And he said, Do swear to me. So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship on the top of his couch.

Chapter 48

1 It came about after these things that someone said to Joseph, Behold, your father is ailing. At that he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim, and came to Jacob.

2 When it was told to Jacob, saying, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you, then Israel encouraged himself and sat up on the couch.

3 Jacob said to Joseph: El Who-Suffices, He appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

4 He said to me: Behold Me making you fruitful. I will multiply you and make of you an assembly of peoples. I will give this land to you and to your seed after you as an eonian holding.

5 Now as for your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you to Egypt, they are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh, they shall belong to me like Reuben and Simeon.

6 But your children whom you will beget after them, they shall become yours; by the name of their brothers shall they be called in their allotment.

7 I want this because, when I came from Padan-Syria, your mother Rachel died upon me in the land of Canaan on the way while there was still some distance of land before coming to Ephrath. So I entombed her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, Who are these?

9 Joseph replied to his father, They are my sons whom Elohim has given me in this land. At this Jacob said, Take them please to me that I may bless them.

10 Now Israel’s eyes, they were heavy with old age; he could not see well. When he brought them close to him, he kissed them and embraced them.

11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had never assumed to see your face again, and here Elohim has let me see your seed as well.

12 Joseph brought them forth from beside his knees, and he bowed down to him with his brow toward the earth.

13 Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim with his right hand to Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand to Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.

14 Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the junior, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head. He used his hands intelligently, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 And he blessed Joseph and said: The One, Elohim, before Whom my fathers walked, Abraham and Isaac, The One, Elohim, my Shepherd from my youth until this day,

16 The Messenger, my Redeemer from all evil, May He bless the lads, That through them my name may be called, And the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, And that they may proliferate to a multitude within the land.

17 When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it was displeasing in his eyes. So he took firm hold of his father’s hand to take it away, off Ephraim’s head, to the head of Manasseh.

18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.

19 But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he; and his seed shall become a fullness of nations.

20 So he blessed them on that day, saying: By you shall Israel bless itself, saying: May Elohim make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph: Behold, I am about to die; but Elohim will be with you and restore you to the land of your fathers.

22 As for me, I give to you one mountain slope more than to your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Chapter 49

1 Later on Jacob called his sons and said: Gather yourselves; I am determined to tell you what shall happen to you in the days hereafter.

2 Come together and hear, sons of Jacob, Hearken to Israel your father:

3 Reuben, my firstborn are you, my vigor And the beginning of my virility, Excelling in dignity and excelling in strength.

4 Unstable like water, you shall certainly not excel. For you went up to your father’s bed; Then you profaned my berth which you went up to.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers, Weapons of violence are their broadswords.

6 Do not come into their intimate group, my soul! Do not unite with their assembly, my glory! For in their anger they killed men, And in their whim they hamstrung a bull.

7 Accursed be their anger, for it was fierce, And their rage, for it was obstinate. I shall apportion them in Jacob, And I shall scatter them in Israel.

8 As for you, Judah, your brothers shall acclaim you; Your hand shall be on the scruff of your enemies. Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

9 A whelp of a lion is Judah From the prey, my son, you will grow up He crouches, he reclines like a lion; And like a lioness, who would make him rise up?

10 The scepter shall not withdraw from Judah, Nor the statute-maker’s staff from between his feet Until indeed He comes to Whom it belongs. And the peoples’ homage goes to Him.

11 He tethers His colt to a vine, His jenny’s foal to a yellow muscat grape. He launders His clothing in wine And His vesture in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are more cheering than wine And His teeth whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun, he tabernacles toward the sea shore; He lies toward the shore for ships, With his flank toward Sidon.

14 Issachar is a boney donkey, Reclining between the two saddlebags.

15 He sees the resting place, how good it is, And the land, how pleasant it is. So he lowers his shoulder to bear burdens And come under tributary service.

16 Dan, he adjudicates his people As one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan becomes a serpent by the way, A horned snake by the path, That bites the horse’s heels, So that its rider falls backwards.

18 For Your salvation, O Yahweh, I wait in expectation!

19 As for Gad, a raiding party, it raids him, Yet he raids their heels.

20 Asher, his bread is nutritious; As for him, he provides royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose, Giving seemly words.

22 Offshoot of a fruitful plant is Joseph, The offshoot of a fruitful plant by a spring, Whose sprigs have climbed up on the straight wall.

23 The archers had been bitterly enraged against him, They had contended with him And begrudged him.

24 But his bow remained in perennial steadiness, And the arms of his hands were supple Because of the hands of the Sturdy One of Jacob, Because there is the Shepherd of the Israel-Stone,

25 Because of your father’s El May He help you And the One Who-Suffices May He bless you With blessings of the heavens above, With blessings of the abyss reclining beneath, With blessings of breasts and womb.

26 The blessings of your father have gained the mastery Over the blessings of my progenitors, Unto the yearning of the eonian hills May they come to be onto the head of Joseph And onto the crown of the one singled out from his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours his prey, And in the evening he apportions the spoil.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them as he was blessing them. He blessed them, each one according to his own blessing.

29 Then he instructed them and said to them: I am to be gathered to my people. Entomb me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

30 in the cave which is in the field of Machpelah adjoining Mamre in the land of Canaan the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a holding for a tomb.

31 There they entombed Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they entombed Isaac and his wife Rebecca, and there I entombed Leah.

32 The field with the cave in it was an acquisition from the sons of Heth.

33 When Jacob had finished giving instruction to his sons, he drew his feet up again onto the couch and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

Chapter 50

1 Joseph fell on his father’s face, weeping over him and kissing him.

2 Then Joseph instructed servants of him, who were physicians, to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.

3 They took a full forty days for him; so they took the full number of days for embalming. And the Egyptians lamented over him seventy days.

4 When the days of lamentation over him were passed, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household, saying: If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak please before the ears of Pharaoh, saying:

5 My father, he made me swear before his death, saying: Behold, I am dying. In my tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall entomb me. And now let me go up, please, and do let me entomb my father. Then I shall indeed return.

6 Pharaoh replied to Joseph, Go up and entomb your father, just as he made you swear.

7 So Joseph went up to entomb his father. And with him went up all Pharaoh’s courtiers, the eldest of his household, and all the eldest of the land of Egypt,

8 also Joseph’s entire household and his brothers and his father’s household. But their little ones, all their flocks and their herds they left behind in the land of Goshen.

9 Both chariots as well as horsemen went up with him; it was a very massive force.

10 When they came to the threshing site of Atad, which is next to the Jordan, they wailed there with a loud and very grave wailing; and he observed seven days of mourning for his father.

11 When those dwelling in the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing site of Atad, they said, This is a grave mourning for the Egyptians. Therefore one called its name Abel-Mizraim, which is next to the Jordan.

12 Thus his sons did for him just as he had instructed them.

13 His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and entombed him in the cave in the field of Machpelah the field adjoining Mamre that Abraham bought as a holding for a tomb from Ephron the Hittite.

14 Then Joseph returned to Egypt, after he had entombed his father, he and his brothers and all those going up with him to entomb his father.

15 Yet Joseph’s brothers, seeing that their father was dead, said, Suppose, Joseph holds a grudge against us and should pay us back, yea pay back for all the evil that we dealt out to him.

16 So they sent forth a message to Joseph, saying, Your father gave instruction before his death, saying,

17 Thus shall you speak to Joseph: I pray you, please bear with the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they dealt evilly with you. So now please bear with the transgression of the servants of the Elohim of your father. And Joseph wept over their words to him.

18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are yours as servants.

19 Joseph replied to them: Do not fear! For am I in the place of Elohim?

20 You devised evil against me, yet Elohim, He devised it for good in order to accomplish, as at this day, to preserve many people alive.

21 So now do not fear; I myself shall sustain you and your little ones. Thus he comforted them and spoke to their hearts.

22 Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his brothers and all his father’s household. Joseph lived a hundred ten years;

23 and Joseph saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation; also the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir, they were born on Joseph’s knees.

24 At length Joseph said to his brothers: I am about to die; yet Elohim, He shall take note, yea take note of you. He will bring you up from this land to the land about which Elohim swore to our fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

25 Then Joseph adjured the sons of Israel, saying, When Elohim shall take note, yea take note of you, then you will bring up my bones with you from here.

26 After that Joseph died, a hundred ten years old; they had him embalmed, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

The Book of Exodus

Chapter 1

1 And these are the names of the sons of Israel coming to Egypt with Jacob their father; they came, each man with his household:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin,

4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

5 All the souls, offspring from the thigh of Jacob, had become seventy-five souls. As for Joseph, he was in Egypt.

6 Then Joseph died and all his brothers, and all that generation.

7 And the sons of Israel, they were fruitful and were swarming and numerous and very, very staunch. So the land was filling up with them.

8 Then a new king rose over Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph.

9 He said to his people: Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more numerous and staunch than we.

10 Do grant attention! Let us show ourselves wise as to them lest they increase, and it come to be if war should befall us, and they are added, even they, to those hating us, that they fight against us and ascend from the land.

11 Hence they placed over them chiefs of tributary service that they might humiliate them with their burdens. So they were building as provision cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.

12 Yet just as they were humiliating them so they multiplied and so they breached forth. Hence they were irritated in view of the sons of Israel.

13 So the Egyptians made the sons of Israel serve with rigor,

14 and they embittered their lives with hard service in clay and in bricks, and with all service in the field, all their service which they served among them with rigor.

15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives (of whom the name of the first one was Shiphrah, and the name of the second Puah)

16 and said: In your midwifery for the Hebrew women, when you see them on the bracing stones, if it is a son then you will put him to death, and if it is a daughter then she will live.

17 Yet the midwives feared the One, Elohim, and they did not act just as the king of Egypt had spoken to them; and they kept the boys alive.

18 Then the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them: For what reason did you do this thing and keep the boys alive?

19 Now the midwives said to Pharaoh: The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are livelier. Ere the midwife comes to them, they have already borne.

20 Hence Elohim dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and were very staunch.

21 So it came to be because the midwives feared the One, Elohim, that He provided households for them.

22 Then Pharaoh instructed all his people, saying: Every son born to the Hebrews, into the waterway shall you fling him, yet every daughter you shall keep alive.

Chapter 2

1 A man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.

2 The woman became pregnant and bore a son, and she saw him that he was a goodly child; so she secluded him three months.

3 When she could no longer seclude him, then she took for him an ark of papyrus, daubed it with asphalt and with pitch and placed the boy in it; then she placed it in the weeds on the ridge of the waterway.

4 And his sister stationed herself afar, to know what might be done to him.

5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter descended to bathe at the waterway, while her maidens were walking on the side of the waterway. When she saw the ark in the midst of the weeds she sent her maidservant and took it;

6 she opened it and saw him, the boy; and behold, the lad was lamenting. She spared him and said: This is one of the boys of the Hebrews.

7 Then his sister said to the daughter of Pharaoh: Shall I go and call for you a woman, a wetnurse from the Hebrews that she may nurse the boy for you?

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her: Go! So the damsel went and called the boy’s mother.

9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her: Have this boy go, and nurse him for me, and I shall give you your hire. So the woman took the boy and nursed him.

10 When the boy was growing up she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She called his name Moses and said: Because I have removed him from the water.

11 It came to be in those days when Moses had grown up that he went forth to his brothers and saw their burdens. He also saw an Egyptian man smiting a Hebrew man, one of his brothers.

12 He faced this way and that and saw that there was no one else; then he smote the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

13 When he went forth on the second day, behold, two men, Hebrews, were striving with each other. So he said to the wicked one: Why are you smiting your associate?

14 Yet he said: Who appointed you as foreman and judge over us? Are you meaning to kill me just as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses became fearful and said: Surely the matter is known.

15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. So Moses ran away from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian, where he sat by the well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came, drew out water and filled the gutters to let their father’s flock drink.

17 But the shepherds came and drove them out; yet Moses rose, saved them and let their flock drink.

18 When they came to Reuel, their father, he said: For what reason did you hasten to come in today?

19 They said: An Egyptian man, he rescued us from the hand of the shepherds, and, moreover, he drew, yea drew out water for us and let the flock drink.

20 Then he said to his daughters: And where is he? Why is this that you have forsaken the man? Call him that he may eat bread.

21 Hence Moses was disposed to dwell with the man. He gave Zipporah, his daughter, to Moses for a wife.

22 When she bore a son, he called his name Gershom, for he said: A sojourner have I become in a foreign land.

23 In the course of these many days it came to be that the king of Egypt died. Yet the sons of Israel sighed under the servitude and cried out, and their imploration ascended to the One, Elohim, out of the servitude.

24 Elohim heard their moaning, and Elohim was mindful of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

25 Elohim saw the sons of Israel and was realized by them.

Chapter 3

1 As for Moses, he had become a shepherd of the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. Once he was leading the flock behind the wilderness and came to the Mount of the One, Elohim, to Horeb.

2 Then the messenger of Yahweh appeared to him in a blaze of fire from the midst of a thornbush. So he stared, and behold, the thornbush was consuming with fire, yet the thornbush, it was not being devoured.

3 Hence Moses said: Let me withdraw, I pray, and discern this great sight, for what reason the thornbush is not being consumed.

4 When Yahweh saw that he withdrew to discern, Elohim called to him from the midst of the thornbush and said: Moses! Moses! So he answered: Behold me!

5 Then He said: Do not come near hither! Drop off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing, this is ground of holiness.

6 And He said: I am the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob. Now Moses concealed his face, for he feared to look toward the One, Elohim.

7 And Yahweh said: I see, yea see the humiliation of My people who are in Egypt. And I hear their crying because of the presence of their taskmasters; for I know their pains.

8 I have descended to rescue them from the hand of Egypt and to bring them up from that land to a land good and wide, to a land gushing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

9 And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel, it has come to Me, and indeed, I have seen the oppression with which Egypt has been oppressing them.

10 Now do go; I am sending you to Pharaoh. Bring forth My people, the sons of Israel, from Egypt.

11 Yet Moses said to the One, Elohim: Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel from Egypt?

12 Then He said: I shall come to be with you. And this will be the sign for you that I have sent you: When you bring the people forth from Egypt you shall serve the One, Elohim, on this mountain.

13 Now Moses said to the One, Elohim: Behold! When I am coming to the sons of Israel, and I say to them, The Elohim of your fathers, He sends me to you, then they will say to me, What about His Name? What shall I say to them?

14 Then Elohim spoke to Moses: I shall come to be just as I am coming to be. And He said: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, I-Shall-Come-to-Be, He has sent me to you.

15 And Elohim said further to Moses: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, Yahweh, the Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob, He has sent me to you. This is My Name for the eon, And this the Remembrance of Me for generation after generation.

16 Go, and you will gather the elders of the sons of Israel and say to them, Yahweh, the Elohim of your fathers, He appeared to me, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, I have noticed, yea noticed you and what is being done to you in Egypt.

17 Hence I am saying that I shall bring you up from the humiliation of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land gushing with milk and honey.

18 Then they will hearken to your voice, and you will enter, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him: Yahweh, the Elohim of the Hebrews, He has met with us. So now, we pray, let us go a way of three days into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our Elohim.

19 Yet I know that the king of Egypt shall not give you leave to go yea not even by a steadfast hand.

20 Hence I will put forth My hand and smite Egypt with all My marvels which I shall do within it, and afterward he shall dismiss you.

21 And I will give this people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians. It will come to be that when you are going you shall not go empty-handed,

22 for each woman will ask of her neighbor, and of her who sojourns in her house, for articles of silver and articles of gold and raiments. And you will place them on your sons and on your daughters, and you will despoil the Egyptians.

Chapter 4

1 Yet Moses answered and said: Behold, they shall not believe me, nor shall they hearken to my voice, for they shall say, Yahweh has not appeared to you.

2 Now Yahweh said to him: What is this in your hand? And he answered: A rod.

3 Then He said: Fling it to the earth. So he flung it to the earth, and it became a serpent. And Moses fled from its presence.

4 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Put forth your hand and take hold of its tail (so he put forth his hand and held fast to it, and it became a rod in his palm)

5 that they may believe that Yahweh, the Elohim of their fathers, appeared to you, the Elohim of Abraham, the Elohim of Isaac and the Elohim of Jacob.

6 And Yahweh said to him further: Now bring your hand into your bosom. So he brought his hand into his bosom and brought it forth from his bosom, and behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7 Then He said: Restore your hand to your bosom. (So he restored his hand to his bosom and brought it forth from his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh.)

8 Hence it will come to be should they not believe you nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, they may believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 Yet it will come to be even should they not believe these two signs, nor hearken to your voice, then you will take some of the water of the waterway and pour it out on the dry ground. And the waters which you are taking from the waterway will come to be, yea will come to be blood on the dry ground.

10 Then Moses said to Yahweh: O, my Lord! I am no man of words either heretofore, indeed, or since You spoke to Your servant, for I am heavy of mouth and heavy of tongue.

11 Yahweh said to him: Who made the mouth for a human or Who is making one mute or deaf or having unclosed eyes or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?

12 And now go, and I shall come to be with your mouth, and I will direct you what you shall speak.

13 Yet he said: O, my Lord! Send, I pray, by another whom You should send.

14 Then the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Moses. And He said: Is there not Aaron, the Levite, your brother? I know that he can speak, yea speak. And, moreover, behold, he is coming forth to meet you, and he will see you and rejoice in his heart.

15 You will speak to him and place the words in his mouth. And I shall come to be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will direct both of you as to what you shall do.

16 So he will speak for you to the people; it will come to be that he shall become a mouth for you, and you shall become an elohim for him.

17 And this rod shall you take in your hand with which you shall do the signs.

18 Then Moses went and returned to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him: Let me go, I pray, and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and let me see whether they are still alive. And Jethro said to Moses: Go in peace.

19 Then Yahweh said to Moses in Midian: Go! Return to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your soul have died.

20 So Moses took his wife and his sons and let them ride on the donkey and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the rod of the One, Elohim, in his hand.

21 And Yahweh said to Moses: When you go to return to Egypt, see to all the miracles which I place in your hand, that you do them before Pharaoh. Yet I shall make his heart steadfast, and he shall not dismiss the people.

22 So you will say to Pharaoh: Thus says Yahweh, My son, My firstborn, is Israel.

23 And I am saying to you: Dismiss My son that he may serve Me, yet should you refuse to dismiss him, behold, I shall be killing your son, your firstborn.

24 It came to be on the way, in the lodging, that a messenger of Yahweh encountered him and sought to put him to death.

25 So Zipporah took a chert knife and cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to his feet and said: Because one of blood affinity are you to me.

26 And he slacked off from him. Then it was that she said, blood affinity, referring to circumcisions.

27 Yahweh said to Aaron: Go to the wilderness to meet Moses. So he went and encountered him at the Mount of Elohim, and kissed him.

28 Now Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh with which He had sent him, and all the signs with which He had instructed him.

29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel.

30 Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and he did the signs before the eyes of the people.

31 Hence the people believed; when they heard that Yahweh notices the sons of Israel and that He sees their humiliation, then they bowed their heads and bowed themselves down.

Chapter 5

1 Afterward Moses and Aaron entered and said to Pharaoh: Thus says Yahweh the Elohim of Israel, Dismiss My people that they may celebrate to Me in the wilderness.

2 Yet Pharaoh said: Who is Yahweh to Whose voice I should hearken to dismiss Israel? I do not know Yahweh! And, moreover, Israel I shall not dismiss.

3 Then they said: The Elohim of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray, a way of three days into the wilderness, and let us sacrifice to Yahweh our Elohim, lest He come upon us with the plague or with the sword.

4 Yet the king of Egypt said to them: Why, Moses and Aaron, are you causing the people to renounce their tasks? Go to your burdens!

5 And Pharaoh said: Behold, they are now more numerous than the people of the land, and you cause them to cease from their burdens.

6 Hence Pharaoh instructed on that day the taskmasters among the people and their superintendents, saying:

7 You shall not continue to give crushed straw to the people to mold the bricks as heretofore. They themselves shall go, and they will rake together crushed straw for themselves.

8 You shall place on them the regular number of bricks which they were making heretofore. You shall not diminish from it, for they are slackers. Therefore they are crying, saying: Let us go; let us sacrifice to our Elohim.

9 The service shall be heavy on the men, and they shall carry it out and must not heed false words.

10 So the taskmasters of the people and their superintendents went forth and spoke to the people, saying: Thus says Pharaoh: I am not giving crushed straw to you.

11 As for you, go, take for yourselves crushed straw from whatever you may find, because there shall be nothing subtracted from your service.

12 Hence the people scattered in all the land of Egypt to rake together stubble for crushed straw.

13 And the taskmasters were rushing, saying: Finish your tasks, a day’s tally in its day, just as when there was crushed straw given to you.

14 Then the superintendents of the sons of Israel were being smitten, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had placed over them, saying: For what reason did you not finish your statutory number of bricks as you did heretofore, both unto yesterday and today?

15 Then the superintendents of the sons of Israel entered and cried to Pharaoh, saying: Why are you doing thus to your servants?

16 Crushed straw is not being given to your servants. And of bricks, they are saying to us, Make them. And behold, your servants are being smitten, and your people are at fault.

17 Yet he said: You are slackers slackers! Therefore you are saying, Let us go; let us sacrifice to Yahweh.

18 Yet now go! Serve! But crushed straw shall not be given to you, though the regular number of bricks shall you provide.

19 Hence the superintendents of the sons of Israel saw themselves in an evil plight, having to say: You shall not subtract from your bricks a day’s tally in its day.

20 So they came upon Moses and Aaron, stationed to meet them when they came forth from Pharaoh.

21 They said to them: May Yahweh look upon you, and may He judge, since you have caused our scent to stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants, giving a sword into their hands to kill us.

22 Moses returned to Yahweh and said: O Yahweh, why have You done evil to this people? And why is this that You have sent me?

23 For since I entered to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has done evil to this people. Yet You have not rescued, nay rescued Your people.

Chapter 6

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Now you shall see what I shall do to Pharaoh, for under a steadfast hand he shall dismiss them, and under a steadfast hand he shall drive them out from his land.

2 Elohim spoke to Moses and said to him: I am Yahweh,

3 and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as the El Who-Suffices; as to My Name Yahweh, I was not realized by them.

4 However, I set up My covenant with them to give to them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojournings, in which they had sojourned.

5 Moreover, I Myself have hearkened to the moaning of the sons of Israel whom the Egyptians are making servants. And I am mindful of My covenant.

6 Wherefore say to the sons of Israel: I am Yahweh; hence I will bring you forth from beneath the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rescue you from their service. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.

7 I will take you to Me as a people. I will become to you as Elohim, and you will realize that I am Yahweh your Elohim, Who brought you forth from beneath the burdens of the Egyptians.

8 I will bring you to the land which I lifted My hand in swearing to give it to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a tenancy. I am Yahweh.

9 When Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, they did not hearken to Moses because of shortness of spirit and hard service.

10 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

11 Enter, speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he may dismiss the sons of Israel from his land.

12 Yet Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying: Behold, the sons of Israel do not hearken to me. How shall Pharaoh hearken to me when I am uncircumcised of lip?

13 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron and instructed them as to the sons of Israel and as to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring forth the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt.

14 These are the heads of their fathers’ house: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, are Enoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

15 The sons of Simeon are Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Saul, the son of the Canaanitess; these are the families of Simeon.

16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogical records: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred thirty-seven years.

17 The sons of Gershon are Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

18 The sons of Kohath are Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty-three years.

19 The sons of Merari are Mahli and Mushi. These are the Levite families according to their genealogical records.

20 Amram took Jochebed, his aunt, as his wife; and she bore for him Aaron, Moses and Miriam, their sister. And the years of the life of Amram were a hundred thirty-seven years.

21 The sons of Izhar are Korah, Nepheg and Zichri.

22 The sons of Uzziel are Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

23 Aaron took Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore for him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

24 The sons of Korah are Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These are the Korahite families.

25 Eleazar, son of Aaron, took to himself one from the daughters of Putiel as his wife; and she bore for him Phinehas. These are the patriarchal heads of the Levites according to their families.

26 This Aaron and this Moses are those to whom Yahweh said: Bring forth the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, according to their hosts.

27 They were the speakers to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring forth the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.

28 It came to be on the day when Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

29 that Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying: I am Yahweh. Speak to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, all that I am speaking to you.

30 Yet Moses said before Yahweh: Behold, I am uncircumcised of lip, so how shall Pharaoh hearken to me?

Chapter 7

1 Yahweh said to Moses: See, I appoint you an elohim to Pharaoh; and Aaron, your brother, shall come to be your prophet.

2 You yourself shall speak all that I am instructing you while Aaron, your brother, he shall speak to Pharaoh that he dismiss the sons of Israel from his land.

3 And I Myself shall stiffen the heart of Pharaoh, and I will increase My signs and My miracles in the land of Egypt.

4 Though Pharaoh shall not hearken to you, yet I will lay My hand on Egypt, and I will bring forth My hosts, My people, the sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt with great judgments.

5 And all the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out My hand over Egypt, and I bring forth the sons of Israel from their midst.

6 So Moses and Aaron did just as Yahweh instructed them; thus they did.

7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron was eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

9 When Pharaoh is speaking to you, saying, Give your sign or miracle, then you will say to Aaron, Take your rod and fling it before Pharaoh that it may become a snake.

10 Moses and Aaron entered to Pharaoh and did so, just as Yahweh had instructed. Aaron flung his rod before Pharaoh and before his courtiers, and it became a snake.

11 Pharaoh, however, called for the wise men and for the enchanters. And even they, the sacred scribes of Egypt, did so with their occultisms.

12 Each man flung his rod, and they became snakes. Then Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.

13 Yet the heart of Pharaoh was steadfast, and he did not hearken to them, just as Yahweh had spoken.

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Gloried is the heart of Pharaoh; he has refused to dismiss the people.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he shall be going forth to the waters, so you will station yourself to meet him on the ridge of the waterway. And the rod which was turned into a serpent shall you take in your hand.

16 Then you will say to him: Yahweh, the Elohim of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, Dismiss My people that they may serve Me in the wilderness. And behold, you have not hearkened meanwhile.

17 Thus says Yahweh: By this shall you know that I am Yahweh. Behold, I shall be smiting with the rod which is in my hand upon the waters which are in the waterway, and they will be turned to blood,

18 and the fish which are in the waterway shall die, and the waterway will stink, and the Egyptians will be too repelled to drink the waters from the waterway.

19 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their waterways, over their ponds and over every confluence of their waters that they may become blood. Thus there will come to be blood in all the land of Egypt and in wooden and in stone troughs.

20 Moses and Aaron did so, just as Yahweh had instructed; he raised up the rod and smote the waters which were in the waterway before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his courtiers. And all the waters which were in the waterway were turned to blood.

21 The fish which were in the waterway died, and the waterway stank so that the Egyptians were unable to drink the waters from the waterway. And the blood came to be in all the land of Egypt.

22 Also the sacred scribes of Egypt did so with their occultisms; hence the heart of Pharaoh was steadfast, and he did not hearken to them, just as Yahweh had spoken.

23 Pharaoh turned around, entered into his house and did not set his heart even to this.

24 Yet all the Egyptians delved round about the waterway for waters to drink, for they were unable to drink from the waters of the waterway.

25 When seven days were fulfilled after Yahweh’s smiting of the waterway,

Chapter 8

1 then Yahweh said to Moses: Enter to Pharaoh, and you will say to him, Thus says Yahweh: Dismiss My people that they may serve Me!

2 And if you remain a refuser to dismiss them, behold, I will be striking all your territory with frogs.

3 The waterway will swarm with frogs, and they will ascend and enter into your house and your bed chamber and onto your couch, into the house of your courtiers and on your people, into your stoves and into your kneading-troughs.

4 On you and on your people and on all your courtiers shall the frogs ascend.

5 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the waterways and over the ponds, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.

6 Now Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt. And the frogs ascended and covered the land of Egypt.

7 Also the sacred scribes did so with their occultisms, and they brought up the frogs over the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said: Make an entreaty to Yahweh that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; then I shall dismiss the people that they may sacrifice to Yahweh.

9 Moses said to Pharaoh: Vaunt yourself over me as to when I should make entreaty for you and for your courtiers and for your people to cut off the frogs from you and from your houses. Only in the waterway shall they remain.

10 So he said: Tomorrow. And he said: Be it according to your word, that you may know that there is no one like Yahweh our Elohim.

11 The frogs will withdraw from you and from your houses, from your courtiers and from your people. Only in the waterway shall they remain.

12 Then Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharaoh, and Moses cried to Yahweh concerning the matter of the frogs which He had appointed for Pharaoh.

13 So Yahweh did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died from the houses, from the hamlets and from the fields.

14 They piled them up, homer after homer, and the land stank.

15 When Pharaoh saw that there came to be a mitigation, he hardened his heart, and he hearkened not to them, just as Yahweh had spoken.

16 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your rod, and smite the soil of the land, and there will come to be lice in all the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and smote the soil of the land; and there came to be lice on human and on beast. All the soil of the land came to be lice in all the land of Egypt.

18 Now the sacred scribes did so by their occultisms so as to bring forth the lice, yet they were unable. Since there had come to be lice on human and on beast,

19 the sacred scribes said to Pharaoh: This is the finger of Elohim! Yet the heart of Pharaoh was steadfast, and he did not hearken to them, just as Yahweh had spoken.

20 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Rise early in the morning, and station yourself before Pharaoh. Behold, he will be going forth to the waters. Then you will say to him: Thus says Yahweh, Dismiss My people that they may serve Me.

21 For should you not dismiss My people, behold Me sending on you, on your courtiers, on your people and on your houses a mixture of flies. The houses of Egypt will be full with the mixture of flies, and even the ground on which they are.

22 Yet I will distinguish, in that day, the land of Goshen on which My people are standing, that by no means there come to be there a mixture of flies, so that you may know that I am Yahweh within the land.

23 And I will place a parting between My people and your people. Tomorrow shall this sign come to be.

24 And Yahweh did so. A heavy mixture of flies came into the house of Pharaoh and the house of his courtiers and into all the land of Egypt. The land was ruined because of the presence of the mixture of flies.

25 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said: Go! Sacrifice to your Elohim in the land.

26 Yet Moses said: It is not the established custom to do so, for we shall sacrifice that which is an abhorrence of the Egyptians to Yahweh our Elohim. Behold, should we sacrifice an abhorrence of the Egyptians before their eyes, would they not stone us?

27 A way of three days shall we go into the wilderness, and we will sacrifice to Yahweh our Elohim, just as He said to us.

28 So Pharaoh said: I shall dismiss you, that you may sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim in the wilderness, but you shall not go far, not far to go. Make an entreaty about me.

29 And Moses said: Behold, I am going forth from you, and I will make an entreaty to Yahweh that the mixture of flies withdraw from Pharaoh, from his courtiers and from his people tomorrow. But Pharaoh must not continue to trifle in not dismissing the people to sacrifice to Yahweh.

30 Then Moses went forth from Pharaoh, and he entreated Yahweh.

31 And Yahweh did according to the word of Moses; and the mixture of flies withdrew from Pharaoh, from his courtiers and from his people. Not one remained.

32 Yet Pharaoh hardened his heart, even at this time, and he did not dismiss the people.

Chapter 9

1 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Enter to Pharaoh, and you will speak to him, Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of the Hebrews: Dismiss My people that they may serve Me.

2 For if you remain a refuser to dismiss them, and you still are holding fast to them,

3 behold, the hand of Yahweh is coming to be on your cattle which are in the field, on the horses, on the donkeys, on the camels, on the herd and on the flock, with an exceedingly heavy plague.

4 Yet Yahweh will distinguish between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt; not a thing shall die of all belonging to the sons of Israel.

5 So Yahweh set an appointed time, saying: Tomorrow Yahweh shall do this thing in the land.

6 And Yahweh did this thing on the morrow. All the cattle of the Egyptians died, yet of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one died.

7 Then Pharaoh sent, and behold, not even one had died from the cattle of Israel. Yet the heart of Pharaoh hardened, and he did not dismiss the people.

8 Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron: Take for yourselves both of your hands full of limekiln quicklime, and Moses will sprinkle it toward the heavens, before the eyes of Pharaoh,

9 and it will become powder over all the land of Egypt. Then there will come to be on human and on beast, boils, budding out into pustules, in all the land of Egypt.

10 So they took the limekiln quicklime and stood before Pharaoh. And Moses sprinkled it toward the heavens, and there came to be boils, budding out into pustules on human and on beast.

11 Now the sacred scribes were unable to stand before Moses in view of the boils, for the boil came to be on the sacred scribes and on all Egypt.

12 Yet Yahweh made the heart of Pharaoh steadfast so that he did not hearken to them, just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses.

13 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Rise early in the morning, station yourself before Pharaoh, and you will say to him, Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of the Hebrews: Dismiss My people that they may serve Me.

14 For at this time I am sending all My strokes onto your heart and your courtiers and your people in order that you shall know that there is no one like Me in the entire earth.

15 For by now I could have put forth My hand and smitten you and your people with the plague so that you were suppressed from the earth.

16 Nevertheless, for this sake I keep you standing, in order to make you see My vigor, and that My Name may be related in the entire earth.

17 Still you are heaping yourself up against My people so as not to dismiss them.

18 Behold Me causing it to rain about this time tomorrow an exceedingly heavy hail such as has not come in Egypt from the day of her founding until now.

19 And now send, provide your cattle strong shelter and all that you have in the field. Every human and beast which is found in the field and is not gathered toward the house, on them the hail will descend, and they will die.

20 The one fearful of the word of Yahweh among the courtiers of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee to the houses.

21 Yet he who was not setting his heart on the word of Yahweh, he forsook his servants and his cattle in the field.

22 Yahweh said to Moses: Stretch out your hand to the heavens that hail may come to be in all the land of Egypt, on human and on beast and on all herbage of the field in the land of Egypt.

23 So Moses stretched out his rod to the heavens, and Yahweh, He gave thunderclaps and hail, and fire ran earthward. Thus Yahweh rained hail over the land of Egypt.

24 And the hail came with fire taking hold of itself in the midst of the hail, exceedingly heavy, such as had not come in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

25 Now the hail smote in all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, from human unto beast. Also the hail smote all herbage of the field and broke every tree of the field.

26 But in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, no hail came.

27 Then Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and for Aaron and said to them: I have sinned this time. Yahweh is the righteous One, and I and my people are the wicked.

28 Make an entreaty to Yahweh, for this is enough of there coming to be thunderclaps of Elohim and hail. Let me dismiss you; you shall not continue to stay.

29 Moses said to him: As I go forth from the city I shall spread my palms to Yahweh, and the thunderclaps shall halt, and the hail shall come no longer, so that you may know that the earth is Yahweh’s.

30 As for you and your courtiers, I know that you are not yet fearing because of the presence of Yahweh Elohim. (

31 And the flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was in the pollinated ear, and the flax was in pod;

32 yet the wheat and the spelt were not smitten, for they were in blade.)

33 When Moses went forth from Pharaoh from the city, and he spread his palms to Yahweh, then the thunderclaps halted, and the hail and the rain was not poured forth earthward.

34 Now Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail and the thunderclaps had halted, yet he continued to sin and hardened his heart, he and his courtiers.

35 So the heart of Pharaoh was steadfast, and he did not dismiss the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had spoken by means of Moses.

Chapter 10

1 Yahweh said to Moses: Enter to Pharaoh, for I Myself have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers that I may set these My signs among them,

2 and that you may relate in the ears of your son, and your son’s son, that which I set in action in Egypt, and My signs which I placed among them, that you will know that I am Yahweh.

3 So Moses and Aaron entered to Pharaoh and said to him: Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to be humbled because of My presence? Dismiss My people that they may serve Me!

4 For if you remain a refuser to dismiss My people, behold Me bringing the locust swarm tomorrow into your territory,

5 and it will cover the eye of the land, so that none can see the land, and it will eat the salvaged leavings, whatever remained for you from the hail. It will eat every tree which is sprouting for you from the field.

6 Your houses will be full and the houses of all your courtiers and the houses of all the Egyptians, such as your fathers and your fathers’ fathers had not seen, from the day they came to be on the ground until this day. Then he turned around and went forth from Pharaoh.

7 Now the courtiers of Pharaoh said to him: How long shall this man become a trap to us? Dismiss the men that they may serve Yahweh their Elohim. Do you not yet know that Egypt perishes?

8 When Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, he said to them: Go! Serve Yahweh your Elohim! But who are those going?

9 Moses said: With our youths and with our elders shall we go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds shall we go, for it is a festival of Yahweh for us.

10 Then he said to them: So let Yahweh be with you if ever I dismiss you and your little ones! Discern that evil is in front of your faces.

11 Not so! Go now, just the men of mastery, and serve Yahweh, for it is what you are seeking. So they drove them out from the presence of Pharaoh.

12 Yahweh said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locust that it may ascend over the land of Egypt and devour all the herbage of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail has let remain.

13 So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh, He drove an east wind into the land all that day and all the night. The morning came, and the east wind carried the locust swarm along.

14 Then the locust swarm ascended over all the land of Egypt, and it rested within the entire territory of Egypt, exceedingly heavy. Before it there had not come to be a locust swarm so great as it, and after it none shall come to be so.

15 It covered the eye of all the land, and the land was darkened. And it devoured all the herbage of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left, so that no green at all was left on tree or on herbage of the field in all the land of Egypt.

16 Now Pharaoh hastened to call for Moses and for Aaron and said: I have sinned against Yahweh your Elohim and against you.

17 And now, I pray, bear with my sin only this time, and make an entreaty to Yahweh your Elohim that He may take away from over me only this death!

18 So Moses went forth from Pharaoh and entreated Yahweh.

19 Then Yahweh turned an exceedingly steadfast west wind, and it carried away the locust swarm and blew it toward the Sea of Weeds. Not one locust remained within the entire territory of Egypt.

20 Yet Yahweh made the heart of Pharaoh steadfast, so that he did not dismiss the sons of Israel.

21 Yahweh said to Moses: Stretch out your hand to the heavens, and let a darkness come on the land of Egypt so that the darkness may cause them to grope.

22 Then Moses stretched out his hand to the heavens, and gloomy darkness came to be in all the land of Egypt for three days.

23 No one saw his brother, and no one rose from his place for three days. Yet all the sons of Israel came to have light in their dwellings.

24 Now Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said: Go! Serve Yahweh your Elohim, but your flocks and your herds shall be made to stay put. However your little ones may go with you.

25 Moses said: You should also give sacrifices and ascent offerings into our hand, that we may offer them to Yahweh our Elohim.

26 And even our cattle shall go with us. Not a hoof shall remain, for from them shall we take to serve Yahweh our Elohim, for we do not know with what we shall serve Yahweh until we come there.

27 Yet Yahweh made the heart of Pharaoh steadfast, and he did not comply so as to dismiss them.

28 So Pharaoh said to him: Go away from me! Guard yourself! Do not continue to see my face, for in the day you see my face you shall die!

29 Hence Moses said: Properly you have spoken! No further shall I continue to see your face!

Chapter 11

1 Yahweh said to Moses: One further contagion shall I bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; afterward he shall dismiss you from this place. When he finally dismisses you, he shall drive out, yea drive you out from this place.

2 Oh speak in the ears of the people that they should ask, each man of his associate and each woman of her associate, articles of silver and articles of gold and raiment. (

3 And Yahweh gave the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, when they requested of them. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the eyes of the Egyptians, in the eyes of the courtiers of Pharaoh and in the eyes of the people.)

4 Then Moses said: Thus Yahweh has spoken, About midnight I am going forth in the midst of Egypt.

5 And every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, sitting on his throne, unto the firstborn of the maidservant who is behind the millstones and every firstborn of beast.

6 There will come to be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has not occurred, and such as shall not occur again.

7 Yet against any of the sons of Israel, not a cur shall point his tongue against a man or even a beast, so that you may know that Yahweh is distinguishing between Egypt and Israel.

8 Then all these, your courtiers, will descend to me and bow themselves down to me, saying: Go forth, you and all the people who follow in your footsteps! And afterward I shall go forth. So he went forth from Pharaoh in the heat of anger.

9 Yahweh said to Moses: Pharaoh shall not hearken to you so that My miracles may increase in the land of Egypt.

10 Hence Moses and Aaron, they did all these miracles before Pharaoh. And Yahweh made the heart of Pharaoh steadfast, so that he did not dismiss the sons of Israel from his land.

Chapter 12

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying:

2 This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be first for you of the months of the year.

3 Speak to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month they shall take for themselves, each man a flockling according to their fathers’ house, a flockling for each household.

4 If the household is too few for what comes from a flockling, then he and his neighbor next to his house will take it according to the assessment of the souls. Each one corresponding to his eating shall you assess with the flockling.

5 A flawless flockling, a year-old male, shall you come to have. From the he-lambs or from the goats shall you take it.

6 And it will become a charge of yours until the fourteenth day of this month. Then they will slay it, every assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel, between the evening hours.

7 And they will take some of the blood and put it on the two jambs and on the lintel, on the houses in which they are eating it.

8 Then they will eat the flesh on this night, roasted with fire, and with unleavened bread; over bitter herbs shall they eat it.

9 Do not eat any of it underdone or cooked by being cooked in water, but rather roasted with fire, even its head along with its shanks and with its inwards.

10 You shall not reserve any of it until the morning. And what is left of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

11 And thus shall you eat it, with your waist girded, your sandals on your feet and your stave in your hand. You will eat it in urgent haste. It is the passover to Yahweh.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt in this night and smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human even unto beast, and on all the elohim of Egypt I shall execute judgments; I am Yahweh.

13 Then the blood will become a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood I will pass over you. And there shall not come to be a stroke on you to cause ruin when I smite in the land of Egypt.

14 Hence this day will become for you a memorial, and you will celebrate it as a festival to Yahweh. Throughout your generations shall you celebrate it as an eonian statute.

15 Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread. Yea, on the first day you shall eradicate yeast from your houses; for anyone eating what is leavened, from the first day unto the seventh day, that soul will be cut off from Israel.

16 On the first day you shall come to have a holy meeting, also on the seventh day a holy meeting. No work at all shall be done on them; only what is eaten by every soul, that alone may be prepared by you.

17 You will observe the instruction, for on this very day I will bring forth your hosts from the land of Egypt. And you will observe this day throughout your generations as an eonian statute.

18 In the first month on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until day twenty-one of the month, in the evening.

19 For seven days yeast shall not be found in your houses, for anyone eating leavened bread, that soul will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, both among the sojourners and among the natives of the land.

20 You shall not eat any leavened bread in all your dwellings; you shall eat unleavened bread.

21 Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them: Draw out and take for yourselves from the flock for your families, and slay the passover.

22 Then you will take a bunch of hyssop, and you will dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and you will touch the lintel and the two jambs with the blood which is in the basin. As for you, not one of you shall go forth from the portal of his house until the morning.

23 When Yahweh passes through to strike the Egyptians, and He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two jambs then Yahweh will pass over the portal, and He shall not allow the ruiner to enter into your houses to strike.

24 Now you will observe this word as a statute for you and for your sons unto the eon.

25 It will come to be when you are entering to the land which Yahweh is giving to you just as He spoke, that you will observe this service.

26 And it will come to be when your sons are saying to you: What is this service to you?

27 then you will say: It is the sacrifice of passover to Yahweh, Who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when He struck the Egyptians, yet our households He rescued. So the people bowed their heads and bowed themselves down.

28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as Yahweh had instructed Moses and Aaron, thus they did.

29 It came to be at midnight that Yahweh, He smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, sitting on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive who was in the house of the cistern, and every firstborn of beast.

30 When Pharaoh rose by night, he and all his courtiers and all the Egyptians, then there came to be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, for there was no house where there was no one dead.

31 Hence Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron by night and said: Rise! Go forth from the midst of my people, you indeed and the sons of Israel! Go! Serve Yahweh as you spoke!

32 Moreover, your flocks, even your herds, take just as you have spoken, and go! However you will bless me.

33 Also the Egyptians were steadfast over the people to hasten to dismiss them from the land, for they said: All of us are dying.

34 And the people carried their dough ere it was leavened, their kneading-troughs bundled in their raiments on their backs.

35 Then the sons of Israel, they did according to the word of Moses and requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and raiments.

36 And Yahweh, He gave the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, when they asked of them; thus they despoiled the Egyptians.

37 The sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses toward Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, those of mastery, besides the little ones.

38 Moreover a mixed multitude ascended with them, and flocks, herds and cattle, exceedingly heavy.

39 They baked the dough which they brought forth from Egypt, unleavened ember cakes, for it was not leavened, for they were driven out of Egypt, and they could not dally, and, moreover, they did not make provision for themselves.

40 Now the dwelling of the sons of Israel and their fathers who dwelt in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt was four hundred thirty years.

41 And it came to be at the end of four hundred thirty years and it came to be on this very day that all the host of Yahweh went forth from the land of Egypt.

42 It was a night of observances for Yahweh to bring them forth from the land of Egypt. This same night is to Yahweh, observances for all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

43 Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron: This is the statute of the passover: Any son of a foreigner, he shall not eat of it.

44 Yet any man’s servant acquired with silver, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it.

45 A guest or a hireling, he may not eat of it.

46 In one house shall it be eaten. You shall not bring forth any of the flesh from the house to the outside; and a bone in it you shall not break.

47 The whole congregation of the sons of Israel, they shall do it.

48 In case a sojourner is sojourning with you, and he makes a passover to Yahweh, every male of his is to be circumcised, and then he may draw near to make it, and he will become as a native of the land. Yet anyone uncircumcised, he shall not eat of it.

49 One law shall there be for both the native and for the sojourner sojourning in your midst.

50 And all the sons of Israel did so; just as Yahweh had instructed Moses and Aaron, thus they did.

51 It came to be on this very day when Yahweh brought forth the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt with their hosts,

Chapter 13

1 that Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:

2 Hallow to Me every firstborn male, opening up every womb, among the sons of Israel, among human and among beast. It is Mine.

3 Moses said to the people: You are to remember this day on which you went forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants, for with steadfastness of hand Yahweh brought you forth from this place; then nothing leavened should be eaten.

4 Today you are going forth in the month of Abib.

5 It will come to be when Yahweh your Elohim shall have brought you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite about which He swore to your fathers to give to you, a land gushing with milk and honey, then you will serve with this service in this month.

6 Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to Yahweh.

7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days; and nothing leavened should be seen with you, and no yeast should be seen with you within your entire territory.

8 Then you will tell your son in that day, saying: It is for the sake of this which Yahweh did for me when I went forth from Egypt.

9 And you will come to have this as a sign on your hand and between your eyes for remembrance that the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth; for with a steadfast hand Yahweh brought you forth from Egypt.

10 You will observe this statute at its appointed time from days to days.

11 It will come to be when Yahweh your Elohim shall bring you into the land of the Canaanite just as He swore to you and to your fathers, that He will give it to you,

12 then you will set apart for Yahweh every male opening up the womb. Every male opening up the womb, the yeanling of a beast which you shall come to have, the males shall be for Yahweh.

13 Yet every male opening up a donkey shall you ransom with a flockling, and should you not ransom it then you will break its neck. Yet every firstborn of a human among your sons shall you ransom.

14 When it comes to be that your son is asking you tomorrow, saying: What does this mean? then you will say to him, With steadfastness of hand Yahweh brought us forth from Egypt, from the house of servants.

15 When it came to be that Pharaoh was obstinate to dismiss us, then Yahweh killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of human unto the firstborn of beast. Therefore I am sacrificing to Yahweh all the males opening up the womb; yet I am ransoming every firstborn of my sons.

16 Now it comes to be as a sign on your hand and as brow-bands between your eyes; for with steadfastness of hand Yahweh brought us forth from Egypt.

17 It came to be when Pharaoh had dismissed the people that Elohim did not guide them by way of the land of the Philistines, though it was near, for Elohim said: Lest the people should regret when they see war, and they return to Egypt.

18 Hence Elohim caused the people to turn about by the wilderness road of the Sea of Weeds. In fivefold deployment, the sons of Israel ascended from the land of Egypt.

19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him; for Joseph had adjured, yea adjured the sons of Israel, saying: Elohim shall take note yea take note of you, that you will bring up my bones with you from this place.

20 When they journeyed from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the fringe of the wilderness,

21 then Yahweh was going before them by day in a column of cloud to guide them along the way, and by night in a column of fire, to give light for them to go by day and night.

22 The column of cloud by day and the column of fire by night did not remove from the presence of the people.

Chapter 14

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel that they may return and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon. Over against it you shall encamp by the sea.

3 So Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel: They are perplexed in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.

4 Thus I will make the heart of Pharaoh steadfast, so he will pursue after them. Then I shall indeed be glorified in Pharaoh and in all his army; and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh. Hence they did so.

5 When it was told to the king of Egypt that the people had run away, the heart of Pharaoh and his courtiers was turned as to the people, and they said: What is this we have done that we dismissed the sons of Israel from our service?

6 So he hitched up his chariots, and he took his people with him.

7 He took six hundred chosen chariots and all the riders of Egypt and high officers in all of them.

8 Thus Yahweh made the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt steadfast; and he pursued after the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel were going forth with a high hand,

9 yet the Egyptians were pursuing after them, and they overtook them encamping by the sea all the horses, the chariotry of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army at Pi-hahiroth before Baal-zephon.

10 So Pharaoh, he drew near. Then the sons of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were journeying after them. Now they became exceedingly fearful, and the sons of Israel cried to Yahweh.

11 They said to Moses: Is it for lack of tombs in Egypt that you have taken us to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done to us in bringing us forth from Egypt?

12 Is not this the word which we spoke to you in Egypt, saying: Leave off from us and do let us serve the Egyptians, for it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than for us to die in the wilderness?

13 Then Moses said to the people: Do not fear! Station yourselves and see the salvation of Yahweh which He shall work for you today, for as you see the Egyptians today, you shall not anymore see them again unto the eon.

14 Yahweh, He shall fight for you; as for you, you shall be silent.

15 Yahweh said to Moses: Why are you crying to Me? Speak to the sons of Israel that they should journey.

16 And you, raise high your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and split it, that the sons of Israel may enter into the midst of the sea on dry ground.

17 And I, behold Me making the heart of the Egyptians steadfast that they may enter after them; for I shall indeed be glorified over Pharaoh and over all his army, over his chariots and over his horsemen.

18 Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I am glorified over Pharaoh, over his chariots and over his horsemen.

19 Hence the messenger of the One, Elohim, who was going before the camp of Israel, journeyed and went behind them. Also the column of cloud journeyed from before them and stood behind them.

20 Thus he came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. Over there came the cloud and darkness, yet here he lightened up the night. So this one did not come near to that one all the night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and, by a strong east wind all the night, Yahweh caused the sea to go. Thus He made in the sea a drained area when the waters were split apart.

22 Then the sons of Israel entered into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were to them a wall on their right and on their left.

23 Now the Egyptians pursued and entered after them, all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen, into the midst of the sea.

24 It came to be, in the morning vigil, when Yahweh gazed on the camp of the Egyptians in the column of fire and cloud, that He discomfited the camp of Egypt.

25 Then He clogged the wheels of his chariots and made them drive heavily. Then the Egyptians said: Do let me flee from the face of Israel, for Yahweh, He fights for them against Egypt.

26 Yahweh said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the sea that the waters may return on the Egyptians, on their chariots and on their horsemen.

27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned before morning to its perennial flow, while the Egyptians were fleeing to meet it. Thus Yahweh shook off the Egyptians in the midst of the sea,

28 for the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, all the army of Pharaoh which had been entering after them into the sea. Not even one of them remained.

29 Yet the sons of Israel, they went on dry ground in the midst of the sea, and the waters were to them a wall on their right and on their left.

30 Thus Yahweh saved Israel on that day from the hand of Egypt. Then Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore;

31 and Israel discerned the great hand with which Yahweh had done this to Egypt. So the people feared Yahweh and believed in Yahweh and in Moses His servant.

Chapter 15

1 Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Yahweh and spoke saying: Do let me sing to Yahweh, for He is august, yea august: The horse and its rider He heaved into the sea.

2 Yah is my Strength and my Melody, And He became mine for salvation. This is my El; I shall adorn Him, Elohim of my father, I shall exalt Him.

3 Yahweh is a Man of war; Yahweh is His Name.

4 The chariots of Pharaoh and his army He shot into the sea, And the choice of his high officers, they are sunk into the Sea of Weeds.

5 Abysses covered them; They descended into shadowy depths like a stone.

6 Your right hand, O Yahweh, was ennobled in vigor; Your right hand, O Yahweh, it was harrying the enemy.

7 And by the vastness of Your augustness You were demolishing those rising against You; You were sending forth Your heat; it was devouring them like stubble.

8 And by the wind of Your anger the waters were denuded, The floods were stood up as a waterspout; The abysses were congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said: I shall pursue! I shall overtake! I shall apportion the loot! My soul’s desire shall be fulfilled on them! I shall unsheathe my sword! My hand shall evict them!

10 You made a breeze with Your wind; The sea covered them. They submerged like lead in the noble waters.

11 Who is like You among the elim, O Yahweh? Who is like You, ennobled in holiness, To be feared in praises, working marvels?

12 You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them up.

13 You guided in Your benignity this people You have redeemed; You will conduct them by Your strength to Your holy homestead.

14 The peoples have heard; they are disturbed. Travail, it has taken hold of the dwellers of Philistia.

15 Since then the sheiks of Edom are flustered; The arbiters of Moab, quivering took hold of them. All the dwellers of Canaan are dissolved.

16 Dread and awe are falling on them; By the greatness of Your arm they are still as a stone Until Your people are passing by, O Yahweh, Until this people whom You have acquired are passing by.

17 You shall bring them in and plant them in the mount of Your allotment, The site for Your dwelling which You have made, O Yahweh, The sanctuary, O Yahweh, which Your hands have established.

18 Yahweh, He shall reign for the eon and further.

19 When the horses of Pharaoh had entered with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, then Yahweh returned the waters of the sea over them. Yet the sons of Israel, they had gone on dry ground in the midst of the sea!

20 Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the tambourine in her hand, and all the women went forth after her with tambourines and with choruses.

21 And Miriam responded to them: Sing to Yahweh, for He is august, yea august: The horse and its rider He heaved into the sea.

22 Now Moses caused Israel to journey from the Sea of Weeds. So they went forth to the wilderness of Shur, and went three days into the wilderness, but they found no waters.

23 When they came to Marah, they were unable to drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore one called its name Marah.

24 Then the people grumbled against Moses, saying: What shall we drink?

25 So he cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh directed him to a tree. So he flung it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He probed them,

26 for He said: If you shall hearken, yea hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and do what is upright in His eyes, and you give ear to His instructions and observe all His statutes, then all the illnesses which I placed on the Egyptians I shall not place on you, for I am Yahweh your Healer.

27 Then they came to Elim; there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees there. So they encamped there by the waters.

Chapter 16

1 They journeyed from Elim, and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel entered into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their going forth from the land of Egypt.

2 Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;

3 and the sons of Israel said to them: O that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt when we sat over the flesh pots when we ate bread to satisfaction, for you have brought us forth to this wilderness to put this entire assembly to death with famine.

4 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Behold Me causing bread from the heavens to rain for you. When the people will go forth they will pick up a day’s matter in its day, that I may probe them, whether they shall go by My law or not.

5 And it will come to be on the sixth day when they prepare what they are bringing in that there will come to be a double portion over that which they are picking up day by day.

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel: This evening, then you will know that it was Yahweh Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

7 And in the morning, then you will see the glory of Yahweh since He heard your grumblings against Yahweh. What are we that you are grumbling against us?

8 And Moses said: Since Yahweh gives to you in the evening flesh to eat and bread in the morning to satisfy, when Yahweh heard your grumblings which you are grumbling against Him, then what are we? Not against us are your grumblings, but rather against Yahweh.

9 Then Moses said to Aaron: Say to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, Come near before Yahweh, for He has heard your grumblings.

10 And it came to be as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned around to the wilderness, and behold, the glory of Yahweh, it appeared in the cloud.

11 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

12 I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel. Speak to them saying, Between the evening hours you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be satisfied with bread. Then you will realize that I am Yahweh your Elohim.

13 When it came to be in the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning the lying of the night mist came to be around the camp;

14 and the lying of the night mist went up; and behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a thin flake, thin as hoarfrost, on the earth.

15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said, each man to his brother: What is it? for they did not know what it was. So Moses said to them: It is the bread which Yahweh has given to you for food.

16 This is the matter which Yahweh has instructed: Pick up of it each man corresponding to his eating, an omer for a poll, numbering your souls; each man for those who are in his tent shall you take.

17 Now the sons of Israel did so. Some picked up an increase and some a decrease.

18 When they measured with an omer, the increase had caused no superfluity, and the decrease had caused no lack. Each man corresponding to his eating they had picked it up.

19 Then Moses said to them: Let no one reserve any of it until the morning.

20 Yet they did not hearken to Moses, and some men reserved some of it until the morning. So it rose high with worms and stank. And Moses was wrathful over them.

21 They picked it up morning by morning, each man corresponding to his eating. When the sun was warm then it melted.

22 Now it came to be on the sixth day they picked up a double portion of bread, two omers for one. When all the princes of the congregation came and told it to Moses,

23 then he said to them: This is what Yahweh has spoken, A cessation, a holy sabbath to Yahweh is tomorrow. What you are baking, bake, and what you are cooking, cook, and all the superfluity, leave it in your charge until the morning.

24 So they left it until the morning, just as Moses had instructed, yet it caused no stink, and no maggots came to be in it.

25 Then Moses said: Eat it today, for there is a sabbath today to Yahweh! Today you shall not find it in the field.

26 Six days shall you pick it up, yet on the seventh day, the sabbath, none shall come to be on it.

27 Yet it came to be on the seventh day some of the people went forth to pick it up, and they found none.

28 Hence Yahweh said to Moses: How long will you refuse to observe My instructions and My laws?

29 See! For Yahweh, He has given to you the sabbath; therefore He is giving to you on the sixth day bread for two days. Be seated, each man in his place; let no one go forth from his place on the seventh day.

30 So the people ceased on the seventh day.

31 The sons of Israel called its name, Manna. It was like a seed of white coriander, and its taste like cakes with honey.

32 Then Moses said: This is the word which Yahweh has instructed, Take the fullness of an omer of it as a charge throughout your generations, that they may see the bread which I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said to Aaron: Take one urn, and dispense therein the fullness of an omer of manna, and leave it before Yahweh as a charge throughout your generations,

34 just as Yahweh has instructed Moses. So Aaron left it before the testimony as a charge.

35 As for the sons of Israel, they ate the manna forty years until their coming to a land indwelt. The manna, they ate it until their coming to the fringe of the land of Canaan. (

36 Now an omer, it is a tenth of the ephah.)

Chapter 17

1 The whole congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin in their journeys at the bidding of Yahweh, and they encamped in Rephidim; yet there was no water for the people to drink.

2 So the people contended with Moses and said: Give to us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them: Why are you contending with me? Why are you probing Yahweh?

3 When the people thirsted there for water, the people grumbled against Moses and said: Why is this that you brought us up from Egypt to put me and my sons and my cattle to death by thirst?

4 So Moses cried to Yahweh, saying: What shall I do for this people? A little further and they will stone me.

5 Yahweh said to Moses: Pass before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and your rod with which you smote the waterway take in your hand, and you will go.

6 Behold Me standing before you there, on the rock at Mount Horeb. You will smite the rock, and water will come forth from it, and the people will drink. Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

7 Hence he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah on account of the contention of the sons of Israel and on account of their probing Yahweh, saying, Is Yahweh among us or is He not?

8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9 And Moses said to Joshua: Choose men for us and go forth. Fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will be stationed on the summit of the hill with the rod of Elohim in my hand.

10 Joshua did just as Moses said to him, to fight with Amalek. As for Moses, Aaron and Hur, they ascended the summit of the hill.

11 Now it came to be just as Moses was raising high his hands that Israel had the mastery, and just as he was giving his hands rest then Amalek had the mastery.

12 When the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone and placed it beneath him, and he sat on it. As for Aaron and Hur, they upheld his hands, one on this side and one on that side. So it came to be that his hands were constant until the sunset.

13 Thus Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Write this as a reminder in a scroll, and charge it unto the ears of Joshua that I shall wipe out, yea wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.

15 So Moses built an altar and called its name Yahweh-nissi

16 and said: For a hand is against the throne of Yah; Yahweh has a war with Amalek from generation to generation!

Chapter 18

1 Jethro, the priest of Midian, father-in-law of Moses, heard of all that Elohim had done for Moses and for Israel, His people, when Yahweh had brought Israel forth from Egypt.

2 Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, after her dismissal,

3 and her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom (for he had said: A sojourner became I in a foreign land).

4 And the name of the other one was Eliezer: (for the Elohim of my father is my Helper, and He rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh).

5 Now Jethro, father-in-law of Moses, and his sons, and his wife, came to Moses, to the wilderness where he was encamping at the Mount of the One, Elohim.

6 And he sent word to Moses: Behold, your father-in-law, Jethro, is coming to you, and your wife and her two sons with her.

7 Then Moses went forth to meet his father-in-law; and he bowed himself down and kissed him. After they had asked, each man of his associate, concerning his well-being, then they came to the tent,

8 and Moses related to his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and to Egypt concerning Israel, all the stress which found them along the way and how Yahweh had rescued them.

9 So Jethro was exhilarated over all the good which Yahweh had done to Israel, whom He had rescued from the hand of Egypt.

10 Hence Jethro said: Blessed be Yahweh Who has rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of Pharaoh, Who has rescued the people from under the hand of Egypt.

11 Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the elohim, yea in the matter in which they were arrogant against them.

12 Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, took an ascent offering along with sacrifices for Elohim, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses, before the One, Elohim.

13 It came to be on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people. So the people stood by Moses from morning until evening.

14 When the father-in-law of Moses saw all that he was doing for the people, he said: What is this matter that you are doing for the people? For what reason are you sitting by yourself alone with all the people stationing themselves by you from morning until evening?

15 Moses said to his father-in-law: It is because the people are coming to me to inquire of Elohim.

16 When they come to have a dispute they come to me, and I judge between a man and his associate, and I make known to them the statutes of the One Elohim, and His laws.

17 The father-in-law of Moses said to him: The thing which you are doing is not good.

18 You are wearing out, yea wearing out both yourself and this people who are with you, for this matter is too heavy for you. You cannot do it by yourself alone.

19 Now, hearken to my voice. Let me counsel you, and may Elohim come to be with you. Be you for the people toward the One, Elohim, and you bring the matters to the One, Elohim.

20 You will warn them with the statutes and the laws and make known to them the way in which they shall go and the deeds which they shall do.

21 Now you shall perceive among all the people men of ability, fearful of Elohim, men of truth, hating dishonest gain. You will place these over them as chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties and chiefs of tens.

22 And they will judge the people in every season. Yet it will be that every great dispute they shall bring to you, and every small dispute shall they judge themselves. Lighten yourself from what is on you, and they will bear it with you.

23 If you shall do this thing then Elohim will instruct you further, so you can stand. Moreover, all this people, it shall come upon its place in peace.

24 So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.

25 Moses chose men of ability from all Israel and set them as heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties and chiefs of tens.

26 They judged the people in every season. The hard dispute were they bringing to Moses, and every small dispute they were judging themselves.

27 Then Moses dismissed his father-in-law; so he went by himself to his land.

Chapter 19

1 In the third month after the going forth of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, on this day they entered the wilderness of Sinai.

2 When they journeyed from Rephidim and entered the wilderness of Sinai then they encamped in the wilderness. While Israel encamped there in front of the mountain,

3 Moses, he ascended to the One, Elohim. Then Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying: Thus shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell to the sons of Israel,

4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians when I bore you on vultures’ wings and brought you to Myself.

5 Now, if you shall hearken, yea hearken to My voice and observe My covenant then you will become Mine, a special possession, above all of the peoples, for Mine is all the earth.

6 As for you, you shall become Mine, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the sons of Israel.

7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and he placed before them all these words which Yahweh had instructed him.

8 Now all the people responded together and said: All that Yahweh speaks we shall do. When Moses brought back the words of the people to Yahweh,

9 then Yahweh said to Moses: Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud in order that the people shall hear when I speak with you, and, moreover, in you shall they believe for the eon. So Moses told the words of the people to Yahweh.

10 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Go to the people, and you will hallow them today and tomorrow; let them rinse their raiments

11 and come to be prepared for the third day; for on the third day Yahweh shall descend on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people.

12 Also you will set a boundary for the people round about, saying: Guard yourselves concerning ascent into the mountain or touching its outmost part. Everyone touching the mountain shall be put to death, yea death.

13 No hand shall touch him, for he shall be stoned, yea stoned or shot, yea shot; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the alarmhorn draws forth, they may ascend onto the mountain.

14 So Moses descended from the mountain to the people; he hallowed the people, and they rinsed their raiments.

15 Then he said to the people: Be prepared for three days; do not come close to a woman.

16 It came to be on the third day, at the coming of the morning, that there came to be thunderclaps and flashes and a heavy cloud on the mount, and the sound of a trumpet, exceedingly steadfast, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled.

17 Yet Moses brought the people forth from the camp to meet the One, Elohim. So they stationed themselves at the nether part of the mountain.

18 As for Mount Sinai, all of it smoked in view of the fact that Yahweh descended on it in fire; its smoke ascended as the smoke of a limekiln, and the entire mountain trembled exceedingly.

19 While the sound of the trumpet came to be growing and exceedingly steadfast, Moses, he was speaking, and the One, Elohim, He was answering him with a loud voice.

20 Yahweh descended on Mount Sinai to the summit of the mountain; then Yahweh called Moses to the summit of the mountain, and Moses ascended.

21 Yahweh said to Moses: Descend! Testify to the people lest they demolish the boundaries to Yahweh in order to see, and many of them fall.

22 Moreover, the priests who are coming close to Yahweh, they shall sanctify themselves lest Yahweh breach forth against them.

23 Now Moses said to Yahweh: The people cannot ascend to Mount Sinai because You Yourself testified to us, saying: Set a boundary about the mountain, and you will hallow it.

24 Yahweh said to him: Go, descend. Then you will ascend, you and Aaron with you; yet the priests and the people, they must not demolish the boundaries to ascend to Yahweh, lest He breach forth against them.

25 So Moses descended to the people and spoke to them.

Chapter 20

1 Elohim spoke all these words, saying:

2 I, Yahweh, am your Elohim Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants.

3 There shall not come to be other elohim for you in preference to Me.

4 You shall not make for yourself a carving nor any physical representation of that in the heavens above or that on the earth beneath, or that in the waters beneath the earth.

5 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor be made to serve them, for I, Yahweh your Elohim, am a jealous El, visiting the depravity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation, to those hating Me,

6 yet showing benignity to thousands, to those loving Me and observing My instructions.

7 You shall not take up the Name of Yahweh your Elohim for futility, for Yahweh shall not hold innocent him who takes up His Name for futility.

8 You are to remember the sabbath day to hallow it.

9 Six days shall you serve and do all your work,

10 yet the seventh day is a sabbath to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you, your son or your daughter, your manservant or your maidservant, your bull, your donkey or your beast, or your sojourner who is within your gates.

11 For in six days Yahweh dealt with the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He stopped on the seventh day. Therefore, Yahweh blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 Glorify your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged on the ground which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you.

13 You shall not murder.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

15 You shall not steal.

16 You shall not answer against your associate with false testimony.

17 You shall not covet the house of your associate. You shall not covet the wife of your associate, his field, his manservant or his maidservant, his bull, his donkey or anything which is your associate’s.

18 All the people were discerning the thunderclaps and the torches and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And the people saw and roved about and stood afar.

19 They said to Moses: Speak you with us that we may hear; yet Elohim must not speak with us lest we die.

20 Then Moses said to the people: Do not fear, for in order to probe you the One, Elohim has come, and in order that the fear of Him should come over your faces, that you may not sin.

21 Then the people stood afar, yet Moses, he came close to the murkiness where the One, Elohim was.

22 Yahweh said to Moses: Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, You, yourselves have seen that from the heavens I have spoken with you.

23 You shall not make anything beside Me: no elohim of silver or elohim of gold shall you make for yourselves.

24 An altar of soil of the ground shall you make for Me, and you will sacrifice on it your ascent offerings and your peace offerings, your flock and your herd. In every place where I shall record My Name I shall come to you, and I will bless you.

25 And if you shall make an altar of stones for Me you shall not build it with them trimmed; in case you have swung your sword over it, then you have profaned it.

26 And you shall not ascend on My altar by stairs so that your nakedness be not exposed on it.

Chapter 21

1 Now these are the ordinances which you shall place before them:

2 When you buy a Hebrew servant, six years shall he serve you, and in the seventh he shall go forth free gratuitously.

3 If by himself he came, by himself he shall go forth. If he was the possessor of a wife, then his wife will go forth with him.

4 Yet if his lord, he should give him a wife, and she bears for him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall become her lord’s, and he may go forth by himself.

5 Yet if the servant should say, yea say, I love my lord, my wife and my sons; I shall not go forth free,

6 then his lord will bring him close to the elohim, and bring him close to the door or to the jamb, and his lord will bore his ear with an awl; and he will serve him for the eon.

7 When a man sells his daughter as a maidservant, she shall not go forth as the manservants go forth.

8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her lord, who has appointed her for himself, then he will let her be ransomed. To a foreign people he shall not rule to sell her because of his treachery with her.

9 If he is appointing her for his son, he shall deal with her as is customary with daughters.

10 If he is taking another for himself, he shall not diminish her meat, her covering and her cohabitation.

11 If these three things he is not doing for her then she will go forth gratuitously. There is no money paid.

12 The smiter of a man who dies shall be put to death, yea death.

13 But if he had no malicious intent, yet the One, Elohim, He had fated him into his hand, then I set for you a place where he shall flee.

14 Yet in case a man was planning arrogantly against his associate so as to kill him by craft, from My altar shall you take him to die.

15 The smiter of his father or his mother, he shall be put to death, yea death.

16 He who steals a man whether he sells him or he is found in his hand, he shall be put to death, yea death.

17 The one maledicting his father or his mother, he shall be put to death, yea death.

18 When men contend, and a man smites his associate with a stone or with a fist, and he does not die yet falls into bed,

19 then if he should rise and walk about outside on his support-staff the smiter is held innocent, but for his cessation he shall provide and shall make him heal, yea heal.

20 When a man smites his manservant or his maidservant with a club and he dies under his hand, he shall be avenged, yea avenged;

21 only if he stands a day or two days he shall not be avenged, for he is his silver.

22 When men strive together and strike a pregnant woman, and her child comes forth, and no mishap comes to be, he shall be fined, yea fined just as the woman’s possessor shall impose on him, and he will pay through mediators.

23 Yet if a mishap comes to be then you will give soul for soul,

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 scorching for scorching, injury for injury, welt for welt.

26 When a man smites the eye of his manservant or the eye of his maidservant and ruins it he shall dismiss him free for his eye.

27 And if he causes a tooth of his manservant or a tooth of his maidservant to fall out he shall dismiss him free for his tooth.

28 When a bull gores a man or a woman and he dies, the bull shall be stoned, yea stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, yet the possessor of the bull shall be held innocent.

29 But if it was a bull given to goring heretofore, and it was testified to its possessor, yet he did not keep it in, and it caused a man or a woman to die, the bull, it shall be stoned, and, moreover, its possessor, he shall be put to death.

30 If a sheltering ransom is imposed on him then he will give as a ransom for his soul according to all which is set on him.

31 Whether it gores a son or gores a daughter, according to this custom shall it be done to him.

32 If the bull gores a manservant or a maidservant, thirty shekels of silver shall he give to his lord, and the bull, it shall be stoned.

33 When a man opens a cistern, or when a man digs a cistern, yet does not cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls therein,

34 the possessor of the cistern, he shall repay; he shall restore silver to its possessor, and the dead beast shall become his.

35 When a man’s bull strikes the bull of his associate and it dies, then they will sell the living bull and divide the silver for it, and, moreover, they shall divide the dead one.

36 Or when it is known that it was a bull given to goring heretofore, and its possessor did not keep it in, he shall repay, yea repay bull for bull, and the dead one shall become his.

Chapter 22

1 When a man steals a bull or a flockling and slaughters it or sells it, five oxen shall he repay for the bull and four small cattle for the flockling. (

2 If the thief is found while burrowing and is smitten so that he dies, there is no bloodguilt because of him.

3 But if the sun has risen on him there is bloodguilt because of him.) He shall repay, yea repay; if he has nothing then he will be sold for his theft.

4 If the theft is found, yea found alive in his hand, whether bull or donkey or flockling, he shall only repay double.

5 When a man causes a field or a vineyard to be grazed down, and he lets his livestock go loose, so that it grazes down another’s field, then from the best of his field and the best of his vineyard shall he repay.

6 When fire goes forth and it finds thorns, and the shock or the raised grain or the whole field is devoured, the one causing the consuming fire to consume shall repay, yea repay.

7 When a man gives to his associate silver or articles to keep, and they are stolen from the man’s house, if the thief is found he shall repay double.

8 If the thief is not found then the possessor of the house will be brought near to the elohim to show whether or not he has put forth his hand on the work of his associate.

9 In every matter of transgression over a bull, over a donkey, over a flockling, over raiment or over every lost thing which one says that this is it, unto the elohim shall come the word of the two of them. Whom the elohim shall condemn, he shall repay double to his associate.

10 When a man gives to his associate a donkey or a bull or a flockling or any beast to keep, and it dies or is broken or is captured without anyone seeing it,

11 the oath of Yahweh, it shall come to be between them both to show whether or not he has put forth his hand on the property of his associate; then its possessor will take it, and he shall not repay.

12 But if it is stolen, yea stolen from him, he shall repay its possessor.

13 If it is torn to pieces, yea torn to pieces, he shall bring the thing torn to pieces as testimony, and he shall not repay.

14 When a man asks something from his associate, and it is broken or dies when its possessor is not with it, he shall repay, yea repay.

15 If its possessor was with it, he shall not repay. If it was hired it came for its hire.

16 In case a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and he lies with her, he shall pay, yea pay her bride-price as a wife for himself.

17 If her father refuses, yea refuses to give her to him, he shall weigh out silver according to the bride-price for virgins.

18 You shall not let an enchantress live.

19 Anyone lying with a beast, he shall be put to death, yea death.

20 Anyone sacrificing to any elohim, he is doomed, unless it be to Yahweh, to Him alone.

21 As for the sojourner, you shall not tyrannize nor oppress him, for you came to be sojourners in the land of Egypt.

22 Any widow or orphan you shall not humiliate.

23 If you humiliate, yea humiliate him, in case he should cry, yea cry to Me, I shall hear, yea hear his cry,

24 and My anger will grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives will become widows and your sons orphans.

25 If you obligate My people, the humble with you, with silver, you shall not be as a money lender to him; you shall not impose interest on him.

26 If you take in pledge, yea in pledge the raiment of your associate, previous to sunset you shall restore it to him,

27 for it is his only covering. It is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he lie? When it comes to be that he is crying to Me, then I will hear, for I am gracious.

28 You shall not maledict the elohim, and a prince among your people you shall not curse.

29 You shall not delay to offer from your fullness and your fruit juice. The firstborn of your sons shall you give to Me.

30 So shall you do with your bull, with your flock and your donkey. Seven days it shall be with its mother; on the eighth day shall you give it to Me.

31 You shall come to be holy men for Me; so you shall not eat flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall fling it to the dog.

Chapter 23

1 You shall not carry an unfounded report; do not set your hand with a wicked man to become a malicious witness.

2 You shall not come after the many to do evil, and you shall not respond in a contested matter to turn aside after the many, to turn aside right judgment.

3 Neither shall you favorably honor the poor man in his contested matter.

4 In case you come upon the bull of your enemy or his donkey going astray, you shall return, yea return it to him.

5 In case you see the donkey of one hating you reclining under its load, then you will halt from forsaking him with it. You shall set free, yea set it free along with him.

6 You shall not turn aside the judgment of your needy one in his contested matter.

7 From a false charge you shall keep far; and the innocent and the righteous one you must not kill, for I shall not justify the wicked one.

8 You shall not take a bribe, for the bribe is blinding the unclosed eyes and is subverting the words of the righteous.

9 You shall not oppress a sojourner, for you know the soul of the sojourner, for you came to be sojourners in the land of Egypt.

10 Six years shall you sow your land, and you will gather its yield;

11 but in the seventh you shall release it and abandon it, that the needy of your people may eat, and the field animal shall eat their leavings. So shall you do with your vineyard and with your olive trees.

12 Six days shall you do your tasks, and on the seventh day you shall cease, that your bull and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the sojourner be refreshed.

13 You shall beware in all that I say to you. And the name of other elohim you shall not mention; let it not be heard coming out of your mouth.

14 Three times shall you celebrate to Me in the year:

15 You shall observe the festival of unleavened bread; seven days shall you eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you went forth from Egypt, and none shall appear before Me empty-handed.

16 Also observe the festival of the harvest of the firstfruits of your yields from what you are sowing in the field. And observe the festival of ingathering at the going forth of the year, when you gather your yields from the field.

17 Three times in the year every male of you shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.

18 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with what is leavened, nor shall the fat of My festival lodge until the morning.

19 You shall bring the beginning of the firstfruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not cook a kid in the milk of its mother.

20 Behold, I shall be sending a messenger before you to keep you in the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared.

21 Guard yourself in view of him and hearken to his voice. Do not embitter him, for he shall not bear with your transgression, for My Name is within him.

22 In case you should hearken, yea hearken to his voice and do all that I am speaking, then I will be Enemy of your enemies, and I will be Foe of your foes.

23 For My messenger shall go before you, and he will bring you to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Gergashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, and I will suppress them.

24 You shall not bow yourself down to their elohim nor be made to serve them, nor shall you do according to their deeds, for you shall demolish, yea demolish them and break down, yea break down their monuments.

25 You will serve Yahweh your Elohim, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take away illness from among you.

26 None shall come to be miscarrying or barren in your land. I shall make the number of your days full.

27 I shall send the dread of Me before you, I will discomfit all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn the nape of their necks to you.

28 I will send the hornet before you, and it will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite and the Hittite from before you.

29 I shall not drive them out from before you in one year lest the land should become desolate, and the field animal be many against you.

30 Little by little shall I drive them out from before you until you are fruitful, and you are allotted the land.

31 And I will set your boundary from the Sea of Weeds unto the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness unto the Stream, for I shall give into your hand the dwellers of the land, and you will drive them out from your presence.

32 You shall not contract a covenant with them or with their elohim.

33 They shall not dwell in your land lest they should make you sin against Me so that you serve their elohim, and that it should come to be a trap for you.

Chapter 24

1 Then to Moses He said: Ascend to Yahweh, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you will bow yourselves down from afar.

2 Yet Moses, he alone will come close to Yahweh; but they shall not come close, and the people, they shall not ascend with him.

3 So Moses came and related to the people all the words of Yahweh and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with one voice and said: All the words which Yahweh has spoken we shall do.

4 Now Moses wrote all the words of Yahweh. And he rose early in the morning and built an altar below the mountain and twelve stone monuments for the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 Then he sent youths of the sons of Israel, and they brought up ascent offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to Yahweh.

6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in goblets, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 And he took the scroll of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people; so they said: All that Yahweh has spoken we shall do and hearken to.

8 Now Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said: Behold the blood of the covenant which Yahweh contracts with you concerning all these words.

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ascended.

10 And they saw the Elohim of Israel and beneath His feet as it were a work of sapphire tiling, as the very heavens for purity.

11 To the selectmen of the sons of Israel He put not forth His hand, and they perceived the One, Elohim, and ate and drank.

12 Yahweh said to Moses: Ascend to Me to the mountain and be there, and I shall give to you the stone tablets, the law and the instructions which I wrote to direct them.

13 So Moses and Joshua, his minister, rose, and Moses ascended to the mountain of the One, Elohim.

14 And to the elders he said: Wait for us in this place until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone who has matters, let him come close to them.

15 When Moses ascended to the mountain, the cloud covered the mountain,

16 and the glory of Yahweh tabernacled over Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it six days. Then Yahweh called to Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud.

17 Now the appearance of the glory of Yahweh was like a devouring fire on the summit of the mountain to the eyes of the sons of Israel.

18 So Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and ascended onto the mountain. Moses came to be on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Chapter 25

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel that they take for Me a heave offering. From every man whose heart is willing shall you take My heave offering.

3 And this is the heave offering which you shall take from them: gold, silver and copper,

4 blue, purple and double-dipped crimson, cambric and goats’ hair,

5 reddened rams’ hides and azure hides and acacia boards,

6 oil for the luminary, aromatics for the anointing oil and for the incense of spices,

7 stones of onyx and setting-stones for the ephod and for the breastplate.

8 Thus they will make for Me a sanctuary, and I will tabernacle in their midst.

9 According to all that I am showing you, the model of the tabernacle and the model of all its furnishings, thus shall you make it.

10 They will make a coffer of acacia boards, two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its rise.

11 You will overlay it; with pure gold inside and outside shall you overlay it. You will make on it a flange of gold round about.

12 You will cast four rings of gold for it, and put them on its four footings with two rings on its one angle wall and two rings on its second angle wall.

13 You will make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold,

14 and insert the poles in the rings on the angle walls of the coffer to carry the coffer with them.

15 The poles shall come to be in the rings of the coffer. They shall not be withdrawn from it.

16 You will put the testimony which I shall give to you into the coffer.

17 You will make a propitiatory shelter of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width.

18 You will make two cherubim of gold; you shall hammer them a stiff shell of one piece with the two ends of the propitiatory shelter.

19 Make one cherub from this end and one cherub from that end. Of one piece with the propitiatory shelter you shall make the cherubim at its two ends.

20 The cherubim will come to be with spreading wings above, overshadowing with their wings over the propitiatory shelter with their faces each to his fellow. Toward the propitiatory shelter the faces of the cherubim shall come to be.

21 Then you will put the propitiatory shelter on the coffer from above; and you shall put the testimony which I shall give to you into the coffer.

22 I will keep appointment with you there, and I will speak with you above the propitiatory shelter from between the two cherubim which are over the coffer of the testimony of all which I am instructing you for the sons of Israel.

23 You will make a table of acacia boards, two cubits its length and a cubit its width and a cubit and a half its rise.

24 You will overlay it with pure gold and make for it a flange of gold round about.

25 You will make for it a border of a handbreadth round about and make a flange of gold for its border round about.

26 You will make for it four rings of gold and put the rings on the four edges which are for its four feet.

27 The rings shall come to correspond with the border for housings for the poles to carry the table.

28 You will make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and the table will be carried by them.

29 You will make its dishes and its spoons and its chalices and its sacrificial-bowls with which libations are made; of pure gold shall you make them.

30 Then you will put the bread of the presence on the table before Me regularly.

31 You will make the lampstand of pure gold; of a stiff shell shall the lampstand be made, its stem and its tube; its cones, its spheres and its buds shall come out from it.

32 Six tubes shall come forth from its sides, three tubes of the lampstand from its one side and three tubes of the lampstand from its second side.

33 Three almond shaped cones shall be on the one tube, a sphere and a bud, and three almond shaped cones on the other tube, a sphere and a bud: thus for the six tubes coming forth from the lampstand.

34 On the lampstand itself shall be four almond shaped cones, its spheres and its buds;

35 and a sphere under two of the tubes from it, and a sphere under two of the tubes from it, and a sphere under two of the tubes from it, so for the six tubes coming forth from the lampstand.

36 Their spheres and their tubes shall be of one piece with it, all of it of one stiff shell of pure gold.

37 You will make its seven lamps, and one will set up its lamps, so that it gives light over across its face.

38 Its snuffers and its firepans shall be of pure gold.

39 Of a talent of pure gold shall you make it with all these furnishings.

40 And see that you make it by their model which is being shown you on the mount.

Chapter 26

1 The tabernacle you shall make with ten sheets of corded cambric and blue, purple and double-dipped crimson; with cherubim in the handiwork of a designer shall you make them.

2 The length of one sheet shall be twenty-eight cubits and the width four cubits for one sheet; one measure shall be for all the sheets.

3 Five of the sheets, they shall be joining each to its fellow, and the five other sheets joining each to its fellow.

4 You will make loops of blue on the hem of the one sheet at the end of the joining, and so shall you make in the hem of the endmost sheet at the second joining.

5 Fifty loops shall you make in one sheet, and fifty loops shall you make in the end of the sheet which shall be at the second joining, for the loops to be receiving each with its fellow.

6 Then you will make fifty links of gold, and join the sheets, each to its fellow, by the links; and the tabernacle will come to be one.

7 You will make sheets of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle; eleven sheets shall you make them.

8 The length of one sheet shall be thirty cubits and the width four cubits for one sheet, one measure for the eleven sheets.

9 You will join five of the sheets by themselves and six of the sheets by themselves; and you will double the sixth sheet on the forefront face of the tent.

10 You will make fifty loops on the hem of the one endmost sheet at the joining, and fifty loops on the hem of the sheet at the second joining.

11 You will make fifty copper links and insert the links into the loops and join the tent so that it will come to be one.

12 The extending superfluity of the sheets of the tent, the half sheet superfluity, shall extend over the back of the tabernacle.

13 The cubit on this side and the cubit on that side in the superfluity in the length of the sheets of the tent shall come to be extended over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side to cover it.

14 Then you will make a cover for the tent of reddened rams’ hides, and a cover of azure hides above.

15 You will make the hollow tapers for the tabernacle of standing acacia boards;

16 ten cubits shall be the length of one hollow taper, and a cubit and a half cubit the width of one hollow taper.

17 Two sloping side boards shall there be to one hollow taper, being projected each to its fellow: thus shall you do for all the hollow tapers of the tabernacle.

18 You will make the hollow tapers for the tabernacle, twenty hollow tapers for the edge toward the Negeb, southward;

19 and forty sockets of silver shall you make under the twenty hollow tapers, two sockets under one hollow taper for its two sloping side boards, and two sockets under another hollow taper for its two sloping side boards.

20 Also for the second angle wall of the tabernacle for the north edge you shall make twenty hollow tapers,

21 with their forty sockets of silver, two sockets under one hollow taper, and two sockets under another hollow taper.

22 Yet for the flanks of the tabernacle westward shall you make six hollow tapers;

23 and two hollow tapers shall you make for the cutout corners of the tabernacle, in the flanks.

24 Then couplings shall come to be below, and they shall come to be coupled together on its top by one ring. Thus shall it come to be for the two of them; for the two cutout corners shall they come to be.

25 There will come to be eight hollow tapers and their silver sockets, sixteen sockets, two sockets under one hollow taper, and two sockets under another hollow taper.

26 You will make bars of acacia wood, five for the hollow tapers of one angle wall of the tabernacle,

27 also five bars for the hollow tapers of the second angle wall of the tabernacle, and five bars for the hollow tapers of the angle wall for the flanks of the tabernacle westward;

28 and the middle bar in the midst of the hollow tapers reaching from end to end.

29 The hollow tapers shall you overlay with gold; and their rings shall you make of gold, as housings for the bars, and you will overlay the bars with gold.

30 Then you will set up the tabernacle according to its layout which you are shown on the mount.

31 You will make a curtain of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric; in the handiwork of a designer shall you make it with cherubim.

32 You will put it on four columns of acacia overlaid with gold, with their hooks of gold, on four sockets of silver;

33 and you will put the curtain under the links. Then you will bring there, inside the curtain, the coffer of the testimony. The curtain will separate for you between the holy place and the holy of holies;

34 and you will put the propitiatory shelter on the coffer of the testimony in the holy of holies.

35 Yet you will place the table outside the curtain, and the lampstand opposite the table at the angle wall of the tabernacle southward; the table you shall put at the north angle wall.

36 You will make a portiere for the opening of the tent of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric, a handiwork of embroidery.

37 You will make for the portiere five columns of acacia, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks with gold; and you will cast for them five sockets of copper.

Chapter 27

1 You will make the altar of acacia boards, five cubits the length and five cubits the width. The altar shall come to be square, and its rise shall be three cubits.

2 You will make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it; and you will overlay it with copper.

3 You will make its pots for its greasy ash, and its shovels, its sprinkling bowls, its forks and its firepans; all its furnishings shall you make of copper.

4 You will make for it a grate, a handiwork of copper net, and make on the net four rings of copper on its four ends.

5 You will put it beneath the encompassment of the altar from below so that the net comes as far as halfway up the altar.

6 You will make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with copper.

7 Then you will insert its poles in the rings, and the poles will come to be on the two angle walls of the altar when carrying it.

8 Hollow, of planks, shall you make it; just as one shows you on the mount, so shall they do.

9 You will make the court of the tabernacle: For the Negeb edge southward the slung-sheets for the court shall be of corded cambric, a hundred cubits long for the one edge,

10 with its twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver.

11 And so for the north edge, in the length of the court the slung-sheets shall be a hundred cubits long with its twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver.

12 For the width of the court for the west edge, the slung-sheets shall be fifty cubits with their ten columns and their ten sockets.

13 The width of the court for the eastward edge toward the sunrise shall be fifty cubits.

14 Fifteen cubits of slung-sheets shall be for one flank, with their three columns and their three sockets,

15 and for the second flank fifteen cubits of slung-sheets with their three columns and their three sockets.

16 For the gate of the court shall be a portiere of twenty cubits of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric, a handiwork of embroidery with their four columns and their four sockets.

17 On all the columns around the court the connections shall be of silver, their hooks of silver, and their sockets of copper.

18 The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and the width fifty by fifty, and its rise five cubits, of corded cambric, and their copper sockets.

19 All the furnishings of the tabernacle for all its service and all its pegs, and all the pegs of the court shall be of copper.

20 As for you, you shall instruct the sons of Israel that they shall take to you clear olive oil, pounded, for the luminary, to kindle the lamp regularly.

21 In the tent of appointment, outside of the curtain which shall be over the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall arrange it from evening until morning before Yahweh. It shall be an eonian statute throughout their generations, for the sons of Israel.

Chapter 28

1 You, bring near to you Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him, from the midst of the sons of Israel, to serve as priests for Me; Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, sons of Aaron.

2 You will make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty;

3 and you shall speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make the garments of Aaron to hallow him to serve as priest for Me.

4 These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a lined tunic, a turban and a sash. They will make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, and for his sons, to serve as priests for Me.

5 They shall take the gold, the blue, the purple, the double-dipped crimson and the cambric.

6 They will make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, doubledipped crimson and corded cambric, the handiwork of a designer.

7 Two joining shoulderpieces shall be for it, on both its ends where it is made to join.

8 And the designed band of his ephod which shall be on it shall be like its handiwork of one piece with it, of gold, blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric.

9 Then you will take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,

10 six of their names on the one stone, and the six names left on the second stone, according to their genealogical records.

11 With the handiwork of lapidary, as the engravings of a seal, shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall make them set round about with mountings of gold filigree.

12 Then you will set the two stones on the shoulderpieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, and Aaron will bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulderpieces for remembrance.

13 You will make the mountings of gold filigree,

14 with two braids of pure gold; you shall make them to be boundaries, a handiwork of rope, and you will put the braided ropes on the mountings.

15 You will make the breastplate of judgment, the handiwork of a designer; like the handiwork of the ephod shall you make it; of gold, blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric shall you make it.

16 Squared shall it come to be when doubled, a span its length and a span its width.

17 You will fill it with a filling of stone, four rows of stones: a row of carnelian, peridot and emerald, one row,

18 and the second row of carbuncle, sapphire and diamond,

19 and the third row of jacinth, agate and amethyst,

20 and the fourth row of topaz, onyx and jasper. Mounted in gold filigree, shall they be in their fillings.

21 The stones, they shall come to be twelve with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel; as the engravings of a seal, each with its name, shall they come to be for the twelve tribes.

22 You will make on the breastplate boundaries of braid, a handiwork of rope, of pure gold.

23 You will make two rings of gold on the breastplate and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

24 You will put the two ropes of gold on the two rings at the ends of the breastplate;

25 and the two ends of the two ropes you shall put on the two mountings, and so you will put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod to its forefront view.

26 You will make two rings of gold and place them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its hem which shall be across the ephod, inside.

27 You will make two rings of gold and put them on the two shoulderpieces of the ephod below its forefront view, to correspond with its joining above to the designed band of the ephod.

28 Then they shall lace the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with blue twine, to come to be over the designed band of the ephod, so that the breastplate not be displaced from the ephod.

29 Thus Aaron will bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he enters into the holy place, for a continual remembrance before Yahweh.

30 You will put the Urim and the Thummim into the breastplate of judgment, and they will come to be on Aaron’s heart when he enters before Yahweh. Thus Aaron will bear the judgment of the sons of Israel on his heart before Yahweh continually.

31 You will make the robe of the ephod wholly of blue;

32 and there will come to be a slit for his head in its midst. A hem shall be around its slit, a handiwork of a weaver; as the slit of a coat of mail shall it be to it, so that it not be torn.

33 Then on its skirts you will make pomegranates of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric on its skirts round about, and bells of gold in their midst round about,

34 a bell of gold and a pomegranate, a bell of gold and a pomegranate, on the skirt of the robe round about.

35 Thus it will come to be on Aaron for ministering; and its sound will be heard when he enters into the holy place before Yahweh, and when he goes forth, so that he should not die.

36 You will make a blossom of pure gold and engrave on it like engravings of a seal: Holy to Yahweh.

37 You will place it on blue twine, and it will come to be on the turban; on the forefront of the face of the turban shall it come to be.

38 It will come to be on the forehead of Aaron; thus Aaron will bear the depravity of the holy things which the sons of Israel shall sanctify for all their holy gifts; and it will come to be on his forehead continually for their acceptance before Yahweh.

39 You will line the tunic with cambric, and you will make a turban of cambric, and a sash shall you make, a handiwork of embroidery.

40 Also you shall make tunics for the sons of Aaron. Then you will make sashes for them, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and for beauty.

41 You will put them on Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him, and you will anoint them. You will consecrate them and hallow them, and they will serve as priests for Me.

42 Also make for them linen breeches to cover the naked flesh. From the waists and unto the thighs shall they come to be;

43 and they will come to be on Aaron and on his sons when they enter into the tent of appointment or when they come close to the altar to minister in the holy place, so that they may not bear depravity, and should die. It is an eonian statute for him and for his seed after him.

Chapter 29

1 This is the thing that you shall do to them to hallow them to serve as priests for Me: Take one bull calf of the herd and two flawless rams,

2 unleavened bread and unleavened perforated cakes mingled with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil; of wheat flour shall you make them.

3 You will put them on one tray and bring them near in the tray with the young bull and the two rams.

4 Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons near to the opening of the tent of appointment, and you will wash them in water.

5 You will take the garments and put on Aaron the tunic and the robe of the vestment and the ephod and the breastplate, and you will invest him with the designed band of the ephod.

6 You will place the turban on his head and put the holy insignia on the turban.

7 Also you will take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.

8 And you shall bring his sons near and put tunics on them.

9 Then you will gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind up caps on them, so that the priesthood comes to be theirs for an eonian statute when you have consecrated Aaron and his sons:

10 You will bring the young bull near before the tent of appointment, and Aaron and his sons will support their hands on the head of the young bull.

11 You will slay the young bull before Yahweh at the opening of the tent of appointment,

12 take some of the blood of the young bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger. And you shall pour out all the rest of the blood at the foundation of the altar.

13 Then you will take all the fat covering the inwards and the redundance above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat which is on them, and you will cause them to fume on the altar.

14 Yet the flesh of the young bull and its hide and its dung shall you burn with fire outside the camp. A sin offering is it.

15 You shall take one ram, and Aaron and his sons will support their hands on the head of the ram.

16 You will slay the ram, take its blood and sprinkle it on the altar round about.

17 You shall piece the ram into its pieces, and you will wash its inwards and its shanks and put them on its pieces and on its head.

18 Then you will cause all of the ram to fume on the altar. An ascent offering is it to Yahweh. It is a fragrant odor, a fire offering to Yahweh.

19 Then you will take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons will support their hands on the head of the ram.

20 You will slay the ram, take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of the right ears of his sons and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet; and you will sprinkle the blood on the altar round about.

21 Then you will take some of the blood which is on the altar and some of the anointing oil and spatter it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him, so that he will be holy, he and his garments, and his sons and the garments of his sons with him.

22 You will take from the ram the fat: the fat tail and the fat covering the inwards and the redundance above the liver and the two kidneys and the fat which is on them and the right leg (for it is a ram of consecrations),

23 and one loaf of bread and one perforated cake of oiled bread and one wafer from the tray of unleavened bread which is before Yahweh.

24 You will place the whole on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons and wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh.

25 Then you will take them from their hands and cause them to fume on the altar on top of the ascent offering for a fragrant odor before Yahweh. It is a fire offering to Yahweh.

26 You will take the chest of the ram of consecrations which is for Aaron and wave it as a wave offering before Yahweh; and it will come to be your assigned share.

27 Then you will hallow the chest of the wave offering and the leg of the heave offering, what is waved and what is heaved from the ram of consecrations which is for Aaron and which is for his sons.

28 It will come to be for Aaron and for his sons as an eonian statute from the sons of Israel, for it is a heave offering. And it shall become a heave offering from the sons of Israel, from their peace offerings, their heave offering to Yahweh.

29 The holy garments which are Aaron’s shall become his sons’ after him, to be anointed in them and to consecrate them in them.

30 Seven days one of his sons, whoever is priest in his stead, he who comes into the tent of appointment to minister in the holy place, shall put them on.

31 The ram of consecrations shall you take, and you will cook its flesh in a holy place;

32 and Aaron and his sons will eat the flesh of the ram and the bread which is in the tray at the opening of the tent of appointment.

33 They will eat them by which a propitiatory shelter was made to consecrate them, to hallow them. Yet an alien shall not eat them, for they are holy.

34 And if something be left of the flesh of consecrations or of the bread until the morning then you will burn that left over with fire; it shall not be eaten, for it is holy.

35 You will do thus for Aaron and for his sons according to all that I have instructed you. Seven days shall you consecrate them.

36 A young bull as a sin offering shall you offer day by day for propitiatory shelters; you will make a sin offering on the altar when you make your propitiatory shelter on it. And you will anoint it to hallow it.

37 Seven days shall you make a propitiatory shelter on the altar, and you will hallow it. Thus the altar becomes a holy of holies. All that touches the altar shall be holy.

38 This is what you shall offer on the altar: two he-lambs a year-old day by day regularly.

39 The one he-lamb shall you offer in the morning, and the second he-lamb shall you offer between the evening hours,

40 also a tenth of an ephah of flour mingled with a quarter of a hin of pounded oil, and a libation of a quarter of a hin of wine for the one lamb.

41 And the second lamb you shall offer between the evening hours; as the morning approach present and as its libation shall you offer it, for a fragrant odor, a fire offering to Yahweh,

42 a regular ascent offering throughout your generations, at the opening of the tent of appointment, before Yahweh, where I shall keep appointment with you to speak to you there.

43 And I will keep appointment there with the sons of Israel, and it will be hallowed by My glory.

44 Thus I will hallow the tent of appointment and the altar; and Aaron and his sons shall I hallow to serve as priests for Me.

45 I will tabernacle in the midst of the sons of Israel and will become their Elohim.

46 Then they will realize that I am Yahweh their Elohim Who brought them forth from the land of Egypt that I may tabernacle in their midst. I am Yahweh their Elohim.

Chapter 30

1 You will make the altar for fuming incense; of acacia boards shall you make it.

2 A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width. Square it shall be, and two cubits its rise. Its horns are of one piece with it.

3 You will overlay it with pure gold, its top surface and around its sidewalls and its horns; and you will make for it a flange of gold round about.

4 Two rings of gold shall you make for it. Beneath its flange, on its two angle walls shall you make them, on its two sides. And they shall be for housings for the poles, to carry it with them.

5 You will make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold;

6 and you will put it before the curtain which shall be by the coffer of the testimony, before the propitiatory shelter which shall be on the testimony where I shall keep appointment with you.

7 Aaron will cause incense of spices to fume on it morning by morning; when making the lamps good he shall cause it to fume;

8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps between the evening hours, he shall cause it to fume as incense regularly before Yahweh throughout your generations.

9 You shall not set up on it an alien incense or an ascent offering or an approach present, and a libation you shall not libate on it.

10 Aaron will make a propitiatory shelter on its horns once in the year with the blood of the sin offering of the propitiatory shelter; once in the year shall he make a propitiatory shelter on it throughout your generations. It shall be a holy of holies to Yahweh.

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:

12 When you take up the sum of the sons of Israel by their mustered ones then each man will give a sheltering ransom for his soul to Yahweh while one is mustering them, so that no stroke may come among them when mustering them.

13 This shall they give, everyone passing over to the ones being mustered: a half shekel by the shekel of the holy place, which is twenty gerahs to the shekel; the half shekel shall be a heave offering to Yahweh.

14 Everyone passing over to the ones being mustered from twenty years old and upward shall give Yahweh’s heave offering.

15 The rich one, he shall not increase it, and the poor one, he shall not decrease it from half a shekel, to give as Yahweh’s heave offering to shelter your souls.

16 You will take the sheltering ransom silver from the sons of Israel and give it to the service of the tent of appointment that it become for the sons of Israel a memorial before Yahweh to shelter your souls.

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

18 You will make a laver of bronze and its post of bronze, for washing, and put it between the tent of appointment and the altar, and put water therein,

19 that Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and their feet from it.

20 Whenever they enter into the tent of appointment they shall wash with water so that they should not die, or when they come close to the altar to minister, to fume incense by fire to Yahweh;

21 then they will wash their hands and their feet so that they should not die. It will become to them an eonian statute, for him and his seed throughout their generations.

22 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

23 As for you, take to yourself the principal aromatics, of free-flowing myrrh five hundred shekels worth and of aromatic cinnamon half of it, two hundred fifty, and of aromatic reed two hundred fifty,

24 and of cassia five hundred by the shekel of the holy place, and of olive oil a hin;

25 and you will make of it a holy anointing oil, a compounded ointment, the handiwork of a compounder. A holy anointing oil shall it be.

26 With it you will anoint the tent of appointment and the coffer of the testimony,

27 the table and all its furnishings, the lampstand and its furnishings, and the altar of incense,

28 the altar of ascent offering and all its furnishings, the laver and its post.

29 You will hallow them so that they become a holy of holies. All that touches them shall be holy.

30 Aaron and his sons shall you anoint, and you will hallow them to serve as priests for Me.

31 And to the sons of Israel shall you speak, saying: A holy anointing oil shall this become to Me throughout your generations.

32 On the flesh of common humanity it shall not be rubbed, and by its recipe you shall not make such as it. It is holy; holy shall it become to you.

33 The man who compounds such as it, and who gives any of it to an alien, he will be cut off from his people.

34 Yahweh said to Moses: Take to yourself spices: stacte, murex shell and galbanum, spices with clear frankincense. Component by component shall it be;

35 and you will make of it an incense, a compound of the handiwork of a compounder, salted, clean, holy.

36 Then you will reduce to powder some of it, pulverized, and put it before the testimony in the tent of appointment where I shall keep appointment with you. A holy of holies shall it become to you.

37 Yet the incense which you shall make by its recipe you shall not make for yourselves. Holy shall it be to you for Yahweh.

38 The man who makes such as it to smell of it, he will be cut off from his people.

Chapter 31

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 See! I call by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur of the stock of Judah.

3 I shall fill him with the spirit of Elohim, with wisdom and with understanding and with knowledge, in all workmanship,

4 to design designs, to make them in gold, in silver and in copper,

5 and as a lapidary for setting-stones and as an artificer in wood for making all kind of work.

6 And I, behold, I give him Aholiab son of Ahisamach of the stock of Dan. In the heart of all the wise of heart I have given wisdom, that they will make all that I have instructed you:

7 the tent of appointment and the coffer for the testimony with the propitiatory shelter which shall be on it and all the furnishings of the tent,

8 the table with its furnishings, the pure lampstand with all its furnishings and the altar of incense,

9 the altar of ascent offering with all its furnishings, the laver and its post;

10 also the colored garments and the holy garments for Aaron, the priest, and the garments of his sons to serve as priests;

11 then the anointing oil and the incense of spices for the holy place; according to all that I have instructed you shall they do.

12 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

13 Now you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, Surely, My sabbaths shall you keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations to know that I am Yahweh, Who is hallowing you.

14 Hence you will keep the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Profaners of it shall be put to death, yea death, for if anyone is doing work in it, that soul will be cut off from among his people.

15 Six days shall work be done, and on the seventh day is a sabbath of cessation, holy to Yahweh. Everyone doing work on the sabbath day shall be put to death, yea death.

16 Hence the sons of Israel will keep the sabbath so as to make the sabbath an eonian covenant throughout their generations.

17 Between Me and the sons of Israel it shall be a sign for the eon, for in six days Yahweh dealt with the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased and was refreshed.

18 He gave to Moses, as He finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of Elohim.

Chapter 32

1 The people saw that Moses was tardy to descend from the mountain. So the people assembled themselves against Aaron and said to him: Rise! Make for us elohim who shall go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him.

2 Then Aaron said to them: Tear off the pendants of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons and your daughters, and bring them to me.

3 So all the people tore off the pendants of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron.

4 He took the gold from their hands and formed it with a graving tool and made of it a molten calf. And they said: These are your elohim, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

5 When Aaron discerned this, he built an altar before it. Then Aaron called out and said: A festival to Yahweh tomorrow!

6 So they rose early on the morrow and brought up ascent offerings and brought close peace offerings. And the people sat to eat and drink, and they rose to make fun.

7 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses: Go! Go down, for your people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt have become corrupt.

8 They have withdrawn quickly from the way which I instructed them. They have made for themselves a molten calf and bowed themselves down to it. They sacrificed to it and said: These are your elohim, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

9 And Yahweh said to Moses: I have seen this people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.

10 And now, leave it to Me, that My anger may grow hot against them, so that I may finish them; and I shall make you into a great nation.

11 Then Moses beseeched the face of Yahweh his Elohim and said: Why, O Yahweh, has Your anger grown hot against Your people whom You have brought forth from the land of Egypt with great vigor and with a steadfast hand?

12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying: For evil He brings them forth to kill them in the mountains and to finish them off the surface of the ground? Turn back from the heat of Your anger and show mercy concerning the evil to Your people.

13 Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself. You spoke to them, saying: I shall increase your seed as the stars of the heavens, and all this land, as I have said, I shall give it to your seed, and they will gain it as an allotment for the eon.

14 So Yahweh showed mercy concerning the evil which He spoke of doing to His people.

15 Then Moses turned around and descended from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands, tablets written on two sides across them, on this and on that side were they written.

16 And the tablets, they were the handiwork of Elohim; and the writing, it was the writing of Elohim, chiseled on the tablets.

17 When Joshua heard the voice of the people in their shouting, he said to Moses: The sound of battle is in the camp.

18 Yet he said: There is no sound of the response of mastery, and there is no sound of the response of defeat; the sound of responsive singing I hear.

19 And it came to be just as he drew near to the camp and saw the calf and the choruses that Moses’ anger grew hot, and he flung from his hands the tablets and broke them below the mountain.

20 Then he took the calf which they had made, burned it with fire and ground it until it was pulverized; he winnowed it upon the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.

21 Moses said to Aaron: What has this people done to you that you have brought on them a great sin?

22 And Aaron said: The anger of my lord must not grow hot. You know the people that they are unbridled,

23 for they said to me: Make elohim for us who shall go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him.

24 And I said to them: Anyone who has gold tear it off yourself. So they gave it to me, and I flung it into the fire, and this calf came forth.

25 When Moses saw the people that they were unbridled, that Aaron had let them become unbridled unto disrepute among those rising against them,

26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said: Whoever is for Yahweh come to me! So all the sons of Levi gathered themselves to him;

27 and he said to them: Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Each man place his sword on his thigh, cross over and return from gate to gate in the camp. Each man kill his brother and each man his associate and each man his near friend.

28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and there fell of the people in that day about three thousand men.

29 Hence Moses said: Consecrate yourselves today to Yahweh, for each man has been against his son and against his brother, that a blessing may be given over you today.

30 It came to be after the morrow that Moses said to the people: You have sinned a great sin, and now I am going up to Yahweh. Perhaps I may make a propitiatory shelter about your sin.

31 So Moses returned to Yahweh and said: Oh! this people has sinned a great sin, and they made for themselves an elohim of gold.

32 And now, if You should bear their sin, bear it. Yet if not, wipe me, I pray, from Your scroll which You have written.

33 Yahweh said to Moses: Anyone who has sinned against Me, I shall wipe him from My scroll.

34 And now, go, guide the people to the place of which I spoke to you. Behold, My messenger shall go before you, and in the day of My visitation, then I will visit on them their sin.

35 Then Yahweh struck the people down because they had used the calf which Aaron made.

Chapter 33

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses: Go up hence, you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land about which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, saying: To your seed shall I give it.

2 And I will send before you My messenger. I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

3 And I shall bring you into a land gushing with milk and honey. For I shall not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I should finish you on the way.

4 When the people heard this evil word, they mourned, and no man set his ornaments on him;

5 for Yahweh had said to Moses: Say to the sons of Israel: You stiff-necked people! If for one moment I should go up among you, I would finish you! And now, take down your ornaments off you that I may know what I should do to you.

6 So the sons of Israel despoiled themselves of their own ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

7 As for Moses, he took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp; and he called it the tent of appointment; and it came to be that everyone seeking Yahweh went forth to the tent of appointment which was outside the camp.

8 Also it came to be as Moses went forth to the tent, all the people rose and stationed themselves, each man, at the opening of his tent and looked after Moses until he entered the tent.

9 It came to be as Moses entered the tent that the cloud column descended and stood at the opening of the tent, and He spoke with Moses.

10 When all the people saw the cloud column standing at the opening of the tent, all the people rose and bowed themselves down, each man at the opening of his tent.

11 So Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his associate. When he returned to the camp then his minister, Joshua son of Nun, a youth, did not remove himself from the midst of the tent.

12 Moses said to Yahweh: See! You are saying to me: Bring up this people, but You have not let me know whom You shall send with me. Yet You have said: I know you by name, and moreover you have found grace in My eyes.

13 And now, I pray, if I have found grace in Your eyes let me know, I pray, Your way that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your eyes: Consider that this nation is Your people.

14 And He said: My presence, shall it go that I may give rest to you?

15 So he said to Him: If Your presence is not going, do not bring us up from here!

16 Whereby shall it be known, indeed, that I find grace in Your eyes, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us that we may be distinguished, I and Your people, from all the peoples who are on the surface of the ground?

17 Yahweh said to Moses: Moreover, this matter of which you have spoken I shall do, for you find grace in My eyes, and I know you by name.

18 Now he said: Show me, I pray, Your glory.

19 And He said: I shall pass all My goodness before you and proclaim My Name, Yahweh, before you; I will be gracious to whom I am being gracious and will show compassion to whom I am showing compassion.

20 He also said: You cannot see My face, for no human shall see Me and live.

21 Then Yahweh said: Behold! There is a place by Me, and you will station yourself on the rock.

22 So it will come to be when My glory passes by that I will place you in a fissure of the rock. And I will overshadow you with My palm until I pass by.

23 Then I will take away My palm, and you will see My back, yet My face shall not appear.

Chapter 34

1 Yahweh said to Moses: Carve for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words which came to be on the first tablets which you broke.

2 Be ready tomorrow morning, and you will ascend in the morning to Mount Sinai and station yourself for Me there on the summit of the mountain.

3 No man shall ascend with you; indeed, let no man be seen in all the mountain. Moreover, the flock and the herd must not be grazing toward that mountain.

4 So he carved two stone tablets like the first ones. And Moses rose early in the morning and ascended to Mount Sinai, just as Yahweh had instructed him and took in his hands the two stone tablets.

5 Then Yahweh descended in a cloud and stationed Himself with him there, and proclaimed the Name of Yahweh.

6 Now Yahweh passed by before his face and proclaimed: Yahweh, Yahweh El, Who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant with benignity and truth,

7 preserving benignity to thousands, bearing with depravity, transgression and sin, yet He is not holding innocent, nay innocent, but visiting the depravity of the fathers on the sons and on the sons’ sons, on the third and on the fourth generation.

8 Then Moses hastened, bowed his head toward the earth, bowed himself down,

9 and said: I pray, if I find grace in Your eyes, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go among us, for they are a stiff-necked people, and You will pardon our depravity and our sin, and You will gain us as an allotment.

10 Then He said: Behold, I am contracting a covenant; in front of all your people shall I do marvels which have not been created on the entire earth, or among any of the nations. So all the people among whom you are will see the handiwork of Yahweh, for fear inspiring is that which I am doing with you.

11 Observe for yourself what I am instructing you today. Behold Me driving out from your presence the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

12 Guard yourself lest you contract a covenant with the dwellers of the land, to which you are entering, lest it become a trap among you.

13 For their altars shall you break down, and their monuments shall you break, and their Asherah poles shall you cut down.

14 For you shall not bow yourself down to another el (for Yahweh, Jealous is His Name; He is a jealous El)

15 lest you contract a covenant with the dweller of the land when they prostitute after their elohim and sacrifice to their elohim and lest one call to you and you eat of his sacrifice,

16 and you would take of his daughters for your sons so that his daughters would prostitute after their elohim and cause your sons to prostitute after their elohim.

17 Molten elohim you shall not make for yourself.

18 The festival of unleavened bread shall you observe seven days. You shall eat unleavened bread just as I have instructed you for the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came forth from Egypt.

19 Everyone opening up the womb is Mine, everyone of your male cattle, the one opening up of the kine and of the flockling.

20 Yet the male opening up of the donkey you shall ransom with a flockling, and if you should not ransom it then you will break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you shall ransom. And none shall appear before Me empty handed.

21 Six days shall you serve, and in the seventh day you shall cease; in plowing time and in harvest shall you cease.

22 The festival of weeks shall you observe for yourself, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest and the festival of the ingathering at the revolution of the year.

23 Three times in the year shall every male of yours appear before the Lord Yahweh, Elohim of Israel.

24 For I shall evict nations from your presence, and I will widen your boundary. No man shall covet your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh your Elohim three times in the year.

25 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with what is leavened, nor shall the sacrifice of the passover festival lodge unto the morning.

26 The beginning of the firstfruits of your ground shall you bring to the house of Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not cook a kid in the milk of its mother.

27 Yahweh said to Moses: Write for yourself these words, for at the bidding of these words I contract with you a covenant and with Israel.

28 And he came to be there before Yahweh, forty days and forty nights. Bread he did not eat, and water he did not drink. Thus he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.

29 It came to be when Moses descended from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hands, when he descended from the mount, that Moses did not realize that the skin of his face gleamed because of His speaking to him.

30 Then Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face gleamed. So they feared to come close to him.

31 Yet Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the princes in the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them.

32 Afterward all the sons of Israel came close to him; and he instructed them in all that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

33 When Moses finished speaking with them, then he put a covering on his face.

34 Yet whenever Moses entered before Yahweh to speak with Him he took away the covering until he went forth. When he came forth, then he spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was instructed.

35 And the sons of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face gleamed. Yet Moses restored the covering on his face until he entered to speak with Him.

Chapter 35

1 Then Moses assembled the whole congregation of the sons of Israel and said to them: These are the words which Yahweh instructs you to do them.

2 Six days shall work be done, yet on the seventh day there shall come to be for you a holy sabbath of cessation to Yahweh. Everyone doing work on it shall be put to death.

3 You shall not consume anything with fire in all your dwellings on the sabbath day.

4 Thus Moses spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, saying: This is the word which Yahweh instructs, saying:

5 Take a heave offering to Yahweh from what you have. Everyone willing in his heart shall bring Yahweh’s heave offering: gold, silver and copper,

6 blue, purple and double-dipped crimson, cambric and goats’ hair,

7 reddened rams’ hides and azure hides and acacia wood,

8 oil for the luminary and aromatics for the anointing oil and for the incense of spices,

9 stones of onyx and setting-stones for the ephod and for the breastplate.

10 Everyone wise of heart among you shall come and make all that Yahweh has instructed:

11 the tabernacle, its tent and its cover, its links and its hollow tapers, its bars, its columns and its sockets,

12 the coffer and its poles, the propitiatory shelter and the portiere curtain;

13 the table, its poles, all its furnishings and the bread of the presence;

14 the lampstand for the luminary, all its furnishings, its lamps and the oil for the luminary;

15 the altar of incense and its poles, the anointing oil and the incense of spices; the opening portiere for the opening of the tabernacle;

16 the altar of ascent offering and the copper grate which is for it, its poles and all its furnishings, the laver and its post;

17 the slung-sheets of the court, its columns, its sockets and the portiere of the court gate;

18 the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs of the court and their cords;

19 the colored garments to minister in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to serve as priests.

20 Now the whole congregation of the sons of Israel went forth from before Moses;

21 then every man whose heart prompted him entered, and everyone whose spirit made him willing brought Yahweh’s heave offering for the work of the tent of appointment and for all its service and for the holy garments.

22 The men entered along with their wives, all with a willing heart. They brought clasps and pendants and rings and plaited ornaments, every article of gold. So did every man who would wave a wave offering of gold to Yahweh.

23 And every man with whom was found blue, purple and double-dipped crimson, cambric and goats’ hair, reddened rams’ hides and azure hides, they brought them.

24 All raising up a heave offering of silver and copper brought Yahweh’s heave offering. All with whom was found acacia wood for all the work of the service, they brought it.

25 Every woman wise of heart spun with her hands, and they brought the spinning, the blue, the purple, the double-dipped crimson and the cambric.

26 All the wives whose heart prompted them with wisdom spun the goats’ hair.

27 The princes, they brought the onyx stones and the setting-stones for the ephod and for the breastplate,

28 also the aromatics and the oil for the luminary and for the anointing oil and for the incense of spices.

29 Every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work which Yahweh had instructed to do by the hand of Moses, so the sons of Israel brought it as a voluntary offering to Yahweh.

30 Moses said to the sons of Israel: See! Yahweh has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the stock of Judah;

31 and He is filling him with the spirit of Elohim, with wisdom, with understanding, with knowledge and with all workmanship

32 even to design designs, for work in gold, in silver and in copper,

33 and as a lapidary for setting stones and as an artificer in wood for work with all workmanship of designs.

34 And the ability to direct He put into his heart, for him and Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the stock of Dan.

35 He filled them with wisdom of heart to do all the work of the artificer and brocade designer and embroiderer in blue, in purple, in double-dipped crimson and in cambric and weaving, executors of all work and designers of designs.

Chapter 36

1 So Bezalel and Aholiab will work, and every man wise of heart in whom Yahweh put wisdom and understanding, to know how to do all the work of the service of the holy place according to all that Yahweh had instructed.

2 Then Moses called to Bezalel and to Aholiab and to every man wise of heart, to whom Yahweh had given wisdom in his heart, everyone whose heart prompted him to come near to the work to do it.

3 So they took from before Moses the entire heave offering which the sons of Israel brought for the work of the service of the holy place, to do it. And still they brought to him voluntary offerings morning by morning.

4 Then all the wise came, the ones doing all the work of the holy place, man by man, from his work which they were doing.

5 And they spoke to Moses, saying: The people have brought more than sufficient for the service of the work which Yahweh had instructed to do it.

6 So Moses instructed, and they caused a voice to pass in the camp, saying: Let not man or woman do further work for the heave offering of the holy place. Thus the people were forbidden to bring more,

7 since the work brought came to be sufficient for them for the entire work, to do it and to have surplus.

8 Then all the wise of heart among those doing the work made the tabernacle with ten sheets of corded cambric and blue, purple and double-dipped crimson; with cherubim, in the handiwork of a designer, he made them.

9 The length of one sheet was twenty-eight cubits and the width four cubits for one sheet. One measure was for all the sheets.

10 And he joined five of the sheets one to another, and the five other sheets he joined one to another.

11 He made loops of blue on the hem of the one sheet at the end at the joining, and so he made in the hem of the endmost sheet at the second joining.

12 Fifty loops he made in one sheet, and fifty loops he made in the end of the sheet which was at the second joining, for the loops to be receiving one with the other.

13 And he made fifty links of gold and joined the sheets one to another by the links, and the tabernacle came to be one.

14 Then he made sheets of goats’ hair for the tent over the tabernacle. Eleven sheets he made them.

15 The length of one sheet was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the width of one sheet, one measure for the eleven sheets.

16 And he joined five of the sheets by themselves and six of the sheets by themselves.

17 Then he made fifty loops on the hem of the endmost sheet at the joining, and he made fifty loops on the hem of the sheet at the second joining.

18 And he made fifty copper links to join the tent, for it to come to be one.

19 He also made a cover for the tent of reddened rams’ hides, and a cover of azure hides above.

20 Then he made the hollow tapers for the tabernacle of standing acacia boards;

21 ten cubits was the length of one hollow taper, and a cubit and a half cubit the width of one hollow taper.

22 There were two sloping side boards to one hollow taper being projected one to another: Thus he did for all the hollow tapers of the tabernacle.

23 And he made the hollow tapers for the tabernacle, twenty hollow tapers for the Negeb edge southward;

24 and forty sockets of silver he made under the twenty hollow tapers, two sockets under one hollow taper for its two sloping side boards, and two sockets under another hollow taper for its two sloping side boards.

25 Also for the second angle wall of the tabernacle for the north edge he made twenty hollow tapers,

26 with their forty sockets of silver, two sockets under one hollow taper and two sockets under another hollow taper.

27 Yet for the flanks of the tabernacle westward he made six hollow tapers;

28 and two hollow tapers he made for the cutout corners of the tabernacle, in the flanks.

29 Then couplings came to be below, and they came to be coupled together to its top by one ring. Thus he did for the two of them, for the two cutout corners.

30 There came to be eight hollow tapers and their silver sockets, sixteen sockets, two sockets for each, two sockets under one hollow taper.

31 Then he made bars of acacia wood, five for the hollow tapers of one angle wall of the tabernacle,

32 also five bars for the hollow tapers of the second angle wall of the tabernacle and five bars for the hollow tapers of the tabernacle for the flanks westward;

33 and he made the middle bar in the midst of the hollow tapers to reach from end to end.

34 The hollow tapers he overlaid with gold; and their rings he made of gold, as housings for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.

35 He made the curtain of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric; in the handiwork of a designer he made it with cherubim.

36 He made for it four columns of acacia, and he overlaid them with gold, with their hooks of gold; and he cast for them four sockets of silver.

37 Then he made a portiere for the opening of the tent of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric, the handiwork of an embroiderer.

38 As for its five columns and their hooks, he overlaid their heads and their connections with gold; and their five sockets were of copper.

Chapter 37

1 Bezalel made the coffer of acacia boards, two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width and a cubit and a half its rise.

2 He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside and made for it a flange of gold round about.

3 He cast four rings of gold for it on its four footings with two rings on its one angle wall and two rings on its second angle wall.

4 Then he made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold;

5 and he inserted the poles in the rings on the angle walls of the coffer to carry the coffer.

6 He also made the propitiatory shelter of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length and a cubit and a half its width.

7 Then he made two cherubim of gold; he hammered them a stiff shell of one piece with the two ends of the propitiatory shelter,

8 one cherub from this end and one cherub from that end. From the propitiatory shelter he made the cherubim of one piece with its two ends.

9 The cherubim came to be with spreading wings above, overshadowing with their wings over the propitiatory shelter with their faces each to his fellow. Toward the propitiatory shelter the faces of the cherubim came to be.

10 Then he made the table of acacia boards, two cubits its length and a cubit its width and a cubit and a half its rise.

11 He overlaid it with pure gold and made for it a flange of gold round about.

12 He also made for it a border of a handbreadth round about and made a flange of gold for its border round about.

13 Then he cast for it four rings of gold and put the rings on the four edges which were for its four feet.

14 The rings came to correspond with the border, housings for the poles to carry the table.

15 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold to carry the table.

16 He also made the furnishings which were on the table, its dishes, its spoons, its sacrificial-bowls and the chalices with which libations were made, of pure gold.

17 He also made the lampstand of pure gold; of a stiff shell he made the lampstand, its stem and its tube; its cones, its spheres and its buds were of one piece with it.

18 And six tubes came forth from its sides, three tubes of the lampstand from one of its sides and three tubes of the lampstand from its second side.

19 Three almond shaped cones were on the one tube, a sphere and a bud, and three almond shaped cones on the other tube, a sphere and a bud: thus for the six tubes coming forth from the lampstand.

20 On the lampstand were four almond shaped cones, its spheres and its buds,

21 and a sphere under two of the tubes from it, and a sphere under two of the tubes from it, and a sphere under two of the tubes from it, so for the six tubes coming forth from the lampstand.

22 Their spheres and their tubes were of one piece with it, all of it of one stiff shell of pure gold.

23 He also made its seven lamps and its snuffers and its firepans of pure gold;

24 of a talent of pure gold he made it and all its furnishings.

25 Then he made the incense altar of acacia boards, a cubit its length and a cubit its width. It was square, and its rise was two cubits. Its horns were of one piece with it.

26 He overlaid it with pure gold, its top surface and around its sidewalls and its horns, and made for it a flange of gold round about.

27 Two rings of gold he made for it beneath its flange on its two angle walls on its two sides for housings for the poles, to carry it with them.

28 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.

29 He also made the holy anointing oil and the incense of pure spices, the handiwork of a compounder.

Chapter 38

1 Then he made the altar of ascent offering of acacia boards, five cubits its length and five cubits its width. It was square, and its rise was three cubits.

2 He made its horns on its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it. And he overlaid it with copper.

3 He also made all the furnishings of the altar, the pots and the shovels and the sprinkling bowls, the forks and the firepans; all its furnishings he made of copper.

4 He made for the altar a grate, a handiwork of a copper net, beneath its encompassment from below unto its middle.

5 And he cast four rings on the four ends of the copper grate as housings for the poles.

6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with copper.

7 And he inserted the poles in the rings on the angle walls of the altar to carry it with them. Hollow, of planks he made it.

8 Then he made the laver of copper and its post of copper, from the mirrors of the women stationed for service who enlisted at the entrance opening of the tent of appointment.

9 Then he made the court: For the Negeb edge southward the slung-sheets of the court were of corded cambric, a hundred cubits,

10 with their twenty columns and their twenty copper sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver;

11 and for the north edge a hundred cubits, with their twenty columns and their twenty sockets of copper, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver.

12 For the west edge, the slung-sheets were fifty cubits with their ten columns and their ten sockets, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver;

13 and for the eastward edge toward the sunrise, fifty cubits.

14 Slung-sheets of fifteen cubits were for the one flank with their three columns and their three sockets,

15 and for the second flank on this side and on that side of the gate of the court, slung-sheets of fifteen cubits with their three columns and their three sockets.

16 All the slung-sheets of the court round about were of corded cambric.

17 The sockets for the columns were of copper, the hooks of the columns and their connections of silver; and the overlay of their heads was silver. And they, all the columns of the court, were connected with silver.

18 The portiere of the court gate was the handiwork of an embroiderer in blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric. Twenty cubits was the length, and the rise in the width was five cubits, to correspond with the slung-sheets of the court.

19 Their columns were four and their sockets four, of copper, their hooks of silver and the overlay of their heads and their connections of silver.

20 All the pegs for the tabernacle and for the court round about were copper.

21 These are the notations as to the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which were noted down at the bidding of Moses, a service of the Levites under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

22 As for Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur of the stock of Judah, he made all that Yahweh had instructed Moses.

23 With him was Aholiab son of Ahisamach of the stock of Dan, an artificer and brocade designer and embroiderer in blue, in purple, in double-dipped crimson and in cambric.

24 All the gold which was used for the work in all the work of the holy place, namely the gold of the wave offering, came to be twenty-nine talents and seven hundred thirty shekels by the shekel of the holy place.

25 The silver of those of the congregation who were mustered was a hundred talents and a thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels by the shekel of the holy place,

26 a beka for a poll (half a shekel, by the shekel of the holy place) for everyone passing over onto those mustered from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty men.

27 It came to be that the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the holy place and the sockets of the curtain, a hundred sockets to a hundred talents, a talent to a socket.

28 The thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made into hooks for the columns and overlaid their heads and made connections for them.

29 The copper of the wave offering was seventy talents and two thousand four hundred shekels.

30 So he made with it the sockets of the opening of the tent of appointment, and the copper altar with the copper grate which was for it, and all the furnishings of the altar,

31 and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs of the court round about.

Chapter 39

1 From the blue, the purple and the double-dipped crimson they made colored garments for ministering in the holy place. They made the holy garments which were for Aaron, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

2 He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric.

3 They stamped the foils of gold, and he cut away wires to be worked into the midst of the blue, in the midst of the purple, in the midst of the double-dipped crimson and in the midst of the cambric, the handiwork of a designer.

4 Shoulderpieces they made for it, joining. On its two ends was it joined.

5 And the designed band of his ephod, which was on it, it was one piece with it, like its handiwork, of gold, blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

6 They worked on the onyx stones, set round about with mountings of gold filigree, engraved as the engravings of a seal according to the names of the sons of Israel.

7 And he placed them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

8 Then he made the breastplate, the handiwork of a designer, like the handiwork of the ephod, of gold, blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric.

9 Square it came to be when doubled. They made the breastplate, a span its length and a span its width, when doubled.

10 They filled it with four rows of stones: a row of carnelian, peridot and emerald, row one;

11 the second row of carbuncle, sapphire and diamond;

12 the third row of jacinth, agate and amethyst;

13 and the fourth row of topaz, onyx and jasper, set round about with mountings of gold filigree in their fillings.

14 The stones, they were twelve with the names of the sons of Israel, according to their names, as the engravings of a seal, each one according to its name for the twelve tribes.

15 They made on the breastplate boundaries of braid, a handiwork of rope, of pure gold.

16 They made two mountings of gold filigree and two rings of gold and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

17 Then they put the two ropes of gold on the two rings on the ends of the breastplate;

18 and the two ends of the two ropes they put on the two mountings; thus they put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod to its forefront view.

19 They also made two rings of gold and placed them on the two ends of the breastplate, on its hem which was across the ephod, inside.

20 They made two rings of gold and put them on the two shoulderpieces of the ephod below its forefront view to correspond with its joining above to the designed band of the ephod.

21 Then they laced the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with blue twine, to come to be over the designed band of the ephod, so that the breastplate be not displaced from the ephod, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

22 He also made the robe of the ephod, the handiwork of a weaver, wholly of blue,

23 with the slit of the robe in its midst like the slit of a coat of mail, with a hem around its slit so that it be not torn.

24 On the skirts of the robe they made pomegranates of blue, purple, double-dipped crimson and corded cambric.

25 They made bells of pure gold and put the bells in the midst of the pomegranates on the skirts of the robe round about, in the midst of the pomegranates,

26 a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate on the skirts of the robe round about, for ministering, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

27 Then they made the tunics of cambric, the handiwork of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons,

28 and the turban of cambric and the beautiful caps of cambric and the linen breeches of corded cambric

29 and the sash of corded cambric with blue, purple and double-dipped crimson, the handiwork of an embroiderer, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

30 They also made the holy insignia blossom of pure gold and wrote on it a writing like engravings of a seal: Holy to Yahweh.

31 And they put blue twine on it to put it on the turban above, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

32 Thus all the service of the tabernacle of the tent of appointment was finished. And the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses. So they did.

33 Then they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its furnishings, its links, its hollow tapers, its bars and its columns and its sockets,

34 also the cover of reddened rams’ hides, the cover of azure hides and the portiere curtain,

35 the coffer of the testimony with its poles and the propitiatory shelter,

36 the table, with all its furnishings and the bread of the presence,

37 the pure lampstand and its lamps, with the lamps in array, and all its furnishings and oil for the luminary,

38 the golden altar, the anointing oil, the incense of spices and the portiere for the opening of the tent,

39 the copper altar and the copper grate which was for it, its poles and all its furnishings, the laver and its post,

40 the slung-sheets of the court with its columns and its sockets, the portiere for the court gate with its cords and its pegs, and all the furnishings for the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of appointment,

41 the colored garments for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to serve as priests.

42 According to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses, so the sons of Israel did all the service.

43 When Moses saw all the work, behold, they had done it just as Yahweh had instructed; so had they done. And Moses blessed them.

Chapter 40

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 On the first day of the month, in month one, you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of appointment.

3 You will place there the coffer of the testimony and screen off the coffer with the curtain.

4 You will bring the table and arrange its array and bring the lampstand and set up its lamps.

5 Then you will put the golden altar for incense before the coffer of the testimony and place the portiere of the opening to the tabernacle.

6 You will put the altar of ascent offering before the opening of the tabernacle of the tent of appointment,

7 and you will set the laver between the tent of appointment and the altar and put water therein.

8 You will set up the court round about and put up the portiere of the court gate.

9 You will take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it and hallow it and all its furnishings, that it will come to be holy.

10 You will also anoint the altar of ascent offering and all its furnishings and hallow the altar, that the altar will come to be a holy of holies.

11 And you will anoint the laver and its post and hallow it.

12 Then you will bring Aaron and his sons near to the opening of the tent of appointment and wash them in water

13 and put the holy garments on Aaron and anoint him and hallow him, that he serve as priest for Me.

14 And you shall bring his sons near, and you will put tunics on them

15 and anoint them just as you anointed their father that they serve as priests for Me. So it will come to be that their anointing is to bestow on them an eonian priesthood throughout their generations.

16 Thus Moses did according to all that Yahweh had instructed him. So he did.

17 Then it came to be on the first month in the second year since they went forth from Egypt, on day one of the month, that the tabernacle was set up.

18 So Moses set up the tabernacle and laid its sockets, placed its hollow tapers, put in its bars and set up its columns.

19 Then he spread the tent over the tabernacle and placed the cover of the tent over it above, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

20 He took and bestowed the testimony into the coffer, placed the poles on the coffer, put the propitiatory shelter on the coffer above,

21 brought the coffer into the tabernacle and placed the portiere curtain so that it screened off the coffer of the testimony just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

22 He put the table in the tent of appointment at the flank of the tabernacle northward outside the curtain,

23 and he arranged on it the array of bread before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

24 Then he placed the lampstand in the tent of appointment over against the table at the flank of the tabernacle toward the Negeb,

25 and set up the lamps before Yahweh, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

26 He placed the golden altar in the tent of appointment before the curtain

27 and caused incense of spices to fume on it just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

28 Then he placed the portiere of the opening to the tabernacle.

29 The altar of ascent offering he placed by the opening of the tabernacle of the tent of appointment, and he brought up on it the ascent offering and the approach present just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

30 He also placed the laver between the tent of appointment and the altar and put water therein for washing.

31 From it Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet.

32 When they entered into the tent of appointment and came near to the altar they washed, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

33 Then he set up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the portiere of the court gate. When Moses had finished all the work

34 and the cloud covered the tent of appointment, then the glory of Yahweh, it filled the tabernacle,

35 so that Moses was unable to enter into the tent of appointment, for the cloud tabernacled on it, and the glory of Yahweh, it filled the tabernacle.

36 Whenever the cloud ascended above the tabernacle the sons of Israel journeyed in all their journeyings.

37 Yet if the cloud was not taken up, then they would not journey until the day it was taken up;

38 for the cloud of Yahweh was over the tabernacle by day, and fire, it came to be in it by night for the eyes of all the house of Israel in all their journeyings.

The Book of Leviticus

Chapter 1

1 And He called to Moses, and Yahweh spoke to him from the tent of appointment, saying,

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: When any man among you brings near an approach present to Yahweh, from the domestic beasts (from the herd or from the flock) shall you bring near your approach present.

3 If his approach present is an ascent offering from the herd, a flawless male is it which he shall bring near. To the opening of the tent of appointment shall he bring it near for acceptance on his behalf before Yahweh.

4 He will support his hand on the head of the ascent offering so that it will be accepted for him to make a propitiatory shelter over him.

5 Then he will slay the bull calf of the herd before Yahweh; and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will bring near the blood and sprinkle the blood against the altar round about which is at the opening of the tent of appointment.

6 Then he will flay the ascent offering and piece it into its pieces,

7 while the sons of Aaron, the priests, put fire on the altar and arrange the wood on the fire.

8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, will arrange the pieces with the head and the suet over the wood on the fire which is on the altar,

9 while he shall wash its inwards and its shanks in water. Then the priest will cause the whole to fume on the altar. It is an ascent offering, a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

10 If his approach present is from the flock (from the sheep or from the goats) for an ascent offering, a flawless male is it which he shall bring near.

11 Then he will slay it on the flank of the altar northward before Yahweh; and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will sprinkle its blood against the altar round about.

12 He will piece it into its pieces with its head and its suet; and the priest will arrange them over the wood on the fire which is on the altar;

13 and he shall wash the inwards and the shanks in water. Then the priest will bring near the whole and cause it to fume on the altar. It is an ascent offering, a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

14 If his approach present to Yahweh is an ascent offering from the flyer then he will bring near turtledoves or dove squabs as his approach present.

15 The priest will bring it near to the altar and pinch off its head and cause it to fume on the altar; yet its blood will be wrung out against the sidewall of the altar.

16 Then he will take away its craw with its filthy contents and fling it beside the altar eastward at the place for the greasy ash.

17 He will cleave it at its wings yet shall not separate it. Then the priest will cause it to fume on the altar over the wood which is on the fire. It is an ascent offering, a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

Chapter 2

1 When a soul brings near a cereal approach present to Yahweh, of flour shall his approach present be; and he will pour oil on it and put frankincense on it. It is an approach present.

2 And he will bring it to the sons of Aaron, the priests. He will extract from there his full fistful of its flour and its oil along with all its frankincense. Then the priest will cause this memorial portion of it to fume on the altar; it is a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

3 Yet the rest from the approach present is for Aaron and for his sons, a holy of holies from the fire offerings of Yahweh.

4 When you bring near an approach present, baked in the stove, it shall be unleavened perforated cakes of flour mingled with oil or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.

5 If an approach present on a flat pan is your approach present of flour, it shall be unleavened bread mingled with oil.

6 You are to morsel it into morsels, and you will pour oil on it; it is an approach present.

7 If an approach present of the cooking-pot is your approach present, of flour with oil shall it be made.

8 When you bring to Yahweh the approach present which is made in any of these ways, bring it near to the priest that he may bring it close to the altar.

9 Then the priest will raise up from the approach present the memorial portion of it and cause it to fume on the altar; it is a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

10 Yet the rest of the approach present is for Aaron and for his sons, a holy of holies from the fire offerings of Yahweh.

11 No approach present at all which you are bringing near to Yahweh shall be made with leaven, for all yeast and all honey none of it shall you cause to fume as a fire offering to Yahweh.

12 As an approach present of firstfruits shall you bring them near to Yahweh, yet on the altar they shall not ascend for a fragrant odor.

13 All of your approach presents shall you salt with salt; and you shall not cause the salt of the covenant of your Elohim to cease on your approach present. On all of your approach presents shall you bring salt near to Yahweh your Elohim.

14 Yet if you bring near an approach present of firstfruits to Yahweh, you shall bring near pollinated ears toasted by fire, groats of the new crop, as the approach present of your firstfruits.

15 When you will put oil on it and place frankincense on it, it is an approach present.

16 The priest will cause the memorial portion of it to fume from its groats and from its oil along with all its frankincense, a fire offering to Yahweh.

Chapter 3

1 If his approach present is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if from the herd he is bringing it near, whether male or female, a flawless one is it which he shall bring near before Yahweh.

2 He will support his hand on the head of his approach present and slay it at the opening of the tent of appointment. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, will sprinkle the blood against the altar round about.

3 Then he will bring near from the sacrifice of peace offerings a fire offering to Yahweh: the fat covering the inwards and all the fat which is on the inwards,

4 the two kidneys and the fat which is around them at the hips, and the protuberance on the liver; along with the kidneys shall he take it away.

5 Then the sons of Aaron will cause it to fume on the altar, on top of the ascent offering which is over the wood on the fire; it is a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

6 If his approach present for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh is from the flock, male or female, a flawless one is it which he shall bring near.

7 If it is a sheep he is bringing near as his approach present then he will bring it near before Yahweh

8 and support his hand on the head of his approach present and slay it before the tent of appointment; and the sons of Aaron will sprinkle its blood against the altar round about.

9 Then he will bring near from the sacrifice of peace offerings a fire offering to Yahweh: Its fat, the flawless fat tail, cut off close to the spine, shall he take it away; also the fat covering the inwards and all the fat which is on the inwards,

10 the two kidneys and the fat which is around them at the hips, and the protuberance on the liver; along with the kidneys shall he take it away.

11 Then the priest will cause it to fume on the altar as a bread offering, a fire offering to Yahweh.

12 If his approach present is a goat then he will bring it near before Yahweh

13 and support his hand on its head and slay it before the tent of appointment; and the sons of Aaron, the priests, will sprinkle its blood against the altar round about.

14 Then he will bring near some of it as his approach present, a fire offering to Yahweh: The fat covering the inwards and all the fat which is on the inwards,

15 the two kidneys and the fat which is around them, at the hips, and the protuberance on the liver; along with the kidneys shall he take it away.

16 Then the priest will cause them to fume on the altar as a bread offering, a fire offering for a fragrant odor to Yahweh. All the fat shall be for Yahweh.

17 It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings; any fat or any blood you shall not eat.

Chapter 4

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, When a soul sins inadvertently, departing from any of Yahweh’s instructions of what should not be done, yet does one of them:

3 If the anointed priest should sin so as to bring guilt on the people, then he shall bring near for his sin with which he has sinned a flawless bull calf of the herd, to Yahweh as a sin offering.

4 He will bring the young bull to the opening of the tent of appointment before Yahweh and support his hand on the head of the young bull and slay the young bull before Yahweh.

5 Then the anointed priest, who is consecrated, will take some of the blood of the young bull and bring it to the tent of appointment.

6 The priest will dip his finger into the blood and spatter some of the blood seven times before Yahweh, before the curtain of the holy place.

7 And the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of the incense of spices before Yahweh, which is in the tent of appointment. All the rest of the blood of the young bull shall he pour out at the foundation of the altar of ascent offering which is at the opening of the tent of appointment.

8 All the fat of the young bull of the sin offering shall he raise up from it, the fat covering the inwards and all the fat which is on the inwards,

9 the two kidneys and the fat which is around them, at the hips, and the protuberance on the liver; along with the kidneys shall he take it away,

10 just as it is being raised up from the bull of the peace offerings. Then the priest will cause them to fume on the altar of ascent offering.

11 Yet the hide of the young bull and all its flesh with its head and with its shanks, its inwards and its dung,

12 namely all left of the young bull will he bring forth outside the camp to a clean place, to the pouring out place of the greasy ash, and he will burn it over the sticks with fire. On the pouring out place of the greasy ash shall it be burned.

13 If the whole congregation of Israel, they should err inadvertently and the matter is obscured from the eyes of the assembly, and they do something departing from any of Yahweh’s instructions of what should not be done, and they realize their guilt

14 when the sin with which they have sinned becomes known, then the assembly will bring near a flawless bull calf of the herd as a sin offering and bring it before the tent of appointment.

15 The elders of the congregation will support their hands on the head of the young bull before Yahweh, and one will slay the young bull before Yahweh.

16 And the anointed priest will bring some of the blood of the young bull to the tent of appointment.

17 The priest will dip his finger into the blood and spatter it seven times before Yahweh, before the curtain of the holy place.

18 And some of the blood the priest shall put on the horns of the altar of the incense of spices before Yahweh, which is in the tent of appointment. All the rest of the blood shall he pour out at the foundation of the altar of ascent offering which is at the opening of the tent of appointment.

19 All its fat shall he raise up from it, and he will cause it to fume on the altar.

20 So he will do to the young bull just as he did to the young bull of the sin offering; thus shall he do to it. The priest will make a propitiatory shelter over them, and it will be pardoned them.

21 Then he will bring forth the young bull outside the camp and burn it just as he burned the former young bull. It is the sin offering for the assembly.

22 When a prince sins inadvertently and does something departing from any of the instructions of Yahweh his Elohim of what should not be done, and he realizes his guilt

23 when his sin with which he has sinned is made known to him, then he will bring as his approach present, a hairy goat, a flawless male.

24 He will support his hand on the head of the hairy goat and slay it in the place where one should slay the ascent offering before Yahweh. It is a sin offering.

25 The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascent offering. The rest of its blood shall he pour out at the foundation of the altar of ascent offering.

26 All its fat shall he cause to fume on the altar like the fat of the peace offerings. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him for his sin, and it will be pardoned him.

27 If one soul of the people of the land should sin inadvertently when he does something departing from any of Yahweh’s instructions of what should not be done, and he realizes his guilt

28 when his sin with which he has sinned is made known to him, then he will bring as his approach present, a hairy goat, a flawless female, for his sin with which he has sinned.

29 He will support his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay the sin offering in the place of the ascent offering.

30 And the priest will take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascent offering. All the rest of its blood shall he pour out at the foundation of the altar.

31 All its fat shall he take away, just as the fat is taken away from the peace offerings. Then the priest will cause it to fume on the altar as a fragrant odor to Yahweh. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him, and it will be pardoned him.

32 If he should bring a sheep as his approach present for a sin offering, a flawless female shall he bring.

33 He will support his hand on the head of the sin offering and slay it as a sin offering in the place where one should slay the ascent offering.

34 And the priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of ascent offering. All the rest of its blood shall he pour out at the foundation of the altar.

35 All its fat shall he take away just as the fat of the sheep is taken away from the peace offerings. Then the priest will cause them to fume on the altar on top of the fire offerings of Yahweh. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him, for his sin with which he has sinned, and it will be pardoned him.

Chapter 5

1 When a soul sins in that he heard the voice of imprecation, and he was a witness, whether he saw it or knew about it, if he should not profess then he will bear his depravity;

2 or when a soul touches any unclean thing, whether the carcass of an unclean animal or the carcass of an unclean domestic beast or the carcass of an unclean swarmer, even if it is obscured from him he has become unclean and has incurred guilt;

3 or when he touches human uncleanness, any of its uncleanness by which he would be unclean, even if it is obscured from him, when he himself realizes it, then he is guilty;

4 or when a soul swears, talking rashly with the lips to do evil or to do good as to anything of which a human talks rashly in an oath, even if it is obscured from him, when he himself realizes it, then he is guilty as to any one of these.

5 It will come to be when he realizes his guilt as to any one of these instances then he will confess in what way he has sinned;

6 and he will bring as his guilt offering to Yahweh for his sin with which he has sinned, a female from the flock, a sheep or a hairy goat, as a sin offering. Then the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him for his sin with which he has sinned, and it will be pardoned him.

7 Should his hand not attain sufficient means for a flockling then he will bring as his guilt offering (because he has sinned), two turtledoves or two dove squabs to Yahweh, one as a sin offering and one as an ascent offering.

8 He will bring them to the priest who will bring near the one for the sin offering first. The priest will pinch off its head toward its nape yet shall not separate it.

9 He will spatter some of the blood of the sin offering against the sidewall of the altar; and the remainder of the blood shall be wrung out at the foundation of the altar; it is a sin offering.

10 And he shall offer the second as an ascent offering as is the custom. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him for his sin with which he has sinned, and it will be pardoned him.

11 Should his hand not afford two turtledoves or two dove squabs then he will bring as his approach present (because he has sinned), a tenth of an ephah of flour as a sin offering. He shall not pour oil over it, nor shall he put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.

12 He will bring it to the priest, and the priest will extract from it his full fistful as a memorial portion of it, and he will cause it to fume on the altar, on top of the fire offerings for Yahweh; it is a sin offering.

13 Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him, for his sin with which he has sinned in any one of these instances, and it will be pardoned him. And the priest will come to have the rest as in the case of an approach present.

14 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

15 When a soul offends with an offense and sins inadvertently in any of the holy things of Yahweh, then he will bring as his guilt offering to Yahweh, a flawless ram from the flock, by your appraisal in silver shekels by the shekel of the holy place, as a guilt offering.

16 Whatever he has sinned in any of the holy things he shall repay and add a fifth of its value to it, and he will give it to the priest. The priest, he shall make a propitiatory shelter over him with the ram of the guilt offering; and it will be pardoned him.

17 When a soul should sin and does something departing from any of the instructions of Yahweh of what should not be done even if he does not know it, when he realizes his guilt and bears his depravity,

18 then he will bring a flawless ram from the flock, by your appraisal in silver shekels as a guilt offering to the priest. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him for his error in which he has erred, even though he himself did not know it, and it will be pardoned him;

19 it is a guilt offering. He was guilty, yea guilty toward Yahweh.

Chapter 6

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 When a soul sins and offends with an offense against Yahweh and dissimulates against his companion in regard to deposit or pledge of hand or pillage, or he extorts from his companion,

3 or he finds lost property and dissimulates in regard to it, or swears falsely in one or another of all the things which a human might do, sinning by them:

4 when it will come to be that he sins and realizes his guilt, then he will restore the pillage which he pillaged, or the extortion which he extorted, or the deposit which was committed to him, or the lost which he found,

5 or anything about which he swore falsely; he will repay it in its full value and add a fifth of its value to it. To him whose it is shall he give it on the day of his guilt offering.

6 He shall bring to the priest as his guilt offering to Yahweh, a flawless ram from the flock, by your appraisal in silver shekels as a guilt offering.

7 Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him before Yahweh, and it will be pardoned him for one or another of all the things which one might do to become guilty in it.

8 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

9 Instruct Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the ascent offering: It is the ascent offering on account of its glow on the altar all night until the morning; the fire of the altar, it shall be kept glowing on it;

10 and the priest will put on his linen coat, and he shall put on linen breeches over his flesh. He will raise up the greasy ash (to which the fire has devoured the ascent offering on the altar) and place it beside the altar.

11 Then he will strip off his garments and put on other garments and bring forth the greasy ash outside the camp to a clean place.

12 Yet the fire on the altar shall be kept glowing on it; it shall not be quenched. The priest will make wood consume on it morning by morning and arrange the ascent offering on it and cause the fat portions of the peace offerings to fume on it.

13 The fire, it shall be kept glowing continually on the altar; it shall not be quenched.

14 This is the law of the approach present. The sons of Aaron are to bring it near before Yahweh, in view of the altar.

15 Then one will raise up from it his fistful of the flour of the approach present and of its oil and all the frankincense which is on the approach present and cause it to fume on the altar, a fragrant odor, as its memorial portion to Yahweh.

16 And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. As unleavened bread shall it be eaten in a holy place. In the court of the tent of appointment shall they eat it.

17 It shall not be baked with leaven. As their portion I give it from My fire offerings. It is a holy of holies, like the sin offering and like the guilt offering.

18 Every male among the sons of Aaron, he may eat of it. It is an eonian statute throughout your generations from the fire offerings of Yahweh. All that may touch them is holy.

19 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

20 This is the approach present of Aaron and his sons which they shall bring near to Yahweh on the day of his anointing: A tenth of an ephah of flour as an approach present continually, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

21 On a flat pan with oil shall it be made. Well-mixed shall you bring it. Baked morsels of the approach present shall you bring near, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

22 And the priest anointed in his stead from among his sons, he shall do it. It is an eonian statute to Yahweh. Wholly shall it be caused to fume;

23 every approach present of a priest, it shall come to be wholly fumed; it shall not be eaten.

24 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

25 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the ascent offering is slain the sin offering shall be slain before Yahweh; it is a holy of holies.

26 The priest making it a sin offering, he shall eat it. In a holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tent of appointment.

27 All that may touch its flesh, it is holy. And when some of its blood is spattered on a garment, you shall rinse that on which it is spattered in a holy place.

28 Yet the earthenware vessel in which it is cooked shall be broken. And if it is cooked in a copper vessel, it will be scoured and laved in water.

29 Every male among the priests, he shall eat it; it is a holy of holies.

30 Yet any sin offering from which blood is brought into the tent of appointment to make a propitiatory shelter in the holy place, it shall not be eaten. In fire shall it be burned.

Chapter 7

1 This is the law of the guilt offering; it is a holy of holies.

2 In the place where they slay the ascent offering they shall slay the guilt offering. Its blood shall one sprinkle against the altar round about;

3 and all its fat shall he bring near from it: the fat tail, the fat covering the inwards,

4 and all the fat which is on the inwards, the two kidneys and the fat which is around them, at the hips, and the protuberance on the liver; along with the kidneys shall he take it away.

5 Then the priest will cause them to fume on the altar, a fire offering to Yahweh; it is a guilt offering.

6 Every male among the priests, he shall eat of it. In a holy place shall it be eaten; it is a holy of holies.

7 Like the sin offering so is the guilt offering. There is one law for them. The priest who makes the propitiatory shelter with it, his shall it become.

8 And the priest who is bringing near a man’s ascent offering, the hide of the ascent offering which he brings near is for the priest; his shall it become.

9 And every approach present which is baked in a stove and all that is made in a cooking-pot or on a flat pan is for the priest who is bringing it near; his shall it become.

10 Yet every other approach present, mingled with oil and drained, shall be for all the sons of Aaron, each man as his brother.

11 This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which one may bring near to Yahweh.

12 If he should bring it near for an acclamation then along with the acclamation sacrifice he will bring near unleavened perforated cakes mingled with oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil and well-mixed perforated cakes of flour mingled with oil.

13 With perforated cakes of leavened bread shall he bring near his approach present, along with the acclamation sacrifice of his peace offerings.

14 And from it he will bring near one of each kind of approach present as a heave offering to Yahweh for the priest who is sprinkling the blood of the peace offerings; his shall it become.

15 As for the flesh of the acclamation sacrifice of his peace offerings, on the day of his approach present shall it be eaten. None of it shall he leave until morning.

16 If his approach present is a vow or a voluntary sacrifice, it shall be eaten on the day of his approach with his sacrifice, and on the morrow the rest of it may be eaten.

17 Yet the rest of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned in fire.

18 If any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings should be eaten, yea eaten, on the third day, the one bringing it near shall not be accepted; it shall not be reckoned to him. Vile shall it become, and the soul eating any of it, he shall bear his depravity.

19 As for flesh which is touching anything unclean, it shall not be eaten; in fire shall it be burned. As for other flesh, everyone clean may eat of the flesh.

20 Yet the soul who eats flesh from the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is to Yahweh, while his uncleanness is on him, that soul will be cut off from his kinsmen.

21 When a soul touches anything unclean, the uncleanness of a human or an unclean beast or any unclean swarmer, and eats any of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which is to Yahweh, then that soul will be cut off from his kinsmen.

22 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

23 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, You shall not eat any fat from a bull, sheep or goat.

24 The fat of a carcass and the fat of that torn to pieces may be used for any work, yet you shall not eat, nay eat it.

25 When anyone is eating the fat from the beast of which he brings near a fire offering to Yahweh, then the soul who is eating will be cut off from his kinsmen.

26 And no blood at all shall you eat in any of your dwellings, of flyer or of beast.

27 Any soul who eats any blood, that soul will be cut off from his kinsmen.

28 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

29 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, The one bringing near the sacrifice of his peace offerings to Yahweh, he shall bring his approach present to Yahweh from the sacrifice of his peace offerings.

30 His hands, they shall bring the fire offerings of Yahweh. The fat with the chest, he shall bring it, the chest to wave it as a wave offering before Yahweh.

31 Then the priest will cause the fat to fume on the altar, and the chest will come to be for Aaron and for his sons.

32 The right leg shall you give as a heave offering to the priest from the sacrifices of your peace offerings.

33 The one of the sons of Aaron bringing near the blood of peace offerings and the fat, he shall come to have the right leg as an assigned share,

34 for the chest of the wave offering and the leg of the heave offering I take from the sons of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and I shall give them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as an eonian statute, due from the sons of Israel.

35 This is the anointed right of Aaron and the anointed right of his sons from the fire offerings of Yahweh on the day he brought them near to serve as priests to Yahweh,

36 which Yahweh instructed to give to them on the day He anointed them, from the sons of Israel. It is an eonian statute throughout their generations.

37 This is the law for the ascent offering, for the cereal approach present, for the sin offering, for the guilt offering, for the consecrations and for the sacrifice of peace offerings,

38 as Yahweh had instructed Moses on Mount Sinai on the day when He gave instructions that the sons of Israel bring near their approach presents to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai.

Chapter 8

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Take Aaron and his sons with him and the garments and the anointing oil and the young bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the tray of unleavened bread,

3 and assemble the whole congregation at the opening of the tent of appointment.

4 Moses did just as Yahweh had instructed him; the congregation was assembled at the opening of the tent of appointment;

5 and Moses said to the congregation: This is the thing which Yahweh has instructed us to do.

6 So Moses brought near Aaron and his sons and washed them with water,

7 put the tunic on him, girded him with the sash, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him. Then he girded him with the designed band of the ephod and invested him with it.

8 He placed the breastplate on him and put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate.

9 Then he placed the turban on his head and placed on the turban at the forefront of his face the gold blossom, the holy insignia, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

10 Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and hallowed them.

11 Then he spattered some of it against the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its furnishings and the laver and its base to hallow them.

12 He poured some of the anointing oil on the head of Aaron and anointed him to hallow him.

13 Then Moses brought near the sons of Aaron and clothed them with tunics and girded them with a sash and bound up for them the caps just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

14 He brought close the young bull of the sin offering; and Aaron and his sons supported their hands on the head of the young bull of the sin offering.

15 One slew it, and Moses took the blood and put some of it on the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and he made a sin offering on the altar; and the rest of the blood he poured out at the foundation of the altar and hallowed it to make a propitiatory shelter over it.

16 Then he took all the fat which was on the inwards and the protuberance of the liver and the two kidneys and their fat; and Moses caused it to fume on the altar.

17 The young bull with its hide, its flesh and its dung one burned in fire outside the camp just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

18 He brought near the ram of the ascent offering, and Aaron and his sons supported their hands on the head of the ram.

19 One slew it, and Moses sprinkled the blood against the altar round about.

20 One pieced the ram into its pieces; and Moses caused the head, the pieces and the suet to fume.

21 One washed the inwards and the shanks in water; and Moses caused the whole ram to fume on the altar. It was an ascent offering for a fragrant odor; it was a fire offering to Yahweh, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

22 He brought near the second ram, the ram of consecrations, and Aaron and his sons supported their hands on the head of the ram.

23 One slew it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot,

24 and he brought near the sons of Aaron. Moses also put some of the blood on the lobe of their right ear, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot. Then Moses sprinkled the rest of the blood against the altar round about.

25 He took the fat, the fat tail and all the fat which was on the inwards and the protuberance of the liver and the two kidneys and their fat and the right leg.

26 From the tray of unleavened bread which is before Yahweh he took one unleavened perforated cake and one perforated cake of oil bread and one wafer, and he placed them on the fat portions and on the right leg.

27 He put the whole on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before Yahweh.

28 Then Moses took them off their palms and caused them to fume on the altar on top of the ascent offering; they were consecrations for a fragrant odor. It was a fire offering to Yahweh.

29 Now Moses took the chest and waved it as a wave offering before Yahweh. It was for Moses, the assigned share from the ram of consecrations just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

30 Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and spattered it on Aaron, on his garments and on his sons and on his sons’ garments with him; so he hallowed Aaron, his garments and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.

31 Moses said to Aaron and to his sons: Cook the flesh at the opening of the tent of appointment, and there you shall eat it and the bread that is in the tray of consecrations just as I have been instructed, saying: Aaron and his sons, they shall eat it.

32 Now the rest of the flesh and of the bread shall you burn with fire;

33 and from the opening of the tent of appointment you shall not go forth for seven days until the day to fulfill the days of your consecrations, because for seven days shall one consecrate you.

34 Just as one has done in this day so Yahweh had instructed to do, to make a propitiatory shelter over you.

35 At the opening of the tent of appointment shall you dwell by day and night for seven days; you will keep this charge of Yahweh that you may not die, for so have I been instructed.

36 Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which Yahweh had instructed by means of Moses.

Chapter 9

1 It came to be on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.

2 He said to Aaron: Take for yourself a young bull calf of the herd, as a sin offering, and a ram for an ascent offering, both of them flawless, and bring them near before Yahweh.

3 And to the sons of Israel shall you speak, saying: Take a hairy goat as a sin offering, also a calf and a sheep both of them a year-old and flawless, as an ascent offering,

4 also a bull and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before Yahweh, and an approach present mingled with oil, for today Yahweh will appear to you.

5 So they took what Moses had instructed in view of the tent of appointment. And the whole congregation came near and stood before Yahweh;

6 and Moses said: This is the thing which Yahweh has instructed that you should do so that the glory of Yahweh may appear to you.

7 Then Moses said to Aaron: Come near to the altar, offer your sin offering and your ascent offering, make a propitiatory shelter about you and about the people, offer the approach present of the people, and make a propitiatory shelter about them, just as Yahweh has instructed.

8 Aaron came near to the altar and slew the calf of the sin offering which was for himself.

9 When the sons of Aaron brought near the blood to him, he dipped his finger into the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and the rest of the blood he poured out at the foundation of the altar.

10 The fat and the kidneys and the protuberance of the liver from the sin offering he caused to fume on the altar just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

11 The flesh and the hide one burned in fire outside the camp.

12 Then he slew the ascent offering. When the sons of Aaron provided him with the blood, he sprinkled it against the altar round about.

13 For the ascent offering they provided him with its pieces and the head; and he caused them to fume on the altar.

14 He washed the inwards and the shanks and caused them to fume on top of the ascent offering on the altar.

15 Next he came near with the approach present of the people and took the hairy goat of the sin offering which was for the people, slew it and made it a sin offering like the first.

16 He brought near the ascent offering and offered it as is the custom.

17 He brought near the approach present, filled his palm from it and caused it to fume on the altar aside from the ascent offering of the morning.

18 Then he slew the bull and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings which were for the people. When the sons of Aaron provided him with the blood, he sprinkled it against the altar round about.

19 As for the fat portions from the bull and from the ram, the fat tail and the covering fat, the kidneys and the protuberance of the liver

20 they placed the fat portions on top of the chests and caused the fat to fume on the altar.

21 The chests and the right leg Aaron waved as a wave offering before Yahweh just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

22 Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. He descended after he had made the sin offering, the ascent offering and the peace offerings.

23 Now Moses and Aaron went into the tent of appointment; when they came forth, they blessed the people. Then the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people;

24 fire came forth from before Yahweh, and it devoured the ascent offering and the fat portions on the altar. When all the people saw it, they were jubilant and fell on their faces.

Chapter 10

1 The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, each took his firepan, put fire in them, placed incense on it and came near before Yahweh with alien fire such as He had not instructed them.

2 And fire came forth from before Yahweh and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.

3 Then Moses said to Aaron: That is what Yahweh spoke of, saying: Among those near Me shall I be hallowed, And in the presence of all the people shall I be glorified. Aaron was still;

4 and Moses called to Mishael and to Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, uncle of Aaron, and said to them: Come near; carry your brothers from the presence of the holy place outside the camp.

5 So they came near and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, just as Moses had spoken.

6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons: Do not dishevel your heads’ hair, and do not rip your garments so that you may not die, lest He be wrathful with the whole congregation. Yet your brothers, all the house of Israel, they may lament over the burning which Yahweh has burned.

7 And from the opening of the tent of appointment you shall not come forth lest you die, for the anointing oil of Yahweh is on you. So they did according to the word of Moses.

8 Yahweh spoke to Aaron saying:

9 Do not drink wine or intoxicant, you or your sons with you, when you come into the tent of appointment, so that you may not die. It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations,

10 to differentiate between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,

11 and to direct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Yahweh has spoken to them by means of Moses.

12 Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left: Take the approach present, the rest of the fire offerings of Yahweh, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is a holy of holies.

13 You will eat it in a holy place, for it is your dole and your sons’ dole from the fire offerings of Yahweh, for thus have I been instructed.

14 But the chest of the wave offering and the leg of the heave offering shall you eat in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for as your dole and your sons’ dole are they given from the sacrifices of peace offerings of the sons of Israel.

15 The leg of the heave offering and the chest of the wave offering on the fire offerings of the fat portions shall they bring to wave as a wave offering before Yahweh. And it will become yours and your sons’ with you as an eonian dole just as Yahweh has given instruction.

16 Now as to the hairy goat of the sin offering, Moses inquired, yea inquired, but behold, it had been burned up. He was wrathful at Eleazar and at Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying:

17 For what reason did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place? For it was a holy of holies, and He gave it to you to bear the depravity of the congregation, to make a propitiatory shelter over them before Yahweh.

18 Behold, its blood was not brought to the holy place inside. You should have eaten, yea eaten it in the holy place, just as I have given instructions.

19 Aaron spoke to Moses: Behold, today they brought near their sin offering and their ascent offering before Yahweh, yet meeting me are such things as these; and had I eaten the sin offering today, would it be good in the eyes of Yahweh?

20 When Moses heard this it was good in his eyes.

Chapter 11

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, These are the animals which you may eat of all the beasts which are on the land:

3 Every one bisecting the hoof and cleaving the cleft of the hooves and bringing up the cud among beasts, you may eat it.

4 Only this is what you may not eat of those bringing up the cud or bisecting the hoof: the camel (for it is bringing up the cud yet is not bisecting the hoof; it is unclean for you),

5 the coney (for it is bringing up the cud yet is not bisecting the hoof; it is unclean for you),

6 the hare (for it is bringing up the cud yet does not bisect the hoof; it is unclean for you),

7 and the boar (for it is bisecting the hoof and is cleaving the cleft of the hoof, yet it is not stirring up the cud; it is unclean for you).

8 Of their flesh you may not eat, and their carcass you may not touch; they are unclean for you.

9 This is what you may eat of all those which are in the waters: All that have fins and scales in the waters, in the seas and in the watercourses, you may eat them.

10 Yet all that have no fins or scales in the waters, in the seas and in the watercourses of every swarmer of the waters, of any living soul which is in the waters, they are an abomination to you.

11 Since they shall come to be an abomination for you, you may not eat of their flesh, and you shall regard their carcass as abominable.

12 All that has no fins or scales in the waters, it is an abomination to you.

13 These you shall regard as abominable among the flyers; they shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the vulture, the bearded vulture and the eagle,

14 the black kite and the falcon, all of its kind,

15 every raven, all of its kind,

16 the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull and the hawk, all of its kind,

17 the little owl, the cormorant and the eagle owl,

18 the ibis, the pelican and the Egyptian vulture,

19 the stork, the heron, all of its kind, the hoopoe and the bat.

20 Every swarmer of the flyers going on all fours, it is an abomination to you.

21 Only this one you may eat of every swarmer of the flyers, the one going on all fours which has shanks above its feet to hop with them on the land.

22 These of them may you eat: the locust, all of its kind, the bald locust, all of its kind, the cricket, all of its kind, and the grasshopper, all of its kind.

23 Yet every other swarmer of the flyers which has four feet, it is an abomination to you.

24 Also you are defiling yourselves with these: Anyone touching their carcass, he shall be unclean until the evening;

25 anyone carrying some of their carcass, he shall rinse his garments, and he will be unclean until the evening.

26 As for every beast which is bisecting the hoof, yet the cleft it is not cleaving, and the cud it is not bringing up, they are unclean to you. Anyone touching them, he shall be unclean.

27 And anything going on its soles among all the animals going on all fours, they are unclean to you. Anyone touching their carcass, he shall be unclean until the evening;

28 and the one carrying their carcass, he shall rinse his garments and will be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.

29 This is unclean to you among the swarmers swarming on the land: the weasel, the rodent and the great lizard, all of its kind,

30 the gecko, the monitor, the lizard, the sand lizard and the chameleon.

31 These are unclean to you among all the swarmers. Anyone touching them in their death, he shall be unclean until the evening.

32 And anything on which any of them should fall in their death, it shall be unclean; from every article of wood or garment or leather or sackcloth, to every article in which work is done, into water shall it be brought, and it will be unclean until the evening; then it will be clean.

33 Yet every earthenware vessel into the midst of which any of them should fall, all that is in its midst shall be unclean, and you shall break it.

34 Any food which may otherwise be eaten on which such water should come shall be unclean; and any drink which may otherwise be drunk in any such vessel shall be unclean.

35 Also anything on which some of their carcass should fall, it shall be unclean; a stove or an oven, it shall be broken down. They are unclean; they shall become unclean to you.

36 Only a spring or cistern, a confluence of water, it shall remain clean. Yet whatever is touching their carcass, it shall be unclean.

37 In case anything from their carcass should fall on any sowing seed which was sown, it shall be clean;

38 yet in case water was put on the seed and anything from their carcass fell on it, it shall be unclean to you.

39 In case any of the beasts which is yours for food dies, the one touching any of its carcass, he shall be unclean until the evening.

40 And the one eating any of its carcass, he shall rinse his garments and will be unclean until the evening. Also the one carrying any of its carcass, he shall rinse his garments and will be unclean until the evening.

41 Any swarmer swarming on the land, it is an abomination; it shall not be eaten.

42 All going on the torso and all going on all fours, even all on many pairs of feet of any swarmer swarming on the land, you may not eat them, for they are an abomination.

43 Do not make your souls abominable with any swarming swarmer, nor shall you defile yourselves with them, or you will be unclean by them.

44 For I, Yahweh, am your Elohim, so you will sanctify yourselves and become holy, for I am holy. Hence you shall not defile your souls with any swarmer moving on the land.

45 For I, Yahweh, am the One bringing you up from the land of Egypt, to be your Elohim; so you will become holy, for I am holy.

46 This is the law about the beast, the flyer and every living soul moving in the water and about every soul swarming on the land,

47 to differentiate between the unclean and the clean, between the animal which may be eaten and the animal which may not be eaten.

Chapter 12

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, When a woman conceives seed and bears a male then she will be unclean seven days; as the days of her menstrual period shall she be unclean.

3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

4 Then she shall dwell thirty-three days more in her cleansing bloodflows. She shall not touch anything holy, and she shall not come to the sanctuary until the days of her cleansing be full.

5 And if she should bear a female, then she will be unclean two weeks, as during her period, and she shall dwell sixty-six days more in her cleansing bloodflows.

6 When the days of her cleansing are full, for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a year-old he-lamb as an ascent offering and a dove squab or a turtledove as a sin offering to the priest at the opening of the tent of appointment.

7 He will bring it near before Yahweh and make a propitiatory shelter over her, and she will be clean from the fountain of her bloodflows. This is the law for the one giving birth to a male or to a female.

8 Yet if she should not find her means sufficient for a flockling then she will take two turtledoves or two dove squabs, one for an ascent offering and one for a sin offering; the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over her; then she will be clean.

Chapter 13

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 In case a human comes to have in the skin of his flesh a nodule or a scurf or a blotch, and it comes in the skin of his flesh as the contagion of leprous disease, then the matter will be brought before Aaron the priest, or before one of his sons the priests.

3 When the priest examines the contagious area in the skin of the flesh, and the hair in the contagious area, it has turned white and the appearance of the contagion is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is the contagion of leprous disease. When the priest has examined it he will pronounce him unclean.

4 Yet if the blotch is white, that in the skin of his flesh, and is not deeper in its appearance than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest will enclose the contagious person seven days.

5 The priest will examine him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the contagion has stayed unchanged, the contagion has not diffused in the skin, then the priest will enclose him a second seven days.

6 The priest will examine him on the second seventh day, and if the contagion is inconspicuous and the contagion has not diffused in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean; it is a scurf. He will rinse his garments; then he will be clean.

7 Yet if the scurf should have diffused, yea diffused in the skin after his appearance before the priest for his cleansing, then he will show himself a second time to the priest.

8 When the priest has examined, and if the scurf has diffused in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease.

9 In case the contagion of a leprous disease comes to be in a human, then the matter will be brought before the priest.

10 The priest will examine, and if a white nodule is in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and wild living flesh is alive in the nodule,

11 it is a chronic leprous disease in the skin of his flesh. Then the priest will pronounce him unclean; he shall not enclose him, for he is unclean.

12 Yet if the leprous disease should bud, yea bud in the skin so that the leprous disease covers all the skin of the contagious person, from his head unto his feet, to all appearances in the eyes of the priest,

13 then the priest will examine, and if the leprous disease covers all his flesh, he will pronounce the contagion clean; all of it has turned white; he is clean.

14 Yet on the day wild living flesh appears in it, he shall be unclean.

15 When the priest has examined the wild living flesh, he will pronounce him unclean. The wild living flesh, it is unclean; it is a leprous disease.

16 Or in case the wild living flesh reverses and is turned to white, then he will come to the priest.

17 The priest will examine him, and if the contagion is turned to white, then the priest will pronounce the contagion clean; he is clean.

18 In case the flesh comes to have a boil in it, in its skin, and it is healed,

19 and there comes in place of the boil a white nodule or a reddish white blotch, then he will show himself to the priest.

20 The priest will examine, and if its appearance is lower than the skin, and its hair, it has turned white, then the priest will pronounce him unclean; it is the contagion of leprous disease. In the boil has it budded.

21 Yet when the priest examines it, and behold, there is no white hair in it, and it is not lower than the skin, and it is inconspicuous, then the priest will enclose him seven days.

22 And if it should have diffused, yea diffused in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean; it is the contagion.

23 Yet if, in its place, the blotch stays unchanged and does not diffuse, it is the puckered scar of the boil. And the priest will pronounce him clean.

24 Or in case the flesh comes to have a fiery scorch in its skin, and the living scorch becomes a reddish white or white blotch,

25 then the priest will examine it, and if the hair in the blotch has turned white and its appearance is deeper than the skin, it is a leprous disease. In the scorch has it budded. The priest will pronounce him unclean; it is the contagion of leprous disease.

26 Yet if the priest examines it, and behold, there is no white hair in the blotch and it is not lower than the skin and it is inconspicuous, then the priest will enclose him seven days.

27 Then the priest will examine him on the seventh day. If it should have diffused, yea diffused in the skin, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is the contagion of leprous disease.

28 Yet if, in its place, the blotch stays and does not diffuse in the skin, and it is inconspicuous, it is a nodule of the scorch. Then the priest will pronounce him clean, for it is the puckered scar of the scorch.

29 In case a man or a woman comes to have the contagion in him on the head or in the beard,

30 then the priest will examine the contagion, and if its appearance is deeper than the skin, and yellow, thin hair is on it, then the priest will pronounce him unclean. It is a scall; it is a leprous disease of the head or the beard.

31 Yet when the priest examines the contagion of the scall, and if its appearance is not deeper than the skin, and there is no dusky hair on it, then the priest will enclose the one with the contagion of the scall seven days.

32 Then the priest will examine the contagion on the seventh day, and if the scall has not diffused, no yellow hair has come to be on it and the appearance of the scall is not deeper than the skin,

33 then he will shave himself, yet the scall he shall not shave, and the priest will enclose the one with the scall a second seven days.

34 Then the priest will examine the scall on the seventh day, and if the scall has not diffused on the skin and its appearance is not deeper than the skin, then the priest will pronounce him clean. He will rinse his garments and be clean.

35 Yet if the scall should have diffused, yea diffused on the skin after his cleansing,

36 then the priest will examine him, and if the scall has diffused on the skin, the priest shall make no quest for yellow hair. He is unclean.

37 Yet if, in his eyes, the scall has stayed unchanged, and dusky hair has sprouted on it, the scall is healed. He is clean, and the priest will pronounce him clean.

38 When a man or a woman comes to have blotches on the skin of their flesh, white blotches,

39 then the priest will examine, and if on the skin of their flesh the blotches are inconspicuous white, it is a blister; it has budded on the skin. He is clean.

40 When a man’s head is burnished and he is bald, he is clean.

41 And if his head is burnished from the edge of his face and he has a bald forehead, he is clean.

42 Yet when there comes to be a reddish white contagion on his baldhead or on his bald forehead, it is a budding leprous disease on his baldhead or on his bald forehead.

43 Then the priest will examine him, and if the nodule of the contagion is reddish white on his baldhead or on his bald forehead, like the appearance of a leprous disease of the skin of the flesh,

44 he is a leprous man; he is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean, yea unclean; his contagion is on his head.

45 As for the leprous man in whom the contagion is, his garments, they shall come to be ripped, and his head, it shall come to be disheveled, and he shall muffle the upper lip; and, Unclean! Unclean! shall he call.

46 All the days in which the contagion is in him, he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.

47 In case a garment comes to have the contagion of a leprous mold in it, in a woolen garment or in a flaxen garment,

48 in the spun yarn or in the woven piece of flax and of wool, in leather or in any leather work,

49 and the contagion becomes greenish or reddish in the garment or in the leather or in the spun yarn or in the woven piece or in any article of leather, it is the contagion of leprous mold, and it is to be shown to the priest.

50 The priest will examine the contagion and enclose the contagious thing seven days.

51 Then he will examine the contagion on the seventh day. In case the contagion has diffused in the garment, in the spun yarn or in the woven piece, in leather of any workmanship which is made of leather, the contagion is a festering leprous mold; it is unclean.

52 He will burn the garment or the spun yarn or the woven piece, in wool or in flax or any article of leather in which the contagion comes to be, for it is a festering leprous mold. In fire shall it be burned.

53 When the priest examines, and behold, the contagion has not diffused in the garment, in the spun yarn or in the woven piece or in any article of leather,

54 then the priest will instruct them, and they will rinse that which had the contagion in it, and he will enclose it a second seven days.

55 Then the priest will examine after the contagion has been rinsed, and if the contagion has not turned its visible appearance even though the contagion has not diffused, it is unclean. In fire shall you burn it whether it is pitted in its back or in its front.

56 When the priest examines, and behold, the contagion is inconspicuous after it has been rinsed, he will tear it from the garment or from the leather, from the spun yarn or from the woven piece.

57 Yet if it should still appear in the garment, in the spun yarn or in the woven piece or in any article of leather, it is budding out. In fire shall you burn it, that which has the contagion in it.

58 As for the garment, the spun yarn or the woven piece or any article of leather which you are rinsing when the contagion withdraws from it, it will be rinsed a second time; then it will be clean.

59 This is the law of the contagion of leprous mold in a woolen or flaxen garment, the spun yarn or the woven piece or any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or for pronouncing it unclean.

Chapter 14

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 This shall come to be the law of the leprous man in the day of his cleansing: When the matter is brought before the priest,

3 then the priest will go forth outside the camp. When the priest examines, and behold, the contagion of leprous disease is healed in the leprous man,

4 then the priest will instruct that they take for the one cleansing himself two living clean birds and cedar wood, double-dipped crimson and hyssop.

5 The priest will instruct that they slay one bird in an earthenware vessel over live water.

6 Then he shall take the living bird, it and the cedar wood, the double-dipped crimson and the hyssop, and he will dip them and the living bird into the blood of the bird slain over the live water.

7 Then he will spatter it seven times on the one cleansing himself from the leprous disease, and he will pronounce him clean. He will send the living bird free over the surface of the field.

8 The one cleansing himself will rinse his garments and shave all his hair and wash in water; then he will be clean. Afterward he may come into the camp, yet he will dwell outside his tent seven days.

9 Then it will come to be on the seventh day that he shall shave all his hair from his head, his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair shall he shave off; when he has rinsed his garments and bathed his flesh in water, then he will be clean.

10 On the eighth day he shall take two flawless he-lambs, and one flawless ewe lamb, a year-old, three tenths of an ephah of flour, an approach present mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

11 The priest pronouncing the man clean will cause the one cleansing himself and these items to stand before Yahweh at the opening of the tent of appointment.

12 Then the priest will take one he-lamb and bring it near as a guilt offering with the log of oil, and he will wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh.

13 He will slay the he-lamb in the place where he slays the sin offering and the ascent offering in the holy place, for like the sin offering, the guilt offering, it is for the priest; it is a holy of holies.

14 The priest will take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest will put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one cleansing himself, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

15 Then the priest will take some of the log of oil and pour it on the priest’s left palm.

16 The priest will dip his right finger into the oil which is on his left palm and spatter some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh.

17 Some of the oil which is left on his palm the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of the one cleansing himself, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.

18 And the rest of the oil which is on the palm of the priest shall he put on the head of the one cleansing himself. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him before Yahweh.

19 Then the priest will make the sin offering and so make a propitiatory shelter over the one cleansing himself from his uncleanness, and afterward he shall slay the ascent offering.

20 The priest will bring up the ascent offering and the approach present on the altar before Yahweh. When the priest makes a propitiatory shelter over him, then he will be clean.

21 If he is poor and his hand cannot afford it then he will take one he-lamb as a guilt offering for a wave offering to make a propitiatory shelter over him, one tenth of an ephah of flour mingled with oil for an approach present, a log of oil,

22 and two turtledoves or two dove squabs whichever his hand can afford. One will come to be a sin offering and the other an ascent offering.

23 He will bring them on the eighth day, for his cleansing, to the priest at the opening of the tent of appointment before Yahweh.

24 And the priest will take the he-lamb of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest will wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh.

25 Then he will slay the he-lamb of the guilt offering; the priest will take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one cleansing himself, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

26 Some of the oil the priest shall pour on the priest’s left palm;

27 and the priest will spatter with his right finger some of the oil which is on his left palm seven times before Yahweh.

28 Then the priest will put some of the oil which is on his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one cleansing himself, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot on the same place as the blood of the guilt offering.

29 And the rest of the oil which is on the palm of the priest he shall put on the head of the one cleansing himself to make a propitiatory shelter over him before Yahweh.

30 He will offer one of the turtledoves or of the dove squabs from whichever his hand can afford.

31 Of that which his hand can afford the one is for a sin offering and the other for an ascent offering along with the approach present. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over the one cleansing himself before Yahweh.

32 This is the law for one in whom is the contagion of leprous disease whose hand cannot afford more for his cleansing.

33 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

34 When you come to the land of Canaan which I am giving to you for a holding, and I put the contagion of leprous mold in a house of the land of your holding,

35 then he to whom the house belongs will come and tell the priest, saying: Something that appears to me like the contagion is in the house.

36 The priest will instruct that they clear out the house ere the priest comes to examine the contagion, so that all which is in the house shall not be unclean. Afterward the priest shall come to examine the house.

37 He will examine the contagion, and if the contagion in the sidewalls of the house has greenish or reddish concavities and their appearance is lower than the sidewall,

38 the priest will go forth from the house to the opening of the house, and he will lock the house seven days.

39 When the priest returns on the seventh day and examines, and if the contagion has diffused in the sidewalls of the house,

40 then the priest will instruct that they pull off the stones which have the contagion in them and fling them outside the city into an unclean place.

41 They shall also scrape off the house inside round about, and they will pour out the plaster soil which they have scraped off outside the city into an unclean place.

42 Then they will take other stones and insert them instead of the stones, and other soil shall they take and plaster the house.

43 Now if the contagion should return, and it buds in the house after one pulled off the stones, after scraping off the house and after it is plastered,

44 then the priest will come and examine, and if the contagion has diffused in the house, it is a festering leprous mold in the house; it is unclean.

45 Hence they will tear down the house, its stones and its timbers and all the plaster soil of the house, and will bring them forth outside the city to an unclean place.

46 Anyone entering the house all the days while they locked it shall be unclean until the evening;

47 and anyone lying in the house, he shall rinse his garments; also anyone eating in the house, he shall rinse his garments.

48 Yet if the priest should come, yea come, and he examines, and if the contagion has not diffused in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest will pronounce the house clean, for the contagion is mended.

49 To expiate the house he will take two birds, also cedar wood, double-dipped crimson and hyssop.

50 He will slay one bird in an earthenware vessel over live water;

51 and he will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the double-dipped crimson and the living bird and dip them into the blood of the slain bird and in the live water and spatter it on the house seven times.

52 Thus he will expiate the house with the blood of the bird, with the live water, with the living bird, with the cedar wood, with the hyssop and with the double-dipped crimson.

53 Then he will send the living bird free outside the city over the surface of the field and make a propitiatory shelter over the house; then it will be clean.

54 This is the law for every contagion of leprous disease and for the scall;

55 for leprous mold in a garment and on a house;

56 for a nodule, for scurf and for blotches,

57 to direct about the day of the unclean and about the day of the clean. This is the law of leprous disease.

Chapter 15

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: In case any man should come to be discharging from his flesh, his discharge, it is unclean.

3 This is the law of his uncleanness in his discharge. Whether his flesh oozes his discharge or seals his flesh from his discharge, he is unclean all the days of the discharge of his flesh or when it seals his flesh from his discharge; it is his uncleanness.

4 Any bedding on which the one discharging has lain is unclean; and every article on which he has sat is unclean.

5 Anyone who touches his bedding, he shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

6 Also the one sitting on an article on which the one discharging has sat, he shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

7 And the one touching the flesh of the one discharging, he shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

8 In case the one discharging should spit on one who is clean, then he will rinse his garments and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

9 Every riding seat on which the one discharging should ride is unclean;

10 and anyone touching anything that came to be beneath him, he is unclean until the evening. Also the one carrying them, he shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

11 Anyone whom the one discharging should touch, without having laved his hands in water, he will rinse his garments and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

12 Any article of earthenware which the one discharging has touched, it shall be broken, and every article of wood, it shall be laved in water.

13 When the one discharging is clean from his discharge he will count off for himself seven days for his cleansing, and he will rinse his garments and bathe his flesh in live water and be clean.

14 On the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two dove squabs and will come before Yahweh to the opening of the tent of appointment, and he will give them to the priest.

15 Then the priest will make of them, one a sin offering and the other an ascent offering. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him before Yahweh because of his discharge.

16 A man, when an emission of semen comes forth from him, will bathe all his flesh in water and be unclean until the evening.

17 Every garment and all leather on which his emission of semen has come, he will rinse in water, and it will be unclean until the evening.

18 Also a woman with whom a man is lying with an emission of semen, they will both bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

19 When a woman comes to be discharging and her discharge in her flesh be blood, seven days shall she come to be in her period, and anyone touching her, he shall be unclean until the evening.

20 Everything on which she has lain during her period is unclean, and everything on which she has sat is unclean.

21 Anyone touching her bedding, he shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe in water and be unclean until the evening;

22 and anyone touching any article on which she has sat shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

23 Whether it was on the bedding or on the article on which she was sitting when he touched it, he is unclean until the evening.

24 If a man should lie, yea lie with her, and her period should come on him, then he will be unclean seven days; and any bedding on which he has lain is unclean.

25 In case a woman discharges a discharge of her blood many days, not in the time of her period, or in case she discharges beyond her period, all the days of the discharge of her uncleanness shall she come to be as in the days of her period; she is unclean.

26 Any bedding on which she has lain all the days of her discharge, as the bedding of her period shall it become to her, and any article on which she has sat shall become unclean as during the uncleanness of her period.

27 Anyone touching them, he shall be unclean; he will rinse his garments and bathe in water and be unclean until the evening.

28 When she is clean from her discharge then she will count off for herself seven days, and afterward she is clean.

29 On the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two dove squabs, and she will bring them to the priest, to the opening of the tent of appointment.

30 Then the priest will make of the one a sin offering and of the other an ascent offering. Thus the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over her before Yahweh because of the discharge of her uncleanness.

31 You will warn the sons of Israel against their uncleanness so that they may not die in their uncleanness when they defile My tabernacle which is in their midst.

32 This is the law for the one discharging and from whom is coming forth an emission of semen to be unclean by it;

33 also for the menstruous one in her period, as well as for the one discharging with his discharge, for the male as for the female, and for the man who is lying with her who is unclean.

Chapter 16

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they came near before Yahweh and died.

2 Yahweh said to Moses: Speak to Aaron your brother that he must not come at just any time into the holy place, inside the curtain before the propitiatory shelter which is on the coffer, so that he may not die, for in the cloud shall I appear over the propitiatory shelter.

3 In this way shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a bull calf of the herd, as a sin offering, and a ram as an ascent offering.

4 The holy linen tunic shall he put on, and linen breeches, they shall be over his flesh, and with a linen sash shall he gird himself, and with a linen turban shall he be turbaned; they are holy garments. He will bathe his flesh in water and put them on.

5 From the congregation of the sons of Israel shall he take two hairy goats as a sin offering and one ram as an ascent offering.

6 Aaron will bring near the young bull of the sin offering which is for himself, and he will make a propitiatory shelter about himself and about his house.

7 He will take the two hairy goats and stand them before Yahweh at the opening of the tent of appointment.

8 Then Aaron will cast lots over the two hairy goats, one lot for Yahweh and one lot for the goat of departure.

9 Aaron will bring near the hairy goat over which the lot for Yahweh comes up and make it a sin offering.

10 Yet the hairy goat over which the lot for the goat of departure comes up, it shall stay alive before Yahweh to make a propitiatory shelter over it and to send it away as the goat of departure to the wilderness.

11 Aaron will bring near the young bull of the sin offering which is for him, and he will make a propitiatory shelter about himself and about his house. He will slay the young bull of the sin offering which is for himself.

12 Then he will take a full firepan of embers of fire off the altar from before Yahweh and both his hands full of thin incense spices, and he will bring it inside the curtain;

13 he will put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, and the cloud of incense will cover the propitiatory shelter which is on the testimony, so that he may not die.

14 He will take some of the blood of the young bull and spatter it with his finger on the face of the propitiatory shelter eastward, and before the propitiatory shelter shall he spatter some of the blood seven times with his finger.

15 He will slay the hairy goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the curtain and do with its blood just as he did with the blood of the young bull, and spatter it on the propitiatory shelter and before the propitiatory shelter.

16 Thus he will make a propitiatory shelter over the holy place because of the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel and because of their transgressions, for all their sins. So shall he do for the tent of appointment that is tabernacling with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.

17 No human at all shall come to be in the tent of appointment when he enters to make a propitiatory shelter in the holy place until his coming forth. He will make a propitiatory shelter about himself and about his household and about the whole assembly of Israel.

18 Then he will come forth to the altar which is before Yahweh and make a propitiatory shelter over it. He will take some of the blood of the young bull and some of the blood of the hairy goat, and he will put it on the horns of the altar round about.

19 He will spatter some of the blood on it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel.

20 When he has finished making a propitiatory shelter for the holy place and the tent of appointment and the altar, he will bring near the live hairy goat.

21 Aaron will support his two hands on the head of the live hairy goat, confess over it all the depravities of the sons of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, and he will put them on the head of the hairy goat and send it away by the hand of a ready man to the wilderness.

22 Thus the hairy goat will bear on it all their depravities to an inaccessible land, and he will send the hairy goat free into the wilderness.

23 Then Aaron will enter the tent of appointment and strip off the linen garments which he put on when he came into the holy place, and he will leave them there.

24 He will bathe his flesh in water in a holy place, put on his garments, go forth, and he will make his ascent offering and the ascent offering of the people and thus make a propitiatory shelter about himself and about the people.

25 The fat of the sin offering shall he cause to fume on the altar.

26 The one sending the hairy goat free as the goat of departure, he shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

27 As for the young bull of the sin offering and the hairy goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought to make a propitiatory shelter in the holy place, one shall bring them forth outside the camp, and they will burn in fire their hides and their flesh and their dung.

28 The one burning them shall rinse his garments, and he will bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

29 It will come to be for you as an eonian statute: In the seventh month on the tenth of the month you shall humble your souls, and no work at all shall you do, the native or the sojourner sojourning in your midst.

30 For on this day shall one make a propitiatory shelter over you to cleanse you from all your sins. Before Yahweh shall you be clean.

31 It is a sabbath of cessation for you, and you will humble your souls; it is an eonian statute.

32 The priest whom one is anointing and whom one is consecrating to serve as priest instead of his father, will make a propitiatory shelter. He will put on the linen garments, the holy garments,

33 and he will make a propitiatory shelter over the holy sanctuary. Over the tent of appointment and the altar shall he make a propitiatory shelter; over the priests and over all the people of the assembly shall he make a propitiatory shelter.

34 This will come to be for you as an eonian statute to make a propitiatory shelter over the sons of Israel because of all their sins, once a year. And he did just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

Chapter 17

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: This is the thing which Yahweh has instructed, saying,

3 Any man from the house of Israel who slays a bull or a sheep or a goat in the camp, or who slays it outside the camp,

4 and does not bring it to the opening of the tent of appointment so as to bring it near as an approach present to Yahweh before the tabernacle of Yahweh, bloodshed shall be accounted to that man. He has shed blood; hence that man will be cut off from among his people.

5 This is in order that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they have been sacrificing on the surface of the field that they bring them before Yahweh, to the priest at the opening of the tent of appointment, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to Yahweh.

6 Then the priest will sprinkle the blood against the altar of Yahweh at the opening of the tent of appointment, and he will cause the fat to fume as a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

7 No longer shall they sacrifice their sacrifices to hairy goat-demons after whom they have been prostituting. An eonian statute shall this become for them throughout their generations.

8 To them you shall say: Any man from the house of Israel or from the sojourner who sojourns in your midst who should offer an ascent offering or a sacrifice

9 and not bring it to the opening of the tent of appointment to offer it to Yahweh, that man will be cut off from his kinsmen.

10 As for any man from the house of Israel and from the sojourner sojourning in your midst who should eat any blood, I will set My face against the soul eating blood, and I will cut him off from among his people,

11 for the soul of the flesh, it is in the blood, and I Myself have assigned it to you to make a propitiatory shelter over your souls on the altar; for the blood, because of the soul, it makes a propitiatory shelter.

12 Therefore I say to the sons of Israel: No soul at all of you shall eat blood; nor shall the sojourner sojourning in your midst eat blood.

13 Any man from the sons of Israel and from the sojourner sojourning in your midst who hunts a game animal or a flyer which may be eaten, he will pour out its blood and cover it with soil,

14 for the soul of all flesh is its blood; as its soul is it. So I said to the sons of Israel: The blood of any flesh you shall not eat, for the soul of all flesh, it is its blood. Anyone eating it, he shall be cut off.

15 Any soul who eats a carcass or an animal torn to pieces, whether a native or a sojourner, he will rinse his garments and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until the evening; then he will be clean.

16 Yet if he should not rinse his garments and not bathe his flesh then he will bear his depravity.

Chapter 18

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them, I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

3 According to the deeds of the land of Egypt in which you dwelt, you shall not behave. And according to the deeds of the land of Canaan where I am bringing you, you shall not behave; and by their statutes you shall not walk.

4 My ordinances shall you keep, and My statutes shall you observe to walk by them: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

5 You will observe My statutes and My ordinances, for the human who does them will also live by them: I am Yahweh.

6 Not any one of you shall come near any kin of his flesh to expose their nakedness: I am Yahweh.

7 The nakedness of your father and the nakedness of your mother you shall not expose. She is your mother; you shall not expose her nakedness.

8 The nakedness of your father’s wife you shall not expose. It is the nakedness of your father.

9 The nakedness of your sister, the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother, begotten at home or begotten outside, you shall not expose their nakedness.

10 The nakedness of your son’s daughter or your daughter’s daughter, you shall not expose their nakedness, for they are your nakedness.

11 The nakedness of your father’s wife’s daughter, begotten by your father, you shall not expose. She is your sister; you shall not expose her nakedness.

12 The nakedness of your father’s sister you shall not expose, for she is kin of your father.

13 The nakedness of your mother’s sister you shall not expose, for she is the kin of your mother.

14 The nakedness of your father’s brother you shall not expose; that is, to his wife you shall not approach; she is your aunt.

15 The nakedness of your daughter-in-law you shall not expose. She is the wife of your son; you shall not expose her nakedness.

16 The nakedness of your brother’s wife you shall not expose. She is the nakedness of your brother.

17 The nakedness of both a woman and her daughter you shall not expose. Her son’s daughter and her daughter’s daughter you shall not take to expose her nakedness. They are kin. This is lewdness.

18 And you shall not take a woman to be a rival to her sister, by exposing her nakedness to her in her lifetime.

19 To a woman in the period of her uncleanness you shall not approach to expose her nakedness.

20 And to the wife of your companion you shall not give your emission of semen, to be unclean with her.

21 You shall not give any of your seed to make them pass through fire to Moloch, for you shall not profane the Name of your Elohim: I am Yahweh.

22 With a male you shall not lie as bedding with a woman. This is an abhorrence.

23 You shall not give your emission to any beast to be unclean with it. And a woman shall not stand before a beast to copulate with it. This is decadence.

24 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways. For in all of these the nations which I am dismissing before your face are defiled.

25 Since the land is unclean I shall visit its depravity on it, and the land shall vomit out its dwellers.

26 As for you, you will observe My statutes and My ordinances, and you shall not do any of these abhorrences, either the native or the sojourner sojourning in your midst (

27 for the men of the land who were before you have done all these abhorrences, and the land is unclean),

28 so that the land shall not vomit you out when you defile it, just as it vomited out the nations which were before you.

29 For anyone who shall do any of these abhorrences, the souls doing them will be cut off from among their people.

30 Hence you will keep My charge by no means to do any of the abhorrent statutes which were practiced before you so that you may not defile yourselves by them: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

Chapter 19

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: Holy shall you become, for I am holy, Yahweh your Elohim.

3 Each of you shall fear his mother and his father, and you shall observe My sabbaths: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

4 Do not turn around to the forbidden idols; and molten elohim you shall not make for yourselves: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

5 When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh, you should sacrifice it for acceptance on your behalf.

6 On the day of your sacrifice shall it be eaten or on the morrow, and what is left until the third day, in fire shall it be burned.

7 Yet if it be eaten, yea eaten on the third day, it is vile; it shall not be accepted.

8 Its eater shall bear his depravity, for what is holy to Yahweh has he profaned; hence that soul will be cut off from his kinsmen.

9 When you reap the harvest of your land you shall not finish the edges of your field in reaping, and the gleaning of your harvest you shall not glean.

10 Also your vineyard you shall not clean glean, and the loose berries of your vineyard you shall not glean. For the humble one and for the sojourner shall you forsake them: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

11 You shall not steal nor dissimulate nor deal falsely, each one with his companion.

12 And you shall not swear by My Name falsely and so profane the Name of Your Elohim: I am Yahweh.

13 You shall not extort from your associate, nor shall you pillage. The wage of a hireling shall not lodge with you until morning.

14 You shall not maledict the deaf, and before the blind you shall not put a stumbling block. You will fear your Elohim: I am Yahweh.

15 You shall not do iniquity in judgment; you shall not show partiality to the poor one nor favorably honor the face of the great one. In righteousness shall you judge your companion.

16 You shall not go about as a defamer among your kinsmen; you shall not stand against the blood of your associate: I am Yahweh.

17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall admonish, yea admonish your companion so that you may not bear sin with him.

18 You shall not avenge nor shall you be resentful against the sons of your people. You will love your associate as yourself: I am Yahweh.

19 My statutes shall you observe. Your beast you shall not cause to copulate dissimilarly; your field you shall not sow dissimilarly, and a garment dissimilarly made of linsey-woolsey shall not come up on you.

20 In case a man who lies with a woman has an emission of semen when she is a bondmaid designated for another man, yet has not been ransomed, nay ransomed nor freedom given to her, a distinction shall there be: They shall not be put to death since she was not freed.

21 He will bring his guilt offering to Yahweh at the opening of the tent of appointment, a ram as a guilt offering.

22 Then the priest will make a propitiatory shelter over him with the ram of the guilt offering before Yahweh, for his sin with which he has sinned, and his sin with which he has sinned will be pardoned him.

23 When you shall come into the land and you plant any tree for food, then you will regard its foreskin as uncircumcised; that is, its fruit, for three years shall it be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten.

24 Yet in the fourth year all its fruit shall become holy, as praise offerings to Yahweh.

25 And in the fifth year shall you eat its fruit so as to increase its yield to you still more: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

26 You shall not eat on the mountains. You shall not augur nor consult clouds.

27 You shall not round off the edge of your head’s hair nor ruin the edge of your beard.

28 You shall not put a laceration in your flesh for a deceased soul; you shall not put a tattoo writing on yourself: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

29 Do not profane your daughter to make her a cult-prostitute that the land may not prostitute itself and the land be full of lewdness.

30 Instead, My sabbaths shall you observe, and My sanctuary shall you devoutly fear: I am Yahweh.

31 Do not countenance mediums and wizards; do not seek them out to be defiled by them: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

32 In the presence of the greyhaired shall you rise, and you will honor the face of the old. You will fear your Elohim: I am Yahweh.

33 When a sojourner sojourns with you in your land, you shall not tyrannize over him.

34 As a native among you shall the sojourner sojourning with you come to be to you, and you will love him as yourself, for sojourners were you in the land of Egypt: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

35 You shall not do iniquity in judgment: in measure, in weight or in quantity.

36 Just scales, just stone weights, a just ephah and a just hin shall you come to have. I, Yahweh, am your Elohim Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

37 Hence you will observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them: I am Yahweh.

Chapter 20

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 To the sons of Israel you shall say, Any man of the sons of Israel and of the sojourner sojourning in Israel who should give any of his seed to Moloch, he shall be put to death, yea death. The people of the land shall pelt him with stones;

3 I Myself shall set My face against that man, and I will cut him off from among his people (for he has given of his seed to Moloch) on account of the defilement of My sanctuary and the profanation of My holy Name.

4 And if the people of the land should obscure, yea obscure their eyes from that man when he gives of his seed to Moloch, so as to avoid putting him to death,

5 then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people him and all those prostituting after him, to prostitute after Moloch.

6 As for the soul who should countenance mediums and wizards to prostitute after them, I will set My face against that soul also, and I will cut him off from among his people.

7 Hence you will sanctify yourselves and become holy, for I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

8 You will observe My statutes and keep them: I am Yahweh Who is hallowing you.

9 For any man who shall maledict his father or his mother, he shall be put to death, yea death. It is his father and his mother whom he maledicts; his bloodguilt will be on him.

10 As for a man who commits adultery with another man’s wife one who commits adultery with his associate’s wife the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death, yea death.

11 As for a man who lies with his father’s wife, he has exposed his father’s nakedness. The two of them shall be put to death, yea death; their bloodguilt will be on them.

12 And a man who lies with his daughter-in-law, the two of them shall be put to death, yea death. They have shown decadence; their bloodguilt will be on them.

13 Also a man who lies with a male as bedding with a woman, they do an abhorrence. The two of them shall be put to death, yea death; their bloodguilt will be on them.

14 As for a man who takes a woman and her mother, this is lewdness. In fire shall they burn him and them so that no such lewdness may come up in your midst.

15 Also a man who gives his emission to a beast, he shall be put to death, yea death, and the beast shall you kill.

16 As for a woman who approaches to any beast to copulate with it, you will kill the woman and the beast. They shall be put to death, yea death; their bloodguilt will be on them.

17 As for a man who takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, this is a base thing, and they will be cut off before the eyes of the sons of their people. The nakedness of his sister has he exposed; his depravity shall he bear.

18 Also a man who lies with a menstruous woman and exposes her nakedness, he causes her fountain to be naked, and she exposes the fountain of her bloodflows. Then the two of them will be cut off from among their people.

19 The nakedness of your mother’s sister or your father’s sister you shall not expose, for he who does so causes his kin to be naked; their depravity shall they bear.

20 As for a man who lies with his aunt, the nakedness of his uncle he has exposed. Their sin shall they bear; heirless shall they die.

21 As for a man who takes the wife of his brother, this is impurity. The nakedness of his brother has he exposed; heirless shall they become.

22 You will observe all My statutes and all My ordinances and keep them so that the land, where I am bringing you to dwell in it, shall not vomit you out.

23 You shall not walk by the habitual statutes of the nations which I am casting out from your presence, for they have practiced all these things, and I am irritated with them.

24 Yet I said to you: You shall tenant their ground, and I Myself shall give it to you to tenant it, a land gushing with milk and honey. I, Yahweh, am your Elohim, Who separates you from the peoples.

25 Hence you will make a separation between the clean beast and the unclean and between the unclean flyer and the clean; and you shall not make your souls abominable by a beast or by a flyer or by anything that moves on the ground which I have separated for you to consider it unclean.

26 So you will become holy to Me, for I, Yahweh, am holy, and I am separating you from the peoples to become Mine.

27 A man or a woman, in case there is a medium or a wizard among them, they shall be put to death, yea death. With stones shall they pelt them; their bloodguilt is on them.

Chapter 21

1 Yahweh said to Moses: Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and you will say to them: No one shall defile himself for a dead soul among his kinsmen,

2 save for his kin next to him, that is, for his mother, for his father, for his son, for his daughter, for his brother

3 or for his virgin sister, next to him since she has not come to have a husband; for her he may defile himself.

4 He shall not defile himself as a possessor among his kinsmen and so profane himself.

5 They shall not make bald a tonsure on their heads for a dead one and not shave off the edge of their beard; nor shall they lacerate their flesh with laceration.

6 Holy shall they become to their Elohim; they shall not profane the Name of their Elohim. Because they are bringing near the fire offerings of Yahweh, the bread of their Elohim, they are to be holy.

7 A prostituting woman or a violated one, they shall not take, and a woman driven out from her husband they shall not take, for he is holy to his Elohim.

8 You will regard him as holy, for he is bringing near the bread of your Elohim. He shall become holy to you, for I am holy, Yahweh Who is hallowing you.

9 In case the daughter of a priestly man should profane herself by prostitution, she is profaning her father; with fire shall she be burned.

10 As for the priest, the one greater than his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil was poured, and one consecrated him to put on the garments, his head’s hair he shall not dishevel, and his garments he shall not rip

11 nor to any dead soul shall he enter; even for his father or for his mother he shall not defile himself.

12 He shall not go forth from the sanctuary nor profane the sanctuary of his Elohim, for the sequestration by the anointing oil of his Elohim is on him: I am Yahweh.

13 He shall take a wife in her virginity.

14 A widow or one driven out or violated or prostituting, these he shall not take, but rather a virgin from his kinsmen shall he take for a wife,

15 that he may not profane his seed among his kinsmen, for I, Yahweh, am regarding him as holy.

16 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

17 Speak to Aaron, saying, A man of your seed throughout their generations, in whom there is a blemish, he shall not approach to bring near the bread of his Elohim.

18 For no man at all who has a blemish in him may approach: a blind man or one lame or disfigured or deformed

19 or a man in whom there is a crippled foot or a crippled hand

20 or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed or ulcerated in his eye or with eczema or tetter or a mashed testicle.

21 Any man of the seed of Aaron the priest, in whom there is a blemish, shall not come close to bring near the fire offerings of Yahweh. Since a blemish is in him, he shall not come close to bring near the bread of his Elohim.

22 He may eat the bread of his Elohim, of the holies of holies and of the holy things.

23 Only he shall not come to the curtain, nor shall he come close to the altar, for there is a blemish in him. He shall not profane My grand sanctuary, for I am Yahweh, Who is hallowing them.

24 Then Moses spoke this to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel.

Chapter 22

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they should sequester themselves from the holy things of the sons of Israel which they are sanctifying to Me so that they may not profane My holy Name: I am Yahweh.

3 Say to them: Throughout your generations, every man of all your seed who is coming near to the holy things which the sons of Israel are sanctifying to Yahweh, when his uncleanness is on him, that soul will be cut off from My presence: I am Yahweh.

4 Any man of the seed of Aaron, when he is a leprous man or has a discharge, he may not eat of the holy things until he be clean. As for the one touching any unclean soul, or a man from whom an emission of semen comes forth,

5 or a man who touches any swarmer which is unclean to him or a human who is unclean to him because of any uncleanness on him,

6 the soul who touches it also will be unclean until the evening and may not eat of the holy things unless he bathes his flesh in water.

7 When the sun sets he will be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, for it is his bread.

8 A carcass or animal torn to pieces he shall not eat so as to defile himself by it: I am Yahweh.

9 Hence they will keep My charge so that they shall not bear sin on its account and die by it, in case they should violate it: I am Yahweh, Who is hallowing them.

10 Nor shall any alien eat the holy thing; that is, a priest’s guest or hireling shall not eat the holy thing.

11 Yet when a priest buys a soul, an acquisition with his silver, he may eat of it; also his homeborn, they may eat of his bread.

12 In case a daughter of a priest comes to have an alien husband, she may not eat of the heave offering of the holy things.

13 Yet in case the daughter of the priest becomes a widow or is driven out and she has no seed and so she returns to the house of her father as in her youth, of her father’s bread she may eat; yet no alien at all may eat of it.

14 And in case someone eats a holy thing inadvertently then he shall add a fifth of its value to it, and he will restitute the holy thing to the priest.

15 They shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel which they are raising up to Yahweh

16 and cause them to bear the depravity of guilt when they eat their holy things, for I am Yahweh, Who is hallowing them.

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

18 Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel, and you will say to them, When any man of the house of Israel or of the sojourner sojourning in Israel, brings near his approach present for all their vows and for all their voluntary offerings which they may bring near to Yahweh for an ascent offering

19 for acceptance on your behalf, it shall be a flawless male of the herd, of the sheep or of the goats.

20 Any in which there is a blemish you shall not bring near, for it shall not be for acceptance on your behalf.

21 When a man brings near a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh to make an extraordinary vow or as a voluntary offering of the herd or of the flock, flawless shall it be for acceptance; no blemish at all shall be in it.

22 Blind or crippled or gashed or with an ulcer or eczema or tetter, you shall not bring these near to Yahweh, nor as a fire offering shall you offer of them on the altar to Yahweh.

23 As for a bull or a flockling deformed or stunted you may offer it as a voluntary offering, yet for a vow it shall not be accepted.

24 And one with testicles squashed or pounded to pieces or pulled away or cut out you shall not bring near to Yahweh. You shall not do this in your land,

25 nor shall you bring near as the bread of your Elohim of any of these animals acquired from the hand of a foreigner’s son. Since their ruin is in them, and a blemish is in them, they shall not be accepted on your behalf.

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

27 When a bull or a sheep or a goat is born then it will come to be seven days under its mother; from the eighth day and beyond it may be accepted as an approach present of a fire offering to Yahweh.

28 As for the kine or the flockling, it and its young you shall not slay in one day.

29 And in case you should sacrifice an acclamation sacrifice to Yahweh, for acceptance on your behalf shall you sacrifice it.

30 On the same day shall it be eaten; you shall not leave any of it until the morning: I am Yahweh.

31 Hence you will observe My instructions and keep them: I am Yahweh.

32 You shall not profane My holy Name, so that I be hallowed in the midst of the sons of Israel. I am Yahweh Who is hallowing you,

33 Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt to be your Elohim: I am Yahweh.

Chapter 23

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them, The appointed seasons of Yahweh, those which you shall proclaim holy meetings, My appointed seasons, they are these:

3 Six days shall work be done, yet on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of cessation, a holy meeting. You shall do no work at all. This is a sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

4 These are the appointed seasons of Yahweh, the holy meetings, those which you shall proclaim at their appointed time:

5 In the first month on the fourteenth day of the month between the evening hours is the passover to Yahweh.

6 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the festival of unleavened bread to Yahweh. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread.

7 On the first day you shall come to have a holy meeting, when you shall do no occupational work at all.

8 And you will bring near a fire offering to Yahweh seven days. On the seventh day is a holy meeting, when you shall do no occupational work at all.

9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

10 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them, When you come into the land which I am giving to you and reap its harvest, you will bring a sheaf of the firstfruit of your harvest to the priest.

11 He will wave the sheaf before Yahweh for acceptance on your behalf. From the morrow of the sabbath the priest shall wave it.

12 On the day when you cause the sheaf to wave you will offer a flawless year-old he-lamb as an ascent offering to Yahweh,

13 together with its approach present of two tenths of an ephah of flour mingled with oil, a fire offering to Yahweh, a fragrant odor, and its libation of wine, a fourth of a hin.

14 No bread or toasted grain or groats of the new crop shall you eat until this very day, until you bring the approach present of your Elohim. It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

15 You will count off for yourselves from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave offering: there shall be seven flawless sabbaths.

16 Until the morrow of the seventh sabbath you shall count off fifty days; then you will bring near an approach present of new grain to Yahweh.

17 From your dwellings shall you bring bread as a wave offering: two loaves, of two tenths of an ephah of flour shall they be; baked with leaven shall they be, as firstfruits for Yahweh.

18 And you will bring near with the bread seven flawless year-old he-lambs, and one bull calf of the herd and two flawless rams. They shall be an ascent offering to Yahweh together with their approach present and their libations, a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

19 And you will offer one hairy goat as a sin offering and two year-old he-lambs as a sacrifice of peace offerings.

20 Then the priest will wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before Yahweh with the two he-lambs. Holy shall they be to Yahweh for the priest.

21 And you will proclaim a meeting on this very day. It shall be holy for you. You shall do no occupational work at all; it shall be an eonian statute in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

22 When you reap the harvest of your land you shall not finish the edges of your field when you reap, and the gleaning of your harvest you shall not glean. For the humble one and for the sojourner shall you forsake them: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

24 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month on day one of the month there shall be a cessation for you with a memorial trumpet blast, a holy meeting.

25 You shall do no occupational work at all, and you will bring near a fire offering to Yahweh.

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

27 Then on the tenth of this seventh month, it is the day of propitiatory shelters. It shall be a holy meeting for you, and you will humble your souls and bring near a fire offering to Yahweh.

28 You shall do no work at all on this very day, for it is the day of propitiatory shelters so as to make a propitiatory shelter over you before Yahweh your Elohim.

29 For every soul who is not humbled on this very day will be cut off from his kinsmen.

30 And every soul who does any work on this very day, I will destroy that soul from among his people.

31 You shall do no work at all. It is an eonian statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

32 It is a sabbath of cessation for you, and you will humble your souls. On the ninth day of the month in the evening, from evening until evening shall you cease for your sabbath.

33 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

34 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, From the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the festival of booths seven days to Yahweh.

35 On the first day is a holy meeting; you shall do no occupational work at all.

36 Seven days shall you bring near a fire offering to Yahweh, and on the eighth day there shall be a holy meeting for you, and you will bring near a fire offering to Yahweh. It is a day of restraint. You shall do no occupational work at all.

37 These are the appointed seasons of Yahweh, those which you shall proclaim as holy meetings, to bring near the fire offering to Yahweh, the ascent offering and the approach present, the sacrifice and the libations, each day’s matter in its day,

38 aside from the sabbaths of Yahweh and aside from your gifts and aside from all your vows and aside from all your voluntary offerings which you shall give to Yahweh.

39 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month after you have gathered the yield of the land, you shall celebrate the festival of Yahweh for seven days. On the first day there is a cessation and on the eighth day a cessation.

40 You will take for yourselves on the first day fruit of goodly trees, fronds of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees, and oleanders of the watercourse, and you will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim for seven days.

41 You will celebrate it as a festival to Yahweh for seven days in the year. It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations. In the seventh month shall you celebrate it.

42 In booths shall you dwell seven days, that is, every native in Israel; they shall dwell in booths

43 that your generations may know that in booths I made the sons of Israel dwell when I brought them forth from the land of Egypt: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

44 Thus Moses spoke of the appointed seasons of Yahweh to the sons of Israel.

Chapter 24

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Instruct the sons of Israel that they should take to you clear olive oil, pounded, for the luminary, to kindle the lamp regularly.

3 Outside the curtain of the testimony in the tent of appointment Aaron and his sons shall arrange it from evening until morning before Yahweh regularly. It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations.

4 On the pure lampstand shall he arrange the lamps before Yahweh regularly.

5 You will take flour and bake of it twelve perforated cakes. Two tenths of an ephah shall there be for one perforated cake.

6 And you will place them in two arrays, six to the array, on the pure table before Yahweh.

7 You will put along each array clear frankincense, and it will be used instead of the bread as a memorial portion, a fire offering to Yahweh.

8 Sabbath day by sabbath day shall he arrange it before Yahweh regularly on behalf of the sons of Israel, an eonian covenant.

9 It will be for Aaron and for his sons, and they will eat it in a holy place, for it is a holy of holies for him from the fire offerings of Yahweh. It is an eonian statute.

10 A son of an Israelite woman ( he was the son of an Egyptian man) had come forth in the midst of the sons of Israel. Now this son of the Israelitess and an Israelite man strove together in the camp,

11 and the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of Yahweh, and he maledicted. So they brought him to Moses. (Now the name of his mother was Shelomith daughter of Dibri of the stock of Dan.)

12 They left him under guard until Moses expounded the case for them at the bidding of Yahweh.

13 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

14 Bring forth the maledictor outside the camp, and all the hearers will support their hands on his head, and the whole congregation will pelt him with stones.

15 And to the sons of Israel shall you speak, saying: In case any man maledicts his Elohim, then he will bear his own sin:

16 The blasphemer of the Name of Yahweh, he shall be put to death, yea death. The whole congregation shall pelt, yea pelt him with stones. The sojourner as well as the native; when he blasphemes the Name, he shall be put to death.

17 In case a man smites any human soul so that he dies, he shall be put to death, yea death.

18 And the smiter of the soul of a beast shall repay it soul for soul.

19 In case a man gives a blemish to his companion, just as he did so shall it be done to him:

20 Broken limb for broken limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, just as he gives a blemish to a human so shall it be given to him.

21 The smiter of a beast, he shall repay for it, but the smiter of a human shall be put to death.

22 The same judgment shall you come to have; for the sojourner as well as the native shall it be: for I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

23 Thus Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought forth the maledictor outside the camp and pelted him with stones. So the sons of Israel did just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

Chapter 25

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: When you come into the land that I am giving to you, the land will pause for a sabbath to Yahweh.

3 Six years shall you sow your field, and six years shall you prune your vineyard, and you will gather its yield.

4 Yet in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of cessation for the land, a sabbath to Yahweh. Your field you shall not sow, and your vineyard you shall not prune.

5 The self-sown of your harvest you shall not reap, and the grapes of your untrimmed vines you shall not pick. A year of cessation shall it be for the land.

6 Yet the sabbath yield of the land you will come to have as food for you, for your servant and for your maidservant, for your hireling and for your guest, those sojourning with you,

7 for your domestic beast and for the wild animal which are in your land; all its yield shall be for eating.

8 You will count off for yourselves seven sabbaths of years, that is, seven years seven times, so that the days of the seven sabbaths of years will come to be for you forty-nine years.

9 Then you will make the trumpet blast pass over all your land in the seventh month on the tenth of the month. On the day of propitiatory shelters you shall make the trumpet pass over all your land.

10 And you will hallow the year, the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty in the land to all its dwellers. A jubilee year shall this one be for you; each of you will return to his holding, and each of you shall return to his family.

11 A jubilee year shall this one, the fiftieth year, be for you; you shall not sow, nor shall you reap its self-sown, neither shall you pick its untrimmed vines,

12 for this is the jubilee. Holy shall it be for you: Directly from the field you shall eat its yield.

13 In this year of the jubilee each of you shall return to his holding.

14 So in case you should sell land-use in a sale to your companion or buy it from the hand of your companion, you must not tyrannize, a man over his brother.

15 By the number of years after the jubilee shall you buy land-use from your companion. By the number of the years of yield shall he sell it to you.

16 Corresponding to the multitude of years shall you increase its buying price, and corresponding to the fewness of years shall you decrease its buying price, because it is the number of yields he is selling to you.

17 So you should not tyrannize, a man over his companion. You will fear your Elohim: for I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

18 You will observe My statutes and My ordinances; you shall guard yourselves and keep them; then you will dwell on the land in serenity.

19 The land will give its fruit, and you will eat to satisfaction and dwell in serenity on it.

20 Since you might say: What shall we eat in the seventh year? Behold, we may not sow nor gather our yield!

21 I will enjoin My blessing for you in the sixth year, and it will give the yield for three years.

22 While you sow in the eighth year you will eat from the yield in storage until the ninth year. Until its yield comes in, you shall eat from the storage.

23 The land-use, it shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is Mine, since you are sojourners and guests with Me.

24 So with all your holding of land, a redemption shall you give for the land.

25 In case your brother is reduced to poverty and sells use of some of his holding, then his kinsman redeemer, one near to him, will come and redeem his brother’s sold land-use.

26 And in case a man comes to have no kinsman redeemer yet his own hand can afford it so that he finds sufficient means for its redemption,

27 then he will compute the years of its sale and restore the superfluity to the man to whom he sold it; then he will return to his holding.

28 Yet if he does not find his means sufficient to restore it to him then his sold land-use will come into the hand of the one buying it until the year of the jubilee. Then it will come forth in the jubilee, and he will return to his holding.

29 In case a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city then his right of redemption will continue until a year after its sale comes to end; only for the days of a year shall his right of redemption continue.

30 Yet if it should not be redeemed before its full year has come to end, then the house, which is in a city that has a wall, will belong in perpetuity to the one buying it throughout his generations; it shall not come forth in the jubilee.

31 Yet the houses of the hamlets, which have no wall round about, shall be reckoned along with the fields of the land. Redemption shall come for it, and in the jubilee it shall come forth.

32 Yet for the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their holdings, redemption shall be eonian for Levites.

33 When one from the Levites redeems, then the sold house, his city holding, will come forth in the jubilee, for the houses of the Levitical cities, these are their holdings in the midst of the sons of Israel.

34 Yet the use of the common field of their cities may not be sold, for it is an eonian holding for them.

35 In case your brother is reduced to poverty, and his hand slips beside you, then you will make him steadfast as if he were sojourner or guest, so that your brother may live beside you.

36 Do not take advance interest or accrued interest from him. You will fear your Elohim, so that your brother be alive beside you.

37 Your silver you shall not give to him on advance interest, nor give your food on accrued interest:

38 I, Yahweh, am your Elohim, Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt to give to you the land of Canaan, so as to be your Elohim.

39 In case your brother who is beside you is reduced to poverty and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve the service of a slave.

40 As a hireling, as a guest shall he be beside you; until the year of the jubilee shall he serve for you.

41 Then he will go forth from you, he and his sons with him, and return to his family; and to the holding of his fathers shall he return.

42 For they are My servants, whom I brought forth from the land of Egypt. They shall not sell themselves as in servant sales.

43 You shall not hold sway over him with rigor; you will fear your Elohim.

44 As for your manservants and your maidservants who become yours from the nations which are round about you, from them you may buy manservants or maidservants.

45 Also from the sons of guests sojourning among you, from them you may buy and from their families who are among you, whom they begot in your land; they will belong to your holding.

46 You may entail them as an allotment to your sons after you together with the tenancy of the holding. For the eon you may make them serve. Yet over your brothers, the sons of Israel, a man over his brother, you shall not hold sway over them with rigor.

47 In case the hand of a sojourner or guest beside you can afford it, and your brother beside him is reduced to poverty and sells himself to the sojourner or guest beside you or to the clansman of the sojourner’s family,

48 after he has sold himself, redemption may he come to have; one of his brothers may redeem him.

49 Either his uncle or his uncle’s son, he may redeem him, or one, kin to his flesh, of his family, he may redeem him, or if his own hand can afford it then he may redeem himself.

50 He will compute with his buyer the total from the year he sold himself to him until the year of the jubilee. And the silver for his release sale will be with regard to the number of years, as though he were for the days of a hireling under him.

51 Should there still be many years, corresponding to them he shall refund for his redemption out of the silver of his buying price.

52 And if few years remain until the year of jubilee then he will compute the amount due to him corresponding to his remaining years, and he shall refund it for his redemption. (

53 As a hireling, year by year shall he be with him; he shall not hold sway over him with rigor before your eyes.)

54 If he is not being redeemed in any of these ways then he will go forth in the year of the jubilee, he and his sons with him.

55 For to Me the sons of Israel are servants; they are My servants whom I brought forth from the land of Egypt: I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

Chapter 26

1 You shall not make forbidden idols for yourselves, nor set up carvings and monuments for yourselves, nor put a stone picture in your land to bow yourself down before it, for I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

2 My sabbaths shall you observe, and My sanctuary shall you devoutly fear: I am Yahweh.

3 If you walk by My statutes and observe My instructions and keep them,

4 then I will give your downpours in their season, and the land will give its crop, and the tree of the field, it shall give its fruit.

5 Your threshing will overtake the vintage, and the vintage, it shall overtake the sowing; you will eat your bread to satisfaction and dwell in serenity in your land.

6 I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down with no one making you tremble; I will eradicate the wild animal from the land, and no sword shall pass through your land.

7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword;

8 five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you shall pursue a myriad, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

9 I will countenance you, make you fruitful, increase you and confirm My covenant with you.

10 You will eat stored stores and bring forth the stores in view of the new.

11 I will put My tabernacle in your midst, and My soul shall not loathe you.

12 I will walk about in your midst and will be your Elohim, and you, you shall be My people.

13 I, Yahweh, am your Elohim Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt, from being servants to them. I have broken the slider bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk upraised.

14 Yet if you neither hearken to Me nor observe all these instructions,

15 and if you reject My statutes, and if your soul loathes My ordinances so as not to observe all My instructions, to cause you to annul My covenant,

16 indeed, I Myself shall do this to you: I will visit panic upon you, attenuation and fever, making the eyesight vanish and causing the soul to pine; and you will sow your seed for nought, for your enemies will eat it.

17 I will set My face against you, and you will be struck down before your enemies; those hating you will hold sway over you, and you will flee even when there is no one pursuing you.

18 And if, after these things, you should not hearken to Me, then I will continue to discipline you sevenfold for your sins.

19 I will break the pomp of your strength and make your heavens like iron and your land like bronze.

20 Your vigor will be spent for nought, and your land shall not give its crop, and the tree of the field, it shall not give its fruit.

21 If you go contrary to Me and are not willing to hearken to Me, then I will add smitings to you sevenfold according to your sins.

22 I will send the animal of the field against you, and it will bereave you, cut off your domestic beasts and so decrease you that your roads will be desolated.

23 If by these you should not be disciplined for Me, and you go contrary to Me,

24 then I will, indeed, go contrary to you, and I Myself will even smite you sevenfold for your sins.

25 I will bring the sword on you avenging the vengeance of the covenant. When you will be gathered into your cities then I will send the plague into your midst, and you will be given into the hand of the enemy.

26 When I break the staff of bread for you then ten women will bake your bread in one stove and return your bread by weight so that you will eat and not be satisfied.

27 If by this you should not hearken to Me, and you go contrary to Me,

28 then I will go contrary to you in fury. And I Myself, indeed, will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.

29 You will eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall you eat.

30 I will exterminate your high-places, cut down your incense stands and lay your corpses upon the corpses of your idol clods; thus My soul will loathe you.

31 I will turn your cities into a desert and make your grand sanctuary desolate; I shall not smell your fragrant odor.

32 I Myself will make the land so desolate that your enemies, the ones dwelling in it, will be appalled over it.

33 And you I shall winnow among the nations, and I will unsheathe a sword after you so that your land will become a desolation and your cities become a desert.

34 Then the land shall accept its sabbaths all the days of its desolation when you are in the land of your enemies. Then the land shall keep its sabbath and cause its missing sabbaths to be accepted.

35 All the days of its desolation it shall keep a sabbath, which it did not keep as a sabbath in your sabbath years when you dwelt on it.

36 As for the remainder among you, I will also bring timidity into their heart in the lands of their enemies so that the sound of a leaf being whisked away will pursue them, and they will flee as if in flight from the sword; they will fall even when there is no one pursuing.

37 They will stumble, a man over his brother, as though in view of the sword when there is no pursuer, and you shall not come to have a stand before your enemies.

38 You will perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies will devour you.

39 The remainder among you shall be putrefied because of their depravity in the lands of your enemies, and also because of the depravities of their fathers added to them shall they be putrefied.

40 Yet if they will confess their depravity and the depravity of their fathers in their offense (when they had offended Me and, indeed, when they had gone contrary to Me

41 so that I Myself also went contrary to them, and I brought them into the land of their enemies), if then their uncircumcised heart should submit, and if then they should accept their depravity,

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

43 Yet the land, it shall be forsaken by them and shall accept its sabbath years while it is desolate without them, and they themselves shall accept their depravity because, yes because they had rejected My ordinances, and their soul had loathed My statutes.

44 Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies I will not reject them nor loathe them so as to finish them, to annul My covenant with them, for I, Yahweh, am their Elohim.

45 For their benefit I will remember the covenant with the former ones whom I brought forth from the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations to be their Elohim: I am Yahweh.

46 These are the statutes, the ordinances and the laws which Yahweh put between Him and the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai by means of Moses.

Chapter 27

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: In case anyone makes an extraordinary vow to Yahweh, involving your appraisal of human souls:

3 then your appraisal will be for the male from twenty years old unto sixty years old: your appraisal will be fifty shekels of silver, by the shekel of the holy place;

4 and if she is a female, then your appraisal will be thirty shekels.

5 If the person is from five years old unto twenty years old then your appraisal will be: for the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.

6 If the person is from a month old unto five years old then your appraisal will be: for the male five shekels of silver, and for the female your appraisal will be three shekels of silver.

7 If the person is from sixty years old and upward, if a male, then your appraisal will be fifteen shekels and for a female ten shekels.

8 Yet if he is too reduced by poverty for your appraisal then one will stand him before the priest, and the priest will appraise him. Corresponding to what the vower’s means can afford shall the priest appraise him.

9 If the vow involves a domestic beast from which they bring near an approach present to Yahweh, all of what one gives to Yahweh, it shall be holy.

10 He shall not exchange it nor substitute for it, a good for a bad one or a bad for a good one. And if he should substitute, yea substitute beast for beast, then it has become holy; both it and its substitute shall be holy.

11 If the vow involves any unclean beast of which they may not bring near an approach present to Yahweh, then he will stand the beast before the priest,

12 and the priest will appraise it whether good or bad; according to your appraisal, O priest, so shall it be.

13 If he should redeem, yea redeem it then he will add a fifth of its value over your appraisal.

14 In case a man sanctifies his house to be holy to Yahweh, then the priest will appraise it whether good or bad. Just as the priest appraises it, so much shall it cost.

15 And if the one sanctifying, he should redeem his house, then he will add a fifth of the silver of your appraisal to it, and it will become his.

16 If a man should sanctify part of a field of his holding to Yahweh, then your appraisal will be corresponding to its seed, a homer of barley seed to fifty shekels of silver.

17 If he should sanctify his field from the year of the jubilee, according to your appraisal shall it cost.

18 Yet if he should sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest will compute the silver for him corresponding to the rest of the years until the year of the jubilee so a portion will be subtracted from your first appraisal.

19 And if the one sanctifying it should redeem, yea redeem the field, then he will add a fifth of the silver of your appraisal to it, and it will belong to him.

20 But if he should not redeem the field or if he has sold the field to another man it shall not be redeemed again.

21 And the field, when it comes forth in the jubilee, will become holy to Yahweh as a devoted field; it shall become the priest’s holding.

22 Yet if it is a field of his acquisition, which is not a field of his holding which he sanctifies to Yahweh,

23 then the priest will compute for him the assessment of your appraisal until the year of the jubilee; and he will pay your appraisal on that day as holy to Yahweh.

24 In the year of the jubilee the field shall return to the one from whom he acquired it, to him whose holding the land is.

25 All of your appraisals shall be by the shekel of the holy place: twenty gerahs shall there be to a shekel.

26 However the firstborn among beasts which as firstborn is devoted to Yahweh, no one may sanctify it; whether a bull or a flockling, it is already Yahweh’s.

27 Yet if it is among the unclean beasts, then he will ransom it by your appraisal and add to it a fifth of its value. Should it not be redeemed, then it will be sold by your appraisal.

28 Every devoted thing which a man may devote to Yahweh, of all which is his of human and beast and of the field of his holding, it shall not be sold nor redeemed. Every devoted thing, it will be a holy of holies to Yahweh.

29 Every doomed one which is doomed of humanity, he shall not be ransomed; he shall be put to death, yea death.

30 As for all the tithe of the land, of the seed of the land and of the fruit of the tree, it is Yahweh’s; it is holy to Yahweh.

31 And if a man should redeem, yea redeem any part of his tithe, a fifth of it shall he add to it.

32 All the tithe of the herd and the flock, all that passes under the club, a tenth shall become holy to Yahweh;

33 he shall make no quest between good and bad nor substitute for it. And if he should substitute, yea substitute for it, then it has become holy; both it and its substitute shall be holy. It may not be redeemed.

34 These are the instructions with which Yahweh instructed Moses for the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai.

The Book of Numbers

Chapter 1

1 And Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of appointment, on day one of the second month, in the second year of their going forth from the land of Egypt, saying:

2 Obtain the sum of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel: by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, every male by their polls,

3 from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host in Israel. You shall muster them by their militia hosts, you and Aaron.

4 And with you shall come to be a man for each stock; each the head of his fathers’ house shall he be.

5 These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: for Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;

6 for Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

7 for Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;

8 for Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;

9 for Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;

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

11 for Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;

12 for Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

13 for Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;

14 for Gad, Eliasaph son of Reuel;

15 for Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.

16 These are the called of the congregation, princes of the stocks of their fathers; they are heads of thousands of Israel.

17 So Moses and Aaron took these men who were specified by their names.

18 And on day one of the second month they assembled the whole congregation, who registered themselves by genealogies: by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

19 Just as Yahweh had instructed Moses, so he mustered them in the wilderness of Sinai.

20 And they came to be: For the sons of Reuben, firstborn of Israel, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

21 their mustered ones for the stock of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.

22 For the sons of Simeon, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house, their mustered ones with the number of names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

23 their mustered ones for the stock of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

24 For the sons of Gad, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

25 their mustered ones for the stock of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.

26 For the sons of Judah, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

27 their mustered ones for the stock of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.

28 For the sons of Issachar, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

29 their mustered ones for the stock of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.

30 For the sons of Zebulun, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

31 their mustered ones for the stock of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

32 For the sons of Joseph: For the sons of Ephraim, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

33 their mustered ones for the stock of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.

34 For the sons of Manasseh, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

35 their mustered ones for the stock of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.

36 For the sons of Benjamin, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

37 their mustered ones for the stock of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.

38 For the sons of Dan, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

39 their mustered ones for the stock of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

40 For the sons of Asher, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

41 their mustered ones for the stock of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.

42 For the sons of Naphtali, according to their genealogical records by their families, by their fathers’ house with the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host,

43 their mustered ones for the stock of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.

44 These were the ones being mustered whom Moses, Aaron and the princes of Israel (the twelve man group, one each for his fathers’ house) mustered.

45 All the ones being mustered of the sons of Israel came to be by their fathers’ house, from twenty years old and upward, everyone going forth with the militia host in Israel;

46 so all the ones being mustered came to be six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.

47 Yet the Levites, for the stock of their fathers, did not present themselves to be mustered in their midst;

48 for Yahweh had spoken to Moses, saying:

49 Only the stock of Levi you shall not muster, and their sum you shall not obtain, in the midst of the sons of Israel.

50 As for you, give the Levites supervision over the tabernacle of the testimony, over all its furnishings and over all which pertains to it. They themselves shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall minister to it, and around the tabernacle shall they encamp.

51 When the tabernacle is to journey the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to encamp the Levites shall set it up. But any alien who comes near shall be put to death.

52 The sons of Israel will encamp by their militia hosts, each on his campsite and each under his standard.

53 Yet the Levites, they shall encamp around the tabernacle of the testimony so that no wrath may come on the congregation of the sons of Israel. The Levites will keep guard of the tabernacle of the testimony.

54 Thus the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses; so they did.

Chapter 2

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 Each under his standard, under the ensigns for their fathers’ house, so shall the sons of Israel encamp. From a distance around the tent of appointment shall they encamp.

3 Those encamping eastward, toward the sunrise, are under the standard of the camp of Judah, by their militia hosts. The prince for the sons of Judah is Nahshon son of Amminadab;

4 his militia host and their mustered ones are seventy-four thousand six hundred.

5 Those encamping next to him are the stock of Issachar. The prince for the sons of Issachar is Nethanel son of Zuar;

6 his militia host and its mustered ones are fifty-four thousand four hundred.

7 The stock of Zebulun: The prince for the sons of Zebulun is Eliab son of Helon;

8 his militia host and its mustered ones are fifty-seven thousand four hundred.

9 All the ones being mustered of the camp of Judah are a hundred eighty-six thousand four hundred, by their militia hosts. As the first shall they journey.

10 The standard of the camp of Reuben is southward, by their militia hosts. The prince for the sons of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur;

11 his militia host and its mustered ones are forty-six thousand five hundred.

12 Those encamping next to him are the stock of Simeon. The prince for the sons of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

13 his militia host and their mustered ones are fifty-nine thousand three hundred.

14 As for the stock of Gad: The prince for the sons of Gad is Eliasaph son of Reuel;

15 his militia host and their mustered ones are forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.

16 All the ones being mustered of the camp of Reuben are a hundred fifty-one thousand four hundred fifty, by their militia hosts. As second ones shall they journey.

17 Then the tent of appointment will journey with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the other camps. Just as they are encamping so shall they journey, each on his own side, under their standards.

18 The standard of the camp of Ephraim, by their militia hosts, is westward. The prince for the sons of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud;

19 his militia host and their mustered ones are forty thousand five hundred.

20 Those encamping next to him are the stock of Manasseh. The prince for the sons of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

21 his militia host and their mustered ones are thirty-two thousand two hundred.

22 As for the stock of Benjamin: The prince for the sons of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni;

23 his militia host and their mustered ones are thirtyfive thousand four hundred.

24 All the ones being mustered of the camp of Ephraim are a hundred eight thousand one hundred, by their militia hosts. As third ones shall they journey.

25 The standard of the camp of Dan is northward, by their militia hosts. The prince of the sons of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

26 his militia host and their mustered ones are sixty-two thousand seven hundred.

27 And those encamping next to him are the stock of Asher. The prince for the sons of Asher is Pagiel son of Ocran;

28 his militia host and their mustered ones are forty-one thousand five hundred.

29 As for the stock of Naphtali: The prince for the sons of Naphtali is Ahira son of Enan;

30 his militia host and their mustered ones are fifty-three thousand four hundred.

31 All the ones being mustered of the camp of Dan are a hundred fifty-seven thousand six hundred. As the last shall they journey under their standards.

32 These are the ones being mustered of the sons of Israel by their fathers’ house. All the ones being mustered of the camps by their militia hosts are six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.

33 Yet the Levites did not present themselves to be mustered in the midst of the sons of Israel, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

34 Thus the sons of Israel did according to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses. So they encamped under their standards, and so they journeyed, each by his families along with his fathers’ house.

Chapter 3

1 These are the genealogical records of Aaron and Moses, on the day Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

2 And these were the names of the sons of Aaron: the firstborn Nadab, then Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

3 These were the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests.

4 Yet Nadab and Abihu died before Yahweh when they brought near alien fire before Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai. They did not come to have sons, and Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.

5 Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:

6 Bring near the stock of Levi, and you will stand them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him.

7 For they will keep charge for him and charge for the whole congregation before the tent of appointment to serve in the service of the tabernacle.

8 They will keep all the furnishings of the tent of appointment and the charge for the sons of Israel to serve in the service of the tabernacle.

9 To Aaron and to his sons will you give the Levites. They are the ones being given, yea given to Me from the sons of Israel.

10 And to Aaron and his sons shall you commit this that they observe their priesthood. But any alien who comes near, he shall be put to death.

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

12 As for me, behold, I take the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn male opening up the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites become Mine,

13 for every firstborn male is Mine. In the day I smote every firstborn male in the land of Egypt I sanctified for Myself every firstborn male in Israel from human unto beast. Mine shall they become: I am Yahweh.

14 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying:

15 Muster the sons of Levi by their fathers’ house, by their families; every male from a month old and upward, you shall muster them.

16 So Moses mustered them at the bidding of Yahweh, just as he was instructed.

17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

18 These were the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei;

19 and the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel;

20 and the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These names were those of the Levite families by their fathers’ house.

21 Belonging to Gershon were the Libnite family and the Shimeite family. These two were those of the Gershonite families.

22 Their mustered ones according to the number of every male from a month old and upward, their mustered ones were seven thousand five hundred.

23 The Gershonite families, they encamped behind the tabernacle westward.

24 And the prince of their fathers’ house for the Gershonite was Eliasaph son of Lael.

25 The charge of the sons of Gershon at the tent of appointment was the tabernacle and the tent, its covering and the portiere of the opening of the tent of appointment,

26 the slung sheets of the court and the portiere of the portal of the court which was surrounding the tabernacle and the altar, also its cords for all its service.

27 Belonging to Kohath were the Amramite family, the Izharite family, the Hebronite family and the Uzzielite family. These were those of the Kohathite families.

28 According to the number of every male from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred keeping charge of the holy place.

29 The families of the sons of Kohath, they encamped at the flank of the tabernacle, southward.

30 And the prince of their fathers’ house for the Kohathite families was Elizaphan son of Uzziel.

31 And their charge was the coffer and the table and the lampstand and the altars and the furnishings of the holy place with which they shall minister and the portiere and all its service.

32 And the prince of the Levite princes was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, with the supervision of those keeping charge of the holy place.

33 Belonging to Merari were the Mahlite family and the Mushite family. These two were those of the Merari families.

34 Their mustered ones according to the number of every male from a month old and upward were six thousand two hundred.

35 And the prince of their fathers’ house for the families of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail. At the flank of the tabernacle they encamped, northward.

36 And the supervision, the charge of the sons of Merari, was the hollow tapers of the tabernacle and its bars, its columns and its sockets, all its furnishings and all its service,

37 also the columns of the court round about and their sockets, their pegs and their cords.

38 Those encamping before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of appointment, toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, the ones keeping charge of the sanctuary as the charge of the sons of Israel. But any alien who comes near, he shall be put to death.

39 All the ones being mustered of the Levites whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the bidding of Yahweh by their families, every male from a month old and upward were twenty-two thousand.

40 Yahweh said to Moses: Muster every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and obtain the number of their names.

41 You will take the Levites for Me (I am Yahweh) instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the beasts of the Levites instead of every firstborn among the beasts of the sons of Israel.

42 So Moses mustered, just as Yahweh had instructed him, every firstborn among the sons of Israel.

43 And all the firstborn males by the number of the names, from a month old and upward, as they had been mustered, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.

44 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

45 Take the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel and the beasts of the Levites instead of their beasts. So the Levites become Mine: I am Yahweh.

46 And as the ransoms of the two hundred seventy-three, the superfluity, those over the number of the Levites, from the firstborn of the sons of Israel

47 you will take also five shekels, five shekels for a poll. By the shekel of the holy place shall you take them, twenty gerahs to the shekel.

48 And you will give the silver to Aaron and to his sons, the ransoms of the superfluity among them.

49 So Moses took the silver of the ransoms from the superfluity, those over the ones ransomed by the Levites.

50 From the firstborn of the sons of Israel he took the silver, a thousand three hundred sixty-five shekels, by the shekel of the holy place.

51 And Moses gave the silver of the ransoms to Aaron and to his sons at the bidding of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

Chapter 4

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 You are to obtain the sum of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi by their families, by their fathers’ house,

3 from thirty years old and upward, unto fifty years old, all those coming to the Levitical host, to do the work in the tent of appointment.

4 This is the carrier service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of appointment: the holy of holies.

5 Aaron will come in, and his sons, when the camp is to journey, and they will take down the portiere curtain and cover the coffer of the testimony with it.

6 They will put on it a cover of azure hide and spread over it a cloth wholly of blue from above and put its poles in place.

7 And over the table of the presence they shall spread a blue cloth, and they will put on it the dishes and the spoons, the sacrificial-bowls and the libation chalices. Also the continual bread shall be on it.

8 Then they will spread over them a cloth of double-dipped crimson, and they will cover it with a cover of azure hide and put its poles in place.

9 They will take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand of the luminary, its lamps and its snuffers, its firepans and all its oil vessels with which they minister to it.

10 Then they will put it and all its furnishings into a cover of azure hide and put it on the slider bar.

11 Also on the golden altar shall they spread a blue cloth, and they will cover it with a cover of azure hide and put its poles in place.

12 They will take all the furnishings of the ministry with which they minister in the holy place and wrap them in a blue cloth and cover them with a cover of azure hide and put them on the slider bar.

13 Then they will degrease the copper altar, spread over it a purple cloth

14 and put on it all its furnishings with which they minister on it, the firepans, the forks and the shovels and the sprinkling bowls, all the furnishings of the altar; they will spread over it a cover of azure hide and put its poles in place. And they will take a purple cloth and cover the laver and its base and put them into a cover of azure hide and put them on the slider bar.

15 When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy things with all the furnishings of the holy things when the camp is to journey, then afterward the sons of Kohath shall come to carry it. Yet they shall not touch the holy things lest they die. These are the load of the sons of Kohath in the tent of appointment.

16 Under the supervision of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest is the oil for the luminary, the incense of spices, the regular approach present and the anointing oil; he has the supervision over the whole tabernacle and all that is in it, among the holy things and its furnishings.

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

18 Do not let the tribe of the Kohathite families be cut off from the midst of the Levites.

19 Yet this do for them, and they will live and shall not die when they come close to the holy of holies: Aaron and his sons, they shall come, and they will appoint them, each man to his service and to his load.

20 Yet they shall not come in to see the sanctuary in dismantling, for they would die.

21 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

22 You are to obtain the sum of the sons of Gershom, of them also by their fathers’ house, by their families.

23 From thirty years old and upward unto fifty years old shall you muster them, everyone coming to enlist with the Levitical host to serve in the service in the tent of appointment.

24 This is the service of the Gershonite families, to serve and to carry loads:

25 They will carry the sheets of the tabernacle and the tent of appointment, its covering and the azure cover which is on it from above and the portiere of the opening of the tent of appointment,

26 also the slung sheets of the court and the portiere of the opening of the gate of the court which is surrounding the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the furnishings for their service; in all which is to be done with regard to them, they will serve.

27 At the bidding of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonite, for all their load and for all their service. And you will commit to them as a charge all of their load.

28 This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonite in the tent of appointment. And their charge is in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

29 As for the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ house you shall muster them.

30 From thirty years old and upward unto fifty years old shall you muster them, everyone coming to the Levitical host to serve in the service of the tent of appointment.

31 This is the charge of their load for all their service in the tent of appointment: the hollow tapers of the tabernacle with its bars, its columns and its sockets,

32 the columns around the court with their sockets, their pegs and their cords with all their furnishings and with all their servicing. By names shall you check all the furnishings of the charge of their load.

33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari for all their service in the tent of appointment in the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

34 Moses and Aaron and the princes of the congregation mustered the sons of the Kohathite by their families and by their fathers’ house,

35 from thirty years old and upward unto fifty years old, everyone coming to the Levitical host for service in the tent of appointment;

36 their mustered ones by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.

37 These were the ones being mustered of the Kohathite families, everyone serving in the tent of appointment whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the bidding of Yahweh by means of Moses.

38 As for the ones being mustered of the sons of Gershon, by their families and by their fathers’ house,

39 from thirty years old and upward unto fifty years old, everyone coming to the Levitical host for service in the tent of appointment,

40 their mustered ones by their families, by their fathers’ house, were two thousand six hundred thirty.

41 These were the ones being mustered of the families of the sons of Gershon, everyone serving in the tent of appointment, whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the bidding of Yahweh, by means of Moses.

42 As for the ones being mustered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ house,

43 from thirty years old and upward unto fifty years old, everyone coming to the Levitical host for service in the tent of appointment,

44 their mustered ones by their families were three thousand two hundred.

45 These were the ones being mustered of the families of the sons of Merari whom Moses and Aaron mustered at the bidding of Yahweh by means of Moses.

46 All the ones being mustered whom Moses and Aaron and the princes of Israel mustered of the Levites by their families and by their fathers’ house,

47 from thirty years old and upward unto fifty years old, everyone coming to serve on the servicing service and the carrying service in the tent of appointment,

48 their mustered ones were eight thousand five hundred eighty.

49 At the bidding of Yahweh one mustered them, by means of Moses, each man for his service and for his load; thus they were being mustered by him just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

Chapter 5

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Instruct the sons of Israel that they shall send away from the camp every leprous human and everyone having a discharge and everyone defiled by a dead soul.

3 Both male and female shall you send them away outside the camp. You shall send them away so that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I am tabernacling.

4 The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp. Just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses so did the sons of Israel.

5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

6 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In case a man or a woman should commit any of the sins of humanity so as to offend with an offense against Yahweh, and that soul realizes his guilt,

7 then they will confess their sin which they had committed, the sinner will make restoration for his guilt in its full value, and he shall add a fifth of it onto it, and he will give it to him to whom he became guilty.

8 If there is for the man no kinsman redeemer so as to make restoration for the guilt to him, then the guilt restoration goes to Yahweh for the priest, aside from the ram of the propitiatory shelter by which he shall make a propitiatory shelter over him.

9 Also every heave offering pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel which they may bring near to the priest, his shall it become.

10 One’s holy gifts shall become his; whatever one should give to the priest, his shall it become.

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

12 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: In case any man’s wife swerves, and she offends against him, the offense being

13 that a man lies with an emission of semen with her, and it is obscured from her husband’s eyes, and she conceals that she defiled herself since there was no witness against her, and she was not apprehended;

14 and if a spirit of jealousy passes over him, so that he is jealous of his wife since she defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy passes over him so that he is jealous of his wife even though she has not defiled herself,

15 then the man will bring his wife to the priest and bring her approach present for her, the tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall not pour oil on it, neither shall he put frankincense on it, for it is an approach present of jealousies, a memorial approach present, a reminder of depravity.

16 Then the priest will bring her near and stand her before Yahweh.

17 And the priest will take holy water in an earthenware vessel, and from the soil which comes to be on the floor of the tabernacle, the priest shall take some, and he will put it into the water.

18 The priest will stand the woman before Yahweh, uncover the woman’s head and put the memorial approach present on her palms. It is an approach present of jealousies. Yet in the hand of the priest shall come to be the waters of bitterness that bring the curse.

19 Then the priest will adjure her and say to the woman: If no man has lain with you, and if you have not swerved in uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be innocent from the waters of bitterness that bring this curse.

20 Yet you, in case you have swerved while under your husband’s authority, and in case you have defiled yourself, while a man other than your husband gave his emission to you

21 (thus the priest will adjure the woman with the oath of imprecation, and the priest will say to the woman:) Yahweh shall set you as an imprecation and an oath in the midst of your people when Yahweh makes your thigh fall away and your belly turgid.

22 So the waters that bring this curse will come into your bowels causing the belly to be turgid and the thigh to fall away. And the woman will say: Amen, amen.

23 The priest will write these imprecations on a scroll, and he will wipe them out with the waters of bitterness.

24 He will cause the woman to drink the waters of bitterness that bring the curse, and the waters that bring the curse will come into her for bitterness.

25 Then the priest will take from the hand of the woman the approach present of jealousies and wave the approach present before Yahweh and bring it near to the altar.

26 The priest will extract from the approach present a memorial of it and cause it to fume on the altar, and afterward he shall cause the woman to drink the waters.

27 When he causes her to drink the waters then it will come to be, if she has defiled herself and offended with an offense against her husband,that the waters that bring the curse will come into her for bitterness, and her belly will be turgid, and her thigh will fall away, and the woman will come to be as an imprecation among her people.

28 Yet if the woman has not defiled herself, and she is clean, then she is held innocent, and she will conceive seed.

29 This is the law of jealousies when a woman swerves while under her husband’s authority, and she defiles herself,

30 or for a husband, when a spirit of jealousy is passing over him, and he is made jealous of his wife, then he will have the woman stand before Yahweh. Thus the priest will apply to her all this law.

31 The husband is held innocent from depravity, and that woman, she shall bear her depravity.

Chapter 6

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: In case a man or a woman should make an extraordinary vow, the Nazirite vow, to sequester himself to Yahweh,

3 from wine and intoxicant shall he sequester himself. Vinegar of wine and vinegar of an intoxicant he shall not drink, and any other liquid of grapes he shall not drink, and grapes, sappy or dried, he shall not eat.

4 All the days of his sequestration from all that is made from the vine, the wine from pips as well as grapeskin he shall not eat.

5 All the days of his vow of sequestration no razor shall pass over his head; until the days are fulfilled in which he is sequestering himself to Yahweh he shall come to be holy, letting the locks of the hair of his head grow great.

6 All the days of his sequestration to Yahweh he shall not come near a dead soul.

7 Even for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, he shall not defile himself for them at their death, because the symbol of sequestration to his Elohim is on his head.

8 All the days of his sequestration he is holy to Yahweh.

9 In case someone dying should die near him in an instant, suddenly, so that he defiles his head of sequestration, then he will shave his head on the day of his cleansing. On the seventh day shall he shave it.

10 And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two dove squabs to the priest, at the opening of the tent of appointment.

11 The priest will offer one for a sin offering and one for an ascent offering, and he will make a propitiatory shelter over him because he had sinned concerning the dead soul. Then he will hallow his head on that day

12 and sequester himself to Yahweh for the days of his sequestration and bring a year-old he-lamb for a guilt offering. Yet the former days, they shall fall out because his sequestration was unclean.

13 This is the law of the Nazirite on the day of fulfilling the days of his sequestration. One shall bring him to the opening of the tent of appointment.

14 He will bring near his approach present to Yahweh, one flawless he-lamb, a year-old, for an ascent offering, and one flawless ewe-lamb, a year-old, for a sin offering, and one flawless ram for peace offerings,

15 also a tray of unleavened, perforated cakes of flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their approach present and their libations.

16 Then the priest will bring them near before Yahweh and offer his sin offering and his ascent offering.

17 He shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh along with the tray of unleavened bread. And the priest will offer his approach present and his libation.

18 Then the Nazirite will shave his head of sequestration at the opening of the tent of appointment; he will take the hair of his head of sequestration and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.

19 The priest will take the cooked shank from the ram and one unleavened, perforated cake from the tray and one unleavened wafer, and he will put them on the palms of the Nazirite after he has shaved himself of his symbol of sequestration.

20 The priest will wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. It is a holy portion for the priest in addition to the chest of the wave offering and the leg of the heave offering. Thereafter the Nazirite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his approach present to Yahweh at his sequestration, aside from what his hand can afford. Corresponding to his vow which he vows, so shall he do concerning the law of his sequestration.

22 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

23 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, Thus shall you bless the sons of Israel, saying to them,

24 May Yahweh bless you and keep you;

25 May Yahweh light up His face toward you and be gracious to you;

26 May Yahweh lift His face to you and appoint peace for you.

27 Thus they will place My Name over the sons of Israel, and I Myself shall bless them.

Chapter 7

1 It came to be on the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle that he anointed it and hallowed it and all its furnishings, and the altar and all its furnishings. When he had anointed them and hallowed them,

2 then the princes of Israel (the heads of their fathers’ house, they, princes of the twelve stocks, they who had been standing over the ones being mustered) made an offering

3 and brought their approach present before Yahweh: six coach carts and twelve oxen, a cart for two of the princes and a bull for each one. They brought them near before the tabernacle.

4 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

5 Take them from them so that they will come to serve for the service of the tent of appointment, and you will give them to the Levites, to each man corresponding to his service.

6 So Moses took the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.

7 Two of the carts and four of the oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon corresponding to their service,

8 and four of the carts and eight of the oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, corresponding to their service, by means of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

9 Yet to the sons of Kohath he gave none, for the carrier service of the holy of holies was on them; on their shoulders they carried it.

10 The princes made an offering for the dedication of the altar on the day it was anointed. The princes brought near their approach present before the altar.

11 And Yahweh said to Moses: One prince for one day, one prince for another day shall bring near their approach present for the dedication of the altar.

12 The one bringing near his approach present on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab, for the stock of Judah.

13 And his approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

14 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

15 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

16 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

17 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Nahshon son of Amminadab.

18 On the second day Nethanel son of Zuar, prince of Issachar made an offering.

19 He brought near his approach present, one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

20 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

21 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

22 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

23 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Nethanel son of Zuar.

24 On the third day it was the prince for the sons of Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon.

25 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

26 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

27 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

28 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

29 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Eliab son of Helon.

30 On the fourth day it was the prince for the sons of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur.

31 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil, for an approach present,

32 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

33 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

34 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

35 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Elizur son of Shedeur.

36 On the fifth day it was the prince for the sons of Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

37 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil, for an approach present,

38 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

39 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

40 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

41 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

42 On the sixth day it was the prince for the sons of Gad, Eliasaph son of Reuel.

43 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil, for an approach present,

44 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

45 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

46 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

47 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Eliasaph son of Reuel.

48 On the seventh day it was the prince for the sons of Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud.

49 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil, for an approach present,

50 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

51 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

52 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

53 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Elishama son of Ammihud.

54 On the eighth day it was the prince for the sons of Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

55 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil, for an approach present,

56 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

57 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

58 one hairy goat for a sin offering

59 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

60 On the ninth day it was the prince for the sons of Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni.

61 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

62 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

63 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

64 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

65 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Abidan son of Gideoni.

66 On the tenth day it was the prince for the sons of Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

67 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

68 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

69 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

70 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

71 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

72 On the eleventh day it was the day for the prince for the sons of Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran.

73 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

74 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

75 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

76 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

77 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Pagiel son of Ocran.

78 On the twelfth day it was the day for the prince for the sons of Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.

79 His approach present was one silver dish, a hundred thirty shekels its weight, one silver sprinkling bowl of seventy shekels by the shekel of the holy place, both of them full of flour mingled with oil for an approach present,

80 one spoon of ten shekels of gold full of incense,

81 one bull calf of the herd, one ram, one year-old he-lamb for an ascent offering,

82 one hairy goat for a sin offering,

83 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five year-old he-lambs. This was the approach present of Ahira son of Enan.

84 This was the dedication offering of the altar on the day it was anointed by the princes of Israel: twelve silver dishes, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, twelve gold spoons;

85 a single silver dish weighed a hundred thirty shekels, and a single sprinkling bowl weighed seventy shekels. All the silver of the vessels was two thousand four hundred shekels by the shekel of the holy place.

86 The twelve gold spoons, full of incense, weighed ten shekels each, ten a spoon, by the shekel of the holy place. All the gold of the spoons was a hundred twenty shekels.

87 All the oxen for the ascent offering were twelve young bulls, twelve rams, twelve year-old he-lambs with their approach present, and twelve hairy goats for a sin offering.

88 And all the oxen of the sacrifice of peace offerings were twenty-four young bulls, sixty rams, sixty he-goats, sixty year-old he-lambs. This was the dedication offering of the altar after it was anointed.

89 Whenever Moses came into the tent of appointment to speak with Him then he would hear the voice of Yahweh speaking to him above the propitiatory shelter which was on the coffer of the testimony; it was from between the two cherubim that He spoke to him.

Chapter 8

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to Aaron, and you will say to him, When you set up the lamps, toward the face of the lampstand the seven lamps shall give light.

3 Aaron did so; toward the face of the lampstand, he set up its lamps just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

4 And this was the handiwork of the lampstand: a stiff shell of gold from its stem unto its buds it was a stiff shell. According to the appearance which Yahweh had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

6 Take the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and you will cleanse them.

7 Thus shall you do to them to cleanse them: Spatter water of purification from sin over them, let them pass a razor over all their flesh, and let them rinse their garments and so cleanse themselves.

8 They will take a bull calf of the herd and its approach present of flour mingled with oil; then you shall take a second bull calf of the herd for a sin offering.

9 You will bring near the Levites before the tent of appointment and assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel.

10 When you bring near the Levites before Yahweh, then the sons of Israel will support their hands on the Levites,

11 and Aaron will wave the Levites as a wave offering before Yahweh from the sons of Israel, so that they will come to serve in the service of Yahweh.

12 And the Levites, they shall support their hands on the heads of the young bulls. Then offer the one as a sin offering and the other as an ascent offering to Yahweh to make a propitiatory shelter over the Levites.

13 You will have the Levites stand before Aaron and before his sons, and you will wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh.

14 Thus you will separate the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, so that the Levites become Mine.

15 And afterward the Levites shall come to serve in the service of the tent of appointment when you have cleansed them and waved them as a wave offering.

16 For they are the ones being given, yea given to Me from the midst of the sons of Israel; instead of everyone opening up the womb, every firstborn of the sons of Israel, I have taken them for Myself;

17 for Mine is every firstborn among the sons of Israel among human and among beast. On the day I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

18 So I shall take the Levites instead of every firstborn among the sons of Israel,

19 and I shall give the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel as a gift to Aaron and to his sons to serve in the service on behalf of the sons of Israel in the tent of appointment and to make a separating shelter for the sons of Israel so that no stroke may come among the sons of Israel when the sons of Israel come close to the holy place.

20 Moses, Aaron and the whole congregation of the sons of Israel dealt with the Levites according to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses as to the Levites. So the sons of Israel dealt with them.

21 The Levites purified themselves from sin and rinsed their garments, and Aaron waved them as a wave offering before Yahweh; then Aaron made a propitiatory shelter over them to cleanse them.

22 And afterward the Levites came to serve their service in the tent of appointment before Aaron and before his sons. Just as Yahweh had instructed Moses concerning the Levites, so they dealt with them.

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

24 This is what applies to the Levites. From twenty-five years old and upward may one come to enlist with the Levitical host in the service of the tent of appointment.

25 And from fifty years old shall one retire from the active service in the Levitical host and shall serve no longer;

26 yet he may minister to his brothers in the tent of appointment, so as to keep guard, though in active service he shall not serve. Thus shall you deal with the Levites in regard to their charges.

Chapter 9

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the second year of their coming forth from the land of Egypt, in the first month, saying:

2 The sons of Israel shall observe the passover at its appointed time.

3 On the fourteenth day of this month, between the evening hours, you shall observe it at its appointed time according to all its statutes, and according to all its customs shall you prepare it.

4 Then Moses spoke to the sons of Israel to observe the passover.

5 So they observed the passover in the first month on the fourteenth day of the month, between the evening hours, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses, so did the sons of Israel.

6 Yet it came to be that some men who became unclean by touching a dead soul of a human were not able to prepare the passover on that day. Then they came near before Moses and before Aaron on that day.

7 Those men said to him: We are unclean by touching a dead soul of a human. Why should we be disadvantaged by failing to offer the approach present of Yahweh at its appointed time in the midst of the sons of Israel?

8 So Moses said to them: Stand by and let me hear what instruction Yahweh may give for you.

9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

10 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In case any man of you or of your generations becomes unclean by a dead soul or is on the road afar, he will also prepare a passover to Yahweh.

11 In the second month on the fourteenth day, between the evening hours shall they observe it. Over unleavened bread and bitter herbs shall they eat it.

12 None of it shall they let remain until the morning, and a bone of it they shall not break. According to every statute of the passover shall they observe it.

13 Yet the man, he who is clean and is not on the road and forbears to observe the passover, that soul will be cut off from its kinsmen because he has not brought near the approach present of Yahweh at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.

14 And in case a sojourner sojourns with you and will observe the passover to Yahweh according to the statute of the passover and according to its custom, so shall he do. One statute shall come to be for you, both for the sojourner and for the native of the land.

15 On the day the tabernacle was set up the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And in the evening it was over the tabernacle as the appearance of fire until the morning.

16 So it was continually; the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night.

17 At the bidding of the cloud, taken up off the tent, the sons of Israel journeyed afterward. And in the place where the cloud tabernacled there the sons of Israel encamped.

18 At the bidding of Yahweh the sons of Israel journeyed, and at the bidding of Yahweh they encamped. All the days that the cloud tabernacled over the tabernacle they encamped.

19 And when the cloud prolonged over the tabernacle many days then the sons of Israel kept the charge of Yahweh and did not journey on.

20 Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle for a number of days. At the bidding of Yahweh they encamped, and at the bidding of Yahweh they journeyed.

21 Sometimes the cloud remained only from evening until morning; when the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed. Whether by day or night, whenever the cloud was taken up then they journeyed.

22 Whether it was two days or a month or many days with the cloud prolonged over the tabernacle to tabernacle over it, the sons of Israel encamped and did not journey. Yet when it was taken up they journeyed.

23 At the bidding of Yahweh they encamped, and at the bidding of Yahweh they journeyed. The charge of Yahweh they kept at the bidding of Yahweh by means of Moses.

Chapter 10

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses saying:

2 Make for yourself two bugles of silver. Out of a stiff shell shall you make them. And they will become yours for the meeting of the congregation and for the journeying of the camps.

3 When they blow long on both of them, then the whole congregation will congregate with you at the opening of the tent of appointment.

4 Yet should they blow long on just one, then the princes, heads of the thousands of Israel, will congregate with you.

5 When you blow a short blast then the camps encamping eastward will journey.

6 When you blow the second blast then the camps encamping southward will journey. When you blow the third blast then the camps encamping westward will journey. When you blow the fourth blast then the camps encamping northward will journey. Short blasts shall they blow for their decampings;

7 yet when the assembly is to assemble you shall blow long and not sound short blasts.

8 The sons of Aaron, the priests, they shall blow the bugles. And they will be to you as an eonian statute throughout your generations.

9 In case you enter a war in your land with the foe who is distressing you, then you will blast on the bugles, and you will be remembered before Yahweh your Elohim, and you will be saved from your enemies.

10 And in the day of your rejoicing, in your appointments and at the beginnings of your months you will blow on bugles over your ascent offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they will be to you for a memorial before your Elohim. I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

11 It came to be in the second year, in the second month on the twentieth of the month that the cloud was taken up off the tabernacle of the testimony.

12 So the sons of Israel decamped for their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai, until the cloud tabernacled in the wilderness of Paran.

13 Thus they decamped for the first time at the bidding of Yahweh by means of Moses.

14 The standard of the camp of the sons of Judah decamped first by their militia hosts; and over his host was Nahshon son of Amminadab.

15 Over the host of the stock of the sons of Issachar was Nethanel son of Zuar.

16 And over the host of the stock of the sons of Zebulun was Eliab son of Helon.

17 Then the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari decamped, the carriers of the tabernacle.

18 Next the standard of the camp of Reuben decamped by their militia hosts; and over his host was Elizur son of Shedeur.

19 Over the host of the stock of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

20 And over the host of the stock of the sons of Gad was Eliasaph son of Reuel.

21 Then the Kohathites decamped, the carriers of the holy things. ( The others would set up the tabernacle previous to their coming.)

22 The standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim decamped by their militia hosts; and over his host was Elishama son of Ammihud.

23 Over the host of the stock of the sons of Manasseh was Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

24 And over the host of the stock of the sons of Benjamin was Abidan son of Gideoni.

25 Then the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan decamped as rear guard for all the camps by their militia hosts; and over his host was Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

26 Over the host of the stock of the sons of Asher was Pagiel son of Ocran.

27 And over the host of the stock of the sons of Naphtali was Ahira son of Enan.

28 This was the journey-order of the sons of Israel by their militia hosts when they journeyed on.

29 Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, father-in-law of Moses: We are journeying to the place of which Yahweh said: It shall I give to you. Go with us and we will do good to you, for Yahweh, He has pronounced good things for Israel.

30 Yet he said to him: I shall not go, but rather to my land and to my kindred shall I go.

31 Then he said: Do not, I pray, forsake us for the reason that you know where we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you will be as eyes for us.

32 And it will come to be in case you go with us, when that good comes by which Yahweh shall do good to us, we also will do good to you.

33 They journeyed from the Mount of Yahweh a way of three days while the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh was journeying before them a way of three days to explore a resting place for them.

34 And the cloud of Yahweh was over them by day on their journey from the camp.

35 It came to be whenever the coffer journeyed Moses said: Arise, O Yahweh, that Your enemies may scatter And those hating You may flee from Your presence.

36 And whenever it stopped he said: Dwell, O Yahweh, With the myriads of Israel’s thousands.

Chapter 11

1 The people became like complainers, evil in the ears of Yahweh. Yahweh hearkened, and His anger grew hot, and the fire of Yahweh consumed some among them and devoured the outmost part of the camp.

2 Then the people cried to Moses, so Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire was drowned.

3 He called the name of that place Taberah, for the fire of Yahweh had consumed some among them.

4 The rabble which was among them lusted with yearning; and again the sons of Israel lamented also and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?

5 We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt gratuitously, the cucumbers and the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic!

6 Yet now our soul’s desire is dry; there is nothing at all barring the manna before our eyes.

7 Now the manna, it was like coriander seed, and its visible appearance was like the visible appearance of a pearl.

8 The people went to and fro, and picked it up, ground it between millstones or crushed it in a crusher, cooked it in a kettle and made ember cakes from it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh cakes baked with oil.

9 At the descent of the night-mist on the camp at night the manna descended on it.

10 Moses heard the people lamenting by its families, each at the opening of his tent. And the anger of Yahweh grew exceedingly hot, and in the eyes of Moses it was evil.

11 Moses said to Yahweh: Why have You dealt evil to Your servant? And why have I not found grace in Your eyes that You placed the load of all this people on me?

12 Was I myself pregnant with all this people, or did I generate it, that You should say to me: Carry it in your bosom just as a foster father carries a suckling child, to the ground about which You had sworn to their fathers?

13 From where would I find flesh to give to all this people? For they are lamenting to me, saying: Do give us flesh, and let us eat.

14 I am not able, by myself alone, to bear all this people, for it is too heavy for me.

15 So if thus You are doing to me, kill me, I pray, yea kill me. If I have found grace in Your eyes then do not let me see Your evil.

16 Yahweh said to Moses: Do gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel of whom you know that they are elders of the people and their superintendents, and you will take them to the tent of appointment, and they will station themselves there with you.

17 I will descend and speak with you there; and I will divert some of the spirit which is on you and place it on them. They will bear the load of the people with you so that you are not bearing it by yourself alone.

18 And to the people you shall say: Sanctify yourselves for the morrow, when you will eat flesh, for you lamented in the ears of Yahweh, saying: Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well for us in Egypt. Now Yahweh will give you flesh, and you will eat.

19 Not just one day shall you eat, nor two days nor five days nor ten days nor twenty days.

20 Unto a month of days shall you eat until it comes forth from your nostrils and becomes odious to you because you rejected Yahweh Who is among you, and you lamented before Him, saying: Why is this that we came forth from Egypt?

21 Moses said: Six hundred thousand men on foot are the people among whom I am, yet You say: Flesh shall I give to them, and they will eat it for a month of days!

22 Shall the flock and the herd be slain for them to provide for them, or all the fish of the sea be gathered for them to provide for them?

23 And Yahweh said to Moses: The hand of Yahweh, is it short? Now shall you see whether My word shall happen to you or not.

24 Moses went forth and spoke to the people the words of Yahweh. And he gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and stood them around the tent.

25 Yahweh descended in a cloud and spoke to him. He caused some of the spirit which was on him to divert, and He put it on the seventy men, the elders. And it came to be as the spirit rested on them that they prophesied, yet they did not do so again.

26 Yet two men remained in the camp; the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the second Medad. The spirit also rested on them. Now they had been among those listed but had not gone forth toward the tent; yet they prophesied in the camp.

27 Now a youth ran and told Moses and said: Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!

28 Joshua son of Nun, minister of Moses from his prime, answered and said: My lord Moses, forbid them!

29 Yet Moses said to him: Are you zealous for my sake? O that all the people of Yahweh were prophets! For Yahweh put His spirit on them.

30 Then Moses was gathered to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31 And a wind, it journeyed from Yahweh, and it sheered quail from the sea and let go of them over the camp about a day’s journey thus and a day’s journey thus around the camp, and they fell about two cubits deep over the surface of the earth.

32 The people rose all that day, all the night and all the morrow and gathered the quail. The least anyone gathered was ten homers. And they spread out the quail for themselves as a spread-out round about the camp.

33 The flesh was still between their teeth, ere it was cut off, when the anger of Yahweh, it grew hot against the people; and Yahweh smote among the people with a very great smiting.

34 One called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah, for there they entombed the people, the lusters.

35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth. When they came to be in Hazeroth

Chapter 12

1 then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses concerning the Cushite woman whom he took (for he had taken a Cushite woman).

2 They said: Is it but only through Moses that Yahweh speaks? Does He not also speak through us? And Yahweh heard.

3 Now the man Moses was exceedingly humble, more than any human who was on the surface of the ground.

4 Yahweh said suddenly to Moses, to Aaron and to Miriam: Come forth, you three, to the tent of appointment. And the three of them went forth.

5 Yahweh descended in the column of cloud and stood at the opening of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam. And the two of them came forth.

6 He said: Oh hear My words. If there were a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, in an appearance shall make Myself known to him; in a dream shall I speak to him.

7 Not so with My servant Moses. In My whole house he is faithful.

8 Mouth to mouth am I speaking with him, and by an appearance, not in enigmas, so that he looks at a representation of Yahweh. So for what reason did you not fear to speak against My servant, against Moses?

9 The anger of Yahweh grew hot against them, and He went away.

10 When the cloud, it withdrew from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous as snow. Aaron turned around to Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

11 Aaron said to Moses: O! my lord, do not, I pray, set against us the sin in which we were foolish and with which we have sinned.

12 Oh do not let her be as the dead child of which, when it comes forth from the womb of its mother, half its flesh is devoured.

13 Then Moses cried to Yahweh, saying: O El, I pray, heal her, I pray!

14 Yahweh said to Moses: Had her father spit, yea spit in her face, would she not be mortified seven days? She shall be locked out seven days outside the camp, and thereafter shall she be gathered in.

15 So Miriam was locked out outside the camp seven days. Yet the people did not journey until Miriam was gathered in.

16 Thereafter the people journeyed from Hazeroth and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

Chapter 13

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Send some men ahead of you that they may explore the land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel. One man, one each for the stock of his fathers, shall you send and everyone a prince among them.

3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the bidding of Yahweh; all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel.

4 These were their names: for the stock of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;

5 for the stock of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

6 for the stock of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

7 for the stock of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

8 for the stock of Ephraim, Hosea son of Nun;

9 for the stock of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

10 for the stock of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

11 for the stock of Joseph, for the stock of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi;

12 for the stock of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

13 for the stock of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

14 for the stock of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

15 for the stock of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.

16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to explore the land. And Moses called Hosea son of Nun, Joshua.

17 Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them: Go up this way into the Negeb; then you will go up the hill country

18 and see the land, what it is, and the people dwelling in it, whether they are courageous or slack, whether they are few or many,

19 and what about the land in which they are dwelling, whether it is good or bad, and what about the cities in which they are dwelling, whether in encampments or in fortresses,

20 and what about the land, whether it is fertile or lean, whether there are trees in it or not. You will encourage yourselves and take some of the fruit of the land. (Now those days were the days of the firstfruits of grapes.)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rehob toward Lebo-hamath.

22 When they went up through the Negeb they came unto Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the children of Anak were. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan of Egypt.)

23 When they came back to Wadi Eshcol they cut from there a pruned slip with one cluster of grapes and carried it on a slider bar by two, also some of the pomegranates and the figs.

24 That place one called Wadi Eshcol on account of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut from there.

25 So they returned from exploring the land at the end of forty days.

26 Then they went and came to Moses, Aaron and to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel at the wilderness of Paran, toward Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to the whole congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

27 They related to him and said: We came to the land to which you sent us, and indeed it is gushing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

28 Only that the people dwelling in the land are strong, and the cities are defended and exceedingly great. Moreover, the children of Anak we saw there.

29 Amalek is dwelling in the land of the Negeb, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Jebusite and the Amorite are dwelling in the hill country, and the Canaanite are dwelling by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.

30 Then Caleb quelled the people before Moses and said: We should go up, yea go up and tenant it, for we are able to prevail against it.

31 Yet the men who went up with him said: We are not able to go up against the people, for they are more courageous than we are.

32 Thus they brought forth among the sons of Israel disparaging muttering about the land which they had explored, saying: The land through which we passed to explore it, it is a land that is devouring its dwellers; it and all the people whom we saw in its midst were men of great measure.

33 There we saw the distinguished (the sons of Anak are part of the distinguished ones). And we became, in our own eyes, like grasshoppers, and so we became in their eyes.

Chapter 14

1 The whole congregation lifted up and gave forth their voice, and the people lamented through that night.

2 All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and against Aaron. The whole congregation said to them: O that we had died in the land of Egypt or in this wilderness! O that we had died!

3 Why is Yahweh bringing us to this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones, they shall be taken as plunder. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?

4 And they said each to his brother: Let us appoint a head, and let us return to Egypt.

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the whole assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel.

6 And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, from the explorers of the land, they tore their garments,

7 and they said to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, saying: The land through which we passed to explore it is a very, very good land.

8 If Yahweh delights in us then He will bring us into this land, and He will give it to us. It is a land which is gushing with milk and honey.

9 Only against Yahweh do not revolt, and you, do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their protecting shadow has withdrawn from over them, and Yahweh is with us. Do not fear them.

10 Yet the whole congregation said to pelt them with stones. Then the glory of Yahweh, it appeared in a cloud over the tent of appointment to all the sons of Israel.

11 And Yahweh said to Moses: How long shall this people spurn Me? And how long shall they not believe in Me despite all the signs which I have done among them?

12 I shall smite them with the plague and evict them, and I shall make you into a greater and more substantial nation than they.

13 Yet Moses said to Yahweh: The Egyptians have heard that You brought up this people by Your vigor, from among them;

14 and they have spoken to the dwellers of this land; they have heard that You, O Yahweh, are among this people, that You are being seen eye to eye, O Yahweh, and Your cloud is standing over them, and in a column of cloud You are going before them by day and in a column of fire by night.

15 Should You put this people to death as one man, then the nations who heard the report of You will say, saying:

16 Because Yahweh was unable to bring this people to the land about which he had sworn to them, He slew them in the wilderness.

17 So now let, I pray, the vigor of Yahweh be great just as You have spoken, saying:

18 Yahweh, slow to anger and with much benignity and truth, bearing with depravity and transgression and sin, yet He is not holding innocent, nay innocent, but is visiting the depravity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation.

19 Pardon, I pray, the depravity of this people according to the greatness of Your benignity just as You bore with this people from Egypt and hitherto.

20 Yahweh said: I have pardoned them according to your word.

21 Nevertheless, as I am the living One, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh,

22 all the men who were seeing My glory and My signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, who probed Me these ten times, and they did not hearken to My voice,

23 they assuredly shall not see the land about which I had sworn to their fathers! All who are spurning Me, they shall not see it.

24 Yet My servant Caleb, inasmuch as there is another spirit with him, and he is following fully after Me, I will bring him to the land where he will enter, and his seed shall prepare it for tenancy.

25 Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite are dwelling in the vale, turn around tomorrow and journey; get yourself on to the wilderness, the Sea of Weeds road.

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, they who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel which they are grumbling against Me.

28 Say to them: As I am the living One (this is the averring of Yahweh), just as you have spoken into My ears so shall I assuredly do to you.

29 In this wilderness your corpses shall fall: all your mustered ones, all of your number, from twenty years old and upward, you who have grumbled against Me,

30 you yourselves shall assuredly not come into the land in which I lifted My hand in swearing to tabernacle you, none save for Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

31 As for your little ones of whom you have said: They shall be taken as plunder, I will also bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.

32 As for you, your corpses, they shall fall in this wilderness,

33 and your sons, they shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will bear your prostitutions until your corpses are spent in the wilderness.

34 By the number of the days in which you explored the land, forty days, a day for a year, a day for a year, shall you bear your depravities: forty years; thus you will realize My repudiation.

35 I, Yahweh, I have spoken. This assuredly shall I do to this whole evil congregation, those who are set against Me. In this wilderness shall they be spent, and there shall they die.

36 The men whom Moses had sent to explore the land, who had returned and caused the whole congregation to grumble against him by bringing forth a disparaging muttering about the land,

37 those men who were bringing forth evil muttering of the land died by a stroke before Yahweh.

38 As for Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, they remained alive of those men going to explore the land.

39 Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.

40 They rose early in the morning and went up to the summit of the hill country, saying: Behold us, now we will go up to the place of which Yahweh spoke, for we have sinned.

41 Moses said: Why is this? You are trespassing the bidding of Yahweh, so this shall not prosper.

42 Do not go up since Yahweh is not among you so that you not be stricken before your enemies.

43 For the Amalekite and the Canaanite are there before you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following Yahweh, Yahweh shall not be with you.

44 Yet they presumed to go up to the summit of the hill country though the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, and Moses, they were not removed from within the camp.

45 The Amalekite and the Canaanite, dwelling in that hill country, descended, smote them and pounded them as far as Hormah.

Chapter 15

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them, When you come to the land of your dwellings which I am giving to you,

3 and you make a fire offering to Yahweh, an ascent offering or a sacrifice for an extraordinary vow or in a voluntary offering or in your appointments to make a fragrant odor to Yahweh from the herd or from the flock,

4 then the one approaching will bring near as his offering to Yahweh an approach present, a tenth of an ephah of flour mingled with a fourth of a hin of oil;

5 as for wine for a libation you shall offer on the ascent offering or for a sacrifice a fourth of a hin with the one lamb.

6 Or for the ram you shall offer an approach present, two tenths of an ephah of flour mingled with a third of a hin of oil;

7 as for wine for a libation you shall bring near a third of a hin, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

8 In case you offer a bull calf of the herd as an ascent offering or a sacrifice for an extraordinary vow or peace offerings to Yahweh,

9 then one will bring near with the bull calf of the herd an approach present, three tenths of an ephah of flour mingled with half a hin of oil;

10 as for wine you shall bring near for a libation, half a hin, as a fire offering of fragrant odor to Yahweh.

11 Thus shall it be done for each bull or for each ram or for a flockling among the lambs or among the goats.

12 According to the number which you offer thus shall you do for each in their number.

13 Every native, he shall do these things thus to bring near a fire offering of fragrant odor to Yahweh.

14 In case a sojourner is sojourning with you or whoever is in your midst throughout your generations, and he offers a fire offering of fragrant odor to Yahweh, just as you are doing so shall he do.

15 As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the sojourner sojourning with you. It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations. Like you so shall the sojourner be before Yahweh.

16 One law and one custom, it shall come to be for you and for the sojourner sojourning with you.

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

18 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: When you come into the land where I am bringing you,

19 then will it come to be when you eat of the bread of the land you shall raise up a heave offering to Yahweh.

20 Of the first batch of your coarse meal a perforated cake shall you raise up as a heave offering; as the heave offering of the threshing site, so shall you raise it up.

21 Of the first of your coarse meal shall you give to Yahweh a heave offering throughout your generations.

22 In case you err and do not observe all these instructions which Yahweh has pronounced to Moses,

23 all that Yahweh has instructed you by means of Moses from the day on which Yahweh instructed and beyond throughout your generations,

24 then it will come to be, if away from the eyes of the congregation anything is done through inadvertence, that the whole congregation will offer one bull calf of the herd, as an ascent offering for a fragrant odor to Yahweh, with its approach present and its libation as is the custom, and one hairy goat as a sin offering.

25 The priest will make a propitiatory shelter over the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and it will be pardoned them, for it was an inadvertence. They will bring their approach present, a fire offering to Yahweh, and their sin offering before Yahweh over their inadvertence.

26 Then it will be pardoned to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, and to the sojourner sojourning in their midst, for all the people had acted through inadvertence.

27 If one soul sins through inadvertence then he will bring near a year-old she-goat for a sin offering.

28 Over the erring soul when he sins through inadvertence the priest will make a propitiatory shelter before Yahweh, to make a propitiatory shelter over him, and it will be pardoned him.

29 For the native among the sons of Israel and for the sojourner sojourning in their midst, one law shall apply for you, to anyone doing it through inadvertence.

30 Yet the soul who is doing anything with a high hand, from the native and from the sojourner, he is taunting Yahweh; that soul will be cut off from among his people,

31 since the word of Yahweh he despised and His instruction he annulled. That soul shall be cut off, yea cut off; his depravity is on him.

32 While the sons of Israel were in the wilderness they found a man gathering together sticks on the sabbath day.

33 Those finding him gathering the sticks together brought him near to Moses and to Aaron and to the whole congregation.

34 They left him under guard, for it had not been expounded what should be done to him.

35 Yahweh said to Moses: The man shall be put to death, yea death. The whole congregation is to pelt him with stones outside the camp.

36 So the whole congregation brought him forth to outside the camp and pelted him with stones, so that he died just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

37 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

38 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them that they make for themselves tassels on the hems of their garments throughout their generations and put blue twine on the tassels of the hem.

39 You will come to have a tassel so that you will see it, and you will remember all the instructions of Yahweh and observe them, and you shall not explore after your heart and after your eyes after which you are prostituting;

40 it is so that you may remember and observe all My instructions and become holy to your Elohim.

41 I, Yahweh, am your Elohim Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt to be your Elohim. I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

Chapter 16

1 Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, arose along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth (sons of Reuben);

2 they arose before Moses with men from the sons of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, those called to appointment, men of renown.

3 They assembled against Moses and against Aaron and said to them: Enough of you! For the whole congregation, all of them are holy, and in their midst is Yahweh; so for what reason are you lifting yourselves up over the assembly of Yahweh?

4 When Moses heard this, he fell on his face.

5 Then he spoke to Korah and to his whole congregation, saying: In the morning Yahweh shall make known who is His and who is holy, and He will bring him near to Him; whomever He may choose for Himself He shall bring near to Him.

6 This do: Take firepans for yourselves, Korah and his whole congregation;

7 put fire in them, and place incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow. And it will come to be: The man whom Yahweh shall choose, he is the holy one. Enough of you, sons of Levi!

8 Then Moses said to Korah: Hear, I pray, sons of Levi!

9 Is it too little for you that the Elohim of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to Him to serve in the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?

10 He brought you near and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Yet now you seek even the priesthood!

11 Wherefore you and all your congregation are set against Yahweh. As for Aaron, what is he that you are grumbling against him?

12 Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab. Yet they said: We shall not come up.

13 Is it a little thing that you brought us up from a land gushing with milk and honey to put us to death in the wilderness, and that you are making yourself a chief, yea a chief over us?

14 Indeed, into a land gushing with milk and honey you did not bring us that you might give to us an allotment of field and vineyard. Are you picking out the eyes of these men? We shall not come up!

15 Moses’ anger grew exceedingly hot, and he said to Yahweh: Do not countenance their approach present. Not one donkey have I lifted from them, nor have I done evil to any one of them.

16 Moses said to Korah: You and your whole congregation, come before Yahweh, you and they and Aaron tomorrow.

17 Take each man his firepan, and you will put incense on them and bring each man his firepan near before Yahweh, two hundred fifty firepans, and you and Aaron, each man his firepan.

18 So they took each man his firepan, put fire on them, placed incense on them, and they stood at the opening of the tent of appointment, also Moses and Aaron.

19 Korah had assembled the whole congregation against them at the opening of the tent of appointment. Then the glory of Yahweh appeared to the whole congregation,

20 and Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

21 Separate yourselves from the midst of this congregation so that I may finish them as in a moment.

22 Then they fell on their faces and said: O El, Elohim of the spirits for all flesh, as for the one man, he is sinning; but shall You be wrathful over the whole congregation?

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

24 Speak to the congregation, saying: Move away from around the tabernacles of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.

25 So Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel went after him.

26 He spoke to the congregation, saying: Withdraw, I pray, from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything which belongs to them lest you be swept up in all their sins.

27 They moved away from the tabernacles of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, away from around them. As for Dathan and Abiram, they went forth, standing up at the opening of their tents with their wives, their sons and their little ones.

28 Moses said: By this shall you know that Yahweh, He has sent me to perform all these deeds, that they are not from my own heart.

29 Should these die the common death of all humanity, and should the visitation of all humanity be visited on them, then Yahweh has not sent me.

30 Yet should Yahweh create an unprecedented creation so that the ground opens wide its mouth, swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they descend alive to the unseen, then you will know that these mortals have spurned Yahweh.

31 It came to be as he finished speaking all these words that the ground which was under them was rent,

32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their households and all the humans who were with Korah and all the goods.

33 So they descended, they and all who belonged to them, alive to the unseen; and the earth covered over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

34 Yet all Israel who were around them, they fled at their voice, for they said: Lest the earth swallow us up.

35 Then fire, it came forth from Yahweh and devoured the two hundred fifty men who were bringing near the incense.

36 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

37 Speak to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest that he should raise up the firepans from the burning place; as for the fire, toss it yonder, for holy are

38 the firepans of these sinners against their own souls. And they will make of them stamped foils into an overlay for the altar; for since they brought them near before Yahweh, they shall be holy and shall become as a sign to the sons of Israel.

39 So Eleazar the priest took the copper firepans which those burned had brought near, and they stamped them into an overlay for the altar,

40 a reminder for the sons of Israel so that no alien man who is not of the seed of Aaron might come near to try to fume incense before Yahweh so that he does not become as Korah and his congregation, just as Yahweh had spoken to him by means of Moses.

41 The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled on the morrow against Moses and against Aaron, saying: You yourselves put the people of Yahweh to death.

42 It came to be, when the congregation assembled against Moses and against Aaron and they turned around toward the tent of appointment, that, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared.

43 When Moses and Aaron came before the tent of appointment,

44 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

45 Get away from the midst of this congregation so that I may finish them as in a moment. Then they fell on their faces.

46 Moses said to Aaron: Take the firepan, and put fire from the altar on it, and place incense on it, and go quickly to the congregation, and make a propitiatory shelter over them, for wrath goes forth from before Yahweh! The stroke has started!

47 So Aaron took it, just as Moses had spoken, and ran into the midst of the assembly. And behold, the stroke had started among the people. He put the incense on it and made a propitiatory shelter over the people.

48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the stroke was restrained.

49 Now those dead by the stroke were fourteen thousand seven hundred, aside from those dead over the matter of Korah.

50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the opening of the tent of appointment; as for the stroke, it was restrained.

Chapter 17

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and take from them a rod, a rod for the father’s house from all their princes by their fathers’ house, twelve rods. For each man you shall write his name on his rod.

3 And the name of Aaron shall you write on the rod of Levi, for one rod is for the head of their fathers’ house.

4 Then you will leave them in the tent of appointment before the testimony where I keep appointment with you.

5 So it will come to be that the man whom I choose, his rod shall bud. Thus I will cause the grumblings of the sons of Israel to subside from over Me which they were grumbling against you.

6 So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their princes gave a rod to him, a rod for each prince, for each prince, by their fathers’ house, twelve rods in all. And the rod of Aaron was in the midst of their rods.

7 Moses left the rods before Yahweh in the tent of the testimony.

8 It came to be on the morrow that Moses came into the tent of the testimony, and behold, the rod of Aaron of the house of Levi had budded. It brought forth buds and blossomed blossoms and was requited with almonds.

9 Moses brought forth all the rods from before Yahweh to all the sons of Israel. They saw, and each man took his rod.

10 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Restore the rod of Aaron before the testimony for safekeeping as a sign for the sons of rebellion so that you may end their grumblings against Me so that they may not die.

11 Moses did just as Yahweh had instructed him. So did he.

12 The sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, we decease! We perish! All of us perish!

13 Anyone who comes near, yea near to the tabernacle of Yahweh, he shall die! Should we all come to end by such a deceasing?

Chapter 18

1 Yahweh said to Aaron: You and your sons and your father’s house with you shall bear any depravity committed against the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you shall bear any depravity in connection with your priesthood.

2 Moreover, bring near with you your brothers of the stock of Levi, the tribe of your father, that they may be allied with you and may minister to you when you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

3 They will keep guard of you and guard of the entire tent; only to the furnishings of the holy place and to the altar they shall not come near so that they may not die, both they and you.

4 They will be allied with you and will keep guard of the tent of appointment for all the service of the tent. Yet no alien may come near to you.

5 You will keep guard of the holy place and guard of the altar so that no more wrath shall come on the sons of Israel.

6 As for Me, behold, I have taken your brothers, the Levites, from the midst of the sons of Israel as a gift for you, given to Yahweh to serve in the service of the tent of appointment.

7 Yet you and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood as to every matter of the altar and to that inside the curtain. Thus you will serve in the service. As a gift am I giving your priesthood. Yet the alien who comes near shall be put to death.

8 Yahweh spoke to Aaron: As for Me, behold, I give you charge of My heave offerings of all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel. To you I give them for a share of the anointing, and to your sons, as an eonian statute.

9 This shall become yours from the holy of holies, reserved from the fire of all their approach present, all their approach present and all their sin offering and all their guilt offering which they are restoring to Me; it will be a holy of holies for you and for your sons.

10 As a holy of holies shall you eat it; every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy for you.

11 This also is yours as a heave offering share of their gifts: all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. To you I give them and to your sons and to your daughters with you as an eonian statute. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat of it.

12 All the best of the clarified oil and all the best of the grape juice and the grain; their firstfruit which they shall give to Yahweh, to you I give them.

13 The firstfruits of all that is in their land which they shall bring to Yahweh shall be yours. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it.

14 Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours.

15 Every male opening up the womb of all flesh which they may bring near to Yahweh of human and of beast, it shall be yours. Only you shall ransom, yea ransom the firstborn of humans, and the firstborn of an unclean beast shall you ransom.

16 As for his ransom, from a month old up shall you take ransom by your appraisal with five silver shekels by the shekel of the holy place. It is twenty gerahs.

17 Only the firstborn of kine or the firstborn of sheep or the firstborn of goats you shall not ransom. They are holy. Their blood you shall sprinkle against the altar, and their fat you shall cause to fume as a fire offering for a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

18 Yet their flesh, it shall be yours, like the chest of the wave offering, and like the right leg it shall be yours.

19 All the heave offering shares of the holy gifts which the sons of Israel shall raise up to Yahweh I give to you and to your sons and to your daughters with you as an eonian statute. An eonian covenant of salt shall it be before Yahweh, for you and for your seed with you.

20 Yahweh said to Aaron: In their land you shall not have an allotment, nor shall a portion be yours in their midst. I am your portion and your allotment in the midst of the sons of Israel.

21 As for the sons of Levi, behold, I give all the tithe in Israel as an allotment in exchange for their service in which they are serving, the service of the tent of appointment.

22 The sons of Israel shall not come near again to the tent of appointment to bear sin so as to die.

23 He, the Levite, will serve in the service of the tent of appointment, and they shall bear any depravity of theirs. It shall be an eonian statute throughout your generations so that in the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not be allotted an allotment,

24 for it is the tithe of the sons of Israel which they shall raise up as a heave offering to Yahweh which I give to the Levites as an allotment. Therefore I say concerning them: No allotment in the midst of the sons of Israel shall they be allotted.

25 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

26 As for the Levites, you shall speak, and you will say to them: When you take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I give to you from them as your allotment, then you will raise up from it as a heave offering to Yahweh, a tenth of the tithe.

27 Your heave offering will be reckoned to you like the grain from the threshing site and like the fullness from the winevat.

28 So shall you also raise up the heave offering of Yahweh from all your tithes which you take from the sons of Israel; and from it you will offer the heave offering of Yahweh to Aaron the priest.

29 From all your gifts you shall raise up the whole heave offering of Yahweh of all its best, its hallowed part, from it.

30 And you will say to them: When you raise up its best from it, then it will be reckoned to the Levites like the yield of the threshing site and like the yield of the winevat.

31 And you may eat it in any place, you and your households, for it is your hire, in exchange for your service in the tent of appointment.

32 You shall not bear sin on account of it when you have raised up its best from it; thus you do not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, nor shall you die.

Chapter 19

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying:

2 This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has instructed, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel that they should take for you a red, flawless young cow in which there is no blemish, on which no yoke has gone up.

3 You will give her to Eleazar the priest, and he will bring her forth to outside the camp, and one will slay her before him.

4 Eleazar the priest will take some of her blood on his finger and spatter some of her blood seven times ahead toward the face of the tent of appointment.

5 Then one will burn the young cow before his eyes, her hide and her flesh and her blood. Over her dung shall one burn her.

6 The priest will take cedar wood, hyssop and double-dipped crimson and fling them into the midst of the burning place of the young cow.

7 Then the priest will rinse his garments and bathe his flesh in water; afterward he may come into the camp; but the priest will be unclean until the evening.

8 And the one burning her, he shall rinse his garments in water, and he will bathe his flesh in water. He too will be unclean until the evening.

9 Then a clean man will gather the ashes of the young cow and leave them outside the camp in a clean place. And they will be for safekeeping for the congregation of the sons of Israel for water of impurity; they are a burnt sin offering.

10 The one gathering the ashes of the young cow will rinse his garments, and he will be unclean until the evening. This will be an eonian statute for the sons of Israel and for the sojourner sojourning in their midst:

11 The one touching the dead body of any human soul will be unclean seven days.

12 He shall purify himself from sin with it on the third day; then on the seventh day he shall be clean. And if he does not purify himself from sin on the third day, then on the seventh day he shall not be clean.

13 Anyone touching a dead body, a human soul who died, and who does not purify himself from sin defiles the tabernacle of Yahweh; that soul will be cut off from Israel, for water of impurity was not sprinkled on him. He shall be unclean; his uncleanness will still be in him.

14 This is the law in case a human should die in a tent: Anyone entering the tent and anyone who is in the tent, he shall be unclean seven days.

15 Every open vessel on which there is no leather-cap fastened with twine, it is unclean.

16 Anyone who touches, on the surface of the field, one slain by the sword or a dead body or a human bone or a tomb, he shall be unclean seven days.

17 They will take for the unclean from the soil of the burning place of the sin offering and put living water on it in a vessel.

18 A clean man will take hyssop, dip it in the water and spatter it on the tent and on all the vessels and on the souls which are there and on the one touching a bone or one slain or a dead body or a tomb.

19 The clean one will spatter on the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day and thus expiate him on the seventh day. He will then rinse his garments and bathe in water, and he will be clean in the evening.

20 Anyone who is unclean and does not purify himself from sin, that soul will be cut off from the midst of the assembly, for the sanctuary of Yahweh has he defiled; water of impurity, it was not sprinkled on him; he is unclean.

21 It will be to them an eonian statute that the one spattering the water of impurity, he shall also rinse his garments, and the one touching the water of impurity, he shall be unclean until the evening.

22 All that the unclean one touches, it is unclean, and the soul of the one touching, it shall be unclean until the evening.

Chapter 20

1 The sons of Israel, the whole congregation, entered the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people dwelt at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was entombed there.

2 Now there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled against Moses and against Aaron.

3 The people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: O that we had deceased when our brothers deceased before Yahweh!

4 Why did you bring the assembly of Yahweh to this wilderness to die there, we and our livestock?

5 And why did you lead us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? This is not a place of seed, fig, vine or pomegranate, and there is not even water to drink.

6 When Moses and Aaron came from the presence of the assembly to the opening of the tent of appointment and fell on their faces, then the glory of Yahweh appeared to them.

7 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

8 Take the rod and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother; and you will speak to the crag before their eyes, and it will give its water. Thus you will bring forth water for them from the crag and will give drink to the congregation and their livestock.

9 So Moses took the rod from before Yahweh just as He had instructed him.

10 Moses and Aaron assembled the assembly before the crag, and he said to them: Hear, I pray, you rebels! From this crag shall we bring forth water for you?

11 When Moses raised up his hand and smote the crag with his rod twice, then much water came forth, and the congregation and their livestock drank.

12 Yet Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron: Because you did not believe in Me to sanctify Me before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I will give to them.

13 These were the waters of Meribah where the sons of Israel contended with Yahweh, and He showed Himself holy among them.

14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: Thus says your brother Israel, You know yourself all the stress which finds us

15 and that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt many days and that the Egyptians did evil to us and to our fathers.

16 We cried to Yahweh, and He heard our voice and sent a messenger and brought us forth from Egypt. Now behold, we are at Kadesh, a city at your outmost boundary.

17 Let us pass, we pray, through your land. We shall not pass through field or vineyard, nor shall we drink water of a well. By the king’s road shall we go. We shall not turn aside right or left until we have crossed over your boundary.

18 Yet Edom said to him: You shall not pass through me lest I come forth with the sword to meet you.

19 Then the sons of Israel said to him: By the highway shall we go up. And if we drink your water, I and my cattle, then I will give its selling price. But this is no great matter. Do let me pass on my feet.

20 Yet he said: You shall not pass. Then Edom came forth to meet him, heavy with people and with a steadfast hand.

21 Thus Edom refused to let Israel pass through his boundary; so Israel turned aside from him.

22 The sons of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron at Mount Hor on the boundary of the land of Edom, saying:

24 Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not come to the land which I will give to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against My bidding at the waters of Meribah.

25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor.

26 Strip Aaron of his garments, and you will put them on Eleazar his son. As for Aaron, he shall be gathered and will die there.

27 Moses did just as Yahweh had instructed. They went up to Mount Hor before the eyes of the whole congregation.

28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the summit of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar descended from the mountain,

29 and the whole congregation discerned that Aaron had deceased. They lamented for Aaron thirty days, all the house of Israel.

Chapter 21

1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, dwelling in the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and captured captives from him.

2 Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh and said: If You give, yea give this people into my hand then I will doom their cities.

3 Yahweh heard the voice of Israel, and He gave the Canaanite into his hand. So he doomed them and their cities; hence one called the name of the place Hormah.

4 They journeyed from Mount Hor by way of the Sea of Weeds to get around the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was impatient on the way.

5 The people spoke against Elohim and against Moses: Why did you bring us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread and there is no water, and our soul, it is irritated by the lightly esteemed bread.

6 So Yahweh sent burning serpents among the people; they bit the people, and many people of Israel died.

7 The people came to Moses and said: We have sinned, for we have spoken against Yahweh and against you. Pray to Yahweh that He may take the serpents away from us. So Moses prayed about the people.

8 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Make for yourself a burning serpent, and place it on a banner pole; and it will come to be that anyone bitten, when he sees it, he will live.

9 Moses made a serpent of copper and placed it on the banner pole, and it came to be that if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked to the copper serpent he lived.

10 The sons of Israel journeyed and encamped in Oboth.

11 Then they journeyed from Oboth and encamped in Iye-abarim in the wilderness which is adjoining Moab from the sunrise.

12 From there they journeyed and encamped at Wadi Zered.

13 From there they journeyed and encamped across the Arnon, which is in the wilderness going forth from the boundary of the Amorite (for the Arnon is the boundary of Moab between Moab and the Amorite.

14 Therefore it is said in the Scroll of the Wars of Yahweh: The gushing river at the terminus! And the wadis of Arnon!

15 The slope of the wadis Which stretches out to the seat of Ar, And leans to the boundary of Moab),

16 and from there toward Beer (the same is the well of which Yahweh said to Moses: Gather the people so that I may give water to them;

17 then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well! Respond to it;

18 A well chiefs delved it, Patrons of the people dug it With a statute-maker’s staff, With their own support-staffs), and from the wilderness to Mattanah,

19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,

20 and from Bamoth to the ravine which is in the field of Moab, the summit of the Pisgah ridge that gazes over the surface of the desolation.

21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite with words of peace, saying:

22 Do let me pass through your land. We shall not turn aside into field or into vineyard. We shall not drink water of any well. By the king’s road shall we go until we cross over your boundary.

23 Yet Sihon would not allow Israel to cross over at his boundary. Sihon gathered all his people and went forth to meet Israel toward the wilderness. He came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.

24 Yet Israel smote him with the edge of the sword and tenanted his land from the Arnon as far as the Jabbok, as far as the sons of Ammon, for the boundary of the sons of Ammon was Jazer.

25 Israel took all these cities. Israel also dwelt in all the cities of the Amorite, in Heshbon and in all its outskirts,

26 for Heshbon, it was a city of Sihon king of the Amorite. He had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon.

27 Therefore those discoursers say: Come to Heshbon, let it be rebuilt, And let the city of Sihon establish itself.

28 For a fire, it came forth from Heshbon, A blaze from the town of Sihon. It devoured Ar of Moab, The possessors of the high-places of Arnon.

29 Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, people of Chemosh! He gave up his sons delivered from slaughter, And his daughters into captivity To Sihon, king of the Amorite.

30 We shot them; Heshbon perished as far as Dibon; We caused desolation until the fire was blown as far as Medeba.

31 When Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorite,

32 Moses sent men to spy out Jazer. They seized its outskirts and evicted the Amorite who was there.

33 Then they turned around and went up by the Bashan road. Og king of Bashan went forth to meet them, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.

34 Now Yahweh said to Moses: Do not fear him, for into your hand I give him and all his people and his land. You will do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorite who was dwelling in Heshbon.

35 So they smote him and his sons and all his people until no survivor at all remained for him; and they tenanted his land.

Chapter 22

1 Then the sons of Israel journeyed and encamped in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho.

2 Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorite,

3 and Moab shrank in view of the people exceedingly, for they were numerous. Since Moab was irritated in view of the sons of Israel,

4 Moab said to the elders of Midian: Now this assembly shall lick up all around us as a bull licks up the green grass of the field. So Balak son of Zippor who was king of Moab at that time,

5 he sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor (which is on the Stream in the land of the sons of his people) to call for him, saying: Behold, a people has come forth from Egypt. Behold, they cover the eye of the land, and they are dwelling at my forefront.

6 Now do come, I pray, do curse this people for me, for they are more substantial than I. Perhaps I shall prevail, so that we may smite them and I may drive them out from the land, for I know that whomever you bless is being blessed, and whomever you curse is accursed.

7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian went with the pay for divinations in their hand. They came to Balaam and spoke to him the words of Balak.

8 He said to them: Lodge here for the night, and I will bring back word to you just as Yahweh shall speak to me. So the chiefs of Moab dwelt with Balaam.

9 Now Elohim came to Balaam and said: Who are these men with you?

10 And Balaam said to the One, Elohim: Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, he sent them to me, saying:

11 Behold, the people coming forth from Egypt, they are covering the eye of the land! Now do go, do revile him for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight him, and I will drive him out.

12 Then Elohim said to Balaam: You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for it is blessed.

13 Balaam rose in the morning and said to the chiefs of Balak: Go back to your land, for Yahweh has refused to allow me to go with you.

14 So the chiefs of Moab rose and came to Balak and said: Balaam refused to go with us.

15 Balak continued further to send other chiefs, more numerous and illustrious than these.

16 They came to Balaam and said to him: Thus says Balak son of Zippor, Do not, I pray, be withheld from coming to me,

17 for I shall glorify, yea glorify you exceedingly, and all that you may say to me I shall do. So come now I pray, do revile this people for me.

18 Yet Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak: If Balak were giving to me the fullness of his house in silver and gold I could not cross the bidding of Yahweh my Elohim to do what is small or great.

19 Yet now dwell, I pray, you too, in this place, for the night; then I shall know what Yahweh shall continue to speak with me.

20 Elohim came to Balaam at night and said to him: Since the men have come to call for you, rise, go with them. Yet only the word that I speak to you, only it shall you use.

21 Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his jenny and went with the chiefs of Moab.

22 Elohim’s anger grew hot because he was going. So a messenger of Yahweh stationed himself in the road to be adverse to him. Now he was riding on his jenny, and his two lads were with him.

23 The jenny saw the messenger of Yahweh stationed in the road with his drawn sword in his hand; so the jenny turned aside from the road and went into a field. Balaam smote the jenny to turn her aside into the road.

24 Then the messenger of Yahweh stood in a lane between the vineyards with a stone dike on this side and a stone dike on that side.

25 The jenny saw the messenger of Yahweh and pressed herself close to the sidewall. When she pressed Balaam’s foot close to the sidewall he continued to smite her.

26 Yet the messenger of Yahweh continued to pass, and he stood in a narrow place in which there was no way to turn aside right or left.

27 The jenny saw the messenger of Yahweh, and she reclined under Balaam. Balaam’s anger grew hot, and he smote the jenny with a stave.

28 Then Yahweh opened the mouth of the jenny, and she said to Balaam: What have I done to you that you have smitten me these three times?

29 And Balaam said to the jenny: Because you abused me! O that there were a sword in my hand, for I would kill you right now.

30 The jenny said to Balaam: Am I not your jenny on which you have ridden from your youth until this day? Have I been accustomed, yea accustomed to do thus to you? And he said: No.

31 Yahweh gave revelation to the eyes of Balaam so that he saw the messenger of Yahweh stationed in the road with his drawn sword in his hand. So he bowed his head and bowed himself down, with his nostrils to the ground.

32 The messenger of Yahweh said to him: On what grounds did you smite your jenny these three times? Behold, I myself came forth as your adversary, for your way in front of me is precipitant.

33 The jenny saw me and turned aside from before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from before me surely just now I would have killed you, and I would have preserved her alive.

34 Then Balaam said to the messenger of Yahweh: I was at fault, for I did not realize that you were stationed to meet me on the road. And now, if it is evil in your eyes let me return to mine.

35 The messenger of Yahweh said to Balaam: Go with the men, yet only the word which I speak to you may you speak to him. So Balaam went with the chiefs of Balak.

36 When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went forth to meet him at Ar of Moab on the boundary of Arnon which was at the end of the territory.

37 Then Balak said to Balaam: Did I not send, yea send to you to call for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I truly not able to glorify you?

38 And Balaam said to Balak: Behold, I have come to you now. Can I prevail to speak anything freely? The word that Elohim places in my mouth, it shall I speak.

39 So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.

40 Balak sacrificed from herd and flock and sent some to Balaam and to the chiefs who were with him.

41 It came to be in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high-places of Baal that he might see from there the outmost part of the people.

Chapter 23

1 Balaam said to Balak: Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven young bulls and seven rams.

2 Balak did just as Balaam had spoken. Balak and Balaam offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar.

3 Then Balaam said to Balak: Station yourself at your ascent offering, and let me go. Perhaps Yahweh shall happen to meet me; then whatever word He shall show me I will tell you. So he went off to the ridge.

4 Elohim met Balaam, and he said to Him: The seven altars have I arranged, and I offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar.

5 Yahweh placed a word in the mouth of Balaam and said: Return to Balak and thus shall you speak.

6 So he returned to him, and behold, he and all the chiefs of Moab were stationed at his ascent offering.

7 He took up his discourse and said: From Syria, Balak gave me guidance, The king of Moab from the mountains of the east: Do come now, and do curse Jacob for me! And do come now and do menace Israel.

8 How should I revile when El has not reviled him? How should I menace when Yahweh has not menaced?

9 For from the summit of the rocks I am seeing him, And from the hills I am regarding him. Behold, the people is tabernacling by itself alone, And among the nations it is not reckoning itself.

10 Who counts the soil-drift of Jacob Or the number of a fourth of Israel? May my soul die the death of the upright, And may my hereafter be just as his!

11 Then Balak said to Balaam: What have you done to me? To revile my enemies I took you, yet behold, you bless, yea bless them!

12 Yet he answered and said: What Yahweh places in my mouth, is it not it that I should observe to speak?

13 Balak said to him: Go, I pray, with me to another place from where you may see it. Only its outmost part shall you see; all of it you shall not see. Revile it for me from there.

14 So he took him to the field of the watchmen, to the summit of the Pisgah ridge. He built seven altars and offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar.

15 Then he said to Balak: Station yourself thus at your ascent offering while I meet Him thus.

16 Yahweh met with Balaam and placed the word in his mouth and said: Return to Balak, and thus shall you speak.

17 So he came to him, and behold, he was stationed at his ascent offering, and the chiefs of Moab with him. Balak said to him: What has Yahweh spoken?

18 He took up his discourse and said: Arise, Balak, and hear! Give ear unto me, son of Zippor!

19 El is not a man that He should lie. Or a son of humanity that He should feel regret. Does He say it and then not do it Or speak and then not carry it out?

20 Behold, I was taken to bless; And He blesses, and I shall not reverse it:

21 He does not look for sorrow in Jacob, Nor does he see toil in Israel. Yahweh their Elohim is with him, Joyfully shouted as King in him.

22 El, Who brought them forth from Egypt, Was to him like a wild bull’s cornuted strength.

23 For there is no augury against Jacob Nor divination against Israel; At the right time it is spoken to Jacob and to Israel: What has El made!

24 Behold, the people arise like a parent lion, And like a lion, he lifts himself. He shall not lie down until he devours the prey And drinks the blood of those slain.

25 Balak said to Balaam: If you shall not revile, yea revile him at all, you should also not bless, yea bless him at all!

26 Balaam responded and said to Balak: Did not I speak to you, saying: All that Yahweh shall speak, it I shall do?

27 Balak said to Balaam: Do come now, I pray. I shall take you to another place; perhaps it may be upright in the eyes of the One, Elohim, that you revile him for me from there.

28 So Balak took Balaam to the summit of Peor, the one gazing over the surface of the desolation.

29 Then Balaam said to Balak: Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven young bulls and seven rams.

30 Balak did just as Balaam had said and offered up a young bull and a ram on each altar.

Chapter 24

1 Balaam saw that it was good in the eyes of Yahweh to bless Israel so he did not go out, as he had done the times before , to seek auguries, yet set his face toward the wilderness.

2 When Balaam lifted his eyes and saw Israel tabernacling by its tribes, then the spirit of Elohim came on him.

3 He took up his discourse and said: The averring of Balaam son of Beor, And the averring of the master whose eye had been obstructed;

4 The averring of the one hearing the sayings of El, Who is perceiving a vision from Him Who-Suffices, Falling prostrate, yet his eyes receive revelation.

5 How good are your tents, Jacob! Your tabernacles, Israel!

6 Like the wadis are they stretched out, Like gardens along a stream, Like the aloes Yahweh has planted, Like the cedars beside the waters.

7 Water flows from its irrigation buckets, So its seed is among abundant waters. His king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall lift itself up.

8 El Who brought him forth from Egypt Is to him as a wild bull’s cornuted strength. He shall devour the nations, his foes, And pick their bones clean; With his arrows he shall transfix the enemy.

9 He crouches; he lies down like a lion, And like a parent lion; Who shall make him rise? Whoever is blessing you is blessed, And whoever is cursing you is cursed.

10 Now Balak’s anger grew hot against Balaam, and he slapped his palms together. Balak said to Balaam: To revile my enemies I called you, and behold, you have blessed, yea blessed them these three times!

11 And now get yourself away to your place! I said I would glorify, yea glorify you. Yet behold, Yahweh has withheld you from glory.

12 Then Balaam said to Balak: Did I not speak also to your messengers whom you sent to me, saying:

13 If Balak were giving to me the fullness of his house in silver and gold, I could not cross the bidding of Yahweh to do what is good or evil out of my own heart. Whatever Yahweh shall speak, it shall I speak.

14 And now, behold me going to my people. Come now! I shall counsel you what this people shall do to your people in the latter days.

15 Then he took up his discourse and said: The averring of Balaam son of Beor, And the averring of the master whose eye had been obstructed,

16 The averring of the one hearing the sayings of El And realizing the knowledge of the Supreme: He is perceiving a vision from Him Who-Suffices, Falling prostrate, yet his eyes receive revelation.

17 I see Him yet not now, I regard Him yet not near. A star will position itself from Jacob; And a scepter will arise from Israel, And he will transfix the edge of Moab, And the crown of the head of all the sons of tumult.

18 Edom will become a tenancy, Even Seir will become a tenancy of its enemies; Yet Israel will do ably.

19 One from Jacob shall hold sway, And will destroy the survivors of the city.

20 When he saw Amalek, he took up his discourse and said: First of the nations was Amalek, Yet his hereafter will lead unto perishing.

21 When he saw the Kenite, he took up his discourse and said: Perennial is your dwelling, And set high in a crag is your nest.

22 But rather shall Cain be taken out; How long until Asshur shall capture you?

23 Then he took up his discourse and said: Woe! Who shall live when El lays it down?

24 And those going forth from the hand of Kittim Will humiliate Assyria and humiliate Eber. Yet he, too, will come unto perishing.

25 Then Balaam arose and went away and returned to his place. And Balak also went his way.

Chapter 25

1 While Israel dwelt in Shittim, the people started to commit prostitution with the daughters of Moab,

2 who called the people to the sacrifices of their elohim. The people ate their sacrifices and bowed themselves down to their elohim.

3 Thus Israel was paired with Baal-peor, and the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Israel.

4 Yahweh said to Moses: Take all heads of the people and gibbet them before Yahweh in front of the sun so that the heat of Yahweh’s anger might turn back from Israel.

5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel: Kill each one his men who are pairing themselves with Baal-peor.

6 Behold, a man from the sons of Israel was coming in, and he brought near to his brothers a Midianite woman before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel while they were lamenting at the opening of the tent of appointment.

7 When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a lance in his hand.

8 He came after the man of Israel to the alcove and stabbed the two of them, the man of Israel and the woman, into her pelvis. Then the stroke was restrained from the sons of Israel.

9 Those dying in the stroke were twenty-four thousand.

10 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

11 Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, reversed My fury from the sons of Israel in his zeal for My jealousy in their midst so I did not finish the sons of Israel in My jealousy.

12 Therefore say: Behold Me giving to him My covenant of peace;

13 it will be his and his seed’s after him, the covenant of an eonian priesthood, inasmuch as he was zealous for his Elohim and made a propitiatory shelter over the sons of Israel.

14 The name of the smitten man of Israel, who was smitten with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, a prince of a father’s house of the Simeonite.

15 And the name of the smitten Midianite woman was Cozbi daughter of Zur. He was a head of clans of a father’s house in Midian.

16 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

17 Distress the Midianites and smite them,

18 for they were distressing you in their plots which they plotted against you over the matter of Peor and over the matter of their sister Cozbi, daughter of a prince of Midian, who was smitten on the day of the stroke over the matter of Peor.

Chapter 26

1 It came to be after the stroke that Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying:

2 Obtain the sum of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers’ house, everyone going forth with the militia host in Israel.

3 So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab along the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying:

4 From twenty years old and upward just as Yahweh had instructed Moses. The sons of Israel who had come forth from the land of Egypt were:

5 Reuben, firstborn of Israel, and the sons of Reuben: through Enoch, the Enochite family; through Pallu the Palluite family;

6 through Hezron the Hezronite family; through Carmi the Carmite family.

7 These were the Reubenite families. Their mustered ones were forty-three thousand seven hundred thirty.

8 The sons of Pallu were Eliab

9 and the sons of Eliab, Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the called of the congregation who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the congregation of Korah when they strove against Yahweh,

10 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up with Korah in the death of that congregation when the fire devoured two hundred fifty men, and they became like a warning banner.

11 Yet the sons of Korah did not die.

12 The sons of Simeon by their families: through Nemuel the Nemuelite family; through Jamin the Jaminite family; through Jachin the Jachinite family;

13 through Zerah the Zerahite family; through Saul the Saulite family.

14 These were the Simeonite families, twenty-two thousand two hundred.

15 The sons of Gad by their families: through Zephon the Zephonite family; through Haggi the Haggite family; through Shuni the Shunite family;

16 through Ozni the Oznite family; through Eri the Erite family;

17 through Arod the Arodite family; through Areli the Arelite family.

18 These were the families of the sons of Gad by their mustered ones, forty thousand five hundred.

19 The sons of Judah were Er and Onan. Now Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan.

20 The sons of Judah were, by their families: through Shelah the Shelanite family; through Perez the Perezite family; through Zerah the Zerahite family.

21 The sons of Perez were: through Hezron the Hezronite family; through Hamul the Hamulite family.

22 These were the families of Judah by their mustered ones, seventy-six thousand five hundred.

23 The sons of Issachar by their families: through Tola the Tolaite family; through Puah the Puanite family;

24 through Jashub the Jashubite family; through Shimron the Shimronite family.

25 These were the families of Issachar by their mustered ones, sixty-four thousand three hundred.

26 The sons of Zebulun by their families: through Sered the Seredite family; through Elon the Elonite family; through Jahleel the Jahleelite family.

27 These were the families of the Zebulunite by their mustered ones, sixty thousand five hundred.

28 The sons of Joseph by their families: Manasseh and Ephraim.

29 The sons of Manasseh were: through Machir the Machirite family, and Machir begot Gilead; through Gilead the Gileadite family.

30 These were the sons of Gilead: through Iezer the Iezerite family; through Helek the Helekite family;

31 and of Asriel the Asrielite family; and of Shechem the Shechemite family;

32 and of Shemida the Shemidaite family; and of Hepher the Hepherite family.

33 Zelophehad son of Hepher came to have no sons but rather daughters. And the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

34 These were the families of Manasseh, and their mustered ones were fifty-two thousand seven hundred.

35 These were the sons of Ephraim by their families: through Shuthelah the Shuthelahite family; through Becher the Becherite family, through Tahan the Tahanite family.

36 These were the sons of Shuthelah: through Eran the Eranite family.

37 These were the families of the sons of Ephraim by their mustered ones, thirty-two thousand five hundred. These were the sons of Joseph by their families.

38 The sons of Benjamin by their families: through Bela the Belaite family; through Ashbel the Ashbelite family; through Ahiram the Ahiramite family;

39 through Shupham the Shuphamite family; through Hupham the Huphamite family.

40 The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: through Ard the Ardite family; through Naaman the Naamite family.

41 These were the sons of Benjamin by their families, and their mustered ones were forty-five thousand six hundred.

42 These were the sons of Dan by their families: through Shuham the Shuhamite family. These were the families of Dan by their families.

43 All the families of the Shuhamites by their mustered ones were sixty-four thousand four hundred.

44 The sons of Asher by their families: through Imnah the Imnite family; through Ishvi the Ishvite family; through Beriah the Beriite family;

45 through sons of Beriah: through Heber the Heberite family; through Malchiel the Malchielite family.

46 And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah.

47 These were the families of the sons of Asher by their mustered ones, fifty-three thousand four hundred.

48 The sons of Naphtali by their families: through Jahzeel the Jahzeelite family; through Guni the Gunite family;

49 through Jezer the Jezerite family; through Shillem the Shillemite family.

50 These were the families of Naphtali by their families, and their mustered ones were forty-five thousand four hundred.

51 These were the mustered ones of the sons of Israel: six hundred one thousand seven hundred thirty.

52 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

53 To these the land shall be apportioned by allotment by the number of names.

54 For the numerous one you shall increase his allotment, and for the little one you shall decrease his allotment. Each corresponding to his mustered ones shall be given his allotment.

55 Only, by lot shall the land be apportioned. By the names of their fathers’ stocks shall they be allotted.

56 At the bidding of the lot shall be apportioned each his allotment, between the numerous one and the little one.

57 These were the mustered ones of the Levites by their families: through Gershon the Gershonite family; through Kohath the Kohathite family; through Merari the Merarite family.

58 These were the families of the sons of Levi: The Libnite family, the Hebronite family, the Mahlite family, the Mushite family and the Korahite family. Kohath begot Amram;

59 and the name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, a Levite daughter who was born to the Levite in Egypt. And she bore for Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam, their sister.

60 To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

61 Yet Nadab and Abihu died when they offered alien fire before Yahweh.

62 Their mustered ones were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward, for they did not present themselves to be mustered for militia service in the midst of the sons of Israel, for no allotment was given to them in the midst of the sons of Israel.

63 These were the mustered ones of Moses and Eleazar the priest who mustered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho.

64 Yet among these not a man came to be from the mustering of Moses and Aaron the priest when they had mustered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai,

65 for Yahweh had said to them that they would die, yea die in the wilderness. And not a man of them was left save Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Chapter 27

1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh son of Joseph, came near. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

2 They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest, and before the princes and the whole congregation at the opening of the tent of appointment, saying:

3 Our father, he died in the wilderness, yet he was not in the midst of the congregation of those set against Yahweh in the congregation of Korah, but he died for his own sin, and sons he did not come to have.

4 Why should the name of our father be disadvantaged from the midst of his family because he had no son? Do give now to us a holding in the midst of our father’s brothers.

5 So Moses brought near their plea before Yahweh.

6 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

7 Properly the daughters of Zelophehad are speaking. You shall give, yea give to them a holding for an allotment in the midst of the brothers of their father, and you will cause the allotment of their father to pass on to them.

8 And to the sons of Israel you shall speak, saying: In case a man dies and he has no son then you will cause his allotment to pass on to his daughter.

9 If he has no daughter then you will give his allotment to his brothers;

10 and if he has no brothers then you will give his allotment to the brothers of his father.

11 If his father had no brothers then you will give his allotment to his kin, the one nearest to him in his family, and he will tenant it. And it will come to be to the sons of Israel for a statute of judgment, just as Yahweh has instructed Moses.

12 Yahweh said to Moses: Go up to this mount of the Abarim range and see the land which I give to the sons of Israel.

13 When you have seen it you will be gathered to your people, you too, just as Aaron your brother was gathered.

14 Just as in the contention of the congregation both of you rebelled against My bidding in the wilderness of Zin to sanctify Me at the waters before their eyes. (These were the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

15 Moses spoke to Yahweh, saying:

16 May Yahweh Elohim of the spirits for all flesh give supervision over the congregation to a man

17 who may go forth before them and enter before them, and who may bring them forth and bring them in so that the congregation of Yahweh shall not become like a flock for whom there is no shepherd.

18 Yahweh said to Moses: Take to you Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom there is spirit, and you will support your hand on him;

19 have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole congregation, and you will instruct him before their eyes.

20 Thus you will put some of your prestige on him so that the whole congregation of the sons of Israel may hearken to him.

21 And before Eleazar the priest shall he stand, and he will ask for him the judgment of the Urim before Yahweh. At his bidding shall they go forth and at his bidding they shall enter, he and all the sons of Israel with him, the whole congregation.

22 Moses did just as Yahweh had instructed him. He took Joshua and caused him to stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole congregation.

23 Then he supported his hands on him and instructed him, just as Yahweh had spoken by means of Moses.

Chapter 28

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Instruct the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: My approach present, My bread for My fire offerings, My fragrant odor shall you observe to bring near to Me at its appointed time.

3 You will say to them: This is the fire offering which you shall bring near to Yahweh, flawless year-old he-lambs, two per day, a regular ascent offering.

4 The one he-lamb shall you offer in the morning, and the second he-lamb shall you offer between the evening hours,

5 with a tenth of an ephah of flour as an approach present mingled with pounded oil, a fourth of a hin.

6 It is the regular ascent offering instituted at Mount Sinai for a fragrant odor, a fire offering, to Yahweh.

7 Its libation is a fourth of a hin for one he-lamb. In the holy place, libate an intoxicating libation to Yahweh.

8 And the second he-lamb you shall offer in the evening hours; like the approach present of the morning and like its libation shall you make it as a fire offering, a fragrant odor to Yahweh.

9 On the sabbath day you shall bring near two flawless year-old he-lambs, and two tenths of an ephah of flour, an approach present mingled with oil, with its libation.

10 This is the sabbath ascent offering on its sabbath along with the regular ascent offering with its libation.

11 At the beginnings of your months you shall bring near an ascent offering to Yahweh: two bull calves of the herd, and one ram, seven flawless year-old he-lambs,

12 and three-tenths of an ephah of flour as an approach present mingled with oil for each young bull; and two tenths of an ephah of flour as an approach present mingled with oil for the one ram,

13 and a tenth, a tenth of an ephah of flour as an approach present mingled with oil for each he-lamb. This is an ascent offering, a fragrant odor, a fire offering, to Yahweh.

14 As for their libations, half a hin shall there be for each young bull and a third of a hin for the one ram and a fourth of a hin of wine for each he-lamb. This is the ascent offering month by its month for the months of the year.

15 Also one hairy goat as a sin offering to Yahweh along with the regular ascent offering, it shall be made with its libation.

16 In the first month on the fourteenth day of the month is the passover to Yahweh.

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

18 On the first day is a holy meeting when you shall do no occupational work at all.

19 You will bring near a fire offering, an ascent offering to Yahweh, two bull calves of the herd, one ram and seven year-old he-lambs; flawless shall they be for you.

20 And as their approach present of flour mingled with oil, three tenths per young bull and two tenths per ram shall you offer.

21 A tenth, a tenth shall you offer for each he-lamb of the seven lambs.

22 Also there is one hairy goat as a sin offering to make a propitiatory shelter over you;

23 aside from the ascent offering of the morning which is the regular ascent offering you shall offer these.

24 Like these shall you offer daily for seven days, the bread of the fire offering for a fragrant odor to Yahweh; along with the regular ascent offering shall it be made with its libation.

25 And on the seventh day you shall come to have a holy meeting when you shall do no occupational work at all.

26 On the day of the firstfruits when you bring near a new approach present to Yahweh, in your festival of weeks, you shall come to have a holy meeting when you shall do no occupational work at all.

27 You will bring near an ascent offering for a fragrant odor to Yahweh, two bull calves of the herd, one ram, seven year-old he-lambs

28 with their approach present of flour mingled with oil, three tenths for each young bull and two tenths for the one ram.

29 A tenth, a tenth for each he-lamb of the seven he-lambs,

30 and one hairy goat to make a propitiatory shelter over you,

31 aside from the regular ascent offering and its approach present you shall offer. Flawless shall they be for you, with their libations.

Chapter 29

1 In the seventh month, on day one of the month you shall come to have a holy meeting when you shall do no occupational work at all; a day of trumpet blast shall you come to have.

2 You will make an ascent offering for a fragrant odor to Yahweh, one bull calf of the herd, one ram, seven flawless year-old he-lambs,

3 and their approach present of flour mingled with oil, three tenths for the young bull, two tenths for the ram

4 and one tenth for each he-lamb of the seven he-lambs,

5 and one hairy goat as a sin offering to make a propitiatory shelter over you,

6 aside from the ascent offering of the month with its approach present and the regular ascent offering with its approach present and their libations, as is their custom, for a fragrant odor, a fire offering, to Yahweh.

7 On the tenth of this seventh month you shall come to have a holy meeting, and you will humble your souls; you shall do no work at all.

8 You will bring near an ascent offering to Yahweh, a fragrant odor, one bull calf of the herd, one ram, seven year-old he-lambs (flawless shall they be for you),

9 and as their approach present of flour mingled with oil, three tenths for the young bull, two tenths for the one ram,

10 a tenth, a tenth for each he-lamb of the seven lambs,

11 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the sin offering of the propitiatory shelters and the regular ascent offering with its approach present and their libations.

12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall come to have a holy meeting when you shall do no occupational work at all, and you will celebrate a festival to Yahweh for seven days.

13 You will bring near an ascent offering, a fire offering of fragrant odor to Yahweh: thirteen bull calves of the herd, two rams, fourteen year-old he-lambs (flawless shall they be),

14 and as their approach present of flour mingled with oil, three tenths for each young bull of the thirteen young bulls, two tenths for each ram of the two rams,

15 and a tenth, a tenth for each he-lamb of the fourteen he-lambs,

16 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and its libation.

17 On the second day: twelve bull calves of the herd, two rams, fourteen flawless year-old he-lambs,

18 and their approach present with their libations for the young bulls, for the rams and for the he-lambs, by their number as is the custom,

19 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and their libations.

20 On the third day: eleven young bulls, two rams, fourteen flawless year-old he-lambs,

21 and their approach present with their libations for the young bulls, for the rams and for the he-lambs, by their number as is the custom,

22 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and its libation.

23 On the fourth day: ten young bulls, two rams, fourteen flawless year-old he-lambs,

24 their approach present with their libations for the young bulls, for the rams and for the he-lambs by their number as is the custom,

25 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and its libation.

26 On the fifth day: nine young bulls, two rams, fourteen flawless year-old he-lambs,

27 with their approach present and their libations for the young bulls, for the rams and for the he-lambs by their number as is the custom,

28 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and its libation.

29 On the sixth day: eight young bulls, two rams, fourteen flawless year-old he-lambs,

30 with their approach present and their libations for the young bulls, for the rams and for the he-lambs by their number as is the custom,

31 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and its libation.

32 On the seventh day: seven young bulls, two rams, fourteen flawless year-old he-lambs,

33 with their approach present and their libations for the young bulls, for the rams and for the he-lambs by their number as is the custom,

34 and one hairy goat as a sin offering aside from the regular ascent offering, its approach present and its libation.

35 On the eighth day you shall come to have a time of restraint. No occupational work at all shall you do.

36 You will bring near an ascent offering, a fire offering of fragrant odor to Yahweh: one young bull, one ram, seven flawless year-old he-lambs,

37 their approach present and their libations for the young bull, for the ram and for the he-lambs by their number as is the custom,

38 and one hairy goat as a sin offering, aside from the regular ascent offering with its approach present and its libation.

39 These shall you offer to Yahweh at your appointed times aside from your vows and your voluntary offerings for your ascent offerings, for your approach presents, for your libations and for your peace offerings.

40 Thus Moses spoke to the sons of Israel according to all that Yahweh had instructed Moses.

Chapter 30

1 Moses spoke to the heads of the stocks of the sons of Israel, saying: This is the matter that Yahweh has instructed:

2 In case a man vows a vow to Yahweh or swears an oath to bind himself by a bond on his soul, he shall not profane his word. According to all coming forth from his mouth shall he do.

3 And in case a woman vows a vow to Yahweh and binds herself by a bond in the house of her father in her youth,

4 and her father hears about her vow or her bond which she has bound on her soul but her father is silent toward her, then all her vows are confirmed, and every bond which she has bound on her soul, it shall be confirmed.

5 Yet if her father repudiates her vow on the day he hears about it, all her vows and her bonds which she has bound on her soul shall not be confirmed, and Yahweh, He shall pardon her, seeing that her father repudiated her act.

6 If it be that she should become a man’s while her vows are on her or the talk of her lips which she has bound on her soul,

7 and her husband hears about it, yet on the day he hears he is silent toward her, then all her vows are confirmed, and her bonds which she has bound on her soul shall be confirmed.

8 Yet if, on the day her husband hears about it, he repudiates her act, then he annuls her vow which is on her or the talk of her lips which she has bound on her soul, and Yahweh, He shall pardon her.

9 The vow of a widow or one driven out, all which she binds on her soul, it shall be confirmed on her.

10 Yet if, in the house of her husband, she vows or binds a bond on her soul by an oath,

11 and her husband hears about it but is silent toward her and does not repudiate her act, then all her vows are confirmed, and every bond which she has bound on her soul, it shall be confirmed.

12 Yet if her husband annuls, yea annuls them on the day he hears about them, then no utterance at all from her lips concerning her vows or the bond of her soul shall be confirmed. Her husband, he has annulled them, and Yahweh, He shall pardon her.

13 Every vow and every oath of binding to humiliate the soul, her husband shall confirm it, or her husband shall annul it.

14 And if her husband is silent, yea silent toward her from day to day then he confirms all her vows or all her bonds which are on her; he has confirmed them, for he was silent toward her on the day he heard about it.

15 Yet if he annuls, yea annuls them after he heard about it, then he will bear her depravity.

16 These are the statutes which Yahweh had instructed Moses between a man and his wife and between a father and his daughter in her youth in her father’s house.

Chapter 31

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Avenge the sons of Israel with vengeance on the Midianites; and afterward you shall be gathered to your people.

3 Then Moses spoke to the people, saying: Outfit men from among you as a militia host that they may come against Midian to deliver the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian.

4 A thousand per stock, a thousand per stock from all the stocks of Israel shall you send as the militia host.

5 So they withdrew from the thousands of Israel a thousand per stock, twelve thousand outfitted as the militia host.

6 Then Moses sent them out, a thousand per stock, as the militia host, and with them Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest for the militia host, with the furnishings of the sanctuary, and the bugles for the blast in his hand.

7 They rallied against Midian just as Yahweh had instructed Moses, and they killed every male.

8 As for the kings of Midian, they killed them along with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, five kings of Midian. Also Balaam son of Beor they killed with the sword.

9 The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; they plundered all their beasts, all their cattle and all their estate.

10 All their walled cities with their dwellings and all their nomadic domiciles they burned with fire.

11 They took all the loot and all the booty, including human and beast.

12 Then they brought the captives and the booty and the loot to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, at the camp, on the plains of Moab which are along the Jordan across from Jericho.

13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the congregation went forth to meet them outside the camp.

14 Moses was wrathful with the officers of the army, chiefs of the thousands and chiefs of the hundreds, coming back from the militia host of the war.

15 And Moses said to them: You have kept every female alive?

16 Behold, they, by the word of Balaam, came to be for the sons of Israel the reason for a defecting offense against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so that the stroke came to be in the congregation of Yahweh.

17 And now, kill every male among the little ones, and every woman having known a man (at bed with a male), kill.

18 Yet every little one among the womenfolk who have not known bed with a male keep alive for yourselves.

19 As for you, encamp outside the camp seven days. All of you having killed a soul and all having touched any slain person shall purify yourselves from sin on the third day and on the seventh day, both you and your captives;

20 and every garment and every article of leather and every handiwork of goats’ hair and every article of wood shall you purify for yourselves from sin.

21 Eleazar the priest said to the men of the militia host who had come into the battle: This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has instructed Moses.

22 Yea, the gold and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin and the lead,

23 everything which may come through fire you shall cause to pass through fire, and it will be clean. Nevertheless, by the water of impurity shall it purify itself from sin. And everything which may not come through fire you shall cause to pass through water.

24 You will rinse your garments on the seventh day, and you will be clean. And thereafter you may come into the camp.

25 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

26 Obtain the sum of the booty, of the captives among human and among beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the patriarchal heads of the congregation.

27 And you will divide the booty between those handling the war, those going forth with the militia host, and the whole congregation.

28 You will raise up an assessment for Yahweh from the men of war, those going forth with the militia host: one soul out of five hundred from the human and from the beast, from the herd, from the donkeys and from the flock.

29 From their half-share shall you take it, and you will give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to Yahweh.

30 And from the half-share of the sons of Israel you shall take one to be withheld out of fifty, from the human, from the herd, from the donkeys and from the flock, from every beast, and you will give them to the Levites, the ones keeping charge of Yahweh’s tabernacle.

31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

32 The booty, the rest of the plunder which the people of the militia host had plundered came to be: a flock of six hundred seventy-five thousand,

33 a herd of seventy-two thousand,

34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys.

35 As for the human souls of womenfolk who had not known bed with a male, all the souls were thirty-two thousand.

36 The half-share, the portion of those going forth with the militia host, came to number a flock of three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred.

37 And the assessment for Yahweh came to be, from the flock, six hundred seventy-five.

38 The herd was thirty-six thousand, and their assessment for Yahweh was seventy-two.

39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, and their assessment for Yahweh was sixty-one.

40 The human souls were sixteen thousand, and their assessment for Yahweh was thirty-two souls.

41 Moses gave the assessment as a heave offering of Yahweh to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

42 As for the half-share of the sons of Israel which Moses had divided from that of the enlisted militiamen,

43 the half-share of the congregation came to be, from the flock, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred.

44 And the herd was thirty-six thousand,

45 the donkeys thirty thousand five hundred,

46 and the human souls sixteen thousand.

47 Moses took from the half-share of the sons of Israel one to be withheld out of fifty from the human and from the beast; and he gave them to the Levites, the ones keeping charge of Yahweh’s tabernacle just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

48 Then the officers who were for thousands of the militia host, the chiefs of thousands and the chiefs of hundreds, came near to Moses,

49 and they said to Moses: Your servants, they have obtained the sum of the men of war who are under our hand, and not a man is missing from us.

50 So we have brought near as an approach present to Yahweh, whatever articles of gold each man found: armlets and bracelets, rings, earrings and plaited ornaments to make a propitiatory shelter over our souls before Yahweh.

51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all articles of handiwork.

52 All the gold of the heave offering which they raised up to Yahweh was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels from the chiefs of thousands and from the chiefs of hundreds. (

53 The men of the militia host had plundered, each for himself.)

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the chiefs of thousands and hundreds and brought it to the tent of appointment, a reminder for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.

Chapter 32

1 The abundance of cattle which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had come to be very substantial. Now they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle.

2 So the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest and to the princes of the congregation, saying:

3 Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Shebam, Nebo and Beon,

4 the land which Yahweh smote before the congregation of Israel, it is cattle land, and your servants have cattle.

5 They also said: If we have found grace in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants for a holding; do not make us cross over the Jordan.

6 Then Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben: Your brothers, shall they come to the war while you dwell here?

7 Why do you discourage the heart of the sons of Israel from crossing over to the land which Yahweh has given to them?

8 Thus your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

9 They went up to Wadi Eschol and saw the land, yet they discouraged the heart of the sons of Israel so as not to enter the land which Yahweh has given to them.

10 The anger of Yahweh grew hot on that day, and He swore, saying:

11 Assuredly no one of the men coming up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward shall see the ground about which I had sworn to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob! For they have not fully followed after Me

12 save Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenezite and Joshua son of Nun, for they fully followed after Yahweh.

13 The anger of Yahweh grew hot against Israel, and He caused them to rove about in the wilderness forty years until the whole generation doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh came to end.

14 And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ stead as a vast brood of sinful men to be swept up again on account of the heat of Yahweh’s anger toward Israel!

15 In case you turn back from following Him, then He will continue further to leave them in the wilderness, and you will ruin this whole people.

16 Now they came close to him and said: Stone dike sheepfolds for flocks should we build here for our cattle and cities for our little ones.

17 Then we ourselves should be outfitted for the war, hurrying before the sons of Israel until whenever we should bring them to their place. Our little ones would dwell in fortress cities because of the presence of the dwellers of the land.

18 We shall not return to our houses until the sons of Israel entail each one his allotment,

19 for we shall not have an allotment with them across the Jordan and beyond since our allotment has come to us across the Jordan toward the sunrise.

20 Moses said to them: If you should do this thing, if you should be outfitted before Yahweh for the war

21 so that every outfitted man you have will cross over the Jordan before Yahweh until He has evicted His enemies from His presence,

22 and the land is subdued before Yahweh, and if you return afterward, then you will be exempt from your obligation to Yahweh and Israel, and this land will become yours for a holding before Yahweh.

23 Yet if you shall not do so, behold, you will have sinned against Yahweh; realize that your sin, it shall find you.

24 Build cities for yourselves, for your little ones, and stone dike sheepfolds for your flocks, but what is coming forth from your mouth shall you do.

25 Then one spoke for the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben to Moses, saying: Your servants, they shall do just as my lord is giving instruction.

26 Our little ones, our wives, our cattle and all our beasts, they shall stay there in the cities of Gilead.

27 As for your servants, every man outfitted for the militia host, they shall cross over before Yahweh for the war, just as my lord is speaking.

28 As for them Moses instructed Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the patriarchal heads of the stocks of the sons of Israel.

29 And Moses said to them: If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben should cross over the Jordan with you, every man outfitted for the war before Yahweh so that the land will be subdued before you, then you will give to them the land of Gilead for a holding.

30 Yet if those outfitted should not cross over with you, then they will be given a holding in your midst in the land of Canaan.

31 The sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying: What Yahweh has spoken to your servants so shall we do.

32 We, the outfitted, shall cross over before Yahweh to the land of Canaan, yet for us the holding of our allotment is across the Jordan.

33 So Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorite and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land belonging to its cities within its territories and the cities of the land around.

34 The sons of Gad rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth and Aroer,

35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,

36 Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortress cities or stone dike sheepfolds for flocks.

37 As for the sons of Reuben, they rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh and Kiriathaim,

38 as well as Nebo and Baal-meon (changed about in name) and Sibmah; yet they called the names of the cities which they rebuilt by other names.

39 The sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead; they seized it and evicted the Amorite who was in it.

40 So Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it.

41 As for Jair son of Manasseh, he went and seized their settlements and called them Havvoth-jair.

42 As for Nobah, he went and seized Kenath and its outskirts. And he called it Nobah by his own name.

Chapter 33

1 These are the journeys of the sons of Israel when they went forth from the land of Egypt by their militia hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron.

2 Moses wrote down their exit-places of their journeys at the bidding of Yahweh. And these are their decampments at their exit-places:

3 They journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the morrow after the passover the sons of Israel went forth with a high hand before the eyes of all the Egyptians

4 while the Egyptians were entombing those whom Yahweh had smitten among them, every firstborn, when Yahweh had executed judgments on their elohim.

5 The sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses and encamped at Succoth.

6 They journeyed from Succoth and encamped in Etham, which was at the end of the wilderness.

7 They journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which was adjoining Baal-zephon, and they encamped before Migdol.

8 They journeyed from Pi-hahiroth and crossed in the midst of the sea to the wilderness, went a way of three days into the wilderness of Etham and encamped at Marah.

9 They journeyed from Marah and came to Elim. There were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees at Elim, and they encamped there.

10 They journeyed from Elim and encamped by the Sea of Weeds.

11 They journeyed from the Sea of Weeds and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.

12 They journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Dophkah.

13 They journeyed from Dophkah and encamped at Alush.

14 They journeyed from Alush and encamped at Rephidim; there was no water there for the people to drink.

15 Then they journeyed from Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.

16 They journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and encamped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

17 Then they journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah and encamped at Hazeroth.

18 They journeyed from Hazeroth and encamped at Rithmah.

19 They journeyed from Rithmah and encamped at Rimmon-perez.

20 They journeyed from Rimmon-perez and encamped at Libnah.

21 They journeyed from Libnah and encamped at Rissah.

22 They journeyed from Rissah and encamped at Kehelathah.

23 They journeyed from Kehelathah and encamped at Mount Shepher.

24 They journeyed from Mount Shepher and encamped at Haradah.

25 They journeyed from Haradah and encamped at Makheloth.

26 They journeyed from Makheloth and encamped at Tahath.

27 They journeyed from Tahath and encamped at Terah.

28 They journeyed from Terah and encamped at Mithkah.

29 Then they journeyed from Mithkah and encamped at Hashmonah.

30 They journeyed from Hashmonah and encamped at Moseroth.

31 They journeyed from Moseroth and encamped at Bene-jaakan.

32 They journeyed from Bene-jaakan and encamped at Hor-haggidgad.

33 They journeyed from Hor-haggidgad and encamped at Jotbathah.

34 They journeyed from Jotbathah and encamped at Abronah.

35 They journeyed from Abronah and encamped at Ezion-geber.

36 They journeyed from Ezion-geber and encamped in the wilderness of Zin. They journeyed from the wilderness of Zin and encamped in the wilderness of Paran; it is toward Kadesh.

37 They journeyed from Kadesh and encamped at Mount Hor in the outmost part of the land of Edom.

38 Then Aaron the priest went up onto Mount Hor at the bidding of Yahweh, and he died there in the fortieth year after the going forth of the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on day one of the month.

39 Aaron was a hundred twenty-three years old at his death on Mount Hor.

40 Then the Canaanite king of Arad, he who was dwelling in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel.

41 They journeyed from Mount Hor and encamped at Zalmonah.

42 They journeyed from Zalmonah and encamped at Punon.

43 They journeyed from Punon and encamped at Oboth.

44 They journeyed from Oboth and encamped at Iye-abarim at the boundary of Moab.

45 They journeyed from Iyim and encamped at Dibon-gad.

46 They journeyed from Dibon-gad and encamped at Almon-diblathaim.

47 They journeyed from Almon-diblathaim and encamped in the mountains of the Abarim before Nebo.

48 They journeyed from the mountains of the Abarim and encamped in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho.

49 They encamped along the Jordan from Beth-jesimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

50 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho, saying:

51 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: When you are crossing the Jordan into the land of Canaan

52 then you will evict all the dwellers of the land from before you and destroy all their pictures; and all their molten images shall you destroy, and all their high-places shall you exterminate.

53 You will prepare the land for tenancy and dwell in it, for to you I give the land to tenant it.

54 And you will entail the land by lot, by your families. For the numerous one you shall increase his allotment, and for the little one you shall decrease his allotment. Wherever the lot comes forth for him it shall be his. By the stocks of your fathers shall you entail among yourselves.

55 Yet if you should not evict the dwellers of the land from your presence, then those whom you are leaving of them will become like barbs in your eyes and pricks in your sides, and they will distress you in the land in which you are dwelling.

56 And it will come to be: Just as I meant to do to them, I shall do to you.

Chapter 34

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Instruct the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: When you are coming into the land of Canaan, this is the land which shall fall to you in allotment, the land of Canaan to its boundaries.

3 Your southern edge will be from the wilderness of Zin along the sides of Edom, and your southern boundary will be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward;

4 your boundary will turn around from the Negeb to the ascent of Akrabbim, and it will pass toward Zin (and its border-area will be from the Negeb to Kadesh-barnea), and it will go forth to Hazar-addar and pass toward Azmon.

5 The boundary will turn around from Azmon toward the Wadi of Egypt, and its border-area will be toward the sea.

6 As for the western boundary, you will come to have the Great Sea and its coastline. This shall be your western boundary.

7 And this shall be your northern boundary: From the Great Sea you shall mark out your line to Mount Hor;

8 from Mount Hor you shall mark it out to Lebo-hamath, and the border-area of the territory will be at Zedad;

9 then the boundary will go forth toward Ziphron, and its border-area will be at Hazar-enen. This shall be your northern boundary.

10 You will mark out for yourselves as an eastward boundary a line from Hazar-enen toward Shepham.

11 The boundary will go down from Shepham toward Riblah on the east side of Ain; the boundary will also go down and abut on the shoulder of the Lake of Chinnereth, eastward.

12 Then the boundary will go down along the Jordan, and its border-area will be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land as to its boundaries round about.

13 Moses instructed the sons of Israel, saying: This is the land which you shall entail by lot and which Yahweh has instructed to give to nine of the stocks and the half stock of Manasseh.

14 For they have taken, the stock of the sons of the Reubenite by their fathers’ house and the stock of the sons of the Gadite by their fathers’ house and the half stock of Manasseh, they have taken their allotment.

15 The two stocks and the half stock, they have taken their allotment across the Jordan of Jericho, eastward toward sunrise.

16 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

17 These are the names of the men who shall allot the land to you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun,

18 and one prince, one prince from each stock, shall you take to allot the land.

19 And these are the names of the men: for the stock of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

20 for the stock of the sons of Simeon, Samuel son of Ammihud;

21 for the stock of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon;

22 for the stock of the sons of Dan, prince Bukki son of Jogli;

23 for the sons of Joseph: for the stock of the sons of Manasseh, prince Hanniel son of Ephod,

24 for the stock of the sons of Ephraim, prince Kemuel son of Shiphtan;

25 for the stock of the sons of Zebulun, prince Elizaphan son of Parnach;

26 for the stock of the sons of Issachar, prince Paltiel son of Azzan;

27 for the stock of the sons of Asher, prince Ahihud son of Shelomi;

28 and for the stock of the sons of Naphtali, prince Pedahel son of Ammihud.

29 These are those whom Yahweh had instructed to make the allotment to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.

Chapter 35

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab along the Jordan across from Jericho, saying:

2 Instruct the sons of Israel so that they give to the Levites, from the allotment of their holding, cities to dwell in; and by the cities, common pasture land around them shall you give to the Levites.

3 The cities will be theirs to dwell in, and their common lands shall be for their domestic beasts, for their goods and for all their animals.

4 The common lands of the cities which you shall give to the Levites will extend from the sidewall of the city outward a thousand cubits round about.

5 You will measure off outside the city on the eastward edge two thousand cubits, on the southern edge two thousand cubits, on the western edge two thousand cubits and on the northern edge two thousand cubits with the city in the midst. This shall be their common lands for the cities.

6 And of the cities which you shall give to the Levites six will be asylum cities which you shall give for the manslayer to flee there. And along with them you shall give forty-two other cities.

7 All the cities which you shall give to the Levites will be forty-eight cities, these and their common pasture lands.

8 And the cities which you shall give will be from the holding of the sons of Israel: From the numerous one you shall increase, and from the little one you shall decrease; each tribe according to the bidding of its allotment which they are allotting shall give from its cities to the Levites.

9 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying:

10 Speak to the sons of Israel, and you will say to them: When you are crossing over the Jordan to the land of Canaan

11 then you will constitute your cities which shall be cities of asylum for you; there the manslayer will flee, whoever is smiting a soul to death inadvertently.

12 They will become for you the cities of asylum from the kinsmen redeemer so that the manslayer should not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment.

13 Of the cities which you shall give six shall become your asylum cities.

14 Three of the cities shall you give across the Jordan, and three of the cities shall you give in the land of Canaan; cities of asylum shall they be.

15 For the sons of Israel, for the sojourner and for the guest in their midst, these six cities shall be for an asylum to flee there for everyone smiting a soul to death inadvertently.

16 Yet if he smites him with an iron instrument and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death, yea death.

17 And if he smites him with a stone in his hand by which one may die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death, yea death.

18 Or if he smites him with a wooden instrument in his hand by which one may die, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall be put to death, yea death.

19 The kinsman redeemer of blood, he shall put the murderer to death; when he comes upon him he shall put him to death.

20 And if he thrusts him down in hatred or flings anything at him with malicious intent and he dies,

21 or he smites him in enmity with his hand and he dies, the smiter shall be put to death, yea death; he is a murderer. The kinsman redeemer of blood shall put the murderer to death when he comes upon him.

22 Yet if in an instant, with no enmity, he thrusts him down or flings any article at him with no malicious intent,

23 or, when not seeing him, he causes any stone by which one may die to fall on him and he dies, yet he was not his enemy and was not seeking his evil,

24 then the congregation will judge between the smiter and the kinsman redeemer of blood by these judgments;

25 and the congregation will rescue the manslayer from the hand of the kinsman redeemer of blood, and the congregation will restore him to his city of asylum where he had fled. He will dwell in it until the death of the great priest, whom one anointed with the holy oil.

26 Yet if the manslayer goes forth, yea forth beyond the boundary of his city of asylum where he had fled

27 and the kinsman redeemer of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of asylum, and the kinsman redeemer of blood murders the manslayer, there is no bloodguilt on him,

28 for he should dwell in his city of asylum until the death of the great priest. Yet after the death of the great priest the manslayer may return to the land of his holding.

29 These will be for you a statute of judgment throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

30 Everyone smiting a soul to death, at the mouth of witnesses one shall murder the murderer. Yet a single witness shall not assert guilt against a soul to cause him to die.

31 Nor shall you take a sheltering ransom for the soul of the murderer, who stands condemned to die; for he shall be put to death, yea death.

32 And no sheltering ransom shall you take for one who had fled to his city of asylum only to return to dwell in the land before the death of the great priest.

33 You shall not pollute the land in which you are dwelling; for it is the blood that pollutes the land. As for the land, no propitiatory shelter may be made for the blood which was shed on it save by the blood of him who shed it.

34 You shall not defile the land in which you are dwelling, in whose midst I am tabernacling, for I, Yahweh, am tabernacling in the midst of the sons of Israel.

Chapter 36

1 The patriarchal heads of the family of the sons of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, from the families of the sons of Joseph came near and spoke before Moses and before the princes, the patriarchal heads of the sons of Israel.

2 They said: Yahweh has instructed my lord to give the land in allotments by lot to the sons of Israel. And my lord was instructed by Yahweh to give the allotment of Zelophehad, our brother, to his daughters.

3 When they become wives for some of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, then their allotment will be subtracted from the allotment of our fathers, and it will be added onto the allotment of the stock to which they should belong, and from the lot of our allotment it shall be subtracted.

4 When the jubilee comes for the sons of Israel then their allotment would be added onto the allotment of the stock to which they should belong; and from the allotment of our fathers’ stock their allotment might be subtracted.

5 So Moses instructed the sons of Israel at the bidding of Yahweh, saying: Properly the stock of the sons of Joseph is speaking.

6 This is the word which Yahweh has instructed as to the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, To anyone good in their eyes they may become wives; only into the family of their father’s stock shall they become wives.

7 The allotment of the sons of Israel shall not go around from stock to stock, for the sons of Israel, each one, shall cling to the allotment of his fathers’ stock.

8 And every daughter tenanting an allotment from the stocks of the sons of Israel, to someone from the family of her father’s stock should she become the wife so that the sons of Israel may tenant, each one, the allotment of his fathers.

9 The allotment shall not go around from one stock to another stock, for the stocks of the sons of Israel each one shall cling to his allotment.

10 Just as Yahweh had instructed Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad.

11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah Milcah and Noah, daughters of Zelophehad, became wives of their uncles’ sons.

12 To those from the families of the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph they became wives; and their allotment came to be with the stock of their father’s family.

13 These are the instructions and judgments which Yahweh had instructed by means of Moses to the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab, along the Jordan across from Jericho.

The Book of Deuteronomy

Chapter 1

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel in Transjordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Di-zahab. (

2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the Mount Seir road unto Kadesh-barnea.)

3 It came to be in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on day one of the month, that Moses spoke to all the sons of Israel according to all that Yahweh had instructed him concerning them,

4 after his smiting Sihon king of the Amorite (who was dwelling in Heshbon) and Og king of Bashan (who was dwelling in Ashtaroth) at Edrei.

5 In Transjordan in the land of Moab, Moses was disposed to make this law plain by saying:

6 Yahweh our Elohim, He spoke to us at Horeb saying: Many days have you dwelt at this mountain.

7 Turn around and take your journey and enter the hill-country of the Amorite; go to all his neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill-country, in the low foothills, in the Negeb and on the sea shore, the land of the Canaanite and the Lebanon as far as the Great Stream, the stream Euphrates.

8 See! I have set the land before you. Enter and tenant the land about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.

9 I spoke to you at that time saying: I am not able to bear you alone.

10 Yahweh your Elohim, He has made you multiply, and behold, you are today like the stars of the heavens for multitude.

11 Yahweh Elohim of your fathers, may He add to you a thousand times as many as you are, and may He bless you just as He promised to you.

12 How shall I alone bear the encumbrance of you, and the load of you and your disputes?

13 Grant yourselves men wise and understanding, and known to your tribes, that I may place them as your heads.

14 And you answered me and said: The word that you speak for us to do is good.

15 So I took the heads of your tribes, men wise and known, and I placed them as heads over you, chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifties and chiefs of tens, and clerks for your judges.

16 And I instructed your judges at that time, saying: You are to hear the disputes between your brothers, and you will judge justly between a man and his brother or his sojourner.

17 You shall not be biased in judgment. You shall hear the small as the great. You shall not shrink away from any man’s face, because the judgment, it is Elohim’s. And the matter which is too hard for you, you shall bring near to me that I may hear it.

18 Thus I instructed you at that time in all the things which you should do.

19 We journeyed from Horeb and went through all that great and fear inspiring wilderness which you saw by way of the Amorite hill-country, just as Yahweh our Elohim had instructed us, and we came as far as Kadesh-barnea.

20 Then I said to you: You have come as far as the Amorite hill-country that Yahweh our Elohim is giving to us.

21 See! Yahweh your Elohim has set the land before you. Ascend! Tenant it just as Yahweh Elohim of your fathers promised to you. Do not fear, and do not be dismayed.

22 Then you came near to me, all of you, and said: Let us send men before us that they may reconnoiter in the land for us and bring us back word about the way by which we should ascend, and about the cities to which we shall come.

23 Now the word was good in my eyes, so I took twelve men from you, one man for each tribe.

24 They turned around, ascended toward the hill-country and came back to Wadi Eshcol and spied it out.

25 Then they took in their hand some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us; they brought us back word and said: The land that Yahweh our Elohim is giving to us is good.

26 Yet you would not ascend, and you defied the bidding of Yahweh your Elohim.

27 You murmured in your tents and said: In Yahweh’s hatred of us He brought us forth from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorite to exterminate us.

28 Whither are we ascending? Our brothers, they melt our heart by saying: The people are greater and taller than we are; the cities are great and defended to the heavens; and moreover, we saw the sons of the Anakim there.

29 Yet I was saying to you: You should not be terrified, and you should not fear them.

30 Yahweh your Elohim Who is going before you, He Himself shall fight for you according to all that He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 and in the wilderness where you saw how Yahweh your Elohim carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way you went until you came to this place.

32 Even in this matter you were not believing in Yahweh your Elohim,

33 Who was going before you in the way to explore for you a place for you to encamp, in fire by night, to show you the way by which you should go, and in a cloud by day.

34 When Yahweh heard the sound of your words, He was wrathful; and He swore saying:

35 Assuredly no one among these mortals, this evil generation, shall see the good land about which I had sworn to give to your fathers,

36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh; he shall see it. To him shall I give the land on which he has trod, and to his sons, because he has fully followed after Yahweh.

37 Moreover, Yahweh showed Himself angered with me owing to you, saying: Not even you shall enter there.

38 Joshua son of Nun, who is standing before you, he shall enter there. Encourage him, for he shall allot it to Israel.

39 And your little ones of whom you said, They shall come to be for plunder, and your sons who today do not know good or evil, they shall enter there; to them shall I give it, and they shall tenant it.

40 Yet you, turn yourselves around and journey toward the wilderness by the Sea of Weeds road.

41 Then you answered and said to me: We have sinned against Yahweh our Elohim. We shall ascend, and we will fight according to all that Yahweh our Elohim has instructed us. So you girded, each man his implements of war, and you thought it easy to ascend to the hill-country.

42 Yet Yahweh said to me: Say to them, You shall not ascend, and you shall not fight (since I am not among you), that you may not be stricken before your enemies.

43 So I spoke to you, yet you did not hearken; you defied the bidding of Yahweh and showed arrogance, and you ascended to the hill-country.

44 Yet the Amorite who was dwelling in that hill-country came forth to meet you; they pursued you just as bees do, and they pounded you in Seir as far as Hormah.

45 Then you returned and lamented before Yahweh. Yet Yahweh did not hearken to your voice nor give ear to you.

46 So you dwelt at Kadesh many days, according to the days which you dwelt.

Chapter 2

1 Then we turned around and journeyed toward the wilderness by the Sea of Weeds road, just as Yahweh had spoken to me; and we were around the hill-country of Seir many days.

2 Then Yahweh spoke to me saying:

3 Long enough you have been around this hill-country. Turn yourselves around northward

4 and instruct the people saying, You shall pass along the boundary of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who are dwelling in Seir. They shall fear you, yet you must be very much on guard.

5 Do not stir yourselves up against them, for I shall not give to you any of their land, not even a tread of a foot’s sole for I have given the hill-country of Seir for a tenancy to Esau.

6 You shall purchase food from them with silver, that you may eat. Even for water you shall bargain from them with silver, that you may drink.

7 For Yahweh your Elohim, He has blessed you in every work of your hand. He knows of your going in this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your Elohim has been with you. You have lacked nothing.

8 So we passed on away from our brothers, the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and away from Ezion-geber, and we turned around and passed on by the Moab wilderness road.

9 Then Yahweh said to me: Do not distress Moab, and do not stir yourself up against them in battle, for I shall not give to you any of his land as a tenancy, for I gave Ar to the sons of Lot as a tenancy. (

10 The Emim dwelt in it beforetime, a people great and numerous, and as tall as the Anakim.

11 Like the Anakim, they too were accounted as Rephaim, yet the Moabites called them Emim.

12 And the Horites dwelt beforetime in Seir, yet the sons of Esau dispossessed them and exterminated them before their face that they might dwell in their stead, just as Israel did to the land of its tenancy that Yahweh had given to them.)

13 Now arise, journey, and you cross over Wadi Zered. So we crossed over Wadi Zered.

14 The days that we went from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over Wadi Zered were thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of the men of military age had come to end from among the camp, just as Yahweh had sworn concerning them.

15 And indeed, the hand of Yahweh came to be against them to discomfit them from among the camp, until they had come to end.

16 It came to be just as all the men of military age had come to end, dying from among the people,

17 that Yahweh spoke to me, saying:

18 Today you are passing through the territory of Moab at Ar;

19 then you will come near toward the sons of Ammon. Do not distress them, and do not stir yourself up against them, for I shall not give any of the land of the sons of Ammon to you as a tenancy, since I gave it to the sons of Lot as a tenancy. (

20 It too was accounted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim, they dwelt in it beforetime, yet the Ammonites, they called them Zamzummim,

21 a people great and numerous, and as tall as the Anakim. Yet Yahweh exterminated them before their face that they might dispossess them and dwell in their stead,

22 just as He did for the sons of Esau who were dwelling in Seir, when He exterminated the Horite before their face, and they dispossessed them and dwelt in their stead until this day.

23 As for the Avvim, who were dwelling in hamlets as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who were coming forth from Caphtor, they exterminated them and dwelt in their stead.)

24 Arise, journey, and cross over Wadi Arnon. See! I will give into your hand Sihon king of Heshbon, the Amorite, and his land. Start out, tenant it, and struggle with him in battle.

25 This day I shall start to put the awe of you and the fear of you on the face of all peoples beneath the entire heavens; whenever they should hear a report of you, they will be disturbed and in travail before your face.

26 Then I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying:

27 Do let me pass through your land along the main road. Only along the main road shall I go. I shall not withdraw to the right or to the left.

28 You may retail to me food for silver that I may eat. And you may give me water for silver that I may drink. But do let me pass through on my feet

29 (just as the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir and the Moabites who are dwelling in Ar did for me), until I shall cross over the Jordan to the land that Yahweh our Elohim is giving to us.

30 Yet Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through it, for Yahweh your Elohim made his spirit obstinate and made his heart resolute, that He might give him into your hand (as is known this day).

31 Then Yahweh said to me: See! I have started to deliver up before you Sihon king of Heshbon, the Amorite, and his land. Start out, tenant, yea tenant his land.

32 When Sihon came forth to meet us, he and all his people, for battle at Jahaz,

33 Yahweh our Elohim delivered him up before us, and we smote him, his sons and all his people.

34 We seized all his cities at that time, and we doomed every city adult males, women and little ones we let not one survivor remain.

35 But the domestic beasts we plundered for ourselves, and the loot of the cities that we had seized.

36 From Aroer which is on the ridge of the wadi valley of Arnon, and the city which is in the wadi valley, even as far as Gilead, there was no town which was impregnable to us. Yahweh our Elohim gave the whole into our hands.

37 But to the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the side of Wadi Jabbok and the cities of the hill-country you did not come near, wherever Yahweh our Elohim had so enjoined.

Chapter 3

1 Then we turned around and ascended the Bashan road. And Og king of Bashan came forth to meet us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.

2 But Yahweh said to me: Do not fear him, for into your hand I will give him, all his people and his land, and you will do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorite who was dwelling in Heshbon.

3 So Yahweh our Elohim also gave into our hand Og king of Bashan and all his people, and we smote him until no survivor at all was left remaining to him.

4 Then we seized all his cities at that time. There was not a town which we did not take from them, sixty cities, the whole district of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5 All these cities were defended by lofty walls, double doors and bar, aside from the unwalled villages which were exceedingly numerous.

6 And we doomed them just as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, dooming every city adult males, women and little ones.

7 All the domestic beasts and the loot of the cities we plundered for ourselves.

8 At that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorite who were in Transjordan, from Wadi Arnon as far as Mount Hermon (

9 the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorite call it Shenir),

10 all the cities of the tableland and all Gilead and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. (

11 For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the rest of the Rephaim. Behold, his sarcophagus is a sarcophagus of wrought iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits is its length and four cubits its width, in the cubit measure of a man.)

12 From this land which we took over at that time, the part from Aroer which is on the ridge of Wadi Arnon with half the hill-country of Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenite and to the Gadite.

13 The rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh, including the whole district of Argob. All of that Bashan, it is called the land of the Rephaim.

14 Jair son of Manasseh, he took the whole district of Argob as far as the boundary of the Geshurite and the Maachathite and called them (that is, Bashan) by his own name, Havvoth-jair, until this day.

15 And to Machir I gave Gilead.

16 To the Reubenite and to the Gadite I gave their half of Gilead: as far as Wadi Arnon (the midst of the wadi as boundary), as far as the Wadi Jabbok, the boundary of the sons of Ammon.

17 In the west the Arabah with the Jordan was the boundary from Chinnereth as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, below the slopes of the Pisgah ridge toward sunrise.

18 I instructed you at that time, saying: Yahweh your Elohim, He has given to you this land to tenant it. You shall cross over outfitted for war before your brothers, the sons of Israel, all you sons of valor.

19 But your wives and your little ones and your cattle (I know that you have much cattle), they may dwell in your cities which I gave to you

20 until Yahweh shall give rest to your brothers, as He gave to you, and they too will tenant the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to them across the Jordan. Then you may return, each to his tenancy, which I gave to you.

21 I instructed Joshua at that time, saying: Your eyes were the ones seeing all that Yahweh your Elohim has done to these two kings. Thus shall Yahweh do to all the kingdoms where you are passing.

22 You shall not fear them, for Yahweh your Elohim, He is the One fighting for you.

23 I supplicated to Yahweh at that time, saying:

24 My Lord Yahweh, You Yourself have started to show Your servant Your greatness and Your steadfast hand, and Your outstretched arm. For what el is in the heavens or on the earth who could do according to Your deeds and according to Your mastery?

25 Let me cross over, I pray so I may see the good land that is across the Jordan, this good hill-country and the Lebanon.

26 Yet Yahweh was enraged with me on account of you and did not hearken to me. Yahweh said to me: Let it be enough for you! Do not continue to speak to Me further on this matter.

27 Ascend to the summit of the Pisgah ridge, and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

28 Yet instruct Joshua and encourage him and make him resolute, for he shall cross over before this people, and he shall allot to them the land that you shall see.

29 So we dwelt in the ravine opposite Beth-peor.

Chapter 4

1 Now, Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the ordinances that I am teaching you today, to do them, that you may live and may enter and tenant the land that Yahweh Elohim of your fathers is giving to you.

2 You shall neither add to the word that I am enjoining on you, nor shall you subtract from it, but observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim that I am enjoining on you.

3 Your eyes were the ones seeing all that Yahweh did with regard to Baal-peor, for every man who went after Baal-peor, Yahweh your Elohim exterminated from among you.

4 Yet you who were clinging to Yahweh your Elohim, all of you are alive today.

5 See! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as Yahweh my Elohim had instructed me, for you to do thus within the land where you are entering to tenant it.

6 And you must observe and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes of all the peoples who shall hear of all these statutes and will say: Surely this great nation is a people wise and understanding.

7 For what great nation is there which has elohim so near to it as Yahweh our Elohim is in all that we call to Him?

8 And what great nation is there which has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law that I am putting before you today?

9 But guard yourself and keep your soul especially vigilant, lest you should forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they should withdraw from your heart, all the days of your lives. You will make them known to your sons and to your sons’ sons, lest you forget

10 the day that you stood before Yahweh your Elohim at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me: Assemble the people to Me that I may let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they are alive on the ground and may teach their sons.

11 Then you approached and stood below the mountain, when the mountain was consuming with fire unto the heart of the heavens, with darkness, cloud and murkiness,

12 and Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you were hearing the sound of words, yet you were not seeing a physical representation, nothing except a voice.

13 He told you His covenant which He instructed you to keep, the ten words. Then He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

14 And Yahweh instructed me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, for you to do them in the land where you are crossing over to tenant it.

15 You must be very much on guard against your soulish desires (since you saw no physical representation at all on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire)

16 lest you should bring ruin on yourselves and make for yourselves a carving, a physical representation of any figure, a model of male or female,

17 a model of any beast which is on the earth, a model of any winged bird which flies in the heavens,

18 a model of any animal moving on the ground, a model of any fish which is in the waters below the earth.

19 Guard yourselves lest you should lift up your eyes toward the heavens, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of the heavens, and be induced to bow yourself down to them and serve them, which Yahweh your Elohim has apportioned to all other peoples beneath the entire heavens.

20 As for you, Yahweh took you, and He brought you forth from the iron crucible, from Egypt, to become His as a people of allotment, as on this day.

21 Yet Yahweh, He showed Himself angered with me on account of your words. He swore that I would fail to cross over the Jordan and that I would fail to come to the good land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment,

22 for I am dying in this land. I am not crossing over the Jordan, but you are crossing over and will tenant that good land.

23 Guard yourselves lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your Elohim that He contracted with you, and so you make for yourselves a carving, a physical representation of anything, against which Yahweh your Elohim had instructed you;

24 for Yahweh your Elohim, He is a devouring fire, a jealous El.

25 When you beget sons and sons of sons, and you find repose in the land and then become corrupt and make a carving, a physical representation of anything, and do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim so as to provoke Him to vexation,

26 I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you today, that you shall perish, yea perish quickly off the land where you are crossing over the Jordan to tenant it. You shall not prolong your days on it, for you shall be exterminated, yea exterminated.

27 Yahweh will cause you to scatter among the peoples, and you will remain adult males of a small number among the nations where Yahweh shall lead you.

28 And there you will serve other elohim, the work of human hands, of wood and stone which are neither seeing nor hearing, neither eating nor smelling.

29 Yet from there you will seek Yahweh your Elohim, and you will find Him when you inquire for Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30 In your distress, when all these things find you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your Elohim, and you will hearken to His voice.

31 For Yahweh your Elohim is a compassionate El. He shall neither neglect you nor bring ruin on you, nor shall He forget the covenant of your fathers about which He had sworn to them.

32 For ask now about the former days which came before you, from the day that Elohim created humanity on the earth, and from one end of the heavens unto the other end of the heavens. Has there occurred anything like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

33 Has a people ever heard the voice of the living Elohim speaking from the midst of the fire just as you heard it, and lived?

34 Or has an elohim ever tried to come and take for himself a nation from among another nation by trials, by signs and by miracles, by war, by a steadfast hand and by an outstretched arm and by great fear-inspiring deeds, such as all that Yahweh your Elohim did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

35 You were shown this to know that Yahweh, He is the only Elohim. There is no one else aside from Him.

36 From the heavens He let you hear His voice, to discipline you, and on the earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.

37 For inasmuch as He loved your fathers and chose their seed after them and brought you forth from Egypt into His presence by His great vigor,

38 to evict greater and more substantial nations than you from your presence, to bring you in and give to you their land as an allotment, as it is this day,

39 so you know today, and you recall it to your heart that Yahweh, He is the only Elohim in the heavens above and on the earth beneath; there is no one else.

40 Hence you will observe His statutes and His instructions which I am enjoining on you today, that it may be well with you and your sons after you, and that you may prolong your days on the ground that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, all the days.

41 Then Moses separated three cities in Transjordan toward the sunrise,

42 for the fleeing there of the manslayer who slays his associate without premeditation, when he was not hating him heretofore. Then he will flee to one of these cities that he may live:

43 Bezer in the wilderness in the tableland country for the Reubenite, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadite, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassite.

44 This is the law that Moses placed before the sons of Israel.

45 These are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Moses pronounced to the sons of Israel when they had come forth from Egypt,

46 in Transjordan in the ravine opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorite, who was dwelling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel smote when they had come forth from Egypt.

47 Then they tenanted his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorite who were in Transjordan toward the sunrise,

48 from Aroer, which is on the ridge above Wadi Arnon and as far as Mount Sirion (that is Hermon),

49 and all the Transjordan Arabah toward the sunrise and as far as the Sea of the Arabah below the slopes of the Pisgah ridge.

Chapter 5

1 Moses called to all Israel and said to them: Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances that I am speaking in your ears today, that you learn them and observe to do them.

2 Yahweh our Elohim, He contracted a covenant with us at Horeb.

3 Not with our fathers did Yahweh contract this covenant, but with us, us, these here today, all of us who are alive.

4 Face to face Yahweh spoke with you at the mount from the midst of the fire

5 (I was standing between Yahweh and you at that time, to tell you the words of Yahweh, for you were fearful because of the presence of the fire and did not ascend onto the mountain), saying:

6 I, Yahweh, am your Elohim Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants.

7 There shall not come to be other elohim for you in preference to Me.

8 You shall not make for yourself a carving nor any physical representation of that in the heavens above or that on the earth beneath or that in the waters beneath the earth.

9 You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor be made to serve them, for I, Yahweh your Elohim, am a jealous El, visiting the depravity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation, to those hating Me,

10 yet showing benignity to thousands, to those loving Me and observing My instructions.

11 You shall not take up the Name of Yahweh your Elohim for futility, for Yahweh shall not hold innocent him who takes up His Name for futility.

12 You are to observe the sabbath day to hallow it, just as Yahweh your Elohim had instructed you.

13 Six days shall you serve and do all your work,

14 yet the seventh day is a sabbath to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not do any work on it; you, your son or your daughter, your manservant or your maidservant, your bull, your donkey or any domestic beast of yours, or your sojourner who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as you do.

15 You will remember that you had become a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your Elohim brought you forth from there with a steadfast hand and with an outstretched arm. Therefore Yahweh your Elohim instructed you to observe the sabbath day.

16 Glorify your father and your mother, just as Yahweh your Elohim had instructed you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may be well with you on the ground which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you.

17 You shall not murder.

18 You shall not commit adultery.

19 You shall not steal.

20 You shall not answer against your associate with unfounded testimony.

21 You shall not covet the wife of your associate. You shall not lust after the house of your associate, his field, his manservant or his maidservant, his bull, his donkey or anything which is your associate’s.

22 These were the words Yahweh spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain, in a loud voice from the midst of the fire, the darkness, the cloud and the murkiness; and He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

23 Then it came to be, as you heard the voice from the midst of the fire and the darkness, when the mountain was consuming with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders,

24 and you said: Behold, Yahweh our Elohim has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we heard His voice from the midst of the fire. This day we have seen that Elohim speaks with the human, and he still lives.

25 Yet now, why should we die? For this great fire shall devour us. If we are continuing to hear the voice of Yahweh our Elohim any further, then we will die.

26 For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living Elohim speaking from the midst of the fire as we have, and he still lives?

27 As for you, go near and hear all that Yahweh our Elohim says; then you shall speak to us all that Yahweh our Elohim shall speak to you, and we will hearken and do.

28 Yahweh heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, and Yahweh said to me: I have heard the sound of the words of this people that they have spoken to you. They have done well in all they have spoken.

29 O that their heart might become this way with them: to fear Me and to observe all My instructions all the days, that it might be well with them and with their sons for the eon.

30 Go, say to them: You return to your tents!

31 As for you, stay here with Me, and let Me speak to you about all the instruction and the statutes and the ordinances that you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving to them to tenant it.

32 You will observe to do just as Yahweh your Elohim had enjoined on you. You shall not withdraw to the right or to the left.

33 In all the way which Yahweh your Elohim had enjoined on you, you shall walk that you may live, and it may be well with you, and you may prolong your days in the land that you shall tenant.

Chapter 6

1 Now this is the instruction, the statutes and the ordinances that Yahweh your Elohim had enjoined on me to teach you, to keep in the land where you are crossing over to tenant it,

2 that you may fear Yahweh your Elohim, so as to observe all His statutes and His instructions which I am enjoining on you today, you and your son and your son’s son, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

3 You will hear then, Israel, and you will observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply exceedingly, just as Yahweh Elohim of your fathers promised to give to you a land gushing with milk and honey.

4 Hear, Israel! Yahweh is our Elohim; Yahweh the only One.

5 So you will love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your intensity.

6 These words which I am instructing you today will come to be in your heart.

7 You will repeat them to your sons, and you will speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you arise.

8 You will tie them for a sign on your hand, and they will come to be for the brow-bands between your eyes;

9 you will write them on the jambs of your house and on your gates.

10 When it comes to be that Yahweh your Elohim brings you into the land about which He had sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give to you great and good cities which you did not build,

11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, so that you will eat and be satisfied,

12 then guard yourself, lest you should forget Yahweh your Elohim Who brought you forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants.

13 Yahweh your Elohim shall you fear, and Him only shall you serve, and to Him shall you cling, and by His Name shall you swear.

14 You shall not go after other elohim of the elohim of the peoples who are around you

15 (for a jealous El is Yahweh your Elohim among you); otherwise the anger of Yahweh your Elohim shall grow hot against you, and He will exterminate you off the surface of the ground.

16 You shall not probe Yahweh your Elohim as you probed at Massah.

17 You shall observe, yea observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim and His testimonies and His statutes, which He had enjoined on you.

18 You will do the upright and the good in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim that it may be well with you and that you may enter and tenant the good land about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers,

19 to thrust out all your enemies from your presence, just as Yahweh had promised.

20 When it comes to be that your son should ask you tomorrow, saying: What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Yahweh our Elohim had enjoined on you?

21 then you will say to your son: We were servants to Pharaoh in Egypt, yet Yahweh brought us forth from Egypt with a steadfast hand.

22 And Yahweh gave signs and miracles, great and bad, against Egypt, against Pharaoh and against all his household before our eyes.

23 Then He brought us forth from there, that He might bring us in and give to us the land about which Yahweh had sworn to our fathers.

24 Then Yahweh instructed us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our Elohim for our good all the days so as to keep us alive, as it is this day.

25 So it shall come to be righteousness for us when we observe to do all this instruction before Yahweh our Elohim, just as He had enjoined on us.

Chapter 7

1 When Yahweh your Elohim brings you into the land where you are about to enter in order to tenant it, and He eases many nations out before your face, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and substantial than you,

2 when Yahweh your Elohim gives them up before you, and you smite them, then you shall doom, yea doom them. You shall neither contract a covenant with them nor be gracious to them,

3 nor shall you intermarry with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son.

4 For it might take away your son from following after Me, and they might serve other elohim, and the anger of Yahweh would grow hot against you, and He would exterminate you quickly.

5 But rather, thus shall you do to them: You shall tear down their altars, break their monuments, hack down their Asherah poles, and you shall burn their carvings with fire.

6 For you are a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim; Yahweh your Elohim has chosen you to become His, a special people from all the peoples who are on the surface of the ground.

7 It was not because your multitude was more than all the other peoples that Yahweh was attached to you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all the peoples.

8 But it was because of the love of Yahweh for you and because of His keeping the oath that He had sworn to your fathers that Yahweh brought you forth with a steadfast hand and ransomed you from the house of servants, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 Thus you will know that Yahweh your Elohim, He is the One, Elohim, the El, Who is faithful, keeping the covenant and the kindness to those loving Him and to those observing His instructions for a thousand generations,

10 yet repaying the one hating Him right to His face, so as to destroy him. He shall not delay toward one hating Him right to His face; He shall repay him.

11 Hence you will observe the instruction and the statutes and the ordinances which I am enjoining on you today, to keep them.

12 It will come to be, insomuch as you shall hearken to these ordinances, and you observe and do them, that Yahweh your Elohim will keep with you the covenant and the kindness about which He had sworn to your fathers;

13 He will love you and bless you; He will multiply you and bless the fruit of your belly and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your grape juice and your clarified oil, the calving of your domestic animals and the lambing of your flock, on the ground about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers to give to you.

14 Blessed shall you come to be above all the peoples. There shall come to be no sterile man or barren woman among you, nor among your beasts.

15 Yahweh will take away from you every illness; and all the bad diseases of Egypt about which you know, He shall not place them among you, but He will give them to all those hating you.

16 Now you will devour all the peoples whom Yahweh your Elohim is delivering to you. Your eye shall not commiserate over them, and you shall not serve their elohim, for that is a trap to you.

17 Though you may say in your heart: These nations are more numerous than I; how shall I be able to evict them?

18 you shall not fear them. You shall remember, yea remember what Yahweh your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt,

19 the great probings which your eyes have seen, the signs and the miracles, the steadfast hand and the outstretched arm with which Yahweh your Elohim brought you forth. So shall Yahweh your Elohim do to all the peoples of whom you are fearful because of their presence.

20 Moreover, Yahweh your Elohim shall send the hornet among them, until those remaining and those concealed perish before your face.

21 You shall not be terrified because of their presence, since Yahweh your Elohim is among you, an El great and fear inspiring.

22 Yahweh your Elohim will ease these nations out before your face, little by little. You shall not be able to finish them quickly, lest the land become a wilderness and the animal of the field multiply against you.

23 Yet Yahweh your Elohim will give them up before you and discomfit them with a great discomfiture until they are exterminated.

24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under the heavens. No man shall station himself in your presence until you exterminate them.

25 You shall burn the carvings of their elohim with fire. You shall not covet the silver and gold on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be trapped by it, for it is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim.

26 You shall not bring an abhorrence into your house, or you will become doomed just as it is. You shall reject it as abominable, yea abominable; you shall reject it as abhorrent, yea abhorrent, for it is doomed.

Chapter 8

1 All the instruction which I am enjoining on you today you shall observe to do, that you may live and multiply and enter and tenant the land about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers.

2 And you will remember all the way which Yahweh your Elohim caused you to go these forty years in the wilderness, that He might make you humble, to probe you so as to know what is in your heart, whether or not you shall observe His instructions.

3 So He made you humble and let you hunger; then He fed you with the manna which neither you had known, nor had your fathers known, that He might make you realize that not on bread alone shall the human live, for by every utterance from the mouth of Yahweh shall the human live.

4 Your raiment has not worn out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

5 So you know with your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, Yahweh your Elohim is disciplining you.

6 Hence you will observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim so as to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

7 For Yahweh your Elohim is bringing you into a land good and wide, a land of watercourses, with water from springs and from the abyss coming forth in valley and in mountain,

8 a land of wheat and barley and vine and fig and pomegranate, a land of olive oil and honey,

9 a land in which you may eat bread, not in frugality. You shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones have iron ore, and from its mountain ranges you may hew copper.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, then you will bless Yahweh your Elohim for the good land that He has given to you.

11 Guard yourself lest you should forget Yahweh your Elohim by failing to observe His instructions and His ordinances and His statutes that I am enjoining on you today,

12 lest, when you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and you dwell in them,

13 and your herd and your flock, they multiply, and silver and gold, it increases for you, and all that is yours, it is abundant,

14 then your heart becomes exalted and you forget Yahweh your Elohim Who was bringing you forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants,

15 Who was causing you to go through the great and fear inspiring wilderness with burning serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground in which there is no water, Who was bringing forth for you water from the flinty rock,

16 Who was feeding you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers had not known, that He might make you humble and that He might probe you, to do you good in your latter days.

17 Guard yourself lest you say in your heart: My vigor and the staunchness of my hand make for me this great estate.

18 Yet you will remember Yahweh your Elohim, for He is the One giving to you the vigor to make this estate, that He may confirm His covenant that He had sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as in this day.

19 It will come to be that if you forget, yea forget Yahweh your Elohim, and you go after other elohim and serve them and bow yourself down to them, I testify against you today that you shall perish, yea perish.

20 Like the nations which Yahweh is destroying before your face so shall you perish, inasmuch as you do not hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim.

Chapter 9

1 Hear, Israel! Today you are ready to cross over the Jordan, to enter to dispossess nations greater and more substantial than you, cities great and defended to the heavens,

2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim whom you know and of whom you have heard it said: Who shall station himself before the sons of Anak?

3 You will know then today that Yahweh your Elohim, He is the One crossing over before you as a devouring fire. He Himself shall exterminate them, and He Himself shall make them submit before you; yet you must evict them and destroy them quickly just as Yahweh has spoken to you.

4 Do not say in your heart when Yahweh your Elohim thrusts them out from before you, saying: Because of my own righteousness Yahweh brings me in to tenant this land. Rather it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is evicting them before your face.

5 It is not because of your own righteousness or the uprightness of your own heart that you are entering to tenant their land, for it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh your Elohim is evicting them before your face, and that He may confirm the word that Yahweh had sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.

6 You will know then that it is not because of your own righteousness that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you this good land to tenant it, for you are a stiff-necked people.

7 Remember, do not forget that you provoked Yahweh your Elohim to wrath in the wilderness. From the day in which you went forth from the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you were rebellious against Yahweh.

8 Even at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh showed Himself angered with you enough to exterminate you.

9 When I ascended to the mountain to take down the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh contracted with you, I dwelt on the mountain forty days and forty nights. Bread I did not eat, and water I did not drink.

10 Then Yahweh gave to me the two tablets of stone, written by the finger of Elohim, and on them were all the words just like those that Yahweh had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

11 So it came to be at the end of forty days and forty nights that Yahweh gave to me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

12 Then Yahweh said to me: Arise! Go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought forth from Egypt have become corrupt. They have withdrawn quickly from the way which I had instructed them. They have made for themselves a molten calf.

13 And Yahweh spoke to me saying: I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

14 Hold yourself back from Me so that I may exterminate them and wipe out their name from under the heavens, and I shall make you into a more substantial and numerous nation than it.

15 Then I turned around and came down from the mountain while the mountain was consuming with fire; and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 Then I saw, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your Elohim. You had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had withdrawn quickly from the way which Yahweh had enjoined on you.

17 So I grabbed the two tablets and flung them from my two hands and broke them before your eyes.

18 Then I cast myself down before Yahweh as the first time for forty days and forty nights. Bread I did not eat, and water I did not drink on account of all your sin which you had sinned by doing what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim to provoke Him to vexation.

19 For I shrank away from the presence of the anger and the fury with which Yahweh was wrathful against you enough to exterminate you. But Yahweh hearkened to me even at that time.

20 Against Aaron Yahweh showed Himself exceedingly angered, enough to exterminate him. So I prayed also about Aaron at that time.

21 As for your sin, which was the calf you had made, I took it, and I burned it with fire and pounded it, grinding it well until it was pulverized to dust, and I flung its dust into the watercourse that was descending from the mountain.

22 Also at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you were causing Yahweh to be wrathful.

23 And when Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying: Ascend and tenant the land that I give to you, then you defied the bidding of Yahweh your Elohim and did not put your trust in Him nor hearken to His voice.

24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day I knew you.

25 When I cast myself down before Yahweh (during the forty days and forty nights that I had cast myself down, for Yahweh had said He would exterminate you),

26 then I prayed to Yahweh and said: My Lord Yahweh, do not bring ruin on Your people and Your allotment, whom You ransomed by Your greatness, whom You brought forth from Egypt by Your steadfast hand.

27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Do not face against the obstinancy of this people, against their wickedness and their sin,

28 lest the people of the land whence You brought us forth should say: Because Yahweh was unable to bring them into the land about which He had spoken to them, and because of His hatred of them He brought them forth to put them to death in the wilderness.

29 Yet they are Your people and Your allotment whom You brought forth from Egypt by Your great vigor and by Your outstretched arm.

Chapter 10

1 At that time Yahweh had said to me: Carve for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and ascend to Me to the mountain. Also you will make for yourself a coffer of wood.

2 Then I shall write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you will place them in the coffer.

3 So I made a coffer of acacia wood, carved two tablets of stone like the first ones and ascended to the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.

4 Then He wrote on the tablets, like the first writing, the ten words that Yahweh had spoken to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and Yahweh gave them to me.

5 So I turned around and descended from the mountain and placed the tablets in the coffer that I had made, and there they came to be, just as Yahweh had instructed me. (

6 The sons of Israel, they journeyed from the wells of Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and he was entombed there; and Eleazar his son served as priest in his stead.

7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of watercourses with water.

8 At that time Yahweh separated the tribe of Levi to carry the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to minister to Him and to bless in His Name until this day.

9 Therefore Levi came to have no portion or allotment with his brothers. Yahweh, He is his allotment, just as Yahweh your Elohim had spoken concerning him.)

10 As for me, I stayed on the mountain as on the first days, forty days and forty nights, and Yahweh hearkened to me also at that time: Yahweh would not bring ruin on you.

11 Then Yahweh said to me: Arise! Go on your journey before this people that they may enter and tenant the land about which I had sworn to their fathers to give to them.

12 And now, Israel, what is Yahweh your Elohim asking of you, save to fear Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in all His ways, to love Him and to serve Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul,

13 to observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim and His statutes that I am enjoining on you today for your good?

14 Behold, to Yahweh your Elohim belong the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and all that is in it.

15 But Yahweh was attached to your fathers to love them, so that He chooses their seed after them, you, out of all the peoples, as it is this day.

16 Hence you will circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and you should no longer stiffen your neck.

17 For Yahweh your Elohim, He is the Elohim of elohim and the Lord of lords, the El, the great, the masterful and the fear inspiring One, Who neither shows partiality nor takes a bribe,

18 the One enacting the customary rights of orphan and widow, the One loving the sojourner, so as to give him bread and raiment.

19 You will love the sojourner, for you became sojourners in the land of Egypt.

20 Yahweh your Elohim shall you fear, and Him shall you serve; to Him shall you cling, and by His Name shall you swear.

21 He is your praise, and He is your Elohim Who did for you these great and fear inspiring deeds that your eyes saw.

22 With seventy souls your fathers went down to Egypt. Yet now Yahweh your Elohim has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

Chapter 11

1 Hence you will love Yahweh your Elohim and observe His charge, His statutes, His ordinances and His instructions all the days.

2 You know today (though not your sons, who have not known and who have not seen) the discipline of Yahweh your Elohim, His greatness, His steadfast hand and His outstretched arm,

3 His signs and His deeds that He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to all his land,

4 and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and to its chariots, when He caused the waters of the Sea of Weeds to float over their faces in their pursuit after you; thus Yahweh destroyed them until this day.

5 You know what He did for you in the wilderness until you came as far as this place,

6 and what He did to Dathan and to Abiram, sons of Eliab son of Reuben, when the earth opened wide its mouth and swallowed them up even with their households and their tents and everyone who had risen, who had walked in their footsteps, from among all Israel.

7 For your eyes were the ones seeing all the great deeds of Yahweh that He has done.

8 Hence you will observe every instruction which I am enjoining on you today, that you may be steadfast, and you enter and tenant the land where you are crossing over to tenant it,

9 and that you may prolong your days on the ground about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land gushing with milk and honey.

10 For the land, where you are entering to tenant it, is not like the land of Egypt, that one from where you came forth, in which you sowed your seed, and you irrigated it with your foot as a garden of greens.

11 But the land, where you are crossing over to tenant it, is a land of hills and valleys; it drinks water from the rain of the heavens;

12 a land which Yahweh your Elohim is caring for. Continually are the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim on it from the beginning of the year until the last part of the year.

13 It will come to be when you shall hearken, yea hearken to My instructions that I am enjoining on you today, to love Yahweh your Elohim and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 then He will give rain to your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain. You will gather your grain, your grape juice and your clarified oil,

15 and He will give herbage in your field for your domestic beasts; thus you will eat and be satisfied.

16 Guard yourselves lest your heart should be enticed, and you withdraw, serve other elohim and bow down to them.

17 Then the anger of Yahweh will grow hot against you, and He will restrain the heavens so that there shall be no rain, and the ground, it shall not yield its crop, and you will perish quickly off the good land that Yahweh is giving to you.

18 Hence you will place these my words in your heart and in your soul, and you will tie them as a sign on your hand, and let them come to be as brow-bands between your eyes.

19 You will teach them to your sons, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you arise.

20 You will write them on the jambs of your house and on your gates,

21 that your days and the days of your sons may be many on the ground about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers to give to them, as many as the days of the heavens over the earth.

22 For if you should observe, yea observe all this instruction which I am enjoining on you today, to do it, to love Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to cling to Him,

23 then Yahweh will evict all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and more substantial than you.

24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall become yours. From the wilderness and the Lebanon, from the Great Stream, the stream Euphrates, as far as the western sea, it shall become your territory.

25 No man shall station himself in your presence. The awe of you and the fear of you shall Yahweh your Elohim put over the face of the entire land on which you shall tread, just as He has spoken to you.

26 See! I am setting before you today blessing and malediction:

27 the blessing if you should hearken to the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim that I am enjoining on you today,

28 and the malediction if you should not hearken to the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim, and you withdraw from the way that I am enjoining on you today, by going after other elohim whom you have not known.

29 When it comes to be that Yahweh your Elohim shall bring you into the land where you are entering to tenant it, then you must pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the malediction on Mount Ebal.

30 Are they not across the Jordan, behind the sunset road into the land of the Canaanite, who is dwelling in the Arabah toward Gilgal beside the oaks of Moreh?

31 For you are crossing over the Jordan to enter and to tenant the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you. When you tenant it and dwell in it,

32 then you will observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I am setting before you today.

Chapter 12

1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land that Yahweh Elohim of your fathers gives to you to tenant it all the days that you are alive on the ground.

2 You shall destroy, yea destroy all the places where the nations (whom you are dispossessing) have served their elohim on the high mountains, on the hills and under every flourishing tree.

3 You will tear down their altars and break their monuments; their Asherah poles you shall burn with fire, and the carvings of their elohim you shall hack down; thus you will destroy their name from that place.

4 Not so shall you do to Yahweh your Elohim.

5 But rather for the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His Name there, you shall inquire for His tabernacle, and there will you come.

6 You will bring there your ascent offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the heave offering of your hand, your vow offerings and your voluntary offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and your flock.

7 You will eat there before Yahweh your Elohim, and you will rejoice in every undertaking of your hand, you and your households with which Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you.

8 You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, each man everything that is upright in his own eyes

9 because until now you have not come to the resting place and to the allotment that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you.

10 When you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment, and He gives rest to you from all your enemies from round about, so that you may dwell in serenity,

11 then it will come to be: The place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His Name, there shall you bring all that I am instructing you, your ascent offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offering of your hand and all your choice vow offerings which you shall vow to Yahweh.

12 You will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim, you, your sons and your daughters, your manservants, your maidservants and the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion or allotment among you.

13 Guard yourself lest you bring up your ascent offerings in any other place which you may select.

14 But rather in the place that Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there shall you bring up your ascent offerings, and there shall you do all that I am instructing you.

15 But with all the yearning of your soul you may slaughter and eat flesh, within all your gates, according to the blessing of Yahweh your Elohim which He gives to you. The unclean among you and the clean, they may eat it, as of the gazelle and as of the stag.

16 But the blood you shall not eat. On the earth shall you pour it out like water.

17 You cannot eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, of your grape juice and of your clarified oil, or the firstlings of your herd and your flock or any of your vow offerings which you shall vow, or your voluntary offerings or the heave offering of your hand.

18 But rather you shall eat it before Yahweh your Elohim in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, you, your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant and the Levite who is within your gates. Then you will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim in every undertaking of your hand.

19 Guard yourself lest you should forsake the Levite any of your days on your ground.

20 When Yahweh your Elohim widens your territory, just as He spoke to you, and you say: Do let me eat flesh, for your soul yearns to eat flesh, you may eat flesh with all the yearning of your soul.

21 In case the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to place His Name is far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and of your flock which Yahweh gave to you, just as I instructed you; and you may eat it within your gates with all the yearning of your soul.

22 Indeed, just as the gazelle and the stag may be eaten so shall you eat it. The unclean among you and the clean may eat it together.

23 But be steadfast by no means to eat the blood, for the blood, it is the soul, and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh.

24 You shall not eat it; on the earth shall you pour it out like water.

25 You shall not eat it that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, for you shall do what is good and upright in the eyes of Yahweh.

26 But as for your holy gifts which you shall come to have, and your vow offerings, you shall carry them, and you will come to the place that Yahweh shall choose.

27 You will make your ascent offerings of the flesh and the blood on the altar of Yahweh your Elohim, and the blood of your sacrifices, it shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your Elohim, yet you may eat the flesh.

28 Observe and you will hear all these words which I am instructing you today, that it may be well with you and with your sons after you until the eon, for you shall do what is good and upright in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim.

29 When Yahweh your Elohim cuts off before your face the nations where you are entering to dispossess them, then you will dispossess them and dwell in their land.

30 Guard yourself lest you should be trapped to go after them after they are exterminated before your face, and lest you inquire about their elohim, saying: How do these nations serve their elohim that I, I too, may do thus?

31 You shall not act thus toward Yahweh your Elohim, for every abhorrence which Yahweh hates they perform for their elohim, for even their sons and their daughters they burn with fire for their elohim.

32 Every word which I am enjoining on you today, you shall observe to do it. You shall neither add to it, nor shall you subtract from it.

Chapter 13

1 In case there arises a prophet or a dreamer of dreams among you, and he gives to you a sign or a miracle,

2 and the sign or the miracle comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying: Do let us go after other elohim (whom you have not known), and let us serve them,

3 you shall not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams because Yahweh your Elohim is probing you to know whether you are loving Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.

4 After Yahweh your Elohim shall you go, and Him shall you fear; His instructions shall you observe, and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve, and to Him shall you cling.

5 Then that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, he shall be put to death because he spoke of defection from Yahweh your Elohim (the One bringing you forth from the land of Egypt and the One ransoming you from the house of servants) so as to induce you from the way in which Yahweh your Elohim has instructed you to walk. Hence you will take out the evil from among you.

6 In case your brother, the son of your father, or the son of your mother or your son or your daughter or the wife of your bosom or your associate who is as your own soul should incite you in concealment, saying: Do let us go, and do let us serve other elohim (whom you have not known, you or your fathers,

7 of the elohim of the peoples who are around you, those near to you or those far from you, from one end of the land to the other end of the land),

8 neither shall you comply with him, nor shall you hearken to him; neither shall your eye commiserate over him, nor shall you spare him; and you shall not cover up for him.

9 For you shall kill, yea kill him. Your hand shall be among the first against him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people thereafter.

10 You will stone him with stones so that he dies, for he sought to induce you away from Yahweh your Elohim, the One bringing you forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants.

11 Thus all Israel, they shall hearken and fear, and they shall not again do anything like this evil thing among you.

12 In case you hear it said of one of your cities which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to dwell there,

13 that men, sons of decadence, have gone forth from among you and induced the dwellers of their city, saying: Do let us go, and do let us serve other elohim (whom you have not known),

14 then you will inquire, investigate and ask diligently. And behold, if the truth of the matter is being established that this abhorrence was done among you,

15 then you shall smite, yea smite the dwellers of that city with the edge of the sword. Doom it, all those who are in it and its domestic beasts, with the edge of the sword.

16 All its loot shall you get together to the midst of its square, and you will burn the city with fire and all its loot as a wholly fumed offering to Yahweh your Elohim. It will become an eonian ruin-mound; it shall not be built again.

17 Nothing whatsoever shall cling to your hand from the doomed loot so that Yahweh may turn back from the heat of His anger, and He will be compassionate to you. He will show you compassion and cause you to increase, just as He had sworn to your fathers,

18 provided that you shall hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim to observe all His instructions which I am enjoining on you today, to do what is upright and good in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim.

Chapter 14

1 Sons are you to Yahweh your Elohim; you shall neither slash yourselves nor make a baldness between your eyes for a dead one,

2 for you are a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim, and Yahweh your Elohim chose you to belong to Him as a special people above all the peoples who are on the surface of the ground.

3 You shall not eat anything abhorrent.

4 This is the beast that you may eat: the bull, the flockling of the sheep and the flockling of the goats;

5 the stag, the gazelle, the bubale, the wild goat, the addax, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

6 And any other beast bisecting the hoof, cleaving the cleft into two hooves and bringing up the cud, among beasts, it you may eat.

7 Only this you may not eat of those bringing up the cud and of those bisecting the cloven hoof: the camel, the hare and the coney, for they are bringing up the cud yet do not bisect the hoof; they are unclean to you;

8 and the swine, for it is bisecting the hoof and cleaving the cleft of the hoof, yet it is not stirring up the cud; it is unclean to you. From their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcass you shall not touch.

9 This you may eat of all that is in the waters: anything which has fins and scales you may eat.

10 Yet anything which has no fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you.

11 Any clean bird you may eat;

12 yet these are those of which you shall not eat: the vulture, the bearded vulture and the eagle,

13 the black kite and the falcon, all of its kind,

14 and every raven, all of its kind,

15 the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull and the hawk, all of its kind,

16 the little owl, the eagle owl and the ibis,

17 the pelican, the Egyptian vulture and the cormorant,

18 the stork and the heron, all of its kind, the hoopoe and the bat.

19 Every swarmer of the flyers, it is unclean to you. They shall not be eaten.

20 Every clean flyer you may eat.

21 You shall not eat any carcass. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your gates so that he may eat it, or sell it to a foreigner, for you are a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not cook a kid in the milk of its mother.

22 You shall tithe, yea tithe all the yield of your seed which is coming forth from the field year by year.

23 You will eat before Yahweh your Elohim, in the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His Name, the tenth of your grain, your grape juice and your clarified oil, the firstlings of your herd and of your flock, that you may learn to fear Yahweh your Elohim all the days.

24 Yet in case the way is too much for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to place His Name is far from you (seeing that Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you),

25 then you will convert it into silver, bundle the silver in your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose.

26 You will give the silver for anything after which your soul may yearn: for one of the herd or one of the flock, for wine, for intoxicant or for anything which your soul may ask of you; then you will eat there before Yahweh your Elohim, and you will rejoice, you and your household.

27 Now the Levite who is within your gates, you shall not forsake him, for he has no portion or allotment with you.

28 At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your yield in that year, and you will leave it within your gates,

29 that the Levite may come (for he has no portion or allotment with you), and the sojourner, the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, and they may eat and be satisfied, so that Yahweh your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Chapter 15

1 At the end of seven years you shall make a release.

2 And this is the term of the release: Every creditor is to release the loan of his hand that he lent to his associate. He shall not exact it from his associate or his brother, for Yahweh’s release has been proclaimed.

3 From the foreigner you may exact it. Yet that which you came to have from your brother, let your hand release it;

4 only that there should be no needy one among you, for Yahweh shall bless, yea bless you in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment to tenant it.

5 Now if you should hearken, yea hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim so as to observe and to do all this instruction that I am enjoining on you today,

6 then Yahweh your Elohim, He will bless you, just as He promised to you. And you will cause many nations to give you securities, yet you yourself shall give no securities. You will rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

7 In case there should be among you a needy person, one of your brothers within one of your gates in your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, you shall neither make your heart rigid nor shut your hand from your needy brother.

8 Rather you shall open, yea open your hand to him and let him give security, yea security sufficient for his lack that is lacking to him.

9 Guard yourself lest there should be in your heart the decadent word, saying: The seventh year is near, the year of the release, so that your eye is evil toward your needy brother, and you give him nothing. Then he may call out to Yahweh concerning you, and it will be held as a sin against you.

10 You shall give, yea give to him, and your heart shall not feel bad at your giving to him. For owing to this matter Yahweh your Elohim shall bless you in all your work and in every undertaking of your hand.

11 Since the needy one shall not leave off from being within the land, therefore I am instructing you, saying: You shall open, yea open your hand to your brother, to your humble one and to your needy one in your land.

12 In case your brother should be sold to you, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, who has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from you free.

13 And when you dismiss him from you free you shall not send him away empty-handed.

14 You shall furnish, yea furnish him some from your flock, from your threshing site and from your winevat; just as Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you shall you give to him.

15 You will remember that you had become a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your Elohim ransomed you. Therefore I am instructing you to do this word today.

16 But it may be that he says to you: I shall not go forth from you, since he loves you and your household because it was well for him with you.

17 Then you take an awl and put it through his ear and into the door, and he will come to be your eonian servant; and so you shall do to your maidservant too.

18 It should not seem hard in your eyes when you dismiss him from you free because he was worth double the hire of a hireling when he served you six years. So Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in all that you shall do.

19 All the firstborn males that shall be born in your herd and in your flock you shall sanctify to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall neither serve with the firstborn of your kine nor shall you shear the firstborn of your flock.

20 You shall eat it before Yahweh your Elohim year by year in the place that Yahweh shall choose, you and your household.

21 Yet in case there should be a blemish in it, lame or blind, any evil blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your Elohim.

22 Within your gates you may eat it, the unclean among you and the clean together, as you would of the gazelle and of the stag.

23 But its blood you shall not eat. On the earth shall you pour it out like water.

Chapter 16

1 You are to observe the month of Abib and prepare a passover to Yahweh your Elohim, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your Elohim brought you forth from Egypt by night.

2 So you will sacrifice the passover to Yahweh your Elohim from the flock and the herd in the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His Name.

3 You shall not eat anything leavened with it. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of humiliation (for in urgent haste you went forth from the land of Egypt), that you may remember the day of your going forth from the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

4 Let no yeast be seen with you in all your territory seven days. And let none of the flesh that you shall sacrifice in the evening on the first day lodge until morning.

5 You cannot sacrifice the passover within any one of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you,

6 but rather only in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His Name. There shall you sacrifice the passover in the evening as the sun sets, the appointed time of your going forth from Egypt.

7 Then you will cook and eat in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, and you may turn around in the morning and go to your tents.

8 Six days shall you eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day, a day of restraint to Yahweh your Elohim, you shall do no occupational work at all.

9 You shall count off seven weeks for yourself. From the start of the scythe in the raised grain shall you start to count off seven weeks.

10 Then you will observe the festival of weeks to Yahweh your Elohim, offering a voluntary contribution from your hand which you shall give, just as Yahweh your Elohim may have blessed you.

11 You will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim, you, your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite who is within your gates, the sojourner, the orphan and the widow who are among you, in the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His Name.

12 You will remember that you had become a servant in the land of Egypt; hence you will observe and do these statutes.

13 As for the festival of booths, you shall observe it for yourself seven days when you gather in the yield from your threshing site and from your winevat.

14 You will rejoice in your festival, you, your son and your daughter, your manservant and your maidservant, the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan and the widow who are within your gates.

15 Seven days shall you celebrate to Yahweh your Elohim in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, for Yahweh your Elohim shall bless you in all your yield and in every work of your hands, so that you will indeed be rejoicing.

16 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before Yahweh your Elohim in the place that He shall choose: at the festival of unleavened bread, at the festival of weeks and at the festival of booths. And none shall appear before Yahweh empty-handed,

17 but each according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of Yahweh your Elohim which He will give to you.

18 You shall appoint judges and clerks for yourselves in all your gates which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you for your tribes; and they will judge the people with just judgment.

19 You shall not turn aside the judgment; you shall neither be biased nor take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the words of the righteous.

20 Justice and justice only shall you pursue, so that you may live and tenant the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you.

21 Neither shall you plant for yourself an Asherah pole, any kind of wood, beside the altar of Yahweh your Elohim which you may make for yourself,

22 nor shall you set up for yourself a monument that Yahweh your Elohim hates.

Chapter 17

1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim a bull or a flockling in which there is a blemish, any evil thing, for it is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim.

2 In case there should be found among you, within one of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, a man or a woman who does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim so as to trespass against His covenant,

3 and he goes and serves other elohim and bows himself down to them or to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of the heavens, something that I have instructed not to do,

4 and it has been told to you and you have heard it, then you will inquire diligently. And behold, if the truth of the matter is established that this abhorrence was done in Israel,

5 then you will bring forth that man or that woman who did this evil thing to your gates, the man or the woman, and you will stone them with stones so that they die.

6 At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses, the one about to die shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness.

7 The hands of the witnesses shall come to be the first against him to put him to death and then the hands of all the people afterward. Thus you will take out the evil from among you.

8 In case a matter for judgment should be too difficult for you, between blood and blood, between adjudication and adjudication and between assault and assault, any matters of contentions in your gates, then you will arise and ascend to the place which Yahweh your Elohim shall choose.

9 And you will come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who shall come to be in those days; they will inquire and tell you the word of judgment.

10 Then you will act in accordance with the word that they shall tell you from that place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose. You will observe to act according to all that they shall direct you.

11 In accordance with the law by which they shall direct you and according to the judgment that they shall deliver to you, you shall act. You shall not withdraw from the word that they shall tell you, either to the right or left.

12 Yet the man who acts with arrogance by not hearkening at all to the priest (who is standing to minister in the Name of Yahweh your Elohim) or to the judge, that man must die. Thus you will take out the evil from Israel,

13 and all the people, they shall hear and fear, and not act arrogantly again.

14 When you come to the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, and you tenant it and dwell in it, and you say: Do let me set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,

15 then you shall set, yea set over you a king whom Yahweh your Elohim shall choose. From among your brothers shall you set a king over you. You cannot put over you a foreign man who is not of your brothers.

16 But he shall neither increase horses for himself nor cause his people to return to Egypt in order to get many more horses, for Yahweh, He has said to you: You should not again return in this way further.

17 He shall neither increase wives for himself, that his heart may not withdraw, nor increase silver and gold for himself to excess.

18 It will come to be when he is seated on the throne of his kingdom, that he will write for himself a duplicate of this law on a scroll from the one before the priests, the Levites.

19 And it will be with him, and he will read in it all the days of his life that he may learn: to fear Yahweh his Elohim, to observe all the words of this law and these statutes to do them,

20 by no means to exalt his heart above his brothers and by no means to withdraw from the instruction, either to the right or left, so that he may prolong his days on the throne of his kingdom, he and his sons among Israel.

Chapter 18

1 There shall be for the priests, the Levites the entire tribe of Levi neither portion nor allotment with Israel. They shall eat the fire offerings of Yahweh as their allotment.

2 Yet there shall be for them no allotment among their brothers. Yahweh, He is their allotment, just as He had spoken concerning them.

3 This then shall be the priests’ due portion from the people, from the ones sacrificing the sacrifice, whether bull or flockling; one will give to the priest the shank, both the cheeks and the pelvis.

4 The firstfruit of your grain, of your grape juice and your clarified oil and the first of the fleece of your flock shall you give to him;

5 for Yahweh your Elohim has chosen him from all your tribes to stand before Yahweh your Elohim to minister and to bless in the Name of Yahweh, him and his sons, all the days.

6 In case a Levite should come from one of your gates, from anywhere in Israel where he sojourned, he may come with all the yearning of his soul to the place that Yahweh shall choose;

7 then he may minister in the Name of Yahweh his Elohim, like all his brothers, the Levites, those standing there before Yahweh.

8 Portion for portion shall he eat, besides what comes from his sales of the fathers’ holdings.

9 When you come to the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, you shall not learn to act according to the abhorrences of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you one causing his son or his daughter to pass through fire, or one divining divinations, or consulting clouds, auguring or enchanting

11 or charming with charms, one asking of a medium or wizard or inquiring after the dead.

12 For anyone doing these things is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim, and owing to these abhorrences Yahweh your Elohim is evicting them from your presence.

13 Flawless shall you come to be with Yahweh your Elohim.

14 For these nations whom you are dispossessing, they hearken to cloud consulters and diviners. As for you, Yahweh your Elohim does not allow you to do so.

15 A Prophet from among you, from your brothers, like me, shall Yahweh your Elohim raise up for you. To Him shall you hearken

16 according to all that you asked from Yahweh your Elohim at Horeb on the day of assembly, saying: Let me not continue to hear the voice of Yahweh my Elohim, and let me not see this great fire any further so that I may not die!

17 Then Yahweh said to me: They have done well in all that they have spoken.

18 A Prophet shall I raise up to them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them all that I shall instruct Him.

19 Yet it will come to be that the man who should not hearken to My words that the Prophet shall speak in My Name, I Myself shall require his blood from him.

20 But the prophet who shall act arrogantly by speaking a word in My Name which I did not instruct him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other elohim, that prophet must die.

21 In case you should say in your heart: How shall we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken?

22 when a prophet should be speaking in the Name of Yahweh, and the word neither comes to pass nor comes about, then it is a word that Yahweh did not speak. In arrogance did the prophet speak it. You shall not shrink away from him in awe.

Chapter 19

1 When Yahweh your Elohim cuts off the nations whose land Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, and you dispossess them and dwell in their cities and in their houses,

2 you shall separate for yourself three cities in the midst of your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it.

3 You shall survey for yourself the distances, and you will trisect the territory of your land that Yahweh your Elohim shall give to you as an allotment; and it will come to be for every manslayer to flee there.

4 This is the word about the manslayer who may flee there and live: Whoever should smite his associate without premeditation when he was not hating him heretofore,

5 or he who should come with his associate into the wildwood to chop trees, and his hand may be impelled with the ax to cut down a tree, and the iron head flies off the wooden handle and finds his associate so that he dies, that man, he shall flee to one of these cities that he may live.

6 Otherwise the kinsman redeemer of blood may pursue after the manslayer while his heart is furious, and he might overtake him if the distance were too great, and he may smite his soul even though he had no judgment of death, since he was not hating him heretofore.

7 Therefore I am instructing you, saying: Three cities shall you separate for yourself.

8 And when Yahweh your Elohim widens your territory just as He had sworn to your fathers, and He gives to you the whole land that He had promised to give to your fathers

9 (in case you observe all of this instruction to do it, that I am enjoining on you today, to love Yahweh your Elohim and to walk in His ways all the days), then you must add for yourself three more cities to these three.

10 Thus within your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment, the blood of the innocent shall not be shed lest guilt for blood comes to be on you.

11 But if a man is hating his associate, and he waits in ambush for him, rises against him and smites his soul so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities,

12 then the elders of his city will send for him, take him from there and give him into the hand of the kinsman redeemer of blood so that he may die.

13 Your eye shall not commiserate over him. Thus you will take out from Israel the shedding of innocent blood, and it will be well with you.

14 You shall not move away the boundary marker of your associate by which the former ones have set the boundary of your allotment that you are allotted in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it.

15 A single witness shall not rise against a man regarding any depravity or any sin. In any sin which one may sin, the matter shall be confirmed at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses.

16 In case a malicious witness should rise against a man asserting his defection,

17 then the two men who have the dispute must stand before Yahweh and before the priests and the judges who shall come to be in those days.

18 The judges will inquire diligently, and if the false witness asserts false testimony against his brother,

19 then you must do to him just as he schemed to do to his brother. Thus you will take out the evil from among you.

20 The remainder, they shall hearken and fear, and they shall no longer continue to do anything like this evil matter among you.

21 Your eye shall not commiserate: soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Chapter 20

1 When you go forth for battle against your enemies, and you see horse and chariot and a people more numerous than you, you should not fear them, for Yahweh your Elohim is with you, the One bringing you up from the land of Egypt.

2 Then it will be as you approach to the battle that the priest will come close and speak to the people.

3 He will say to them: Hear, Israel! You are near today to the battle against your enemies. Let not your heart be timid, do not fear, do not be in consternation, and do not be terrified as you face them,

4 for Yahweh your Elohim is the One going with you to fight for you with your enemies and to save you.

5 And the superintendents will speak to the people, saying: Whoever the man be who has built a new house and has not dedicated it yet, may go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle and another man should dedicate it.

6 And whoever the man be who has planted a vineyard and has not brought it yet to general use may go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle and another man should take it for profane use.

7 And whoever the man be who has betrothed a woman and has not taken her yet, may go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle and another man should take her.

8 Then the superintendents will continue to speak to the people and say: Whoever the man be who is fearful and timid of heart may go and return to his house so that the heart of his brothers may not be melted as his own heart is.

9 And it will come to be when the superintendents have finished speaking to the people that they will commit chiefs of the militia hosts at the head of the people.

10 When you come near to a city to fight against it then you should call to it for peace.

11 And it will come to be if it should answer you with peace, and it opens up to you, then it will come to be that all the people who are being found in it shall become tributary to you, and they will serve you.

12 Yet if it should not make peace with you but engages in battle with you, then you must besiege it.

13 When Yahweh your Elohim delivers it into your hand, then you will smite every adult male of it with the edge of the sword;

14 but the women, the little ones, the domestic beasts and all that is in the city, all its loot, you may plunder for yourself; and you may eat from the loot of your enemies which Yahweh your Elohim gives to you.

15 Thus shall you deal with all the cities which are the very farthest from you, those that are not of the cities of these nations.

16 But in the cities of these peoples which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment you shall not keep alive anything that has breath,

17 for you shall doom, yea doom them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as Yahweh your Elohim had instructed you,

18 that they may not teach you to act according to all their abhorrences which they do for their elohim so that you might sin against Yahweh your Elohim.

19 When you besiege a city many days to battle against it to take possession of it, you shall bring ruin on no tree of it by wielding an ax against it; if you may eat of it, you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field a human to come before your face in the siege?

20 But a tree that you know it is not a tree for food, you may bring ruin on it and cut it down, so you may build siege works against the city which is engaging in battle with you until it comes down.

Chapter 21

1 In case someone slain is found on the ground that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it, having fallen in the field, and it is not known who smote him,

2 then your elders and your judges will go forth and measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one.

3 And it will come to be that of the city nearest to the slain one, the elders of that city will take a heifer of the herd by which no one has been served and which has not drawn in a yoke.

4 The elders of that city will bring the heifer down to a perennial watercourse valley by which no one was served and it was not sown, and they will behead the heifer there in the watercourse valley.

5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come close, for Yahweh your Elohim has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the Name of Yahweh, and at their bidding every controversy and every assault shall come to be settled.

6 Then all the elders of that city, the ones nearest to the slain one, they shall wash their hands over the beheaded heifer in the watercourse,

7 and they will respond and say: Our hands, they have not shed this blood, and our eyes, they have not seen it.

8 Make a propitiatory shelter for Your people Israel, whom You have ransomed, O Yahweh, and let not guilt for the blood of the innocent remain among Your people, Israel. Thus a propitiatory shelter for them will be made concerning this bloodshed.

9 So you yourself shall take out the shedding of innocent blood from among you, for you shall do what is upright in the eyes of Yahweh.

10 When you go forth for battle against your enemy, and Yahweh your Elohim delivers him into your hand, and you capture his captives,

11 and you see among the captives a woman of lovely shape and are attached to her and would take her to yourself as a wife,

12 then you will bring her into the midst of your household, where she will shave her head and pare her nails.

13 She will put away the raiment of her captivity from her and dwell in your house. Then she will lament her father and her mother a month of days, and afterward you may come to her, and you will possess her, and she will become yours as a wife.

14 Should it come to be that you find no delight in her, then you will dismiss her to go at her soul’s desire. You shall not sell, nay sell her for silver; you shall not make a chattel of her, inasmuch as you have humiliated her.

15 In case a man should come to have two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they bear sons for him, the loved and the disliked, but the firstborn is the son of the disliked one,

16 then it will come to be in the day when he gives allotments to his sons of that which is his, that he should not be able to treat as firstborn the son of the loved in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn.

17 For he shall recognize the firstborn son of the disliked by giving to him a double share of all that is being found his; since he is the beginning of his virility, the customary right of the firstling belongs to him.

18 In case a son of a man should become stubborn and rebellious, and he is not hearkening to the voice of his father or to the voice of his mother, and they discipline him, but he does not hearken to them,

19 then his father and his mother will grasp him and bring him forth to the elders of his city, at the gate of his place.

20 They will say to the elders of his city: This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He is not hearkening to our voice. He is a glutton and carouser.

21 Then all the men of his city will pelt him with stones so that he dies. Thus you will take out the evil from among you, and all Israel, they shall hear and fear.

22 In case there should be in a man a sin incurring a judgment of death so that he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,

23 his carcass shall not lodge on the tree all night, for you shall entomb, yea entomb him on that day, for one being hung is under a malediction of Elohim, and you shall not defile your ground that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment.

Chapter 22

1 You shall not see your brother’s bull or his flockling or any domestic beast of his having burst away and then obscure yourself from them. You shall restore, yea restore them to your brother.

2 If your brother is not near to you or you do not know him, then you will gather it to the midst of your household, and it will come to be with you until your brother inquires for it, and you restore it to him.

3 So shall you do with his donkey, so shall you do with his raiment, and so shall you do with every loss of your brother which is being lost by him, when you find it. You shall not be able to obscure yourself.

4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his bull or any domestic beast of his fallen on the road and obscure yourself from them. You shall raise, yea raise them with him.

5 A master’s apparel shall neither come to be on a woman, nor shall a master put on a woman’s raiment, for anyone doing these things is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim.

6 In case a bird’s nest should happen to be before you along the road in any tree or on the earth, with chicks or eggs, and the mother brooding over the chicks or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.

7 You shall let the mother go, yea go, yet the young you may take for yourself that it may be well with you, and you may prolong your days.

8 When you build a new house, then you must make a parapet for your housetop so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house in case someone falling from it might fall to death.

9 You shall not sow your vineyard dissimilarly lest the full yield shall be holy: both the seed which you are sowing and the yield of the vineyard.

10 You shall not plow with a bull and a donkey together.

11 You shall not put on linsey-woolsey, wool and flax together.

12 Braided cords shall you make for yourself on the four hems of your covering with which you cover yourself.

13 In case a man should take a wife, and he comes in to her, yet then he hates her,

14 charges her with iniquitous words and brings forth an evil name on her and says: I took this woman, and I came near to her and did not find evidence of virginity on her,

15 then the father of the maiden and her mother will take and bring forth the maiden’s proof of virginity to the elders of the city at the gate.

16 And the maiden’s father will say to the elders: I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he hates her.

17 And behold, he charges her with iniquitous words, saying: I found no evidence of virginity on your daughter. Yet this is the proof of my daughter’s virginity; and they will spread the raiment before the elders of the city.

18 Then the elders of that city will take the man and flog him,

19 fine him a hundred shekels of silver and give them to the father of the maiden, for he brought forth an evil name on a virgin of Israel. And she shall remain his wife; he cannot dismiss her all his days.

20 Yet if this matter be true and no proof of virginity is found for the maiden,

21 then they will bring forth the maiden to the portal of her father’s house, and the men of her city will stone her with stones so that she dies, for she committed decadence in Israel so as to prostitute herself while in her father’s house. Thus you will take out the evil from among you.

22 In case a man should be found lying with a woman espoused to her possessor, then they must die, indeed both of them, the man who was lying with the woman and the woman. Thus you will take out the evil from Israel.

23 In case there should be a maiden, a virgin, who is betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city, and he lies with her,

24 then you must bring forth both of them to the gate of that city and stone them with stones so that they die, the maiden on the score that she did not cry out in the city, and the man on the score that he humiliated the wife of his associate. Thus you will take out the evil from among you.

25 Yet if it is in the field that the man should find the maiden who is betrothed, and the man holds her fast and lies with her, then the man who lay with her must die, he alone;

26 yet to the maiden you shall do nothing. The maiden has no sin deserving death; for as when a man rises against his associate, and he murders his soul, so is this matter.

27 For he found her in the field; the maiden who is betrothed cried out, and there was no saviour for her.

28 In case a man should find a maiden, a virgin who is not betrothed, and he grasps her and lies with her, and they are found,

29 then the man who was lying with her must give to the maiden’s father fifty silver shekels, and she shall become his wife. Inasmuch as he humiliated her he shall not be able to dismiss her all his days.

30 A man shall neither take the wife of his father nor expose the hem of his father.

Chapter 23

1 No one emasculated by crushing or having his penis cut off shall come into the assembly of Yahweh.

2 No bastard shall come into the assembly of Yahweh. Even the tenth generation from him may not come into the assembly of Yahweh.

3 No Ammonite or Moabite shall come into the assembly of Yahweh. Even the tenth generation from them shall not come into the assembly of Yahweh for the eon,

4 on the score that they did not succor you with bread and with water along the main road when you came forth from Egypt and that they hired against you Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor, Aram-naharaim, to maledict you.

5 But Yahweh your Elohim would not hearken to Balaam. And Yahweh your Elohim turned the malediction into a blessing for you, for Yahweh your Elohim loves you.

6 You shall neither inquire after their well-being nor their good all your days for the eon.

7 You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you became a sojourner in his land.

8 As for the sons who shall be born to them, the third generation may come into the assembly of Yahweh.

9 When you go forth in camp against your enemies then you must be on guard against any evil matter.

10 In case there should be a man among you who is not clean because of a happening of the night, then he must go forth outside the camp; he shall not come into the midst of the camp.

11 When it comes to be just before evening he shall wash in water, and as the sun sets he may come into the midst of the camp.

12 A place aside shall come to be for you outside the camp, and you must go forth there outside.

13 You shall come to have a trowel with your gear so it will come to be when you have squatted outside that you must delve with it, then turn back and cover your filth.

14 For Yahweh your Elohim is walking about within your camp to rescue you and to deliver up your enemies before you; hence your camps will come to be holy so that He should not see among you the nakedness of anything and turn away from following you.

15 You shall not surrender to his lord a servant who rescues himself to you from his lord.

16 With you shall he dwell, among you, in the place that he shall choose within one of your gates, as seems good to him. You shall not tyrannize over him.

17 There shall come to be neither a cult-prostitute from the daughters of Israel, nor shall there come to be a cult-prostitute from the sons of Israel.

18 You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the price of a cur into the house of Yahweh your Elohim for any vow offering, for they are an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim, indeed both of them.

19 You shall not charge interest to your brother: interest on silver, interest on food, interest on anything else that might earn interest.

20 To a foreigner you may charge interest, but to your brother you shall not charge interest, so that Yahweh your Elohim may bless you in every undertaking of your hand in the land where you are coming to tenant it.

21 In case you should vow a vow to Yahweh your Elohim, you shall not delay to perform it, for Yahweh your Elohim shall require, yea require it from you, and it would be sin on your part.

22 Yet in case you should forbear to vow, it shall not become sin on your part.

23 The utterance of your lips you shall observe, and you must do just as you have vowed to Yahweh your Elohim; it is a voluntary offering that you have spoken of with your mouth.

24 In case you should come into the vineyard of your associate, then you may eat grapes to your soul’s desire, to your satisfaction, but you shall put none into your vessel.

25 In case you should come into the raised grain of your associate, then you may pluck snippets with your hand, yet no scythe shall you swing on the raised grain of your associate.

Chapter 24

1 When a man takes a wife and possesses her, and it comes to be that she should not find grace in his eyes, because he has found in her the nakedness of anything, then he would write for her a scroll of divorce, give it into her hand and send her away from his house.

2 When she goes forth from his house, goes and becomes another man’s,

3 and the man (the latter one) dislikes her, then he would write for her a scroll of divorce, give it into her hand and send her away from his house. Or when the man should die (the latter one who took her to himself as a wife),

4 then her possessor (the former one who had sent her away) shall not be able to reverse himself to take her back to become his wife after she had had herself defiled, for that is an abhorrence before Yahweh. You shall not bring about sin in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment.

5 When a man takes a new wife, he shall neither go forth with the militia host, nor shall any matter of duty pass on to him. He shall be exempt for his house one year, and he will rejoice with his wife whom he has taken.

6 No one shall take both millstones or just the rider in pledge, for he would be taking the soul in pledge.

7 In case a man should be found stealing a soul from his brothers of the sons of Israel, and he makes a chattel of him or sells him, then that thief must die. Thus you will take out the evil from among you.

8 Be on guard in a contagion of leprosy to observe especially and to do according to all the law which the priests, the Levites, shall direct you. Just as I have instructed them shall you observe to do.

9 You are to remember what Yahweh your Elohim did to Miriam along the way in your going forth from Egypt.

10 In case you should lend your associate a loan of anything, you shall not enter his house to secure his pawn.

11 You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you are lending, he shall bring forth the pawn to you outside.

12 And should he be a humble man, you shall not lie down in his pawn of raiment.

13 You shall restore, yea restore to him the pawn when the sun sets, that he may lie down in his restored raiment, and he will bless you, and it shall become for you an act of righteousness before Yahweh your Elohim.

14 You shall not exploit a humble and needy hireling, whether from your brothers or from your sojourner who is in your land, within your gates.

15 On his day you shall give him his hire, and the sun shall not set on it (for he is humble, and to it he is lifting his soul) that he may not call against you to Yahweh, and it would become a sin on your part.

16 Fathers shall not be put to death on account of their sons’ sins, nor shall sons be put to death on account of their fathers’ sins. Each man shall be put to death for his own sin.

17 You shall not turn aside the right judgment of the sojourner or orphan; and you shall not take the garment of a widow as a pledge.

18 You will remember that you had become a servant in Egypt, and Yahweh your Elohim ransomed you from there; therefore I am instructing you to do this word.

19 When you reap your harvest in your field and you have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not return to take it in. For the sojourner, for the orphan and for the widow shall it be, so that Yahweh your Elohim may bless you in every work of your hands.

20 When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the foliage after yourself. For the sojourner, for the orphan and for the widow shall it be.

21 When you pick the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not clean glean it after yourself. For the sojourner, for the orphan and for the widow shall it be.

22 You will remember that you had become a servant in the land of Egypt; therefore I am instructing you to do this word.

Chapter 25

1 In case there should come to be a dispute between men, and they come close for judgment, and they judge them, then they will justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

2 And it will come to be, should the wicked be a son of smiting, then the judge will cause him to fall down and have him smitten in his presence with the number of lashes sufficient for his wickedness.

3 Up to forty lashes may he smite him; he shall not add more, lest, if he should add to his smiting many smitings over these, your brother be dishonored in your eyes.

4 You shall not muzzle a bull when it threshes.

5 In case brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and he has no son, the wife of the dead one shall not come to the outside, to an alien man. Her brother-in-law, he shall come to her, and he will take her to himself as his wife and perform the levirate for her.

6 Then it will come to be, the firstborn whom she bears shall carry on the name of his father’s dead brother so that his name may not be wiped out from Israel.

7 But should the man not be inclined to take his sister-in-law, then his sister-in-law will go up to the elders at the gate and say: My brother-in-law refuses to raise up a name for his brother in Israel; he is not willing to perform the levirate for me.

8 Then the elders of his city will call to him and speak to him. But if he persists and says: I am not inclined to take her,

9 then his sister-in-law will come close to him before the eyes of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, spit in his face and answer and say: Thus shall be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.

10 And his name will be called in Israel, House of the Pulled-off Sandal.

11 In case two men should strive together, a man and his brother, and the wife of one comes near to rescue her husband from the hand of the one smiting him, and she puts forth her hand and holds fast onto his genitals,

12 then you will cut away her hand. Your eye shall not commiserate over her.

13 You shall not come to have in your purse two diverse stones, a large and a small.

14 You shall not come to have in your house diverse ephah measures, a large and a small.

15 You shall come to have a standard weight equitable and just; you shall come to have an ephah equitable and just, that your days may be prolonged on the ground that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you.

16 For anyone doing these things, anyone doing iniquity, is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim.

17 You are to remember what Amalek did to you along the main road when you came forth from Egypt,

18 that he met you on the road and curtailed from you all the stragglers behind you when you were faint and weary; and he was not fearful of Elohim.

19 It will come to be when Yahweh your Elohim gives rest to you from all your enemies around in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment to tenant it, you shall wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. You shall not forget.

Chapter 26

1 It will come to be when you come into the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment, and you tenant it and dwell in it,

2 that you will take from the first of all the fruit of the ground which you shall bring in from your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, and you will place it in a basket and go to the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His Name.

3 And you will go to the priest who shall come to be in those days and say to him: I profess today to Yahweh my Elohim that I have come to the land about which Yahweh had sworn to our fathers to give to us.

4 Then the priest will take the basket from your hand and leave it before the altar of Yahweh your Elohim.

5 And you will respond and say before Yahweh your Elohim: My father was a perishing Aramean. And he went down to Egypt, sojourned there with few adult males and became there a nation, great, substantial and numerous.

6 The Egyptians did evil to us, humiliated us and put hard service on us.

7 But we cried to Yahweh Elohim of our fathers, and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our humiliation, our toil and our oppression.

8 Then Yahweh brought us forth from Egypt with a steadfast hand and with an outstretched arm, with great fear-inspiring deeds, with signs and with miracles.

9 And He brought us to this place and gave to us this land, a land gushing with milk and honey.

10 Now behold, I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that You have given to me, O Yahweh. Then you will leave it before Yahweh your Elohim and bow yourself down before Yahweh your Elohim.

11 You will rejoice in all the good that Yahweh your Elohim gives to you and to your household, you and the Levite and the sojourner who is among you.

12 When you conclude tithing all the tithe from your harvest yield in the third year, the year of the tithe, and you have given to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates and be satisfied,

13 then you will say before Yahweh your Elohim: I have taken out the holy gift from the house and have indeed given it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the orphan and to the widow according to all Your instruction that You have enjoined on me. I have not passed aside from Your instructions, and I have not forgotten.

14 I have not eaten of it in my sorrow; I have not taken out any of it while unclean, and I have not given of it for the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of Yahweh my Elohim. I have done according to all that You have instructed me.

15 Do gaze from Your holy habitation, from the heavens, and bless Your people Israel and the ground that You have given to us just as You had sworn to our fathers a land gushing with milk and honey.

16 This day Yahweh your Elohim is instructing you to keep these statutes and ordinances, and you will observe and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.

17 To Yahweh have you affirmed today that He is to be your Elohim, and you are to go in His ways and to observe His statutes, His instructions and His ordinances and to hearken to His voice.

18 As for Yahweh, He affirms today that you are to be for Him a special people, just as He promised to you, and that you are to observe all His instructions;

19 then He promises to give you supremacy over all the nations which He has made, for praise, for a name and for beauty, and for you to be a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim just as He has promised.

Chapter 27

1 Moses and the elders of Israel instructed the people saying: You are to observe all the instructions that I am enjoining on you today.

2 And it will come to be in the day on which you shall cross over the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, that you will set up for yourself large stones and whitewash them with lime.

3 Then you will write on them all the words of this law when you cross over, that you may enter the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, a land gushing with milk and honey, just as Yahweh Elohim of your fathers promised to you.

4 And it will come to be that when you cross over the Jordan you shall set up these stones about which I am instructing you today, at Mount Ebal, and you will whitewash them with lime.

5 When you build there an altar for Yahweh your Elohim, an altar of stones, you shall not swing an iron tool upon them.

6 You shall build the altar of Yahweh your Elohim with suitable stones, and you will bring up ascent offerings on it to Yahweh your Elohim.

7 Also you will sacrifice peace offerings and eat there and rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim.

8 Then you will write on the stones all the words of this law. Make it thoroughly plain.

9 Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying: Keep quiet and hearken, Israel. This day you have become a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim.

10 So you will hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and keep His instructions and His statutes which I am enjoining on you today.

11 Moses instructed the people on that day, saying:

12 These shall stand to bless the people on Mount Gerizim when you cross over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin.

13 And these shall stand for the malediction on Mount Ebal: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

14 Then the Levites will respond and say to every man of Israel in a raised up voice:

15 Cursed be the man who makes a carving or a molten image, an abhorrence to Yahweh, the work of an artificer’s hands, and places it in concealment. Then all the people will respond and say: Amen!

16 Cursed be the one dishonoring his father or his mother. Then all the people shall say: Amen!

17 Cursed be the one moving the boundary marker of his associate. Then all the people will say: Amen!

18 Cursed be the one causing the blind to err on the road. Then all the people will say: Amen!

19 Cursed be the one turning aside the right judgment of the sojourner, the orphan or the widow. Then all the people will say: Amen!

20 Cursed be the one lying with the wife of his father, for he exposes his father’s hem. Then all the people will say: Amen!

21 Cursed be the one lying with any beast. Then all the people will say: Amen!

22 Cursed be the one lying with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother. Then all the people will say: Amen!

23 Cursed be the one lying with his sister-in-law. Then all the people will say: Amen!

24 Cursed be the one smiting his associate in concealment. Then all the people will say: Amen!

25 Cursed be the one taking a bribe to smite a soul of innocent blood. Then all the people will say: Amen!

26 Cursed be the one who is not carrying out all the words of this law to do them. Then all the people will say: Amen!

Chapter 28

1 It will come to be if you should hearken, yea hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim, to observe and to do all His instructions which I am enjoining on you today, that Yahweh your Elohim will give you supremacy over all the nations of the earth.

2 And all these blessings will come on you and overtake you in case you should hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim.

3 Blessed be you in the city, and blessed be you in the field.

4 Blessed be the fruit of your belly, the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your beast, the calving of your domestic animals and the lambing of your flock.

5 Blessed be your basket and your kneading-trough.

6 Blessed be you in your coming in, and blessed be you in your going forth.

7 Yahweh shall make your enemies who are rising against you to be struck down before you. By a single road shall they come forth to you, and by seven roads shall they flee before you.

8 Yahweh shall instruct the blessing to be with you in your granaries and in every undertaking of your hand, and He will bless you in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you.

9 Yahweh shall raise you as a people holy to Himself, just as He had sworn to you, in case you should observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim, and walk in His ways,

10 so that all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of Yahweh is proclaimed over you, and they will fear you.

11 Then through the fruit of your belly, the fruit of your domestic beast and the fruit of your ground, Yahweh will give you surplus in goods on the ground about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers to give to you.

12 Yahweh shall open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand. You will obligate many nations, yet you shall not borrow.

13 So Yahweh will make you to be the head and not the tail, and you will surely be above, and you shall not be below, in case you should hearken to the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim that I am enjoining on you today, to observe and to do.

14 You shall not withdraw from any of the words which I am instructing you today, neither to the right nor left, to go after other elohim to serve them.

15 It will come to be if you do not hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim to observe and to do all His instructions and His statutes that I am enjoining on you today, that all these maledictions will come on you and overtake you.

16 Cursed be you in the city, and cursed be you in the field.

17 Cursed be your basket and your kneading-trough.

18 Cursed be the fruit of your belly, the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your beast, the calving of your domestic animals and the lambing of your flock.

19 Cursed be you in your coming in, and cursed be you in your going forth.

20 Yahweh shall send the curse, the discomfiture and the rebuke on you in every undertaking of your hand that you shall do, until you are exterminated and you perish quickly, in view of the evil of your actions in which you have forsaken Me.

21 Yahweh shall cause the plague to cling to you until He finishes you off the ground where you are entering to tenant it.

22 Yahweh shall smite you with attenuation, with fever and inflammation, with hot heat and drought, with blast and mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish.

23 Your heavens that are over your head will come to be as copper, and the earth that is beneath you as iron.

24 Yahweh shall make the rain of your land to be dust and soil-drifts; from the heavens it shall descend on you until you are exterminated.

25 Yahweh shall make you to be struck down before your enemies. By a single road shall you go forth to them, and by seven roads shall you flee before them. So you will become a stirring horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

26 Your carcass will become food for every flyer of the heavens and for the beast of the earth, and there will be no one causing them to tremble.

27 Yahweh shall smite you with the boil of Egypt, with piles, with eczema and with the itch, from which you cannot be healed.

28 Yahweh shall smite you with madness, with blindness and with derangement of heart;

29 and you will come to be groping at noon just as the blind one gropes in the gloom, and you shall not prosper in your ways and will only become exploited and pillaged all the days, and there will be no saviour.

30 A wife shall you betroth, yet another man shall ravish her. A house shall you build, yet you shall not dwell in it. A vineyard shall you plant, yet you shall not bring it to general use.

31 Your bull shall be slaughtered before your eyes, yet you shall not eat of it. Your donkey shall be snatched from before you, yet it shall not return to you. Your flock shall be given to your enemies, yet there will be no saviour for you.

32 Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, and your eyes shall be staring and wasting away for them all the day, yet there will be nothing at the disposal of your hand.

33 A people you do not know shall devour the fruit of your ground and all your labor, and you will surely be exploited and bruised all the days,

34 so that you will become mad because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see.

35 Yahweh shall smite you with an evil boil on both the knees and on both the legs, of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot and unto the crown of your head.

36 Yahweh shall conduct you and your king, whom you shall set up over you, to a nation whom you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, and you will serve there other elohim of wood and stone.

37 You will become an appalling object, a proverb and a byword among all the peoples where Yahweh shall lead you.

38 Much seed shall you bring forth to the field, yet little shall you gather, for the locust shall eat it up.

39 You shall plant vineyards, and you will service them, yet you shall neither drink the wine, nor shall you hoard it, for the worm shall devour it.

40 You shall come to have olives in all your territory, yet you shall not rub yourself with oil because your olives shall drop off.

41 You shall generate sons and daughters, yet they shall not become yours, for they shall go into captivity.

42 The cicada shall make all your trees and the fruit of your ground destitute.

43 The sojourner who is among you, he shall ascend over you upward and upward, yet you shall descend downward and downward.

44 He shall obligate you, yet you shall not obligate him. He shall become the head, and you shall become the tail.

45 All these maledictions will come on you, and they will pursue you and overtake you until you are exterminated, for you would not hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim to observe His instructions and His statutes that He enjoined on you.

46 They will be a sign and a miracle against you and your seed until the eon.

47 Inasmuch as you would not serve Yahweh your Elohim with rejoicing and with goodness of heart over the abundance of everything,

48 then you will serve your enemies whom Yahweh shall send forth against you, in famine and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has exterminated you.

49 Yahweh shall lift up against you a nation from afar, from the end of the earth, just as the vulture swoops down, a nation whose tongue you have not heard,

50 a nation strong of face who neither shows partiality to the old one nor is gracious to the youth.

51 It will devour the fruit of your beast and the fruit of your ground until you are exterminated, a nation who shall not let grain, grape juice or clarified oil, the calving of your domestic animals or the lambing of your flock remain for you, until it destroys you.

52 It will lay siege against you in all your gates until your lofty and defended walls in which you will be trusting come down in all your land; and it will lay siege against you in all your gates in all your land that Yahweh your Elohim will have given to you.

53 Then you will eat the fruit of your own belly, the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom Yahweh your Elohim will have given to you, in the siege and in the constraint with which your enemy shall constrain you.

54 The tender-hearted man among you and the one very fastidious, his eye shall be evil toward his brother and toward the wife of his bosom and toward the rest of his sons whom he shall have left,

55 so as to keep from giving to one of them the flesh of his sons that he is eating because nothing at all remains for him in the siege and in the constraint with which your enemy shall constrain you in all your gates.

56 The tender-hearted woman among you, and the fastidious one, who would not try to put the sole of her foot on the earth because of fastidiousness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom and toward her son and toward her daughter,

57 even for her afterbirth coming forth from between her feet, even for her children whom she is bearing, for she shall eat them for lack of everything, in concealment during the siege and during the constraint with which your enemy shall constrain you in your gates.

58 Should you not observe to do all the words of this law, the ones written in this scroll, to fear the Name of this glorified and fearinspiring One, Yahweh your Elohim,

59 then Yahweh will make your smitings and the smitings of your seed extraordinary: smitings that are great and constant, and illnesses that are evil and constant.

60 Thus He will bring back to you every disease of Egypt from the presence of which you shrank away, and they will cling to you.

61 Moreover, every illness and every smiting that is not written in the scroll of this law, Yahweh shall bring them up on you until you are exterminated.

62 Thus you will remain few in adult males, whereas you would have become as the stars of the heavens for multitude, for you did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim.

63 So it will come to be, just as Yahweh was elated over you to bring you good and to let you increase, so Yahweh shall be elated over you to destroy you and to exterminate you, so that you will be torn out from the ground where you are entering to tenant it.

64 And Yahweh will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth unto the other end of the earth. There you will serve other elohim, those of wood and stone which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers.

65 And among those nations you shall neither find respite, nor shall there be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh will give to you there a disturbed heart, a failure of the eyes and pining of the soul.

66 Then your lives will come to be hung in suspense in front of you. You will be afraid by night and by day, and you shall not be sure in your lives.

67 In the morning you shall say: O that it were evening! And in the evening you shall say: O that it were morning! because of the awe of your heart with which you shall be afraid and because of the sight of your eyes which you shall see.

68 Then Yahweh will bring you back complaining to Egypt by the way of which I said to you: You should not again see it further. There you will put yourselves up for sale to your enemies as manslaves and as bondmaids, yet there will be no buyer.

Chapter 29

1 These are the words of the covenant which Yahweh instructed Moses to contract with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, aside from the covenant that He had contracted with them at Horeb.

2 Moses called to all Israel and said to them: You saw all that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,

3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and those great miracles.

4 Yet until this day Yahweh has not given to you a heart to realize and eyes to see and ears to hear.

5 When I conducted you forty years in the wilderness, your raiment did not decay on you, and your sandal, it did not decay on your foot.

6 You did not eat bread, neither did you drink wine nor intoxicant, so that you might know that I, Yahweh, am your Elohim.

7 When you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came forth to meet us for battle, and we smote them.

8 Then we took their land and gave it as an allotment to the Reubenite and to the Gadite and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

9 So you will observe the words of this covenant and do them, so that you may proceed intelligently in all that you undertake.

10 You are stationed today, all of you, before Yahweh your Elohim your heads, your tribal chiefs, your elders and your superintendents, every man of Israel,

11 your little ones, your wives, even your sojourner who is within your camps, from the chopper of your timbers to the bailer of your waters,

12 that you may enter into the covenant of Yahweh your Elohim and into His oath of imprecation that Yahweh your Elohim is contracting with you today,

13 so that He may set you up today as His people. And He shall become your Elohim just as He promised to you and just as He had sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.

14 And not with you, you alone, am I contracting this covenant and this oath of imprecation,

15 for it is both with him who is here with us standing today before Yahweh our Elohim and with him who is not here with us today.

16 For you know that we had dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we had passed among the nations whom you passed;

17 and you saw their abominations and their idol clods, those of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were with them.

18 Beware lest there may be among you a man or woman or family or tribe whose heart today is turning around from being with Yahweh our Elohim to go to serve the elohim of those nations; beware lest there may be among you a root, being fruitful with poison and absinth.

19 And it will come to be when he hears the words of this imprecation that he will bless himself in his heart, saying: I shall come to have peace, though I am going in the obduracy of my own heart, with the result that the well-watered is swept up with the thirsty.

20 Yahweh shall not be willing to pardon him, because then Yahweh’s anger and His jealousy shall smolder against that man, and all the imprecation that is written in this scroll will lie on him. Yahweh will wipe out his name from under the heavens;

21 and Yahweh will separate him from all the tribes of Israel for the evil visitation according to all the imprecations of the covenant that is written in this scroll of the law.

22 The latter generation of your sons who shall rise after you and the foreigner who shall come from a land afar will ask, when they see the smitings of that land of yours and its ailments with which Yahweh has made it ill

23 its whole land a burnt waste of sulfur and salt; it shall not be sown, neither shall it sprout, nor shall any herbage ascend in it, like the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overturned in His anger and in His fury

24 hence all the nations will ask: Why did Yahweh do thus to this land? Why the heat of this great anger?

25 Then some will answer: Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh Elohim of their fathers, that He had contracted with them when He brought them forth from the land of Egypt,

26 for they went off and served other elohim and bowed themselves down to them, elohim whom they had neither known, nor had He apportioned to them.

27 Hence the anger of Yahweh grew hot against that land so as to bring upon it all the malediction that is written in this scroll.

28 So Yahweh plucked them up off their ground in anger, in fury and in great wrath, and He flung them into another land as it is this day.

29 The things being concealed are Yahweh our Elohim’s, yet the things being revealed are ours and our sons’ until the eon, so that we might keep all the words of this law.

Chapter 30

1 It will come to be, when all these things come on you, the blessing and the malediction which I put before you, that you will recall them to your heart among all the nations where Yahweh your Elohim will have expelled you

2 and that you will return again to Yahweh your Elohim and hearken to His voice according to all that I am instructing you today, you and your sons, with all your heart and with all your soul.

3 Then Yahweh your Elohim will reverse your captivity and show compassion to you; He will return and convene you from all the peoples where Yahweh your Elohim will have scattered you.

4 If it comes to be that you should be expelled to the end of the heavens, from there Yahweh your Elohim shall convene you, and from there He shall take you.

5 Then Yahweh your Elohim will bring you to the land that your fathers tenanted; you will tenant it, and He will bring you good and let you increase more than your fathers.

6 Yahweh your Elohim will circumcise your heart and the heart of your seed so as to love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may stay alive.

7 Then Yahweh your Elohim will put all these imprecations on your enemies and on those hating you, who persecute you.

8 As for you, however, you will again hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim; you will do all His instructions that I am enjoining on you today.

9 Then Yahweh your Elohim will give you surplus in goods through all the work of your hand, through the fruit of your belly, the fruit of your domestic beast and the fruit of your ground, for Yahweh shall again be elated over you for good, just as He was elated over your fathers,

10 when you hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim to observe His instructions and His statutes, the ones written in this scroll of the law, once you return to Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul.

11 For this instruction that I am enjoining on you today, it is neither too difficult for you, nor is it too far off.

12 It is neither in the heavens for you to say: Who shall ascend to the heavens for us and take it for us and announce it to us that we may do it?

13 Nor is it across the sea for you to say: Who shall cross across the sea for us and take it for us and announce it to us that we may do it?

14 For the word is exceedingly near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to do it.

15 See! I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

16 If you should hearken to the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim that I am enjoining on you today, to love Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in His ways and to observe His instructions, His statutes and His ordinances, then you will live and multiply, and Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in the land where you are entering to tenant it.

17 Yet should your heart turn around, and you are not hearkening, and you are induced to bow yourself down to other elohim and serve them,

18 I tell you today that you shall perish, yea perish. You shall not prolong your days on the ground where you are crossing over the Jordan to enter to tenant it.

19 Today I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you: Life and death I have put before you, the blessing and the malediction. Now choose life that you may live, you and your seed,

20 by loving Yahweh your Elohim, hearkening to His voice and clinging to Him (for that means life to you and prolonging of your days) so that you may dwell on the ground about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give to them.

Chapter 31

1 Then Moses concluded by speaking these words to all Israel

2 and saying to them: I am a hundred and twenty years old today. No longer am I able to go forth or to come in. And Yahweh, He has said to me: You shall not cross over this Jordan.

3 Yahweh your Elohim, He is crossing over before you; He Himself shall exterminate these nations from before you, and you will tenant in their place. Joshua, he is crossing over before you just as Yahweh has spoken,

4 and Yahweh will do to them just as He did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorite, and to their land, those whom He exterminated.

5 Yahweh will give them up before you, and you must deal with them according to all the instructions which I have enjoined on you.

6 Be steadfast, and be resolute! Do not fear, and do not be terrified because of their presence, for Yahweh your Elohim, He is the One going with you; He shall neither neglect you nor forsake you.

7 Moses called to Joshua and said to him before the eyes of all Israel: Be steadfast and be resolute, for you shall bring this people into the land about which Yahweh had sworn to their fathers to give to them, and you shall cause them to gain it as an allotment.

8 As for Yahweh, He is the One going before you; He Himself shall come to be with you. He shall neither neglect you nor forsake you. You shall neither fear nor be dismayed.

9 Then Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, the carriers of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.

10 And Moses instructed them saying: At the end of seven years, at the appointment of the year of release, at the festival of booths,

11 when all Israel comes to appear before Yahweh your Elohim in the place that He shall choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their ears.

12 Assemble the people, the men, the women, the little ones and your sojourner who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn: They must fear Yahweh your Elohim and must observe to keep all the words of this law.

13 And their sons, who have not known it, they shall hear; they too must learn to fear Yahweh your Elohim all the days that you are alive on the ground where you are crossing over the Jordan to tenant it.

14 Then Yahweh said to Moses: Behold, near are your days to die. Call Joshua and station yourselves in the tent of appointment, that I may instruct him. So Moses and Joshua went and stationed themselves in the tent of appointment.

15 Then Yahweh appeared at the tent in a column of cloud; and the column of cloud stood over the opening of the tent.

16 Yahweh said to Moses: Behold, you are about to lie with your fathers. Yet this people will rise and prostitute after the elohim of the foreigners of the land where they are entering to be among them; and they will forsake Me and annul My covenant that I contracted with them.

17 My anger will grow hot against them on that day, and I will forsake them and conceal My face from them; then they will come to be devoured, and many evils and distresses will come upon them. Then they will say on that day: Is it not because our Elohim is not among us that these evils have come upon us?

18 Yet I shall conceal, yea conceal My face from them on that day on account of all the evil which they will have done, for they will have turned around to other elohim.

19 And now, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the sons of Israel. Put it in their mouths so that this song may come to be for Me as a testimony against the sons of Israel.

20 When I shall bring them to the ground gushing with milk and honey about which I had sworn to their fathers, when they eat and are satisfied and are sleek so that they turn around to other elohim and serve them, when they thus spurn Me and annul My covenant,

21 and it comes to be that many evils and distresses come upon them, then this song will answer as a testimony before them (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of their seed) that I know the bent of their heart which they are forming today ere I bring them to the land about which I had sworn. (

22 Moses wrote this song on that day and taught it to the sons of Israel.)

23 Then He instructed Joshua son of Nun and said: Be steadfast and be resolute! For you shall bring the sons of Israel to the land about which I had sworn to them; and I Myself shall come to be with you.

24 It came to be as Moses concluded writing all the words of this law on a scroll until they were finished,

25 that Moses instructed the Levites, the carriers of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, saying:

26 You are to take this scroll of the law, and you must place it by the side of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh your Elohim, and it will come to be there as a testimony against you,

27 for I know your rebellion and your scruff of obstinacy. Behold if in my day, while I am still with you alive, you have been rebellious against Yahweh, how much more so after my death!

28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your superintendents, and do let me speak in their ears all these words, and do let me call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.

29 For I know that after my death you shall bring ruin, yea ruin on yourselves; you will withdraw from the way that I enjoined on you, and the evil visitation will befall you in the latter days, for you shall do the thing that is evil in the eyes of Yahweh so as to provoke Him to vexation by the work of your hands.

30 Then Moses spoke in the ears of the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were finished.

Chapter 32

1 Give ear, heavens, and do let me speak, And let the earth hear the sayings of my mouth.

2 My monition shall trickle as rain, And my saying shall distil as night mist: As drizzle on verdure, And as showers on herbage.

3 For the Name of Yahweh am I proclaiming: Grant greatness to our Elohim!

4 The Rock flawless are His deeds, For all His ways are right judgment. The El of faithfulness and without iniquity; Just and upright is He.

5 They have become corrupt before Him; No longer are they His sons because of their blemish: A generation perverse and twisted.

6 Is this what you requite to Yahweh, You decadent and unwise people? Is not He your Father Who acquired you? He Himself made you and established you.

7 Remember the days of the eon; Understand the years of generation after generation. Ask your father, and he shall tell you, Your elders, and they shall say to you:

8 When the Supreme gave the nations allotments, When He parted the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Elohim.

9 For the portion of Yahweh is His people; Jacob is the line of His allotment.

10 He found him in a wilderness land, And in a chaos, a howling desolation. He surrounded him; He made him understand; He preserved him as the pupil of His eye.

11 As a vulture rouses up its nest, Hovers over its fledglings, Spreads its wings, takes one, Bears it on its pinions,

12 Thus Yahweh alone, He guided him, And with him was no foreign el;

13 He made him ride on high-places of the land And made him eat produce of the field; He made him suckle honey from the crag And oil from the flinty rock,

14 Clotted cream of the herd and milk of the flock, With fat of butting lambs And rams of Bashan-breed and he-goats, With the fat of the wheat germ. And from the blood of the grape you drank turbid wine.

15 When Yeshurun grew stout and kicked (You will be stout, thick and burly), Then he abandoned Eloah Who had made him And disgraced the Rock of his salvation.

16 They made Him jealous with alien gods; With abhorrences they provoked Him to vexation.

17 They sacrificed to demons, not Eloah, To elohim they had not known them before To new ones that came from nearby; Your fathers were not horrified by them.

18 The Rock Who generated you, you were oblivious of Him, And you forgot the El travailing with you.

19 Yahweh saw and spurned them Because of the vexatiousness of His sons and His daughters.

20 And He said: Do let Me conceal My face from them; I shall examine what their latter days are to be. For they are a wayward generation, Sons with no faithfulness in them.

21 As for them, they make Me jealous with a non-el; They provoke Me to vexation with their idols of vanity. As for Me, I shall make them jealous with a non-people; With a decadent nation shall I cause them vexation.

22 For a fire, it will be kindled by My anger, And it shall glow unto the unseen beneath; It shall devour the earth and its crop, And it shall set aflame the foundations of the mountains.

23 I shall cause evils to sweep up over them; I shall exhaust My arrows among them

24 Who are gaunt with famine, Fought by pestilence and bitter sting: Even the tooth of beasts shall I send among them Along with the venom of skulkers of the soil.

25 From the outside, the sword shall bereave, And from the chambers, the dread of war, Even for the man in his prime, even for the virgin, The suckling along with the grey-haired man.

26 I would say: I might blow them away, I might indeed eradicate their remembrance from mortals,

27 Unless I shrank away from the vexatiousness of the enemy; Lest their foes misconstrue, Lest they say: Our hand, it is high, And it was not Yahweh Who contrived all this.

28 For they are a nation devoid of counsel, And there is no understanding in them.

29 O that they were wise; They would proceed intelligently in this; They would understand about their latter days!

30 How could one pursue a thousand Or two put a myriad to flight, If it were not that their Rock, He had sold them, And Yahweh, He had surrendered them?

31 For their rock is not like our Rock; Even our enemies are umpires.

32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom And from the terraces of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of poison, And clusters of bitterness are theirs;

33 Their wine is as the venom of snakes And the poison of cobras, as cruel.

34 Is it not amassed with Me, Sealed among My treasures

35 For the day of vengeance and repayment, For the season when their foot shall slip? For the day of their calamity is near, And impending doom hurries upon them.

36 For Yahweh shall adjudicate His people And show Himself merciful over His servants When He sees that the power of their hand has departed And has become nil for both the restrained and the ones set free.

37 Then Yahweh will ask: Where are their elohim, The rock in whom they sought refuge,

38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices And drank the wine of their libations? Let them rise up and help you; Let them become a concealment over you.

39 See now that I, I am He, And there are no other elohim beside Me. I Myself put to death, and I keep alive; I have transfixed, and I Myself shall heal, And there is no one who could reclaim from My hand!

40 For I lift My hand to the heavens And declare: As I am the Living One for the eon,

41 When I whet My flashing sword And My hand lays hold on judgment, I shall return vengeance to My foes, And to My haters shall I make repayment.

42 I shall make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword, it shall devour flesh, The blood of the one slain and the captive, From the head of the enemy commanders.

43 Be jubilant, heavens, together with Him, And worship Him, all the messengers of Elohim! Be jubilant, nations, with His people! For the blood of His servants shall He avenge, Vengeance to His foes shall He return, And a propitiatory shelter shall He make for the ground of His people.

44 Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Hosea son of Nun.

45 When Moses concluded speaking all these words to all Israel,

46 he said to them: Set your heart on all the words which I am testifying among you today, so that you may enjoin them on your sons to observe and to do all the words of this law.

47 For it is not an empty word for you; it means your life, and by this word you may prolong your days on the ground where you are crossing over the Jordan to tenant it.

48 Yahweh spoke to Moses on this very day, saying:

49 Go up to this mount of the Abarim range (Mount Nebo which is in the land of Moab that is overlooking Jericho), and see the land of Canaan that I am giving to the sons of Israel for a holding;

50 and die on the mount where you are going up, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,

51 because both of you offended Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, because neither of you hallowed Me in the midst of the sons of Israel.

52 For from a distance shall you see the land, yet you shall not enter there into the land that I am giving to the sons of Israel.

Chapter 33

1 This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of Elohim, blessed the sons of Israel before his death,

2 when he said: Yahweh came from Sinai, And He arose from Seir for them. He shone from Mount Paran, And He arrived with some from myriads of the holy ones. At His right are warriors who are His.

3 Indeed, He is cherishing the kinsmen. All the holy ones are in Your hand. And they are huddled at Your feet. Each obtains something from Your words

4 About the law Moses enjoined on us, The tenancy of the assembly of Jacob.

5 So He became king in Yeshurun When the heads of the people gathered themselves Together with the tribes of Israel.

6 Let Reuben live, let him not die Or let his adult males come to be few in number.

7 This is about Judah, and he said: Hear, O Yahweh, the voice of Judah, And may You bring him to his people; With his hands he contended for himself, Yet may You become a help against his foes.

8 About Levi he said: May your Thummim and your Urim be for your benign man Whom you probed at Massah; You contended with him at the waters of Meribah,

9 The one saying of his father and of his mother: I do not regard them, And he neither recognized his brothers, Nor did he know his sons. For they observed Your sayings And preserved Your covenant.

10 They shall point out Your ordinances for Jacob, And Your law for Israel. They shall bring incense to Your nostrils And a wholly fumed offering on Your altar.

11 Bless, O Yahweh, his estate, And the deeds of his hands may You approve. Transfix the waists of those rising up against him, And those hating him, that they may rise up no more.

12 About Benjamin he said: Let the beloved of Yahweh tabernacle in serenity near Him Who is providing a canopy over him all the day, As he tabernacles between His hillside flanks.

13 About Joseph he said: Blessed by Yahweh be his land With the finest of the heavens, the night mist, And with water from the abyss reclining beneath,

14 With the finest of the yield from the sun, And with the finest of the growth of the months,

15 With the top yield of the ancient mountain ranges, And with the finest of the hills eonian,

16 With the finest of the earth and its fullness, And the approval of the One tabernacling in the thornbush. Do let it come onto the head of Joseph And onto the crown of the one singled out from his brothers,

17 As the firstborn of his kine brings honor to him, And his horns are the horns of the wild bull. With them he shall gore the peoples Altogether, to the limits of the earth. Those are the myriads of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh.

18 About Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth, And, Issachar, in your tents.

19 They shall invite their kinsmen to the mountain, And there they shall sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness; For they suck out the accumulation of the seas And the secreted treasures buried in the sand.

20 About Gad he said: Blessed be the One widening the space for Gad. Like a parent lion he tabernacles And preys upon arm and scalp,

21 And he saw the first portion given to himself, For where the apportionment of the statute-maker was, There gathered together the heads of the people; He will observe the righteous deeds of Yahweh, And His ordinances, along with Israel.

22 About Dan he said: Dan is a lion’s whelp, And he shall bound from Bashan.

23 About Naphtali he said: Naphtali, satisfied with his acceptable portion, Full of Yahweh’s blessing: He shall tenant toward the Lake and south.

24 About Asher he said: Most blessed of sons be Asher, And let him come to be approved by his brothers, And be dipping his foot in oil.

25 Iron and bronze be your door-bolts, And as your days so shall be your leisure.

26 There is none like the El of Yeshurun: Riding the heavens as your Helper And in His augustness, the skies,

27 The habitation of Elohim aforetime. And beneath are the arms eonian. He shall drive out the enemy from your presence And shall say: Exterminate him!

28 So Israel shall tabernacle in serenity; Solitary is the spring of Jacob In a land of grain and grape juice. Indeed, his heavens, they shall trickle the night mist.

29 Happy are you, Israel! Who is like you? A people saved by Yahweh, the Shield of your help, Who is also the Sword of your augustness! Your enemies shall dissimulate submission to you, Yet you, you shall tread on their high-places.

Chapter 34

1 Then Moses ascended from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the summit of the Pisgah ridge, which is overlooking Jericho. And Yahweh showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan;

2 all the land of Naphtali, all the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the sea that is behind it,

3 the Negeb and the valley basin of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

4 Then Yahweh said to him: This is the land about which I had sworn to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, saying, To your seed shall I give it. I have let you see it with your eyes, yet you shall not cross over there.

5 Moses, the servant of Yahweh, died there in the land of Moab in accordance with the word of Yahweh.

6 Then He entombed him in a ravine in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor. And no man knows his tomb until this day.

7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old at his death. Neither had his eye dimmed nor had his vitality fled.

8 The sons of Israel lamented for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the days of lamentation, the mourning for Moses, came to an end.

9 Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had supported his hands on him. And the sons of Israel hearkened to him and did just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

10 No prophet arose again in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,

11 none like him in all the signs and the miracles which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants and to all his land,

12 and none like him in all the steadfast hand and in all the great and fear-inspiring deeds which Moses had done before the eyes of all Israel.

The Book of Joshua

Chapter 1

1 It came to be after the death of Moses the servant of Yahweh that Yahweh spoke to Joshua son of Nun the minister of Moses, saying:

2 Moses My servant has died; now then arise, cross over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land that I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

3 Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread, I give it to you, just as I promised Moses.

4 From the wilderness and from this Lebanon unto the Great Stream, the stream Euphrates the whole Hittite land and unto the Great Sea, toward the sunset, shall come to be your territory.

5 No man shall stand up before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I shall be with you; I shall neither neglect you nor forsake you.

6 Be steadfast and be resolute, for you shall cause this people to gain as an allotment the land about which I had sworn to their fathers to give to them.

7 But be steadfast and be very resolute to observe and to do according to the whole law that Moses My servant enjoined on you. Do not withdraw from it to the right or to the left, that you may proceed intelligently wherever you go.

8 Let not this scroll of the law ever remove from your mouth, but soliloquize on it by day and by night, so that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it; for only then shall you prosper in your way, and then proceed intelligently.

9 Have I not instructed you? Be steadfast and be resolute. Do not be terrified, and do not be dismayed, for Yahweh your Elohim is with you wherever you go.

10 Joshua instructed the militia clerks of the people, saying:

11 Pass within the camp and instruct the people, saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for in three days you will be crossing over this Jordan to enter and to tenant the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it.

12 Then Joshua spoke to the Reubenite, to the Gadite and to the half tribe of Manasseh, saying:

13 You are to remember the word that Moses the servant of Yahweh enjoined on you, saying, Yahweh your Elohim is giving rest to you and will give to you this land.

14 Your wives, your little ones and your cattle may dwell in the land that Moses gave to you in Transjordan. Yet you yourselves shall cross over in fivefold deployment before your brothers, all the masters of valor, and you will help them

15 until Yahweh shall give rest to your brothers as He gave to you, and they too will tenant the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to them. Then you may return to the land of your tenancy which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave to you in Transjordan toward the sunrise, and you may tenant it.

16 They answered Joshua, saying: Whatever you enjoin on us we shall do, and wherever you send us we shall go.

17 Just as we have hearkened to Moses in everything, so we shall hearken to you. Surely Yahweh your Elohim shall be with you just as He was with Moses.

18 Any man who should defy your bidding and not hearken to your words, whatever you may instruct him, he shall be put to death. Only be steadfast and be resolute!

Chapter 2

1 Joshua son of Nun sent out from Shittim two men for silent spying, saying, Go, examine the land of Jericho. So they went and entered the house of a woman, a prostitute her name was Rahab and bedded down there.

2 It was reported to the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men have entered here tonight from the sons of Israel, to reconnoiter the area.

3 So the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who came to you tonight, who entered your house, for they have come to reconnoiter the whole area.

4 But the woman had taken the two men and secluded them. So she said: Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.

5 When the gate was to close at dark, the men went forth. I do not know where the men went. Pursue quickly after them, so that you may overtake them.

6 Yet she herself had brought them up to the housetop and buried them under the flax stalks arranged by her on the housetop.

7 As for the men, they pursued after them on the Jordan road over the fords. And just as the pursuers went forth after them, they closed the gate behind them.

8 As for the spies, they were not yet bedded down when she came up to them on the housetop.

9 She said to the men: I know that Yahweh has given the land to you and that the dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the dwellers of the area are dissolved because of your presence;

10 for we have heard how Yahweh dried up the waters of the Sea of Weeds before your face when you came forth from Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorite who were in Transjordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom you doomed.

11 When we heard, our heart was melted, and no more spirit arose in anyone because of your presence, for Yahweh your Elohim, He is Elohim in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

12 And now swear, I pray, to me by Yahweh, since I have done a kindness to you, that you too will do a kindness to my father’s house. And give to me a reliable sign

13 that you will preserve alive my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters and all who belong to them, and rescue our souls from death.

14 Then the men said to her, Our souls are to die instead of you! If you do not tell of this matter of ours, then it will come to be, when Yahweh gives this land to us, that we will deal with you in kindness and truth.

15 So she let them down with a rope line through the window, for her house was in the outer sidewall of the city wall; thus she was dwelling on the wall.

16 Then she said to them, You must go toward the hill country, lest the pursuers should come upon you; and hide yourselves there three days until the pursuers return. Afterward you may go on your way.

17 Then the men said to her: We will be exempt from this oath of yours that you have made us swear.

18 Behold, when we are entering the land, this cord line of scarlet thread shall you tie to the window through which you let us down. Your father, your mother, your brothers and all the household of your father shall you gather to you into the house.

19 It will come to be that anyone who goes forth from the doors of your house to the outside, his blood will be on his head, and we will be exempt. As for anyone who comes to be with you in the house, his blood will be on our head if a hand should be laid on him.

20 Yet if you tell of this matter of ours, then we will be exempt from your oath that you have made us swear.

21 She replied, According to your words, so be it. Then she sent them away, and they departed, and she tied the cord line of scarlet thread to the window.

22 They went on and came to the hill country and dwelt there three days until the pursuers turned back. And so the pursuers sought all along the road yet did not find them.

23 The two men returned, came down from the hill country, crossed over and came to Joshua son of Nun. They related to him all the things occurring to them.

24 They told Joshua, Yahweh has given all the land into our hand; indeed, all dwellers of the land are dissolved because of our presence.

Chapter 3

1 Joshua rose early in the morning. They decamped from Shittim and advanced toward the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel. They lodged there ere they crossed over.

2 It came to be at the end of three days that the militia clerks passed within the camp

3 and instructed the people, saying: When you see the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh your Elohim, with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall journey on from your place and march after it.

4 However, a far distance shall come to be between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near to it, so that you may know the way by which you are to march, for you have not passed by this way heretofore.

5 And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow Yahweh shall do marvels among you.

6 Then Joshua ordered the priests, saying, Take up the coffer of the covenant and cross over before the people. So they took up the coffer of the covenant and went before the people.

7 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, This day I am starting off to make you great in the eyes of all Israel, so that they shall know I will be with you, just as I was with Moses.

8 As for you, you shall instruct the priests who are the carriers of the coffer of the covenant, saying, When you come unto the fringe of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.

9 Then Joshua spoke to the sons of Israel, Come close here and hear the words of Yahweh your Elohim.

10 Joshua said: By this you shall realize that the living El is among you; and He shall evict, yea evict from before you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite and the Jebusite.

11 Behold, the coffer of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.

12 Now then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man each, one man for a tribe.

13 And it will come to be, when the soles of the priests’ feet, the carriers of the coffer of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, then the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, that is the waters descending from above, and they shall stand up as one waterspout.

14 And it came to be, when the people decamped from their tent sites to cross over the Jordan, with the priests carrying the coffer of the covenant before the people,

15 that the carriers of the coffer came unto the Jordan, and the feet of the priests, the carriers of the coffer, were dipped into the fringe of the waters, the Jordan being full over all its banks all the days of harvest.

16 Then the waters descending from above stood still; they rose as one waterspout very far off at Adam, the city at the side of Zarethan, while those descending upon the Sea of Arabah, the Salt Sea, came to end and were cut off. So the people crossed over in front of Jericho.

17 The priests, the carriers of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, stood firm in the drained area in the middle of the Jordan, and all Israel were crossing over the drained area until the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan.

Chapter 4

1 It came to be, just as the entire nation had finished crossing over the Jordan that Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying:

2 Take for yourselves from the people twelve men, one man each, one man from a tribe,

3 and instruct them, saying, Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the spot where the priests’ feet are standing firm. Bring them across with you and leave them at the lodging place in which you lodge tonight.

4 Then Joshua called to the twelve men whom he had caused to stand ready out of the sons of Israel, one man each, one man from a tribe.

5 Joshua said to them: Cross over to the middle of the Jordan, straight before the coffer of Yahweh your Elohim, and raise up for yourselves each man one stone on his shoulder, according to the number of tribes of the sons of Israel,

6 so that this may become a sign among you. When your sons shall ask tomorrow, saying, What is the meaning of these stones for you?

7 then you will say to them, The waters of the Jordan were cut off in view of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh; when it crossed over into the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. Thus these stones have become a memorial for the sons of Israel unto the eon.

8 So the sons of Israel did just as Joshua had instructed them. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as Yahweh had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of tribes of the sons of Israel. They brought them across with them to the lodging place and left them there.

9 Then Joshua set up twelve other stones in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the feet of the priests stood, carrying the coffer of the covenant; and they have remained there until this day.

10 Meanwhile the priests, the carriers of the coffer, were standing in the middle of the Jordan until the whole matter came to end that Yahweh had instructed Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had instructed Joshua. So the people made haste and crossed over.

11 Then it came to be, as soon as all the people finished crossing over, that the coffer of Yahweh and the priests crossed over in view of the people.

12 The sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh passed on in fivefold deployment before the sons of Israel just as Moses had charged them.

13 About forty thousand vanguard troops of the militia host passed on before Yahweh to the plains of Jericho for battle.

14 On that day Yahweh made Joshua great in the eyes of all Israel, so that they feared him, just as they had feared Moses all the days of his life.

15 Meanwhile Yahweh had spoken to Joshua, saying,

16 Instruct the priests, the carriers of the coffer of the testimony that they come up out of the Jordan.

17 So Joshua instructed the priests, saying, Come up out of the Jordan.

18 Then it came to be when the priests, the carriers of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, came up from the middle of the Jordan and the soles of the priests’ feet were drawn off the drained area, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and went as heretofore, over all its banks.

19 As for the people, they came up out of the Jordan on the tenth of the first month and encamped at Gilgal, on the eastern fringe of Jericho.

20 And those twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.

21 Then he spoke to the sons of Israel, saying, When your sons ask their fathers tomorrow, saying, What is the meaning of these stones?

22 then you will let your sons know, saying, On dry ground Israel crossed over this Jordan,

23 for Yahweh your Elohim dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as Yahweh your Elohim did to the Sea of Weeds, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,

24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Yahweh, that it is steadfast, and that you may fear Yahweh your Elohim all the days.

Chapter 5

1 It came to be, when all the kings of the Amorite across the Jordan seaward, and all the kings of the Canaanite by the sea, heard how Yahweh had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the sons of Israel until they crossed over, that their heart was melted, and no more spirit came to be in them because of the presence of the sons of Israel.

2 At that time Yahweh said to Joshua, Make for yourself chert blades, and circumcise the sons of Israel again, the second time.

3 So Joshua made for himself chert blades and circumcised the sons of Israel at the Hill of Foreskins.

4 This is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people coming forth from Egypt, the males, all the men of military age had died in the wilderness on the journey after they had come forth from Egypt.

5 All those people coming forth were circumcised. As for all the people born in the wilderness on the journey, after their coming forth from Egypt, they had not circumcised them.

6 For the sons of Israel went forty years through the wilderness until the whole nation, the men of military age coming forth from Egypt who had not hearkened to the voice of Yahweh, came to end, to whom Yahweh had sworn not to show them the land that Yahweh had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land gushing with milk and honey.

7 But He set up their sons in their stead. It was these whom Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised, since they had not circumcised them on the journey.

8 And it came to be, just as they finished circumcising the whole nation, that they remained in their place in the camp until they revived.

9 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, Today I have rolled the reproach of Egypt away from you. So they call the name of that place Gilgal until this day.

10 While the sons of Israel encamped at Gilgal, they observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, in the plains of Jericho.

11 On the morrow after the Passover, on that very day, they ate of the yield of the land, unleavened bread and toasted grain.

12 Then the manna ceased from the morrow when they ate of the yield of the land. There was no longer any manna for the sons of Israel; in that year they ate of the yield of the land of Canaan.

13 It came to be, when Joshua was at Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing in front of him with his sword drawn in his hand. Joshua went to him and asked him, Are you for us or for our foes?

14 He replied, No, I am chief of Yahweh’s host; I have now come. Joshua fell on his face toward the earth, bowed himself down and said to him, What is my lord speaking to his servant?

15 Then the chief of Yahweh’s host replied to Joshua, Drop off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing, it is holy. And Joshua did so.

Chapter 6

1 Meanwhile Jericho’s gates had been closed and locked because of the presence of the sons of Israel; there was no one going forth, and there was no one entering.

2 Then Yahweh said to Joshua: See, I have delivered into your hand Jericho and its king, masters of valor.

3 You all must march around the city; all the men of military age are to circle around the city one time. Thus shall you do for six days,

4 and seven priests shall carry the seven alarm trumpets before the coffer. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times; as for the priests, they shall blow the trumpets.

5 Thereupon it will occur, when the horn blast of the alarmhorn is drawn out, when you hear that sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout a loud shout, and the wall of the city will fall under it. At that the people will go up, each man in front of him.

6 So Joshua son of Nun called to the priests and said to them, Take up the coffer of the covenant; and seven priests shall carry seven alarm trumpets before the coffer of Yahweh.

7 Then he ordered the people, Advance and march around the city, while the vanguard pass on before the coffer of Yahweh.

8 It came to be, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests, carrying the seven alarm trumpets before Yahweh, advanced and blew the trumpets; and the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh was going after them.

9 The vanguard marched before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard marched behind the coffer, with the trumpets being blown continuously.

10 Yet Joshua had instructed the people, saying, You shall neither shout nor let your voice be heard, nor shall a word come forth from your mouth until the day I say to you, Shout! Then you must shout.

11 So he had the coffer of Yahweh go around the city to circle around it one time. Then they entered the camp and lodged in the camp.

12 Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the coffer of Yahweh.

13 The seven priests carrying the seven alarm trumpets marched before the coffer of Yahweh and blew the trumpets continuously. The vanguard marched before them, and the rear guard marched behind the coffer of Yahweh, with the trumpets being blown continuously.

14 So they marched around the city one time on the second day and returned to the camp. Thus they did for six days.

15 It came to be on the seventh day, that they rose early, when the dawn ascended, and marched around the city according to this custom seven times; that was the only day they marched around the city seven times.

16 And it came to be at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua ordered the people: Shout, for Yahweh has delivered the city to you!

17 Yet the city will come to be doomed, it and all that is in it, devoted to Yahweh. But Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in the house; for she hid the messengers whom we sent.

18 But you all, keep away from the doomed goods, lest when you have doomed them, you take anything from the doomed goods and thus make the camp of Israel subject to the doom and bring trouble on it.

19 All the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron, all these are holy to Yahweh; they shall enter the treasury of Yahweh.

20 So, when the priests blew the trumpets, the people shouted. It came to be, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the people shouted a loud shout, that the wall fell under it, and the people went up toward the city, each man in front of him. Thus they took the city.

21 They doomed all that was in the city to the edge of the sword, man and woman, youth and elder, bull, flockling and donkey.

22 To the two men who had spied out the land, Joshua said, Enter the house of the woman, the prostitute, and bring forth from there the woman and all who belong to her, just as you swore to her.

23 So the youthful spies entered and brought forth Rahab, her father and her mother, her brothers and all who belonged to her; they brought forth all her family members and left them outside the camp of Israel.

24 They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and the gold and the articles of bronze and iron they gave to the treasury of the house of Yahweh.

25 As for Rahab the prostitute with her father’s house and all who belonged to her, Joshua preserved them alive. And she has dwelt among Israel until this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

26 Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Yahweh who should rise and would rebuild this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his inferior son shall he set up its double doors.

27 Thus Yahweh was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

Chapter 7

1 Yet the sons of Israel offended by an offense in regard to the doomed goods. Achar son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the stock of Judah, took some of the doomed goods. And the anger of Yahweh grew hot against the sons of Israel.

2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is by Beth-aven, east of Bethel. He ordered them, saying, Go up and spy out the land. So the men went up and spied out Ai.

3 When they returned to Joshua, they said to him, Let not all the soldiers go up; about two thousand men or about three thousand men should go up and smite Ai. Do not weary there all the people, for those in Ai are few.

4 So about three thousand men of the people went up there; but they fled before the men of Ai,

5 and the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six men. Then they pursued them before the gate as far as Shebarim and smote all of them on the descent. Consequently the heart of the people melted and became like water.

6 At that Joshua tore his raiments and fell on his face toward the earth before the coffer of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they cast up dust on their heads.

7 Joshua said: Alas, my Lord Yahweh, why did You bring this people across, yea across the Jordan, to give us into the hand of the Amorite to let us perish? O that we had been so disposed that we had dwelt in Transjordan.

8 O! Yahweh, what can I say after Israel has turned the nape of its neck before its enemies?

9 When the Canaanite and all dwellers of the land shall hear it, they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. Then what shall You do for Your great Name?

10 Yahweh said to Joshua: Get yourself up! Why is this that you are falling on your face?

11 Israel has sinned; they have trespassed against My covenant that I had instructed them to observe. They have taken some of the doomed goods; they have stolen; they have dissimulated; they have placed them in their vessels.

12 So the sons of Israel cannot rise before their enemies; they turn the nape of their neck around before their enemies, for they have become subject to the doom. I shall not continue to be with you if you do not exterminate the doomed goods from among you.

13 Get up, hallow the people, and you will tell them, Hallow yourselves for the morrow, for thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: The doomed goods are among you, Israel; you cannot rise before your enemies until you take away the doomed goods from among you.

14 So you will be brought near in the morning by your tribes. And it will come to be, the tribe that Yahweh shall indicate shall come near by families; and the family that Yahweh shall indicate shall come near by households; and the household that Yahweh shall indicate shall come near by masters.

15 Then it will come to be, the one being indicated with the doomed goods shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, for he has trespassed against the covenant of Yahweh, for he committed decadence in Israel.

16 Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near by its tribes; and the tribe of Judah was indicated.

17 Then he brought near the families of Judah; and the Zerahite family was indicated. Then he brought near the Zerahite family by masters; and Zabdi was indicated.

18 Then he brought near his household by masters; and Achar son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the stock of Judah, was indicated.

19 Joshua said to Achar, My son, give now glory to Yahweh Elohim of Israel and make confession to Him. Tell me now what you have done; do not suppress it from me.

20 Achar answered Joshua and said, Truly, it is I who have sinned against Yahweh Elohim of Israel. And this is what I did this way:

21 When I saw among the loot one good Shinar mantle and two hundred shekels of silver and one tongue of gold, fifty shekels its weight, then I coveted them and took them. Behold, they are buried in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath it.

22 Then Joshua sent messengers, and they ran toward the tent. And there it was buried in his tent, with the silver underneath it.

23 So they took them from the interior of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel and cast them before Yahweh.

24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achar son of Zerah and the silver, the mantle and the tongue of gold, his sons and his daughters, his bull, his donkey and his flock, his tent and all that belonged to him, and they brought them up to the Vale of Achor.

25 Joshua said, Why have you brought trouble on us? Yahweh shall bring trouble on you this day. So all Israel pelted him with stones; they burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

26 Then they raised over him a great mound of stones remaining until this day. Now Yahweh turned back from the heat of His anger. Therefore they call the name of that place Vale of Achor until this day.

Chapter 8

1 Yahweh said to Joshua, Do not fear, and do not be dismayed! Take with you all the people of military age and arise, go up to Ai. See! I will deliver into your hand the king of Ai and his people, his city and his land.

2 You must do to Ai and to its king just as you did to Jericho and to its king. But its loot and its domestic beasts you may plunder for yourselves. Set your ambush against the city from behind it.

3 So Joshua got up, and all the people of military age, to march up to Ai; Joshua chose thirty thousand men, masters of valor, and sent them out by night.

4 He instructed them, saying, See to it! You are to lie in ambush against the city from behind the city. Do not go very far from the city; and all of you be prepared.

5 Yet I, and all the people who are with me, we shall approach the city. It will come to be when they come forth to meet us, just as the first time we will flee before them.

6 Then they will come forth after us until we have drawn them off from the city, for they shall say, They flee before us just as the first time. So we will flee before them;

7 as for you, you shall get up from the ambush and take over the city, for Yahweh your Elohim will deliver it into your hand.

8 And it will come to be, as you take possession of the city, that you shall ravage the city with fire. According to the word of Yahweh shall you do. See to it! I have instructed you.

9 After Joshua had sent them out, they went into the ambush and stayed between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai, while Joshua lodged in that night in the midst of the people.

10 Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people. Then he marched up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.

11 All the people of military age who were with him, they marched up close and came in front of the city; they encamped north of Ai, with the ravine between it and Ai.

12 He had taken about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.

13 Thus the people set the whole armed force north of the city and its furtive rear guard west of the city. Joshua went in that night into the midst of the vale.

14 It came to be, when the king of Ai saw them, that the men of the city made haste; he and all his people rose early and went forth to meet Israel for the battle at the descent facing the Arabah. As for him, he did not know about the ambush against him from behind the city.

15 When Joshua and all Israel were assaulted before them, they fled along the wilderness road.

16 Now they convoked all the people who were in Ai to pursue after them. So they pursued after Joshua and were drawn off from the city.

17 Not a man remained in Ai and Bethel who did not go forth after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued after Israel.

18 Yahweh said to Joshua, Stretch out the curved sword in your hand toward Ai, for I shall deliver it into your hand. So Joshua stretched out the curved sword in his hand toward the city.

19 Now the ambush got up quickly from its place, and they ran as he stretched out his hand; they entered the city and seized it; they hastened and ravaged the city with fire.

20 When the men of Ai turned around, they saw behind them how the smoke of the city ascended heavenward; there was for them no side open to flee hither or thither; for the people fleeing along the wilderness road turned back against the pursuers.

21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had seized the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and smote the men of Ai.

22 Now those Israelites from the city came forth to meet them, so that they were caught in the middle by Israel, these from this side, and those from that side. Then they smote them until no survivor at all remained for them nor anyone delivered from slaughter;

23 but the king of Ai they apprehended alive and brought him near to Joshua.

24 It came to be when Israel had concluded killing all the dwellers of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they had pursued them, and all of them had fallen by the edge of the sword until they had come to their end, that all Israel returned to Ai and smote it with the edge of the sword.

25 It came to be that all those falling on that day, both man and woman, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai.

26 As for Joshua, he did not return his hand that he had stretched out with the curved sword until he had doomed all the dwellers of Ai.

27 Only the domestic beasts and the loot of this city Israel plundered for themselves according to the word of Yahweh that He had enjoined on Joshua.

28 Then Joshua burned Ai and made it an eonian ruin mound, a desolation until this day.

29 But he hung the king of Ai on a tree until eventide. Yet when the sun set Joshua gave instruction that they should take down his carcass from the tree. They flung it at the opening of the city gate and raised over it a great mound of stones, remaining until this day.

30 Then Joshua built an altar for Yahweh Elohim of Israel on Mount Ebal,

31 just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had instructed the sons of Israel, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses, an altar of suitable stones over which no iron tool had been swung. They offered up on it ascent offerings to Yahweh, and they sacrificed peace offerings.

32 There, in the presence of the sons of Israel, he wrote on the stones a duplicate of the law of Moses that he had written.

33 And all Israel, with their elders and clerks and their judges, stood on this and on that side of the coffer in front of the Levitical priests, the carriers of the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh; sojourner as well as native Israelite, half of them toward the forefront of Mount Gerizim and the other half of them toward the forefront of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had given instruction formerly, to bless the people of Israel.

34 Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the malediction, according to all that is written in the scroll of the law.

35 There was not a word of all that Moses had instructed which Joshua did not read in front of the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and the little ones, and the sojourners living among them.

Chapter 9

1 It came to be that all the kings heard of it, those across the Jordan, in the hill country, in the low foothills and along the entire shore of the Great Sea toward the Lebanon, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

2 They banded themselves together to fight against Joshua and Israel with one accord.

3 When the dwellers of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai,

4 they too used craft. They went as a delegation and took decayed sacks on their donkeys, and decayed wine skin-bottles that were rent and tied up;

5 they had worn out and patched sandals on their feet and worn out raiment on them; as for all the bread of their provisions, it was dry and had become specked.

6 Thus they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal; they said to him and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far land; therefore contract a covenant with us.

7 The men of Israel replied to the Hivites, Perhaps you are dwelling nearby; how then should I contract a covenant with you?

8 They said to Joshua, Your servants are we. But Joshua asked them, Who are you, and from where do you come?

9 They said to him, From a land very far away your servants have come because of the Name of Yahweh your Elohim; for we have heard His fame, all that He had done in Egypt,

10 and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorite who were in Transjordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who had dwelt in Ashtaroth.

11 So our elders and all the dwellers of our land instructed us, saying, Take in your hand provisions for the road; go to meet them, and you will say to them, Your servants are we. Therefore contract a covenant with us.

12 This bread of ours was warm when we provisioned ourselves with it from our houses on the day we went out to go to you; yet now, behold, it is dry and has become specked.

13 These wine skin-bottles that we filled were new, yet behold, they are rent. And these our raiments and our sandals are worn out from the very vastness of the way.

14 The Israelite princes took their word because of their provisions, yet they did not ask the bidding of Yahweh.

15 So Joshua made peace with them and contracted a covenant with them to let them live; and the princes of the congregation swore an oath with them.

16 Now it was at the end of three days after they had contracted the covenant with them, when they heard that they were their next neighbors who were dwelling quite near to them.

17 For the sons of Israel had decamped and had come to their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath-jearim.

18 Yet the sons of Israel did not smite them, for the princes of the congregation had sworn an oath with them by Yahweh Elohim of Israel. When the whole congregation grumbled against the princes,

19 then all the princes said to the whole congregation, We have sworn an oath with them by Yahweh Elohim of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.

20 This is what we shall do to them: We will let them live, so that there may be no wrath upon us on account of the oath that we swore with them.

21 So the princes said to them, They shall live! Then they became wood choppers and water bailers for the whole congregation just as the princes had decreed concerning them.

22 Then Joshua called for them and spoke to them, saying, Why did you deceive us, saying, We dwell very far away from you, while you are in fact dwelling near us?

23 Hence you are now cursed, and none of you shall be cut off from being a servant, as wood choppers and water bailers for the house of my Elohim.

24 Then they answered Joshua and said, It had been told, yea told to your servants how Yahweh your Elohim had instructed Moses His servant, to give to you the entire land and to exterminate all the dwellers of the land from before you. So we feared exceedingly for our souls in view of you and did this thing.

25 And now, behold, we are in your hand. Do as it is good and upright in your eyes to do to us.

26 He did so with them and rescued them from the hand of the sons of Israel, so that they did not kill them.

27 On that day Joshua made them wood choppers and water bailers for the congregation and for the altar of Yahweh until this day, to serve at the place which He would choose.

Chapter 10

1 It came to be when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had seized Ai and had doomed it, that just as he had done to Jericho and to its king, so he had done to Ai and to its king, and that the dwellers of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and had come to be among them,

2 then he feared exceedingly, for Gibeon was a large city like one of the royal cities, since it was larger than Ai, and all its men were masters of valor.

3 So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglon, saying,

4 Come up to me and help me, that we may smite Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and the sons of Israel.

5 So the five kings of the Amorite gathered together and marched up, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, they and their entire force. They encamped against Gibeon and fought with it.

6 Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, saying, Do not hold back your hands from your servants! Come up to us quickly; do save us and help us! For all the kings of the Amorite, who dwell in the hill country, have gathered together against us.

7 So Joshua marched up from Gilgal, he and all the people of military age with him, all the masters of valor.

8 Then Yahweh said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I will deliver them into your hand. Not one man from them shall stand in your presence.

9 So Joshua came upon them suddenly; the whole night he had marched up from Gilgal.

10 Now Yahweh discomfited them before Israel who smote them in a great smiting at Gibeon, pursued them along the road of the ascent to Beth-horon and smote them as far as Azekah and Makkedah.

11 It came to be when they fled before Israel and they were on the descent from Beth-horon, that He, Yahweh, flung large hailstones from the heavens on them as far as Azekah, so that they died; more died from the hailstones than the sons of Israel killed by the sword.

12 It was then that Joshua spoke to Yahweh, on the day Yahweh routed the Amorite before the sons of Israel, and he said before the eyes of Israel: Sun, stand still over Gibeon, And moon, over the vale of Aijalon!

13 So the sun stood still, and the moon, it stayed, until the nation had avenged itself on its enemies. Is it not written in the Scroll of the Upright? The sun stayed in midheaven, and did not rush to set for about one robust day.

14 There has never been a day like this before or since , when Yahweh hearkened to the voice of a man, for Yahweh was fighting for Israel.

15 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

16 Those five kings fled and hid in a cave at Makkedah.

17 When it was told to Joshua, saying, The five kings have been found hiding in a cave at Makkedah,

18 then Joshua said, Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and post men by it to guard them.

19 As for you, do not stay there. Pursue after your enemies, and you will curtail from them the rear guard. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for Yahweh your Elohim has delivered them into your hand.

20 So it came to be that Joshua and the sons of Israel concluded smiting them in a very great smiting until they were finished; only the survivors who survived of them, entered their fortress cities.

21 Then all the people returned unharmed to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah. No one pointed his tongue against anyone of the sons of Israel.

22 Now Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring forth to me these five kings from the cave.

23 They did so and brought forth to him these five kings from the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon.

24 It came to be when they brought forth these kings to Joshua, that Joshua called together all the men of Israel and said to the captains of the men of war who had gone with him, Come near; place your feet on the necks of these kings. So they came near and placed their feet on their necks.

25 Then Joshua said to them, Do not fear, and do not be dismayed. Be steadfast, and be resolute, for thus shall Yahweh do to all your enemies against whom you are fighting.

26 Afterward Joshua smote them, put them to death and hung them on five trees. They came to hang on the trees until the evening.

27 It was at the time the sun sets that Joshua gave instruction; so they took them down off the trees and flung them into the cave where they had been hidden. Then they placed large stones over the mouth of the cave which remain until this very day.

28 Joshua seized Makkedah on that day and smote it with the edge of the sword, also its king. He doomed it and all the souls who were in it. He let no survivor remain; and he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho.

29 From Makkedah, Joshua and all Israel with him passed on to Libnah, and he fought against Libnah.

30 Yahweh delivered it, too, into the hand of Israel, together with its king. He smote it with the edge of the sword, all the souls who were in it. He let no survivor remain in it; and he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho.

31 From Libnah, Joshua and all Israel with him passed on to Lachish, where he encamped against it and fought against it.

32 When Yahweh delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, he seized it on the second day. He smote it with the edge of the sword, all the souls who were in it, just as he had done to Libnah.

33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish. Yet Joshua smote him and his force until no survivor at all remained for him.

34 From Lachish, Joshua and all Israel with him passed on to Eglon where they encamped against it and fought against it.

35 They seized it on the same day and smote it with the edge of the sword, all the souls who were in it. On the same day he doomed it, just as he had done to Lachish.

36 From Eglon, Joshua and all Israel with him went up to Hebron, where they fought against it.

37 They seized it and smote it with the edge of the sword, also its new king and all its unwalled villages with all the souls who were in it. He let no survivor remain, just as he had done to Eglon. He doomed it and all the souls who were in it.

38 Joshua and all Israel with him then turned back to Debir and fought against it.

39 He seized it, also its king and all its unwalled villages. They smote them with the edge of the sword and doomed all the souls who were in it. He let no survivor remain. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and to its king, just as he had done to Libnah and to its king.

40 Thus Joshua smote the whole area, the hill country, the Negeb, the low foothills, the slopes and all their kings; he let no survivor remain. He doomed all who had breath, just as Yahweh Elohim of Israel had given instruction.

41 Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza, all the land of Goshen as far as Gibeon.

42 Joshua seized all these kings and their land at one time; for Yahweh Elohim of Israel was fighting for Israel.

43 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

Chapter 11

1 It came to be when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph,

2 and to the kings who were in the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah in front of Chinnereth, in the low foothills and in Naphoth-dor on the west,

3 to the Canaanite in the east and in the west; to the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the hill country; and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah.

4 So they marched forth, they and all their fighting force with them, a numerous force, multitudinous as the sand on the seashore, along with very many horses and chariots.

5 All these kings met at an appointed place, and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel.

6 At this Yahweh said to Joshua, Do not be fearful because of them; for tomorrow at this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.

7 So Joshua and the whole military force with him came upon them suddenly at the waters of Merom and swooped down on them.

8 Then Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they smote them. They pursued them as far as Great Sidon and Misrephoth-maim and as far as the valley of Mizpah eastward. They smote them until no survivor at all remained for them.

9 Joshua did to them just as Yahweh had told him; he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

10 Joshua turned back at that time and seized Hazor; he smote its king with the sword because Hazor had previously been the head of all those kingdoms.

11 Then they smote all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, dooming them. There was not anyone left who had breath; and he burned Hazor with fire.

12 Joshua seized all the cities of those kings with all their kings, and smote them with the edge of the sword. He doomed them, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had given instruction.

13 But as for all those cities standing on their ruin-mounds, Israel did not burn them, except Hazor. It was Hazor alone that Joshua burned down.

14 All the loot of those cities and the domestic beasts, the sons of Israel plundered for themselves; but every human they smote with the edge of the sword until they had exterminated them. They did not let anyone who had breath remain.

15 Just as Yahweh had instructed Moses His servant, so Moses had instructed Joshua, and so Joshua did. He was not withdrawn from the fulfillment of all that Yahweh had instructed Moses.

16 Thus Joshua took this entire land: the hill country of Judah, all the Negeb, all the land of Goshen, the low foothills, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its low foothills.

17 From Mount Halak which ascends to Seir, and as far as Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon, he seized all their kings, smote them and put them to death.

18 For many days Joshua made war with all these kings.

19 Barring the Hivite dwellers of Gibeon, there was no city which made peace with the sons of Israel, who took them all in battle;

20 for it came from Yahweh Who fortified their heart to meet Israel in battle in order that they might be doomed and no grace at all come to them, so that they might be exterminated, just as Yahweh had instructed Moses.

21 At that time Joshua set out and cut off the Anakim from the hill country; from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from the whole hill country of Judah and from the whole hill country of Israel; Joshua doomed them and their cities.

22 None of the Anakim was left in the land of the sons of Israel; but some were left remaining in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod.

23 Thus Joshua took the entire land in accord with all that Yahweh had promised to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an allotment to Israel according to their apportionments for their tribes. As for the land, it was quiet from war.

Chapter 12

1 These are the kings of the land whom the sons of Israel smote; and they tenanted their land in Transjordan toward the sunrise, from Wadi Arnon as far as Mount Hermon, with all the Arabah eastward:

2 Sihon king of the Amorite who had dwelt in Heshbon, ruling from Aroer which is on the ridge of Wadi Arnon, and from the middle of the wadi with half of Gilead as far as the Wadi Jabbok and the boundary of the sons of Ammon.

3 He had ruled over the Arabah eastward as far as the Lake of Chinnereth, and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, eastward by way of Beth-jeshimoth, and southerly under the slopes of Pisgah.

4 Also the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of those left of the Rephaim, who had dwelt in Ashtaroth and in Edrei,

5 ruling over Mount Hermon and Salecah and all Bashan as far as the boundary of the Geshurite, the Maacathite and half of Gilead, down to the boundary of Sihon king of Heshbon.

6 Moses the servant of Yahweh, and the sons of Israel, they had smitten them. And Moses the servant of Yahweh had given it as a tenancy to the Reubenite, to the Gadite and to the half tribe of Manasseh.

7 These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the sons of Israel smote beyond the Jordan westward, from Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon as far as Mount Halak which ascends to Seir. Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel as a tenancy according to their apportionments,

8 in the hill country, in the low foothills, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness and in the Negeb, in the areas of the Hittite, the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite:

9 The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is at the side of Bethel, one;

10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;

11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;

12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;

13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;

14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;

15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;

17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;

18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;

19 the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;

20 the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;

21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;

22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;

23 the king of Dor in Naphoth-dor, one; the king of Goyim in Gilgal, one;

24 the king of Tirzah, one; thirty-one kings in all.

Chapter 13

1 When Joshua was old and was advanced in days, Yahweh said to him: You are old and are advanced in days, and very much of the land still remains for enjoying its tenancy.

2 This is the remaining land: all the circuits of the Philistines and all those of the Geshurite,

3 from the Shihor that is adjoining Egypt, as far as the territory of Ekron northward, all is accounted Canaanite, under the five chieftains of the Philistines: the Gazite and the Ashdodite, the Ashkelonite, the Gittite and the Ekronite; also the Avvim

4 on the south; all the Canaanite land from Arah which belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, as far as the Amorite boundary;

5 then the Gebalite land and all Lebanon toward sunrise from Baal-gad under Mount Hermon as far as Lebo-hamath;

6 all dwellers of the hill country from Lebanon as far as Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians. I Myself shall evict them before the sons of Israel. But allocate it to Israel by allotment, just as I have instructed you.

7 And now apportion this land by allotment to the nine tribes and the half tribe of Manasseh.

8 With it the Reubenite and the Gadite had taken their allotment that Moses assigned to them in Transjordan toward the sunrise, just as Moses the servant of Yahweh assigned it to them:

9 from Aroer on the ridge of Wadi Arnon and the city in the middle of the wadi, and all the tableland from Medeba as far as Dibon,

10 all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorite, who had reigned in Heshbon, as far as the boundary of the sons of Ammon,

11 Gilead and the territory of the Geshurite and the Maacathite and all Mount Hermon and all Bashan as far as Salecah;

12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who had reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. He had remained as one of those left of the Rephaim. Moses smote them and evicted them.

13 Yet the sons of Israel did not evict the Geshurite and the Maacathite; thus Geshur and Maacath dwell within Israel until this day.

14 But to the tribe of Levi he assigned no allotment. The fire offerings of Yahweh Elohim of Israel, these are his allotment, just as Yahweh spoke concerning him.

15 This is what Moses assigned to the stock of the sons of Reuben for their families,

16 and it became theirs: The territory from Aroer on the ridge of Wadi Arnon and the city in the middle of the wadi, all the tableland up to Medeba,

17 Heshbon and all its cities on the tableland: Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,

18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,

19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zereth-shahar on the hill of the vale,

20 Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth;

21 all the cities of the tableland and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorite, who had reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote together with the princes of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, vassals of Sihon and dwellers of the land.

22 Among their slain was Balaam son of Beor, the diviner, whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

23 The boundary of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan and its bounds. This was the allotment of the sons of Reuben for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

24 This is what Moses assigned to the stock of Gad, to the sons of Gad for their families,

25 and it became their territory: Jazer, all the cities of Gilead with half the land of the sons of Ammon as far as Aroer, which is adjoining Rabbah;

26 from Heshbon as far as Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim as far as the boundary of Debir;

27 and in the vale, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, the Jordan and its bounds as far as the end of the Lake of Chinnereth, beyond the Jordan eastward.

28 This was the allotment of the sons of Gad for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

29 This is what Moses assigned to the half tribe of Manasseh; it was for the half stock of the sons of Manasseh for their families,

30 and it became their territory: From Mahanaim through all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all of Havvoth-jair in Bashan, sixty cities,

31 and half of Gilead, also Ashtaroth and Edrei, the royal cities of Og in Bashan. This was for the sons of Machir son of Manasseh, that is, for half of the sons of Machir for their families.

32 Those were the territories which Moses allotted in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan eastward of Jericho.

33 Yet to the tribe of Levi Moses assigned no allotment. Yahweh Elohim of Israel, He is their allotment, just as He had spoken concerning them.

Chapter 14

1 These are the portions that the sons of Israel were allotted in the land of Canaan, that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the patriarchal heads of the stocks of the sons of Israel allotted to them.

2 Their allotment was assigned by lot, just as Yahweh had instructed by means of Moses concerning the nine stocks and the half stock;

3 for Moses had assigned the allotment of the two stocks and the half stock beyond the Jordan. He had not assigned any allotment among them to the Levites;

4 for whereas the sons of Joseph had become two stocks, Manasseh and Ephraim, they had given no portion to the Levites in the land, but rather cities to dwell in and their common lands for their cattle and for their acquisitions.

5 Just as Yahweh had instructed Moses, so the sons of Israel did when they apportioned the land.

6 Then the sons of Judah came close to Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenezite said to him: You know the word that Yahweh spoke at Kadesh-barnea to Moses, the man of Elohim, concerning me and concerning you.

7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Yahweh sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land. And I returned the word to him just as it was on my heart.

8 Yet my brothers who went up with me, they made the heart of the people melt, while I fully followed after Yahweh my Elohim.

9 Moses swore on that day, saying, Assuredly the land on which your foot has trod shall become an allotment for you and for your sons until the eon, for you have fully followed after Yahweh my Elohim.

10 And now behold, Yahweh has preserved me alive, just as He promised, through these forty-five years since Yahweh spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now behold, I am eighty-five years old today.

11 I am still as steadfast today as on the day Moses sent me out. As my vigor was then, so is my vigor now for battle, for going forth and coming on duty.

12 Hence assign now to me this hill country that Yahweh promised on that day; for you heard on that day that the Anakim are there, and large fortressed cities; if only Yahweh is with me, I will evict them just as Yahweh promised.

13 Then Joshua blessed him and assigned Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as an allotment.

14 Therefore Hebron became for Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenezite an allotment until this day because he fully followed after Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

15 Now the name of Hebron had previously been Kiriath-arba. This Arba had been the greatest man among the Anakim. As for the land, it was quiet from war.

Chapter 15

1 The lot for the stock of the sons of Judah for their families reached southward to the boundary of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin at the outmost south.

2 Their south boundary was the end of the Salt Sea, from the tongue facing toward the Negeb.

3 It went forth to the south of the ascent of Akrabbim, passed on to Zin, ascended to the south of Kadesh-barnea, passed on to Hezron, ascended to Addar, and went around to Karka;

4 then it passed on to Azmon and came forth to the Wadi of Egypt. The boundary ended at the sea and its coastline. This shall be your south boundary.

5 The east boundary was the Salt Sea unto the end of the Jordan. And the boundary on the north edge was from the tongue of the Sea at the end of the Jordan.

6 The boundary ascended to Beth-hoglah and passed north of Beth-arabah; the boundary ascended to the stone of Bohan son of Reuben.

7 Then the boundary ascended from the vale of Achor to Debir, and so northward, turning toward Gilgal, over against the ascent of Adummim, which is south of the wadi; from there the boundary passed on to the waters of En-shemesh, and its border-area was at En-rogel.

8 The boundary then ascended into the ravine of the son of Hinnom along the southern flank of the Jebusite city, that is, of Jerusalem. And the boundary ascended to the summit of the hill that is adjoining the ravine of Hinnom on the west, at the northern end of the vale of Rephaim.

9 The boundary was drawn from the summit of the hill to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah; it went forth to the cities of Mount Ephron; then the boundary was drawn to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim.

10 From Baalah the boundary went around westward to Mount Seir and passed on north of the flank of Mount Jearim, that is, of Chesalon. Then it descended to Beth-shemesh and passed on to Timnah.

11 The boundary went forth to the northern flank of Ekron; the boundary was drawn to Shikkeron, passed on to Mount Baalah, and went forth to Jabneel. And the boundary ended at the coastline of the sea.

12 Thus the western boundary was the Great Sea and its coastline. This was the boundary of the sons of Judah round about for their families.

13 According to Yahweh’s bidding to Joshua, he assigned to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion among the sons of Judah, namely Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron (Arba was the father of Anak).

14 Caleb evicted from there the three sons of Anak, Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai, those born of Anak.

15 From there he went up against the dwellers of Debir; now the name of Debir had previously been Kiriath-sepher.

16 Caleb said, Whoever smites Kiriath-sepher and seizes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.

17 Caleb’s kinsman Othniel son of Kenaz seized it, and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.

18 It occurred when she came to him that she incited him to request a field from her father. When she came down off the donkey, Caleb asked her, What would you have?

19 She replied, Do grant me a blessing gift; since you have set me in the parched area of the Negeb, give me also springs of water. So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

20 This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Judah for their families.

21 The outmost cities for the stock of the sons of Judah in the Negeb toward the boundary of Edom were: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,

22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,

23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan,

24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,

25 Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron, that is, Hazor,

26 Amam, Shema, Moladah,

27 Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,

28 Hazar-shual, Beer-sheba, Biziothiah,

29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem,

30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,

31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,

32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon; twenty-nine cities in all and their hamlets.

33 In the low foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,

34 Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam,

35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

36 Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities and their hamlets.

37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad,

38 Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel,

39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,

40 Cabbon, Lahmam, Kithlish,

41 Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities and their hamlets.

42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan,

43 Iphthah, Ashnah, Nezib,

44 Keilah, Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities and their hamlets.

45 Ekron with its outskirts and its hamlets;

46 from Ekron toward the sea, all that are by the side of Ashdod, and their hamlets;

47 Ashdod, its outskirts and its hamlets; Gaza, its outskirts and its hamlets as far as the Wadi of Egypt and the Great Sea with its coastline.

48 In the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,

49 Dannah, Kiriath-sannah, that is, Debir,

50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,

51 Goshen, Holon and Giloh; eleven cities and their hamlets.

52 Arab, Dumah, Eshan,

53 Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah,

54 Humtah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, and Zior; nine cities and their hamlets.

55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,

56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,

57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah: ten cities and their hamlets.

58 Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,

59 Maarath, Beth-anoth and Eltekon: six cities and their hamlets.

60 Kiriath-baal, that is, Kiriath-jearim, and Rabbah: two cities and their hamlets.

61 In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,

62 Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi: six cities and their hamlets.

63 As for the Jebusite dwelling in Jerusalem, the sons of Judah were not able to evict them; so the Jebusite dwell with the sons of Judah in Jerusalem until this day.

Chapter 16

1 The lot came forth for the sons of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, from the waters of Jericho east of the wilderness. From Jericho it ascended into the hill country to Bethel.

2 It went forth from Bethel to Luz and passed on to Ataroth, the territory of the Archite,

3 descended westward to the territory of the Japhletite as far as the boundary of Lower Beth-horon and Gezer, and ended at the sea and its coastline.

4 Thus the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, gained their allotment.

5 The territory of the sons of Ephraim for their families was as follows: The boundary of their allotment eastward was Ataroth-addar as far as Upper Beth-horon.

6 The boundary went forth to the sea. Michmethath was on the north. Then on the east the boundary went around Taanath-shiloh and passed beyond it on the east to Janoah;

7 from Janoah it descended to Ataroth and to Naarah, touched on Jericho, and went forth to the Jordan.

8 From Tappuah the boundary went westward to Wadi Kanah, and ended at the sea and its coastline. This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Ephraim for their families,

9 together with the separate cities for the sons of Ephraim within the allotment of the sons of Manasseh, all those cities and their hamlets.

10 Yet they did not evict the Canaanite dwelling in Gezer; so the Canaanite dwells among Ephraim until this day and is under tributary service.

Chapter 17

1 This was the lot for the stock of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir, the firstborn of Manasseh and the father of Gilead, since he was a man of war, he came to have Gilead and Bashan.

2 So the lot was for the rest of Manasseh’s sons by their families: for the sons of Abiezer, for the sons of Helek, for the sons of Asriel, for the sons of Shechem, for the sons of Hepher and for the sons of Shemida. Those were the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph, the males by their families.

3 As for Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh, he came to have no sons but rather daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.

4 They approached facing Eleazar the priest, also facing Joshua son of Nun, and facing the princes, saying, Yahweh, He instructed Moses to give us an allotment among our brothers. So, at the bidding of Yahweh, he assigned to them an allotment among their father’s brothers.

5 Thus ten districts fell to Manasseh, aside from the land of Gilead and Bashan, that is across the Jordan

6 because the daughters of Manasseh were allotted an allotment among his sons. As for the land of Gilead, it was assigned to the rest of Manasseh’s sons.

7 The boundary of Manasseh reached from Asher to Michmethath, which is overlooking Shechem. The boundary went to the south toward the dwellers of En-tappuah.

8 The area of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh; yet Tappuah itself, on the boundary of Manasseh, belonged to the sons of Ephraim.

9 Then the boundary descended to Wadi Kanah. Those cities to the south of the wadi, among the cities of Manasseh, belonged to Ephraim. The boundary of Manasseh was north of the wadi, and ended at the sea and its coastline.

10 Southward the area was for Ephraim, and northward for Manasseh, and the sea was its boundary. They touched on Asher in the north and on Issachar in the east.

11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh came to have Beth-shean and its outskirts, Ibleam and its outskirts, the dwellers of Dor and its outskirts, the dwellers of En-dor and its outskirts, the dwellers of Taanach and its outskirts, and the dwellers of Megiddo and its outskirts. (The third is Naphoth-dor.)

12 Yet the sons of Manasseh were not able to take over those cities, since the Canaanite was disposed to dwell in this area.

13 When it came to be that the sons of Israel were steadfast, then they put the Canaanite under tributary service. Yet Israel did not evict, nay evict him.

14 The sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, For what reason have you given to us as an allotment a single lot and one district? We are a numerous people, since Yahweh has blessed us hitherto.

15 Joshua answered them, If you are a people so numerous, go up for yourselves to the wildwood, and you will clear off an area for yourselves there in the land of the Perizzite and the Rephaim, seeing that for you space is cramped in the hill country of Ephraim.

16 The sons of Joseph replied, The hill country does not provide space for us; and all the Canaanites who are dwelling in the vale country have chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its outskirts and those in the vale of Jezreel.

17 But Joshua declared to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, You are indeed a numerous people, and you have great vigor. There shall be for you not only a single lot,

18 for the whole hill country shall be yours; though it is wildwood, you will clear it off. And it will become yours up to its border-area when you evict the Canaanite, though he has chariots of iron, even though he be unyielding.

Chapter 18

1 Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled at Shiloh, and they set up the tabernacle there, the tent of appointment. The land, it was now subdued before them;

2 yet seven tribes were left among the sons of Israel, who had not been apportioned their allotment.

3 So Joshua said to the sons of Israel: How long will you be slack about setting out to tenant the land that Yahweh Elohim of your fathers has given you?

4 Appoint for you three men from each tribe; I shall send them that they may set out and survey the land, map it corresponding to their allotment, and then come to me.

5 They will apportion it among themselves into seven portions. Yet Judah shall stay in its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph shall stay in their territory in the north.

6 As for you, you shall map the land in seven portions, and you will bring the survey to me hither; then I will throw lots for you here before Yahweh our Elohim.

7 Yet there is no portion for the Levites among you, since the priesthood of Yahweh is their allotment. And Gad and Reuben and the half tribe of Manasseh have taken their allotment across the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of Yahweh assigned to them.

8 When the men set out to journey, Joshua instructed those who were going, to map the land, saying, Go and survey the land, map it and return to me. Here at Shiloh I shall fling lots for you before Yahweh.

9 So the men went and passed through the land; they mapped it according to cities in seven portions on a scroll and came back to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh.

10 Then at Shiloh Joshua flung lots for them before Yahweh. There Joshua apportioned the land to the sons of Israel according to their apportionments.

11 The lot of the stock of the sons of Benjamin came up for their families: The territory of their lot came forth between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph.

12 Their boundary on the northern edge continued from the Jordan; then the boundary ascended to the flank of Jericho on the north, ascended westward into the hill country, and its border-area was toward the wilderness of Beth-aven.

13 From there the boundary passed on toward Luz, to the flank of Luz toward the south slope, that is, Bethel. Then the boundary descended to Ataroth-addar over the hill country that is south of Lower Beth-horon.

14 The boundary was drawn from the hill adjoining Beth-horon on the south, and went around along its western edge southward; its border-area was at Kiriath-baal, that is, Kiriath-jearim, a city of the sons of Judah. This was the western edge.

15 The southern edge began from the outmost part of Kiriath-jearim, and the boundary went forth westward and came forth to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.

16 Then the boundary descended to the fringe of the hill adjoining the ravine of the son of Hinnom, at the northern end of the vale of Rephaim; it descended the ravine of Hinnom along the southern flank of the Jebusite city and descended to En-rogel;

17 then it was drawn northward and went forth to En-shemesh and came forth to Geliloth, that is over against the ascent of Adummim; it descended to the stone of Bohan son of Reuben

18 and passed on to the northern flank toward the Arabah and descended into the Arabah.

19 Then the boundary passed on to the northern flank of Beth-hoglah, and the border-area of the boundary was at the northern tongue of the Salt Sea, at the southward end of the Jordan. This was the south boundary.

20 The Jordan bounded it on the eastern edge. This is the allotment of the sons of Benjamin for their families, with its boundaries round about.

21 The cities for the stock of the sons of Benjamin for their families were: Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,

22 Betharabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,

23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,

24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni and Geba, twelve cities and their hamlets;

25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,

26 Mizpah, Chephirah, Mozah,

27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,

28 Zelah, Eleph, the Jebusite city, that is Jerusalem, Gibeath and Kiriath; fourteen cities and their hamlets. This is the allotment of the sons of Benjamin for their families.

Chapter 19

1 The second lot came forth for Simeon, the stock of the sons of Simeon, for their families. Their allotment was within the allotment of the sons of Judah.

2 In their allotment they came to have: Beer-sheba (or Sheba), Moladah,

3 Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem,

4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,

5 Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah,

6 Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen, thirteen cities and their hamlets;

7 Ain, Rimmon, Ether, Ashan, four cities and their hamlets;

8 also all the hamlets that were around these cities as far as Baalath-beer and Ramah-negeb. This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Simeon for their families;

9 from the district of the sons of Judah was the allotment of the sons of Simeon taken, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too much for them; hence the sons of Simeon gained an allotment within their allotment.

10 The third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun for their families. The boundary of their allotment reached as far as Sarid.

11 Their southern boundary ascended westward and on to Maralah; it touched on Dabbesheth and came upon the wadi adjoining Jokneam.

12 It turned back from Sarid along the east side, toward the sunrise, past the territory of Chisloth-tabor, came forth to Daberath and ascended to Japhia.

13 From there it passed on back to the east, toward the sunrise, to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and came forth at Rimmon, being drawn to Neah.

14 Then the boundary went around it northward of Hannathon; its border-area was the ravine of Iphtah-el,

15 with Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah and Bethlehem, twelve cities and their hamlets.

16 This is the allotment of the sons of Zebulun for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

17 The fourth lot came forth for Issachar, the sons of Issachar for their families.

18 Their territory reached beyond Jezreel to Chesulloth, Shunem,

19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,

20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,

21 Remeth, En-gannim, Enhaddah and Beth-pazzez.

22 The boundary touched on Tabor, Shahazimah and Beth-shemesh; and the border-area of their boundary was at the Jordan: sixteen cities and their hamlets.

23 This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Issachar for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

24 The fifth lot came forth for the stock of the sons of Asher for their families.

25 Their boundary came to be along Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,

26 Allammelech, Amad and Mishal; it touched on Carmel westward and on Shihor-libnath;

27 it turned back toward the sunrise to Beth-dagon; it touched on Zebulun and the ravine of Iphtah-el northward, as also on Bethemek and Neiel; then it came forth to Cabul on the left,

28 and Ebron, Rehob, Hammon and Kanah as far as Greater Sidon.

29 Then the boundary turned back toward Ramah and as far as the fortress city of Tyre; the boundary turned back to Hosah and ended at the sea and its coastline in the district of Achzib,

30 Ummah, Aphek and Rehob: twenty-two cities and their hamlets.

31 This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Asher for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

32 The sixth lot came forth for the sons of Naphtali, for the sons of Naphtali for their families.

33 Their boundary reached from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim, Adami-nekeb and Jabneel as far as Lakkum; and its border-area was the Jordan.

34 The boundary then turned back westward to Aznoth-tabor and came forth from there to Hukkok and touched on Zebulun on the south; it touched on Asher on the west, and the banks of the Jordan toward the sunrise.

35 The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,

36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,

37 Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,

38 Iron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath and Beth-shemesh: nineteen cities and their hamlets.

39 This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Naphtali for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

40 The seventh lot came forth for the stock of the sons of Dan for their families.

41 The boundary of their allotment was Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,

42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,

43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron,

44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,

45 Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,

46 Me-jarkon and Rakkon, with the territory opposite Joppa.

47 When the territory of the sons of Dan escaped forth from their grasp, then the sons of Dan marched up and made war on Leshem. They seized it and smote it with the edge of the sword; they took it over and dwelt in it. They called Leshem, ``Dan,‘’ after the name of Dan, their father.

48 This is the allotment of the stock of the sons of Dan for their families, those cities and their hamlets.

49 When they had finished allotting the land by its boundaries, the sons of Israel gave an allotment to Joshua son of Nun, in their midst.

50 At the bidding of Yahweh they gave him the city that he requested: Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim; he built up the city and dwelt in it.

51 Those are the allotments which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the patriarchal heads of the stocks of the sons of Israel allotted by lot at Shiloh before Yahweh at the opening of the tent of appointment. So they finished apportioning the land.

Chapter 20

1 Then Yahweh spoke to Joshua, saying:

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: Designate for yourselves the cities of asylum about which I charged you by means of Moses

3 to which the manslayer may flee who smites a soul inadvertently, without premeditation, so that they may be to you for a place of asylum from the redeemer of blood.

4 When a man has fled to one of those cities, he is to stand at the opening of the city gate and plead his case in the ears of the elders of that city. Then they are to gather him into the city unto themselves and assign a place to him; and he will dwell with them.

5 But if the redeemer of blood should pursue after him, they shall not surrender the manslayer into his hand, since he smote his associate without premeditation, and he had not hated him heretofore.

6 So he will dwell in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the great priest who will serve in those days. Then the manslayer may return; he will come to his own city and to his house in the city from where he had fled.

7 So they sanctified Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah.

8 And across the Jordan east of Jericho, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland, from the stock of Reuben; also Ramoth in Gilead from the stock of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the stock of Manasseh.

9 Those are the cities appointed for all the sons of Israel, and for the sojourner sojourning in their midst, to flee there, anyone smiting a soul inadvertently, so that he may not die by the hand of the redeemer of blood until he has stood before the congregation.

Chapter 21

1 Now the patriarchal heads of the Levites came close to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun and to the patriarchal heads of the stocks of the sons of Israel.

2 They spoke to them at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan, saying, Yahweh has given instruction by means of Moses to give to us cities to dwell in, along with their common pasture lands for our domestic beasts.

3 So the sons of Israel gave to the Levites from their allotment, at the bidding of Yahweh, these cities with their common pasture lands:

4 When the lot came forth for the Kohathite families, the Levites who were sons of Aaron the priest came to have by lot thirteen cities from the stock of Judah, from the stock of the Simeonite and from the stock of Benjamin.

5 To the rest of Kohath’s sons fell by lot ten cities from the families of the stock of Ephraim, from the stock of Dan and from the half stock of Manasseh.

6 To Gershon’s sons fell by lot thirteen cities from the families of the stock of Issachar, from the stock of Asher, from the stock of Naphtali and from the half stock of Manasseh in Bashan.

7 To Merari’s sons according to their families fell by lot twelve cities from the stock of Reuben, from the stock of Gad and from the stock of Zebulun.

8 So the sons of Israel assigned those cities and their common pasture lands by lot to the Levites, just as Yahweh had given instruction by means of Moses.

9 They designated from the stock of the sons of Judah and from the stock of the sons of Simeon these cities which they called by name;

10 this was for the sons of Aaron, one of the Kohathite families of the sons of Levi, since the first lot came to be theirs.

11 They gave them Kiriath-arba (Arba was the father of Anak); this is Hebron in the hill country of Judah, with its common pasture land surrounding it.

12 Yet the fields of the city and its hamlets they had given to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his holding.

13 So they gave to the sons of Aaron the priest the asylum city for the manslayer, Hebron and its commons, also Libnah and its commons,

14 Jattir and its commons, Eshtemoa and its commons,

15 Holon and its commons, Debir and its commons,

16 Ain and its commons, Juttah and its commons and Beth-shemesh and its commons: nine cities from those two tribes;

17 then from the stock of Benjamin, Gibeon and its commons, Geba and its commons,

18 Anathoth and its commons and Almon and its commons: four cities.

19 All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities and their commons.

20 For the other families of the sons of Kohath, the rest of the Levites descended from Kohath’s sons, the cities of their lot were: From the stock of Ephraim

21 they designated to them the asylum city for the manslayer, Shechem and its commons, in the hill country of Ephraim, also Gezer and its commons,

22 Kibzaim and its commons and Beth-horon and its commons: four cities;

23 from the stock of Dan, Eltekeh and its commons, Gibbethon and its commons,

24 Aijalon and its commons and Gath-rimmon and its commons: four cities;

25 from the half stock of Manasseh, Taanach and its commons and Gath-rimmon and its commons: two cities.

26 The cities for the families of the rest of Kohath’s sons were ten in all with their commons.

27 To Gershon’s sons, of the families of the Levites, were designated: From the other half stock of Manasseh, the asylum city for the manslayer, Golan in Bashan and its commons, also Be-eshterah and its commons: two cities;

28 from the stock of Issachar, Kishion and its commons, Daberath and its commons,

29 Jarmuth and its commons, En-gannim and its commons: four cities;

30 from the stock of Asher, Mishal and its commons, Abdon and its commons,

31 Helkath and its commons and Rehob and its commons: four cities;

32 from the stock of Naphtali, the asylum city for the manslayer, Kedesh in Galilee and its commons, also Hammoth-dor and its commons and Kartan and its commons: three cities.

33 All the cities of the Gershonite for their families were thirteen cities and their commons.

34 To the rest of the Levites, to the families of Merari’s sons, came from the stock of Zebulun, Jokneam and its commons, Kartah and its commons,

35 Dimnah and its commons, Nahalal and its commons: four cities;

36 from the stock of Reuben, the asylum city for the manslayer, Bezer and its commons, also Jahaz and its commons,

37 Kedemoth and its commons and Mephaath and its commons: four cities;

38 from the stock of Gad, the asylum city for the manslayer, Ramoth in Gilead and its commons, also Mahanaim and its commons,

39 Heshbon and its commons, Jazer and its commons: in all, four cities.

40 All those cities went to the rest of the Levite families, to Merari’s sons for their families; their lot came to be twelve cities.

41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the holding of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities and their commons.

42 Each of those cities, city by city, came to have its common pasture lands round about it; so it was for all those cities.

43 Thus Yahweh gave to Israel the entire land which He had sworn to give to their fathers; and they took it over and dwelt in it.

44 Yahweh gave rest to them round about, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And not one man of all their enemies withstood their presence: Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand.

45 Not one thing fell out of all the good things that Yahweh had promised to the house of Israel. All was coming to pass.

Chapter 22

1 Then Joshua called the Reubenite, the Gadite and the half stock of Manasseh,

2 and he said to them: As for you, you have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh enjoined on you, and have hearkened to my voice in all that I enjoined on you.

3 You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, until this day, and you have kept the charge of the instruction of Yahweh your Elohim.

4 Now Yahweh your Elohim has given rest to your brothers, just as He promised them. So now, turn around and go; get yourselves to your tents, to the land of your holding that Moses the servant of Yahweh gave to you in Transjordan.

5 But observe meticulously to keep the instruction and the law that Moses the servant of Yahweh enjoined on you: to love Yahweh your Elohim and to walk in all His ways, to observe His instructions, to cling to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

6 Then Joshua blessed them and dismissed them, and they went to their tents.

7 To the one half tribe of Manasseh Moses had given an allotment in Bashan; yet to its other half Joshua gave an allotment with their brothers on the west side of the Jordan. So also when Joshua dismissed them to their tents, he blessed them;

8 and he spoke to them saying: Return to your tents with much substance and very much cattle, with silver and gold, with bronze and iron, and with very many raiments. Apportion the loot from your enemies with your brothers.

9 So the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh turned about and departed from the other sons of Israel, from Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their holding which they held at the bidding of Yahweh by means of Moses.

10 When they came to Geliloth of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, an altar towering in appearance.

11 Then the other sons of Israel heard the report: Behold, the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the forefront of the land of Canaan at Geliloth of the Jordan, on the side of the sons of Israel.

12 When the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled at Shiloh to march up against them with the militia host.

13 But first the sons of Israel sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead;

14 and with him were ten princes, one prince each, one prince from each patriarchal house of all the stocks of Israel; each of them was the head of their fathers’ house among the thousands of Israel.

15 When they came to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad and to the half tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, they spoke to them saying:

16 Thus said the whole congregation of Yahweh: What is this offense with which you have offended the Elohim of Israel, by turning back today from following Yahweh, in that you have built for yourselves an altar and you revolt today against Yahweh!

17 Was the depravity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves until this day, even though a stroke came on the congregation of Yahweh?

18 And are you today turning back from following Yahweh? It will be so that you are revolting today against Yahweh; then tomorrow He shall be wrathful against the whole congregation of Israel.

19 If however the land of your holding be unclean, pass over for yourselves to the land of Yahweh’s holding, where the tabernacle of Yahweh tabernacles, and get holdings among us. But do not revolt against Yahweh, and do not revolt against us in that you build an altar for yourselves apart from the altar of Yahweh our Elohim.

20 Did not Achar son of Zerah offend with an offense regarding the doomed goods, so that wrath came upon the whole congregation of Israel? And he was not the only man who deceased for his depravity.

21 Then the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh responded and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel:

22 El, Elohim, Yahweh, El, Elohim, Yahweh, He knows, and let Israel itself know: If we acted in revolt or in offense against Yahweh, do not save us this day!

23 If we have built an altar for ourselves to turn back from following Yahweh, or if to offer up on it ascent offerings and approach presents, or to bring on it peace offerings, let Yahweh Himself seek it out.

24 Yet assuredly we did this from anxiety for this reason, saying, Tomorrow your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What have you to do with Yahweh Elohim of Israel?

25 Yahweh has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, sons of Reuben and sons of Gad; you have no portion in Yahweh. Thus your sons would cause our sons to cease fearing Yahweh.

26 Hence we said, Let us now provide a testimony for ourselves by building an altar, neither for ascent offerings nor for other sacrifices;

27 rather let it be a testimony between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we will serve the service of Yahweh at His presence with our ascent offerings, with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings, so that your sons may not say tomorrow to our sons: You have no portion in Yahweh.

28 And we thought, if it ever would occur that they say this to us or to our generations tomorrow, then we will answer: See the model of the altar of Yahweh that our fathers made; it is neither for ascent offerings nor for sacrifices, but it is a testimony between us and you.

29 Far be it from us that we should revolt against Yahweh to turn back today from following Yahweh to build an altar for ascent offerings, for approach presents and for sacrifices aside from the altar of Yahweh our Elohim that is before His tabernacle.

30 Phinehas the priest and the princes of the congregation, the heads of the thousands of Israel with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke; it was good in their eyes.

31 Then Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Manasseh: Today we know that Yahweh is in our midst since you have not offended Yahweh with this offense. You, then, have rescued the sons of Israel from the hand of Yahweh.

32 When Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the princes returned from the sons of Reuben and from the sons of Gad, out of the land of Gilead into the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, they brought back word to them;

33 and the word was good in the eyes of the sons of Israel. The sons of Israel blessed Elohim and spoke no longer of marching up against them with the militia host to ruin the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad were dwelling.

34 Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar as follows: It is the testimony between us that Yahweh is the One, Elohim.

Chapter 23

1 It came to be many days thereafter when Yahweh had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about and when Joshua was old and had come into his last days,

2 that Joshua called for all Israel, for its elders and for its heads, for its judges and for its clerks, and said to them: I am old; I have come into my last days.

3 You yourselves have seen all that Yahweh your Elohim has done to all these nations before your face, for Yahweh your Elohim Himself has been the One fighting for you.

4 See, I have allocated as allotments to you, by your tribes, the area of these nations that still remain, and that of all the nations that I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea, toward the sunset.

5 Yahweh your Elohim Himself shall thrust them from your face; He will evict them from before you, and you will tenant their land, just as Yahweh your Elohim promised you.

6 Hence you will be very steadfast to observe and to do everything written in the scroll of the law of Moses, that you may not withdraw from it to the right or to the left,

7 so that you may not become associated with these nations, these remaining among you. And the names of their elohim you shall neither mention nor adjure by them; you shall neither serve them nor bow down to them.

8 But rather to Yahweh your Elohim shall you cling, just as you have done until this day.

9 Yahweh has evicted great and staunch nations before your face. As for you, not one man has withstood your presence until this day.

10 A single man from you would pursue a thousand, for Yahweh your Elohim Himself has been the One fighting for you, just as He promised you.

11 But you must especially guard your souls by loving Yahweh your Elohim.

12 For if you should ever backslide, yea backslide, and cling to the rest of these nations, these remaining among you, and intermarry with them and become associated with them and they with you,

13 know, yea know, that Yahweh your Elohim shall not continue to evict these nations from before you. So they will become a snare to you and a trap, and a scourge against your sides, and pricks in your eyes until you perish off this good ground that Yahweh your Elohim has given you.

14 Now behold, I am going today the way of all the earth. You know in all your heart and in all your soul that not one thing fell out of all the good things that Yahweh your Elohim had promised concerning you. All has come to pass for you; not one thing fell out of it.

15 Yet it will come to be, just as every good thing has come upon you that Yahweh your Elohim had promised you, so shall Yahweh bring upon you every evil thing until He has exterminated you off this good ground that Yahweh your Elohim has given you.

16 When you trespass the covenant of Yahweh your Elohim that He has enjoined on you, and you go and serve other elohim and bow down to them, then the anger of Yahweh will be hot against you, and you will perish quickly off the good land that He has given you.

Chapter 24

1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem; he called for the elders of Israel and for its heads, for its judges and for its clerks. They stationed themselves before the One, Elohim.

2 Then Joshua said to all the people: Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Across the Stream your fathers dwelt from the eon of old, Terah father of Abraham and father of Nahor, and they served other elohim.

3 Yet I took your father Abraham from across the Stream and caused him to go through the whole land of Canaan. I increased his seed and gave to him Isaac.

4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the hill country of Seir as his tenancy. Yet Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.

5 Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt, just as I did in its midst; and thereafter I brought you forth.

6 When I brought your fathers forth from Egypt, you came to the Sea; and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Sea of Weeds.

7 When they cried out to Yahweh, He placed gloom between you and the Egyptians and brought the Sea upon them, and it covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did to Egypt. After you had dwelt in the wilderness many days,

8 I brought you to the land of the Amorite, those dwelling in Transjordan; and they fought against you. Yet I delivered them into your hand; you took over their land, while I exterminated them before your face.

9 When Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to fight with Israel, he sent and called on Balaam son of Beor to maledict you.

10 Yet I would not hearken to Balaam; so he blessed, yea blessed you, and I rescued you from his hand.

11 Then you crossed over the Jordan and came to Jericho; and they fought against you, the possessors of Jericho, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite and the Jebusite; and I delivered them into your hand.

12 I sent the hornet before you, and it drove them out before your face, the two kings of the Amorite, not with your sword and not with your bow.

13 Thus I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you are dwelling in them; you are eating from vineyards and olive trees that you had not planted.

14 Now fear Yahweh, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth. Put away the elohim that your fathers had served across the Stream and in Egypt, and serve Yahweh.

15 Yet if it is displeasing in your eyes to serve Yahweh, choose for yourselves today whom you shall serve, whether those elohim that your fathers had served when they dwelt across the Stream, or whether the elohim of the Amorite in whose land you are dwelling; yet I and my house, we shall serve Yahweh.

16 Then the people answered and said: Far be it from us to forsake Yahweh to serve other elohim.

17 For Yahweh our Elohim, He is the One Who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants, and Who did those great signs before our eyes. He guarded us all along the way on which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.

18 Yahweh drove out before our face all the peoples, also the Amorite, who were dwelling in the land. We too, we shall serve Yahweh, for He is our Elohim.

19 Then Joshua said to the people: You shall not be able to serve Yahweh, for He is a holy Elohim, He is a jealous El. He shall not bear with your transgressions and with your sins.

20 If you should forsake Yahweh and would serve foreign elohim, then He will turn away, bring evil to you and make an end of you, after He has done so much good to you.

21 Yet the people replied to Joshua, Not so, for we shall serve Yahweh.

22 Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh for yourselves to serve Him. And they answered, We are witnesses.

23 Now then put away the foreign elohim that you have among you, and stretch out your heart to Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

24 Then the people replied to Joshua, We shall serve Yahweh our Elohim and hearken to His voice.

25 On that day at Shechem, Joshua contracted a covenant with the people, and he constituted for them a statute and an ordinance.

26 Joshua wrote these words in the scroll of the law of Elohim. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth by the sanctuary of Yahweh;

27 and Joshua said to all the people: Behold, this stone shall be a testimony against us, for it has heard all the sayings of Yahweh that He spoke to us. It will be a testimony against you lest you should dissimulate with your Elohim.

28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his own allotment.

29 It came to be after these things that Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, a hundred and ten years old.

30 They entombed him within the territory of his allotment, at Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

31 Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua in the days thereafter and who knew all the deeds of Yahweh that He had done for Israel.

32 The bones of Joseph that the sons of Israel had brought up from Egypt, they entombed at Shechem in the portion of the field that Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs and that belonged to the allotment of the sons of Joseph.

33 When Eleazar son of Aaron died, they entombed him on the hill of Phinehas his son, that had been assigned to him in the hill country of Ephraim.

The Book of Judges

Chapter 1

1 It came to be after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel asked Yahweh, saying, Which of us shall march up at the start against the Canaanite and fight with him?

2 Yahweh replied, Let Judah march up; behold, I will give the land into his hands.

3 Then Judah said to his brother Simeon, Come up with me into my lot, and let me fight the Canaanite thus. As for me, moreover, I will also go with you into your lot. So Simeon went with him.

4 When Judah marched up, Yahweh delivered the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand, and at Bezek they smote ten thousand men of them.

5 At Bezek they came upon Adoni-bezek; they fought with him and smote the Canaanite and the Perizzite.

6 Adoni-bezek fled; but they pursued after him, took hold of him and cut away the thumbs of his hands and the big toes of his feet.

7 And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings with the thumbs of their hands and the big toes of their feet cut away used to pick up scraps underneath my table. Just as I have done, so has Elohim made repayment to me. They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

8 The sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and seized it; they smote it with the edge of the sword and sent the city up in fire.

9 Thereafter the sons of Judah went down to fight with the Canaanite dwelling in the hill country, the Negeb and the low foothills.

10 Judah also marched against the Canaanite dwelling in Hebron; now the name of Hebron had previously been Kiriath-arba. And they smote Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.

11 From there they went against the dwellers of Debir; now the name of Debir had previously been Kiriath-sepher.

12 Caleb said, Whoever smites Kiriath-sepher and seizes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.

13 Caleb’s kinsman Othniel son of Kenaz (who was younger than him) seized it, and he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife.

14 It occurred when she came to him that she incited him to request a field from her father. When she came down off the donkey, Caleb asked her, What would you have?

15 She replied to him, Do grant me a blessing gift; since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water. So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

16 The sons of the Kenite, the father-in-law of Moses, went up with the sons of Judah from the city of palm trees to the wilderness of Judah which is in the Negeb near Arad. This people went and dwelt among the people there.

17 Then Judah marched with his brother Simeon, and they smote the Canaanite dwelling in Zephath. They doomed it, and one called the name of the city Hormah.

18 Judah seized Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory.

19 Yahweh was with Judah, and he took over the hill country since they were not able to evict the dwellers of the coastal plain, for they had chariots of iron.

20 Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, just as Moses had promised; and he evicted from there the three sons of Anak.

21 As for the Jebusite dwelling in Jerusalem, the sons of Benjamin did not evict him, so the Jebusite dwells with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem until this day.

22 The house of Joseph also went up; they now marched against Bethel, and Yahweh was with them.

23 The name of the city had previously been Luz. When the house of Joseph explored Bethel,

24 the observers saw a man coming forth from the city and said to him, Oh show us an entrance into the city, and we will treat you kindly.

25 So he showed them an entrance into the city, and they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let the man go with his whole family.

26 The man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city and called its name Luz; this has been its name until this day.

27 Manasseh did not evict those of Beth-shean and its outskirts, or of Taanach and its outskirts, or the dwellers of Dor and its outskirts, or the dwellers of Ibleam and its outskirts, or the dwellers of Megiddo and its outskirts, since the Canaanite was disposed to dwell in this area.

28 When it came to be that Israel was steadfast, then it put the Canaanite under tributary service. Yet Israel did not evict, yea evict him.

29 Neither did Ephraim evict the Canaanite dwelling in Gezer; so the Canaanite dwelt among them in Gezer.

30 Zebulun did not evict the dwellers of Kitron or the dwellers of Nahalol, so the Canaanite dwelt among them, but came under tributary service.

31 Asher did not evict the dwellers of Acco or the dwellers of Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik and Rehob.

32 So the Asherite dwelt among the Canaanite dwellers of the land, for they did not evict them.

33 Naphtali did not evict the dwellers of Beth-shemesh or the dwellers of Beth-anath, but dwelt among the Canaanite dwellers of the land; and the dwellers of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath came under tributary service to them.

34 The Amorite pressed the sons of Dan close into the hill country; they would not allow them to come down to the valley plain.

35 And the Amorite were disposed to dwell in Har-heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph was heavy, and they came under tributary service.

36 The boundary of the Amorite ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.

Chapter 2

1 A messenger of Yahweh came up from Gilgal to Bochim and said to them: Thus says Yahweh: I brought you up from Egypt, and I brought you into the land which I had sworn to your fathers. And I said, I shall not annul My covenant with you for the eon.

2 As for you, you shall not contract a covenant with the dwellers of this land; and you shall break down their altars. But you have not hearkened to My voice. What is this you have done?

3 So I now say: I shall not drive them out from before you, and they will become a scourge against your sides. As for their elohim, they shall be a trap to you.

4 Now it came to be, as the messenger of Yahweh spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices and lamented.

5 So they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to Yahweh.

6 When Joshua dismissed the people, the sons of Israel went, each to his allotment, to tenant the land.

7 The people served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua in the days thereafter and who had seen all the great deeds of Yahweh that He had done for Israel.

8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Yahweh, died, a hundred and ten years old.

9 They entombed him within the territory of his allotment, at Timnath-heres in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.

10 However, when that whole generation was gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them, who did not know Yahweh or the deeds that He had done for Israel.

11 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and served the Baalim.

12 They forsook Yahweh Elohim of their fathers, Who had brought them forth from the land of Egypt. They went after other elohim, from among the elohim of the peoples round about them, and they bowed themselves down to them and provoked Yahweh to vexation.

13 When they forsook Yahweh and served Baal and Ashtaroth,

14 the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of robbers who robbed them; He sold them into the hand of their enemies round about, and no longer were they able to withstand before their enemies.

15 Wherever they went forth, the hand of Yahweh was against them for their evil, just as Yahweh had spoken and just as Yahweh had sworn to them; and it was exceedingly distressing to them.

16 Then Yahweh raised up judges who saved them from the hand of their robbers.

17 Yet even to their judges they did not hearken, for they prostituted after other elohim and bowed down to them. They withdrew quickly from the way in which their fathers had walked who had hearkened to the instructions of Yahweh. Yet they did not do so.

18 When Yahweh raised up judges for them, then Yahweh was with the judge and saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge, for Yahweh would be merciful on their moaning at the presence of their oppressors and their jostlers.

19 Yet at the death of the judge it occurred that they backslid and became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other elohim, serving them, and bowing down to them; they did not discard any of their practices or their obstinate ways.

20 So the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Israel, and He said, Because this nation has transgressed My covenant that I enjoined upon their fathers and has not hearkened to My voice,

21 I too, for My part, shall not continue to evict anyone from before them, any of the nations that Joshua left when he died.

22 In order to probe Israel by them to see whether or not they would observe the ways of Yahweh and walk in them just as their fathers had observed them,

23 Yahweh left those nations so as not to evict them quickly, and had not delivered them into the hand of Joshua.

Chapter 3

1 These are the nations that Yahweh had left to probe by them all those of Israel who had not known any of the wars of Canaan,

2 so that the generations of the sons of Israel might become skilled by teaching them warfare, that is, only those who had not known it previously:

3 the five chieftains of the Philistines, and all the Canaanite, the Sidonian, and the Hivite dwelling on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.

4 They were there to probe Israel by them, to know whether they might hearken to the instructions of Yahweh that He had enjoined on their fathers by means of Moses.

5 So the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

6 They took their daughters as their wives and gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their elohim.

7 The sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. When they forgot Yahweh their Elohim and served the Baalim and the Asheroth,

8 the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim; and the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years.

9 But when the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, then Yahweh raised up a saviour for the sons of Israel who brought them salvation: Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s kinsman who was younger than him.

10 The spirit of Yahweh came to be upon him; and he judged Israel. When he went forth to war, Yahweh delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand; and his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.

11 So the land had quietness for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

12 Then the sons of Israel did again what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. So Yahweh encouraged Eglon king of Moab to prevail over Israel because they did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

13 Eglon gathered the sons of Ammon and Amalek to join him; then he went and smote Israel. They took over the city of palm trees,

14 and the sons of Israel served Eglon king of Moab for eighteen years.

15 But when the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, then Yahweh raised up a saviour for them: Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite man, hampered in his right hand. By means of him the sons of Israel sent a tributary present to Eglon king of Moab.

16 Ehud had made for himself a sword; it had two edges, its length being a short cubit. And he had girded it underneath his coats on his right thigh.

17 So he offered the tributary present to Eglon king of Moab; now Eglon was a very plump man.

18 And it came to be, when Ehud had finished offering the tributary present, that he dismissed the people who had carried the tributary present.

19 But at the carvings near Gilgal he himself turned back and said, I have a word of secrecy for you, O king. Eglon commanded, Hist! So all those standing by him went forth out from him.

20 Then Ehud came to him as he was sitting in the cool upper chamber that he had to himself. Now Ehud said, I have a word from Elohim for you. At that Eglon arose from the covered seat.

21 And Ehud stretched out his left hand, took the sword off his right thigh and plunged it into Eglon’s belly.

22 Even the hilt entered after the cutting-blade, and the fat closed about the cutting-blade which came forth behind, for he did not draw the sword out of his belly.

23 Then Ehud went forth to the colonnade, closed the doors of the upper chamber about him and bolted them.

24 When he had escaped forth, Eglon’s courtiers came and looked; and behold, the doors of the upper chamber remained bolted. So they said, Surely he is overshadowing his feet in the cool chamber.

25 They waited until they were ashamed to delay any longer. Since he did not open the doors of the upper chamber, they took the key and unlocked them. And behold, their lord had fallen to the earth, dead!

26 Ehud escaped while they were dallying; he passed the carvings and escaped to Seirah.

27 It came to be when he entered that he had the trumpet blown in the hill country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel descended with him from the hill country, he being before them.

28 He said to them, Follow me in pursuit! For Yahweh has delivered your enemies, Moab, into your hand. So they descended after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against Moab and did not allow anyone to cross over.

29 At that time they smote about ten thousand men of Moab, all the stout and all the able men among them, and not one escaped.

30 On that day Moab submitted under the hand of Israel; and the land had quietness for eighty years.

31 After him came Shamgar son of Anath, who smote six hundred men of the Philistines with an oxgoad; he too saved Israel.

Chapter 4

1 The sons of Israel did again what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh now that Ehud was dead.

2 So Yahweh sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor. The chief of his military host was Sisera; he dwelt in Harosheth-goim.

3 The sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had oppressed the sons of Israel with unyielding force for twenty years.

4 There was a woman, Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth; she was judging Israel at that time.

5 She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah, between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel would come up to her for judgment.

6 She sent word and called for Barak son of Abinoam of Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him: Behold, Yahweh Elohim of Israel has given this instruction: Go, draw out to Mount Tabor and take with you ten thousand men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun.

7 I will draw Sisera, Jabin’s chief of the military host, with his chariots and his throng toward you to Wadi Kishon. And I will deliver him into your hand.

8 At this, Barak replied to her, If you go with me, I will go. But if you do not go with me, I shall not go.

9 She answered, I shall go, yea go with you. Only know that there shall be no beauteous glory for you on the road you follow, for Yahweh shall sell off Sisera by the hand of a woman. So Deborah arose and went with Barak toward Kedesh.

10 Then Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali for a convocation at Kedesh; ten thousand men marched up in his footsteps, and Deborah went up with him.

11 Now Heber the Kenite, having parted from the Kenite, from the sons of Moses’ father-in-law Hobab, pitched his tent at the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.

12 Then they told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.

13 So Sisera convoked all his charioteers of nine hundred chariots of iron and the entire force that was with him, to proceed from Harosheth-goim to Wadi Kishon.

14 Then Deborah said to Barak, Arise! For this is the day in which Yahweh will deliver Sisera into your hand. Has not Yahweh gone forth before you? Barak charged down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men behind him.

15 And Yahweh discomfited Sisera and all the chariotry and the entire fighting force so as to fall by the edge of the sword before Barak. Sisera got down off his chariot and fled on foot.

16 As for Barak, he pursued the chariotry and the fighting force as far as Harosheth-goim; all of Sisera’s fighting force fell by the edge of the sword; not even one remained.

17 As for Sisera, he fled on foot to the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, since there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

18 And Jael went forth to meet Sisera and said to him, Do turn in, my lord, do turn in with me, do not fear. So he turned in with her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

19 He said to her, Oh give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. So she opened the skin bottle of milk, gave him a drink and covered him.

20 Then he told her, Stand at the opening of the tent. If it should happen that anyone comes and asks you, saying, Is there a man here? then you will say, There is no one.

21 But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg and put the hammer into her hand. While he was stupefied, she came to him with stealth and plunged the peg through his temple until it came down into the earth. He twitched convulsively and died.

22 And behold, there was Barak in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went forth to meet him. She said to him, Come, and I shall show you the man whom you are seeking. So he entered with her, and behold: Sisera fallen dead with the peg through his temple.

23 On that day Elohim made Jabin king of Canaan submissive before the sons of Israel.

24 And the hand of the sons of Israel got continuously harder on Jabin king of Canaan, until they had cut off Jabin king of Canaan.

Chapter 5

1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang, saying:

2 For the commanders taking command in Israel, For the people who willingly offer themselves Give blessing to Yahweh!

3 Hear, kings! Give ear, chancellors! I, for my part, to Yahweh will I sing, I shall make melody to Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

4 O Yahweh, at Your going forth from Seir, At Your march from the fields of Edom, The earth quaked. Indeed, the heavens dropped, And the thick clouds too, they dropped water.

5 The mountains flowed at the presence of Yahweh; Sinai was in commotion at the presence of Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, In the days of Jael, caravans had left off, And wayfarers of access-ways went on tortuous paths.

7 The villagers in Israel had left off. They left off until when Deborah arose, When a mother in Israel arose.

8 One chose new elohim; Then fighting was in the gates. No shield or lance was to be seen Among forty thousand in Israel!

9 My heart is with Israel’s statute-makers, With the people who willingly offer themselves Give blessing to Yahweh!

10 You riders on grey jennies, You who sit on the adjudication seat, You wayfarers on the road, meditate!

11 By the voice of those dividing water at bailing-places, There they sound forth the righteous deeds of Yahweh, The righteous acts of His villagers in Israel. Then the people of Yahweh marched down to the gates.

12 Rouse! Rouse, Deborah! Rouse! Rouse! Utter a song! Arise, Barak! Take captive your captives, son of Abinoam!

13 Then down came Israel with the noble ones, Yahweh’s people came down to me with the masterful ones.

14 Some from Ephraim were rooting out those in the vale; Following you was Benjamin among your peoples. From Machir came down the statute-makers, And from Zebulun those privileged with the tool of the scribe.

15 The chiefs in Issachar were with Deborah; And Issachar was also with Barak; Into the vale was he sent forth in his footsteps. Among the distributions of Reuben, Great were the delineations of heart.

16 Why did you stay between the campfires? To hear the piping for the droves? For the distributions of Reuben Great was the investigating of heart.

17 Gilead tabernacled in Transjordan. And Dan, why did he sojourn by the ships? Asher stayed at the shore of the seas And tabernacled by his coves.

18 Yet the people of Zebulun risked their soul to death; So did Naphtali on the heights of the battlefield.

19 Kings came; they fought: It was then That the kings of Canaan fought In Taanach by the waters of Megiddo They took no gain of silver.

20 From the heavens the stars fought, From their orbits they fought against Sisera.

21 Wadi Kishon shook its fist at them A wadi from aforetime, Wadi Kishon. You are treading them down, my soul, with strength!

22 Then the heels of the horses hammered From the galloping, the galloping of his sturdy ones.

23 Curse Meroz, said the messenger of Yahweh; Curse, yea curse its dwellers, For they did not come to the help of Yahweh, To the help of Yahweh with their masterful ones.

24 Most blessed of women shall be Jael, Wife of Heber the Kenite. Among women in the tent she shall be most blessed.

25 Water he asked; milk she gave. In a jorum of noble ones she offered clotted cream.

26 Her left hand to the peg stretched forth, And her right hand to the hammer of the toilers. Then she battered Sisera, bashed his head, Transfixed and cut up his temple.

27 At her feet he bowed and fell; there he lay. At her feet he bowed and fell. Where he bowed, there he fell, devastated.

28 About the window gazed Sisera’s mother, About the latticed oriel she fretted. For what reason is his chariotry tardy in coming? What reason makes the clatter of his chariots delay?

29 The wisest of her chief ladies answer her: Indeed she replies with her own sayings to herself:

30 Are they not finding and apportioning the loot? A wench, two wenches for each head master? Loot of dyed cloths for Sisera, Loot of dyed cloths, embroidered, Two lengths of dyed embroidering Round every neck as loot.

31 So may all Your enemies perish, O Yahweh! But may those loving Him be as the sun going forth in its mastery! And the land had quietness for forty years.

Chapter 6

1 Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years.

2 The hand of Midian was strong upon Israel; and because of Midian, the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens in the mountains and the caves and the fastnesses.

3 For whenever Israel had sown their seed, it would occur that Midian came up against them; and Amalek and the sons of the east came up too.

4 They would encamp against them and ruin the crop of the land, until you come to Gaza. They let not remain any livelihood in Israel, or a flockling, or bull, or donkey.

5 For they would come up with their cattle and their tents. They would come as numerous as an infestation of locusts; both they and their camels were without number. Thus they would invade the land and ruin it.

6 Israel was exceedingly impoverished because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh.

7 So it came to be when the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh on account of Midian,

8 that Yahweh sent a man to the sons of Israel, a prophet who said to them, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: It was I Who brought you up from Egypt and brought you forth from the house of servants.

9 I rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all your oppressors; I drove them out before you and gave you their land.

10 And I did say to you, I, Yahweh, am your Elohim. You should not fear the elohim of the Amorite in whose land you are dwelling. Yet you did not hearken to My voice.

11 A messenger of Yahweh came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was then flailing wheat in the winetrough, alert for flight because of Midian.

12 The messenger of Yahweh appeared to him and said to him, Yahweh is with you, master of valor.

13 Gideon replied to him, O! my lord, but if Yahweh really is with us, then why does all this trouble come upon us? And where are all His marvelous works which our fathers related to us, saying, Did not Yahweh bring us up from Egypt? Yet now Yahweh has abandoned us and delivered us into the clutches of Midian.

14 Then Yahweh turned toward him and said, Go in this vigor of yours and save Israel from the clutches of Midian! Have I not sent you?

15 Yet he replied to Him, O! Yahweh, With what shall I save Israel? Behold, my contingent is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the most inferior in my father’s house.

16 Yahweh answered to him, But I shall come to be with you, and you will smite Midian as one man.

17 Now Gideon said to Him, I pray, should I find grace in Your eyes, then give me a sign that it is You Who are speaking to me.

18 I pray, do not remove Yourself from here until I come back and bring forth my approach present to You and leave it before You. And He said, As for Me, I shall stay until you return.

19 So Gideon went in and prepared a kid of the goats and unleavened bread from an ephah of meal flour. The meat he put on a tray, and the broth he put in a kettle. Then he brought both forth to Him, under the terebinth, and brought them close.

20 Now the messenger of Elohim said to him, Take the meat and the unleavened bread, leave them on this crag, and pour out the broth. And he did so.

21 The messenger of Yahweh stretched out the end of the support-staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire came up from the rock and devoured the meat and the unleavened bread, while the messenger of Yahweh departed from his eyes.

22 Then Gideon discerned that he was a messenger of Yahweh; and Gideon said, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, for the reason that I have seen a messenger of Yahweh face to face .

23 But Yahweh said to him, Peace be to you! Do not fear; you shall not die.

24 Then Gideon built there an altar to Yahweh and called it Yahweh-shalom. Until this day it still is in Ophrah of the Abiezrite.

25 It came to be in that night that Yahweh said to him, Take the young bull, the bull that belongs to your father, that is, the second-born young bull of seven years; demolish the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

26 Then build an altar to Yahweh your Elohim on the summit of this stronghold in the proper arrangement. Take the second-born young bull and offer it up as an ascent offering with the wood of the Asherah pole that you shall cut down.

27 So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did just as Yahweh had told him; that is, he worked at night because he feared his father’s household and the people of the city too much to do it by day.

28 When the people of the city rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal had been broken down and the Asherah pole beside it had been cut down, and the second-born young bull had been offered up on the newly built altar.

29 They said, each to his associate, Who did this thing? They inquired and discovered and said, Gideon son of Joash, he did this thing.

30 Then the people of the city demanded of Joash, Bring forth your son, for he must die because he broke down the altar of Baal and because he cut down the Asherah pole beside it.

31 But Joash replied to all who stood against him, Do you have to contend for Baal, or must you keep him in safety? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is an elohim, let him contend for himself when someone breaks down his altar.

32 So one called him Jerub-baal that day, saying, Let the Baal contend against him, since he broke down his altar.

33 All Midian, Amalek, and the sons of the east gathered together; they crossed over and encamped in the vale of Jezreel.

34 Then the spirit of Yahweh clothed Gideon; he blew the trumpet, and Abiezer was convoked after him.

35 He also sent messengers through all of Manasseh, and they too were convoked after him. He then sent messengers through Asher and Zebulun and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

36 Gideon said to the One, Elohim, Should You really mean to save Israel by my hand just as You have promised,

37 behold, I am putting a fleece of wool on the threshing-site. Should night mist come to be on the fleece alone while there is dryness all over the earth, then I will know that You shall save Israel by my hand just as You have promised.

38 And it became so. He rose early on the morrow and pressed out the fleece; and he wrung out the night mist from the fleece, a jorum full of water.

39 Then Gideon said to the One, Elohim, Let Your anger not grow hot against me; let me speak only once more. Let me try, I pray, but once more with the fleece. Let the dryness now be on the fleece alone, and may there be night mist all over the earth.

40 And Elohim did so that night; there was dryness on the fleece alone, while there was night mist all over the earth.

Chapter 7

1 Then Jerub-baal, that is, Gideon, rose early, and all the people who were with him. They encamped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was in the vale north of him, below the hill of Moreh.

2 Yahweh said to Gideon, The people with you are too many for Me to deliver Midian into their hand, lest Israel might vaunt himself against Me, saying, My own hand has saved me.

3 So now call out into the ears of the people, saying, Anyone fearful and trembling may return and scurry from Mount Gilead. Twenty-two contingents of the people returned, and ten contingents remained.

4 Yet Yahweh said to Gideon, The people are still too many; take them down to the water, and I shall sift them out for you there. It will come to be, anyone of whom I tell you, This one shall go with you, he shall go with you; but anyone of whom I tell you, This one shall not go with you, he shall not go.

5 So he took the people down to the water; and Yahweh said to Gideon, Anyone who laps with his tongue from the water, just as a dog laps, you shall put him aside, also anyone who crouches on his knees to drink.

6 The number of those lapping with their hand to their mouth was three hundred men; as for all the rest of the people, they crouched on their knees to drink water.

7 Then Yahweh said to Gideon, With the three hundred men who were lapping I shall save you, and I will deliver Midian into your hand; let all the other people go, each to his own place.

8 They took the jars of the people from their hand and their trumpets, and he dismissed all the men of Israel, each to his tents; yet to the three hundred men he held fast. As for the camp of Midian, it was below him in the vale.

9 It was in that night that Yahweh said to him, Arise, charge down against the camp, for I have delivered it into your hand.

10 But should you be fearful to descend, go down to the camp, you and your lad Purah,

11 and you will hear what they are saying. Thereafter your hands shall be steadfast, and you will charge down against the camp. So he descended with his lad Purah to the outposts of the fivefold deployment in the camp.

12 Now Midian, Amalek, and all the sons of the east were in the vale, fallen in as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

13 When Gideon came down, behold, a man was relating a dream to his associate, saying, Behold, I dreamed a dream; there was a round loaf of barley bread tumbling into the camp of Midian. It came to the tent and smote it so that it fell; it turned it over, and the tent fell flat.

14 And his associate answered, saying, This is no other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, a man of Israel; into his hand the One, Elohim, has delivered Midian and the entire camp.

15 It came to be when Gideon heard the tale of the dream and its explication that he worshiped Yahweh. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, Arise, for Yahweh has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.

16 He divided the three hundred men into three bands and put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty jars, with torches inside the jars.

17 Then he told them, Watch me, and do likewise. Behold, when I come to the outposts of the camp, then it must occur that just as I shall do, you shall do likewise.

18 When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then you also blow the trumpets round about the entire camp and shout, A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!

19 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outposts of the camp at the beginning of the middle vigil, when they had just performed the setting up of the guards. So they blew the trumpets and shattered the jars in their hands.

20 Then the three bands blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held fast in their left hand the torches, and in their right hand the trumpets to blow; and they called out, A sword for Yahweh and for Gideon!

21 While each man stood in his place, round about the camp, the entire force awoke; they shouted and took to flight.

22 For when the three hundred blew the trumpets, Yahweh set the sword of each man against his associate throughout the camp; and the force fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the ridge of Abel-meholah by Tabbath.

23 Now the men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh; and they pursued after Midian.

24 Gideon also sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, Come down to meet Midian, and seize the waters against them along the Jordan as far as Beth-barah. Now all the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they seized the waters along the Jordan as far as Beth-barah.

25 They seized two chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb; they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winevat of Zeeb, as they pursued after Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon across the Jordan.

Chapter 8

1 The men of Ephraim said to him, Why have you done this thing to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian? And they contended with him unyieldingly.

2 But he answered them, What have I accomplished now compared to you? Are not the clean-gleanings of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer?

3 Into your hand Elohim delivered the chiefs of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to accomplish compared to you? Then their spirit slackened toward him when he spoke this word.

4 Gideon had come to the Jordan and had crossed over; he and the three hundred men with him were faint with hunger, yet still in pursuit.

5 So he said to the men of Succoth, Please give some loaves of bread to the people who are in my footsteps, for they are faint with hunger; and I am in pursuit after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.

6 But the chiefs of Succoth replied, Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your militia host?

7 At this Gideon said, For that, when Yahweh delivers Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with thorns of the wilderness and with brambles.

8 From there he went up to Penuel and spoke to them in this same manner; but the men of Penuel answered him just as the men of Succoth had answered.

9 So he declared to the men of Penuel as well, saying, When I return unharmed, I shall break down this tower.

10 Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor and had their forces with them, about fifteen thousand, all who were left of the entire force of the sons of the east; for a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen.

11 Gideon went up the road of the tent tabernaclers east of Nobah and Jogbehah; and he smote the camp force while the force was unsuspecting.

12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he pursued after them and seized the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna; and the whole camp force he put to the sword.

13 When Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle at the ascent of Heres,

14 he seized a lad of the men of Succoth and questioned him; and he listed for him the chiefs of Succoth and its elders, seventy-seven men.

15 Then he came to the men of Succoth and said, Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you challenged me, saying, Is the palm of Zebah and Zalmunna now in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are faint with hunger?

16 And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and brambles, and with them he threshed the men of Succoth.

17 As for Penuel, he broke down the tower and killed the men of the city.

18 Then he asked Zebah and Zalmunna, What about the men whom you killed at Tabor? They answered, They were like you, each one shapely as the sons of a king.

19 He replied, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Yahweh lives! O that you had let them live! Then I would not have to kill you.

20 And he said to Jether, his firstborn, Get up, kill them! But the youth did not draw his sword, for he was fearful since he was still a youth.

21 At this Zebah and Zalmunna said, Get up yourself and come on us; for as a man is, so is his mastery. So Gideon got up and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescents that were on the necks of their camels.

22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule over us, both you and your son, and your son’s son, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.

23 Yet Gideon replied to them, I shall not rule over you myself, nor shall my son rule over you; Yahweh alone, He shall rule over you.

24 Then Gideon said to them, Let me make a request of you. Give me, each of you, a pendant from his loot. (For they had gold pendants, since they were Ishmaelites.)

25 They responded, We shall give, yea give. So they spread out a piece of raiment, and every man flung onto it a pendant of his loot.

26 The weight of the gold pendants that he had requested came to 1,700 gold shekels; aside from the crescents and the drops and the purple cloaks that were on the kings of Midian, and aside from the necklaces on the necks of their camels.

27 Gideon made an ephod of it and put it in his city, in Ophrah. There all Israel prostituted themselves after it, and it became a trap to Gideon and his household.

28 Thus Midian submitted before the sons of Israel and did not lift its head again; and the land had quietness for forty years in the days of Gideon.

29 Jerub-baal son of Joash went to dwell in his house.

30 Gideon came to have seventy sons, offspring from his thigh, for he came to have many wives.

31 As for his concubine who was in Shechem, she too bore a son for him, and he called his name Abimelech.

32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good greyhaired age, and was entombed in the tomb of his father Joash in Ophrah of the Abiezrite.

33 It came to be, as soon as Gideon had died, that the sons of Israel backslid and prostituted themselves after the Baalim, and they set up Baal-berith as their elohim.

34 The sons of Israel did not remember Yahweh their Elohim Who had rescued them from the hand of all their enemies round about;

35 nor did they deal in kindness with the house of Jerubbaal-Gideon, according to all the good that he had done for Israel.

Chapter 9

1 Abimelech son of Jerub-baal went to Shechem to his mother’s brothers and spoke to them and to all family members of the house of his mother’s father, saying,

2 Speak now into the ears of all the headmen of Shechem: Which is better for you, the rule over you of seventy men, all sons of Jerub-baal, or the rule over you of one man? Now you will remember that I am your bone and your flesh.

3 So his mother’s brothers spoke all these words on his behalf into the ears of all the headmen of Shechem; and their hearts were won over to follow Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother.

4 They gave him seventy silver shekels from the house of Baal-berith, and with them Abimelech hired inane and ebullient men who went following him.

5 When he came to his father’s house at Ophrah, he killed his brothers, the sons of Jerub-baal, seventy men on one stone. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerub-baal, was left, for he had hidden himself.

6 Then all the headmen of Shechem and all Beth-millo were gathered together; they went and made Abimelech reign as king, at the propped-up oak in Shechem.

7 When they told this to Jotham, he went and stood on the summit of Mount Gerizim; he lifted up his voice and called out to them, saying, Hearken to me, headmen of Shechem, so that Elohim may hearken to you:

8 Once the trees went forth to anoint a king over themselves. So they said to the olive tree, Do reign over us.

9 But the olive tree replied to them, Should I leave off my richness, I through whom Elohim and men are glorified, that I should go to sway over the trees?

10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, You come! Reign over us!

11 But the fig tree replied to them, Should I leave off my sweetness and my good produce, that I should go to sway over the trees?

12 Then the trees said to the vine, You come! Reign over us!

13 But the vine replied to them, Should I leave off my grape juice which makes Elohim and men rejoice, that I should go to sway over the trees?

14 Then all the trees said to the boxthorn, You come! Reign over us!

15 At this the boxthorn replied to the trees, Should you, in truth, anoint me as king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but should you not, may fire go forth from the boxthorn and devour the cedars of Lebanon!

16 Now then, if you acted in truth and flawlessness, when you made Abimelech king, and if you dealt well with Jerub-baal and his house, and if you did to him in requital for his handiwork

17 whereas my father fought for you and flung his soul straight in front when he rescued you from the hand of Midian;

18 yet today you have arisen against my father’s house, killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the headmen of Shechem because he is your brother

19 now if you have acted this day in truth and flawlessness toward Jerub-baal and his house, rejoice in Abimelech, and may he too rejoice in you.

20 But if not, may fire come forth from Abimelech and devour the headmen of Shechem and Beth-millo, and may fire come forth from the headmen of Shechem and from Beth-millo, and devour Abimelech!

21 Then Jotham fled; he ran away and went to Beer and dwelt there because of his brother Abimelech.

22 Abimelech had control over Israel for three years.

23 Then Elohim sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the headmen of Shechem, and the headmen of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,

24 so that the violence against Jerub-baal’s seventy sons, even their blood, might come down and be laid on their brother Abimelech who had killed them, and on the headmen of Shechem who had made his hands steadfast for the killing of his brothers.

25 So the headmen of Shechem set ambushers against him on the tops of the hills; they pillaged everyone who passed by them on the road; and it was told to Abimelech.

26 Then Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers came and crossed over to Shechem, and the headmen of Shechem put their trust in him.

27 They went forth into the field, picked grapes at their vineyards, trod them and held praise festivals. They entered the house of their elohim where they ate and drank and maledicted Abimelech.

28 Gaal son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech and who are we in Shechem that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerub-baal, and is not Zebul his supervisor? Serve the men of Hamor, father of Shechem! For what reason should we serve him?

29 O that this people were under my hand! I would certainly get rid of Abimelech! And I would say to Abimelech, Increase your military host, and do come forth!

30 When Zebul, the chief of the city, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, his anger grew hot.

31 By a ruse he sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, Behold, Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem. And behold, they are alienating the city against you.

32 Set out therefore by night, you and the force with you, and lie in ambush in the fields.

33 It must come to pass in the morning when the sun rises, then you should rise early and emerge against the city. When he and the force with him are coming forth toward you, then you may do to him whatever your hand finds to do.

34 So Abimelech and all the force with him set out by night, and four bands lay in ambush by Shechem.

35 When Gaal son of Ebed came forth and stood at the opening of the city gate, Abimelech and the force with him set out from the ambush.

36 Gaal saw the force and said to Zebul, Behold, people are descending from the tops of the hills. Yet Zebul replied to him, The shadow of the hills you see as men.

37 But Gaal proceeded again to speak, saying, Behold, people are descending from the center of the hill country, and one band comes from the direction of the cloud consulters’ oak.

38 Zebul replied to him, Where, indeed, is your mouth now, you who said, Who is Abimelech that we should serve him? Is this not the force that you rejected? Do go forth now and fight with it!

39 And Gaal went forth before the headmen of Shechem and fought Abimelech.

40 Yet Abimelech pursued him when he fled from his presence, and many fell slain, all the way to the opening of the gate.

41 Then Abimelech stayed in Arumah, while Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out from dwelling in Shechem.

42 It was on the morrow, and people went forth into the fields. So they told Abimelech.

43 Hence he took his force, divided it into three bands, and lay in ambush in the fields. When he saw how people came forth from the city, he set out against them and smote them.

44 Abimelech and the bands with him emerged and stood at the opening of the city gate; then two of the bands emerged on all who were in the fields, and smote them.

45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He seized the lower city and killed the people in it; then he broke down the city and sowed it with salt.

46 All the headmen of the tower of Shechem heard of this and entered the vaulted tunnel of the house of El-berith.

47 When Abimelech was told that all the headmen of the tower of Shechem had come together there,

48 then Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the force with him. Abimelech took a hatchet in his hand, cut off some brush wood, lifted it up, put it on his shoulder, and said to the force with him, What you have seen me do, quick! do like me!

49 So, of the entire force, each man also cut his brush; then they marched behind Abimelech and placed them against the vaulted tunnel. And over them they ravaged the vaulted tunnel with fire, so that all the people of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.

50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez; he encamped at Thebez and seized it.

51 There was a strong tower in the midst of the city to which all the men and the women and all the headmen of the city fled. They locked themselves in and went up to the rooftop of the tower.

52 Abimelech advanced toward the tower and fought against it. When he came close to the portal of the tower to burn it with fire,

53 then a certain woman flung the rider section of a millstone on Abimelech’s head and fractured his skull.

54 Hastily he called to his lad, his gear-bearer, and said to him, Draw your sword and put me to death lest they say of me, A woman killed him. So his lad stabbed him, and he died.

55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they walked away, each man to his own place.

56 Thus Elohim paid back the evil of Abimelech that he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers.

57 And all the evil of the men of Shechem Elohim brought back on their head. Thus the malediction of Jotham son of Jerub-baal came upon them.

Chapter 10

1 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel. He dwelt in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.

2 He judged Israel for twenty-three years; then he died and was entombed at Shamir.

3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite; he judged Israel for twenty-two years.

4 He came to have thirty sons; they rode on thirty colts and had thirty cities in the land of Gilead. They call them Havvoth-jair to this day.

5 Then Jair died and was entombed at Kamon.

6 The sons of Israel again did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. They served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and the elohim of Aram, the elohim of Sidon, the elohim of Moab, the elohim of the sons of Ammon, and the elohim of the Philistines; they forsook Yahweh and did not serve Him.

7 So the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon.

8 In that year they harried and maltreated the sons of Israel for eighteen years all the sons of Israel in Transjordan, in the former land of the Amorite in Gilead.

9 The sons of Ammon also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and Benjamin and the house of Ephraim. It was exceedingly distressing to Israel.

10 Then the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh, saying, We have sinned against You, for we have forsaken our Elohim and served the Baalim.

11 But Yahweh said to the sons of Israel: Was it not from Egypt, from the Amorite, from the sons of Ammon, from the Philistines,

12 the Sidonians, Amalek and Maon who oppressed you, that I saved you from their hand when you cried out to Me?

13 Yet you have forsaken Me and served other elohim. Therefore I shall not continue further to save you.

14 Go and cry out to the elohim that you have chosen! Let them bring you salvation in your time of distress!

15 But the sons of Israel said to Yahweh, We have sinned. You do to us whatever is good in Your eyes! Only, we pray, rescue us this day!

16 Then they put away the foreign elohim from among them and served Yahweh; and His soul felt pity for Israel in their misery.

17 When the sons of Ammon were summoned and encamped in Gilead, the sons of Israel were gathered and encamped at Mizpah.

18 The chiefs of the force of Gilead said, each to his associate, Whoever be the man who starts off with fighting the sons of Ammon, he shall become the head over all the dwellers of Gilead.

Chapter 11

1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a master of valor; he was the son of a prostitute woman; and Gilead had begotten Jephthah.

2 Gilead’s wife also bore sons for him, and when the wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out. They said to him, You shall have no allotment in our father’s house, for you are the son of another woman.

3 So Jephthah ran away from the presence of his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob, where inane men collected themselves unto Jephthah and went forth with him.

4 After awhile it came about that the sons of Ammon made war on Israel.

5 And it occurred just as the sons of Ammon fought with Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to take Jephthah back from the land of Tob.

6 They said to Jephthah, Come and be our captain, and let us fight the sons of Ammon.

7 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, Did not you hate me so that you drove me out from my father’s house? For what reason do you come to me now when you are in distress?

8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, This is why now we have turned back to you: You must come with us and fight the sons of Ammon, and you will become our head over all the dwellers of Gilead.

9 Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, If you bring me back to fight the sons of Ammon, and Yahweh routs them before me, I, for my part, shall become your head.

10 And the elders of Gilead answered Jephthah, Yahweh Himself shall become the Hearer between us: Assuredly shall we do according to your word.

11 So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people set him over them as head and as captain. And Jephthah repeated all his words before Yahweh at Mizpah.

12 Then Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What have you against me that you have come to me to make war on my land?

13 The king of the sons of Ammon replied to Jephthah’s messengers, When Israel came up from Egypt, they took my land from the Arnon to the Jabbok as far as the Jordan. So now do restore it in peace.

14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon.

15 He said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the sons of Ammon.

16 For when they came up from Egypt Israel went through the wilderness to the Sea of Weeds and came to Kadesh.

17 Israel then sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me pass, if you please, through your land. But the king of Edom did not hearken. They sent also to the king of Moab, but he was not willing. So Israel stayed at Kadesh.

18 Then they went on around the land of Edom and the land of Moab through the wilderness adjoining the land of Moab from the sunrise; thus they advanced and encamped across the Arnon and never entered the territory of Moab since the Arnon was the boundary of Moab.

19 Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorite, the king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, Let us pass, if you please, through your land to our own place.

20 But Sihon was not willing and refused to let Israel pass through his territory. So Sihon gathered his entire force together; they encamped at Jahaz, and he fought with Israel.

21 But Yahweh Elohim of Israel delivered Sihon and his entire force into the hand of Israel. They smote them, and Israel took over all the land of the Amorite who dwelt in that area.

22 Thus they took over all the territory of the Amorite from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the wilderness to the Jordan.

23 Now since Yahweh Elohim of Israel has evicted the Amorite from before His people Israel, why should you tenant it?

24 What Chemosh your elohim let you take over, do you not tenant it? So all that Yahweh our Elohim evicted from before us, we shall tenant it.

25 Now, are you any better, yea better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he contend a contention with Israel, or fight a battle against them?

26 While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and in its outskirts, in Aroer and in its outskirts, and in all the cities alongside the Arnon for three hundred years, for what reason did you not try to reclaim them in that era?

27 As for me, I have not sinned against you; yet you are treating me badly by making war on me. Yahweh, the Judge, shall judge today between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon.

28 But the king of the sons of Ammon did not hearken to the communications of Jephthah that he had sent him.

29 Then the spirit of Yahweh came to be on Jephthah, and he passed through Gilead and Manasseh, by Mizpah of Gilead, and advanced against the sons of Ammon from Mizpah of Gilead

30 where Jephthah vowed a vow to Yahweh and said, Should You deliver, yea deliver the sons of Ammon into my hand,

31 then it will occur, whatever comes forth from the doors of my house, coming forth to meet me at my return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it will become Yahweh’s, and I will offer it up as an ascent offering.

32 When Jephthah advanced against the sons of Ammon to fight them, Yahweh delivered them into his hand,

33 and he smote them from Aroer until you come to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, in a very large smiting. So the sons of Ammon submitted because of the presence of the sons of Israel.

34 When Jephthah came back to his house in Mizpah, behold, his daughter came forth to meet him with tambourines and choruses. She was his one and only child; apart from her he had no son or daughter.

35 And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes and said, Alas! my daughter, you make me bow down, yea bow down; you have become my troubler! For I have opened my mouth wide to Yahweh, and I can not retract.

36 She replied to him, My father, since you have opened your mouth wide to Yahweh, do to me according to what has gone forth from your mouth, inasmuch as Yahweh has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the sons of Ammon.

37 She further said to her father, Let this request be granted to me: Hold back from me for two months; do let me go, me and my associates, that I may descend on the hills and lament over my virginity.

38 Go, he replied, and he dismissed her for two months. So she went, she and her associates, and lamented over her virginity on the hills.

39 It came to be at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, and he did to her according to his vow that he had vowed. As for her, she had never known a man. Then it became a statute in Israel:

40 From days to days the daughters of Israel should go to make their plaint for the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite, for four days in the year.

Chapter 12

1 The men of Ephraim were summoned and crossed over to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, For what reason did you march to fight against the sons of Ammon, and did not call on us to go with you? We shall burn your house over you with fire.

2 Jephthah replied to them, I was the man, I and my people, who had a controversy with the sons of Ammon, and they humbled me exceedingly. So I cried out for you, yet you did not save me from their hand.

3 When I saw that you would not bring salvation, then I did take my soul in my own palm and did march against the sons of Ammon. And Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me this day? To fight against me?

4 Jephthah mustered all the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim who had said, You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim in the midst of Ephraim, in the midst of Manasseh.

5 Then Gilead seized the fords of the Jordan and held them against Ephraim. Now it came to be when any Ephraimite, delivered from slaughter, said, Let me cross over, the men of Gilead asked him, Are you an Ephraimite? When he answered, I am not,

6 they replied to him, Now say shibboleth.'' If he said sibboleth,‘’ because he was not able to pronounce it correctly, then they took hold of him and slew him at the fords of the Jordan. There fell at that time forty-two contingents from Ephraim.

7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was entombed in his city in Gilead.

8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.

9 He came to have thirty sons; thirty daughters he let go away into marriage outside his clan, and for his sons he brought in thirty daughters from outside. He judged Israel for seven years.

10 Then Ibzan died and was entombed in Bethlehem.

11 After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel; he judged Israel for ten years.

12 Then Elon the Zebulunite died and was entombed in Aijalon, in the land of Zebulun.

13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.

14 He came to have forty sons and thirty grandsons, riding on seventy colts. He judged Israel for eight years.

15 Then Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was entombed in Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekite.

Chapter 13

1 Again the sons of Israel did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; so Yahweh delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.

2 There was a certain man from Zorah, of the families of the Danite; his name was Manoah, and his wife was barren and had borne no child.

3 A messenger of Yahweh appeared to the woman and said to her: Behold, you are barren and have borne no child; but you will become pregnant and you will bear a son.

4 Therefore do be on guard. Do not drink wine or intoxicant, and do not eat anything unclean,

5 for, behold, you will be pregnant and bear a son. No razor blade shall come upon his head, for the lad shall be a Nazirite to Elohim from the womb on. He shall start off with saving Israel from the hand of the Philistines.

6 Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of the One, Elohim, came to me, and his appearance was as the appearance of a messenger of the One, Elohim, very fear inspiring. I did not ask him from where he came, and he did not tell me his name.

7 He said to me: Behold, you will be pregnant and bear a son. Now do not drink wine or intoxicant, and do not eat anything unclean, for the lad shall be a Nazirite to Elohim from the womb to the day of his death.

8 Then Manoah entreated Yahweh, saying, O! my Lord, the man of the One, Elohim, whom You sent, let him, I pray, come again to us so that he may direct us what we should do for the lad, the one who will be born.

9 The One, Elohim, heard the voice of Manoah, and the messenger of Elohim came to the woman again, while she was sitting in the field; yet her husband Manoah was not with her.

10 The woman ran in haste to tell her husband; she said to him, Behold, he has appeared to me, the man who came to me on that day.

11 At that Manoah got up and went following his wife. When he came to the man, he said to him, Are you the man who spoke to my wife? He replied, I am.

12 Then Manoah said, Now let your words come true. What shall become customary for the lad and his doing?

13 The messenger of Yahweh replied to Manoah, From all that I stated to the woman she should guard herself.

14 Nothing at all that comes forth from the grapevine should she eat; let her not drink wine or intoxicant, and let her not eat anything unclean! All that I enjoined on her she should observe.

15 Then Manoah said to the messenger of Yahweh, I pray, let us restrain you and present before you a kid of the goats.

16 But the messenger of Yahweh replied to Manoah, If you restrain me, I shall not eat of your bread. Yet should you make an ascent offering, offer it up to Yahweh. (For Manoah did not know that he was a messenger of Yahweh.)

17 So Manoah said to the messenger of Yahweh, What is your name that, should your words come true, we may glorify you?

18 The messenger of Yahweh replied to him, Why then do you ask for my name, when it is a marvelous one?

19 So Manoah took a kid of the goats and the cereal approach present and offered them up on the rock to Yahweh. Then a marvelous thing happened while Manoah and his wife looked on.

20 It came to be when the blaze above the altar went up toward the heavens, that the messenger of Yahweh ascended in the blaze of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on. At once they fell on their faces to the earth.

21 (The messenger of Yahweh never appeared again to Manoah and to his wife.)Manoah then realized that he had been a messenger of Yahweh.

22 And Manoah said to his wife, We shall die, yea die, for it is Elohim we have seen.

23 But his wife said to him, Suppose Yahweh had desired to put us to death, He would not have taken from our hand the ascent offering and the cereal approach present, He would not have shown us all these things, and at this time, He would not have let us hear this.

24 The woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the lad grew up and Yahweh blessed him.

25 Then the spirit of Yahweh started to agitate him in the encampment of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Chapter 14

1 Once Samson went down toward Timnah, and while in Timnah, he saw a woman among the daughters of the Philistines.

2 Then he came up and told his father and his mother, saying, While in Timnah, I have seen a woman among the daughters of the Philistines. Now take her for me as my wife.

3 His father and his mother replied to him, Is there no woman among the daughters of your kinsmen and among all my people, that you are going to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines? Yet Samson said to his father, Take her for me, for she is upright in my eyes.

4 As for his father and his mother, they did not realize that this was from Yahweh: He was seeking a pretext against the Philistines, for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.

5 So Samson and his father and his mother went down toward Timnah. When they had come as far as the vineyards of Timnah, behold, a sheltered lioness came roaring to meet him.

6 At that the spirit of Yahweh prospered on him, and he cleaved it as though cleaving a kid; and there was nothing whatsoever in his hand! But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

7 Then he went down and spoke to the woman, and she was upright in Samson’s eyes.

8 When he returned after awhile to take her, he withdrew to see the fallen lioness. And behold, a swarm of bees, and honey as well, was in the body of the lioness.

9 So he reached down for it with his palms and went on eating as he walked. When he came to his father and to his mother, he gave some to them, and they ate too. Yet he did not tell them that he had reached down for the honey out of the body of the lioness.

10 So his father went down to the woman, and there Samson made a feast, for thus the men in their prime used to do.

11 Now it came to be, when they saw him, that they took thirty associates to be with him.

12 Samson said to them, Oh do let me propound an enigma to you. Should you unravel, yea unravel it to me and find it out during the seven days of the feast, then I will give you thirty shirts and thirty changes of garments.

13 But should you be unable to unravel it for me, then you must give to me thirty shirts and thirty changes of garments. They replied to him, Do propound your enigma, and let us hear it.

14 So he said to them: Out of the eater comes forth food, And out of the strong one comes forth sweetness. For three days they were unable to unravel the enigma.

15 It came to be on the fourth day that they said to Samson’s wife, Entice your husband to unravel for us the enigma; otherwise we shall burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us hither that we become destitute?

16 So Samson’s wife wept over him and said, Surely you dislike me; you do not love me! You have propounded an enigma to the sons of my people, and for me you have not unraveled it. He replied to her, Behold, I did not unravel it for my father and for my mother, so why should I unravel it for you?

17 But she wept over him until the seven days of the feast ended for them; and it was on the seventh day, that he unraveled it for her because she had constrained him. Then she unraveled the enigma for the sons of her people;

18 and on the seventh day, ere he came toward the bridal chamber, the men of the city said to him: What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? He replied to them: Unless you had plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my enigma.

19 Then the spirit of Yahweh prospered on him. So he went down to Ashkelon, smote thirty of their men, took their outfits, and gave the changes to the unravelers of the enigma. Yet his anger was hot when he went up to his father’s house.

20 Samson’s wife became his associate’s who had been his groomsman.

Chapter 15

1 It was after awhile, in the days of the wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid of the goats. He said, Do let me go into the chamber to my wife. But her father would not allow him to enter.

2 Her father said, I thought, yea thought that you disliked, yea disliked her, so I gave her to your associate. Is not her younger sister better looking than she? Let her become yours now instead of her.

3 At that Samson replied to them, This time I will be blameless regarding the Philistines, though I am dealing out evil to them.

4 So Samson went and seized three hundred foxes, took torches, and facing tail to tail, he placed one torch in the middle between the two tails.

5 Then he set fire to consume the torches, let the foxes go into the raised grain of the Philistines, and caused all to be consumed, from the shocks to the raised grain, to the vineyards and olive groves.

6 Then the Philistines asked, Who did this? They were told, It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife and had given her to his groomsman. So the Philistines came up and burned her and her father’s house with fire.

7 At that Samson said to them, Since you act like this, I will rather avenge myself upon you; and afterward I shall leave off.

8 So he smote them leg on thigh, a great smiting. Then he went down and dwelt in an overhang of the crag of Etam.

9 The Philistines came up, encamped in Judah and were deployed at Lehi.

10 When the men of Judah asked, Why have you come up against us? they replied, We came up to bind Samson, to do to him just as he did to us.

11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the overhang of the crag of Etam and said to Samson, Do you not know that the Philistines are ruling over us? What then is this you have done to us? He replied to them, Just as they did to me, so I did to them.

12 They told him, We have come down to bind you and to deliver you into the hand of the Philistines. Then Samson said to them, Swear fealty to me, lest you too come upon me.

13 They replied to him, saying, We will not, for we shall only bind, yea bind you, and we will give you into their hand; yet to death, we shall not put you to death. So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the crag.

14 When he came as far as Lehi, the Philistines shouted in triumph at meeting him. Then the spirit of Yahweh prospered on him, and the ropes on his arms became like flax that has been consumed with fire; so his bonds melted off his hands.

15 When he found a raw jawbone of a donkey, he stretched forth his hand, took it, and smote with it a thousand men.

16 Then Samson said: With the jawbone of the donkey To rub out, I rubbed them out. With the jawbone of the donkey I smote a thousand men.

17 And it came about, as he finished speaking, that he flung the jawbone away, out of his hand; and he called that place Ramath-lehi.

18 Since he was very thirsty he called to Yahweh, saying, You Yourself have given this great salvation by Your servant’s hand; yet now I might die of thirst, and I would fall into the hand of the uncircumcised.

19 So Elohim split open the mortar-shaped hole at Lehi, and water came forth from it. When he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En-hakkore, that is at Lehi until this day.

20 He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

Chapter 16

1 Once Samson went to Gaza; he saw there a prostitute woman and came in to her.

2 When it was reported to the Gazites, saying, Samson has come hither, they surrounded the place and lay in ambush for him all night at the city gate. Yet they kept themselves silent all night, saying, At the morning light we will kill him.

3 Now Samson lay down until the middle of the night. Then he got up at midnight and took hold of the doors of the city gate and of the two jambs; he pulled them up along with the bar and placed them on his shoulders. He brought them up to the summit of the hill overlooking Hebron.

4 Afterward it came about that he fell in love with a woman at Wadi Sorek; her name was Delilah.

5 The chieftains of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, Entice him and see in what his great vigor lies and with what we might prevail against him and bind him to make him helpless. And we, for our part, shall each give you 1,100 silver shekels.

6 Then Delilah said to Samson, Do tell me, please, In what lies your great vigor, and with what might you be bound to make you helpless?

7 So Samson replied to her, If they should bind me with seven smooth gut strings that had not been dried-up, then I would become powerless; I would become like any other man.

8 At that the chieftains of the Philistines brought up to her seven smooth gut strings that had not been dried-up; and she bound him with them,

9 while an ambush was sitting in her inner chamber. Then she said to him, Philistines are on you, Samson! But he pulled the gut strings apart just as a twist of tow is pulled apart when it smells of fire. And the cause of his vigor was not made known.

10 Delilah said to Samson, Behold, you trifled with me; you spoke lies to me. Now do tell me, please, with what you might be bound.

11 So he replied to her, If they should bind me, yea bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I would become powerless; I would become like any other man.

12 Now Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them. Then, while an ambush was sitting in the inner chamber, she said to him, Philistines are on you, Samson! But he pulled them away, off his arms, like a thread.

13 Then Delilah said to Samson, Hitherto you trifled with me; you spoke lies to me. Do tell me with what you might be bound. So he replied to her, If you should weave the seven plaits of my head into the web and fasten them with the peg into the sidewall, then I would become powerless; I would become like any other man.

14 When she had fastened them with the peg into the sidewall, she said to him, Philistines are on you, Samson! At that he awoke from his sleep and pulled up the peg and the weaver’s beam and the web.

15 Then she said to him, How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? These three times you trifled with me; you did not tell me in what your great vigor lies.

16 And it came about that she constrained him with her words all the days; she pestered him, and his soul was upset to death.

17 So he told her all his heart; he said to her, A razor blade has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to Elohim from my mother’s womb on. If I were shaved, then my vigor would withdraw from me; I would become powerless; I would become like any other man.

18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the chieftains of the Philistines, saying, Come up at once, for he has told me all his heart. So the chieftains of the Philistines went up to her, and they brought up the silver in their hand.

19 After she had made him sleep on her knees, she called for a man and had him shave the seven plaits of his head. Thus she started to make him helpless, and his vigor withdrew from him.

20 Then she said, Philistines are on you, Samson. At that he awoke from his sleep and thought, I shall go forth as at other times and shall shake myself free. But he did not know that Yahweh had withdrawn from him.

21 Then the Philistines took hold of him, gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with two bronze fetters, and he was set to grinding grain in the house of the prisoners.

22 But the hair of his head, after it had been shaved, started to sprout.

23 As for the chieftains of the Philistines, they were gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon, their elohim, and for a rejoicing. So they chanted, Our elohim has delivered into our hand Samson, our enemy.

24 The people, when they saw him, praised their elohim, chanting, Our elohim has delivered into our hand Our enemy, the waster of our land Who multiplied our slain.

25 When their heart became cheerful, they said, Call for Samson, and let him make sport for us. So they called for Samson from the house of prisoners, and he was made fun before them. When they made him stand between the columns,

26 Samson said to the lad who held fast his hand, Do permit me and let me feel the columns on which the house is established, that I may lean on them.

27 Now the house was full of men and women; all the chieftains of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women on the rooftop, watching while Samson made sport.

28 Then Samson called on Yahweh and said, My Lord Yahweh, remember me, I pray, and fortify me now, only this once. O You, the One, Elohim! Let me avenge myself on the Philistines with one vengeance for my two eyes.

29 And Samson thrust against the two middle columns on which the house was established and by which it was supported, one at his right and one at his left.

30 Then Samson said, May my soul die with the Philistines! And he stretched out with vigor, and the house fell on the chieftains and on all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he put to death at his death were more than those whom he had put to death in his life.

31 His brothers and all his father’s house came down, lifted him and brought him up. They entombed him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. As for him, he had judged Israel for twenty years.

Chapter 17

1 There was a man of the hill country of Ephraim; his name was Micah.

2 He said to his mother, The 1,100 silver shekels that were taken from you, concerning which you imprecated and even said it in my ears behold, the silver is with me. I took it. His mother replied, Blessed be my son by Yahweh!

3 And he returned the 1,100 silver shekels to his mother; but his mother said, I will sanctify, yea sanctify the silver to Yahweh from my hand for my son to make a carving and molten image. I therefore return it to you.

4 So when he returned the silver to his mother, his mother took two hundred silver shekels and gave it to a refiner. He made it into a carving and molten image, and it came to be in Micah’s house.

5 As for the man Micah, he had a house of elohim; and he provided an ephod and the teraphim. He ordained one of his sons who became a priest for him.

6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man did what was upright in his own eyes.

7 Now there was a lad from Bethlehem in Judah, from the family seat of Judah; he was a Levite, and he was of Gershom.

8 The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to sojourn in whatever place he might find. While making his own way, he came to the house of Micah in the hill country of Ephraim.

9 Micah said to him, From where do you come? He replied to him, I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to sojourn in whatever place I may find.

10 Then Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest for me. As for me, I shall give you ten silver shekels for a year’s days, an array of clothes and your living. So the Levite went in;

11 the Levite was disposed to dwell with the man, and the lad became to him like one of his sons.

12 Micah ordained the Levite, and the lad became a priest for him and served in Micah’s house.

13 Micah thought, Now I know that Yahweh shall bring good to me, for the Levite has become a priest for me.

Chapter 18

1 In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the Danite tribe was seeking to dwell in its allotment, for up to that day no territory had fallen to its allotment in the midst of the tribes of Israel.

2 So the sons of Dan sent five men of their whole number, from their family seat at Zorah and at Eshtaol men who were sons of valor to spy out the area and to investigate it. They told them, Go, investigate the area. When they had advanced into the hill country of Ephraim as far as Micah’s house, they lodged there.

3 While they were near Micah’s household, they recognized the accent of the lad, the Levite; so they turned in there and asked him, Who brought you hither? What are you doing in this place, and what have you here?

4 He replied to them, Thus and thus Micah did for me; he hired me, and I became a priest for him.

5 Then they said to him, Please ask Elohim that we may know whether our journey on which we are going shall be prosperous.

6 The priest replied to them, Go in peace; before Yahweh is your journey on which you are going.

7 So the five men went on and came to Laish. They observed the people who were within it dwelling unawares, after the custom of the Sidonians, quiet and unsuspecting. There was not anything in the land to mortify them through a tenancy of restraint. They were far from the Sidonians, and there was no communication for them with Syria.

8 When they came back to their kinsmen at Zorah and Eshtaol, their kinsmen asked them, What do you report?

9 They replied, Do arise and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. And you are hesitant! Do not be slothful! Go and invade and take over the land!

10 When you set out, you shall come to an unsuspecting people; and the land is wide in expanse. Yea, Elohim has delivered it into your hand, a place where there is no lack of anything on earth.

11 So they journeyed from there, from the family seat of the Danite, from Zorah and from Eshtaol, six hundred men girded with implements of war.

12 They went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore they call that place Mahaneh-dan to this day. Behold, it is west of Kiriath-jearim.

13 From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.

14 Here the five men who had gone to spy out the country of Laish remarked to their kinsmen, saying, Do you know that there are in these houses an ephod and teraphim, a carving and a molten image? Now you know what you should do!

15 So they turned in there, entered the home of the youthful Levite at Micah’s house and asked after his accomplishment.

16 The six hundred men of the sons of Dan, girded with their implements of war, had stationed themselves at the opening of the gate.

17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land, went up, entered there and took the carving, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image. The priest had stationed himself at the opening of the gate with the six hundred men, girded with implements of war,

18 while those five entered Micah’s house and took the carving, the ephod, the teraphim and the molten image. So the priest said to them, What are you doing?

19 They replied to him, Keep silent! Put your hand on your mouth! Come with us and become a father and a priest for us! Is it better for you to be priest for one man’s household, or for you to become priest for a tribe and a family in Israel?

20 The heart of the priest felt good, so he took the ephod, the teraphim and the carving and came to be among the people.

21 Then they turned around and departed, placing the little ones, the cattle and the heavy things before them.

22 When they had gone far from Micah’s house, then the men in the houses near Micah’s house were convoked, and they followed hard after the sons of Dan.

23 Then they called out to the sons of Dan, who turned their faces around and said to Micah, What happened to you that you have been convoked?

24 He replied, You have taken my elohim that I made, and my priest, and you departed. So what do I have left? Now how dare you ask me, What happened to you?

25 But the sons of Dan said to him, Do not let your voice be heard close to us, lest men of bitter soul should come up on you and you would terminate your soul and the souls of those in your household.

26 So the sons of Dan went on their way. When Micah saw that they were more courageous than he, then he turned around and got back to his house.

27 As for them, they took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him. They advanced against Laish, against a people quiet and unsuspecting; they smote them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.

28 There was no rescuer, for it was far from Sidon, and there was no communication for them with Syria; it lay in the vale which belongs to Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and dwelt in it.

29 They called the name of the city Dan, after the name of their father Dan who had been born to Israel, although the name of the city was formerly Laish.

30 The sons of Dan set up the carving for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom son of Moses, he and his sons, they became priests for the tribe of the Danite until the day of deportation from the land.

31 They kept the carving of Micah, that he had made, set up for themselves all the days while the house of the One, Elohim, was in Shiloh.

Chapter 19

1 It came to be in those days when there was no king in Israel, that a Levite man was sojourning in the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim. He had taken himself a woman from Bethlehem in Judah as a concubine.

2 Yet his concubine had prostituted against him and had gone away from him to her father’s house at Bethlehem in Judah; and she stayed there a full four months.

3 Then her husband got up and went after her, to speak to her heart and to bring her back. With him were his lad and a team of donkeys. She had him come into her father’s house; and when the maiden’s father saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.

4 Now his father-in-law, the maiden’s father, encouraged him, and he stayed with him three days. So they ate and drank, and he lodged there.

5 It was on the fourth day when they rose early in the morning and he arose to go, that the maiden’s father said to his son-in-law, Brace your heart with a morsel of bread, and thereafter you may go.

6 So both of them sat down and ate and feasted together. Then the maiden’s father said to the man, Now be disposed and lodge but a night and let your heart feel good.

7 When the man arose to go, his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again.

8 Then he rose early in the morning on the fifth day to go. But the maiden’s father said, Brace your heart now. And they dallied until the decline of the day, while both of them were eating.

9 Then the man arose again to go, he and his concubine and his lad. Yet his father-in-law, the maiden’s father, said to him, Behold now, the day has waned toward evening. Lodge now; behold, the day is settling down. Lodge here, and let your heart feel good. You may rise early tomorrow and go on your journey to your tent.

10 But the man would not lodge again. He arose and departed and came as far as over against Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. He had with him a team of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him.

11 They were near Jebus when the day descended very fast. So the lad said to his lord, Do come now and let us withdraw to this city of the Jebusite that we may lodge in it.

12 His lord replied to him, We shall not withdraw to a city of foreigners who are not sons of Israel; but we will pass on to Gibeah.

13 And he ordered his lad, Do come on and let us approach one of these places; we will lodge in Gibeah or in Ramah.

14 They passed on and went along while the sun set upon them beside Gibeah which belongs to Benjamin.

15 So they turned in there to enter and lodge in Gibeah. When he came to the city square, he sat down; but there was no man inviting them to gather and to lodge in his house.

16 Then, behold, an old man came back from his work in the evening, from the field. The man was from the hill country of Ephraim; yet he sojourned in Gibeah, though the men of the place were Benjamite.

17 When he lifted up his eyes and saw the man, the traveler, in the city square, the old man said, Whither are you going, and from where did you come?

18 He replied to him, We are passing from Bethlehem in Judah to the remote parts of the hill country of Ephraim. From there I came, and I went as far as Bethlehem in Judah; now I am going to the house of Yahweh. Yet there is no man inviting me to gather in his house.

19 Our donkeys have both crushed straw and provender. And there is both bread and wine for me, for your maidservant and for the lad who is with your servant. There is no lack of anything.

20 The old man replied, Peace be to you! Now let all your lack be on me; only do not lodge in the square.

21 So he brought him to his house and mixed fodder for his donkeys. Then they washed their feet and ate and drank.

22 They were making their heart feel good when men of the city, men who were sons of decadence, surrounded the house, shoving themselves against the door. They called to the man, the old possessor of the house, saying, Bring forth the man who came to your house, that we may know him.

23 Then the man, the possessor of the house, went forth to them and said to them, Do not, my brothers, oh do not do evil. Inasmuch as this man has come to my house, do not commit this decadence.

24 Behold, my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them forth now; humiliate them and do with them what seems good in your eyes. Yet to this man you must not do this decadent thing.

25 But the men would not hearken to him; so the man took fast hold on his concubine and brought her forth to them outside. And they got to know her and abused her all the night until the morning; then they let her go at the ascending of the dawn.

26 So the woman came back just before morning and fell at the entrance opening of the man’s house where her lord was, until it was daylight.

27 When her lord rose up in the morning, he opened the doors of the house and went forth to go on his way; and there was the woman, his concubine, fallen at the entrance opening of the house, with her hands on the threshold.

28 He said to her, Get up, let us go. Yet there was no response, for she was dead. So he took her up on the donkey. Then the man arose and went to his place.

29 When he came to his house, he took a knife, took fast hold of his concubine and cut her in pieces, according to her bones, into twelve pieces. He sent them throughout the territory of Israel.

30 And it came to be that everyone seeing them said, A thing like this has never occurred nor been seen from the day the sons of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it for yourselves; take counsel and speak.

Chapter 20

1 Then all the sons of Israel marched forth, from Dan to Beer-sheba and the land of Gilead; and the congregation was assembled as one man before Yahweh at Mizpah.

2 The cornerstones of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, stationed themselves in the assembly of the people of Elohim, four hundred contingents of men on foot, drawing a sword.

3 ( The sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) The sons of Israel said, Tell us, how was this evil deed committed?

4 And the Levite man, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, saying, I came to lodge at Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine.

5 The possessors of Gibeah rose up against me; they surrounded the house against me at night; they meant to kill me; and they humiliated my concubine, so that she died.

6 Then I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces and sent them into every field of Israel’s allotment; for they had committed lewdness and decadence in Israel.

7 Now all of you are sons of Israel; grant your plan and counsel here.

8 Now all the people arose as one man, saying, None of us shall go to his tent, and none of us shall withdraw to his house.

9 Now this is the thing that we shall do to Gibeah: Let us go up against it by lot.

10 We will take from all the tribes of Israel ten men to the hundred, a hundred to the thousand, and a thousand to ten thousand to procure provisions for the force, for those coming to requite Gibeah in Benjamin for all the decadence that it committed in Israel.

11 So every man of Israel was gathered against the city, joined as one man.

12 Then the tribes of Israel sent men through the whole tribe of Benjamin, saying, What is this evil deed that was committed among you?

13 Now give up the men, those sons of decadence in Gibeah that we may put them to death. Let us take out the evil from Israel. But the sons of Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brothers, the sons of Israel.

14 So the sons of Benjamin were gathered from their cities to Gibeah to march forth to the battle with the sons of Israel.

15 The sons of Benjamin committed themselves on that day, from the cities, twenty-six contingents of men drawing a sword; besides seven hundred chosen men from the dwellers of Gibeah committed themselves.

16 From all these people were seven hundred chosen men hampered in their right hand; every one of these could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.

17 The men of Israel (aside from Benjamin) who had committed themselves, were four hundred contingents of men drawing a sword; all these were men of war.

18 Then they arose, went up to Bethel and inquired of Elohim; the sons of Israel asked, Who shall go up for us at the start to the battle with the sons of Benjamin? Yahweh replied, Judah, at the start.

19 So the sons of Israel arose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah.

20 Then the men of Israel marched forth to the battle with Benjamin; and the men of Israel were arrayed against them in battle order at Gibeah.

21 At that the sons of Benjamin came forth from Gibeah, and on that day they brought twenty-two contingents of Israelite men down to ruin to the earth.

22 Yet the force (the men of Israel) took fast hold of themselves and again arrayed in battle order in the place where they had been arrayed on the first day.

23 For the sons of Israel had gone up and lamented before Yahweh until the evening; and they had inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I again come close for battle with my brother, the sons of Benjamin? And Yahweh had replied, Go up against him.

24 So the sons of Israel drew near against the sons of Benjamin on the second day.

25 Yet Benjamin came forth from Gibeah to meet them on the second day and brought eighteen contingents more men of the sons of Israel down to ruin to the earth; all of these had drawn a sword.

26 Then all the sons of Israel, the whole force, went up and came to Bethel, lamented and sat there before Yahweh, fasting on that day until evening and bringing up ascent offerings and peace offerings before Yahweh.

27 Then the sons of Israel inquired of Yahweh (for the coffer of the covenant of Elohim was there in those days,

28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest officiated before it in those days). They asked, Shall I yet again march forth for battle with my brother, the sons of Benjamin? Or should I leave off? Yahweh replied, Go up, for tomorrow I shall deliver him into your hand.

29 Israel then placed ambushers against Gibeah round about.

30 And on the third day the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin and were arrayed against Gibeah as at the other times.

31 When the sons of Benjamin came forth to meet the force, they were drawn away from the city. They started to smite, as at the other times, some of the force; about thirty Israelite men were slain on the highways, of which one is going up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah in the field.

32 So the sons of Benjamin said, They are being struck down before us as at first. As for the sons of Israel, they said, Let us flee; thus we will draw them away from the city to the highways.

33 While all men of Israel arose from their place and were arrayed at Baal-tamar, the Israelite ambush was rushing forth from its place west of Gibeah.

34 Thus ten contingents of chosen men of all Israel advanced in front of Gibeah, and the fighting was heavy. While they did not realize that evil was touching them,

35 Yahweh struck down Benjamin before Israel; on that day the sons of Israel brought down to ruin twenty-five contingents and one hundred men of Benjamin; everyone of these had drawn a sword.

36 Then the sons of Benjamin discerned that they were struck down. Now the men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin because they trusted in the ambush that they had placed against Gibeah.

37 The one ambush hurried forth and emerged against Gibeah, and the other ambush drew out and smote the whole city with the edge of the sword.

38 The appointed signal between the men of Israel and the ambush was: Increase the beacon of smoke to send up for them from the city;

39 and then the men of Israel should turn in the battle. Benjamin had started to smite Israelite men; about thirty men were slain; hence they had said, Surely they are being struck, yea struck down before us as in the first battle.

40 But when the beacon started to go up from the city as a column of smoke, the Benjaminite turned around behind them; and behold, the holocaust of the city went up toward the heavens.

41 And now the men of Israel turned back; and the men of Benjamin were panicked, for they realized that evil had touched them.

42 So, facing the men of Israel, they turned toward the wilderness road, where the fighting followed hard after them and, in the midst of it, brought those to ruin who came out of the city.

43 They compassed about the Benjaminites; they pursued them from Nohah and trod them down as far as over against Gibeah toward sunrise.

44 From Benjamin’s men fell eighteen contingents; all of these were men of valor.

45 The rest turned around and fled to the wilderness, to the crag of Rimmon. Yet five more contingents of men were plowed down of them on the highways; and the sons of Israel followed hard after them as far as Gidom and smote of them two more contingents of men.

46 Thus all the fallen men of Benjamin came to be twenty-five contingents drawing the sword on that day; all of these were men of valor.

47 Yet six hundred men turned around and fled to the wilderness, to the crag of Rimmon; and they dwelt on the crag of Rimmon for four months.

48 The Israelite men then turned about against the sons of Benjamin and smote them with the edge of the sword, from everything in the city to domestic beasts, to all that was found. Moreover, all the cities they came upon, they sent up in fire.

Chapter 21

1 Now the men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, None of us shall give his daughter as a wife to a Benjaminite.

2 When the people came to Bethel and sat there until the evening before the One, Elohim, they lifted up their voice and lamented with a great lamentation;

3 and they said, Why, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, has this happened in Israel, that one tribe is missing today from Israel?

4 It came about on the morrow that the people rose early; and they built there an altar and brought up ascent offerings and peace offerings.

5 Then the sons of Israel asked, Is there anyone of all the tribes of Israel who did not come up to the assembly before Yahweh? For the great oath would apply to him who did not go up to Yahweh at Mizpah, saying, He shall be put to death, yea death.

6 Now the sons of Israel felt regret about their brother Benjamin; they said, Today one tribe was hacked off from Israel!

7 How shall we provide wives for those left? As for us, we swore by Yahweh never to give any of our daughters to them as wives.

8 They inquired, Is there any one of the tribes of Israel who did not come up to Yahweh at Mizpah? And behold, no one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp for the assembly.

9 For, when the force was mustered, behold, there was no one there from the dwellers of Jabesh-gilead.

10 So the congregation sent there twelve contingents, men from the sons of valor; and they instructed them, saying, Go and smite the dwellers of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, along with the women and the little ones.

11 This is the decree you shall enact: Every male, and every woman having known bed with a male, you shall doom. But the virgins you shall keep alive. And they did so.

12 They found among the dwellers of Jabesh-gilead four hundred maidens, virgins who had not known a man (at bed with a male); and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

13 Then the whole congregation sent word; they spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were on the crag of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them.

14 So Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead; yet they had not found enough for them.

15 The people were feeling regret about Benjamin, for Yahweh had made a breach in the tribes of Israel.

16 So the elders of the congregation asked, How shall we provide wives for those left, since the women have been exterminated from Benjamin?

17 For they said, Salvage must be for the tenancy of Benjamin, that a tribe may not be wiped out in Israel.

18 We ourselves are not able to give any of our daughters to them as wives; for the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, Accursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjaminite.

19 Then they said, Behold, from days to days, there is the festival of Yahweh at Shiloh, which is north of Bethel, toward sunrise of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.

20 So they instructed the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards

21 and watch! Behold! When the daughters of Shiloh come forth to dance to the flute in choruses, then you must rush forth from the vineyards and kidnap for yourselves, each of you his wife, from the daughters of Shiloh; and then you must go back to the land of Benjamin.

22 Now it will occur that their fathers or their brothers shall come to contend with us; then we will say to them, For our sake be generous to them! For we did not procure for each man his wife during the war. Now it was not you who gave wives to them; otherwise you had become guilty now.

23 The sons of Benjamin did so. They obtained wives for their number from the dancers to the flute whom they snatched away. Then they went off and returned to their allotment; they rebuilt their cities and dwelt in them.

24 The sons of Israel dispersed from there at that time, each man to his tribe and to his family; they went forth from there, each man to his allotment.

25 In those days there was no king in Israel; each man did what was upright in his own eyes.

The Book of Ruth

Chapter 1

1 It was in the days when the judges judged, that a famine came over the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the fields of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

2 The name of the man was Elimelech, the name of his wife was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the fields of Moab and stayed there.

3 When Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, she remained, she and her two sons.

4 They took up Moabite wives for themselves; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the second was Ruth. And they dwelt there about ten years.

5 Then Mahlon and Chilion, both of them, also died. Thus the woman remained without her two boys and without her husband.

6 She got up with her daughters-in-law to return from the fields of Moab, for she had heard in the field of Moab that Yahweh had visited His people and given them bread.

7 So she went forth from the place where she had been; and her two daughters-in-law were with her when they went on the road to return to the land of Judah.

8 Yet Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, turn back, each of you to her mother’s house. May Yahweh deal kindly with you, just as you have dealt with the dead and with me.

9 May Yahweh grant you that each may find a resting place in the house of her husband. When she kissed them, they lifted up their voice and wept.

10 They said to her, No, but with you we shall return to your people.

11 Naomi replied, Turn back, my daughters! Why should you go with me? Have I yet sons in my internal parts who might become husbands for you?

12 Turn back, my daughters! Go, for too old am I to belong to a husband. Even if I would say, There is expectation for me, even if I would belong to a husband tonight, even if I would bear sons,

13 should you look forward for them until they grow up? Should you refrain from marriage for them so as not to belong to a husband? It must not be, my daughters, for it is exceedingly more bitter for me than for you; for against me went forth the hand of Yahweh.

14 Then they lifted up their voice and wept again; and Orpah kissed her husband’s mother and turned back to her people. As for Ruth, she clung to her.

15 So Naomi said to Ruth, Behold, your sister-in-law has turned back to her people and to her elohim. Turn back after your sister-in-law.

16 Yet Ruth replied, You must not persuade me to forsake you, to turn away from following you; for wherever you go I shall go, and wherever you lodge I shall lodge. Your people will be my people, and your Elohim my Elohim.

17 Where you die, I shall die; and there I shall be entombed. Thus may Yahweh do to me, and thus may He add if anything but death parts between me and you.

18 When Naomi realized that she was resolute to go with her, she left off arguing with her further.

19 So they went, both of them, until they came to Bethlehem. It came about as they entered Bethlehem, that the whole city was clamoring over them, and the women said, Is this Naomi?

20 She replied to them, You must not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for He Who-Suffices has brought intense bitterness on me.

21 I was full when I went out, yet empty has Yahweh caused me to return. Why call me Naomi when Yahweh, He has humbled me, and He Who-Suffices, He has done evil to me?

22 Thus Naomi returned, and Ruth her Moabite daughter-in-law being with her who had turned away from the fields of Moab. They came to Bethlehem at the start of the barley harvest.

Chapter 2

1 Now Naomi had a near relative of her husband, a man of valor, a master, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz.

2 Then Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and let me glean among the ears of grain behind someone in whose eyes I may find grace. She replied to her, Go, my daughter.

3 So she went and came to glean in a field behind the reapers. And her chance happened that the portion of the field was allotted to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech.

4 And behold, Boaz was coming from Bethlehem, and he said to the reapers, Yahweh be with you! They replied to him, Yahweh bless you!

5 Then Boaz said to his lad who was stationed over the reapers, Whose maiden is that?

6 The lad who was stationed over the reapers answered and said, She is the Moabite maiden who returned with Naomi from the field of Moab.

7 She pleaded, Please let me glean, and I will gather among the sheaves behind the reapers. She came early and has stayed since the morning until now; she did not even pause in the field a little while.

8 Boaz said to Ruth, Behold, hearken, my daughter. You must not go to glean in another field; also do not cross over from this one. And thus shall you follow hard behind my maidens.

9 Let your eyes be on the field which they are reaping; and you must go behind them. Behold, I have instructed the lads not to touch you at all. When you are thirsty, then you may go to the vessels and drink from what the lads shall bail.

10 Now she fell on her face, bowed herself down to the earth and said to him, For what reason have I found grace in your eyes to recognize me, since I am a foreigner?

11 Boaz answered and said to her, It was told, yea told to me, all that you have done for your husband’s mother since the death of your husband, how you forsook your father and your mother and the land of your birth and went to a people you had not known heretofore.

12 May Yahweh repay your deeds. May your reward be equitable from Yahweh the Elohim of Israel, under Whose wings you have come to take refuge.

13 She replied, May I always find grace in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me, and you have spoken to the heart of your maidservant. As for me, I am not even like one of your maidservants.

14 At eating time Boaz said to her, Come close hither and you will eat from the bread; and you will dip your morsel in the vinegar. So Ruth sat down by the side of the reapers, and Boaz held out toasted grain to her. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.

15 When she arose to glean, Boaz instructed his lads, saying, Even between the sheaves let her glean, and you shall not mortify her.

16 Moreover, you shall pull out, yea pull out for her some stalks from the swaths, and you will leave them that she may glean, and you may not rebuke her.

17 She gleaned in the field until evening. When she beat out what she had gleaned, it was about an ephah of barley.

18 She took it up and came back into the city, and her husband’s mother saw what she had gleaned. Then Ruth brought forth and gave her what she had left over from her satisfying meal.

19 Now her husband’s mother asked her, Where then did you glean today? Where have you worked? Blessed be he who was recognizing you. So she told her husband’s mother with whom she had worked, saying, The name of the man with whom I worked today is Boaz.

20 Naomi replied to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he by Yahweh, Who has not forsaken His benignity toward the living and the dead. And Naomi explained to her, This man is a near relative of ours; he is one of our kinsmen redeemers.

21 Then Ruth the Moabite said to her husband’s mother, He even told me, You shall follow hard behind the lads who are mine until they have finished all the harvest that I have.

22 Naomi replied to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, It is best, my daughter, that you go forth with his maidens, so that the lads in another field may not touch on you.

23 So she followed hard behind the maidens of Boaz, to glean until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. And she dwelt with her husband’s mother.

Chapter 3

1 Naomi, her husband’s mother, said to her, My daughter, behold, I should seek a resting place for you that it may be well with you.

2 Now behold, there is our near relative Boaz with whose maidens you have been. Behold, he will be winnowing barley on the threshing site tonight.

3 So bathe and use lotion, put your raiment on you, and go down to the threshing site. But do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

4 When it occurs that he lies down, then get to know the place where he lies. Later you must go there, you will expose his feet and lie down. As for him, he shall tell you what you should do.

5 Ruth replied to her, All that you say I shall do.

6 So she went down to the threshing site and did according to all that her husband’s mother had instructed her.

7 Boaz ate and drank, and his heart felt good when he came to lie down at the end of the grain-pile. Later she went there with stealth, exposed his feet and lay down.

8 It came about at midnight that the man began to tremble and bent forward; and behold, there was a woman lying at his feet.

9 He asked, Who are you? And she replied, I am Ruth, your maidservant. You will spread the hem of your raiment over your maidservant, since you are a kinsman redeemer.

10 At that he said, Blessed be you by Yahweh, my daughter! You have shown your latter kindness to be better than the first, in not going at all after the men in their prime, whether a poor one or a rich one.

11 And now, my daughter, do not fear. All that you ask I shall do for you; for all the gate of my people is knowing that you are an able woman.

12 But now, though it is true that I am a kinsman redeemer, there is however a kinsman redeemer nearer than I.

13 Lodge here tonight. Then it will come to pass in the morning: if he redeems you, good; let him redeem. Yet if he is not inclined to redeem you, I myself will redeem you, as Yahweh lives! Lie down until the morning.

14 So she lay at his feet until the morning; yet she arose ere a man could recognize his associate, for Boaz had said, It must not be known that the woman came to the threshing site.

15 He said to her, Get the shawl that is on you, and hold it out. So she held it while he measured out six measures of barley and set it on her back. Then she entered the city.

16 She came to her husband’s mother who asked, How did you fare, my daughter? So she told her all that the man had done for her;

17 and she added, These six measures of barley gave he to me, saying, You must not come back empty-handed to your husband’s mother.

18 She replied, Stay here, my daughter, until you come to know how the matter turns out. For the man shall not be quiet unless he concludes the matter today.

Chapter 4

1 Boaz had gone up to the gate and sat down there, when the kinsman redeemer was passing by of whom Boaz had spoken. Boaz said to him, Do turn in, do sit down here, So-and-so. And he turned in and sat down.

2 Then Boaz took ten men of the elders of the city and said, Sit here. When they were seated

3 he stated to the kinsman redeemer: Naomi, who has returned from the field of Moab, has put up for sale the portion of the field that our kinsman Elimelech had.

4 As for me, I thought I should reveal it to your ear, saying, Acquire it in front of those seated here, in front of the elders of my people. Should you want to redeem, so redeem it. Yet should you not redeem, do tell me so that I may know, for there is no one except you to redeem, and I am after you. He replied, I shall redeem it.

5 Then Boaz continued, On the day you acquire the field from the hand of Naomi, you acquire also Ruth, the Moabite wife of the dead, in order to raise up the name of the dead on his allotment.

6 The kinsman redeemer replied, I am not able to redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own allotment. As for you, redeem my redemption right for yourself, for I am not able to redeem it.

7 Now this was the custom beforetime in Israel, concerning redemption and exchange, to confirm every matter: A man would pull off his sandal and give it to his associate; this was the attestation in Israel.

8 So the kinsman redeemer said to Boaz, Acquire it for yourself. And he pulled off his sandal and gave it to him.

9 Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, You are witnesses today that I have acquired all that Elimelech had and all that Chilion and Mahlon had, from the hand of Naomi.

10 Moreover, Ruth, the Moabite wife of Mahlon, I have acquired for myself as a wife, in order to raise up the name of the dead on his allotment, so that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his kinsmen and from the gate of his place. You are witnesses today.

11 All the people in the gate and the elders replied, We are witnesses! And the elders said, May Yahweh grant to the woman who is coming to your house to be like Rachel and like Leah, both of whom built up the house of Israel! Perform ably in Ephrathah, and proclaim a name in Bethlehem!

12 May your house become like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore for Judah, from the seed which Yahweh shall give to you from this maiden.

13 So Boaz took Ruth; she became his wife, and he came to her. Yahweh granted her pregnancy, and she bore a son.

14 Then the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Yahweh Who has not let your redeemer cease today; may his name be proclaimed in Israel!

15 He has become to you the one to restore your soul and to sustain your greyhaired age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, she has borne him, she who is better for you than seven sons.

16 Then Naomi took the boy and set him to her bosom, and she became like a foster mother to him.

17 The neighborhood women called a name to him, saying, A son has been born to Naomi! And they called his name Obed. He was the father of Jesse, David’s father.

18 These are the genealogical records of Perez. Perez begot Hezron,

19 Hezron begot Aram, Aram begot Amminadab,

20 Amminadab begot Nahshon, Nahshon begot Salmon,

21 Salmon begot Boaz, Boaz begot Obed,

22 Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

The Book of 1 Samuel

Chapter 1

1 There was a certain man from Ramathaim of the Zuphites, from the hill country of Ephraim; his name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite.

2 He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the second was Peninnah. And Peninnah came to have children; but Hannah had no children.

3 From days to days this man went up from his city to worship and to sacrifice to Yahweh of hosts at Shiloh. There Eli and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests for Yahweh.

4 When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, then he would give to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and her daughters their assigned shares.

5 But to Hannah he would give one double-sized assigned share, for it was Hannah that he loved; yet Yahweh had closed her womb.

6 Moreover her rival would vex her to vexation in order to dishearten her since Yahweh had tightly closed up her womb.

7 This happened year by year. As often as she went up to the house of Yahweh, the other would vex her in this way, so that she lamented and would not eat.

8 Her husband Elkanah said to her, Hannah, why are you lamenting? Why are you not eating? And why does your heart feel bad? Am not I better for you than ten sons?

9 After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah arose and stood before Yahweh while Eli the priest was sitting on the covered seat by the doorjamb of the temple of Yahweh.

10 She was in bitterness of soul when she prayed to Yahweh and lamented, yea lamented.

11 She vowed a vow, saying, O Yahweh of hosts, if You will look, yea look upon the humiliation of Your maidservant and will remember me and not forget Your maidservant, and if You will grant Your maidservant a male descendant, then I will dedicate him to Yahweh for all the days of his life; he shall not drink wine or intoxicant, and no razor-blade shall come upon his head.

12 It came to be as she multiplied her prayers before Yahweh, that Eli was observing her mouth.

13 As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart; only her lips were moving, yet her voice could not be heard. So Eli reckoned her to be drunk.

14 Eli said to her, How long will you behave drunk? Put away your wine from you, and go from the presence of Yahweh.

15 Hannah answered, saying, Not so, my lord! I am a woman who is hard pressed in spirit; I have drunk no wine or intoxicant. Yet I have been pouring out my soul before Yahweh.

16 You must not take your maidservant for a daughter of worthlessness, since I have spoken hitherto out of the magnitude of my concern and my vexation.

17 So Eli answered, saying, Go in peace! May the Elohim of Israel grant your request that you have asked of Him.

18 She replied, May your handmaid find grace in your eyes! Then the woman went her way and came to her booth where she ate and drank with her husband; and her face was no longer sad for herself.

19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before Yahweh. Then they returned and came to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah; and Yahweh remembered her.

20 So it came to be at the revolution of the days that Hannah had been pregnant and had borne a son. She had called his name Samuel and had said, For it was of Yahweh Elohim of hosts that I have asked for him.

21 When the man Elkanah and all his household were going up to sacrifice to Yahweh at Shiloh the annual sacrifice of the days, and to pay his vow and all the tithes of his field,

22 then Hannah did not go up with him, for she said to her husband, When the lad is weaned, I will bring him; for he must appear before the face of Yahweh and abide there for the eon.

23 Her husband Elkanah replied to her, Do what seems good in your eyes. Stay here until you have weaned him. Only may Yahweh confirm what was coming forth from your mouth. So the woman stayed there and nursed her son until she weaned him.

24 Then she took him up with her to Shiloh, as soon as she had weaned him, with a three year old bull of the herd and bread, one ephah of meal flour and a waterskin of wine. And though the lad was in his early youth, she brought him to the house of Yahweh at Shiloh.

25 Then they slew the young bull, and they brought the lad to Eli.

26 She said, O! My lord! As your soul is alive, my lord, I am the woman who was standing up beside you in this place and praying to Yahweh.

27 For this lad I had prayed, and Yahweh has granted to me my request that I had asked of him.

28 Therefore I have given him as a loan to Yahweh. All the days that he lives, he is one requested for Yahweh. And he bowed down there before Yahweh.

Chapter 2

1 Then Hannah prayed, saying: Glad is my heart in Yahweh! High is my horn in my Elohim! Wide is my mouth over my enemies, For I rejoice in Your salvation.

2 No one is holy like Yahweh; Yea, no one is holy barring You, And no one is righteous like our Elohim.

3 Do not speak with lofty superiority so much; May no impertinence come forth from your mouth! For an El of knowledge is Yahweh; And actions are regulated by Him.

4 The bows of the masters are cracked, Yet those who stumble are belted with valor.

5 The surfeited have hired themselves out for bread; Yet the famishing leave hunger behind. While the barren one has borne seven, She who was abundant in sons has wasted away.

6 Yahweh is putting to death and is keeping alive, He is bringing down to the unseen, and He brings up.

7 Yahweh is making destitute and is enriching; He is laying low and is exalting too.

8 He is raising the poor from the dust And exalts the needy from the ash heap, Seating them with patrons of peoples, Allotting them a throne of glory. For Yahweh’s are the stanchions of the earth; He has set the habitance upon them.

9 He is guarding the feet of His benign ones; Yet the wicked shall be stilled in darkness, For not by vigor has man mastery.

10 As for Yahweh, those contending with Him shall be undone; Against them shall He thunder in the heavens. Yahweh, He shall adjudicate the limits of the earth. He shall give strength to His king; He shall exalt the horn of His anointed one.

11 Then they left him there before Yahweh and went to Ramah, to his house; as for the lad, he remained in the ministry to Yahweh in the presence of Eli the priest.

12 Now the sons of Eli were sons of worthlessness, who did not acknowledge Yahweh

13 or the priests’ due portion from the people. When any one was sacrificing a sacrifice, then a young attendant of the priest would come, while the meat was cooking, with a three-tined fork in his hand,

14 which he would poke into the chafing-pan or large pot or caldron or kettle. All that the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. Thus they would treat at Shiloh all the Israelites who came there to sacrifice to Yahweh.

15 Moreover, ere they made the fat fume, a young attendant of the priest would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, Do donate some meat to roast for the priest; for he shall not take from you cooked meat out of the caldron, for it should be uncooked.

16 If the man replied to him, Let the fat fume, yea fume awhile, then take for yourself what your soul is yearning for, he would reply, No, for you shall donate it now; and if not, I will take it by brunt force.

17 The sin of the young attendants was very great in the presence of Yahweh, for these men spurned the approach present of Yahweh.

18 Samuel was in the ministry before Yahweh as a lad girded with a linen ephod.

19 His mother would also make a small robe for him, and she would bring it up to him from days to days, when she went up with her husband to sacrifice the sacrifice of days.

20 And Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, May Yahweh repay you and give you seed by this woman in place of the loan she had loaned to Yahweh. Then they went to their place.

21 And Yahweh visited Hannah; she had pregnancies and gave birth to three sons and two daughters, while the lad Samuel grew up in the presence of Yahweh.

22 Now Eli was very old; and he heard of all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who were stationed for service at the entrance opening of the tent of appointment.

23 So he would say to them, Why are you doing things like these? For I am hearing from all the people about these things of yours as evil.

24 You must not do so, my sons; for not good is the report that I hear passing about among Yahweh’s people.

25 If a man sins against a man, then Elohim will mediate for him. If a man sins against Yahweh, who should mediate for him? But they did not hearken to their father’s voice; for Yahweh desired to put them to death.

26 Yet the lad Samuel was going on and growing greater in goodness both with Yahweh and with men.

27 A man of Elohim came to Eli and said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh: Did I not reveal, yea reveal Myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt, servants to the house of Pharaoh?

28 I chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be Mine for the priesthood, to ascend My altar, to fume incense, to wear the ephod before Me. And I assigned to your father’s house all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel for food.

29 Why are you showing disrespect for My sacrifice and for My approach present that I have determined for My habitation? Why are you glorifying your sons more than Me, to make yourselves plump with the first portion of every approach present by My people Israel?

30 Therefore, this is the averring of Yahweh Elohim of Israel: I said, yea said, Your house and your father’s house shall walk about before Me for the eon. Yet now, this is the averring of Yahweh: Far be it from Me! For those glorifying Me shall I glorify, yet those despising Me shall be dishonored.

31 Behold the days are coming (this is the averring of Yahweh), when I will hack down your seed and the seed of your father’s house, to keep them from becoming old in your house.

32 Then you will look on a rival in My habitation, in all that he does good with Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house all the days.

33 As for the man of yours whom I shall not cut off from My altar, I will cause failure to his eyes and pining to his soul. Yet all the increase of your house shall die by the sword of men.

34 And this is the sign for you that shall befall your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: On one day shall both of them die.

35 Yet I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest; he shall do all according to what is in My heart and in My soul. And I will build for him a faithful house; he will walk about before My anointed one all the days.

36 Then it will occur that everyone who is left over in your house, shall come and bow down to him for a gerah of silver or a loaf of bread, and he will say, Let me adhere, if you please, to one of the priestly duties, that I may have a morsel of bread to eat.

Chapter 3

1 The lad Samuel was in the ministry before Yahweh under Eli the priest. In those days the word of Yahweh had become rare; there was no vision being unfolded.

2 Then it occurred on that day: Eli was lying down in his own place; his eyes had started to grow dim, and he was not able to see.

3 The lamp of Elohim was not yet quenched, while Samuel was lying down in the temple of Yahweh where the coffer of Elohim was.

4 Then Yahweh called out to Samuel, and he answered, Here I am.

5 He ran to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called out to me. Yet he replied, I did not call; turn back and lie down. So he went back and lay down.

6 Yahweh proceeded to call yet again: Samuel! So Samuel arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called out to me. Yet he replied, I did not call, my son; turn back and lie down.

7 As for Samuel, he had not yet come to know Yahweh; the word of Yahweh had not yet been revealed to him.

8 Yahweh proceeded to call for the third time: Samuel! So he arose and went to Eli and said, Here I am, for you called out to me. Then Eli understood that Yahweh was calling out to the lad.

9 So Eli told Samuel, Go and lie down. When it occurs that He should call out to you, then you must say, Speak, Yahweh, for Your servant is hearing. So Samuel went back and lay down in his place.

10 Then Yahweh came and stood by and called out as He had done the other times: Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel answered, Speak, for Your servant is hearing.

11 Yahweh said to Samuel: Soon I shall do something in Israel about which both ears of anyone hearing it shall tingle.

12 On that day I shall carry out against Eli all that I have spoken against his house, from start to finish.

13 I told him that I shall judge his house for the eon for the depravity, because he knew that his sons were dishonoring Elohim, and he did not remonstrate with them.

14 Therefore I swore to the house of Eli, The depravity of the house of Eli shall assuredly not be sheltered by sacrifice or approach present for the eon.

15 Samuel lay down until morning; then he rose early in the morning and opened the doors of the house of Yahweh. Now Samuel was fearful to tell Eli of the appearance;

16 yet Eli called Samuel, saying, Samuel, my son! He replied, Here I am.

17 Then he asked, What was the word that He spoke to you? Now do not suppress it from me. Thus may Elohim do to you and thus add to it if you suppress from me anything of the entire message He spoke to you.

18 So Samuel told him all the words and suppressed nothing from him. Eli replied, He is Yahweh! He may do what seems good in His eyes.

19 As Samuel grew up, Yahweh was with him, and He let none of all His promises fall to the earth.

20 From Dan to Beersheba, all Israel realized that Samuel was authenticated as a prophet for Yahweh.

21 And Yahweh continued to appear at Shiloh when Yahweh revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of Yahweh.

Chapter 4

1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. It was in those days that the Philistines convened for war against Israel. So Israel went forth to meet the Philistines in battle. They encamped at Eben-ezer while the Philistines encamped at Aphek.

2 The Philistines arrayed themselves to meet Israel, and the battle was severe. Israel was stricken before the Philistines who smote about 4000 men from the array in the field.

3 When the force came back to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, Why has Yahweh stricken us today before the Philistines? Let us take for us from Shiloh the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh; Let it come to be among us and save us from the palm of our enemies.

4 So the force sent men to Shiloh, and they carried from there the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh of hosts, dwelling over the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the coffer of the covenant of Elohim.

5 It occurred as the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh came to the camp that all Israel shouted with a loud shouting, so that the earth rumbled.

6 When the Philistines heard the sound of the shouting, they, said, Why is there the sound of this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews? When they realized that the coffer of Yahweh had come to the camp,

7 then the Philistines were fearful; for they said, These are the elohim that have come to the camp. And they cried, Woe to us! For nothing like this has occurred heretofore.

8 Woe to us! Who shall rescue us from the hand of these noble elohim? These are those elohim who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of smiting and disease!

9 Show yourselves steadfast and arise like men, Philistines! Otherwise you shall serve the Hebrews just as they have served you. Hence you must be like men, and you must fight.

10 So the Philistines fought; Israel was stricken, and they fled, each man to his tents. The smiting came to be exceedingly great; 30,000 footmen fell out of Israel.

11 The coffer of Elohim was taken, and Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s two sons, died.

12 A Benjamite man ran from the array and came to Shiloh on the same day. His coats were torn and dust from the ground was on his head.

13 When he came, there was Eli sitting on the covered seat by the roadside and watching, for his heart was trembling for the coffer of Elohim. After the man had come and told the city, the whole city cried out.

14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he asked, What is the sound of this clamor? As for the man, he hastened to come and tell Eli.

15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; his eyes were fixed so that he was not able to see.

16 Then the man reported to Eli, I am the one coming from the camp; I fled from the array today. Eli replied, What is the word, my son?

17 The tidings-bearer answered, saying, Israel fled before the Philistines. And it was a great stroke against our force; Hophni and Phinehas, your two sons, are dead too, and the coffer of Elohim was taken.

18 Now it came about, when he mentioned the coffer of Elohim, that Eli fell off the covered seat backward by the side of the gate. A vertebra of his neck was broken, and he died; for the man was old, and he was heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.

19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. When she heard the report that the coffer of Elohim was taken and that her husband’s father and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth; for her throes had turned in on her.

20 As she was now about to die, the women standing by over her said, Do not fear, for you have borne a son. But she did not respond and did not set her heart on it.

21 Yet she called the lad Ichabod, meaning, The glory has departed from Israel, because of the coffer of Elohim being taken and because of the death of her husband’s father and her husband.

22 So she said, The glory has departed from Israel, for the coffer of Elohim was taken.

Chapter 5

1 As for the Philistines, they had taken the coffer of Elohim and brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.

2 Then the Philistines took the coffer of Elohim and brought it to the house of Dagon and put it beside Dagon.

3 When the Ashdodites rose early on the morrow and entered the house of Dagon, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the earth before the coffer of Yahweh! So they raised Dagon and restored him to his place.

4 When they rose early in the morning of the next morrow, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the earth before the coffer of Yahweh! Yet the head of Dagon and both palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon remained of him.

5 Therefore the priests of Dagon and all those entering the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of the house of Dagon at Ashdod until this day.

6 The hand of Yahweh was heavy against the Ashdodites; He made them desolate and smote them with piles, both Ashdod and its territories.

7 When the men of Ashdod saw this, they said, The coffer of Israel’s Elohim should not remain with us; for His hand is harsh against us and against Dagon, our elohim.

8 So they sent word and gathered together all the chieftains of the Philistines unto them and asked, What shall we do with the coffer of Israel’s Elohim? They replied, Let the coffer of Israel’s Elohim be turned around to Gath. So they had the coffer of Israel’s Elohim turned around to Gath.

9 And it occurred, after they had brought it around, that the hand of Yahweh came against the city with a very great discomfiture; He smote the men of the city, from the small unto the great, and piles erupted on them.

10 Then they sent the coffer of Elohim to Ekron. And it occurred, when the coffer of Elohim entered Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, Why did they bring the coffer of Israel’s Elohim around to us to put us to death, and our people?

11 So they sent word and gathered together all the chieftains of the Philistines and said, Send the coffer of Israel’s Elohim away and let it return to its own place, that it may not put us to death, and our people. For there was a deathly discomfiture in the whole city; the hand of Elohim was very heavy there,

12 and the men who did not die were smitten with piles. The imploration of the city went up unto the heavens.

Chapter 6

1 The coffer of Yahweh remained in the field of the Philistines seven months, and their land was teeming with mice.

2 So the Philistines called for their priests and diviners and sacred scribes, saying, What shall we do about the coffer of Yahweh? Make known to us with what we shall send it off to its own place.

3 They replied, If you are sending away the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, Israel’s Elohim, do not send it away empty; for you should restore, yea restore it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you shall be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand did not withdraw from you.

4 They asked, What is the guilt offering with which we should restore it to Him? They replied, Corresponding to the number of the chieftains of the Philistines, five piles of gold and five mice of gold; for the one stroke was against all of you and against your chieftains.

5 You must make images of your piles and images of the mice which bring the land down to ruin. Thus you will give glory to Israel’s Elohim; perhaps He may lighten His hand from upon you and from upon your elohim and from upon your land.

6 Why should you harden your heart, just as the Egyptians and Pharaoh had hardened their heart? Was it not when He dealt severely with them that they sent them away, and they departed?

7 Now take and prepare one new cart and two recently freshened young cows, firstlings upon which no yoke has come. You must hitch the young cows to the cart, and you must return their young home, away from them.

8 You must take the coffer of Yahweh and put it on the cart; and in a case by its side, you must place the articles of gold that you restore to Him as a guilt offering. You must send it off so that it can go.

9 Then you will see, should it go up the road to its own territory, to Beth-shemesh, then it was He Who did to us all this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that touched us; but it was by chance that it happened to us.

10 The men did so. They took two young cows, recently freshened firstlings, and hitched them to the cart; yet their young they detained at home.

11 Then they placed the coffer of Yahweh on the cart, and the case with the mice of gold and the images of their piles.

12 The young cows went straight ahead on their way in the direction of Beth-shemesh. They went along a single highway, lowing as they went; and they did not withdraw to the right or left; and the chieftains of the Philistines were walking behind them as far as the boundary of Beth-shemesh.

13 The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping the wheat harvest in the vale. When they lifted up their eyes and saw the coffer, they rejoiced to meet it.

14 The cart was coming into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and there it stood where there was a large stone. They split up the wood of the cart, and they offered up the young cows as an ascent approach to Yahweh.

15 Now the Levites had taken down the coffer of Yahweh and the case that was beside it, in which the articles of gold were; and they had placed them on the large stone. On that day the men of Beth-shemesh offered up their own ascent offerings and sacrificed sacrifices of their own to Yahweh.

16 The five chieftains of the Philistines saw this and returned to Ekron on that day.

17 These were the piles of gold that the Philistines restored as a guilt offering to Yahweh: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one.

18 As for the mice of gold, they were in number for all the Philistine cities under the five chieftains, from the fortress city to the village shelter. A witness until this day is the large stone on which they left the coffer of Yahweh in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

19 The sons of Jeconiah were corrected among the men of Beth-shemesh, for they had stared into the coffer of Yahweh. So He smote among them seventy men. The people mourned, for Yahweh smote among the people with a great smiting.

20 And the men of Beth-shemesh asked, Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy Elohim? And to whom shall the coffer of Yahweh go up from us?

21 So they sent messengers to the dwellers of Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have restored the coffer of Yahweh. Come down and take it up to you.

Chapter 7

1 Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the coffer of Yahweh and brought it to the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and they hallowed his son Eleazar to be in charge of the coffer of Yahweh.

2 It came to be, from the day the coffer had its seat at Kiriath-jearim, after many days had passed, that they amounted to twenty years; and all the house of Israel were plaintive after Yahweh.

3 So Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If it is with all your heart that you are returning to Yahweh, then put away the foreign elohim and the Ashtaroth from your midst and prepare your heart for Yahweh and serve Him, Him alone. Then He shall rescue you from the hand of the Philistines.

4 And the sons of Israel put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth and served Yahweh, Him alone.

5 Samuel said, Convene all Israel at Mizpah, and I shall pray about you to Yahweh.

6 They convened at Mizpah, bailed water, poured it out on the earth before Yahweh and fasted on that day. There they said, We have sinned against Yahweh. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.

7 When the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had convened at Mizpah, the chieftains of the Philistines marched up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard of this, they were fearful because of the Philistines.

8 The sons of Israel said to Samuel, You must not keep silent to cry out for us to Yahweh our Elohim, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.

9 Then Samuel took one milk-fed lambkin and offered it up as a wholly fumed ascent offering to Yahweh. And Samuel cried out to Yahweh about Israel, and Yahweh answered him.

10 Now it came to be, as Samuel was offering up the ascent offering and the Philistines were drawing close for the battle against Israel, that Yahweh thundered with a loud thunderclap over the Philistines on that day and discomfited them, so that they were struck down before Israel.

11 Then the men of Israel went forth from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them as far as below Beth-car.

12 Samuel took one stone, set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and called its name Eben-ezer, Stone of the Helper; for he said, Hitherto Yahweh has helped us.

13 Thus the Philistines were made submissive, and they did not come anymore into Israel’s territory; for the hand of Yahweh was on the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

14 The cities between Ekron and Gath, that the Philistines had taken from Israel, returned to Israel; and Israel reclaimed their territory from the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorite.

15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.

16 As often as year by year, he went around to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah; and he judged Israel at all these holy places.

17 Then his return would be to Ramah, for there was his house; there he would judge Israel, and there he built an altar to Yahweh.

Chapter 8

1 It came to be when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons as judges for Israel.

2 The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah; they were judging at Beersheba.

3 Yet his sons did not walk in his ways; they stretched their hands out after gain, took bribes, and turned right judgment aside.

4 So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.

5 They said to him, Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now do appoint for us a king, to judge us like all the other nations.

6 Yet the matter was displeasing in the eyes of Samuel, inasmuch as they had said, Do give to us a king to judge us. So Samuel prayed to Yahweh.

7 But Yahweh said to Samuel: Hearken to the voice of the people, to all that they are saying to you; for it is not you they have rejected; it is Me Whom they have rejected from being King over them.

8 According to all the deeds that they have done to Me from the day I brought them up from Egypt until this day, in that they have forsaken Me and have served other elohim, so also they are doing to you.

9 And now hearken to their voice. Only you should testify, yea testify to them and tell them the customary rights of the king who shall reign over them.

10 Samuel reported all these words of Yahweh to the people who were requesting a king of him.

11 He stated: These will be the customary rights of the king who shall reign over you: He shall take your sons for himself and he will make them serve with his chariots and with his horsemen; and they will run before his chariot.

12 Some he will appoint for himself as chiefs of thousands and chiefs of fifties; others will plow his plowland, reap his harvest, make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariotry.

13 He shall take your daughters for perfumers, for cooks and for bakers.

14 He shall take your fields, your vineyards, your olive groves, the best ones, and he will give them to his courtiers.

15 He shall take the tenth of your seeds and your vineyards, and he will give it to his court officials and to his courtiers.

16 He shall take your menservants, your maidservants and your choice young men, the best ones, and your donkeys, and he will use them for his work.

17 He shall take the tenth of your flock; and you shall become slaves for him.

18 You will cry out on that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves; yet Yahweh shall not answer you on that day.

19 But the people refused to hearken to the voice of Samuel; they said to him, No, for there should be a king over us,

20 that we too would become like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and go forth before us and fight our battles.

21 When Samuel heard all the words of the people, he spoke them in the ears of Yahweh.

22 And Yahweh replied to Samuel, Hearken to their voice, and give them a king to reign for them. Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, go back, each man to his city.

Chapter 9

1 There was a man from Gibeah of Benjamin; his name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite man, a master of valor.

2 He came to have a son, and his name was Saul, a choice youth and good looking; there was no man of the sons of Israel better looking than he; from his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.

3 When the jennies of Saul’s father Kish got lost, Kish said to his son Saul, Take now with you one of the lads; get up, go and seek the jennies.

4 So they passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and they passed through the land of Shalisha, but they did not find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim, yet they were not there. When they passed through the Benjamite land, they still did not find them.

5 They had come into the land of Zuph when Saul said to his lad who was with him, Do come, let us return, lest my father stop worrying about the jennies and become anxious about us.

6 Yet the lad said to him, Behold now, a man of Elohim is in this city, and the man is highly respected; everything that he speaks comes, yea comes true. Now let us go there; perhaps he shall tell us our way on which we should go.

7 Saul replied to his lad, But if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread in our bags is used up, and there is no token of regard with us to bring to the man of Elohim. What do we have?

8 The lad answered Saul again, saying, Behold, I find I have a quarter of a shekel of silver in my hand. We may give it to the man of Elohim, and he will tell us about our way.

9 (Beforetime in Israel, when a man went to inquire of Elohim, he would speak thus, Come and let us go to the seer; for beforetime the prophet of today was called a seer.)

10 So Saul said to his lad, Good is your word; do come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of Elohim was.

11 As they were going up the ascent to the city, they found maidens coming forth to bail water; and they asked them, Is there the seer in this place?

12 They answered them, saying, He is there; behold before you! Make haste now, because today he has come to the city; for there is a sacrifice today for the people on the high-place.

13 As soon as you enter the city, you shall surely find him ere he goes up to the high-place to eat. The people shall not eat until he comes; for he must bless the sacrifice, and afterward those who are invited shall eat. Now go up, for you shall find him right away.

14 So they went up to the city. When they came into the midst of the gate, behold there was Samuel coming forth to meet them on his way up to the high-place.

15 Now one day before Saul came, Yahweh Himself had revealed to the ear of Samuel, saying,

16 About this time tomorrow, I shall send a man to you from the land of Benjamin, and you must anoint him as governor over My people Israel. He will save My people from the hand of the Philistines, for I have seen the humiliation of My people, and their outcry has come to Me.

17 When Samuel saw Saul, Yahweh Himself responded to him: Here is the man of whom I spoke to you; this one shall steer the course of My people.

18 Then Saul came close to Samuel in the midst of the gate and said to him, Do tell me, please, just where is the house of the seer?

19 Samuel answered Saul, saying, I am the seer. Go up before me to the high-place, for you must eat with me today. In the morning I will send you off, and I shall tell you everything that is in your heart.

20 As for your jennies that got lost three days ago today, you must not set your heart on them, for they have been found. Now to whom does all that is desirable in Israel belong if not to you and to all the house of your father?

21 Saul answered, saying, Am I not a Benjamite, from the smallest of the tribes of Israel? My family is the most insignificant of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. So why do you speak to me in this manner?

22 Then Samuel took Saul and his lad and brought them into the room and gave them a place at the head of those who had been invited; they were about thirty men.

23 Samuel said to the cook, Do bring the assigned share that I gave to you, of which I said to you, Set it aside by you.

24 So the cook raised up the leg and the fat tail and placed them before Saul. And Samuel said to Saul, Behold, what was kept reserved is set before you. Eat; for to this appointed time has it been kept for you, when I had said, I have invited the people. So Saul ate with Samuel on that day.

25 Then they descended from the high-place to the city; and he spoke with Saul on the roof-level.

26 They rose early; it came to be as the dawn ascended, that Samuel called to Saul on the roof-level, saying, Do get up that I may send you off. Saul got up, and the two of them, he and Samuel, went forth, outside.

27 As they were going down to the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Tell the lad that he should pass on before us (and he passed on); as for you, stand still for awhile, and I shall announce to you the word of Elohim.

Chapter 10

1 Then Samuel took a vial of oil, poured some on his head and kissed him. He said, Has not Yahweh anointed you as governor over His people, over Israel? And you, you shall steer the course of the people of Yahweh. You shall save them from the hand of their enemies round about. And this is the sign for you, that Yahweh has anointed you as governor over His allotment:

2 When you go from me today, you will come upon two men near the tomb of Rachel in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah; and they will tell you, The jennies that you went out to seek, have been found; and now your father has abandoned the matter of the jennies and is anxious about you, saying, What shall I do about my son?

3 When you pass on from there and beyond and come as far as the oak of Tabor, you will find there three men going up to the Elohim at Bethel, one carrying three kids, and one carrying three loaves of bread, and one carrying a crock of wine.

4 They will ask after your welfare and give you two wave offerings of bread; and you must take them from their hand.

5 Afterward you shall come to the Hill of Elohim, where the garrison of the Philistines is. And there, as you enter the city, it shall occur that you will come upon a group of prophets descending from the high-place, with zithers, tambourines, flutes and harps before them; and they will be prophesying in ecstasy.

6 Then the spirit of Yahweh will prosper over you, and you will prophesy along with them; you will be transformed into another man.

7 When it occurs that these signs are coming to you, do for yourself whatever your hand shall find, for the One, Elohim, is with you.

8 You must go down before me to Gilgal; and behold, I will be coming down to you to offer up ascent offerings and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days shall you wait until I come to you; and I will inform you what you should do.

9 It occurred as he turned around his back to go from Samuel, that Elohim transformed his heart into another; and all those signs came true on that day.

10 When he came from there to Gibeah, behold, the group of prophets met him. Then the spirit of Elohim prospered on him, and he prophesied in their midst.

11 So it came to be, when all the people who had known him heretofore saw him, how he prophesied with the prophets, they said, each man to his associate, What is this that has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?

12 A man from there responded, saying, And who is his father? Therefore it has become a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?

13 When Saul had finished prophesying, he came to the high-place.

14 Saul’s uncle asked him and his lad, Where did you go? He replied, To seek the jennies. And when we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we came to Samuel.

15 Now Saul’s uncle said, Do tell me, please, what Samuel said to you.

16 Saul replied to his uncle, He told, yea told us that the jennies had been found. Yet about the matter of the kingship he did not tell him what Samuel had said.

17 Samuel summoned the people to Yahweh at Mizpah

18 and said to the sons of Israel, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: I brought Israel up out of Egypt and rescued you from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.

19 Yet you have today rejected your Elohim Who has been bringing salvation to you from all your evils and your distresses. But you said, No, for you should set up a king over us. Now station yourselves before Yahweh by your tribes and by your thousands.

20 When Samuel brought near all the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin was selected by lot.

21 When he brought near the tribe of Benjamin by its families, the Matrite family was selected. When he brought near the Matrite family by masters, Saul son of Kish was selected. Yet when they sought him, he was not found.

22 Then they asked Yahweh again, Has the man come here yet? Yahweh replied, Behold, he is hiding among the baggage.

23 So they ran and took him from there. Then he stationed himself in the midst of the people; from his shoulders upward, he was taller than any of the people.

24 Now Samuel said to all the people, Do you see whom Yahweh has chosen? Indeed, there is no one like him among all the people. At that all the people shouted, saying, Long live the king!

25 Samuel spoke to the people about the customary rights of the kingship; he wrote them in a scroll and left it before Yahweh. Then Samuel dismissed all the people, each man to his home.

26 Saul too went to his home at Gibeah; and going with him were sons of valor whose heart Elohim had touched.

27 But some sons of worthlessness said, How shall this one save us? So they despised him and did not bring any present to him. As for Nahash king of the sons of Ammon, he had oppressed the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben unyieldingly. He had gouged out all their right eyes, thus allowing Israel no saviour. No one remained among the sons of Israel in Transjordan of whom Nahash king of the sons of Ammon had not gouged out every right eye. But 7,000 men had fled before the sons of Ammon and had come to Jabesh-gilead. The following occurred about a month later:

Chapter 11

1 Nahash the Ammonite marched up and encamped against Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Contract a covenant with us, and we shall serve you.

2 But Nahash the Ammonite replied to them, I shall contract a covenant with you on this condition, that all your right eyes are gouged out; I will make this a reproach for all Israel.

3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, Hold back from us for seven days, and let us send messengers throughout the whole territory of Israel; should there be no saviour for us, then we will come forth to you.

4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these events in the ears of the people, then all the people lifted up their voice and lamented.

5 Now Saul came in from the field, following the herd of cattle. And Saul asked, What ails the people that they should lament? So they related to him the message of the men of Jabesh.

6 The spirit of Elohim prospered over Saul when he heard these words; and his anger was exceedingly hot.

7 He took a team of oxen, cut them in pieces and sent them throughout the whole territory of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Should anyone not come forth following Saul and following Samuel, thus shall be done to his oxen! Then the awe of Yahweh fell on the people, and they came forth as one man.

8 When he mustered them at Bezek, there were 300 contingents of the sons of Israel and 30 contingents of the men of Judah.

9 He said to the messengers who had come, Thus shall you speak to the men of Jabesh-gilead: Tomorrow victory shall be yours when the sun is brightly warm. When the messengers came and told this to the men of Jabesh, they rejoiced.

10 So the men of Jabesh said to Nahash the Ammonite, Tomorrow we shall come forth to you, and you may do to us just as it seems good in your eyes.

11 It was on the morrow that Saul positioned the force in three bands. They advanced into the midst of the camp during the morning vigil and smote the sons of Ammon until the day was brightly warm. Thus it came to be that those remaining scattered, and not two among them remained together.

12 Then the people asked Samuel, Who was it who said, Saul, he shall not reign over us! Give us these men, and we shall put them to death.

13 Yet Saul replied, No man shall be put to death on this day! For today Yahweh has given a victory in Israel.

14 Then Samuel said to the people, Come and let us go to Gilgal and renew there the kingship.

15 So all the people went to Gilgal, and there at Gilgal they confirmed Saul as king before Yahweh. Then they sacrificed there sacrifices of peace offerings before Yahweh; and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced there very much.

Chapter 12

1 Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that you said to me, and I have given you a king to reign over you.

2 Now here is the king walking before you while I am old and greyhaired, and my sons, here they are with you. As for me, I have walked before you from my youth until this day.

3 Here I am; answer against me in front of Yahweh and in front of His anointed. Whose bull have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I exploited, or whom have I maltreated? From whose hand have I taken a sheltering gift that I should obscure my eyes with it? Answer against me, and I shall restore it to you.

4 They replied, You have not exploited us, and you have not maltreated us, and you have not taken anything from any man’s hand.

5 Then he said to them, Witness is Yahweh among you, and witness is His anointed this day, that you have not found anything in my hand. The people replied, Witness is He!

6 Then Samuel said to the people, Witness is Yahweh, Who appointed Moses and Aaron, and Who brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.

7 And now stand by; let me enter into judgment with you before Yahweh and tell you all the righteous deeds of Yahweh that He has performed for you and your fathers.

8 When Jacob and his sons came to Egypt, the Egyptians humiliated them, and your fathers cried out to Yahweh. Then Yahweh sent Moses and Aaron; and He brought your fathers forth from Egypt and made them dwell in this place.

9 Yet they forgot Yahweh their Elohim. So He sold them into the hand of Sisera the chief of the military host of Jabin king of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and these made war against them.

10 Then they cried out to Yahweh, saying, We have sinned, for we forsook Yahweh and served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth. Yet now, rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and we shall serve You.

11 So Yahweh sent Jerub-baal, Barak, Jephthah and Samson; and He rescued you from the hand of your enemies round about so that you dwelt in serenity.

12 When you saw that Nahash king of the sons of Ammon advanced against you, you said to me, No, for a king should reign over us though Yahweh your Elohim is your King.

13 And now, behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked. Here Yahweh has appointed a king over you.

14 If you fear Yahweh, serve Him, hearken to His voice, and do not defy the bidding of Yahweh, then you will be following Yahweh your Elohim, both you and the king who reigns over you.

15 But if you should not hearken to the voice of Yahweh and rebel against the bidding of Yahweh, then the hand of Yahweh will be against you and against your king, as it was against your fathers.

16 Now then, stand by and see this great thing that Yahweh will do before your eyes.

17 Is it not wheat harvest today? I shall call upon Yahweh that He may send thunderclaps and rain. Then give thought and see that your evil deed which you have done, is too great in the eyes of Yahweh, when you requested a king for yourselves.

18 Then Samuel called upon Yahweh, and Yahweh sent thunderclaps and rain on that day, so that all the people feared Yahweh and Samuel exceedingly.

19 The people all said to Samuel, Pray about your servants to Yahweh your Elohim that we must not die, for we have added to all our sins the evil deed of requesting a king for ourselves.

20 Samuel replied to the people, Do not fear! You yourselves have done all this evil; only do not withdraw from following Yahweh; rather you must serve Yahweh with all your heart.

21 Do not be taken away by the service to ineffectual idols which neither benefit nor rescue since they are ineffectual.

22 For the sake of His great Name, Yahweh shall not abandon His people; for Yahweh is disposed to make you His people.

23 Moreover as for me, far be it from me to sin against Yahweh by forbearing to pray about you. So I will serve Yahweh and will direct you in the good and upright way.

24 Then devoutly fear Yahweh; you must serve Him faithfully with all your heart, for consider what great things He has done for you.

25 But if you do evil, yea evil, both you and your king shall be swept away.

Chapter 13

1 Saul was [] years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel two years.

2 Then Saul chose for himself 3,000 men of Israel; two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin; the rest of the force he dismissed, each man to his tent.

3 Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines at Geba; and the Philistines heard about it. As for Saul, he had the trumpet blown throughout the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear!

4 So all Israel heard the report: Saul smote a garrison of the Philistines; now Israel is in bad odor among the Philistines. Thus the people were summoned to follow Saul to Gilgal.

5 As for the Philistines, they were gathered to fight with Israel. And they came up against Israel with three thousand chariots and 6,000 horsemen, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They came up and encamped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.

6 When the men of Israel saw that there was distress for them since their force was hard pressed, then the people hid in caves, in holes, in crags, in vaulted tunnels, and in cisterns.

7 Some even crossed the fords of the Jordan, to the land of Gad and Gilead. As for Saul, he was still at Gilgal with all the force trembling behind him.

8 He waited seven days, the appointed time that Samuel had set; yet Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the force was scattering from him.

9 So Saul said, Bring close to me the ascent approach and the peace offerings; and he offered up the ascent approach.

10 Now it came to be, as soon as he finished offering up the ascent approach, behold, Samuel was coming. And Saul went forth to meet him and bless him.

11 But Samuel said, What have you done? Saul replied, When I saw that the force scattered from me, and you, you did not come within the appointed days, and the Philistines were being gathered at Michmash,

12 then I thought, Now the Philistines shall come down against me to Gilgal, and I have not yet beseeched the face of Yahweh. So I felt compelled to offer up the ascent offering.

13 Samuel replied to Saul, You acted unwisely! O that you had observed the instruction of Yahweh your Elohim that He enjoined on you! Then Yahweh would now have established your dynasty over Israel for the eon.

14 Yet now your dynasty shall not be confirmed. Yahweh has sought out for Himself a man in accord with His own heart; and Yahweh shall commission him as governor over His people, for you have not observed what Yahweh enjoined on you.

15 Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal and went his own way. The rest of the people went up following Saul to meet the fighting force; they came from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul took a census of the people, those yet found with him, about 600 men.

16 Saul and his son Jonathan and the force available to them stayed at Gibeah of Benjamin, while the Philistines had encamped at Michmash.

17 The raiding-contingent went forth from the camp of the Philistines in three bands. One band would turn toward the Ophrah road for the Shual area,

18 another band would turn toward the Beth-horon road, and the other band would turn toward the boundary road, the one gazing over the ravine of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

19 No artificer in iron was found in all the land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, Otherwise the Hebrews might make swords or spears.

20 So all Israel would go down to the Philistines, each man to get his plowshare honed, also his mattock, his hatchet, and his scythe.

21 Tool-sharpening cost a pim for plowshares and for mattocks, and a third of a shekel for whetting the hatchets and for setting up the goad-points.

22 Thus it came to be on the day of the battle of Michmash that no sword or spear was found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan; only Saul and his son Jonathan kept hold of them.

23 Now a detachment of Philistines had marched forth to the pass of Michmash.

Chapter 14

1 Then it came about one day that Jonathan son of Saul said to his lad, his gear-bearer, Do come, let us cross over to the detachment of the Philistines who are over on that side. Yet he did not tell his father.

2 As for Saul, he was staying at the outmost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree by the threshing-site. With him was a force of about 600 men,

3 also Ahijah who was wearing an ephod; he was a son of Ichabod’s brother Ahitub son of Phinehas son of Eli, Yahweh’s priest at Shiloh. As for the force, no one knew that Jonathan had gone.

4 Between the passages by which Jonathan sought to cross over to the detachment of the Philistines, there was a toothlike crag on this side, and another toothlike crag on that side; the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other was Seneh.

5 The one tooth was a stanchion on the north opposite Michmash, and the other on the south was opposite Geba.

6 Jonathan said to his lad, his gear-bearer, Do come, let us cross over to the detachment of those uncircumcised. Perhaps Yahweh shall act for us, for there is no restraint to Yahweh to save by many or by few.

7 His gear-bearer replied to him, Do all, whatever is in your heart, what you intend to do! For I am with you; my heart is like your heart!

8 Jonathan continued, Here we are crossing over to those men where we expose ourselves to them.

9 If they say thus to us, Stand still until we make contact with you, then we must stay where we are, and we should not go on up to them.

10 Yet if they say thus to us, Come up to us, then we must go up, for Yahweh has given them into our hand. That shall be the sign for us.

11 So both of them exposed themselves to the Philistine detachment; and the Philistines said, Here the Hebrews are coming forth from the holes where they had hidden themselves.

12 The men of the detachment responded to Jonathan and his gear-bearer, saying, Come up to us, and we shall let you know something. Then Jonathan said to his gear-bearer, Come up after me, for Yahweh has given them into the hand of Israel!

13 And Jonathan crawled up on his hands and on his feet, with his gear-bearer behind him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan when he smote them; and his gear-bearer was putting them to death behind him.

14 This was the first smiting when Jonathan and his gear-bearer smote about twenty men within about half the plowing line in an acre of field.

15 Then a trembling occurred in the Philistine camp, in the field and among their whole force; the detachment and the raiding contingent, they also trembled. The earth was disturbed, and it became a trembling from Elohim.

16 At Gibeah of Benjamin, Saul’s watchmen saw how the throng was dissolved and went hither and thither.

17 So Saul said to the soldiers who were with him, Now muster the forces and see who has gone out from us. So they mustered them, and behold, Jonathan and his gear-bearer were not there.

18 Then Saul said to Ahijah, Do bring close the ephod! For he wore the ephod on that day before the sons of Israel.

19 Now it came about, while Saul spoke to the priest, that the clamor in the Philistine camp went on and became greater. So Saul said to the priest, Gather in your hand!

20 Now Saul and the whole force with him were convoked. Then they set out for a fight; yet behold, there was the sword of each man against his associate, their discomfiture being exceedingly great.

21 And those Hebrews who had been with the Philistines heretofore and had come up with them into the camp, turned about; they too came to be with Israel, with Saul and Jonathan.

22 When all the men of Israel, who were hiding themselves in the hill country of Ephraim, heard that the Philistines had fled, then they too followed hard after them in the fighting.

23 Thus Yahweh saved Israel on that day. As for the fighting, it passed beyond Beth-aven. All the people, about 10,000 men, were with Saul; and the fighting was scattered into every city in the hill country of Ephraim.

24 Yet Saul erred in a great error on that day, when Saul invoked the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats nourishment before the evening, before I am avenged on my enemies. So none of the soldiers tasted nourishment.

25 Now all those of the land would come into a wildwood when there was honey on the surface of the field.

26 When the soldiers came to the wildwood, behold, its bees had left! But no one let his hand overtake to his mouth, for the soldiers feared the oath.

27 As for Jonathan, he had not heard his father adjure the force. So he stretched out the end of the staff in his hand and dipped it into the wildwood honey. When he brought his hand back to his mouth, his eyes were lighting up.

28 At this a man of the force responded and said, Your father adjured, yea adjured the force, saying, Cursed be the man who eats nourishment today. And so the soldiers are faint.

29 Jonathan replied, My father has brought trouble on the land. See now how my eyes had lit up when I tasted a little of this honey.

30 How much more so the soldiers; O that they would have eaten, yea eaten today of the loot of their enemies when they found it! For now the smiting among the Philistines would have been greater.

31 They smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon; yet the soldiers were exceedingly faint.

32 So the soldiers pounced on the loot; they took small cattle, oxen and bull calves of the herd and slew them on the earth, and the soldiers ate them with the blood.

33 When they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people are sinning against Yahweh by eating with the blood, he replied, Treacherous are you! Roll a large stone here to me!

34 And Saul ordered, Scatter among the people and tell them, Let each man bring his bull close to me, and each man his flockling, and slay them on this stone, and then eat. You should not sin against Yahweh by eating with the blood. So all the people brought close, each man whatever was in his hand that night, and they slew it there.

35 Thus Saul built an altar for Yahweh; with it he started altar building for Yahweh.

36 Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and let us plunder among them until the morning light; and let us not let one of them remain. The soldiers replied, Do whatever is good in your eyes. But the priest said, Let us draw near here to the One, Elohim.

37 So Saul asked Elohim, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Shall You give them into the hand of Israel? Yet He did not answer him on that day.

38 Then Saul said, Come close here, all you cornerstones of the force, and know and see whereby this sin has come about today.

39 For as Yahweh lives Who brings salvation to Israel, even if it was by him, my son Jonathan, he shall be put to death, yea death. Yet no one of all the soldiers was responding to him.

40 Then he said to all the men of Israel, You shall stay on one side, and I and my son Jonathan, we shall stay on the other side. The soldiers replied to Saul, Do what seems good in your eyes.

41 Saul then said to Yahweh Elohim of Israel, Why have You not answered Your servant today? If this depravity is in me or in my son Jonathan, Yahweh Elohim of Israel, do grant the lot Urim. Yet if it is in Your people Israel, do grant the lot Thummim. Thus Jonathan and Saul were selected, and the soldiers went forth cleared.

42 Then Saul said, Cast the lots between me and my son Jonathan. Thus Jonathan was selected.

43 Now Saul said to Jonathan, Do tell me what you have done. So Jonathan told him saying, I tasted, yea tasted a little honey with the end of the staff that was in my hand. Here I am, let me die.

44 Saul replied, Thus may Elohim do to me and thus add to it. You shall surely die, yea die today.

45 But the soldiers said to Saul, Should Jonathan die today who has brought this great victory to Israel? Far be it, as Yahweh lives, that even a hair from his head should fall to the earth, for he has acted with Elohim this day. Thus the force ransomed Jonathan, and he did not die.

46 Saul gave up the pursuit of the Philistines, and the Philistines went back to their own place.

47 After Saul had seized the kingship over Israel, he fought with all his enemies round about, with Moab and with the sons of Ammon, with Edom and with the king of Zobah, and with the Philistines; and wherever he turned toward them, he was victorious.

48 He acted valiantly and also smote Amalek; thus he rescued Israel from the hand of its robbers.

49 Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi and Malchishua. As for the names of his two daughters, the name of the firstborn was Merab, and the name of the younger one was Michal.

50 The name of Saul’s wife was Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz; and the name of the chief of his militia host was Abner son of Saul’s uncle Ner.

51 Both Kish, Saul’s father, and Ner, Abner’s father, were sons of Abiel.

52 The war against the Philistines was unyielding all the days of Saul. When Saul saw any masterful man or any son of valor, he would add him to his host.

Chapter 15

1 Samuel said to Saul, It was I whom Yahweh sent to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. So now hearken to the voice of the words of Yahweh.

2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel, when he stood against it on the way as it came up from Egypt.

3 So now go, you will smite Amalek and doom him and all that is his. You shall not spare him; but you will put to death both man and woman, both infant and suckling, both bull and flockling, both camel and donkey.

4 Saul summoned the force and mustered them at Telaim: two hundred thousand footmen, and a ten thousand man force of Judah.

5 Then Saul advanced as far as the city of Amalek and lay in ambush in the wadi.

6 Saul said to the Kenite, Come, withdraw, go down from among the Amalekite, lest I sweep you off with him. As for you, you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt. So the Kenite withdrew from among the Amalekite.

7 Then Saul smote the Amalekite from Havilah as far as Shur, which is adjoining Egypt.

8 While he apprehended Agag king of Amalek alive, he doomed all the people to the edge of the sword.

9 But Saul and his soldiers spared Agag and the best of the flock and the herd, the stout fatlings and the butting lambs, and all that was good, and they would not doom them. As for any property that was despised and rejected, they doomed it.

10 The word of Yahweh came to Samuel, saying,

11 I regret that I caused Saul to reign as king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My words. Now Samuel grew angry, and he cried out to Yahweh all that night.

12 When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, then Samuel was told, saying, Saul had gone to Carmel where he erected a monument as a signpost to himself. Then he had turned about and passed on and descended to Gilgal.

13 Samuel came to Saul, just when he had offered up an ascent approach to Yahweh of the first of the loot that he had taken from Amalek. When Samuel came near to Saul, then Saul said to him, Blessed be you by Yahweh! I have carried out the word of Yahweh.

14 Samuel replied, What then is this bleating of the flock in my ears, and the lowing of the herd that I am hearing?

15 Saul answered, I have brought them from the Amalekite, because the soldiers spared the best of the flock and the herd in order to sacrifice them to Yahweh your Elohim. Yet we have doomed the rest.

16 Samuel replied to Saul, Hold back and let me tell you what Yahweh spoke to me last night. Then he said to him, Speak.

17 So Samuel apprised Saul: Is it not true that though you were small in your own eyes, you became head of the tribes of Israel? Yahweh anointed you as king over Israel,

18 and Yahweh sent you on a mission, saying, Go, and you will doom those sinners, the Amalekite; fight against them until you have finished them.

19 Then why did you not hearken to the voice of Yahweh? Why did you pounce on the loot and do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh?

20 Saul replied to Samuel, Because I hearkened to the voice of the soldiers. When I went on the mission on which Yahweh sent me, I brought back Agag, the king of Amalek, and I doomed Amalek.

21 Yet the soldiers took from the loot some small cattle and large cattle, the first parts of what had been doomed, to sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim at Gilgal.

22 But Samuel said, Does Yahweh have as much delight in ascent offerings and sacrifices As in hearkening to the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to hearken is better than sacrifice, To pay attention than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, Insubordination, like the lawlessness of teraphim. Because you rejected the word of Yahweh, He has also rejected you from being king over Israel.

24 Saul replied to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the bidding of Yahweh and your words, because I feared the soldiers and I hearkened to their voice.

25 Now I pray, bear with my sin and return with me, so that I may prostrate myself before Yahweh your Elohim.

26 But Samuel said to Saul, I shall not return with you, for you rejected the word of Yahweh, so Yahweh has rejected you from being king over Israel.

27 As Samuel turned around to leave, Saul held fast to the hem of his robe, and it was torn.

28 Samuel said to him, Yahweh has torn the kingship over Israel away from you today and has given it to an associate of yours who is better than you.

29 Moreover, the Permanent One of Israel does not deal falsely, and the Holy One of Israel does not repent, for He is not like a human that He should repent.

30 But Saul pleaded, I have sinned, yet now, I pray, bring glory to me in front of the elders of my people and in front of Israel. Return with me, so that I may prostrate myself before Yahweh your Elohim.

31 So Samuel turned back, following after Saul, and Saul prostrated himself before Yahweh.

32 Then Samuel said, Bring close to me Agag king of Amalek. Agag went to him haltingly. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death has withdrawn.

33 Samuel replied, Just as your sword has bereaved other women, so shall your mother be bereaved among women. And Samuel cut down Agag before Yahweh at Gilgal.

34 Then Samuel went to Ramah; as for Saul, he went up to his house at Gibeah of Saul.

35 Samuel did not come again to see Saul until the day of his death, though Samuel mourned for Saul, because Yahweh regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

Chapter 16

1 Yahweh said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go! I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected among his sons a king for Myself.

2 Samuel replied, How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me. Yahweh answered, Take a heifer of the herd in your hand and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh.

3 You must invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and then I shall make known to you what you should do. You must anoint for Me the one whom I shall designate to you.

4 Samuel did as Yahweh had instructed him. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city trembled as they met him. They asked, Are you coming in peace, O seer?

5 He replied, I have come in peace to sacrifice to Yahweh. Hallow yourselves and rejoice today with me. He himself hallowed Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 It came about when they entered and he looked at Eliab, that he thought, Surely, in front of Yahweh is His anointed.

7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, You must not look at his appearance and at the loftiness of his stature, for I have rejected him. For not as a human sees, does the One, Elohim, see. A human sees the visible appearance, yet Yahweh sees into the heart.

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel; but he said, Yahweh has not chosen this one either.

9 When Jesse made Shammah pass by, he again said, Yahweh has not chosen this one either.

10 Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, Yahweh has not chosen any of these.

11 Then Samuel asked Jesse, Are the lads finished? He replied, There remains yet the youngest. Yet behold, he is shepherding the flock. Samuel said to Jesse, Do send and procure him, for we shall not gather around until he comes here.

12 So he sent and had him come; he was ruddy, with lovely eyes and of good appearance. And Yahweh said, Rise and anoint him, for this is he.

13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the spirit of Yahweh prospered on David from that day onward. Then Samuel rose and went to Ramah.

14 As for the spirit of Yahweh, it had withdrawn from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh frightened him.

15 Saul’s courtiers said to him, Behold now, an evil spirit from Elohim is frightening you.

16 Let our lord now order your courtiers, who are before you, that they should seek a man who knows how to play the harp. Whenever it occurs that an evil spirit from Elohim comes over you, then he will play with his hand, and it will be well with you and give you rest.

17 So Saul said to his courtiers, Select now for me a man who can play well, and you will bring him to me.

18 One of the young attendants answered, saying, Behold, I have observed a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who knows how to play. He is a master of valor, a man of war, proficient in speech, a handsome man, and Yahweh is with him.

19 So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, saying, Do send to me David, your son who is with your flock.

20 Jesse took a donkey and loaded on it an omer of bread, a skin-bottle of wine, and one kid of the goats, and sent it to Saul by the hand of his son David.

21 So David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul liked him very much, and later David became a gear-bearer for him.

22 Saul sent word to Jesse, saying, Let David now stay before me, for he has found grace in my eyes.

23 Whenever it occurred that an evil spirit from Elohim came over Saul then David took the harp and played with his hand. It inspirited Saul, and it was well with him. Then the evil spirit would withdraw from him.

Chapter 17

1 The Philistines gathered their armed forces together for battle; when they were gathered at Socoh of Judah, they encamped between Socoh and Azekah at Ephes-dammim.

2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered and encamped in the vale of Elah; there they arrayed themselves in battle order to meet the Philistines.

3 Now the Philistines were standing on this side on a hill, while Israel was standing on that side on a hill, with a ravine between them.

4 A champion marched forth from the array of the Philistines; his name was Goliath of Gath, a man of lofty six cubits and a span.

5 A bronze helmet was on his head, and he had put on a scale body-armor with the weight of the body-armor being 5,000 bronze shekels.

6 He had bronze greaves above his feet, and a bronze scimitar between his shoulders.

7 The shaft of his spear was like a heddle-rod of the weavers, and the cutting-blade of his spear was 600 iron shekels. The bearer of his large shield went before him.

8 He stood and called out to the arrays of Israel; he said to them, Why should you march forth in array for battle? Am I not a Philistine? And you are servants of Saul. Choose for yourselves a man, and let him come down against me.

9 If he should prevail in fighting with me and smite me, then we will become servants to you. Yet if I should prevail over him and smite him, then you will become servants to us, and you must serve us.

10 Then the Philistine vaunted, I challenge the arrays of Israel this day! Give me such a man, and let us fight together.

11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and exceedingly fearful.

12 David was the son of this Ephrathite man from Bethlehem of Judah; his name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. In the days of Saul, the man was old, advanced in years.

13 Yet the three elder sons of Jesse had left and gone following Saul to the war. The names of his three sons who had gone to the war were Eliab the firstborn, his second, Abinadab, and the third, Shammah;

14 as for David, he was the youngest. The three elder sons had gone following Saul,

15 yet David would go and return from attendance on Saul to graze the flock of his father at Bethlehem.

16 The Philistine came close early in the morning and in the evening and stationed himself in front of Israel for forty days.

17 Jesse said to his son David, Take now for your brothers an ephah of this toasted grain and these ten loaves of bread, and bring them rapidly to the camp to your brothers.

18 And you shall bring these ten fresh milk cheeses to the chief officer of their contingent. Also you shall check about the well-being of your brothers and procure a surety of them.

19 Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the vale of Elah, fighting with the Philistines.

20 So David rose early in the morning and let the flock go with a keeper; he took up the supplies and went just as Jesse had instructed him. When he came to the round camp, the army was marching forth to the array, and they shouted for war.

21 Now Israel and the Philistines were arranging in array to meet array.

22 David let the supplies go from him to the hand of the keeper of supplies; he ran to the array and came and asked his brothers about their well-being.

23 While he was speaking with them, behold, the champion was coming up from the arrays of the Philistines; his name was Goliath the Philistine of Gath. He spoke those usual words, and David heard them.

24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled before him and were exceedingly fearful.

25 The men of Israel said to themselves, Have you seen that man coming up? Surely to challenge Israel is he coming up. And it will occur to the man who smites him that the king shall enrich him with great riches; he shall give to him his daughter, and he shall make his father’s house free in Israel.

26 Now David asked the men who stood near him, saying, What shall be done for the man who smites this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he challenges the arrays of the living Elohim?

27 Then the soldiers told him in accord with this promise, declaring, Thus shall it be done for the man who shall smite him.

28 When his eldest brother, Eliab, heard him speaking to the men, Eliab’s anger grew hot against David, and he said, Why is this that you have come down? And with whom did you let the little flock go, those sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the evil of your heart, for you have come down that you may watch the battle.

29 David replied, What have I done now? Was it not just a question?

30 Then he turned around from beside him toward another and asked this same question. When the soldiers replied to him, their word was like the first word.

31 The things which David spoke were heard and told before Saul; and they took him and brought him to Saul.

32 Then David said to Saul, The heart of my lord must not fall because of him. Your servant, he shall go, and he will fight with this Philistine.

33 Yet Saul replied to David, You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.

34 David replied to Saul, Your servant became a shepherd for his father’s flock. When a lion or a bear came, and he carried off a flockling from the drove,

35 then I would go forth after him and smite him and rescue it from his mouth. If he rose against me, I would hold him fast by his beard and smite him and put him to death.

36 Your servant has smitten both lion and bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will become like one of them, for he has reproached the arrays of the living Elohim.

37 Then David declared, Yahweh Who rescued me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He shall rescue me from the hand of this Philistine. Saul replied to David, Go! And Yahweh, He may be with you!

38 Then Saul clothed David in his coats, placed a helmet of bronze on his head and put on him a body armor.

39 And David girded his sword on to his coats; yet he tired himself while walking once or twice, for he had not tried them out. So David said to Saul, I am unable to walk in these, for I have not tried them out; and David took them off.

40 Then he took his stave in his hand, chose for himself five smooth stones from the wadi and placed them in the shepherds’ wallet that he had for a pocket. With his sling in his hand, he came close to the Philistine.

41 Now the Philistine came walking near to David, and the man carrying the large shield was before him.

42 When the Philistine looked up and saw David, he despised him, for he was only a youth, ruddy with a well-favored appearance.

43 The Philistine said to David, Am I a cur that you are coming to me with staves and stones? David replied, No, unless you should be more vicious than a cur. The Philistine maledicted David by his elohim,

44 and the Philistine said to David, Do come to me, and let me give your flesh to the flyer of the heavens and to the beast of the field.

45 David replied to the Philistine, You are coming against me with sword and spear and scimitar; yet I am coming against you in the Name of Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of the arrays of Israel, Whom you have challenged today.

46 Yahweh shall lock you up in my hand this day. I will smite you and take off your head from you; I will give your corpse and the corpses of the camp of the Philistines this day to the flyer of the heavens and to the wild animal of the earth. Then the whole earth shall know that there is an Elohim in Israel.

47 And this whole assembly shall know that Yahweh shall give victory without sword or spear. For Yahweh’s is the battle, and He will deliver you into our hands.

48 Then it occurred when the Philistine arose and came near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the array to meet the Philistine.

49 David stretched his hand into the wallet and took from there a stone. He slung it and smote the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank through the helmet into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth.

50 David, with sling and stone, was faster than the Philistine; he smote the Philistine and put him to death. But there was no sword in David’s hand;

51 so David ran up and stood over the Philistine, took hold of his sword and pulled it from its scabbard; and with it he put him to death and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their master of war was dead, they fled.

52 Then the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance of Gath and as far as the gates of Ekron. The slain of the Philistines fell along the Shaaraim road to Gath and to Ekron.

53 When the sons of Israel returned from dashing after the Philistines, they robbed their camps.

54 Then David took the head of the Philistine and was about to bring it to Saul, but he put his weapons in his tent.

55 When Saul had seen David going forth to meet the Philistine, he had said to Abner, chief of the military host, Whose son is this lad, Abner? And Abner had replied, As your soul lives, O king, how should I know?

56 Then the king had ordered, You inquire! Whose son is this stripling?

57 So, when David had returned from smiting the Philistine, Abner had taken him and brought him before Saul, while the head of the Philistine was still in his hand.

58 Saul said to him, Whose son are you, young man? David replied, The son of your servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite.

Chapter 18

1 It came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that Jonathan’s soul was tied to David’s soul; and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

2 On that day Saul took him and would not allow him to return to his father’s house.

3 Jonathan contracted a covenant with David, since he loved him as his own soul.

4 And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him and gave it to David along with his coats and even his sword and his bow and his girdle.

5 Then David went forth with the men of war; wherever Saul sent him, he proceeded intelligently, so that Saul set him over the men of war; and it seemed good in the eyes of all the soldiers and also in the eyes of Saul’s courtiers.

6 It came about as they were coming home, when David had returned from smiting the Philistine, that the women from all the cities of Israel went forth singing and dancing in choruses to meet king Saul with tambourines, with rejoicing and with three-stringed instruments.

7 The gamboling women sang in response, saying: Saul has smitten his thousands, Yet David his myriads!

8 Saul’s anger grew exceedingly hot; this matter was displeasing in his eyes, and he said, To David they have ascribed myriads, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. What more can he have but the kingship?

9 Saul was jealously eying David from that day and beyond.

10 It came about on the morrow that an evil spirit from Elohim prospered on Saul. He prophesied inside the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as he did day by day; but there was a spear in Saul’s hand.

11 Saul lifted up the spear thinking, I shall smite David into the sidewall. Yet David got around his presence twice.

12 Saul was fearful because of David’s presence since Yahweh came to be with him but had withdrawn from Saul.

13 Hence Saul put him away from himself; he made him his chief of a thousand who marched forth and came in before the soldiers.

14 David continued to proceed intelligently in all his ways, for Yahweh was with him.

15 When Saul saw that he was proceeding very intelligently, he shrank away from his presence.

16 Yet all Israel and Judah loved David, for he marched forth and came in before them.

17 Then Saul said to David, Here is my older daughter Merab; I shall give her to you as a wife. Only become a valiant son for me and fight the battles of Yahweh. As for Saul, he thought, Let my hand not be against him; but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.

18 David replied to Saul, Who am I, and who are my kinfolk, my father’s family in Israel, that I should become son-in-law to the king?

19 But at the time that Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.

20 Now Saul’s daughter Michal loved David. When they told Saul, the matter was upright in his eyes.

21 So Saul thought, I shall give her to him; let her be a trap for him, and let the hand of the Philistines come to be against him. Hence Saul said to David a second time, You may become son-in-law to me today.

22 And Saul instructed his courtiers, Speak to David by stealth, saying, Behold, the king takes delight in you, and all his courtiers like you; so now become son-in-law to the king.

23 Then Saul’s courtiers spoke these words into David’s ears. Yet David replied, Is it lightly esteemed in your eyes to become son-in-law to the king, when I am a man destitute and inconsequential?

24 Saul’s courtiers told him, saying, These are the words that David has spoken.

25 Then Saul said, Thus shall you say to David, No delight has the king in a bride-price, but rather in a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies. As for Saul, he devised to cause David’s fall by the hand of the Philistines.

26 So his courtiers told David these words, and the matter was upright in David’s eyes, to become son-in-law to the king. When the days were not yet fulfilled,

27 David rose and went, he and his men, and he smote among the Philistines two hundred men. David brought their foreskins, and he delivered them in full to the king, to become son-in-law to the king. So Saul gave him Michal his daughter as a wife.

28 Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David and that all Israel liked him,

29 yet Saul continued to be even more fearful because of David’s presence; so Saul came to be David’s enemy all his days.

30 Then the chiefs of the Philistines would march forth to battle; yet it came to be, as often as they sallied forth, that David was more intelligent than all the other officials of Saul, so that his name became very highly esteemed.

Chapter 19

1 Saul urged his son Jonathan and all his courtiers to put David to death. But Saul’s son Jonathan had taken intense delight in David.

2 So Jonathan told David, saying, My father Saul is seeking to put you to death. Therefore do be on guard in the morning! You must stay in concealment and hide yourself.

3 As for me, I shall go forth, and I will stand by the side of my father in the field where you are. I shall speak about you to my father; then what I observe, I will tell you.

4 So Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul. He said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds have been of very good service to you.

5 When he took his soul in his palm and smote the Philistine, and Yahweh wrought a great victory for all Israel, you saw it and rejoiced. Why then should you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death gratuitously?

6 Saul hearkened to Jonathan’s voice, and Saul swore, As Yahweh lives, he shall assuredly not be put to death!

7 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan told him all these words. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as heretofore.

8 When there was war again, David sallied forth and fought against the Philistines; he smote them with a great blow so that they fled in view of him.

9 Now the evil spirit from Yahweh came on Saul, while he was sitting in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing the harp with his hand.

10 Saul sought to smite David with the spear into the sidewall; yet he dodged from Saul’s presence, as he smote the spear into the sidewall. So David fled and escaped.

11 It occurred in that night that Saul sent messengers to David’s house to observe him and to put him to death in the morning. But Michal his wife told David, saying, If you are not providing for your soul an escape tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.

12 Michal had David descend through the window that he might go and run away and escape.

13 Michal took the teraphim and placed them on the couch. She laid goats’ hair gauze where his head should be, and covered it with his cloak.

14 So when Saul sent messengers to take David in, she said, He is ailing.

15 Yet Saul sent the messengers back to see David, saying, Bring him up to me on the couch to put him to death.

16 When the messengers had come in, behold, there were the teraphim on the couch, and goats’ hair gauze where his head should be.

17 So Saul said to Michal, Why did you deceive me thus and send my enemy away so that he might escape? Michal replied to Saul, He said to me, Let me go! Why should I put you to death?

18 As for David, he ran away and escaped. He came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. Then he and Samuel went away and stayed in the homestead.

19 Now Saul was told, saying, Behold, David is in the homestead at Ramah;

20 so Saul sent messengers to take David in. When they saw the assembly of prophets prophesying and Samuel standing stationed over them, then the spirit of Elohim came on Saul’s messengers, and together they prophesied in ecstasy.

21 When they told it to Saul, he sent other messengers; yet they too prophesied in ecstasy. So Saul sent messengers again, the third group; yet they too prophesied in ecstasy.

22 Now the anger of Saul grew hot, and he himself also went to Ramah. When he came as far as the cistern of the threshing site which is on the ridge, he asked, saying, What about Samuel and David? They replied, Behold, they are in the homestead at Ramah.

23 As he went from there to the homestead at Ramah, the spirit of Elohim came on him, on him too, while he went on walking and prophesying in ecstasy until he came to the homestead at Ramah.

24 Then he too stripped off his clothes, and he too prophesied in ecstasy before Samuel; he lay fallen naked all that day and all night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

Chapter 20

1 David ran away from the homestead at Ramah; he came and said, facing Jonathan, What have I done? What is my depravity? And what is my sin before your father that he is seeking for my soul?

2 Jonathan replied to him, Far be it! You shall not die. Behold, my father does not do any great matter or small matter that he does not reveal to my ear. Now for what reason should my father conceal this matter from me? There is nothing to this!

3 Yet David replied again, saying, Your father must know, yea know, that I have found grace in your eyes; so he has decided, Jonathan must not know this lest he should be grieved. Nevertheless, as Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, there is but a small step between me and death.

4 So Jonathan said to David, Whatever your soul is yearning for, I shall do for you.

5 Then David explained to Jonathan: Behold, tomorrow is the new moon; as for me, I should sit, yea sit with the king to eat. Instead you must send me away, and I will conceal myself in the field until the third evening.

6 Should your father miss, yea miss me, then you say, David asked, yea asked leave of me to run as far as Bethlehem, his city, for the whole family has the annual sacrifice there.

7 If he then says thus, Very well! It means peace with your servant. Yet if his anger grows hot, then know that evil has been determined by him.

8 Now you must deal kindly with your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you. But if there is any depravity in me, put me to death yourself. Why then should you bring me to your father?

9 Jonathan replied, Far be it from you! For if I should realize, yea realize that evil has been determined by my father to come over you, would I not tell you about it?

10 Then David asked Jonathan, Who shall tell me if your father should answer you harshly?

11 Jonathan said to David, Do come! Let us go forth into the field! So both of them went forth into the field.

12 Then Jonathan said to David, By Yahweh Elohim of Israel! I shall sound out my father about this time tomorrow or the third day; if he is well disposed toward David, shall I not then send word to you and reveal it into your ear?

13 Thus may Yahweh do to Jonathan and thus add to it! But should it seem well to my father to do you evil, then I will reveal it into your ear and send you away that you can go unharmed. May Yahweh be with you, just as He was with my father.

14 Nor, while I am still alive, shall you fail to show me the benignity of Yahweh; and even if I die,

15 you shall not cut off your kindness from my house for the eon, not even when Yahweh cuts off the enemies of David, each man off the surface of the ground.

16 Thus has Jonathan contracted with the house of David; and Yahweh will seek it out from the hand of David’s enemies.

17 So Jonathan continued to adjure David, in his love for him, for he loved him with the love of his own soul.

18 Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon, and you will be missed, for your empty seat shall be noted.

19 When you count three days, you shall descend very quickly; and you must come to the place where you were concealed on the day of the deed, and you must stay beside the departure stone.

20 As for me, I shall shoot three arrows to one side of it, pointing to a target for myself.

21 Now behold, I shall send the lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I shall say, yea say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are this way from you, take them, then do come! For there is peace for you, and there is no plot, as Yahweh lives!

22 But if I shall say thus to the stripling, Behold, the arrows are beyond you, then leave, for Yahweh has sent you away.

23 As for the promise that we have discussed, I and you, behold, Yahweh is witness between me and you for the eon.

24 So David concealed himself in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat bread.

25 The king sat on his seat as he had done time upon time, in the sidewall seat; Jonathan sat opposite him while Abner sat at Saul’s side. But David was missing from his place.

26 Saul did not say anything that day, for he thought: He is absent by some chance; he is not clean; surely he has not been cleansed.

27 Then it came to be on the morrow after the new moon, the second day, that David was missing from his place. So Saul said to his son Jonathan, For what reason has the son of Jesse not come to eat bread both yesterday and today?

28 Jonathan answered Saul, David asked, yea asked of me to go to Bethlehem.

29 He said, please let me go, for our family is holding a sacrifice in the city. As for me, my brothers gave me instruction. So now, if I have found grace in your eyes, please let me slip away and let me see my brothers. For this reason he has not come to the king’s table.

30 Then Saul’s anger against Jonathan grew exceedingly hot, and he said to him, Son of a revolting maiden! Do I not know that you are partner with the son of Jesse, to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?

31 For all the days that the son of Jesse lives on the ground, you and your kingship, you shall not be established. Now therefore send out and take him in for me, for he is a son of death.

32 Jonathan responded to his father Saul, saying to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done?

33 At that, Saul lifted up the spear at him as if to smite him; and Jonathan realized that evil had been determined upon by his father, to put David to death.

34 So Jonathan arose from the table in the heat of anger; he did not eat bread on the second day of the new moon festival, for he was grieved for David, and because his father had mortified him.

35 When the morning came, Jonathan went forth to the field for the appointment with David, and a young lad was with him.

36 He said to his lad, Run! Find now the arrows which I am shooting. While the lad was running, he shot the arrow to make it pass beyond him.

37 When the lad came to the place where Jonathan had shot the arrow, then Jonathan called after the lad, saying, Is not the arrow, beyond you?

38 And Jonathan called after the lad, Quickly! Do hurry! Do not stay there! So Jonathan’s lad picked up the arrows and brought them to his lord.

39 As for the lad, he did not know anything about it; only Jonathan and David, they knew of the matter.

40 Then Jonathan gave his gear to the lad who was with him, and he told him, Go! Bring them to the city.

41 When the lad had gone, David arose from beside the departure stone; he fell with his nostrils to the earth and bowed down three times. Then each man kissed his associate; and they wept, each man with his associate, while their affection magnified.

42 Jonathan said to David, Go in peace! Since we, both of us, we have sworn in the Name of Yahweh, saying, Yahweh is witness between me and you, and between my seed and your seed for the eon. Then David arose and departed, while Jonathan was entering the city.

Chapter 21

1 David came to Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Ahimelech was overanxious when he met David, and he said to him, For what reason are you alone, and no man is with you?

2 David replied to Ahimelech the priest, It was the king who gave me instructions in a matter and said to me, Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you, nor what I instructed you. As for the lads, I appointed them to a place so and so.

3 Now then, what have you on hand? Five loaves of bread? Do give them into my hand, or whatever is available.

4 The priest answered David, saying, I have no profane bread on hand, but there is holy bread; if only the lads have kept themselves from women, you may eat it.

5 David responded to the priest, saying to him, But rather, women were restrained from us, as heretofore; when I went forth, all the lads were hallowed even if it was a profane mission. Yet today indeed, they are hallowed with their vessels.

6 So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there save the bread of presence taken away from before Yahweh, in order to place warm bread on the day it was taken.

7 Now there was a man of Saul’s officials on that day, retained before Yahweh; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the sturdiest of the runners belonging to Saul.

8 David said to Ahimelech, Is there nothing that you have here on hand, a spear or a sword? For I did not take my sword or any other of my weapons in my hand, because the king’s matter was urgent.

9 The priest replied, The sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you smote in the vale of Elah, it is here, wrapped in raiment, behind the ephod. If you are taking it for yourself, take it, for there is no other except it in this place. David said, There is none like it; give it to me. So he gave it to him.

10 David arose and ran away on that day from the face of Saul. When he came to Achish king of Gath,

11 the courtiers of Achish said to him, Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not respond about this one with dancing in choruses, saying, Saul has smitten his thousands, Yet David his myriads?

12 David took these words to his heart, and he was very fearful in view of Achish king of Gath.

13 So he altered his sanity in their eyes and was raving while in their hand; he was tambourining on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down on his beard.

14 Then Achish said to his courtiers, Here you see a man presenting himself as mad. Why do you bring him to me?

15 Do I lack mad men that you bring this one to present himself as mad for me? Should this one enter my house?

Chapter 22

1 David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard, they went down there to him.

2 And others convened around him: every man under constraint, every man who had a creditor, and every man bitter of soul. He became chief over them, and there were about four hundred men with him.

3 From there David went to Mizpah of Moab and said to the king of Moab, Please let my father and my mother come forth and stay with you until I know what Elohim may do for me.

4 So he left them in the presence of the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the days that David remained in the fastness.

5 Yet Gad the prophet said to David, You should not stay in the fastness; depart! You must come yourself to the land of Judah. So David left and came to the wildwood of Hereth.

6 Then Saul heard where David was known to be, he and the men who were with him; now Saul was at Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk on the high place, with his spear in his hand and all his courtiers stationed by him.

7 Saul said to his courtiers stationed by him, Hear now, sons of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse also give fields and vineyards to all of you? Will he constitute all of you chiefs of thousands and chiefs of hundreds,

8 because all of you have conspired against me, and no one was revealing in my ear when my son contracted a covenant with the son of Jesse? No one of you was sparing me and revealing in my ear when my son set up my servant against me to wait in ambush as he does this day.

9 Then Doeg, the Edomite, responded; he was stationed over the courtiers of Saul, and he said, I saw the son of Jesse coming toward Nob to Ahimelech son of Ahitub, the priest.

10 He inquired of Yahweh for him and gave provisions to him; he also gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech son of Ahitub, the priest, and all the priests of his father’s house at Nob. So all of them came to the king.

12 Saul said, Hear now, son of Ahitub! He replied, Here I am; speak, my lord.

13 Now Saul asked him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of Elohim for him, that he should rise against me and wait in ambush as he does this day?

14 Ahimelech answered the king, saying, But who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, chief over your household-guard, and is illustrious in your house?

15 Did I start that day to inquire of Elohim for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king place anything against his servant or against any of my father’s house; for your servant knew nothing at all about this matter, small or great.

16 But the king replied, To die shall you die, Ahimelech, you and all of your father’s house.

17 Then the king commanded the runners stationed by him, Turn around and put the priests of Yahweh to death, for their hand also is with David since they knew that he was running away and did not reveal it to my ear. But the king’s servants would not stretch forth their hand to come upon the priests of Yahweh.

18 So the king said to Doeg, You, turn around! Come upon the priests! Then Doeg, the Edomite, turned around and came upon the priests himself; on that day, he put to death eighty-five men wearing the linen ephod.

19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword both man and woman, both infant and suckling, also bull, donkey and flockling, all with the edge of the sword.

20 Yet one son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub escaped; his name was Abiathar, and he ran away following after David.

21 Then Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of Yahweh.

22 David replied to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would tell, yea tell Saul. As for me, I am debtor to every soul of your father’s house.

23 Do stay with me; do not fear, for he who seeks my soul is seeking your soul too; but you are under guard with me.

Chapter 23

1 They told David, saying, Behold, Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing sites.

2 So David inquired of Yahweh saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? Yahweh replied to David, Go! You must smite the Philistines and save Keilah.

3 Yet David’s men said to him, Behold, we are fearful while here in Judah; how much more so if we go to Keilah against the arrays of the Philistines!

4 So David proceeded to inquire of Yahweh again, and Yahweh answered him, saying, Arise, go down to Keilah! For I am delivering the Philistines into your hand.

5 Then David and his men marched to Keilah and fought against the Philistines. When they fled before him, he drove away their cattle and smote them with a great smiting. Thus David saved the dwellers of Keilah.

6 It came to be, after Abiathar son of Ahimelech had run away to David, that he went down with David to Keilah with the ephod in his hand.

7 When Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, then Saul thought, Elohim has sold him into my hand; for he has locked himself up by entering a city with double doors and bars.

8 So Saul summoned all the soldiers for war, to march down to Keilah and to besiege David and his men.

9 Since David knew that Saul was engrossed in planning evil against him, he told Abiathar the priest, Do bring close the ephod!

10 Then David said, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, Your servant has heard, yea heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to wreck the city on account of me.

11 Will the possessors of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, just as Your servant has heard? O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant! Yahweh replied, He will come down.

12 David continued, Will the possessors of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul? Yahweh replied, They will surrender you.

13 So David arose with his men, about six hundred men; they marched forth from Keilah and went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he desisted from going forth.

14 So David stayed in the fastnesses of the wilderness; he remained in the hill country, in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul was seeking him all these days, but Yahweh did not give him into his hand.

15 Yet David was fearful that Saul had come forth to seek his soul while David was at Horesh in the wilderness of Ziph.

16 Then Saul’s son Jonathan arose and went to David at Horesh; he encouraged his hand in Yahweh

17 and said to him, Do not fear, for the hand of my father Saul shall not find you. You shall reign over Israel, and I myself shall become second to you. Even my father Saul knows this is so.

18 And the two of them contracted a covenant before Yahweh. David remained at Horesh; as for Jonathan, he went to his own house.

19 Some Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David concealing himself among us in the fastnesses at Horesh on the hill of Hachilah which is south of the desolation?

20 So now, according to all your soul’s yearning, O king, come down, yea come down! And our part shall be to surrender him into the hand of the king.

21 Saul replied, Blessed be you of Yahweh, for you spare me.

22 Go now and prepare further! Become acquainted with his place and observe where his swift foot comes to be; for someone told me, he is crafty, very crafty.

23 Hence observe and get to know all the hiding places where he hides himself! You must return to me prepared; then I will go with you. It will come to be that, if he is in the area, I will also search him out among all the thousands of Judah.

24 So they arose and went toward Ziph, before Saul, while David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah south of the desolation.

25 Then Saul with his men went to seek him; yet David was told of it, and he went down to the crag and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard of it, he pursued after David into the wilderness of Maon.

26 Saul and his men went on one side of this mountain, while David and his men were on the other side of this mountain. So David was hurrying away, running from the presence of Saul; but Saul and his men were encircling David and his men in order to apprehend them.

27 Yet a messenger came to Saul, saying, Do hasten and come, for the Philistines are ransacking the land.

28 So Saul returned from his pursuit of David and went to meet the Philistines. Therefore they called that place the Crag of Apportionments.

29 Then David went up from there and stayed in the fastnesses of En-gedi.

Chapter 24

1 It came to be, just as Saul returned from following after the Philistines, that they told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.

2 So Saul took 3,000 men, chosen from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the surface of the rocks of the ibexes.

3 Along the way he came to the stone dike sheepfolds for the flock; and there was a cave where Saul entered to overshadow his feet. Now David and his men were sitting in the recesses of the cave.

4 David’s men said to him, This is the day of which Yahweh said to you, Behold, I am giving your enemy into your hand; you may do to him just as seems good in your eyes. So David arose and cut off by stealth the hem of the robe that was Saul’s.

5 It came to be afterward that David’s heart smote him because he had cut off the hem of the robe that was Saul’s.

6 Then David said to his men, Far be it from me, by Yahweh, that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh’s anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, for he is Yahweh’s anointed.

7 David made his men hearken to these words and did not allow them to rise up against Saul. As for Saul, he got up from the cave and went on his way.

8 Afterward David got up and came forth from the cave; he called after Saul, saying, My lord, the king! When Saul looked behind him, David bowed his head and prostrated himself with his nostrils to the earth.

9 David said to Saul, Why do you hearken to the words of anyone who says, Behold, David is seeking evil against you?

10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how Yahweh has given you today into my hand in the cave. Yet I refused to kill you, for I commiserated with you. I said, I shall not stretch out my hand against my lord, since he is Yahweh’s anointed.

11 Now my father, see, yea see the hem of your robe in my hand; for when I cut off the hem of your robe, I did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or transgression on my hand, and I have not sinned against you; yet you are hunting my soul to take it.

12 May Yahweh judge between me and you! May Yahweh take vengeance upon you for me, yet my hand shall not be against you.

13 Just as the proverb of aforetime says, From the wicked ones goes forth wickedness. Yet my hand shall not be against you.

14 After whom has the king of Israel gone forth? Whom are you pursuing? A dead cur? A single flea?

15 Yahweh will be Adjudicator, and He will rightly judge between me and you. May He see and contend my cause with redress for me from your hand.

16 It came to be, as David finished speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this your voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice and wept.

17 He said to David, You are more righteous than I; for you have requited me with good, yet I have requited you with evil.

18 As for you, you have told me today how you have dealt well with me; although Yahweh surrendered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

19 When a man finds his enemy in distress, will he let him go on his way with goodness? Therefore Yahweh, may He repay you with good for what you have done to me this day.

20 Now behold, I know that you shall be king, yea king, and the kingship of Israel will prosper in your hand.

21 Now do swear to me by Yahweh that you shall not cut off my seed after me or exterminate my name from my father’s house.

22 Then David swore to Saul, and Saul went to his house. As for David and his men, they went up to the fastness.

Chapter 25

1 Samuel died, and all Israel convened and wailed for him. They entombed him in his homeland at Ramah. Then David arose and went down to the wilderness of Maon.

2 There was a man in Maon, yet his business was at Carmel. The man was very wealthy; he had a flock of 3,000 sheep and 1,000 goats; now he was shearing his flock at Carmel.

3 The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was of good intelligence and of lovely shape; as for the man, he was a Calebite, obstinate and evil in his actions.

4 When David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his flock,

5 David sent ten lads. David said to the lads, Go up to Carmel. When you come to Nabal, you will ask him in my name for peace.

6 And thus you must say to my brother, Peace to you! Peace to your house, and peace to all that you have!

7 And now, behold, I have heard that you have shearers. Now your shepherds were with us in the wilderness, and we did not mistreat them, nor was anything of theirs missed all the days they were at Carmel.

8 Ask your lads, and they shall tell you. Hence may my lads find grace in your eyes, for we have come on a good day. Do give now, whatever your hand may find, to your servants and to your son David.

9 So when David’s lads came, they spoke to Nabal according to all these words in the name of David. When they stopped,

10 Nabal answered David’s servants saying, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? Nowadays there are many servants who are breaching away, each one from the face of his lord.

11 Should I take my bread and my wine and my slaughtered meat that I have slaughtered for the shearers of my sheep and give it to men whom I do not know from where they are!

12 So David’s lads turned back to their way and returned. They came and told him about all these words.

13 Then David said to his men, Gird on, each man his sword! And they girded on, each man his sword, while David too girded on his sword. About four hundred men went up following David; yet two hundred remained with the gear.

14 One young man of the lads told Nabal’s wife Abigail, saying, Behold, David sent messengers from the wilderness to bless our lord; but he pounced on them.

15 Yet the men were very good to us, we were not mistreated, and we did not miss anything all the days that we went about with them when we were in the field.

16 They were a wall for us both by night and by day, all the days that we were with them grazing the flock.

17 Now know this and consider what you should do! For evil has been determined against our lord and against all his household. He is too much of a son of decadence to speak to him.

18 Abigail quickly took two hundred loaves of bread, two crocks of wine, five dressed flocklings, five seahs of toasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred pressed dried fig cakes, and loaded them on the donkeys.

19 Then she said to her lads, Pass on before me! Behold me coming after you! But she did not tell her husband Nabal.

20 It came to be that she was riding on the donkey and descending in the concealment of the mountain, when David and his men happened to be descending toward her. So she encountered them.

21 As for David, he had said, Surely for a false hope have I guarded all that this one had in the wilderness; there was not anything missed of all that belonged to him. Yet he has paid me back evil for good!

22 Thus may Elohim do to the enemies of David, and thus may He add, if I let remain until morning anyone of all who are his, any man-child.

23 When Abigail saw David, she quickly got down off her donkey, fell before David on her face and prostrated herself to the earth.

24 When she fell at his feet, she said, On me, my lord, be the depravity! I pray, let your maidservant speak in your ears! Hear the words of your maidservant!

25 I pray, let not my lord set his heart against this man of decadence, Nabal; for as his name, so is he: Decadent is his name, and decadence is with him. As for me, your maidservant, I did not see my lord’s lads whom you sent.

26 And now, my lord, as Yahweh lives and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has withheld you from coming to bloodshed and from getting victory for yourself by your own hand, may now your enemies and those who seek evil for my lord, become like Nabal.

27 So now, let this blessing gift, which your maidservant has brought to my lord, be given to the lads walking in the footsteps of my lord.

28 I pray, bear with the transgression of your maidservant! For Yahweh shall grant, yea grant my lord a sure house, because my lord is fighting the battles of Yahweh, and evil is not found in you throughout your days.

29 Should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your soul, then my lord’s soul will come to be tied up in the bundle of the living with Yahweh your Elohim. But the soul of your enemies He shall sling out as from the midst of the palm of the sling.

30 It will come to be when Yahweh does for my lord according to all the good that He promised concerning you, and commissions you as governor over Israel,

31 then this shall not be for you a cause for remorse or a stumbling block to the heart of my lord, by shedding blood gratuitously and by my lord’s own hand getting victory for himself. When Yahweh has dealt well with my lord, then you must remember your maidservant!

32 David replied to Abigail, Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel, Who sent you this day to meet me.

33 Blessed be your discretion, and blessed be you who has detained me this day from coming to bloodshed and from getting victory for myself by my own hand.

34 Nevertheless, as Yahweh Elohim of Israel lives, Who has withheld me from doing evil to you, for unless you had quickly come to meet me, assuredly no man-child would have been left to Nabal until the morning light.

35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him; and he said to her, Go up in peace to your house! See, I have hearkened to your voice that I may lift up your face.

36 When Abigail came to Nabal, behold, he had a banquet in his house like a king’s banquet. So Nabal’s heart felt good in him, and he was drunk unto excess. So she did not tell him a thing, small or great, until the morning light.

37 Yet it came to be in the morning when the wine had gone forth from Nabal, and his wife had told him these things, that his heart died within him, and he became like a stone.

38 It was about ten days later that Yahweh struck Nabal and he died.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Yahweh Who contended my cause concerning my reproach from the hand of Nabal and kept His servant back from evil. For Yahweh has reversed the evil of Nabal on his own head. Then David sent word and proposed to Abigail to take her for himself as a wife.

40 So David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel and spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to you to take you for himself as a wife.

41 She arose and prostrated herself, with her nostrils to the earth, and said, Behold, your maidservant is a handmaid to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.

42 Then Abigail quickly arose and rode on her donkey, with five of her maidens walking at her feet. Thus she went after David’s messengers and became his wife.

43 David had also taken Ahinoam from Jezreel; and so both of them became his wives.

44 Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish who was from Gallim.

Chapter 26

1 The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, Is not David concealing himself with us on the hill of Hachilah, adjoining the desolation?

2 So Saul rose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, and with him 3,000 chosen men of Israel, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.

3 While Saul encamped on the hill of Hachilah adjoining the desolation, by the road, David was staying in the wilderness. When he discerned that Saul had come after him to the wilderness,

4 David sent out spies that he might know that Saul had come prepared from Keilah.

5 Then David rose in stealth and came to the place where Saul had encamped, and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner son of Ner, the chief of his military host. Now Saul was lying within the round camp, while the soldiers were camping round about him.

6 Then David responded and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, saying, Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul? Abishai replied, I shall go down with you.

7 When David and Abishai came upon the soldiers by night, there was Saul lying asleep in the round camp, with his spear stuck into the earth by his headrest; Abner and the soldiers were lying round about him.

8 Abishai said to David, Today Elohim has surrendered your enemy into your hand. Now let me smite him with the spear into the earth only once, and I shall not repeat this to him.

9 But David replied to Abishai, You must not bring him to ruin, for who could stretch forth his hand against the anointed of Yahweh, and be innocent?

10 As Yahweh lives, David continued, but rather Yahweh Himself should strike him down, whether his day comes and he will die, or he goes down in battle and is swept away.

11 Far be it from me, by Yahweh, to stretch forth my hand against the anointed of Yahweh! Now then, do take the spear which is by his headrest and the cruse of water, and let us go on our way.

12 So David took the spear and the cruse of water from beside Saul’s headrest, and they went on their way. There was no one seeing and no one knowing and no one waking; all of them were sleeping, for a stupor from Yahweh had fallen on them.

13 Then David passed on to the other side and stood on the summit of the hill afar off, with much space between them.

14 David called out to the soldiers and to Abner son of Ner, saying, Are you not answering, Abner? At that Abner responded and said, Who are you that you call out to the king?

15 David replied to Abner, Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then did you not keep guard over your lord the king? For one of our soldiers came to bring ruin to the king your lord.

16 Not good is this thing that you have done. As Yahweh lives, sons of death are you all who did not keep guard over your lord, over the anointed of Yahweh. Now look! Where is the king’s spear? And where is the cruse of water that was by his headrest?

17 Saul recognized David’s voice and asked, Is this your voice, my son David? And David replied, It is my voice, my lord the king.

18 Then he said, Why then is my lord pursuing after his servant? What sin have I done? What evil deed is found on my hand?

19 Therefore, I pray, may my lord the king hearken to the words of his servant. If Yahweh incited you against me, let Him smell an approach present. Yet if the sons of mankind did it, cursed are they before Yahweh! For they have driven me out today from adhering to the allotment of Yahweh, saying, Go, serve other elohim.

20 Oh, let my blood not fall to the earth aloof from the presence of Yahweh! For the king of Israel has come forth to seek a single flea, just as one pursues a partridge in the mountains.

21 Saul replied, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for no longer shall I do evil to you, inasmuch as my soul has been precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have acted unwisely, and I am very much in error.

22 David responded and said, Here is the king’s spear. Let one of the lads cross over and take it.

23 As for Yahweh, He shall recompense each man for his righteousness and for his faithfulness. Though Yahweh gave you into my hand today, I would not stretch forth my hand against the anointed of Yahweh.

24 And behold, just as your soul was great this day in my eyes, so may my soul be great in the eyes of Yahweh, and may He rescue me from all distress.

25 Saul replied to David, Blessed be you, my son David! You shall surely accomplish, yea accomplish all, and you shall surely prevail, yea prevail. Then David went on his way, and Saul, he returned to his place.

Chapter 27

1 David said in his heart, Some day now I shall be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape, yea escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of me to seek me further in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.

2 So David arose, and crossed over, he and six hundred men with him, to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.

3 David stayed with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail, former wife of Nabal, the Carmelite.

4 When Saul was told that David had run away to Gath, he did not continue to seek him further.

5 David said to Achish, Now if I have found grace in your eyes, let them grant me a place in one of the field cities, and let me dwell there. Why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?

6 So Achish granted him Ziklag on that day; wherefore Ziklag has belonged to Judah’s kings until this day.

7 The number of days that David dwelt in the field of the Philistines was a years’ days and four months.

8 David with his men went up and ransacked the Geshurite, the Gizrite and the Amalakite; for they were the dwellers of the land from Telam as you come to Shur, as far as the land of Egypt.

9 When David smote the land, he would not leave a man or a woman alive; yet he would take flocks and herds, donkeys and camels, and garments. When he returned and came to Achish,

10 then Achish would ask, Whom have you ransacked today? And David would reply, The Negeb of Judah, or the Negeb of the Jerahmeelite, or the Negeb of the Kenite.

11 David would not leave a man or a woman alive to bring them to Gath, for he thought, Lest they denounce us, saying, Thus did David. Thus was his custom all the days while he dwelt in the field of the Philistines.

12 Now Achish put his faith in David, saying, He has made himself a stink, yea a stink among his people in Israel, and so he has become mine as a servant for the eon.

Chapter 28

1 It was in those days that the Philistines convened their fighting forces for enlistment to make war against Israel. And Achish said to David, You realize, yea realize that with me you shall march forth into the army camp, you and your men.

2 David replied to Achish, Wherefore, now you know what your servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore, I shall constitute you keeper of my head all your days.

3 As for Samuel, he had died, and all Israel had wailed for him; they had entombed him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul, he had caused the mediums and the wizards to withdraw from the land.

4 When the Philistines convened, they came and encamped at Shunem, while Saul convened all the men of Israel; and they encamped on Mount Gilboa.

5 When Saul saw the army camp of the Philistines, he was fearful, and his heart trembled exceedingly.

6 Saul inquired of Yahweh, but Yahweh did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.

7 Then Saul said to his courtiers, Seek for me a woman, a possessor of a medium, that I can go to her and inquire through her. His courtiers told him, Behold, a woman, a possessor of a medium, is in Endor.

8 So Saul disguised himself; he put on other clothes and went out, he and two men with him. They came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine now for me by medium and bring up for me the one I shall tell you.

9 The woman replied to him, Now you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. So why are you laying a trap for my soul to put me to death?

10 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, As Yahweh lives, assuredly no depravity shall befall you in this matter.

11 At that, the woman asked, Whom shall I bring up for you? He replied, Samuel, bring him up for me.

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!

13 The king said to her, Do not fear. What do you see? The woman replied to Saul, I see elohim coming up from the earth.

14 He asked her, What is his shape? She answered, An erect man is coming up, and he is muffled in a robe. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel; so he bowed his head low, nostrils to the earth, and prostrated himself.

15 Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul replied, Utter distress is mine. The Philistines are fighting against me, and Elohim has withdrawn from me and does not answer me any longer, either by means of the prophets or in dreams. So I did call on you to let me know what I should do.

16 Samuel said, Why are you asking me when Yahweh has withdrawn from you and is with your associate?

17 Yahweh is doing to you just as He spoke by means of me. Yahweh is tearing the kingship from your hand and is giving it to your associate, to David,

18 inasmuch as you did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh and did not execute the heat of His anger on Amalek. Therefore Yahweh does this thing to you this day.

19 Yahweh shall also give Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons with you shall fall. Indeed Yahweh shall give the army camp of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

20 Saul fell headlong down, his full stature to the earth, for he was exceedingly fearful because of Samuel’s words. Besides, there was no vigor in him, for he had not eaten bread all day and all night.

21 The woman came to Saul and saw that he was utterly flustered. She said to him, Behold, your maidservant hearkened to your voice; I put my soul in my palm when I acquiesced to your words that you spoke to me.

22 So now, I pray, you also hearken to the voice of your maidservant! Let me place before you a morsel of bread. Eat it! Then there shall be vigor in you when you go on your way.

23 He refused, saying, I will not eat. But his courtiers and even the woman urged him, and he hearkened to their voice. He got up from the earth and sat on the couch.

24 The woman had a stall-fed calf at the house; she quickly slaughtered it. Then she took meal flour and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it.

25 She brought this close before Saul and before his courtiers, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.

Chapter 29

1 The Philistines convened all their armed forces at Aphek, while Israel was encamping by the spring in Jezreel.

2 As the chieftains of the Philistines were advancing with their hundreds and thousands, David and his men were advancing in the rear with Achish.

3 The chiefs of the Philistines asked, What about these Hebrews? Achish replied to the chiefs of the Philistines, Is this not David, the servant of king Saul of Israel, who has been with me this year’s days or this second year? I have not found anything against him from the day he fell away to me until this day.

4 But the chiefs of the Philistines were wrathful against him; and the chiefs of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return! Let him turn back to his place where you posted him. He should not march down with us to the battle that he may not become an adversary to us in our camp. For with what could this man approve himself to his lord, if not with the heads of these, our men?

5 Is this not David about whom they responded with dancing in choruses, saying, Saul has smitten his thousands, Yet David his myriads!

6 So Achish called David and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your marching forth and your coming with me into the army camp has been good in my eyes, for I have not found badness in you from the day you came to me until this day. Yet in the eyes of the chieftains you are not good.

7 So now return and go in peace that you may not do anything bad in the eyes of the chieftains of the Philistines.

8 David replied to Achish, But what have I done? What have you found against your servant from the day on which I came to be before you until this day, that I should not come to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

9 Then Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are good in my eyes, like a messenger of Elohim. Only the chiefs of the Philistines, they have said, He shall not go up with us into the battle.

10 So now, rise early in the morning, you and your lord’s servants who came with you, and you will go to the place where I posted you. You must not keep any decadent word in your heart, for in my view you are good. So you will rise early in the morning; when there is light for you, then go!

11 So David rose early, he and his men, to go in the morning and return to the land of the Philistines, while the Philistines went up to fight Israel.

Chapter 30

1 It was on the third day that David and his men came to Ziklag. As for the Amalakite, they had ransacked the Negeb and Ziklag. They had smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire.

2 They had taken captive the women and all who were in it, from the smallest unto the greatest. They had not put anyone to death; rather they had driven them along and had gone their way.

3 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive.

4 David and the soldiers with him lifted their voice and lamented until there was no more vigor in them to lament.

5 As for David’s two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail (former wife of Nabal) the Carmelite, they had been taken captive too.

6 It was very distressing to David, for the soldiers spoke of stoning him because all the soldiers were bitter in soul, each man for his sons and for his daughters. Yet David encouraged himself in Yahweh his Elohim.

7 David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, Do now bring the ephod close to me! So Abiathar brought the ephod close to David.

8 Then David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I pursue after this raiding party? Will I overtake it? He replied to him, Pursue, for you shall overtake, yea overtake, and you shall rescue, yea rescue.

9 So David went forth, he and the six hundred men with him; and they came to the Wadi Besor where those stayed who were left behind.

10 While David pursued, he and his four hundred men, two hundred men stayed behind who were too fatigued to cross over the Wadi Besor.

11 They found an Egyptian man in the field and took him to David. They gave him bread and he ate, and they gave him water to drink.

12 They also gave him a slice of pressed dried fig cake and two clusters of raisins; and as he ate his spirit returned to him, for he had neither eaten bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights.

13 Then David asked him, To whom do you belong, and from where are you? He replied, I am an Egyptian lad, the slave of an Amalekite man. Yet my lord forsook me because I had become ill; today it is three days.

14 We had ransacked the Negeb of the Kerethite and that of Judah and the Negeb of Caleb. Ziklag we burned with fire.

15 Then David asked him, Can you lead me down to this raiding party? He replied, Do swear to me by Elohim, you assuredly shall not put me to death, you assuredly shall not surrender me into the hand of my lord, and I shall lead you down to this raiding party.

16 So he led him down there; and behold, they were deployed all over the surface of the countryside, eating and drinking and celebrating because of all the great loot they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

17 David came upon them and smote them from the morning twilight until the evening of the morrow; none of them escaped except four hundred youthful men who rode on camels and fled.

18 Then David rescued all that Amalek had taken. Even his two wives David rescued.

19 Nothing of theirs was missing, from the smallest to the greatest, including sons and daughters. From the loot and from all that they had taken for themselves, David restored everything.

20 Then David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before that other livestock; and they said, This is David’s loot.

21 Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too fatigued to go along, following after David. So they had been left seated at the Wadi Besor. Now they came forth to meet David and to meet the soldiers with him. As David with his soldiers came close, they asked after their well-being.

22 But all the vicious and worthless ones among the men who had gone with David spoke up in response: Because they did not go with us, we shall not give them any of the loot that we rescued, save to each man his wife and his children. They may lead them off and go.

23 David replied, You shall not do so after what Yahweh has given to us. He guarded us and delivered into our hand the raiding party that had come against us.

24 So who would hearken to you in this matter? For, as his portion is who goes down into the battle, so shall be the portion of the one sitting by the gear; they shall apportion alike.

25 And it came about from that day onward, that he constituted it as a statute and as a custom for Israel until this day.

26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the loot to the elders of Judah, to his associates, saying, Here is a blessing gift for you from the loot of the enemies of Yahweh.

27 He sent to those in Bethel, to those in Ramoth-negeb, to those in Jattir,

28 to those in Aroer, to those in Siphmoth, to those in Eshtemoa,

29 to those in Carmel, to those in the cities of the Jerahmeelite, to those in the cities of the Kenite,

30 to those in Hormah, to those in Bor-ashan, to those in Athach,

31 to those in Hebron, to all the places where David had roved, he and his men.

Chapter 31

1 When the Philistines fought against Israel, the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

2 The Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons, and the Philistines smote Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.

3 Then the fighting was heavy around Saul; the shooters, the men with the bow, found him; and he was wounded very severely by the shooters.

4 So Saul said to his gear-bearer, Draw your sword and stab me with it, lest these uncircumcised come and stab me and abuse me. Yet his gear-bearer did not comply, for he was very fearful. Then Saul took the sword and fell upon it.

5 When his gear-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell upon his sword and died with him.

6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons and his gear-bearer, on that day, even all his men together.

7 When the men of Israel who were across the vale and who were across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities and fled. So the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

8 It was on the morrow when the Philistines came to strip those slain, that they found Saul and his three sons, fallen on Mount Gilboa.

9 They cut off his head, stripped him of his gear, and sent messengers to the land of the Philistines round about to bear the tidings to the house of their fetishes and to their people.

10 They placed his gear in the house of Ashtaroth and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

11 After the dwellers of Jabesh-gilead had heard about him (what the Philistines had done to Saul),

12 all men of valor rose up and marched all night; they took down the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. When they came back to Jabesh, they burned them there.

13 Then they took their bones and entombed them under the tamarisk at Jabesh; and they fasted seven days.

The Book of 2 Samuel

Chapter 1

1 It came to be after the death of Saul when David himself had returned from smiting Amalek, that David dwelt two days at Ziklag.

2 Now it was on the third day, and here a man was coming from the army camp, from Saul, with his clothes torn and dust from the ground on his head. And so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth and prostrated himself.

3 David said to him, From where do you come? He replied to him, I have escaped from the army camp of Israel.

4 Then David asked him, What is the matter? Tell me now. He replied, The people fled from the battle. Moreover, many of the people had fallen and died. Also Saul and his son Jonathan, they are dead.

5 Now David asked the lad who told him this, How do you know that Saul is dead, and his son Jonathan too?

6 The lad who told him this replied, I happened, yea happened to be on Mount Gilboa when Saul was leaning on his spear, and there the charioteers and the commanders of cavalry followed hard after him.

7 When he faced around behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, Here I am.

8 Then he asked me, Who are you? I replied to him, I am an Amalekite.

9 And he said to me, Please stand over me and put me to death, for the shroud of anguish has taken hold of me because all my soul is still in me.

10 So I stood over him and put him to death, for I knew that he would not remain alive after his fall. Then I took the insignia that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.

11 David took fast hold of his clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him.

12 They wailed and lamented and fasted until evening over Saul and over his son Jonathan, over the people of Yahweh and over the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword.

13 David asked the lad who told him this, From where are you? He replied, I am the son of a man who was a sojourner, an Amalekite.

14 Then David said to him, How did you not fear to stretch out your hand to wreck the anointed of Yahweh?

15 So David called one of the young attendants and said, Come close, come upon him! So he smote him, and he died.

16 David said to him, Your blood be on your head! For your own mouth has asserted against you, saying, I myself put to death the anointed of Yahweh.

17 Then David intoned this dirge over Saul and over his son Jonathan,

18 saying, to teach the sons of Judah in verity. Behold, it is written in the Scroll of the Upright.

19 Your stateliness, Israel, was slain on your high-places; How the masters of war have fallen!

20 Do not tell it in Gath, Do not bear the tidings in the streets of Ashkelon, Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised be joyous.

21 Hills of Gilboa, Let there be no night mist, Let there be no rain on you, And no fields of heave offerings, For there the shield of the masters of war was loathed, The shield of Saul, no longer anointed with oil.

22 From the blood of those slain From the fat of the masters of war, Jonathan’s bow, it was not turned away back; And Saul’s sword, it did not return empty.

23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their lives, In their death they were not parted. They were fleeter than vultures; They were more masterful than lions.

24 Daughters of Israel, lament over Saul, Who clothed you in scarlet, with fineries, Who set up ornaments of gold upon your clothing.

25 How the masters of war have fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan, slain on your high-places!

26 Distressed am I over you, my brother Jonathan. You have been very pleasant to me. Your love was marvelous for me, More than the love from women.

27 How the masters of war have fallen! The weapons of war have perished!

Chapter 2

1 It was afterward that David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah? Yahweh replied to him, Go up! Then David asked, Whither shall I go up? He answered, To Hebron.

2 So David went up there, along with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite, and Abigail, the former wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

3 As for his men who were with him, David brought up each man with his household; and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

4 Then the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David as king over the house of Judah. When they told David, saying, It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who entombed Saul,

5 then David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, May you be blessed by Yahweh because you showed this kindness to your lord, to Saul, when you entombed him and his son Jonathan.

6 Therefore may Yahweh show you benignity and faithfulness; and I too, I shall repay you this goodness because you have done this loyal deed.

7 Now let your hands be steadfast; be sons of valor, for your lord Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me as king over them.

8 As for Abner son of Ner, chief of the military host that Saul had, he had taken Ishbosheth son of Saul and had transferred him from the army camp to Mahanaim.

9 There he made him king over Gilead and over Asher, over Jezreel and over Ephraim and over Benjamin, over all of Israel.

10 Ishbosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The house of Judah however, they were followers of David.

11 The number of days that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

12 Abner son of Ner, together with the servants of Ishbosheth son of Saul, marched forth from Mahanaim toward Gibeon.

13 Also Joab son of Zeruiah, together with David’s servants, marched forth from Hebron and encountered them; they met together at the reservoir of Gibeon. There they sat down, these at the reservoir on this side and those at the reservoir on that side.

14 Then Abner said to Joab, Now let the lads rise up and make sport before us. Joab replied, Let them rise up.

15 So they arose and crossed over in equal numbers, twelve for Benjamin, that is for Ishbosheth son of Saul, and twelve from David’s servants.

16 Then each man took fast hold of his associate by the head and thrust his sword into his associate’s side; so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon.

17 The fight became obstinate unto excess on that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were struck before David’s servants.

18 Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was fleet on his feet, like one of the gazelles in the field.

19 So Asahel pursued after Abner and did not turn aside, to go to the right or to the left, from following Abner.

20 Then Abner turned around, behind him and asked, Is that you, Asahel? He replied, It is I.

21 Now Abner said to him, Turn aside, off with you to your right or to your left! Take hold of one of the lads as yours, and take his outfit for yourself. Yet Asahel would not withdraw from following him.

22 So Abner continued to warn Asahel once more: Withdraw from following me, off with you! Why should I smite you to the earth? How could I then lift up my face to your brother Joab?

23 But he refused to withdraw. So Abner smote him with the butt end of his spear on the fifth rib, and the spear came forth through his back. He fell there and died on the spot where he was. And it came to be that they stood still, everyone who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.

24 Yet Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner. And the sun was setting as they themselves came as far as the hill of Ammah, overlooking Giah on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon.

25 The sons of Benjamin convened themselves behind Abner; they became as one phalanx and stood on top of one hill.

26 Abner then called out to Joab, saying, Shall the sword devour permanently? Do you not realize that there will be bitterness in the latter end? How long will it be? Will you never order your soldiers to turn back from following their kinsmen?

27 Joab replied, As Yahweh lives, if you had not challenged us, then by morning the soldiers would have moved away, each man from following his kinsmen.

28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the soldiers stood still. They did not pursue after Israel any longer and did not continue to fight them any more.

29 As for Abner and his men, they marched all that night through the Arabah, crossed the Jordan, marched through the entire Bithron gully and came to Mahanaim.

30 As for Joab, he returned from following Abner and convened all his soldiers; nineteen men from David’s servants were missing, besides Asahel.

31 Yet David’s servants, they had smitten those of Benjamin and of Abner’s men of whom 360 men had died.

32 They carried Asahel and entombed him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night until dawn was lighting up for them at Hebron.

Chapter 3

1 Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David; but David was growing stronger while the house of Saul was growing weaker.

2 Sons were born to David in Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite;

3 his second was Chileab, by Abigail, Nabal’s former wife, the Carmelite; the third was Absalom son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;

4 the fourth was Adonijah son of Haggith; the fifth was Shephatiah son of Abital;

5 and the sixth was Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

6 It came to be, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner was strengthening his hold on the house of Saul.

7 Now Saul had a concubine, and her name was Rizpah, daughter of Aiah; and Ishbosheth said to Abner, For what reason did you come to my father’s concubine?

8 Now Abner grew very angry at the words of Ishbosheth, and he said, Am I a cur’s head that belongs to Judah? Until today I have shown kindness to the house of your father Saul, to his kinsmen and to his associate, and I did not let the hand of David come upon you; yet you call me to account today for a depravity concerning this woman!

9 Thus may Elohim do to Abner, and thus may He add to it, for just as Yahweh swore to David, so I will accomplish it for him:

10 To transfer the kingship from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan unto Beer-sheba.

11 Ishbosheth could reply nothing more to Abner because he feared him.

12 Abner sent messengers on his behalf to David, saying, To whom does the land belong? And he added, Do contract your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring around all Israel to you.

13 David replied, Good! I myself shall contract a covenant with you; I am asking only one thing of you, saying, You shall not see my face unless you bring before me Saul’s daughter Michal when you come to see my face.

14 Then David sent messengers to Saul’s son Ishbosheth, saying, Do give over my wife Michal whom I betrothed to myself with a hundred Philistine foreskins.

15 So Ishbosheth sent word and had her taken away from her husband, from Paltiel son of Laish.

16 Yet her husband went with her, lamenting while going behind her as far as Bahurim. When Abner said to him, Go, return, he turned back.

17 Now there had been communication by Abner with the elders of Israel, saying, Heretofore, indeed, you have been seeking David as king over you.

18 So now act; for Yahweh Himself promised to David, saying, By the hand of My servant David I shall save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.

19 Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin. Then Abner went into Hebron to speak in the ears of David of all that seemed good in the eyes of Israel and in the eyes of the whole house of Benjamin.

20 When Abner came to David in Hebron, and with him twenty men, David made a feast for Abner and for the men who were with him.

21 Then Abner said to David, Let me rise and go, and let me convene all Israel to my lord the king. They shall contract a covenant with you, and you will reign over all that your soul is yearning for. So David dismissed Abner, and he went away unharmed.

22 Just then David’s servants and Joab came from a raid, and they brought much loot with them. As for Abner, he was no longer with David in Hebron, for he had dismissed him, and he had gone away unharmed.

23 When Joab and all the military host that was with him came in, they told Joab, saying, Abner son of Ner came to the king; yet he dismissed him, and he went away unharmed.

24 So Joab came to the king and said, What have you done? Here Abner was coming to you; why then did you let him go, so that he is gone, yea gone?

25 You knew of Abner son of Ner that he came to dupe you and to get knowledge about your goings forth and your comings, and to get to know all that you are doing.

26 Then Joab went forth from David and sent messengers after Abner; and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; as for David, he did not know of it.

27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab turned him aside to the flank of the gateway to speak with him at ease. There he smote him on the fifth rib. Thus he died for the blood of his brother Asahel.

28 Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, Innocent am I and my kingdom of bloodguilt for Abner son of Ner before Yahweh for the eon.

29 May it travail upon the head of Joab and on all his father’s house. And may never be cut off from the house of Joab one who has a discharge, or is leprous, or holding fast to the crutch, or falling by the sword, or having lack of bread.

30 Now Joab and his brother Abishai had killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.

31 Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, Tear your clothes, gird on sackcloth, and wail before Abner! King David himself was walking behind the bier.

32 They entombed Abner at Hebron; the king lifted up his voice and lamented at Abner’s tomb; and all the people lamented too.

33 The king composed a dirge over Abner, saying: Should Abner have died the death of a decadent person?

34 Your hands were not bound, And your feet were not enclosed in bronze fetters. Yet you fell as one falls Before sons of iniquity. And all the people continued to lament over him.

35 Then all the people came to urge David to have a repast of bread while it was still day. Yet David swore, saying, Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may He add, if I should taste bread or anything at all before the sun sets.

36 All the people recognized it, and it was good in their eyes. Like everything that the king did, in the eyes of all the people it was good.

37 Thus all the people and all Israel knew on that day that it had not come from the king to put Abner son of Ner to death.

38 Then the king said to his servants, Do you not know that a chief, a great man in Israel, has fallen this day?

39 And today I am timid, even though anointed king; as for those men, the sons of Zeruiah, they are too obstinate for me. May Yahweh repay the one doing evil according to his evil.

Chapter 4

1 When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, then his hands slackened, and all of Israel were flustered.

2 Now to Saul’s son belonged two men, chiefs of raiding parties; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the second was Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, since Beeroth too was reckoned part of Benjamin.

3 The Beerothites had run away to Gittaim and had become sojourners there until this day.

4 Saul’s son Jonathan had a son, smitten on both feet. He was five years old when the report about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his foster mother carried him and fled. It came about as she hurried away to flee that he fell and was lamed. His name was Mephibosheth.

5 Now Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, started out and came in the warmth of the day to the house of Ishbosheth while he was lying abed at noon.

6 Now the gatekeeper of the house had been cleaning wheat from stones; yet she slumbered and slept. And so they came to the midst of the house and smote him on the fifth rib. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped away.

7 They had entered the house while he was lying on his couch in his bedchamber where they smote him and put him to death. They took off his head and traveled the Arabah road all night.

8 They brought the head of Ishbosheth to David in Hebron and said to the king, Here is the head of your enemy, Ishbosheth son of Saul, who sought your soul. This day Yahweh has given to my lord the king vengeance upon Saul and his seed.

9 But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Yahweh lives, Who has ransomed my soul from all distress:

10 The one who told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, he was in his own eyes a bearer of good tidings. But I took hold on him and killed him in Ziklag, to whom I ought to have given a reward for the tidings.

11 How much more, then, when wicked men have killed a righteous man on his bed in his own house! Therefore, should I not seek his blood from your hands and wipe you out from the earth!

12 Then David instructed his lads, who killed them, cut away their hands and their feet and hanged them by the reservoir at Hebron. And they took the head of Ishbosheth and entombed it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.

Chapter 5

1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and declared, saying, Behold us, your bone and your flesh are we!

2 Heretofore, while Saul was king over us, you were the one bringing Israel forth to war and bringing it in; and Yahweh said to you, You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall become governor over Israel.

3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and king David contracted a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David as king over Israel.

4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

6 After this king David went with his men to Jerusalem against the Jebusite dwelling in the land, who declared to David, saying, You shall not enter here, for even the blind and the lame will ward you off, thinking, David shall not ever enter here.

7 Yet David seized the fastness of Zion, which is now the city of David.

8 Now David had said on that day, Whoever would smite the Jebusite should assault through the conduit both the lame and the blind, hated by David’s soul. Therefore they say, The blind and the lame shall not enter the house.

9 David dwelt in the fastness and called it the city of David. Then David built up the surrounding area, from the Millo bulwark inward.

10 Thus David went on getting greater, and Yahweh Elohim of hosts was with him.

11 Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar timber, carpenters and sidewall masons who built a palace for David.

12 Thus David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel and had uplifted his kingship for the sake of His people Israel.

13 After coming from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to David.

14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon;

15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg and Japhia;

16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.

17 When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David as king over Israel, then all the Philistines marched up to seek David; but David heard of it and went down to the fastness.

18 As for the Philistines, they came and were deployed in the vale of Rephaim.

19 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand? Yahweh replied to David, Go up, for I will give, yea give the Philistines into your hand.

20 So David entered Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. He said, Yahweh has breached through my enemies before me like a breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

21 Since they had forsaken their fetishes there, David and his men carried them off.

22 Once again the Philistines came up and were deployed in the vale of Rephaim.

23 So David inquired of Yahweh; yet He replied, You shall not go up to meet them. Go around behind them, so that you come against them opposite the aspens.

24 Let it come to be, when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the aspens, then make your decisive move, for by then Yahweh will have gone forth before you to smite the army camp of the Philistines.

25 David did so, just as Yahweh had instructed him; and he smote the Philistines from Gibeon as far as your entry to Gezer.

Chapter 6

1 David again gathered all the choice men in Israel, thirty contingents.

2 Then David and all the people with him set out and went to Baale of Judah to bring up from there the coffer of the One, Elohim, over which the Name is called, the Name of Yahweh of hosts, dwelling over the cherubim.

3 They let the coffer of the One, Elohim, ride on a new cart and carried it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.

4 Thus they carried it away from the house of Abinadab on the hill with the coffer of the One, Elohim; and Ahio was walking before the coffer.

5 David and all the house of Israel were gamboling before Yahweh with all their strength and with songs, with harps and zithers, with tambourines, with sistrums and cymbals.

6 When they came to the threshing site of Nacon, Uzzah stretched forth his hand to the coffer of the One, Elohim, and took hold of it, for the oxen were restive.

7 And the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Uzzah. The One, Elohim, smote him there for his carelessness; and so he died there by the coffer of the One, Elohim.

8 Now the distress of David grew hot because Yahweh had breached a breach against Uzzah; and one has called that place Perez-uzzah until this day.

9 David became fearful of Yahweh on that day; he said, How can the coffer of Yahweh come to me?

10 So David would not take away the coffer of Yahweh to himself into the city of David; and David had it turned aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

11 So the coffer of Yahweh remained with the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and Yahweh blessed Obed-edom and his whole household.

12 When it was told to king David, saying, Yahweh has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he has for the sake of the coffer of the One, Elohim, then David went and brought up the coffer of the One, Elohim, from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David, amid rejoicing.

13 It came to be when the bearers of the coffer of Yahweh had marched six steps, that he sacrificed a bull and a fatling.

14 David was frisking with all his strength before Yahweh; and David was girded with a linen ephod.

15 Thus David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting and with the sound of trumpets.

16 As the coffer of Yahweh was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal gazed out through the window shutters and saw king David prancing and frisking before Yahweh; and she despised him in her heart.

17 Thus they brought in the coffer of Yahweh and put it in its place in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered up ascent offerings before Yahweh and peace offerings.

18 When David had finished offering up the ascent offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the Name of Yahweh of hosts.

19 Then he distributed portions among all the people among the entire throng of Israel, both man and woman to each, one perforated loaf of bread, one date cake and one raisin cake. Then all the people left, everyone to his home.

20 When David returned to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came forth to meet David; she said, How illustrious was the king of Israel today who exposed himself today before the eyes of the maidservants of his servants, as one of the dancers openly exposes himself!

21 David replied to Michal, Before Yahweh I have danced; blessed be Yahweh Who has chosen me rather than your father or anyone of his house, to commission me as governor over the people of Yahweh, over Israel. I will gambol before Yahweh;

22 I will be dishonored even more than this; I will become low in your eyes, yet with the maidservants of whom you speak, with them I shall be glorified.

23 As for Saul’s daughter Michal, to her came no child until the day of her death.

Chapter 7

1 It came to be when the king was settled in his palace, and Yahweh Himself had granted him rest from all his enemies round about,

2 that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I am dwelling in a palace of cedars, while the coffer of the One, Elohim, is dwelling inside a sheet-tent.

3 Nathan replied to the king, Go ahead, do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.

4 But it was in that same night that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan the prophet, saying,

5 Go and say to My servant David, Thus said Yahweh: Should you build Me a house for Me to dwell in?

6 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought the sons of Israel up from Egypt until this day, but I have been moving about in tent and tabernacle.

7 Wherever I moved about among all the sons of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to one of Israel’s judges whom I commissioned to shepherd My people Israel, saying, Why have you not built for Me a house of cedars?

8 And now, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts: I Myself took you from the homestead, from following the flock, to become governor over My people, over Israel.

9 I shall be with you wherever you go, and I shall cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.

10 And I will provide a place for My people Israel; I will plant them so that they can tabernacle by themselves and shall no longer be disturbed; the sons of iniquity shall not continue to humiliate them just as at the first,

11 ever since the day when I commissioned judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh shall establish a royal house for you:

12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, then I will raise up your seed after you that shall come forth from your internal parts; and I will establish his kingdom.

13 He shall build a house for My Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for the eon.

14 I Myself shall become for him like a father; and he shall become for Me like a son. When he sins out of depravity, then I will correct him with the club of men and with the contagions of the sons of humanity.

15 As for My benignity, it shall not withdraw from him as I withdrew it from Saul whom I took away from before you.

16 Your house and your kingship will be authenticated before Me for the eon; your throne, it shall become established for the eon.

17 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David.

18 Then king David came and sat before Yahweh; he said: Who am I, my Lord Yahweh, and what is my house that You have brought me as far as hither?

19 While this may be still small in Your eyes, my Lord Yahweh, yet You are speaking also about Your servant’s house for the far future; and this is the law for humanity, my Lord Yahweh.

20 What more could David add in speaking to You? For You Yourself know Your servant, my Lord Yahweh.

21 For the sake of Your word and according to Your own heart You have done all this greatness, and made it known to Your servant.

22 Therefore You are great, my Lord Yahweh, for there is no one like You, and there is no Elohim except You among all of whom we have heard with our ears.

23 And who is like Your people, like Israel, the only nation on the earth that Elohim went to ransom for Himself as a people, to make for Himself a Name and to do for them great and fear inspiring deeds: to drive out nations and their elohim before Your people that You ransomed for Yourself from Egypt?

24 You have established Your people Israel for Yourself as Your people for the eon; and You Yourself, O Yahweh, have become their Elohim.

25 And now, my Lord Yahweh, confirm for the eon the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house; do just as You have spoken.

26 May Your Name be magnified for the eon, saying, Yahweh of hosts is Elohim over Israel; and the house of Your servant David, may it become established before You.

27 For You, O Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, You have revealed to the ear of Your servant, saying, I shall build a house for you; therefore Your servant has found courage in his heart to pray to You with this prayer.

28 And now, my Lord Yahweh, You are He Who is the One, Elohim; as for Your words, they are trustworthy; and You are speaking to Your servant of this goodness.

29 Be disposed now and bless the house of Your servant that it may come to be before You for the eon; for You, my Lord Yahweh, You have spoken. So by Your blessing let the house of Your servant be blessed for the eon.

Chapter 8

1 It occurred afterward that David smote the Philistines and made them submissive. David also took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines.

2 Then he smote Moab and measured them off with a line, making them lie down on the earth. He measured out two lines for putting to death and a full line for preserving alive. Thus the Moabite became David’s servants carrying tributary presents.

3 David also smote Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he was going to restore his hand at the stream Euphrates.

4 David seized from him 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 men on foot. David hamstrung all chariot steeds, yet he reserved from them enough for one hundred chariots.

5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians 22,000 men.

6 Then David placed garrisons in Syrian Damascus; thus the Syrians became David’s servants carrying tributary presents. So Yahweh saved David everywhere he went.

7 David took the golden arrow-cases which were carried by Hadadezer’s servants, and brought them to Jerusalem.

8 And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took a very great amount of copper.

9 When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten the entire army of Hadadezer,

10 Toi sent his son Hadoram to king David to ask him about his well-being and to congratulate him because he fought against Hadadezer and smote him; (for Hadadezer had been a man engaged in warfare against Toi). In his hand were articles of silver, articles of gold and articles of copper.

11 King David sanctified them to Yahweh, along with the silver and the gold that he had sanctified from all the nations he had subdued:

12 from Syria and from Moab, from the sons of Ammon and from the Philistines, from Amalek and from the loot of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.

13 David made a name for himself at his return after he had smitten Edom in the Salt Ravine, 18,000 in all.

14 Then he placed garrisons in Edom. In all of Edom he placed garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. So Yahweh saved David everywhere he went.

15 David reigned over all Israel; and it came to be that David was dealing out right judgment and justice to all his people.

16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the military host; and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.

17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Abiathar son of Ahimelech were priests; and Seraiah was the scribe.

18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethite and the Pelethite; as for David’s sons, they were royal stewards.

Chapter 9

1 David inquired, Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul, that I may show kindness to him for the sake of Jonathan?

2 Now there was a servant of the house of Saul, and his name was Ziba. When they called him to David, the king asked him, Are you Ziba? He replied, I am your servant.

3 The king continued, Is there nobody, even one man, left of the house of Saul, that I may show him the kindness of Elohim? Ziba answered the king, There is still a son of Jonathan, smitten on both feet.

4 Then the king asked him, Where is he? Ziba replied to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar.

5 So king David sent out to take him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo-debar.

6 When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul came to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. David said, Mephibosheth! And he replied, Behold, I am your servant.

7 David told him, Do not fear, for I shall show, yea show kindness to you for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the field of your grandfather Saul; and you shall eat bread regularly at my table.

8 He prostrated himself again and said, What is your servant, that you turn around to a dying cur such as me?

9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul’s lad, and said to him, I give to your lord’s grandson all that belonged to Saul and to all his household.

10 You will cultivate the ground for him, you and your sons and your slaves. You will bring in the yield, that there will be bread for your lord’s household, and they can eat. As for your lord’s grandson Mephibosheth, he shall eat bread regularly at my table. ( Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty slaves.)

11 Ziba replied to the king, According to all that my lord the king has instructed his servant, so shall your servant do. So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table like one of the king’s sons.

12 Mephibosheth had a young son, and his name was Mica. All those dwelling in Ziba’s household became Mephibosheth’s servants.

13 Yet Mephibosheth was dwelling in Jerusalem, for he ate regularly at the king’s table. He was lame in both his feet.

Chapter 10

1 It occurred afterward that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son Hanun reigned in his stead.

2 David said, I shall show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me. So by means of his courtiers, David sent word to console him over his father. But when David’s courtiers came to the land of the sons of Ammon,

3 then the chief officials of the sons of Ammon said to their lord Hanun, Is David glorifying your father in your eyes because he sent consolers to you? Is it not rather in order to sound out the city, to spy it out and to overturn it that David sent his courtiers to you?

4 So Hanun took David’s courtiers and shaved off a half side of their beards; he cut their coats in half up to their buttocks and sent them away.

5 When others told David about it, he sent to meet them, for the men had been utterly mortified. So the king said, Remain in Jericho! When your beard sprouts, then you can return.

6 The sons of Ammon discerned that they were in bad odor with David. So the sons of Ammon sent and hired Syrians of Beth-rehob and Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 men on foot, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men, and Ish-tob with 12,000 men.

7 When David heard of it, he sent Joab with the entire military host and the masters of war.

8 Then the sons of Ammon marched forth and arranged themselves for the battle at the portal of the city, while the Syrians of Zobah and Rehob, Ish-tob and Maacah were alone by themselves in the field.

9 When Joab saw that the battle-line was against him both front and rear, then he chose some of all the choice men of Israel and arrayed them to meet the Syrians.

10 The rest of the soldiers he gave into the hand of his brother Abishai and arrayed them to meet the sons of Ammon.

11 And he said, If the Syrians are too steadfast for me, then you come to my salvation. But if the sons of Ammon are too steadfast for you, then I will go ahead to save you.

12 Be steadfast and let us encourage ourselves in behalf of our people and in behalf of the cities of our Elohim. As for Yahweh, He shall do what is good in His eyes.

13 When Joab and the soldiers with him drew close for the battle against the Syrians, they fled before him.

14 As for the sons of Ammon, they saw that the Syrians had fled, and so they took to flight before Abishai and went into the city. Then Joab returned from his campaign against the sons of Ammon and came to Jerusalem.

15 When the Syrians saw that they were stricken before Israel, they gathered themselves together.

16 Hadadezer sent messengers and brought forth the Syrians who were from across the Stream; they came to Helam with Shobach, chief of Hadadezer’s military host before them.

17 When this was told to David, then he gathered all of Israel’s men, crossed the Jordan and advanced to Helam. Now the Syrians drew up in battle array to meet David and fought against him.

18 Yet the Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians seven hundred charioteers and 40,000 men on foot. He also smote Shobach, the chief of their host, who died there.

19 When all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were stricken before Israel, then they made peace with Israel and served them; and the Syrians feared to save the sons of Ammon any more.

Chapter 11

1 It came to be at the year’s return, the season when kings march forth, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all of Israel. They brought ruin to the sons of Ammon and besieged Rabbah, while David remained in Jerusalem.

2 It was at eventide, and David arose from his bed. When he walked about on the housetop of the royal palace, he saw from the housetop a woman bathing. The woman was exceedingly good in appearance,

3 and David sent someone to inquire about the woman. He reported, Is this not Bathsheba daughter of Eliam and wife of Uriah the Hittite?

4 David sent messengers that he might take her; she came to him, and he lay with her she had just hallowed herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.

5 When the woman became pregnant, she sent to tell David, saying, I am pregnant.

6 At this David sent word to Joab, saying, Send Uriah the Hittite to me. And Joab sent Uriah to David.

7 When Uriah came to him, David asked him about Joab’s well-being and the soldiers’ well-being and about any accomplishment in the war.

8 Then David said to Uriah, Go down to your house and bathe your feet. So Uriah went forth from the royal palace, and a helping from the king’s table was brought forth after him.

9 Yet Uriah lay down at the portal of the royal palace with all the other servants of his lord and did not go down to his house.

10 When they told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, then David asked Uriah, Have you not come from a journey? For what reason did you not go down to your house?

11 Uriah replied to David, The coffer and Israel and Judah are dwelling in booths, and my lord Joab and the servants of my lord are camping on the face of the field. Then how can I enter my house to eat and to drink and to lie down with my wife? By your life and by the life of your soul, I shall assuredly not behave in this manner!

12 Then David said to Uriah, Stay in this place today also, and tomorrow I shall send you off. So Uriah remained in Jerusalem on that day, and on the morrow.

13 And David invited him that he might eat and drink in his presence; and he made him drunk. Yet in the evening he went forth to lie down on his bedding among the other servants of his lord; and he did not go down to his house.

14 It came to be in the morning that David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15 He wrote in the letter, saying, Get Uriah to the forefront, in face of unyielding fighting; then you all will turn back from behind him, so that he will be smitten and will die.

16 So it was when Joab kept guard over the city that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that there were men of valor.

17 When the men of the city sallied forth and fought against Joab, then some of David’s servants among the soldiers fell; and Uriah the Hittite also died.

18 Joab sent word and told David all the details of the fighting.

19 He instructed the messenger, saying, When you finish reporting to the king all the details of the fighting,

20 then it may occur that the king’s fury flares up and he says to you, For what reason did you come so close to the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from the wall?

21 Who smote Abimelech son of Jerub-besheth? Did not a woman fling on him the rider section of a millstone from on top of the wall at Thebez so that he died? Why did you come so close to the wall? Then you must say, Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite, he also died.

22 So the messenger went off; he came and told David all that Joab had sent him to report.

23 The messenger said to David, The men had the mastery over us and sallied forth against us into the open field. But we drove them back as far as the portal of the gateway.

24 Then the shooters shot at your servants from on top of the wall, and some of the king’s servants died; moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite, he also died.

25 David replied to the messenger, Thus shall you say to Joab, Let not this matter be displeasing in your eyes, for the sword shall devour this one just as that one. Intensify your fight against the city, and demolish it. So encourage him!

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah had died, she wailed over her spouse.

27 After the period of mourning had passed, David sent and had her gathered to his palace; she became his wife and bore for him a son. But the thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

Chapter 12

1 Then Yahweh sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said to him, There were two men in a certain city; one was rich and the other was destitute.

2 It came to be that the rich man had very many flocks and herds.

3 Yet the destitute one had nothing at all save one small ewe lamb which he had bought. He tended it, and it grew up together with him and his children: it ate from his morsel and drank from his cup and nestled in his bosom; it was like a daughter to him.

4 Then a wayfarer came to the rich man, and he spared taking some from his own flocks or from his herds to prepare for the traveler who had come to him; rather he took the ewe lamb of the destitute man and prepared it for the man who had come to him.

5 So David’s anger grew very hot against the man, and he said to Nathan, As Yahweh lives, the man who did this is a son of death!

6 As for the ewe lamb, he should repay sevenfold for it inasmuch as he did this thing and because he did not take pity.

7 Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus said Yahweh Elohim of Israel: It was I Who anointed you as king over Israel, and it was I Who rescued you from the hand of Saul.

8 I also gave you the daughter of your lord, and the wives of your lord into your bosom. I gave you the daughters of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would add for you this way and that way.

9 For what reason have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing what is evil in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite have you smitten with the sword; you took his wife as your wife and had him killed by the sword of the sons of Ammon.

10 Therefore the sword shall not withdraw from your house for the eon, inasmuch as you despised Me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to become your wife.

11 Thus said Yahweh: Behold, I am raising up over you evil from your own house; I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your associate; and he will lie down with your wives before the eyes of this sun.

12 For you acted in secret, but I shall do this thing in front of all Israel and in front of the sun.

13 Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Yahweh. Nathan replied to David, Now Yahweh, He has remitted your sin; you shall not die.

14 Only because you made Yahweh’s enemies spurn, yea spurn Him by this thing, surely the son born to you, he shall die, yea die.

15 Nathan went to his house, and Yahweh struck the boy whom Uriah’s wife had borne for David, and he became mortally ill.

16 So David appealed earnestly to the One, Elohim, on behalf of the lad; David also abstained for a fast; he went and lodged for the night lying on the earth.

17 Then the elders of his household arose beside him to raise him up from the earth; but neither would he get up nor have a repast of bread with them.

18 It was on the seventh day that the boy died. Yet David’s servants were fearful to tell him that the boy was dead; for they said, Behold, when the boy was alive, we spoke to him, but he would not hearken to our voice. How then can we tell him that the boy is dead? He might do something vicious.

19 When David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the boy was dead. So David asked his servants, Is the boy dead? And they replied, He is dead.

20 Now David arose from the earth; he bathed, rubbed himself with oil and changed his raiments. Then he entered the abode of Yahweh and prostrated himself in worship. When he came back to his palace and asked for bread, they set it before him and he ate.

21 His courtiers asked him, What is this thing you have done? You fasted and lamented for the sake of the boy while he was alive; but just as you hear the boy is dead, you arise and eat bread.

22 He replied, I fasted and lamented on behalf of the boy while he was alive because I thought, Who knows? Yahweh may be gracious to me and keep the boy alive.

23 But now that he is dead, why then should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, yet he will not return to me.

24 Then David consoled his wife Bathsheba; he went to her and lay with her. When she bore a son, she called his name Solomon. As for Yahweh, He loved him;

25 He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet; so he called his name Jedidiah, for the sake of Yahweh.

26 Joab had been fighting against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and had seized the royal city.

27 So Joab sent messengers to David, saying, I have fought against Rabbah and have just seized the water city.

28 Now gather together the rest of the soldiers, and encamp against the city proper. Seize it, lest I myself should seize the city and my name would be called over it.

29 So David gathered together all the soldiers and marched to Rabbah; he fought against it and seized it.

30 He took the crown of Milcom off its head; its weight was a talent of gold, with precious stones in it; and it was put on David’s head. The amount of loot of the city that he brought forth was very great.

31 As for the people who were in it, he brought them forth and consigned them to raze it down with iron threshers and with iron severing instruments, or assigned them to brickwork. And he did this to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the soldiers returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 13

1 This happened some time afterward: David’s son Absalom had a lovely sister; her name was Tamar, and David’s son Amnon became infatuated with her.

2 Yet Amnon was distressed so that he made himself ill for the sake of his sister Tamar; for she was a virgin, and in Amnon’s eyes it was too difficult to do anything to her.

3 Now Amnon had an associate; his name was Jonadab, son of David’s brother Shimeah; Jonadab was a very shrewd man.

4 He said to him, For what reason are you, the king’s son, so weak as this, morning after morning? Will you not tell me? Amnon replied to him, I am in love with my brother Absalom’s sister Tamar.

5 Then Jonadab said to him, Lie down on your bed and feign yourself ill. When your father comes to see you, then you say to him, Please let my sister Tamar come and give me a repast of bread. She should prepare the repast before my eyes, that I may see it and eat from her hand.

6 So Amnon lay down and feigned himself ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make heart-shaped cakes before my eyes, that I may have a repast of a couple heart-shaped cakes from her hand.

7 So David sent word to Tamar in the palace, saying, Go now to your brother Amnon’s home and prepare a repast for him.

8 Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s home while he was lying down. She took dough and kneaded it. Then she shaped it into hearts before his eyes and cooked the heart-shaped cakes.

9 She took the griddle and poured them before him; yet he refused to eat. Amnon said, Have every one go forth from me. So every one went forth from him.

10 Now Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the repast toward the bedchamber that I may eat the repast from your hand. Tamar took the heart-shaped cakes she had made and brought them toward the bedchamber to her brother Amnon.

11 When she brought them close to him to eat, he held her fast and said to her, Come, lie down with me, my sister.

12 Yet she replied to him, Do not, my brother, do not humiliate me, for such a thing should not be done in Israel! Do not commit this decadent thing!

13 And I, whither should I carry my reproach? And you, you would become like one of the decadent men in Israel. So now I pray, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.

14 But he would not hearken to her voice; he was more unyielding than she; he humiliated her and lay with her.

15 Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred; for greater was the hatred with which he hated her than the love with which he had loved her. So Amnon said to her, Get up! Go away!

16 She replied to him, This must not be, my brother; concerning this evil of sending me away, it is greater than the other one that you have done to me. Yet he would not hearken to her.

17 He called his young attendant who was ministering to him and said, Now send this woman out, away from me to the outside, and latch the door after her!

18 She had a distinctive tunic on her, for the virgin daughters of the king put on such robes. When his ministering attendant put her forth to the outside and latched the door after her,

19 then Tamar took ashes and put them on her head; she tore the distinctive tunic that she had on her and placed her hands on her head. Thus she went walking away, and she cried out.

20 Her brother Absalom said to her, Your brother Amnon, has he been with you? Now be silent, my sister; he is your brother. You must not set your heart on this matter. So Tamar dwelt in desolation in her brother Absalom’s home.

21 As for king David, when he heard of all these things, he was very angry with him; yet he did not grieve his son Amnon’s spirit, for he loved him because he was his firstborn.

22 Absalom did not speak with Amnon either evil or good, for Absalom hated Amnon for this matter where he had humiliated his sister Tamar.

23 It was after the days of two years that Absalom had sheepshearers at Baal-hazor near Ephraim. Absalom invited all the king’s sons.

24 So Absalom came to the king and said, Behold, I pray, your servant has sheepshearers. Now may the king come with his servants to your servant!

25 But the king replied to Absalom, Oh no, my son! Let not all of us go, so that we may not be burdensome to you. He urged him, but he would not go; yet he blessed him.

26 Then Absalom said, If not you, I pray, let my brother Amnon go with us! The king replied to him, Why should he go with you?

27 Again Absalom urged him; so he sent with him Amnon and all the other sons of the king. Then Absalom prepared a feast like the feast of a king.

28 Absalom instructed his lads, saying, Now watch. When Amnon’s heart is cheerful with wine, and when I say to you, Smite Amnon, then you will put him to death. You must not fear; did not I myself instruct you? Be steadfast and be sons of valor!

29 So Absalom’s lads did to Amnon just as Absalom had instructed them. Then all the other sons of the king arose and fled, each one riding on his mule.

30 It came to pass while they were on the road, that the report came to David, saying, Absalom has smitten all the king’s sons, and not one of them is left.

31 At this, the king arose, tore his garments and lay down on the earth; and all his courtiers were standing by with their clothes torn.

32 Then Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimeah, responded and said, My lord the king must not think it is all the lads, the king’s sons, whom they have put to death; for it is Amnon, he alone, who is dead. For at Absalom’s bidding it was determined since the day he humiliated his sister Tamar.

33 So now my lord the king must not take to his heart the report, to think that all the king’s sons are dead; but it is rather Amnon, he alone, who is dead.

34 While Absalom was running away, the lad who was the watchman lifted his eyes and stared, and behold, there were many people walking on the road of Horonaim, on the descent. So the watchman came and told the king about it. He said, I have seen men coming down from the road of Horonaim from the side of the mountain.

35 Now Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king’s sons! They have come! According to the report of your servant, thus it has come to be.

36 It was as he had finished speaking, that the king’s sons themselves came. They lifted their voice and lamented, and so did the king and all his courtiers; they lamented with a very great lamentation.

37 As for Absalom, he had run away; he went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. King David mourned all the days over his son Amnon.

38 As for Absalom, he had run away and had gone to Geshur; he stayed there three years.

39 Then king David’s spirit of anger to go forth after Absalom was vanishing, for he was consoled over Amnon that he had died.

Chapter 14

1 Joab son of Zeruiah got to know that the king’s mind was on Absalom.

2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and had a wise woman taken along from there. He said to her, Feign yourself to be in mourning now! Do put on mourning garments! You must not rub yourself with oil, but you will behave now like a woman who has been mourning the dead for many days.

3 You will come to the king and speak to him in this manner; then Joab put the words in her mouth.

4 When the Tekoite woman came to the king, she fell on her nostrils to the earth, prostrated herself and said, Do grant a salvation, O king!

5 The king replied to her, What is your trouble? She said, Verily, I am a widowed woman; my husband is dead.

6 Your maidservant had two sons. The two of them strove in the field; yet there was no rescuer to part them. Then the one smote the other and put him to death.

7 And now the whole family has risen up against your maidservant, demanding, Give up the one who smote his brother that we may put him to death for the soul of his brother whom he killed, even though we do exterminate the tenant. Thus they would quench my last ember which remains, so as to leave to my husband no name or remnant on the surface of the ground.

8 Then the king said to the woman, Go to your home, and I myself shall give instruction on your behalf.

9 Also the Tekoite woman said to the king, On me, my lord the king, be the depravity and on my father’s house. Yet the king and his throne be innocent.

10 The king replied, If anyone is uttering anything to you, then you bring him to me, and he shall not continue to touch you further.

11 She replied, Please let the king be mindful of Yahweh your Elohim that the redeemer of blood may not multiply his efforts to cause ruin and that they do not exterminate my son. And he said, As Yahweh lives, assuredly not one hair of your son shall fall to the earth.

12 Now the woman said, Please let your maidservant speak another word to my lord the king. He replied, Speak!

13 So the woman said, Why then have you devised like this against people of Elohim? While the king is pronouncing this decree, the king is just as guilty for failing to let his own expelled one return.

14 For we all shall die, yea die and be like water spilled to the earth that cannot be gathered up again. Elohim shall not carry away the soul of him who devises devices so as not to keep expelled from him one who has been expelled.

15 And now I have come to speak this word to the king my lord, for the people have made me fearful. So your maidservant thought, Please let me speak to the king. Perhaps the king may act on the request of his maidservant,

16 for the king hearkened to rescue his maidservant from the palm of the man who is seeking to exterminate me and my son together from the allotment of Elohim.

17 Your maidservant thought, Now let the word of my lord the king be final; for like a messenger of the One, Elohim, so is my lord the king, to summon the good and the evil. And Yahweh, your Elohim, may He come to be with you.

18 Then the king answered and said to the woman, Now you must not suppress from me anything that I am asking you. The woman replied, Please let my lord the king speak.

19 So the king asked, Is the hand of Joab with you in all of this? The woman answered and said, As your soul lives, my lord the king, assuredly no man can go to the right or go to the left from all that my lord the king has spoken; for your servant Joab, he instructed me, and he put in the mouth of your maidservant all these words.

20 It was in order to turn about the face of the matter that your servant Joab did this thing. Yet my lord is wise with the wisdom of a messenger of the One, Elohim, so as to know all that goes on in the land.

21 Then the king said to Joab, Behold, I will act now according to this word of yours. Go! Bring back the lad Absalom!

22 Now Joab fell on his face to the earth; he prostrated himself and blessed the king. And Joab said, Today your servant knows that I have found grace in your eyes, my lord the king because the king has acted on the word of his servant.

23 So Joab arose, went to Geshur and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.

24 But the king said, Let him turn about to his own house, and he shall not see my face. So Absalom turned about to his own house, and he did not see the king’s face.

25 There was no man in all Israel like Absalom who was so exceedingly praised for his well-favored appearance. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish on him.

26 When he shaved his head it was at the end of days to days that he would shave it; when it was heavy on him, he shaved it he would weigh the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the royal standard weight.

27 To Absalom were born three sons and one daughter; her name was Tamar, and she became a woman of lovely appearance.

28 Absalom dwelt the days of two years in Jerusalem; yet he did not see the king’s face.

29 So Absalom sent for Joab, to send him to the king; yet Joab would not come to him. When he sent again, the second time, he still would not come.

30 Then Absalom said to his servants, See, Joab’s apportionment is at the side of mine, and he has barley there. Go and ravage it with fire! So Absalom’s servants ravaged the apportionment with fire.

31 Then Joab arose; he came to Absalom at the house and said to him, Why have your servants ravaged the apportionment that is mine with fire?

32 So Absalom replied to Joab, Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here and let me send you to the king to ask, Why have I come from Geshur? It would be better for me if I were still there. So now let me see the king’s face, and if there is depravity in me, let him put me to death.

33 Joab went in to the king and told him. Then he called Absalom who now came to the king and prostrated himself before him. He fell on his nostrils to the earth before the king; and the king kissed Absalom.

Chapter 15

1 It came to be some time afterward that Absalom provided himself with a chariot, horses, and fifty men running before him.

2 Absalom would rise early and stand at the side of the road to the gate. Whenever there was any man who came with his contested matter to bring it before the king for judgment, then Absalom would call to him and say, From what city are you? And he would reply, From one of the tribes of Israel is your servant.

3 Then Absalom would say to him, See, your matters are good and correct; yet there is no one assigned to you from the king to hear them.

4 And Absalom would add, O that I were appointed judge in the land, and every man who had his contested matter or plea would come to me, and I would grant justice to him!

5 So it came to be, whenever a man approached to prostrate himself before him, that he would stretch forth his hand, take fast hold of him and kiss him.

6 Absalom acted in this manner for all of Israel who came for judgment to the king. Thus Absalom stole the heart of the men of Israel.

7 It came to be at the end of four years that Absalom said to the king, Please, let me go and pay my vow that I vowed to Yahweh in Hebron.

8 For your servant vowed a vow when I dwelt at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Yahweh should restore, yea restore me to Jerusalem, then I will serve Yahweh.

9 The king replied to him, Go in peace! So he arose and went to Hebron.

10 But Absalom sent spies through all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, you will announce, Absalom is king in Hebron.

11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem had gone with Absalom; they were invited and had gone in their sincerity and had no knowledge of the entire matter.

12 Absalom sent and called Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city, from Giloh, while he was sacrificing the sacrifices. The conspiracy became resolute, and the people going along with Absalom were many.

13 Then a message-bearer came to David, saying, The heart of the men of Israel is following after Absalom.

14 Now David said to all his courtiers who were with him in Jerusalem, Arise and let us run away, for there shall be no deliverance for us from before Absalom. Make haste to go, lest he hastens and overtakes us. Then he would hurtle evil on us and smite the city with the edge of the sword.

15 The king’s courtiers replied to the king, As to all that my lord the king may choose, behold, we are your servants.

16 So the king went forth with his entire household in his footsteps; but the king left ten wives, concubines, to be in charge of the palace.

17 Thus the king went forth with all the people in his footsteps; and they stayed at a house far off.

18 All his courtiers were passing at his side; all the Kerethite and all the Pelethite and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came in his footsteps from Gath, passed on before the king.

19 Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why should you too go with us? Turn back and stay with the new king, for you are a foreigner, and you were also deported from your place.

20 You came only yesterday; should I make you rove with us today, to go as I am going, wherever I can go? Return and take back your kinsmen with you! And may Yahweh deal with you in benignity and faithfulness.

21 But Ittai answered the king saying, As Yahweh lives and as my lord the king lives, but rather in the place where my lord the king may come to be, whether for death or for life, there your servant shall come to be.

22 So David replied to Ittai, Go ahead and march by! Then Ittai the Gittite marched by with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.

23 All in the land were lamenting with a loud voice as the whole force was marching by. The king was standing in Wadi Kidron, while the whole force was passing before his face along the olive way in the wilderness.

24 Zadok also was there, and all the Levites with him carrying the coffer of the covenant of the One, Elohim. They stood by the coffer of the One, Elohim, and Abiathar came up until the crossing over from the city had come to end for the whole force.

25 Then the king said to Zadok, Restore the coffer of the One, Elohim, to the city! If I should find grace in the eyes of Yahweh, then He will bring me back and let me see it and its homestead.

26 Yet if He should say thus, I have no delight in you, here I am; let Him do with me just as it is good in His eyes.

27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, Look, you and Abiathar, do return to the city in peace, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan son of Abiathar, your two sons, with you.

28 Look, I shall be dallying in the gorges of the wilderness until word comes from you men to tell me.

29 So Zadok and Abiathar brought the coffer of the One, Elohim, back to Jerusalem, and they stayed there.

30 David was going up the ascent of Olivet, ascending and weeping; his head was hooded, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people who were with him hooded each man his head; thus they went up ascending and weeping.

31 When David was told saying, Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom, then David said, I pray, O Yahweh, make Ahithophel’s counsel look unwise!

32 Now it happened when David came to the summit where people would prostrate themselves to Elohim, there to meet him was the long time associate Hushai with his tunic torn and dust from the ground on his head.

33 David said to him, If you march on with me, you will become a load on me.

34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, Your brothers have crossed over, and the king, your father, crossed over after me, and now I am your servant, O king; grant me life; I became your father’s servant, and I have been hitherto, but now I am your servant too, then you can annul Ahithophel’s counsel for me.

35 And are not Zadok and Abiathar, the priests, there with you? So it will come to be: Every word that you may hear from the king’s palace, you shall tell to Zadok and to Abiathar, the priests.

36 Behold, there with them are their two sons, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; by means of them you will send to me every word that you may hear.

37 So David’s associate Hushai came to the city as Absalom was entering Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.

Chapter 16

1 David had passed a little beyond the summit, when Ziba the lad of Mephibosheth came toward him with a team of saddled donkeys, and on them two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred cakes of summer dates, and a crock of wine.

2 The king asked Ziba, What are you doing with these? Ziba replied, The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on; the bread and the summer dates are for the lads to eat; and the wine is for the faint in the wilderness to drink.

3 Then the king asked, And where is the son of your lord? Ziba replied to the king, Oh, he is staying in Jerusalem, for he thinks, Today the house of Israel shall restore to me the kingship of my grandfather.

4 So the king said to Ziba, From now on all that Mephibosheth has belongs to you. And Ziba replied, I bow low; may I find grace in your eyes, my lord the king.

5 When king David approached Bahurim, just then a man of the family of the house of Saul came forth from there; his name was Shimei son of Gera. He was going forth and was maledicting as he came forth.

6 He threw stones at David and at all the courtiers of king David, while all the soldiers and all the masters of war were at his right and at his left.

7 And thus spoke Shimei in his maledicting: Forth! Forth, man of bloodguilt, man of worthlessness!

8 Yahweh has brought back on you all the bloodguilts of the house of Saul in whose stead you have reigned. Yahweh is giving the kingship into the hand of your son Absalom; and here you are in your evil predicament because you are a man of bloodguilts!

9 Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead cur maledict my lord the king? Let me now cross over, and let me take off his head!

10 But the king replied, What is it to me and to you, sons of Zeruiah? Leave him alone! Thus he is maledicting because Yahweh told him, Maledict David! So who should say, For what reason have you done so?

11 Then David said to Abishai and to all his courtiers, If my own son, who came forth from my internal parts, is seeking my soul, how much more so then this Benjamite! Leave him alone and let him maledict because Yahweh told him to.

12 Perhaps Yahweh will look on my humiliation, and Yahweh will restore to me goodness instead of his malediction on this day.

13 So David went along the road with his men, while Shimei was walking on the angular side of the hill to go abreast of him. He maledicted and threw stones abreast of him; he also threw dirt.

14 Then the king and all the soldiers with him came to the Jordan, faint with thirst, and they refreshed themselves there.

15 Meanwhile Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, entered Jerusalem; and Ahithophel was with him.

16 And so it was, just as David’s long time associate Hushai came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, Long live the king! Long live the king!

17 But Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your loyalty to your associate? Why did you not go with your associate?

18 Hushai replied to Absalom, I did not because I shall belong to him whom Yahweh and this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, and I shall stay with him.

19 And in the second place, whom should I serve? Is it not before his son? Just as I served before your father, so I shall serve before you.

20 Absalom then said to Ahithophel, Grant us your counsel! What should we do?

21 So Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to your father’s concubines whom he left to be in charge of the palace. Thus all Israel will hear that you are in bad odor with your father; and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.

22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the housetop; and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines under the eyes of all Israel.

23 In those days, the counsel which Ahithophel gave was regarded just as if a man had consulted the oracle of the One, Elohim. In this way all the counsel of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and Absalom.

Chapter 17

1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, Oh let me choose for myself 12,000 men; let me set out and let me pursue after David tonight.

2 I shall come upon him while he is weary and slack of hands; I will make him tremble; and when all the soldiers with him flee, I will smite the king, him alone.

3 Let me bring back all the soldiers to you, like the return of a bride to her husband. It is but the soul of one man you are seeking; as for all the people, they shall come to be at peace.

4 The word seemed upright in the eyes of Absalom and in the eyes of all the elders of Israel.

5 Then Absalom said, Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he too has in his mouth to say.

6 Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom spoke to him saying, This is the plan Ahithophel has advised. Should we act on his advice? If it be no, speak up for yourself.

7 Hushai replied to Absalom, This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.

8 Hushai continued, You yourself know your father and his men that they are masters of war, and they are bitter of soul like a bear in the open field bereaved of her cubs. Your father is a man of war, and he will not lodge for the night with the soldiers.

9 Even now he must be hiding in one of the dark holes or in some other place. And if some of them would fall at the start, and one hears about it, then the hearer will say, A stroke has come over the soldiers who follow after Absalom.

10 Even if he is a son of valor whose heart is like the heart of a lion, it shall melt, yea melt away; for all Israel knows that your father is a master of war, and those with him are sons of valor.

11 Hence I counsel: Let all Israel from Dan to Beersheba convene in a gathering about you, as numerous as the sand by the sea; and your presence be marching in their midst in the attack.

12 When we come upon him in one of the places where he may be found, we will descend on him just as the night mist falls on the ground; no one will be left alive, neither he nor all the men with him, not even one.

13 If he should proceed into a city, all Israel will take up lines of rope to that city; and we will pull it in pieces into the wadi, until not even a pebble will be found there.

14 Absalom and all the men of Israel agreed that the counsel of Hushai the Archite was better than the counsel of Ahithophel, for Yahweh Himself had determined to annul Ahithophel’s good counsel in order that Yahweh might bring evil upon Absalom.

15 Then Hushai told the priests Zadok and Abiathar, This and that did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; yet I have counseled this and that.

16 Now send quickly and tell David, saying, You must not lodge tonight in the gorges of the wilderness; you should rather cross over, yea cross over lest the king be swallowed up with all the soldiers who are with him.

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel, and a maidservant would go and tell them; then they would go and tell king David, for they dared not be seen entering the city.

18 But a lad saw them and told Absalom. So both of them left quickly and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his court. They got down into it,

19 and the wife took a portiere, spread it over the mouth of the well and spread out grist on it, so that nothing would be known about it.

20 When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked where Ahimaaz and Jonathan were, the woman told them that they had crossed over the shallow waters. Though the servants sought them, they found no one; and so they returned to Jerusalem.

21 It was after they had gone that Ahimaaz and Jonathan came up from the well and went and told king David. They said to David, Arise and cross the water quickly, for in this way had Ahithophel counseled against you.

22 Then David and all the soldiers with him arose and crossed the Jordan; by the morning light not even one was missing who had not crossed the Jordan.

23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out and went to his home in his own city. Then he gave instruction to his household and strangled himself and died. He was entombed in his father’s tomb.

24 As for David, he had already reached Mahanaim, when Absalom crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him.

25 It was Amasa whom Absalom had set over his military host instead of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Ishmaelite, who had gone in to Abigal, daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.

26 The Israelites and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27 Now it happened when David had reached Mahanaim that Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim,

28 brought bedding, basins and potter’s vessels, also wheat, barley, meal flour, toasted grain, beans, lentils,

29 honey, clotted cream of the flock, and curded cheese of the herd. They brought them close to David and to the soldiers with him to eat. For they thought that the soldiers would have become hungry, faint and thirsty in the wilderness.

Chapter 18

1 David mustered the soldiers who were with him and set over them chief officers of contingents and chief officers of hundreds.

2 Then David sent out the soldiers, a third under the hand of Joab, a third under the hand of Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the soldiers, I myself shall also march forth, yea march forth with you.

3 But the soldiers protested, You should not march forth! For if we should retreat, yea retreat, the heart of the others would not be stirred about us; even if half of us should die, the heart of the others would not be stirred about us. For you are worth ten thousands of such as we. Therefore it is better that you should be ready to send help to us from the city.

4 Then the king said to them, I shall do what seems best in your eyes. So the king stood at the side of the gate as all the soldiers marched forth by hundreds and by thousands.

5 The king enjoined on Joab and on Abishai and on Ittai, saying, Deal gently with the young man Absalom, for my sake! Thus all the soldiers heard when the king instructed all the chief officers on behalf of Absalom.

6 The soldiers marched forth into the field to meet Israel, and the battle was fought in the wildwood of Ephraim.

7 There the soldiers of Israel were stricken before the conscript servants of David; and there the stroke was great that day twenty contingents.

8 From there the fighting was scattered over the surface of the whole area, and the wildwood devoured many more of the soldiers than the sword devoured on that day.

9 Then Absalom encountered the presence of the conscript servants of David. Now Absalom was riding on a mule; and as the mule came to pass under the meshes of a great terebinth, his head caught fast in the terebinth. He was hanging between the heavens and the earth, while the mule under him passed on.

10 A certain man saw it and told Joab, saying, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in a terebinth.

11 Joab replied to the man who told him, Since you saw him, for what reason did you not smite him there to the earth? I would have been obliged to give you fifty pieces of silver and one girdle.

12 But the man answered Joab, Even if I were weighing a thousand pieces of silver on my palm, I would not stretch forth my hand against the king’s son. For in our ears the king enjoined on you and on Abishai and on Ittai, saying, For my sake keep watch over the young man Absalom!

13 Otherwise I would have dealt falsely against my own soul; for no matter at all is suppressed from the king. Yet you yourself would stand by aloof.

14 Joab replied, Let me not thus wait before you. So he took three javelins in his palm and plunged them into Absalom’s heart. While he was still alive in the heart of the terebinth,

15 ten of Joab’s youthful gear bearers surrounded Absalom and smote him and put him to death.

16 Then Joab blew the trumpet, and his soldiers returned from pursuing after Israel; for Joab kept the soldiers back.

17 Then they took Absalom and flung him into a large dark hole in the wildwood, and they set up over him a very large mound of stones. As for all Israel, they fled, each man to his tent.

18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken the monument which is in the vale of the king and set it up for himself; for he said, I have no son in order to keep my name in remembrance. So he called the monument after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s signpost to this day.

19 Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, Now let me run and bear the tidings to the king that Yahweh has vindicated him against the hand of his enemies.

20 But Joab said to him, You are not a man of tidings this day. You will bear the tidings on another day; but this day you shall not bear the tidings. This was because the king’s son was dead.

21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, Go tell the king what you have seen. The Cushite bowed down to Joab and ran off.

22 Yet Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, Let come what may, let me run now, me too, after the Cushite. Joab asked, Why then have you to run, my son, when there are no tidings of benefit for you to be found?

23 But Ahimaaz said, Let come what may, let me run. So Joab replied to him, Run! Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the basin, and he passed by the Cushite.

24 David was sitting between the two gates when the watchman went up to the roof-level of the gateway by the wall; as he lifted up his eyes, he saw there was a man running alone by himself.

25 The watchman called down and told the king; and the king replied, If he is alone, there are tidings in his mouth. While the man was running and came near,

26 the watchman saw another man running. Then the watchman on the gate top called down, saying, There is another man running alone by himself. And the king replied, That one, too, is a bearer of tidings.

27 The watchman continued, I can see that the running-style of the first one is like the running of Ahimaaz son of Zadok. The king replied, This one is a good man; he comes with good tidings.

28 Ahimaaz drew near and said to the king, Peace! He bowed down to the king with his nostrils to the earth and said, Blessed be Yahweh your Elohim, Who made those men surrender who lifted their hand against my lord the king.

29 Then the king asked, Was it peaceable for the lad, for Absalom? And Ahimaaz answered, I saw a great throng when Joab was sending off the king’s servant and me, your servant. Yet I do not know what it was about.

30 The king said, Go around and stand by here. So he went around and stayed.

31 Just then the Cushite was coming up; and the Cushite said, Let my lord the king receive the tidings that Yahweh has vindicated you today against the hand of all those who rose up against you!

32 The king asked the Cushite, Was it peaceable for the lad, for Absalom? And the Cushite replied, May the enemies of my lord the king and all those who rise up against you for evil become like that lad!

33 Then the king was disturbed. He went up to the upper chamber of the gateway and wept. Thus he lamented as he went, O my son Absalom! my son! my son Absalom! O that I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son!

Chapter 19

1 Then Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning over Absalom.

2 And the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the soldiers, for that day the soldiers heard it said, The king is grieved over his son.

3 The soldiers stole away that day to enter the city just as soldiers would steal away who are mortified when they have fled in battle.

4 As for the king, he wrapped up his face. And the king cried out in a loud voice, O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!

5 Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, Today you have put to shame the faces of all your servants, who provided an escape for your soul this day and the souls of your sons and your daughters, and the souls of your wives and the souls of your concubines,

6 by loving those who hate you and hating those who love you. For you have professed today that chief officers and conscript servants are nothing to you. Now I know today even if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then that would be upright in your eyes.

7 Now arise! Go forth and speak to the heart of your servants! For I swear by Yahweh, if you are not going forth, assuredly no man shall lodge with you tonight; and this will be worse for you than any evil plight that has come over you from your youth until now.

8 So the king arose and sat down in the gateway; and when all the soldiers were told, saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gateway, all the soldiers came before the king. Israel had fled, each man to his tent.

9 All the people came to be speculating among all the tribes of Israel, saying, It was the king who rescued us from the palm of all our enemies, and he provided our escape from the palm of the Philistines. Yet now he ran away from the land, from control over his kingdom and from Absalom.

10 But Absalom, whom we had anointed over us, has died in battle; why then do you keep silent about bringing back the king? And the word of all Israel came to the king.

11 So king David himself sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his palace, since the word of all Israel has come to the king at his house?

12 You are my kinsmen, you are my bone and my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring the king back?

13 And to Amasa you shall say, Are you not my bone and my flesh? Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may He add, if you do not become chief of the military host before me all your days instead of Joab.

14 And Amasa won over the heart of all the men of Judah as one man; and they sent word to the king, saying, Return, you and all your servants!

15 So the king returned and came as far as the Jordan; and the men of Judah had come to Gilgal on their way to meet the king, to bring the king across the Jordan.

16 Shimei son of Gera the Benjamite from Bahurim made haste and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David,

17 and with him were a thousand men from Benjamin. Also Ziba, the young attendant of Saul’s estate, his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him, they prospered in arriving at the Jordan before the king;

18 and they crossed the ford to bring across the king’s household, and to do whatever was good in his eyes. As for Shimei son of Gera, when he had crossed the Jordan, he fell down before the king;

19 and he said to the king, Let not my lord account depravity to me, and do not remember what depravity your servant did on the day when my lord the king went forth from Jerusalem, so that the king should take it to heart.

20 For your servant knows that I, yea I have sinned. So here I have come today, the first of all the house of Joseph, to go down and meet my lord the king.

21 Then Abishai son of Zeruiah responded, saying, Should Shimei not be put to death for this because he has maledicted Yahweh’s anointed?

22 Yet David replied, What is it to me and to you, sons of Zeruiah, that today you have become my adversary? Should anyone in Israel be put to death on this day? For do you not know that today I am again king over Israel?

23 Then the king said to Shimei, You shall not die. And the king swore an oath to him.

24 Also Mephibosheth, grandson of Saul, came down to meet the king. He had neither cared for his feet, nor had he cared for his upper lip, nor had he laundered his clothes from the day the king departed until the day he came back in peace.

25 So it was when he came from Jerusalem to meet the king that the king said to him, Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?

26 He replied, My lord the king, it was my own servant who deceived me. For your servant had said to him, Saddle the donkey for me that I may ride on it and go with the king. For your servant is lame.

27 Ziba has vilified your servant before my lord the king. But my lord the king is like a messenger of the One, Elohim; so do what is good in your eyes.

28 For all of the household of my grandfather were nothing now but men doomed to death before my lord the king. Yet you set your servant among those who ate at your table. So what righteous claim have I then to cry out any more to the king?

29 The king replied to him, Why should you speak any longer of your affairs? I decree that you and Ziba apportion the field.

30 But Mephibosheth said to the king, Just let him take the whole, inasmuch as my lord the king has come to his home in peace.

31 Also Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Rogelim and had passed on with the king to the Jordan to see him off at the Jordan.

32 Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided the king with food during his stay at Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.

33 So the king said to Barzillai, You, cross over with me, and I will provide for your old age with me in Jerusalem.

34 Yet Barzillai replied to the king, How many days of the years of my life are left that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?

35 I am eighty years of age today. Would I know the difference between good and bad? Or can your servant taste what I eat and what I drink? Or can I still make out the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant become a further load to my lord the king?

36 Your servant could barely cross the Jordan with the king! Why should the king requite me with this requital?

37 I pray, let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and my mother. But here is your servant Chimham, my son; let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what is good in your eyes.

38 The king said, Chimham shall cross over with me, and I myself will do for him whatever is good in my eyes. And anything else you choose to ask of me, I will do that for you too.

39 Then all the soldiers crossed over the Jordan. When the king was ready to cross, the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him; and Barzillai returned to his own place.

40 Then the king crossed over to Gilgal, and Chimham crossed with him, and all the soldiers of Judah; they brought the king across, together with half the force of Israel.

41 Now all the men of Israel kept coming to the king and said to the king, For what reason have our kinsmen, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, and all of David’s men with him?

42 Then all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is a near relative to us! Why does this make you angry about this matter? Have we eaten, yea eaten from the king’s food? Or did he carry a load for us?

43 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, saying, We have ten shares in the king; moreover we are the firstborn, rather than you. For what reason do you slight us? Was not our proposal first, to bring our king back to us? Yet the words of the men of Judah were more obstinate than the words of the men of Israel.

Chapter 20

1 A worthless man happened to be there; his name was Sheba son of Bichri, a man of Jemini. He blew the trumpet and declared, There is no portion for us in David and no allotment for us in the son of Jesse! Each man to his tents, Israel!

2 So every man of Israel moved away from following David to go after Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah, they clung to their king from the Jordan as far as Jerusalem.

3 When David came to his palace in Jerusalem, the king took the ten women, his concubines, whom he had left to be in charge of the palace, and he put them in a house under guard. He provided for them, but he did not go in to them; they remained constricted until the day of their death, in living widowhood.

4 The king said to Amasa, Call a convocation for me with the men of Judah within three days, and stand ready here yourself.

5 So Amasa went to call a convocation with Judah; but he delayed longer than the appointed time that the king had set for him.

6 And David said to Abishai, Now Sheba son of Bichri shall cause us more evil than Absalom. And now, take with you your lord’s servants and pursue after him, lest he find for himself fortressed cities and rescue himself, away from our eyes.

7 So Joab’s men marched forth after him with the Kerethite, the Pelethite and all the masters of war. They marched forth from Jerusalem to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri.

8 When they were at the large stone that is in Gibeon, then Amasa himself came up before them. Now Joab was girded with his coat over his clothing; and on it a girdle with the sword in its scabbard strapped to his waist. Now the sword came forth, and it fell down.

9 Joab said to Amasa, Is all well with you, my brother? And Joab’s right hand took hold of Amasa’s beard as if to kiss him.

10 So Amasa was not on guard against the sword that was in Joab’s left hand who smote him with it on the fifth rib, and his bowels were poured out to the earth. He did not have to repeat it to him, for he was dying. While Joab and his brother Abishai pursued after Sheba son of Bichri,

11 a man of Joab’s lads stood over him and said, Anyone who delights in Joab and anyone who is for David, let him follow after Joab.

12 Amasa was rolling himself in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the soldiers stood still, he brought Amasa around, off the highway into the field; and he flung a cloak over him as he realized that anyone coming up onto him would stand still.

13 As soon as he was removed away from the highway, all the men marched by, following Joab to pursue after Sheba son of Bichri,

14 who was passing through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah; and all the Bichrites assembled and came also after him.

15 Joab’s men came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They poured out earthwork against the city, and it stood against the rampart. All the soldiers with Joab were wrecking the wall so as to cast it down,

16 when a wise woman called out from the wall, Hear! Hear! Please tell Joab, Come near over here, and let me speak to you.

17 So he went near to her, and the woman asked, Are you Joab? He replied, I am. She said to him, Hear the words of your maidservant. He answered, I am hearing.

18 Then she continued, saying, They spoke, yea spoke in former times, saying, Let them ask, yea ask at Abel and at Dan whether that which the faithful of Israel had established ever came to end. Let them ask, yea ask at Abel, and thus they will come to end.

19 I represent the peaceable and faithful of Israel. But you are seeking to bring death to a city that is a mother in Israel. Why should you swallow up the allotment of Yahweh?

20 Joab answered, saying, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or bring down to ruin.

21 The matter is not quite so because a man from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba son of Bichri is his name, has lifted up his hand against the king, against David. Give him up, him alone, and I shall withdraw from the city. The woman replied to Joab, Behold, his head shall be flung to you over the wall.

22 Then the woman went to all her people and spoke to all the city in her wisdom. So they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and flung it down to Joab. He then blew the trumpet, and they scattered from the city, each man to his tents. As for Joab, he returned to Jerusalem, to the king.

23 Joab was over Israel’s entire military host; Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethite and over the Pelethite.

24 Adoniram was over the tributary service; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.

25 Sheva was scribe; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests.

26 Ira the Jairite also served David as priest.

Chapter 21

1 There was a famine in the days of David year after year for three years. So David sought the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh replied, On Saul and on his house is bloodguilt because he put the Gibeonites to death.

2 The king called the Gibeonites together and spoke to them. As for the Gibeonites, they were not of the sons of Israel, but rather of the rest of the Amorite, and the sons of Israel had sworn an oath to them; but Saul had sought to smite them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.

3 David asked the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? In what way shall I make expiation that would lead you to bless the allotment of Yahweh?

4 The Gibeonites answered him, For us there is no claim of silver and gold against Saul or his estate; and it is not up to us to put a man in Israel to death. And David responded, Whatever you say, I shall do for you.

5 They replied to the king, The man who destroyed us, who betrayed us that we should be prohibited from standing by in all the territory of Israel

6 let seven men of his sons be handed over to us, and we will gibbet them before Yahweh at Gibeon on the mountain of Yahweh. And the king said, I shall hand them over.

7 Yet the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan son of Saul because of the oath of Yahweh that was between them, between David and Jonathan son of Saul.

8 So the king took Armoni and Mephibosheth, the two sons of Aiah’s daughter Rizpah whom she had borne for Saul, together with the five sons of Saul’s daughter Merab whom she had borne for Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite;

9 and he gave them into the hand of the Gibeonites. They gibbeted them on the mountain before Yahweh. The seven of them fell altogether; they were put to death in the first days of the harvest, at the start of the barley harvest.

10 Aiah’s daughter Rizpah took sackcloth and stretched it out for herself on the rock from the start of the harvest until water poured forth on them from the heavens. She did not allow the flyers of the heavens to rest on them by day, nor the animals of the field by night.

11 Now David was told what Saul’s concubine Rizpah daughter of Aiah had done.

12 So David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the commanders of Jabesh-gilead who had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day the Philistines smote Saul on Mount Gilboa.

13 He brought up the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from there; and they gathered the bones of those who had been gibbeted.

14 They entombed the bones of Saul and of his son Jonathan and of those gibbeted in the land of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of his father Kish. Thus they did all that the king had enjoined on them. Afterward Elohim granted the entreaty for the land.

15 There was again a battle between the Philistines and Israel, and David and his servants with him went down and fought the Philistines; yet David grew faint.

16 Ishbi-benob who was among the votaries of the Rapha ( the weight of his lancehead was three hundred bronze shekels, and he was girded with a new mace), he intended to smite David.

17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his help; he smote the Philistine and put him to death. Then David’s men swore an oath to him, saying, You shall not march forth with us into battle any more that you may not quench the lamp of Israel.

18 It occurred afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines, at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite smote Saph who was among the votaries of the Rapha.

19 When there was again a battle with the Philistines, at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite smote Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like the heddle-rod of weavers.

20 There was again a battle at Gath. A gigantic man came with six fingers on his hands and six toes on his feet, twenty-four in number; he too was a votary of the Rapha.

21 When he challenged Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimeah, smote him.

22 Those four were votaries of the Rapha in Gath; they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 22

1 David addressed the words of this song to Yahweh on the day Yahweh rescued him from the palm of all his enemies and from the palm of Saul.

2 He said: O Yahweh! my Crag, My Fastness, my Deliverance for me!

3 My Elohim, my Rock! I take refuge in Him, My Shield and the Horn of my salvation! My Impregnable Retreat and my Haven! My Saviour, You Who are saving me from violence!

4 The One being praised! I call on Yahweh, And I am being saved from my enemies.

5 For the cables of death have enveloped me, And the torrents of decadence, they frighten me.

6 The cables of the unseen, they have surrounded me; The traps of death have confronted me.

7 In my distress I called on Yahweh, And to my Elohim I implored. From His temple He heard my voice, And my imploring before Him, it came to His ears.

8 Then the earth reeled and quaked. And the foundations of the mountains, they were disturbed, And they reeled, for His anger grew hot.

9 Smoke ascended from His nostrils, And fire that devours, from His mouth; Flashing embers blazed forth from Him.

10 He stretched out the heavens and descended, And murkiness was beneath His feet.

11 He rode on a cherub and flew; So He swooped down on the wings of the wind.

12 He set darkness round about Him; His booth was the darkness of waters, the thick clouds of the skies.

13 Out of the brightness in front of Him Flashing embers of fire blazed forth.

14 Then Yahweh thundered from the heavens, And the Supreme, He gave forth His voice.

15 He sent off His arrows, with which He scattered them, And He multiplied bolts of lightning with which He discomfited them.

16 So the channels of water were made to appear, And the foundations of the habitance were revealed, By Your rebuke, O Yahweh, By the breath of the wind of Your nostrils.

17 He sent from the height; He took me; He removed me from many waters;

18 He rescued me from my strong enemy And from those hating me; For they were more agressive than I.

19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, Yet Yahweh became my Stay.

20 He brought me forth into a wide place; He liberated me, for He has delighted in me.

21 Yahweh requited me according to my righteousness; According to the purity of my hands He recompensed me.

22 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, And I have not been wicked by turning from my Elohim.

23 For all His ordinances have been in front of me, And I have not put away His statutes from me.

24 I have become flawless before Him; Let me keep myself from my depravity.

25 Yahweh recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my purity in front of His eyes.

26 With the benign one You show Yourself benign; With a flawless master You show Yourself flawless.

27 With the purified one You show Yourself pure, But with the perverse one You show Yourself cunning.

28 For You Yourself shall save the humble people, But You shall abase those whose eyes are exalted.

29 Indeed You Yourself shall light up my lamp, O Yahweh; My Elohim, He shall brighten my darkness,

30 So that by You I may run over a stone dike, And by my Elohim I may leap a barricade.

31 The One, El, His way is flawless; The word of Yahweh is refined; He is a Shield to all who are taking refuge in Him.

32 For is there any Eloah apart from Yahweh? And is there any Rock apart from our Elohim?

33 He is the One, El, the One belting me with valor, And He spreads flawlessness on my way,

34 The One poising my feet like hinds’, And on my high-places He causes me to stand.

35 He is the One teaching my hands for the battle, So that my arms may manage a bow of bronze.

36 You gave to me the shield of Your salvation; And Your help made me great.

37 You widened my steps beneath me, So that my limbs have not tottered.

38 I pursued my enemies and exterminated them, And I did not return until they were finished.

39 I finished them, and I transfixed them, And they were not able to rise. They fell beneath my feet.

40 You belted me with valor for the battle; You bowed beneath me those rising against me.

41 As for my enemies, You gave to me the scruff of their necks, And those hating me, I effaced them.

42 They implored, yet there was no salvation; They called to Yahweh, yet He would not answer them.

43 I reduced them to powder like the soil of the earth; Like the mud of the streets I pulverized them; I stamped on them.

44 You delivered me from the disputes of my people; You placed me at the head of the nations. A people I had not known, they serve me;

45 The sons of the foreigner, they cower before me; As soon as the ear is hearing they hearken to me.

46 The sons of the foreigner, they disintegrate, And they come cringing from their enclosures.

47 Alive is Yahweh, and being blessed is my Rock; Let the Elohim of the rock of my salvation be exalted.

48 He is the One, El, Who is rendering vengeance for me, And the One bringing down the peoples under me,

49 The One bringing me forth from my enemies. From those rising against me have You exalted me; From the man of violence have You rescued me.

50 Therefore, I shall acclaim You among the nations, O Yahweh, And to Your Name shall I make melody.

51 He is the One magnifying the salvations of His king. And showing benignity to His anointed one, To David, and to his seed for the eon.

Chapter 23

1 Now these are the last words of David: The averring of David son of Jesse, The averring of the master whom El raised up, The anointed of the Elohim of Jacob, And the pleasant one of the psalms of Israel.

2 The spirit of Yahweh has spoken by me, And His declarations have been on my tongue.

3 The Elohim of Israel has said, To me the Rock of Israel has spoken: When the one ruling over humanity is righteous And is ruling in the fear of Elohim,

4 Then it is like the light of the morning, When the sun rises, A morning without thick clouds, Like the brightness after rain Bringing verdure from the earth.

5 Indeed, is not my house thus with El? For He has made an eonian covenant with me, Arranged forth in every respect and safeguarded. Indeed, shall He not cause all my salvation And my every desire to sprout?

6 Yet the worthless, they are like thorns, All of them isolated away, For they should not be taken by hand.

7 When a man touches them, he must be fully armed with iron and the shaft of a spear. And with fire shall they be burned, yea burned in their shame.

8 These are the names of the masters of war who belonged to David: Ish-bosheth the Hachmonite, the head of the three. He brandished his spear against eight hundred, all slain at one time.

9 Next to him came Eleazar son of Dodai son of Ahohi among the three masters of war with David when they reproached the Philistines. There they were gathered for battle. As the men of Israel went up,

10 he arose and smote the Philistines until his hand became weary, and his hand clung to the sword. Thus Yahweh performed a great salvation on that day; now the people, they returned after him, only to strip them.

11 Next to him came Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines were gathered at Lehi, where there was a portion of a field full of lentils, the people had fled before the Philistines.

12 Yet he stood by in the midst of the portion and reclaimed it and smote the Philistines. Thus Yahweh performed a great salvation.

13 Three of the thirty head men went down and came during the harvest to David at the cave of Adullam, while a Philistine kinfolk troop was encamping in the vale of Rephaim.

14 David was then in the fastness, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.

15 Now David voiced his yearning and said, Who may give me to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem that is at the gate?

16 So three of the masters of war rent their way into the camp of the Philistines and bailed water from the cistern of Bethlehem at the gate. When they had carried and brought it to David, then he would not drink it, but poured a libation of it to Yahweh.

17 He said, Far be it from me, O Yahweh, for me to do this. Should I drink the blood of the men who went risking their souls? And he would not drink it. These are the exploits that the three masters of war performed.

18 As for Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, who was head of another three, he brandished his spear against three hundred, all slain. He won a name among the second three.

19 He was the most illustrious among the three; and so he became their chief. Yet he did not come to the rank of the first three.

20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was a man of many valiant deeds. It was he who smote the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Once, on a snowy day, he went down and smote a lion inside a cistern.

21 He also smote an Egyptian man who was of imposing appearance. Although the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

22 These are the exploits that Benaiah son of Jehoiada performed. So he won a name among the three masters of war.

23 Though he was more illustrious than the thirty, he did not come to the rank of the first three. Yet David placed him over his household guard. These are the names of the masters of war of king David:

24 Asahel brother of Joab was among the thirty, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

26 Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,

27 Abiezer the Anathotite, Mebunnai the Hushatite,

28 Zalmon the Ahotite, Maharai the Netophatite,

29 Heleb son of Baanah the Netophatite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin,

30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash,

31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan son of

33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite,

34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

35 Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

36 Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, the gear-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah,

38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

39 Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24

1 When the anger of Yahweh continued to grow hot against Israel, He incited David against them, saying, Go, count Israel and Judah.

2 So the king said to Joab and the chiefs of the army who were with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel from Dan unto Beersheba and take a census of the people so that I may know the number of the people.

3 Joab replied to the king, May Yahweh your Elohim add to the people a hundred times as many as they are while the eyes of my lord the king are seeing it. But, my lord the king, why does he delight in this matter?

4 Yet the king’s word was unyielding to Joab and to the chiefs of the army. So Joab and the chiefs of the army went forth from the presence of the king to take a census of the people of Israel.

5 They crossed over the Jordan and encamped at Aroer to the right side of the city that is in the midst of the wadi; they went toward Gad and on to Jazer

6 and came to Gilead and to the land of the Hittites toward Kadesh. They came toward Dan-jaan and round about toward Sidon.

7 They also came toward the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivite and the Canaanite. Then they went forth to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.

8 Thus they went to and fro in all the land. At the end of nine months and twenty days they came back to Jerusalem.

9 Joab gave the number of the census of the people to the king; it came to be, in Israel, 800,000 men of valor drawing the sword; and the men of Judah were 500,000 men.

10 David’s heart was smiting him after he had thus numbered the people; and David said to Yahweh, I have sinned intensely in what I have done. Now, O Yahweh, I pray, cause the depravity of Your servant to pass away; for I was exceedingly unwise.

11 When David arose in the morning, the word of Yahweh came to Gad the prophet, David’s vision seer, saying,

12 Go, and you will tell David, Thus says Yahweh: I am holding over you three things. Choose for yourself one of them that I may do it to you.

13 When Gad came to David, he told him and said to him, Should three years of famine come to you in your land? Or should you be three months in flight before your foes while they are pursuing you? Or should there be three days of plague in your land? Now know and see what word I should bring back to the One sending me.

14 David replied to Gad, Utter distress is mine. Let us fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh, for His compassions are abundant; but let me not fall into the hand of humanity.

15 So Yahweh cast the plague on Israel from the morning until the eventide so that 70,000 men of the people died from Dan unto Beersheba.

16 The messenger of Elohim was stretching forth his hand toward Jerusalem to ruin it. Yet Yahweh showed Himself merciful as to the evil and said to the messenger who was causing ruin to the people, Enough, now hold back your hand. The messenger of Yahweh was then at the threshing site of Araunah the Jebusite. David lifted his eyes and saw the messenger of Yahweh standing between the earth and the heavens, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

17 Now David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the messenger who was causing ruin to the people; he said, Behold, I myself have sinned, and I myself have been depraved, I, the shepherd, who has caused this evil, but these are the flock; what have they done? Let Your hand come to be, I pray, against me and my father’s house.

18 On that day Gad came to David and said to him, Ascend, set up an altar to Yahweh at the threshing site of Araunah the Jebusite.

19 So David went up according to the word of Gad just as Yahweh had instructed him.

20 When Araunah gazed and saw the king and his servants crossing over to him, Araunah went forth and prostrated himself before the king, his brow toward the earth.

21 Araunah said, For what reason has my lord the king come to his servant? David replied, To buy from you the threshing site for building an altar to Yahweh, so that the stroke may be restrained from the people.

22 Yet Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take it and offer up what is good in his eyes. See the oxen for the ascent offering, and the threshing sledges and the implements of the oxen for wood.

23 All this, O king, Araunah donates to the king. Then Araunah said to the king, Yahweh your Elohim, may He accept you.

24 The king replied to Araunah, No, for I shall buy, yea buy it from you at the full current price; and I shall not offer up to Yahweh my Elohim any ascent offerings gratuitously. So David bought the threshing site and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered up ascent offerings and peace offerings. Now Yahweh let Himself be entreated again for the land; and the stroke was restrained from Israel.

The Book of 1 Kings

Chapter 1

1 King David was now old and had come into his last days; though they covered him with cloaks, it was not warm enough for him.

2 So his servants said to him, Let them seek a maiden for my lord the king, a virgin; and let her stand before the king. Let her come to care for him, and let her lie down in your bosom, so that my lord the king will feel warm.

3 When they sought for a lovely maiden throughout the entire territory of Israel, they found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king.

4 The maiden was exceedingly lovely; she came to care for the king and ministered to him. As for the king, he did not know her.

5 Now Adonijah son of Haggith was lifting himself, saying, I myself shall be king. He provided for himself a chariot with horsemen and fifty men running before him.

6 Yet his father had not restrained him in his days, saying, For what reason have you done thus? Moreover, he was good-looking and very handsome; she had borne him after Absalom.

7 His planning was with Joab son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest; they helped as followers of Adonijah.

8 Yet Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei and his associates, the masters of war whom David had, they were not with Adonijah.

9 Then Adonijah sacrificed of the flock, oxen and fatlings at the stone of Zoheleth which is beside En-rogel. He had invited all his brothers, the king’s sons and all the men of Judah who were officials of the king.

10 As for Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the masters of war and his brother Solomon, he had not invited them.

11 Then Nathan spoke to Solomon’s mother Bathsheba, saying, Have you not heard that Haggith’s son Adonijah became king, and our lord David does not know it?

12 Now come, let me counsel you, I pray, with my counsel: Escape with your own soul and the soul of your son Solomon.

13 Go and enter to king David; and you will say to him, Was it not you, my lord the king? Did you not swear to your maidservant, saying that your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne? Then for what reason has Adonijah become king?

14 And behold, while you will be speaking there with the king, I also shall enter, after you; and I will fully confirm your words.

15 So Bathsheba came to the king into the chamber. As for the king, he was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king.

16 Bathsheba bowed her head and prostrated herself before the king. Then the king asked, What have you to say?

17 She replied to him, My lord, you yourself swore by Yahweh your Elohim to your maidservant that your son Solomon shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne.

18 Yet now, behold, it is Adonijah who became king; and you, my lord the king, you do not know of it.

19 He sacrificed bulls and fatlings and of the flock in abundance. He invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest and Joab the chief of the military host; but Solomon your servant he has not invited.

20 On you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.

21 Otherwise it will come to be, when my lord the king lies down with his fathers, I myself and my son Solomon will be counted sinners.

22 And behold, while she was speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet entered.

23 So they told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. Then he came before the king; and he prostrated himself before the king, with his nostrils to the earth.

24 Now Nathan asked, My lord the king, have you said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne?

25 For he went down today and sacrificed bulls and fatlings and of the flock in abundance. He invited all the king’s sons and the chiefs of the military host and Abiathar the priest. And there they are eating and drinking before him; and they are shouting, Long live king Adonijah!

26 Yet me, your servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and Solomon your servant, he has not invited.

27 Does this matter come from my lord the king, that you have not made known to your servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?

28 King David answered and said, Call Bathsheba to me. So she came before the king and stood before the king.

29 Now the king swore, saying, As Yahweh lives Who has ransomed my soul from all distress,

30 indeed, just as I swore to you by Yahweh Elohim of Israel, saying that your son Solomon shall reign after me and that he shall sit on my throne in my stead, so indeed shall I do this day.

31 Then Bathsheba bowed her head with her nostrils to the earth. She prostrated herself before the king and said, May my lord king David live for the eon!

32 King David ordered, Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada. When they came before the king,

33 the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord; you will have my son Solomon ride on the mule that is mine; and you will go down with him to Gihon.

34 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet will anoint him there as king over Israel. You will blow the trumpet, and you will shout, Long live king Solomon!

35 Then you will come up following him; and he will come and will sit on my throne. It is he who shall reign in my stead. I commission him to become governor over Israel and over Judah.

36 Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king and said, Amen! May Yahweh Elohim of my lord the king do so!

37 Just as Yahweh came to be with my lord the king, so let Him be with Solomon. May He make his throne greater than the throne of my lord the king David.

38 So Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet went down, also Benaiah son of Jehoiada with the Kerethite and the Pelethite. They had Solomon ride on the mule of king David, and they conducted him to Gihon.

39 There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet; and all the people shouted, Long live king Solomon!

40 All the people went up after him; the people were fluting with flutes and rejoicing with great rejoicing, so that the earth was split open with the sound of them.

41 Adonijah heard it and all those who had been invited by him, as they themselves had finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, For what reason is there the sound of clamor in the town?

42 While he was speaking, behold, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, Enter, for you are an able man and are bearing good tidings.

43 But Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Nevertheless, our lord king David, he has made Solomon king!

44 The king sent with him Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet, also Benaiah son of Jehoiada with the Kerethite and the Pelethite; and they had him ride on the mule of the king.

45 Then Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon. From there they came up rejoicing; and the town is clamoring. That is the sound which you have heard.

46 Moreover, Solomon is seated on the royal throne.

47 Besides, the king’s servants have come to bless our lord king David, saying, May your Elohim make the name of Solomon more famous than your name; and may He make his throne greater than your throne. The king bowed in worship on his bed.

48 Moreover the king said as this: Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel Who today has given one of my seed to sit on my throne, with my own eyes seeing it.

49 Now all those who had been invited by Adonijah were trembling; they arose and each went his own way.

50 As for Adonijah, he feared to face Solomon; so he arose; he went and held fast the horns of the altar.

51 When Solomon was told, saying, Behold Adonijah, he fears king Solomon; and behold, he has taken hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear to me today, assuredly not shall he put his servant to death by the sword.

52 Solomon replied, If he should prove a son of valor, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth. Yet should evil be found in him, then he will die.

53 So king Solomon sent for him, and they brought him down from the altar. When he entered he prostrated himself before king Solomon. And Solomon said to him, Go to your house.

Chapter 2

1 When the days for David to die were approaching, he enjoined on his son Solomon, saying,

2 I am going in the way of all the earth. So you will be steadfast and become manly.

3 You will keep the charge of Yahweh your Elohim to walk in His ways, to observe His statutes and His instructions, His ordinances and His testimonies as written in the law of Moses, so that you may act intelligently in all that you do and everywhere that you turn around,

4 so that Yahweh may confirm His word that He spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons keep their way so as to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and with all their soul, saying, There shall not be cut off a man of yours from sitting on the throne of Israel.

5 Moreover, you yourself know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me: what he did to two chief officers of Israel’s military hosts, to Abner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Jether, when he killed them and avenged their blood in peacetime as if in battle and put innocent blood on his girdle that was on his waist, and on his sandals that were on his feet.

6 So you will act according to your wisdom, and not let his grey hairs go down in peace to the unseen.

7 Yet you shall show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite; they will be among those eating at your table; for so they came near to me when I fled away from before your brother Absalom.

8 And behold, with you is Shimei son of Gera the Benjamite from Bahurim. He maledicted me with a painful malediction on the day when I was going to Mahanaim. When he himself came down to meet me at the Jordan, I swore to him by Yahweh, saying, Assuredly not shall I put you to death with the sword.

9 But now you must not hold him innocent; for you are a wise man, and you will know what you should do to him and let his grey hairs go down to the unseen in blood.

10 Then David lay down with his fathers; and he was entombed in the city of David.

11 The days which David had reigned over Israel were forty years. In Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

12 As for Solomon, he sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingship was firmly established.

13 But Adonijah son of Haggith came to Solomon’s mother Bathsheba. And she asked, Do you come in peace? He replied, In peace.

14 And he said, I would like to have a word with you. So she replied, Speak.

15 Now he said, You know that the kingship belonged to me and that all of Israel had set their faces on me to become king. But the kingship was turned about and came to be my brother’s; for from Yahweh it came to him.

16 Now I am asking one request from you. You must not discountenance me. She replied to him, Speak.

17 Then he said, I pray, speak to king Solomon, for he shall not discountenance you, that he should give to me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.

18 Bathsheba replied, Very well, I myself shall speak for you to the king.

19 When Bathsheba came to king Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah, the king arose to meet her; and he bowed down to her. Then he sat down on his throne and had a throne set up for the king’s mother so that she might sit at his right.

20 Now she said, I am asking one small request from you. You must not discountenance me. The king replied to her, Ask, my mother, for I shall not discountenance you.

21 So she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.

22 King Solomon answered and said to his mother, Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Request also the kingship for him since he is my brother and older than I am. Request it for him for Abiathar the priest and for Joab son of Zeruiah.

23 Then king Solomon swore by Yahweh, saying, Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may He add, for against his own soul spoke Adonijah this word!

24 And now, as Yahweh lives, Who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David, Who has made a house for me just as He had promised, today Adonijah shall be put to death!

25 So king Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah son of Jehoiada; he came upon him, and he died.

26 Then the king said to Abiathar the priest, Go back to Anathoth to your fields, for a man worthy of death are you. Yet on this day I shall not put you to death, for you carried the coffer of the Lord Yahweh before my father David, and you humbled yourself in all that my father had to humble himself.

27 So Solomon drove out Abiathar from being a priest for Yahweh, to fulfill the word of Yahweh that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli at Shiloh.

28 When the report came to Joab (for Joab himself had turned aside following Adonijah, yet he had not turned aside following Absalom), then Joab fled to the tent of Yahweh and held fast the horns of the altar.

29 Now king Solomon was told: Joab has fled to the tent of Yahweh; and behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon sent for Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, come upon him.

30 So Benaiah came to the tent of Yahweh; he said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth! But he replied, No, for here I shall die. Benaiah brought this word back to the king, saying, Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me.

31 The king said to him, Do just as he spoke, and come upon him. You will entomb him and take away from me and from my father’s house the guilt for the blood which Joab had gratuitously shed.

32 Thus Yahweh will bring back on his head his bloodguilt because he came upon two men more righteous and better than he was, and he killed them with the sword when my father David had no knowledge about it: Abner son of Ner, chief of the military host of Israel, and Amasa son of Jether, chief of the military host of Judah.

33 May the guilt for their blood return on the head of Joab and on the head of his seed for the eon. Yet for David and his seed, for his house and his throne, may there be peace unto the eon from Yahweh.

34 So Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up and came upon him; he put him to death, and he was entombed at his own house in the wilderness.

35 In his stead, the king put Benaiah son of Jehoiada over the military host; and the king put Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.

36 Then the king sent and called Shimei. He said to him, Build yourself a house in Jerusalem; you will dwell there, yet you shall not go forth from there whither or thither.

37 It will come to be, on the day you go forth and you cross Wadi Kidron, you should know and realize that you shall die, yea die; your blood shall be on your own head.

38 Shimei replied to the king, The word is good. Just as my lord the king has spoken, so shall your servant do. And Shimei dwelt many days in Jerusalem.

39 But it came to be at the end of three years that two of Shimei’s servants ran away to Achish son of Maacah king of Gath. When they told Shimei, saying, Behold, your servants are in Gath,

40 Shimei was rising and saddling his donkey and going toward Gath to Achish to seek his servants. So Shimei went and brought his servants back from Gath.

41 When Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned,

42 the king sent and called Shimei. He said to him, Did I not adjure you by Yahweh and testify to you, saying, On the day you go forth and you go whither or thither, you should know and realize that you shall die, yea die? And you said to me, The word is good; I will hearken.

43 Now for what reason did you not keep the oath to Yahweh and the instruction that I enjoined on you?

44 Then the king said to Shimei, You yourself know all the evil, which your heart well knows, that you did to my father David; now Yahweh will bring back your evil on your own head.

45 But king Solomon will be blessed, and the throne of David shall become established before Yahweh unto the eon.

46 Then the king instructed Benaiah son of Jehoiada who went forth and came upon him, so that he died. Thus the kingship was firmly established under the hand of Solomon.

Chapter 3

1 Then Solomon became a son-in-law to Pharaoh king of Egypt when he took a daughter of Pharaoh. He brought her to the city of David until he finished building his own house and the house of Yahweh and the wall around Jerusalem.

2 But the people were sacrificing on the high-places because unto those days no house had been built for the Name of Yahweh.

3 Solomon was loving Yahweh so as to walk in the statutes of his father David; but he was also sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.

4 So the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the greatest high-place. Solomon offered up a thousand ascent offerings on that altar.

5 At Gibeon Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; Elohim said, Ask what I shall give to you.

6 Solomon replied, You have shown great benignity to Your servant, my father David, just as he walked before You in faithfulness and in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with You. You kept toward him this great benignity, so that You gave him a son to sit on his throne as on this day.

7 And now, O Yahweh my Elohim, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David; yet I am a young lad, and I do not know how to go forth or to come in.

8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a people so numerous that it can neither be counted nor numbered for multitude.

9 Will You give to Your servant a hearkening heart to judge Your people, to discern between good and evil; for who can judge this burdensome people of Yours?

10 The word was well pleasing in the eyes of Yahweh because Solomon had requested this matter.

11 So Elohim replied to him, Because you requested this matter and have neither asked for yourself many days, nor asked for yourself riches, nor asked for the soul of your enemies, yet you have asked for yourself understanding to make out right judgment,

12 behold, I will do according to your word. Behold, I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that no one like you has been before you; and after you no one shall rise like you.

13 Moreover, what you have not asked, I will give you: both riches and glory all your days, so that there will be no man like you among kings.

14 Should you be walking in My ways so as to keep My statutes and My instructions, just as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.

15 When Solomon awoke, behold, it had been a dream. He came back to Jerusalem and stood before the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh. And he offered up ascent offerings, made peace offerings and made a feast for all his servants.

16 Then two women, prostitutes, came to the king and stood before him.

17 The one woman said, O, my lord, I and this woman are dwelling in the same house. And I gave birth while she was in the house.

18 Now it was on the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no outsider with us in the house; except us two, no one was in the house.

19 Then the son of this woman died at night, when she lay on him.

20 Yet she arose in the midst of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant was asleep. She laid him in her bosom, and she laid her dead son in my bosom.

21 When I arose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead. So I examined him closely in the morning, and behold, he was not my son whom I had borne.

22 Now the other woman said, No, for my son is the living one, and your son is the dead one. But this first woman was affirming, No, for your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one. Thus they argued before the king.

23 Then the king said to them, This one is saying, This is my son, the living one, and your son is the dead one, while that one is saying, No, for your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.

24 So the king ordered, Procure a sword for me. And they brought the sword before the king.

25 Now the king said, Sever the living boy into two, and give half to one and half to the other.

26 But the woman whose son was the living one, said to the king (for her compassions were fervid over her son so that she said), O, my lord, Give her the living boy; you must not put him to death, yea death. Yet that one was saying, He shall not become mine or even yours; sever him!

27 Now the king answered and said, Give the living boy to her. You shall not put him to death, yea death; she is his mother.

28 When all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had judged, they stood in fear before the face of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of Elohim was within him to execute right judgment.

Chapter 4

1 So king Solomon was king over all Israel.

2 These were the chief officials that he had: Azariah son of Zadok the priest,

3 Elihoreph and Ahijah sons of Shisha, scribes, Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, recorder;

4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the military host; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;

5 Azariah son of Nathan was over the deputies; Zabud son of Nathan, a priest, was an associate of the king;

6 Ahishar was over the household, and Adoniram son of Abda over the tributary service.

7 Solomon had twelve deputies over all of Israel. They provided for the king and his household; it rested on each one to provide them with food for one month in the year.

8 These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;

9 Ben-deker, in Makaz and in Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh and Elon-beth-hanan;

10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and all the land of Hepher);

11 Ben-abinadab, in all of Naphoth-dor (Solomon’s daughter Taphath became his wife);

12 Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo and all Beth-shean, that is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah as far as the other side of Jokmeam;

13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh which are in Gilead; he had the district of Argob in Bashan and sixty large cities with wall and bronze bar);

14 Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;

15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he too took a daughter of Solomon Basemath as a wife);

16 Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;

17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;

18 Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;

19 Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorite and Og king of Bashan; only one deputy in the land of Judah.

20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand which is on the sea shore for multitude, eating and drinking and rejoicing.

21 As for Solomon, he came to be the ruler over all the kingdoms from the Stream as far as the land of the Philistines unto the boundary of Egypt; they brought close approach presents and were serving Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s bread for one day was thirty cors of flour and sixty cors of meal,

23 ten plump oxen and twenty grazed oxen, a hundred of the flock, besides deer and gazelle, bubale and fattened fowl.

24 He was holding sway in all the land this side of the Stream, from Tiphsah as far as Gaza, over all the kings this side of the Stream; and peace came to him from all his sides round about.

25 Judah and Israel dwelt in serenity, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan unto Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon.

26 Solomon came to have 4,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 steeds.

27 Those deputies provided for king Solomon and all who came near to king Solomon’s table, each in his month; they let nothing be lacking.

28 They also brought, each his due, barley and crushed straw for the horses and stallions to wherever the place might be.

29 Elohim gave Solomon wisdom, exceedingly much understanding and wideness of heart, like the sand which is on the seashore.

30 The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 He was wiser than any other human, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman and Calcol and Darda the sons of Mahol. So his name became famous in all the nations round about.

32 He composed 3,000 proverbs, and his songs came to be 5,000.

33 He spoke about the trees, from the cedar of the Lebanon unto the hyssop which is coming forth in the sidewall. He spoke about the beast and the flyer, about the reptile and the fish.

34 They came from all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and he took approach presents from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Chapter 5

1 King Hiram of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, when he heard that they had anointed him as king in place of his father; for Hiram had been in friendship with David all his days.

2 Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,

3 You know of my father David that he was not able to build a house for the Name of Yahweh his Elohim in view of the warfare with which they surrounded him until Yahweh put them under the soles of his feet.

4 But now Yahweh my Elohim has given me rest from those round about; there is no adversary and there is no oncoming evil.

5 So here I am declaring to build a house for the Name of Yahweh my Elohim, just as Yahweh had spoken to my father David, saying, Your son whom I shall set on your throne in your place, he shall build the house for My Name.

6 Now give instruction that they cut for me cedars from the Lebanon. My servants, they shall be with your servants; I shall give the hire for your servants to you according to all that you might say; for you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.

7 It came to be as Hiram heard the words of Solomon that he rejoiced exceedingly and said, Blessed be Yahweh today, Who has given David a wise son over this numerous people.

8 So Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard what you sent to me; as for me, I shall provide all your desire in regard to timber of cedars and timber of firs.

9 My servants themselves shall bring them down from the Lebanon to the sea; I shall bring them as log-rafts by sea to the place that you shall point out to me. I will have them scattered there, and you can take them up. As for you, you shall provide my desire by giving the bread for my household.

10 So it came to be that Hiram was providing Solomon with timber of cedars and timber of firs for all his desire.

11 As for Solomon, he gave Hiram 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household and 20,000 bath measures of pounded oil. Thus Solomon provided for Hiram year after year.

12 Yahweh, He gave Solomon wisdom just as He had spoken to him; there came to be peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them contracted a covenant.

13 Then king Solomon set up tributary service from all of Israel; the tributary service came to be 30,000 men.

14 He sent them to the Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays. For a month they were in the Lebanon and two months at their homes. Adoniram was over the tributary service.

15 Solomon came to have 70,000 burden carriers and 80,000 stone hewers in the hill country.

16 Besides Solomon’s chief deputies over the work, there were 3,600 who were holding sway over the people doing the work.

17 The king gave instruction so that they quarried out large stones, blocks of quality stone, to provide a foundation of trimmed stones for the house.

18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the Gebalites carved them and made the timbers and the stones ready during three years to build the house.

Chapter 6

1 It came to be in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel had come forth from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year, in the month of Ziv (it is the second month), of Solomon’s reign over Israel, that he began to build the house for Yahweh.

2 The house that king Solomon built for Yahweh was sixty cubits in its length, twenty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its rise.

3 The portico on the facade of the nave of the house was twenty cubits in its length, on the facade of the width of the house. It was ten cubits in its width on the facade of the house.

4 He also made shutters for the embrasures of the clerestory windows of the house.

5 Against the outside wall of the house he built a storied structure; around the sidewalls of the house, around to the nave and to the innermost sanctuary, he made stories round about.

6 The lower story was five cubits in its width, the middle six cubits in its width and the third seven cubits in its width; for he had provided offset ledges around the outside of the house, so as not to hold the rafters in the sidewalls of the house.

7 The house, when it was built, was built of blocks of stone made suitable at the quarry. So neither hammers nor an ax nor any iron implement were heard at the house while it was being built.

8 The portal of the lower story was at the right shoulder of the house; and winding stairs went up to the middle and from the middle to the third story.

9 Thus he was building the house that he might finish it; and he was ceiling the house with vaultbeams and roofing planks in cedar.

10 He was building the storied structure against the entire house, each story five cubits in its rise, so that it had a hold on the house with timbers of cedar.

11 Now the word of Yahweh came to Solomon, saying,

12 This house that you are building if you walk in My statutes and execute My ordinances and keep all My instructions and walk in them, then I will confirm through you My word that I spoke to your father David.

13 I will tabernacle in the midst of the sons of Israel, and I shall not forsake My people Israel.

14 So Solomon was building the house that he might finish it.

15 He was building the sidewalls inside the house with angular wall panels of cedar. From the floor of the house unto the rafters of the ceiling he overlaid it with timber inside; and he overlaid the floor of the house with angular planks of fir.

16 Twenty cubits from the remote parts of the house, he was building a partition of angular cedar planks from the floor unto the rafters. Thus he was building inside from it the innermost sanctuary, the holy of holies.

17 Thus the length of the house before it, was forty cubits, that is the nave.

18 The cedar for the inside of the house had an embossing of colocynth gourds and open blossoms. It was all cedar; there was no stone to be seen.

19 As for the innermost sanctuary in the midst of the house, he prepared its inside to bestow there the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh.

20 The facade of the innermost sanctuary was twenty cubits in length, twenty cubits in width and twenty cubits in its rise. He overlaid it with plated gold. He also made an altar of cedar.

21 Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with plated gold; he extended gold chains across the facade of the innermost sanctuary and overlaid it with gold.

22 Thus he overlaid the whole inside of the house with gold, until all the house was finished; also the entire altar that was toward the innermost sanctuary, he had overlaid with gold.

23 In the innermost sanctuary he made two cherubim of oil-tree wood, each ten cubits in its rise.

24 Five cubits was the one wing of the cherub and five cubits the second wing of the cherub. It was ten cubits from the end of its wings unto the other end of its wings.

25 And ten cubits was the second cherub; the two cherubim had one measure and one fashion.

26 The rise of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the second cherub.

27 He bestowed the cherubim in the midst of the inner house, so that they spread out the wings of the cherubim. The wing of the one touched the one sidewall, and the wing of the second cherub was touching the second sidewall, while their wings were toward the midst of the house and touching wing to wing.

28 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

29 Over all the sidewalls in the house round about he embossed engraved embossings of cherubim, palm trees and open blossoms, on the inside and the outside of the sanctuary;

30 also the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, inside and outside;

31 and for the portal of the innermost sanctuary he made doors of oil-tree wood, the pillar jambs being pentagonal.

32 The two doors were of oil-tree wood; he embossed on them embossings of cherubim, palm trees and open blossoms; and he overlaid them with gold, hammering the gold down on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

33 So also he made for the portal of the nave jambs of oil-tree wood from squared logs.

34 The two doors were of fir-tree wood: The two leaves of the one door on pivots, and the two leaves of the second door on pivots.

35 He embossed on them cherubim, palm trees and open blossoms and overlaid them with gold evenly over the delineation.

36 He was also building the inner court with three rows of trimmed stone and a row of cedar beams.

37 In the fourth year the foundation was laid for the house of Yahweh in the month of Ziv;

38 in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul (it is the eighth month), he finished the house in all its details and according to all its specifications. So he had been building it for seven years.

Chapter 7

1 As for his own house, Solomon built it in thirteen years, and he finished his entire house:

2 He was building the Lebanon wildwood house, a hundred cubits in its length, fifty cubits in its width and thirty cubits in its rise, on four rows of cedar columns with cedar beams upon the columns.

3 It was ceiled with cedar above on the angular planks which rested on the forty-five columns, fifteen in a row.

4 There were three rows of clerestory windows, aperture facing aperture, in three tiers.

5 All the openings and the apertures had squared window-frames, aperture opposite to aperture, in three tiers.

6 He made the portico of columns fifty cubits in its length and thirty cubits in its width, the portico adjoining them with columns and a thick canopy adjoining them.

7 He made the portico of the throne where he would judge, the portico of judgment; it was ceiled with cedar from the floor unto the rafters.

8 His house where he dwelt, in the court back of the house adjoining to the portico, it was like this one in workmanship. Solomon also made a house like this portico for the daughter of Pharaoh whom he had taken as wife.

9 All these were built of quality blocks of stone, according to measures trimmed, sawed with the saw inside and outside, from the foundation unto the coping, and outside as far as the great court.

10 The foundation was of quality stones, blocks of large stone, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits.

11 Above were quality stones, trimmed according to measures, and cedar.

12 The great court had round about three rows of trimmed stone and a row of cedar beams. So had the inner court of the house of Yahweh and the portico of the house.

13 King Solomon sent and took Hiram from Tyre;

14 he was the son of a widowed woman from the stock of Naphtali; his father was a Tyrian man, an artificer in bronze. He was full of wisdom and understanding and knowledge for making all work in bronze. So he came to king Solomon and carried out all his work.

15 He cast the two columns of bronze; eighteen cubits in rise was the one column, and a thread of twelve cubits went around it. Its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow, and so was the second column.

16 He made two capitals to set on the heads of the columns, cast of bronze. Five cubits was the rise of the one capital, and five cubits was the rise of the second capital.

17 He then made two meshings of meshwork with festoons of braidwork for the capitals that were on top of the columns; seven for the one capital and seven for the second capital.

18 He also made the pomegranates, two rows round about on the one meshing to cover the capitals that were on top of the columns; and he did the same for the second capital.

19 The capitals that were on top of the columns at the portico, were of anemone workmanship, of four cubits;

20 so also the capitals upon the two columns extended above, to match the belly-shaped part that was next to the meshing. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows round about, on the doubled capital.

21 He set up the columns for the portico of the temple; he set up the right column and called its name Jachin, and he set up the left column and called its name Boaz.

22 On top of the columns there was anemone workmanship. Thus the work of the columns was being finished.

23 He made the sea of cast metal, ten cubits from its one lip unto its other lip, circular round about; five cubits was its rise, and a measuring tape of thirty-three cubits would surround it round about.

24 There were colocynth gourds beneath its lip round about, surrounding it, ten in a cubit, encompassing the sea round about, with two rows of colocynth gourds cast in its casting.

25 It was standing on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

26 Its thickness was a handbreadth; its lip was like the workmanship of the lip of a cup, like anemone petals. It contained two thousand bath measures.

27 He made the ten bases of bronze; four cubits was the length of each base, four cubits its width and three cubits its rise.

28 This was the workmanship of the bases: They had insets, and the insets were between the cross-pieces.

29 On the insets that were between the cross-pieces there were lions, oxen and cherubim. On the cross-pieces was a post. Above and beneath the lions and the oxen were wreaths of descending workmanship.

30 There were four wheels of bronze for each base, with axles of bronze and its four footings. They had shoulders beneath the laver, the shoulders having been cast with wreaths across from each.

31 Its mouth was inside the capital, and extended upward one cubit; its mouth was round, the workmanship of a post, a cubit and half a cubit; besides there were embossings around its mouth. Their insets were squared, not round.

32 The four wheels were beneath the insets; and the axletrees of the wheels were in the base. The rise of each wheel was a cubit and half a cubit.

33 The workmanship of the wheels was like the workmanship of a chariot wheel. Their axletrees and their rims, their spokes and their hubs, they were all cast.

34 There were four shoulders on the four faces of each base; its shoulders extended from the base.

35 On top of the base was a round piece, half a cubit in rise, round about. On top of the base were its axletrees and its insets extending from it.

36 He engraved on the planks of its sides and on its insets, cherubim, lions and palm trees according to the empty space of each, with wreaths round about.

37 After this manner he made the ten bases; all of them had one casting, one measure, one fashion.

38 He also made ten lavers of bronze. Each laver contained forty bath measures; each laver measured four cubits; there was one laver on each base, for the ten bases.

39 He put five bases on the right flank of the house and five on its left flank for the house; and he put the sea on the right flank of the house, eastward, toward the south.

40 Finally Hiram made the pots, the shovels and the sprinkling bowls. Thus Hiram finished doing all the work that he had undertaken for king Solomon on the house of Yahweh:

41 The two columns, the globes of the capitals that were on top of the two columns, and the two meshings for covering the two globes of the capitals that were on top of the columns;

42 the 400 pomegranates for the two meshings, two rows of pomegranates for each meshing to cover the two globes of the capitals that were overlooking the columns;

43 the ten bases and the ten lavers on the bases;

44 the one sea and the twelve oxen beneath the sea;

45 the pots, the shovels, the sprinkling bowls and all these utensils that Hiram made of burnished bronze for king Solomon for the house of Yahweh.

46 In the basin of the Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds of the ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

47 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because of the very excess of their abundance. The weight of the copper was not investigated.

48 Solomon had all the utensils made for the house of Yahweh: The altar of gold and the table on which was the bread of the presence, of gold;

49 the lampstands of plated gold, five at the right side and five at the left, before the innermost sanctuary; and the petals and the lamps and the tongs, of gold;

50 the basins, the snippers, the sprinkling bowls, the spoons and the firepans, of plated gold; the hinge sockets for the doors of the inner house, for the holy of holies, for the double doors of the nave of the house, all of gold.

51 When all the work that king Solomon had done for the house of Yahweh, was accomplished, Solomon brought in the hallowed things of his father David; the silver and the gold and the utensils he put among the treasures of the house of Yahweh.

Chapter 8

1 Then Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel, all the heads of the stocks, the patriarchal princes of the sons of Israel to king Solomon at Jerusalem to bring up the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion.

2 All the men of Israel were assembled to king Solomon for the festival in the month of Ethanim, that is, the seventh month.

3 When all the elders of Israel had come, the priests carried the coffer,

4 and they brought up the coffer of Yahweh and the tent of appointment and all the hallowed utensils that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up,

5 while king Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel, all those congregated to him, were with him before the coffer, making sacrifices of the flock and of the herd that could not be numbered and not be counted for multitude.

6 Then the priests brought the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, to the innermost sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

7 For the cherubim were spreading out their wings over the place of the coffer, so that the cherubim provided a screen over the coffer and over its poles from above.

8 Yet the poles stuck out, so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place adjoining the innermost sanctuary, but they were not seen from the outside. There they are unto this day.

9 There was nothing in the coffer but the two stone tablets that Moses had left to be there at Horeb when Yahweh had contracted with the sons of Israel at their coming forth from the land of Egypt.

10 It came to be when the priests came forth from the holy place, that the cloud itself filled the house of Yahweh.

11 The priests were unable to stay and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

12 Then Solomon stated: Yahweh Himself has said He was to tabernacle in murkiness.

13 I have built, yea built a house, a residence for You, a site for You to dwell in for the eons.

14 Now the king turned his face around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while the whole assembly of Israel was standing.

15 He said, Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel, Who spoke with His mouth to my father David and fulfilled it with His hand, saying,

16 From the day on which I brought forth My people Israel from Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house that My Name be there; but I chose Jerusalem that My Name be there, and I chose David that he be over My people Israel.

17 It came to be on the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

18 Yet Yahweh said to my father David, Inasmuch as it was on your heart to build a house for My Name, you did well that it came to be on your heart.

19 But you shall not build the house, but rather your son who is coming forth from your loins, he shall build the house for My Name.

20 Now Yahweh has carried out His word that He had spoken; for I have risen in place of my father David, and I am sitting on the throne of Israel, just as Yahweh had spoken; and I have built the house for the Name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel;

21 and there I have provided a place for the coffer wherein the covenant of Yahweh is that He contracted with our fathers when He brought them forth from the land of Egypt.

22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahweh in front of the whole assembly of Israel; he spread out his palms to the heavens

23 and said, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, there is no elohim like You in the heavens above and on the earth beneath, keeping the covenant and the benignity toward Your servants who are walking before You with all their heart,

24 You Who have kept with your servant David, my father, what You spoke to him. You spoke with Your mouth, and You fulfilled with Your hand, as on this day.

25 And now, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, what You spoke to him, saying, There shall not be cut off a man of yours from before Me, to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons should keep their way to walk before Me just as you have walked before Me.

26 And now, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, I pray, let Your word come true that You have spoken to Your servant David, my father.

27 Will Elohim truly dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens themselves cannot contain You; how much less, indeed, this house that I have built!

28 Yet You will turn toward the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Yahweh my Elohim, to hearken to the appeal and to the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.

29 O that Your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You promised: My Name shall be there, to hearken to the prayer that Your servant is praying toward this place.

30 You will hearken to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; and You Yourself shall hearken from Your dwelling place from the heavens; and when You hearken, You will pardon.

31 When a man sins against his associate who loads on him an oath of imprecation to imprecate him, and he comes with his oath of imprecation before Your altar in this house,

32 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, and You will act and judge Your servants, so as to condemn the wicked, to bring his way on his own head and to justify the just, to give to him according to his righteousness.

33 When Your people Israel are struck before an enemy, because they were sinning against You, and they return to You and acclaim Your Name and pray and supplicate to You in this house,

34 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, and You will pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and You will restore them to the ground that You gave to their fathers.

35 When the heavens are restrained and there is no rain because they were sinning against You, and they pray toward this place and acclaim Your Name and turn back from their sin because You made them humble,

36 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, and You will pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel; for You are directing them to the good way in which they should walk; and You will give rain on Your land that You have given as an allotment to Your people.

37 In case a famine comes on the land, or a plague comes, or a blast or mildew, in case locusts and beetles come, in case their enemy is distressing them in the land of their gates any kind of contagion, any illness

38 in every prayer, every supplication that may occur by any human or by all of Your people Israel, for they know each one the contagion of his own heart, when he spreads out his palms toward this house,

39 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, the site of Your dwelling, and You will pardon and act, and You will give to each one according to all his ways since You know his heart for You Yourself, You alone, know the heart of all the sons of humanity

40 so that they may fear You all the days that they are alive on the surface of the ground that You gave to our fathers.

41 And also to the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, he who came from a far country on account of Your Name

42 for they shall hear of Your great Name and Your steadfast hand and Your outstretched arm when he comes and prays toward this house,

43 to him may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, the site of Your dwelling, and You will act according to all for which the foreigner calls to You; in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your Name so as to fear You as do Your own people Israel, and know that Your Name has been called over this house that I have built.

44 In case Your people go forth to a battle against their enemy, in the way that You send them, and they pray to Yahweh in the direction of the city that You have chosen and toward the house that I have built for Your Name,

45 then You will hearken from the heavens to their prayer and their supplication, and You will execute right judgment for them.

46 In case they are sinning against You for there is no human who does not sin and You are angry with them and give them up before the enemy, so that their captors capture them and bring them to the land of the enemy, far or near,

47 yet they turn back their heart in the land where they are captives, so that they return to You and supplicate in the land of their captors, saying, We have sinned, we are depraved, and we are wicked,

48 and they return to You with all their heart, and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who had captured them, and they pray to You in the direction of their land that You gave to their fathers, toward the city that You have chosen and the house that I have built for Your Name,

49 then You will hearken from the heavens, the site of Your dwelling, to their prayer and their supplication, and You will execute right judgment for them.

50 You will pardon Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions with which they transgressed against You; and You will grant them compassion before their captors, so that they have compassion on them

51 for they are Your people and Your allotment whom You brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron crucible

52 so that Your eyes and Your ears be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel by hearkening to them in all their calling to You.

53 For You Yourself separated them to be Your allotment from all the peoples of the earth, just as You spoke by means of Moses Your servant, when You brought forth our fathers from Egypt, O my Lord Yahweh.

54 It came to be as Solomon finished praying to Yahweh with all this prayer and supplication, that he arose from before the altar of Yahweh, from bowing on his knees with his palms spread out to the heavens.

55 While he was standing, he blessed the whole assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,

56 Blessed be Yahweh, Who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He spoke. Not one thing has fallen short of all His good word which He spoke by means of Moses His servant.

57 May Yahweh our Elohim be with us just as He was with our fathers! He must not forsake us and not abandon us,

58 so as to cause our heart to stretch out to Him, to walk in all His ways and to keep His instructions, His statutes and His ordinances which He enjoined on our fathers.

59 And may these my words with which I have supplicated before Yahweh, be near to Yahweh our Elohim by day and night, so that He may execute right judgment for His servant and right judgment for His people Israel, each matter of a day in its day,

60 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that He, Yahweh, is the One, Elohim; and there is no other.

61 Hence we must be wholehearted with Yahweh our Elohim by walking benignly in His statutes and by keeping His instructions as in this day.

62 Then the king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices before Yahweh.

63 King Solomon offered the sacrifice of peace offerings that he had to sacrifice to Yahweh: 22,000 oxen and 120,000 of the flock. Thus the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Yahweh.

64 On that day the king hallowed the middle part of the court before the house of Yahweh, for there he offered the ascent offering and the approach present and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the copper altar that is before Yahweh was too small to contain the ascent offering and the approach present and the fat pieces of the peace offerings.

65 Thus Solomon observed the festival at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, coming from Lebo-hamath unto the Wadi of Egypt; they were before Yahweh our Elohim in the house that he had built, eating and drinking and rejoicing before Yahweh our Elohim seven days and seven days, fourteen days.

66 On the eighth day he dismissed the people; and they blessed the king as they went to their tents, rejoicing and cheerful of heart over all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David His servant and to His people Israel.

Chapter 9

1 It came to be as soon as Solomon had finished building the house of Yahweh and the house of the king and all of Solomon’s attachments which he desired to make,

2 that Yahweh appeared to Solomon a second time, just as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.

3 And Yahweh said to him: I have heard your prayer and your supplication with which you supplicated before Me. I have done for you according to all your prayer. I have sanctified this house that you have built by placing My Name there unto the eon; and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days.

4 As for you, if you should walk before Me, just as your father David walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness by doing according to all that I have instructed you, and if you should keep My statutes and My ordinances,

5 then I will confirm the throne of your kingship over Israel for the eon, just as I spoke to your father David, saying, There shall not be cut off a man of yours from being on the throne of Israel.

6 But if you should turn away, yea turn away from following Me, you or your sons, and should not keep My instructions and My statutes that I have set before you, so that you go and serve other elohim and bow down to them,

7 then I will cut Israel off the surface of the ground that I have given to them, and I shall cast out from My face this house that I have sanctified for My Name; and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.

8 This house, it shall become rubbish heaps. Everyone passing by it shall be appalled, and they will hiss. When they ask, On what grounds did Yahweh thus to this land and to this house?

9 people will answer, Because they forsook Yahweh their Elohim Who brought their fathers forth from the land of Egypt, and they held fast on other elohim and worshiped them and served them. Therefore Yahweh brought all this evil on them.

10 It came to be at the end of twenty years when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the house of the king,

11 Hiram king of Tyre had assisted Solomon with timber of cedars and timber of firs and gold according to all his desire then king Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

12 Yet when Hiram came forth from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they were not equitable in his eyes.

13 So he said, What sort of cities are these that you have given me, my brother? And one called them the Cabul area unto this day.

14 Hiram had been sending to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold.

15 This is the tally of the tributary service that king Solomon brought up to build the house of Yahweh and his own house, the Millo bulwark and the wall of Jerusalem, and to fortify Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer.

16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt, he had gone up and seized Gezer; he burned it with fire, killed the Canaanite dwelling in the city and gave it as a dismissal gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.)

17 So Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,

18 Baalath and Tadmor in the wilderness, within the land,

19 also all the provision cities that had become Solomon’s, the chariot cities and the cities for horsemen and all Solomon’s attachments which he wished to build in Jerusalem, in the Lebanon and in all the land under his rule.

20 All the people left of the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, those who were not of the sons of Israel

21 their sons who had been left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able to doom Solomon brought them up for tributary service unto this day.

22 Yet Solomon did not make conscript servants of the sons of Israel; for they were the men of military age and his officials, his chiefs, his adjutants and the chiefs of his chariotry and his horsemen.

23 These were the chiefs of the deputies who were holding sway over Solomon’s work: 550 over the people who were doing the work.

24 Then Solomon led up Pharaoh’s daughter from the city of David to her own house that he had built for her. It was then that he built the Millo bulwark.

25 Three times in a year, Solomon offered up ascent offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he had built for Yahweh, fuming incense along with it before Yahweh. Thus he finished up the house.

26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, near Elath on the ridge of the Sea of Weeds, in the land of Edom.

27 Hiram sent crews of his, seamen who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet together with Solomon’s servants.

28 They came to Ophir, procured from there 420 talents of gold and brought it to king Solomon.

Chapter 10

1 When the queen of Sheba was hearing of Solomon’s fame concerning the Name of Yahweh, she came to probe him with dark enigmas.

2 She came to Jerusalem with a very illustrious retinue, camels carrying aromatics, very much gold and precious stones. When she came to king Solomon, she spoke to him all that was on her mind,

3 while Solomon told her all her matters. There was no matter too obscure for the king that he could not tell her.

4 When the queen of Sheba had discerned all the wisdom of Solomon and had seen the house that he had built,

5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, the standing of those ministering to him and their clothing, and his cupbearers, as well as his ascent offering that he was offering up in the house of Yahweh, then there was no more spirit in her.

6 So she said to the king, True was the word that I heard in my land about your affairs and about your wisdom.

7 Yet I did not believe the words until I came and my eyes had seen it; and behold, not half was told to me. You have added wisdom and well-being beyond the report that I heard.

8 Happy are your people; happy are these officials of yours who are continually standing before you and hearkening to your wisdom.

9 May Yahweh your Elohim be blessed, Who delights in you so as to put you on the throne of Israel. Because of Yahweh’s love for Israel to make it stand for the eon, He has constituted you as king over them to execute right judgment and justice.

10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very great quantity of aromatics and precious stones. At no time did an abundance of aromatics like these come in again which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

11 Hiram’s fleet which carried gold from Ophir, brought also almug wood in very great quantity from Ophir and precious stones.

12 The king used the almug wood for inlay work in the house of Yahweh and in the house of the king, also for harps and zithers for the singers. So much almug wood has not come into the land, nor has it been seen unto this day.

13 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire for which she asked, aside from what he had given her according to the open hand of king Solomon. Then she turned around and went to her own land, she and her servants.

14 The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in each year was 666 talents of gold,

15 besides that from the exploring men and the merchandise of traders, and all the kings of Arabia and the viceroys of the land.

16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of ductile gold 600 shekels of gold he brought up on each large shield

17 and 300 shields of ductile gold three minas of gold he brought up on each shield and the king put them in the Lebanon wildwood house.

18 The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with glittering gold.

19 The throne had six steps, and as a cover a rounded top on its back, also armrests on this side and on that side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

20 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, on this side and on that side; such a thing had not been made for any other kingdom.

21 All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the Lebanon wildwood house were plated gold. Nothing was of silver; it was not reckoned as anything in Solomon’s days.

22 For the king had a Tarshish fleet at sea, along with Hiram’s fleet. Once in three years the Tarshish fleet would come carrying gold, silver, elephant tusks, also apes and peacocks.

23 Thus king Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

24 And all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom that Elohim had bestowed in his heart.

25 They were bringing each his approach present, articles of silver and articles of gold and raiments, stacte and aromatics, also horses and mules, a rate year by year.

26 Solomon was gathering chariots and steeds; Solomon had 4,000 stalls of horses for his chariots; he came to have 1,400 chariots and 12,000 steeds. He had them stabled in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

27 The king made the silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and he made the cedars as abundant as mulberry trees that are in the low foothills.

28 The horses that Solomon had were imports from Egypt and from Kue; and the royal merchants took them from Kue at a price.

29 A chariot coming up from Egypt was sold forth for 600 shekels of silver; a horse went for 150. So they brought them forth by their hand to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.

Chapter 11

1 As for king Solomon, he loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women,

2 from the nations of which Yahweh had said to the sons of Israel, You shall not enter among them, and they shall not enter among you. Surely they will turn aside your heart after their elohim. To those women Solomon clung in love.

3 He came to have as wives 700 chief princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned his heart aside.

4 It came to be at the time of Solomon’s old age that his wives turned his heart aside after other elohim; and he was not as wholehearted with Yahweh his Elohim as his father David had been in his heart.

5 Solomon went after Ashtoreth, elohim of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.

6 Thus Solomon did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did not fully follow after Yahweh like his father David.

7 Then Solomon built a high-place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain adjoining Jerusalem, and for Moloch, the abomination of the sons of Ammon.

8 Thus he did for all his foreign wives who were fuming incense and sacrificing to their elohim.

9 So Yahweh showed Himself angered with Solomon because he had turned aside his heart from Yahweh Elohim of Israel Who had appeared twice to him,

10 and had instructed him in this matter, so as not to go after other elohim; yet he did not keep what Yahweh had enjoined on him.

11 Hence Yahweh said to Solomon, Because this has occurred with you, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes that I enjoined on you, I shall tear, yea tear the kingdom away from your hand and will give it to your servant.

12 However, I shall not do it in your days on account of your father David. I shall tear it away from the hand of your son.

13 But I shall not tear away the entire kingdom; I shall give one tribe to your son on account of David My servant and on account of Jerusalem that I have chosen.

14 So Yahweh raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was from the seed of the king in Edom.

15 It came to be when David smote Edom, when Joab chief of the military host went up to entomb the slain, that he smote every male in Edom.

16 Joab and all Israel dwelt there for six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom.

17 Yet Hadad fled away and came to Egypt, he and some Edomite men of his father’s servants with him; Hadad was then a small lad.

18 They rose up out of Midian and came to Paran; then they took men from Paran with them and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave him a house and assigned bread to him; he also gave him land.

19 Hadad found grace in Pharaoh’s eyes especially so that he gave him as wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes, the queen-mother.

20 Then the sister of Tahpenes bore him his son, Genubath; and Tahpenes weaned him in the presence of Pharaoh’s sons. Thus Genubath came to be in the house of Pharaoh in the presence of Pharaoh’s sons.

21 As for Hadad, he heard in Egypt that David had lain down with his fathers and that Joab chief of the military host had died. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me go, that I may go to my land.

22 Pharaoh asked him, What indeed are you lacking with me that you are now seeking to go back to your land? And he replied, Nothing, but let me go, yea go!

23 Then Elohim raised up another adversary against him, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled away from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah.

24 Then he convened men about himself and became chief of a raiding party, when David killed the Syrians. Later they went to Damascus and dwelt in it and reigned over Damascus.

25 He came to be an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon; adding to the evil that Hadad did, he was irritating Israel, and he reigned over Syria.

26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah ( the name of his mother, a widowed woman, being Zeruah), was an official of Solomon; he too raised his hand against the king.

27 This was the reason why he raised his hand against the king: Solomon himself had built the Millo bulwark and had closed up the breach in the city of David his father.

28 Now the man Jeroboam was an able master. When Solomon saw the youth how well he was performing his work, he gave him supervision over the whole burden of the house of Joseph.

29 It occurred at that time when Jeroboam went forth from Jerusalem that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. He had covered himself with new raiment; and the two of them, they were alone in the field.

30 Ahijah grasped the new raiment that was on him, and tore it into twelve torn pieces.

31 Then he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten torn pieces; for thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Behold Me tearing the kingdom away from the hand of Solomon; I will give to you ten tribes

32 (yet the one tribe, it shall stay with him on account of My servant David and on account of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel)

33 because they have forsaken Me and are worshiping Ashtoreth, elohim of the Sidonians, Chemosh, elohim of Moab, and Milcom, elohim of the sons of Ammon. They have not walked in My ways so as to do what is upright in My eyes and My statutes and My ordinances as his father David did.

34 However, I shall not take the entire kingdom out of his hand, but shall set him as prince all the days of his life on account of David My servant whom I chose, who kept My instructions and My statutes.

35 Yet I will take the kingship out of the hand of his son and give it to you the ten tribes.

36 I shall give one tribe to his son, so that there may be a lamp for David My servant all the days before Me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for Myself to place My Name there.

37 Now I shall take you, and you will reign over all for which your soul is yearning, and you will become king over Israel.

38 It will come to be, if you shall hearken to all that I instruct you, and you will walk in My ways and do what is upright in My eyes so as to keep My statutes and My instructions just as David My servant did, then I will be with you. I will build for you a sure house, just as I have built for David, and I will give you Israel.

39 Yet I shall humiliate the seed of David on account of this, though not all their days.

40 Solomon sought to put Jeroboam to death. But Jeroboam got up and fled away to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt. He stayed in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

41 As for the rest of the affairs of Solomon, all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of Solomon?

42 The days that Solomon had reigned in Jerusalem over all of Israel were forty years.

43 Then Solomon lay down with his fathers and was entombed in the city of David, his father; his son Rehoboam reigned in his stead.

Chapter 12

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

2 It came to be as Jeroboam son of Nebat heard it, when he was still in Egypt to which he had fled away from the face of king Solomon, that Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

3 So they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

4 Your father, he made our yoke harsh. As for you now, lighten the harsh service of your father and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we shall serve you.

5 He replied to them, Go away for three days, and then return to me. So the people went away.

6 Then king Rehoboam consulted the elders who had been standing before his father Solomon while he was alive, saying, How are you counseling to render a reply to this people?

7 They spoke to him, saying, Should you become a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will become your servants all their days.

8 But he forsook the counsel of the elders, with which they had counseled him, and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who were standing before him.

9 He asked them, What are you counseling we should render as a reply to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Lighten the yoke that your father put on us.

10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus you should answer this people who have spoken to you, saying, Your father, he made our yoke heavy. As for you, lighten it for us. Thus you should speak to them, My small finger, it is thicker than my father’s waist.

11 And now my father, he laded a heavy yoke on you; yet I, I shall add to your yoke. My father, he flogged you with whips; yet I, I shall flog you with scorpions.

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying, Return to me on the third day.

13 Yet the king answered the people obstinately and forsook the counsel of the elders who had counseled him.

14 He spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father, he made heavy your yoke; yet I, I shall add to your yoke. My father, he flogged you with whips; yet I, I shall flog you with scorpions.

15 The king did not hearken to the people, for the circumstance had come from Yahweh, that He might carry out His word that Yahweh had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat by means of Ahijah the Shilonite.

16 When all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, then the people rendered a reply to the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? We have no allotment in the son of Jesse! To your tents, Israel! Now see to your own house, David! So Israel went to their tents.

17 As for the sons of Israel who were dwelling in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam still reigned over them.

18 Then king Rehoboam sent out Adoram who was in charge of the tributary service; but all Israel pelted him with stones, so that he died. Yet king Rehoboam was resolute to get up on his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel transgressed against the house of David until this day.

20 It came to pass as all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned from Egypt, that they sent and called him to the congregation and made him king over all Israel. And none became a follower of the house of David except the tribe of Judah, it alone.

21 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 choice men, practiced in battle, to fight against the house of Israel, in order to restore the kingship to Rehoboam son of Solomon.

22 But the word of Yahweh came to Shemiah, to the man of Elohim, saying,

23 Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah, to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying,

24 Thus speaks Yahweh: You shall neither go up nor fight against your brothers, the sons of Israel. Return, each man to his house; for it was from Me that this thing has come about. So they hearkened to the word of Yahweh and turned back to go home according to the word of Yahweh.

25 Then Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and dwelt in it. From there he went forth and rebuilt Penuel.

26 Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom may well return to the house of David.

27 If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem, the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah. Then they will kill me and will return to Rehoboam king of Judah.

28 So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold and said to the people, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your elohim, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

29 And he placed the one in Bethel and the other he set up in Dan.

30 This matter came to be a sin; the people went before the one as far as Dan.

31 He also built a house of the high-places and appointed priests from the whole number of the people who were not of the sons of Levi.

32 Jeroboam established a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that was in Judah, and he went up to the altar which he had built in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves that he had made. He also installed in Bethel the priests of the high-places which he had made.

33 He went up to the altar which he had built in Bethel, on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had invented in his heart; so he established a festival for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to fume incense.

Chapter 13

1 Behold, a man of Elohim, he came from Judah by the word of Yahweh to Bethel while Jeroboam was standing at the altar to fume incense.

2 He called out against the altar by the word of Yahweh and said, Altar, altar, thus speaks Yahweh: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David; Josiah is his name. And he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high-places who are fuming incense on you; and he shall burn human bones on you.

3 Then he gave a miracle on that day, saying, This is the miracle of which Yahweh has spoken: Behold, the altar will be torn apart, and the greasy ash that is on it will be poured out.

4 Now this came to pass: As the king heard the word of the man of Elohim that he had called out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from above the altar, saying, Apprehend him! And his hand that he stretched out against him dried up, so that he could not bring it back to himself.

5 As for the altar, it was torn apart, and the greasy ash was poured out from the altar, according to the miracle that the man of Elohim had given by the word of Yahweh.

6 Now the king responded and said to the man of Elohim, Beseech, I pray, the face of Yahweh your Elohim! Pray in my behalf that my hand may return to me. So the man of Elohim beseeched the face of Yahweh, so that the king’s hand may return to him, and it became as at first.

7 Then the king spoke to the man of Elohim, Do come with me to the house and brace yourself; and let me give you a gift.

8 But the man of Elohim said to the king, If you gave me half of your house, I would not come with you. And I would neither eat bread nor drink water in this place.

9 For so I was instructed by the word of Yahweh, saying, Neither shall you eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came.

10 So he went by another way and did not return by the way by which he came to Bethel.

11 There was a certain old prophet dwelling in Bethel; now his sons came and related to him all the work that the man of Elohim had done that day in Bethel, with the words that he had spoken to the king; so they related them to their father.

12 Then their father spoke to them, Just where is the way he went? So his sons showed him the way that the man of Elohim had gone, who had come from Judah.

13 Then he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. Now they saddled the donkey for him, and he rode on it.

14 Thus he went after the man of Elohim and found him sitting under a terebinth. He said to him, Are you the man of Elohim who came from Judah? And he replied, I am.

15 Then he said to him, Come with me to the house and eat bread.

16 Yet he replied, I can not return with you or come with you; and I may neither eat bread nor drink water with you in this place.

17 For the order for me came by a word of Yahweh: Neither shall you eat bread nor drink water there; and you shall not return to go by the way in which you came.

18 Then the other said to him, I too am a prophet like you; there was a messenger who spoke to me by a word of Yahweh, saying, Have him turn back with you to your house that he may eat bread and drink water. But he dissimulated to him.

19 So he returned with him; and he ate bread in his house and drank water.

20 Now it occurred while they were sitting at the table, that the word of Yahweh came to the prophet who had brought him back;

21 and he called out to the man of Elohim who had come from Judah, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh: Inasmuch as you rebelled against the bidding of Yahweh and did not observe the instruction that Yahweh your Elohim enjoined on you,

22 but returned and ate bread and drank water in this place of which He spoke to you, Do not eat bread and do not drink water, your carcass shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.

23 Then it came to pass after his eating bread and after his drinking water that he saddled the donkey for him, for the prophet whom he had brought back.

24 So he went away; then a lion found him on the road and put him to death. His carcass came to be flung on the road; and the donkey was standing beside it, and the lion too standing beside the carcass.

25 And behold, men passing by saw the carcass flung on the road with the lion standing beside the carcass. They came and spoke of it in the city in which the old prophet was dwelling.

26 When the prophet who had him turn back from his way, heard of it, then he said, He is the man of Elohim who rebelled against the bidding of Yahweh; so Yahweh gave him to the lion that he might break him and put him to death according to the word of Yahweh that he had spoken to him.

27 Then he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me, and they saddled it.

28 He went out and found his carcass flung on the road. The donkey and the lion were standing beside the carcass; the lion had neither eaten the carcass nor broken the donkey.

29 So the prophet took up the carcass of the man of Elohim. He let him rest on the donkey and brought him back. Thus he came to the city of the old prophet to bewail and to entomb him.

30 Then he let his carcass rest in his own tomb; and they were wailing over him, Woe, my brother!

31 It came to pass after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, At my death you will entomb me also in the tomb in which the man of Elohim is entombed. Beside his bones let my bones rest.

32 For the word shall come to pass, yea come to pass that he called out by the word of Yahweh against the altar in Bethel and against all the high-place houses in the cities of Samaria.

33 After this incident Jeroboam did not turn back from his evil way, but he again appointed priests of the high-places from the outmost ranks of the people. For anyone who so desired, he ordained him, and he became one of the priests of the high-places.

34 This matter came to be a sin of the house of Jeroboam and led to suppress and to exterminate it off the face of the ground.

Chapter 14

1 At that time Jeroboam’s son Abijah became ill.

2 So Jeroboam said to his wife, Now get up! Alter yourself so that they may not know that you are the wife of Jeroboam; then you will go to Shiloh. Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet; he is the one who spoke concerning me to become king over this people.

3 You must take in your hand ten loaves of bread, speckled cakes and a bottle of honey. When you come to him, he himself will tell you what shall become of the lad.

4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She got up, went to Shiloh and entered Ahijah’s house. As for Ahijah, he was not able to see, for his eyes were fixed because of his greyhaired age.

5 But Yahweh had said to Ahijah, Behold, Jeroboam’s wife is coming to inquire of you in the matter of her son, for he is ill. This and that shall you speak to her. And it shall come to be, as she enters, that she makes herself unrecognizable.

6 Now it came to pass, as Ahijah heard the sound of her feet entering into the portal, that he said, Come in, wife of Jeroboam! Why is this that you made yourself unrecognizable? I have been consigned with a severe message for you.

7 Go and say to Jeroboam, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Inasmuch as I exalted you from among the people and appointed you as governor over My people Israel

8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, yet you have not become like My servant David who kept My instructions and who walked after Me with all his heart to do but what is upright in My eyes;

9 you are doing more evil with your deeds than all who came before you; you went and made for yourself other elohim and molten images to provoke Me to vexation; yet Me have you flung behind your body;

10 wherefore behold, I am bringing evil over the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam any man-child, restrained or set free, in Israel. I will take out the last of the house of Jeroboam just as one takes out the ordure until it is completely removed.

11 The one dying of Jeroboam’s in the city shall the dogs eat; and the one dying in the field shall the flyers of the heavens eat; for Yahweh Himself has spoken.

12 As for you, get up, go to your house. When your feet come into the city, then the boy will die.

13 All Israel will bewail him. They will entomb him; for this one, he alone of Jeroboam’s shall come into a tomb, because something well-pleasing to Yahweh Elohim of Israel is found in him, in the house of Jeroboam.

14 Then Yahweh will raise up for Himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This today, and what indeed is next?

15 Yahweh will smite Israel just as the reed is shaking in the water; He will pluck up Israel off this good ground that He gave to their fathers, and He will toss them beyond the Stream, because they made their Asherah poles, thus provoking Yahweh to vexation.

16 He shall give Israel up owing to the sins of Jeroboam with which he sinned and with which he caused Israel to sin.

17 Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and went and came to Tirzah. As she was coming to the threshold of the house, the lad died.

18 They entombed him, and all Israel bewailed him, according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken by means of His servant Ahijah the prophet.

19 The rest of the affairs of Jeroboam, how he fought and how he reigned, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.

20 Now the days that Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years; then he lay down with his fathers, and his son Nadab reigned in his stead.

21 As for Rehoboam son of Solomon, he reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to establish His Name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

22 Judah did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and they made Him jealous above all that their fathers had done by their sins with which they had sinned.

23 They too were building for themselves high-places, monuments and Asherah poles on every lofty hill and under every flourishing tree.

24 There were even cult-prostitutes in the land. They practiced all the abhorrences of the nations which Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel.

25 It occurred in the fifth year of king Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt marched up against Jerusalem.

26 He took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the house of the king; he took them all. He was also taking away all the golden shields that Solomon had made.

27 In place of them, king Rehoboam made shields of bronze and gave the supervision over them into the hand of the chiefs of the runners who were guarding the portal of the king’s house.

28 It came to be that, as often as the king came to the house of Yahweh, the runners carried them; and afterward they would bring them back to the anteroom of the runners.

29 The rest of the affairs of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

31 Then Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. His son Abijah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 15

1 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijah became king over Judah.

2 Three years he reigned in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

3 He walked in all the sins of his father which he had done before him; and he was not as wholehearted with Yahweh his Elohim as his father David had been in his heart.

4 For on account of David, Yahweh his Elohim gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, so as to set up his sons after him and cause Jerusalem to persist.

5 For David did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, and he did not withdraw from anything that He had enjoined on him, all the days of his life, except, surely, in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.

7 The rest of the affairs of Abijah, and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.

8 Then Abijah lay down with his fathers; they entombed him in the city of David, and his son Asa reigned in his stead.

9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king over Judah.

10 Forty-one years he reigned in Jerusalem; and his grandmother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.

11 Asa did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, like his father David.

12 He expelled the cult-prostitutes from the land and took away all the idol clods that his fathers had made.

13 As for his grandmother Maacah, he even made her withdraw from her rank of queen-mother, because she had made an obscene idol for Asherah. Asa cut down her obscene idol and burned it in Wadi Kidron.

14 Yet the high-places were not taken away. However, Asa’s heart was at peace with Yahweh all his days.

15 And he brought to the house of Yahweh the holy things of his father and his own holy things, silver and gold and vessels.

16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

17 Baasha king of Israel marched up against Judah and rebuilt Ramah, so as to allow no one to go forth or come in to Asa king of Judah.

18 Now Asa took all the silver and the gold left among the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and among the treasuries of the house of the king and put them in the hand of his officials. Then king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon son of Hezion, the king of Syria who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

19 There is a covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold, I send you a bribe of silver and gold; come, do annul your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he may go up away from me.

20 Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa and sent the chiefs of the armies that he had against the cities of Israel. He smote Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah and all Chinnereth as far as all the land of Naphtali.

21 Now it came to pass as Baasha heard of it, that he left off from rebuilding Ramah and dwelt in Tirzah.

22 As for king Asa, he summoned all of Judah no one was exempt and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers of it with which Baasha had rebuilt it. With them king Asa built up Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.

23 The rest of all the affairs of Asa and all his masterful deeds, all that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah? But at the time of his old age he travailed in his feet.

24 Then Asa lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son Jehoshaphat reigned in his stead.

25 As for Nadab son of Jeroboam, he became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.

26 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and he walked in the way of his father and in his sin with which he had caused Israel to sin.

27 Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon of the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.

28 So Baasha put him to death in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his stead.

29 It occurred as he became king, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam. He did not let any breath remain to Jeroboam until he had exterminated him according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken by means of His servant Ahijah the Shilonite,

30 because of the sins of Jeroboam with which he had sinned and with which he had caused Israel to sin, by his vexation with which he provoked Yahweh Elohim of Israel to vexation.

31 The rest of the affairs of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

32 And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah for twenty-four years.

34 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and he walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin with which he had caused Israel to sin.

Chapter 16

1 The word of Yahweh came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha, saying,

2 Inasmuch as, when I exalted you from the dust and appointed you as governor over My people Israel, you walked in the way of Jeroboam and caused My people Israel to sin by provoking Me to vexation with their sins,

3 behold, I am wiping out the last of Baasha, the last of his house, and I will make his house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat.

4 Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city shall the dogs eat; and anyone belonging to him who dies in the field shall the fowl of the heavens eat.

5 The rest of the affairs of Baasha, what he did, and his masterful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

6 Baasha lay down with his fathers and was entombed in Tirzah; and his son Elah reigned in his stead.

7 Moreover by means of the prophet Jehu son of Hanani, the word of Yahweh had come to Baasha and to his house, because of all the evil that he had done in the eyes of Yahweh by provoking Him to vexation with the work of his hands, that it would become like the house of Jeroboam, and because he had smitten it.

8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king over Israel in Tirzah for two years.

9 His official Zimri, chief of half the chariots, conspired against him, while he was in Tirzah drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza who was over the household at Tirzah.

10 Zimri came in, smote him and put him to death in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah; and he reigned in his stead.

11 It occurred as he became king and as he sat on his throne that he smote all the house of Baasha; he let remain to him neither a man-child nor his kinsman redeemers nor his associates.

12 Thus Zimri exterminated all the house of Baasha according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken against Baasha by means of Jehu the prophet,

13 because of all the sins of Baasha and the sins of his son Elah with which they had sinned and with which they had caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh Elohim of Israel to vexation with their idols of vanity.

14 The rest of the affairs of Elah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri became king for seven days in Tirzah, while the soldiers were encamping against Gibbethon of the Philistines.

16 When the soldiers in the camp heard it said, Zimri has conspired and also smitten the king, then all Israel made the chief of the military host, Omri, king over Israel on that day in the camp.

17 Now Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibbethon and besieged Tirzah.

18 It came to pass when Zimri saw that the city was seized, that he entered the citadel of the king’s house, burned the king’s house with fire over himself so that he died

19 because of his sins with which he had sinned by doing what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, by walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he had done by causing Israel to sin.

20 The rest of the affairs of Zimri and his conspiracy with which he conspired, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

21 Then the people of Israel were apportioned in two halves. There was one half of the people following Tibni son of Ginath, to make him king, and the other half following Omri.

22 But the people following Omri held fast against the people following Tibni son of Ginath. Tibni died, and Omri became king.

23 In the year thirty-one of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel for twelve years; in Tirzah he reigned six years.

24 Then he bought Mount Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver, and built up the mount. He called the name of the city that he built, Samaria, after the name of Shemer, the lord of the mount.

25 Omri did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, and he caused more evil than all who had been before him.

26 He walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in his sin with which he caused Israel to sin by provoking Yahweh Elohim of Israel to vexation with their idols of vanity.

27 The rest of the affairs of Omri, what he did, and his masterful deeds which he performed, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

28 Omri lay down with his fathers and was entombed in Samaria; and his son Ahab reigned in his stead.

29 As for Ahab son of Omri, he became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah; and Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years.

30 Ahab son of Omri did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, worse than all who had been before him.

31 So it came to pass (as if it was lightly esteemed by him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat) that he took as wife Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. Then he went to serve Baal and worshiped him.

32 He set up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal that he built in Samaria.

33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole. Thus Ahab proceeded to do more to provoke Yahweh Elohim of Israel to vexation than all the kings of Israel who had been before him.

34 In his days Hiel the Bethelite rebuilt Jericho. At the cost of Abiram, his firstborn, he laid its foundation; and at the cost of Segub, his junior son, he set up its double doors, according to the word of Yahweh that He spoke by means of Joshua son of Nun.

Chapter 17

1 Elijah the Tishbite, the prophet from Tishbe of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Yahweh Elohim of Israel lives, before Whom I stand, there shall not come in these years night mist or rain, except at the bidding of my word.

2 Then the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

3 Go away from this place, and you will turn yourself around, eastward. You will conceal yourself by Wadi Cherith that is adjoining the Jordan.

4 It will come to pass that you shall drink from the wadi, and I have enjoined on the ravens to sustain you there.

5 So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh; he went and dwelt by Wadi Cherith that is adjoining the Jordan.

6 And the ravens were bringing him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening; and he was drinking from the wadi.

7 Yet it came to pass at the end of some days that the wadi dried up because no downpour had come on the land.

8 Now the word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

9 Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon; and you will dwell there. Behold, I enjoined on a widowed woman there to sustain you.

10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. When he came to the portal of the city, behold, there was a widowed woman gathering sticks together. He called out to her and said, Oh, procure a little water for me in a vessel that I may drink.

11 When she was going to procure it, he called out to her and said, Oh procure a morsel of bread for me in your hand.

12 She replied, As Yahweh your Elohim lives, I have no ember cake, save a palm-full of meal in the jar and a little oil in the cruse; and behold, I am gathering a couple sticks together. When I come home, I will prepare it for me and for my son; we will eat it, and then we will die.

13 Elijah said to her, Do not fear. Go, do according to your word. However first prepare for me a small ember cake from what you have there; and you will bring it forth to me. Yet for yourself and for your son you shall make it afterward.

14 For thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel, The jar of meal, it shall not be exhausted, and the cruse of oil, it shall not abate until the day that Yahweh shall give a downpour on the surface of the ground.

15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah. She ate, she and he and her household for many days.

16 The jar of meal, it was not exhausted, and the cruse of oil, it did not abate, according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken by means of Elijah.

17 It came to pass after these things that the son of the woman, the possessor of the house, became ill; and his illness came to be exceedingly unyielding, until no breath was left in him.

18 So she said to Elijah, What have you against me, O man of the One, Elohim, that you came to me to remind me of my depravity and to put my son to death?

19 He replied to her, Give me your son; and he took him from her bosom, brought him up to the upper chamber where he was dwelling, and laid him on his couch.

20 Then he called to Yahweh and said, O Yahweh my Elohim, will You also bring evil on the widow with whom I am sojourning, by putting her son to death?

21 He measured himself on the boy three times and called to Yahweh and said, O Yahweh my Elohim, I pray, let the soul of this boy turn back within him.

22 Yahweh hearkened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the boy turned back within him, and he revived.

23 Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and gave him to his mother. Then Elijah said, See, your son is alive.

24 And the woman replied to Elijah, Now by this I know that you are a man of Elohim and that the word of Yahweh is truly in your mouth.

Chapter 18

1 It occurred after many days, in the third year, that a word of Yahweh came to Elijah, saying, Go, appear before Ahab, for I shall indeed give rain upon the surface of the ground.

2 So Elijah went to appear before Ahab. Now the famine was unyielding in Samaria,

3 and Ahab had called Obadiah who was over the household. As for Obadiah, he had come to fear Yahweh exceedingly.

4 It occurred when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Yahweh that Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them by fifties each in caves, and had provided them with bread and water.

5 Now Ahab said to Obadiah, Come and let us pass through the land to all the springs of water and to all the wadis. Perhaps we shall find some grass and keep horses and mules alive so that we may not have more of the beasts cut off.

6 So they apportioned the land between them to pass through it. Ahab, he went by himself alone in one direction; and Obadiah, he went by himself alone in another direction.

7 Obadiah was on the road, and there was Elijah to meet him. Obadiah recognized him, fell on his face and said, Is this you, my lord Elijah?

8 He replied to him, It is I. Go, say to your lord, Elijah is here.

9 Yet he asked, In what am I at fault that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death?

10 As Yahweh your Elohim lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, He is not here, then he adjured that kingdom and that nation that it could not find you.

11 And now you are saying, Go, say to your lord, Elijah is here.

12 It will come to pass when I shall go away from you, then the spirit of Yahweh itself may carry you to a land that I do not know. When I come to tell Ahab, and he should not find you, then he will kill me. As for your servant, he has feared Yahweh from his youth.

13 Has not my lord been told what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Yahweh? I hid some of the prophets of Yahweh, a hundred men, fifty by fifty men in caves; and I provided them with bread and water.

14 And now you are saying, Go, say to your lord, Elijah is here. Then he will kill me!

15 Yet Elijah replied, As Yahweh of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, today I shall indeed appear before him.

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab ran to meet Elijah.

17 It came to pass as Ahab saw Elijah that Ahab said to him, Is this you, the troubler of Israel?

18 Elijah replied, I have not brought trouble on Israel, but rather you have, and the house of your father, because you have forsaken the instructions of Yahweh, and you went after the Baalim.

19 Now send and convene to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are eating at the table of Jezebel.

20 Then Ahab sent word among all the sons of Israel, and he convened the prophets at Mount Carmel.

21 Elijah came close to all the people and said, How long will you go on skipping to and fro between the two opinions? If Yahweh is the One, Elohim, go after Him. If Baal is, go after him. Yet the people answered him not a word.

22 Then Elijah said to the people, I am left as a prophet of Yahweh, I by myself alone, while the prophets of Baal are 450 men.

23 Now let them give us two young bulls; and let them choose for themselves one young bull, cut it in pieces and place it on the sticks; but they should not apply fire. I myself shall prepare the other young bull; I will put it on the sticks; but I shall not apply fire.

24 Then you will call your elohim by name, and I myself shall call Yahweh by name. And it will come to be: The One, Elohim Who shall respond with fire, He is the One, Elohim. All the people answered and said, Good is the word which you have spoken.

25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose for yourselves one young bull and prepare yours first, since you are so many. Then call your elohim by name, but do not apply fire.

26 So they took the young bull which one had given to them, and they prepared it. Then they called Baal by name from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, answer us! But there was no voice, and there was no one answering. Yet they were skipping about the altar that one had made.

27 It came to pass at noon that Elijah trifled with them and said, Call with a loud voice (for he is an elohim) in case he is in meditation, or in case he had to turn away, or in case he has been on the road; perhaps he is sleeping and shall awake.

28 So they were calling with a loud voice; and they slashed themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until blood poured out over them.

29 It came to be as noon passed that they feigned themselves prophets until the time to offer up the approach present. But there was no voice, there was no one answering, and there was no attention.

30 Now Elijah said to all the people, Come close to me! When all the people came close to him, he mended the demolished altar of Yahweh.

31 Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom had come the word of Yahweh, saying, Israel shall be your name.

32 With the stones he built an altar in the Name of Yahweh, and he made a trench round about the altar, enough for housing two seahs of seed.

33 He arranged the sticks, cut the young bull in pieces and placed it on the sticks.

34 Then he said, Fill four jars with water and pour it on the ascent offering and on the sticks. Now he said, Repeat it. And they repeated it. Yet he said, Do it a third time. So they did it a third time.

35 Thus the water ran round about the altar, and even the trench, it filled with water.

36 When it was time to offer up the approach present Elijah the prophet came close and said, O Yahweh Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that You are Elohim in Israel and I am Your servant and that by Your words I have done all these things.

37 Answer me, O Yahweh, answer me! Thus this people may know that You, Yahweh, are the One, Elohim, and that You Yourself will turn their heart around back again.

38 Now the fire of Yahweh fell and devoured the ascent offering and the sticks, the stones and the soil, and it licked up the water that was in the trench.

39 When all the people saw this, they fell on their faces and said, Yahweh, He is the One, Elohim, Yahweh, He is the One, Elohim.

40 Then Elijah said to them, Grab the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. So they grabbed them, and Elijah brought them down to Wadi Kishon; there he slew them.

41 Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of the rumble of a downpour.

42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. As for Elijah, he ascended to the summit of Mount Carmel and crouched prone to the earth and placed his face between his knees.

43 And he said to his lad, Now go up and look in the direction of the sea. He went up and looked and said, There is nothing whatsoever. Yet Elijah replied, Turn back, seven times.

44 It came to pass at the seventh time that he said, Behold, a thick cloud, small as a man’s palm, is ascending from the sea. So he replied, Rise up; say to Ahab, Hitch up your chariot, and go down that the downpour may not restrain you.

45 It came to pass then and there that the heavens sombered themselves with thick clouds; and with the wind came a great downpour while Ahab rode off and went to Jezreel.

46 The hand of Yahweh, it came on Elijah, so that he tightened his waist and ran ahead, before Ahab, until you come to Jezreel.

Chapter 19

1 Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done and all about how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, Thus shall the elohim do, and thus they may add: At this time tomorrow I shall make your soul like the soul of one of them.

3 Then Elijah feared, arose and ran for his soul. When he came to Beer-sheba in Judah he left his lad there.

4 Yet he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came to sit under a certain broom bush. He begged for his soul to die and said, It is enough now! O Yahweh, take my soul from me, for I am no better than my fathers.

5 Then he lay down and slept under the same broom bush. And behold this, a messenger was touching him and said to him, Arise and eat.

6 When he looked, behold, beside his headrest was an ember cake, baked on glowing stones, and a cruse of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again.

7 The messenger of Yahweh returned a second time; he touched him and said, Arise and eat, for the journey is too much for you.

8 So he arose and ate and drank; and in the vigor of that food he walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mount of Elohim at Horeb.

9 There he came to a cave that he might lodge there for the night. And behold, the word of Yahweh came to him and said to him, What have you to do here, Elijah?

10 He replied, I have been zealous, yea zealous for Yahweh Elohim of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant; they have demolished Your altars, and they have killed Your prophets with the sword, so that I am left, I by myself alone. And they are seeking for my soul to take it.

11 The voice said, Go forth, and you will stand on the mount before Yahweh. And behold, Yahweh was passing by, and a great and steadfast wind was ripping apart the mountains and was breaking up the crags before Yahweh; yet Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind was an earthquake; yet Yahweh was not in the earthquake.

12 After the earthquake was a fire; yet Yahweh was not in the fire. After the fire was the sound of a gentle stillness.

13 It came to pass as Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went forth and stood at the opening of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, What have you to do here, Elijah?

14 He replied, I have been zealous, yea zealous for Yahweh Elohim of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant; they have demolished Your altars, and they have killed Your prophets with the sword, so that I am left, I by myself alone. And they are seeking for my soul to take it.

15 Now Yahweh said to him, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you enter there, then you will anoint Hazael as king over Syria.

16 And Jehu son of Nimshi shall you anoint as king over Israel. And Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah shall you anoint as prophet in your stead.

17 It will occur to the one escaping from Hazael’s sword that Jehu shall put him to death, and to the one escaping from Jehu’s sword that Elisha shall put him to death.

18 Yet I will let remain in Israel 7,000, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.

19 So he went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat while he was plowing; there were twelve teams of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah came over to him and flung his mantle around him.

20 Elisha forsook the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, I pray, let me kiss my father and my mother good-bye, and then let me go after you. Elijah replied to him, Go, return; but realize what I have done to you.

21 Then he returned from going after him and took the team of oxen and sacrificed them. With the gear of the oxen he cooked the flesh of them and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, went after Elijah and ministered to him.

Chapter 20

1 Ben-hadad king of Syria convened his whole army; thirtytwo kings were with him, also horses and chariots. Then he went up, besieged Samaria and fought against it.

2 He sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel inside the city

3 to say to him, Thus speaks Ben-hadad: Your silver and your gold, they are mine; your wives and your sons, those who are well favored, they are mine.

4 The king of Israel answered and said, According to your word, my lord the king, I and all I have are yours.

5 Then the messengers returned and said, Thus speaks Ben-hadad, saying: Indeed I sent to you to demand that you give to me your silver and your gold, your wives and your sons.

6 But I shall rather send my officials to you at this time tomorrow. They will search your house and the houses of your officials. And it will come to be if they should lay their hand on anything coveted in their eyes, then they will take it away.

7 Now Israel’s king called all the elders of his land and said, Realize now and see that this fellow is seeking evil, for he sent to me for my wives and my sons, for my silver and my gold; and I withheld nothing from him.

8 All the elders and all the people said to him, Do not hearken, and you should not comply.

9 So he replied to the messengers of Ben-hadad, Say to my lord the king: All for which you sent to your servant first, I shall do. But this matter I am not able to do. So the messengers went off and brought word back to him.

10 Now Ben-hadad sent to him and said: Thus shall the elohim do to me and thus they may add, if the soil of Samaria shall be adequate for handfuls to all the people who are in my footsteps.

11 Israel’s king answered and said, Tell him: The one girding on his armor must not boast himself like the one unloosing it.

12 It came to be when he heard this word while he himself and the kings were drinking in the booths, that he said to his officials, Take your positions. So they established their positions against the city.

13 And behold, a certain prophet came close to Ahab king of Israel and said, Thus speaks Yahweh: Do you see all this great throng? Behold, I am giving it into your hand today; then you will know that I am Yahweh.

14 Ahab asked, By whom? And he replied, Thus speaks Yahweh: By the lads of the chief officials of the provinces. Ahab asked, Who shall open the battle engagement? And he replied, You.

15 So Ahab mustered the lads of the chief officials of the provinces; they came to be two hundred thirty-two. After them he mustered all the people, all the sons of Israel, 7,000.

16 They went forth at noon while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the booths, he with the kings, the thirty-two kings who were helping him.

17 When the lads of the chief officials of the provinces came forth first, Ben-hadad sent out scouts; they told him, saying, Men have come forth from Samaria.

18 He replied, If they come forth for peace, apprehend them alive; and if they come forth for battle, apprehend them alive.

19 Those had come forth from the city, the lads of the chief officials of the provinces, and the army that was behind them.

20 Each of them smote his man; then the Syrians fled while Israel pursued them. But Ben-hadad king of Syria escaped on horseback with some of his horsemen.

21 Now Israel’s king went forth and took all the horses and the chariots. Thus he smote Syria with a great blow.

22 Then the prophet came close to Israel’s king and said to him, Go, reinforce yourself; realize and see what you should do; for at the return of the year the king of Syria will be coming up against you.

23 As for the officials of Syria’s king, they said to him, An Elohim of mountains is Israel’s Elohim and not an Elohim of vales. Therefore they were more courageous than we. Nevertheless, if we should fight against them on level ground, we shall assuredly be more courageous than they.

24 Now execute this program: Cause the kings to withdraw, each man from his place, and appoint viceroys in their stead.

25 You should assign for yourself another army like the army that fell from your side, with horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then let us fight against them on level ground, and we shall assuredly be more courageous than they. Now he hearkened to their voice and did so.

26 It came to pass at the return of the year that Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to Aphek for the battle against Israel.

27 As for the sons of Israel, they presented themselves to be mustered. They were supplied and went out to meet them. Then the sons of Israel encamped in front of them like two small flocks of goats; the Syrians however filled the countryside.

28 Then the man of Elohim came close and spoke to the king of Israel; he said, Thus speaks Yahweh: Because the Syrians have said, An Elohim of mountains is Yahweh, and He is not an Elohim of vales, I will give all this great throng into your hand so that you will acknowledge that I am Yahweh.

29 So they encamped, these over against those, for seven days. Now it came to pass on the seventh day that the battle was waged; and the sons of Israel smote the Syrians, 100,000 men on foot, in one day.

30 The rest of them fled toward Aphek, into the city; yet the wall fell on 27,000 men of the rest. As for Ben-hadad, he fled and came into the city and hid in the chamber inside a chamber.

31 His officials said to him, Behold now, we have heard about the kings of the house of Israel that they are kings of kindness. Now let us put sackcloth around our waists and lines of rope around our heads and go forth to the king of Israel. Perhaps he shall keep your soul alive.

32 So they girded sackcloth around their waists, and with lines of rope around their heads they came to the king of Israel and said, Your servant Ben-hadad says: I pray, let my soul live. He replied, Is he still alive? He is my brother.

33 The men, they augured and quickly took it as decided by him and said, Ben-hadad is your brother. He replied, Go, take him. When Ben-hadad came forth to him, he had him get up into the chariot.

34 The Syrian promised him, The cities that my father took from your father, I shall return. And you may establish street markets for yourself in Damascus, just as my father established them in Samaria. Ahab replied, As for me, under a covenant I shall let you go. Then he contracted a covenant with him and let him go.

35 There was a certain man of the sons of the prophets; he said to his associate by the word of Yahweh, Smite me, I pray. Yet the man refused to smite him.

36 So he said to him, Because you did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh, behold, when you are going away from me, a lion will smite you. Then he went away from beside him; and a lion found him and smote him.

37 Now he found another man and said, Smite me, I pray. So this man smote him, and in smiting injured him.

38 Then the prophet went off and stood by the road waiting for the king; he had disguised himself with a head-bandage over his eyes.

39 Now it came to be as the king was passing by that he cried out to the king and said, Your servant himself went forth right within the battle, and behold, a man withdrew and brought a man to me and said, Guard this man. If he should be missing, yea missing, then your soul will come to be for his soul; or you shall weigh out a talent of silver for him.

40 Now it came to pass as your servant was busy going hither and thither, that he was not there. The king of Israel replied to him, So be your judgment; you yourself have decided.

41 Quickly he took away the head-bandage from over his eyes; now the king of Israel recognized him that he was one of the prophets.

42 Then the prophet said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh: Because you let go out of your hand the man under My doom, your soul will be for his soul, and your people for his people.

43 Then the king of Israel went to his house, sullen and turbulent, and came to Samaria.

Chapter 21

1 It occurred after these incidents: Naboth the Jezreelite came to have a vineyard that was in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.

2 Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Do give me your vineyard, so that it may become a garden of greens for me, since it is near, beside my house. Let me give you in its stead another vineyard, better than it. Or if it is good in your eyes, let me give you silver as the price of this one.

3 Yet Naboth replied to Ahab, Far be it from me, by Yahweh, that I should give up the allotment of my fathers to you.

4 So Ahab went to his house, sullen and turbulent over the word that Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him when he said, I shall not give you the allotment of my fathers. Then he lay down on his couch, turned his face about and would not eat bread.

5 Now Jezebel his wife came to him and spoke to him, Why is this that your spirit is sullen and you are not eating bread?

6 He told her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said to him, Do give me your vineyard for silver, or if it is your desire, let me give you another vineyard in its stead. Yet he replied, I shall not give you my vineyard.

7 Then Jezebel his wife said to him, You should now exercise the kingship over Israel. Arise, eat bread, and let your heart be well pleased. I myself shall give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.

8 So she wrote scrolls in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal. She sent the scrolls to the elders and the notables who were dwelling with Naboth in his city.

9 She had written in the scrolls, saying, Proclaim a fast, and have Naboth sit at the head of the people.

10 Yet seat two men, sons of decadence, opposite him. They should testify against him, saying, You have scorned Elohim and the king. Then take him forth and stone him that he may die.

11 So the men of his city, the elders and the notables dwelling in his city, did just as Jezebel had sent to them, just as it was written in the scrolls that she had sent to them.

12 They proclaimed a fast and had Naboth sit at the head of the people.

13 Then the two men, sons of decadence, came and sat down opposite him. The men of decadence testified against him, Naboth, in front of the people, saying, Naboth has scorned Elohim and the king. Then they brought him forth outside the city and stoned him with stones so that he died.

14 Now they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth was stoned and is dead.

15 It occurred as soon as Jezebel heard Naboth was stoned and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take over the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to give you for silver; for Naboth is no longer alive; he is dead.

16 So it came to pass, when Ahab heard Naboth was dead, that Ahab arose to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take it over.

17 A word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

18 Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel in Samaria. Behold, he is in Naboth’s vineyard where he went down to take it over.

19 You will speak to him, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh: Have you murdered and also taken over? Then you will speak to him, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh: In the place where the dogs lapped Naboth’s blood, the dogs shall lap your blood, yea, yours too.

20 Ahab said to Elijah, Have you found me, my enemy? He replied, I have found you, because you sold yourself to do what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke Him to vexation. Thus speaks Yahweh:

21 Behold, I am bringing evil on you. I will wipe out those after you; I will cut off from Ahab any man-child, restrained or set free, in Israel.

22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, for the vexation with which you provoked Me to vexation and caused Israel to sin.

23 Also regarding Jezebel Yahweh has spoken, saying: The dogs, they shall devour Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel.

24 The one of Ahab dying in the city shall the dogs eat; and the one dying in the field shall the flyers of the heavens eat.

25 But none came to be like Ahab, who sold himself to do what is evil in the eyes of Yahweh, whom Jezebel his wife incited.

26 He committed very abhorrent acts by going after the idol clods, the same as all the Amorite had done, whom Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel.

27 It occurred as soon as Ahab heard these words, that he tore his garments and put sackcloth on his flesh. He fasted, lay down in sackcloth and walked about gently.

28 Then a word of Yahweh came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying,

29 Have you seen that Ahab is submissive before Me? Inasmuch as he is submissive before Me, I shall not bring the evil in his days. I shall bring the evil on his house in the days of his son.

Chapter 22

1 They dwelt for three years without war between Syria and Israel.

2 It came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to the king of Israel.

3 Now the king of Israel said to his officials, Do you know that Ramoth-gilead is ours? Yet we are inactive and refrain from taking it out of the hand of the king of Syria.

4 So he said to Jehoshaphat, Are you going with me to the battle at Ramoth-gilead? Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, I likewise, such as you; my people likewise, such as your people; my horses likewise, such as your horses.

5 Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, I pray, inquire today for the word of Yahweh.

6 So the king of Israel convened the prophets, about 400 men, and he said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead for battle, or should I forbear? They replied, Go up; Yahweh shall give it into the king’s hand.

7 Yet Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire through him?

8 The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, There is one more man through whom to inquire of Yahweh; yet I hate him, for at no time has he prophesied good for me, but rather evil: Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat answered, The king must not speak thus.

9 Then the king of Israel called a certain court official and said, Do bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.

10 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, being clothed in their royal-robes, were sitting each one on his throne, at the threshing site by the portal of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets before them feigned themselves prophets.

11 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, Thus speaks Yahweh: With these you shall gore Syria unto their finish.

12 All the prophets were prophesying so, saying, March up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper. Yahweh will give it into the king’s hand.

13 The messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold, I pray, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, are well pleasing to the king. I pray, let your word become like one word with them, and you will speak good things.

14 Yet Micaiah replied, As Yahweh lives, what Yahweh should say to me, this is it that I shall speak.

15 When he came to the king then the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we forbear? He replied to him, March up and prosper. Yahweh will give it into the king’s hand.

16 Now the king said to him, How many times have I been adjuring you, that you should speak to me nothing but the truth in the Name of Yahweh?

17 Then he replied, I saw all Israel scattered over the mountains, like a flock of sheep that have no shepherd; and Yahweh said: These have no lord. Let each man return to his home in peace.

18 At this the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that at no time he prophesied good for me, but rather evil?

19 Micaiah replied, Not so! Hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on His throne and all the host of the heavens standing by Him, to His right and to His left.

20 Yahweh said, Who shall entice Ahab, so that he may march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? Now this one said thus, and another was saying thus.

21 Then a spirit came forth, stood before Yahweh and said, I myself shall entice him. Yahweh asked him, By what means?

22 He replied, I shall go forth, and I will become a false spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then He said, You shall entice, and, moreover, you shall prevail. Go forth and do so.

23 And now behold, Yahweh has bestowed a false spirit into the mouth of all these, your prophets, for Yahweh Himself has decreed evil concerning you.

24 Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came close, smote Micaiah on the cheek and said, Just where is the way that the spirit of Yahweh passed from me to speak with you?

25 Micaiah replied, Behold, you shall be seeing it on that day when you come to hide in the chamber inside a chamber.

26 Then the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and turn him back to Amon chief of the city and to Joash son of the king.

27 And you will say, Thus said the king: Put this one in the house of detention, and feed him with bread of oppression and water of oppression until I come back in peace.

28 Micaiah replied, Should you return, yea return in peace, then Yahweh has not spoken through me. And he added, Hear, ye peoples, all of them!

29 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah marched up to Ramoth-gilead.

30 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle; yet you, put on my garments. So the king of Israel disguised himself and entered into the battle.

31 As for the king of Syria, he instructed the thirty-two chief chariot officers that he had, saying, You shall not fight with the small or the great, but rather with the king of Israel, with him alone.

32 Then it came to be as the chief chariot officers saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely, he is the king of Israel. When they turned around to fight against him, Jehoshaphat cried out.

33 Now it came to be as the chief chariot officers saw he was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from following him.

34 Someone drew his bow at random and smote the king of Israel between the scale-armor and the body-armor, so that he said to his charioteer, Turn your hand around and bring me forth from the fighting force, for I have been wounded.

35 While the battle ascended in violence on that day, the king himself remained standing in the chariot over against the Syrians, until he died in the evening, and the blood from the blow poured out into the interior of the chariot.

36 At sunset a ringing cry passed through the fighting force, saying, Each man to his city and each man to his land.

37 So the king died. When they came to Samaria, they entombed the king in Samaria.

38 Then they flushed out the chariot at the reservoir of Samaria; and the dogs lapped his blood; and the prostitutes, they bathed in it; according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken.

39 The rest of the affairs of Ahab, and all that he did, the house of ivory that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

40 Ahab lay down with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead.

41 As for Jehoshaphat son of Asa, he became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.

42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king; he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

43 He walked in all the way of his father Asa and did not withdraw from it, doing what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh. However they did not take away the high-places; the people were still sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.

44 Also Jehoshaphat had made peace with the king of Israel.

45 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoshaphat and his masterful deeds that he did and how he fought, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

46 The rest of the cult-prostitutes that had remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out from the land.

47 There was no king in Edom; a deputy of Jehoshaphat was king.

48 As for Jehoshaphat, he built Tarshish ships to go to Ophir for gold; but he did not go, for the ships were broken up at Ezion-geber.

49 Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with your servants in the ships; yet Jehoshaphat did not comply.

50 Jehoshaphat lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of his father David; and his son Jehoram reigned in his stead.

51 As for Ahaziah son of Ahab, he became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel for two years.

52 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.

53 He served Baal and worshiped him; he provoked Yahweh Elohim of Israel to vexation according to all that his father had done.

The Book of 2 Kings

Chapter 1

1 Moab transgressed against Israel after the death of Ahab.

2 Then Ahaziah fell through the grating of his upper chamber in Samaria and was ailing. So he sent messengers and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron whether I shall remain alive from this illness.

3 But a messenger of Yahweh, he spoke to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and speak to them: Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron?

4 Therefore (thus says Yahweh), from the couch on which you lie there, you shall not descend from it, for you shall die, yea die. And Elijah went away.

5 When the messengers returned to him, he said to them, Why is this that you have returned?

6 They replied to him, There was a man, he came up to meet us, and he said to us, Go, return to the king who sent you. And you will speak to him, Thus says Yahweh: Is it because there is no Elohim in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron? Therefore, from the couch on which you lie there, you shall not descend from it, for you shall die, yea die.

7 Now he asked them, What type of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke to you these words?

8 They said to him, A man possessing a hair garment and a belt of leather belted about his waist. He replied, That was Elijah the Tishbite.

9 Then he sent to him a chief of fifty with his fifty. He ascended to him, and behold, Elijah was sitting at the top of the hill. He spoke to him, Man of Elohim, the king himself has spoken, Do come down!

10 Elijah answered and spoke to the chief of the fifty. Now if I am a man of Elohim, may fire descend from the heavens, and may it devour you and your fifty. And fire descended from the heavens and devoured him and his fifty.

11 Then he sent again to him another chief of fifty with his fifty. He ascended and spoke to him, Man of Elohim, thus says the king: Quickly, do come down!

12 Elijah answered and spoke to him, If I am a man of Elohim, may fire descend from the heavens, and may it devour you and your fifty. And the fire of Elohim descended from the heavens and devoured him and his fifty.

13 Then he sent again a third chief of fifty with his fifty. The chief of the third fifty ascended and came and bowed on his knees in front of Elijah. He supplicated to him and spoke to him, Man of Elohim, I pray, let my soul and the soul of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your eyes.

14 Behold, fire descended from the heavens and devoured the two former chiefs of fifty and their fifties. Now let the soul of your servants be precious in your eyes.

15 Then a messenger of Yahweh spoke to Elijah, Go down with him; do not fear because of his presence. So he arose and went down with him to the king.

16 And Elijah spoke to him, Thus says Yahweh: Inasmuch as you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub elohim of Ekron, is it because there is no Elohim in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore, from the couch on which you lie there, you shall not descend from it, for you shall die, yea die.

17 And he died according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken by means of Elijah. Then Jehoram his brother reigned in his stead (in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah), for he had not come to have a son.

18 The rest of the affairs of Ahaziah, what he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

Chapter 2

1 It came to pass, when Yahweh would take Elijah in a tempest up to the heavens, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, Dwell here now, for Yahweh Himself has sent me unto Bethel. Yet Elisha replied, As Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, I ought not to forsake you. So they went down to Bethel.

3 Now the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came forth to Elisha and asked him, Do you know that today Yahweh is taking your lord from headship over you? He replied, I myself know it too; hush!

4 Then Elijah said to him, Elisha, dwell here now, for Yahweh Himself has sent me to Jericho. Yet he replied, As Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, I ought not to forsake you. So they came to Jericho.

5 Now the sons of the prophets who were in Jericho, came close to Elisha and asked him, Do you know that today Yahweh is taking your lord from headship over you? He replied, I myself know it too; hush!

6 Then Elijah said to him, Dwell here now, for Yahweh Himself has sent me to the Jordan. Yet he replied, As Yahweh lives, and your soul lives, I ought not to forsake you. So both of them went on.

7 There were fifty men, sons of the prophets; they went and stayed aloof, far off. Yet both of them stood by the Jordan.

8 Now Elijah took his mantle, folded it up and smote the waters; they were divided this way and that way, so that both of them went across on the drained strip.

9 It came to be as they had gone across that Elijah himself said to Elisha, Ask what I should do for you ere I am taken from you. Elisha replied, I pray, let a double share of your spirit come to me.

10 Elijah answered, You made it hard in asking. If you see me taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if you do not, it shall not come to pass.

11 Now it occurred while they were walking, and speaking as they walked that, behold, a fiery chariot with fiery horses appeared; they caused the two of them to part, and Elijah ascended in a tempest to the heavens.

12 Elisha was seeing it, and he was crying, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen! Then he saw him no more. Now he took fast hold of his own garments and tore them into two torn pieces.

13 He raised up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off him, returned and stood on the ridge of the Jordan.

14 He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen off him and smote the waters and said, Where is Yahweh Elohim of Elijah? When he also had smitten the waters, then they were divided this way and that way, so that Elisha went across.

15 When the sons of the prophets at Jericho saw him from a distance, they said, The spirit of Elijah has settled on Elisha. So they came to meet him and prostrated themselves before him to the earth.

16 They said to him, Behold now, there are with your servants fifty men, sons of valor. Let them go now and seek your lord, lest the spirit of Yahweh has lifted him up and flung him on one of the mountains or in one of the ravines. Yet he replied, You should not send them.

17 Now they were urging him until he was ashamed and said, Send them. So they sent out fifty men who sought for three days; but they did not find him.

18 When they returned to him, he was dwelling in Jericho. Then he said to them, Did I not say to you, You must not go?

19 The men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, indeed, the location of the city is good, just as my lord is seeing; but the water is bad, and the earth causes bereavement.

20 Elisha replied, Take for me a new pan and put salt therein. So they procured it for him.

21 Then he went forth to the flowing well of the water and flung there the salt and said, Thus says Yahweh, I have healed this water. No longer shall death come from there or cause bereavement.

22 And the water is healed until this day, according to the word of Elisha that he had spoken.

23 Then he went from there up to Bethel. As he was going up on the road, there were young lads; they came forth from the city, scoffed at him and said to him, Go up, baldhead, go up, baldhead!

24 When he turned around behind him and saw them, he maledicted them in the Name of Yahweh. Then two she-bears came forth from the wildwood and mangled forty-two boys of them.

25 From there he went to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3

1 As for Jehoram son of Ahab, he became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah and reigned twelve years.

2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, but not like his father or like his mother; for he took away the monument of Baal that his father had made.

3 But he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat with which he caused Israel to sin; he did not withdraw from them.

4 As for Mesha king of Moab, he was a herdsman and rendered the wool of 100,000 butting lambs and 100,000 rams to the king of Israel.

5 Now it came to be when Ahab was dead, then the king of Moab transgressed against the king of Israel.

6 On that day king Jehoram went forth from Samaria and mustered all of Israel.

7 While he went, he sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab, he has transgressed against me. Are you going with me to the battle against Moab? He replied, I shall go up, I likewise, such as you; my people likewise, such as your people; my horses likewise, such as your horses.

8 And he asked, Just where is the way that we shall go up? He said, The wilderness road of Edom.

9 So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and the king of Edom. They marched around, a journey of seven days; and there was no water for the force and for the domestic beasts that followed in their footsteps.

10 Then the king of Israel said, Alas, that Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab!

11 Yet Jehoshaphat asked, Is there no prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire of Yahweh through him? One of the officials of the king of Israel answered; he said, Elisha son of Shaphat is here who poured out water on the hands of Elijah.

12 Jehoshaphat replied, The word of Yahweh is with him. So they went down to him, the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah and the king of Edom.

13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have you to do with me? Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of your mother. But the king of Israel replied to him, Certainly not, for Yahweh has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.

14 Elisha answered, As Yahweh of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, except that I am prompted by the presence of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would assuredly not look at you and not see you.

15 Yet now procure for me a player of music. Then it came to pass as the player played, that the hand of Yahweh came over him,

16 and he said, Thus speaks Yahweh: I will provide pools in this wadi, yea pools.

17 For thus speaks Yahweh, You shall neither see a wind, nor shall you see a downpour. Yet this wadi shall be filled with water, so that you will drink, you and your cattle and your domestic beasts.

18 And this is but a slight thing in the eyes of Yahweh; for He will also give Moab into your hand.

19 You will smite every fortress city and every choice city; you shall fell every good tree, stop up all springs of water and mar every good land portion with stones.

20 It came to be in the morning when the approach present was offered up that, behold, water was coming from the direction of Edom, and the countryside was filled with water.

21 As for all of Moab, they had heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. So they summoned all able to gird on a girdle, and upward; and they were staying on the boundary.

22 When they rose early in the morning, the sun was radiant over the water, so that the Moabites saw the water from the distance red like blood.

23 They said, This is blood! The kings were put to the sword, yea sword; they smote, each man his associate. So now to the loot, Moab!

24 When they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites arose and smote the Moabites who fled from before them. They smote them so as to smite Moab altogether.

25 They demolished the cities; as for every good land portion, they flung, each man his stone, and filled it up. They stopped up every spring of water and felled every good tree, until Kir-hareseth alone remained; yet the slingers surrounded it and smote it.

26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was unyielding against him, then he took with him seven hundred men drawing the sword to break through to the king of Edom; but they did not prevail.

27 Now he took his firstborn son who would become king in his stead and offered him up on the wall as an ascent offering. Then there came to be great wrath against Israel, so that they decamped, withdrew from against him and returned to their own land.

Chapter 4

1 There was a certain woman among the wives of the sons of the prophets; she cried out to Elisha, saying, Your servant, my husband, he is dead. And you yourself know that your servant was fearing Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take my two boys as servants for himself.

2 Elisha replied to her, What shall I do for you? Tell me what you have in the house. She said, Your maidservant has nothing at all in the house save a jug of oil.

3 He replied, Go, ask for vessels for yourself from outside, from all your neighbors, empty vessels; do not get only a few.

4 Then you will enter and close the door about you and about your sons. You will pour oil into all these vessels, and you shall put aside that which is full.

5 So she went away from him and closed the door about her and about her sons; they were bringing vessels close to her, and she was pouring oil.

6 It came to be as the vessels were full that she said to her son, Do bring close to me another vessel. Yet he said to her, There is no other vessel. And the oil stayed.

7 Then she came and told the man of Elohim. He replied, Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons should live from what is left.

8 It occurred one day that Elisha passed along to Shunem. There was a great woman who encouraged him to eat bread. And it came to be as often as he would pass along, he would turn in there to eat bread.

9 Once the woman said to her husband, Behold now, I know that he is a holy man of Elohim who is regularly passing by us.

10 I pray, let us make a small upper chamber of sidewalls and put there for him a couch and a table, a covered seat and a lampstand. So it will come to pass that he may withdraw there when he comes to us.

11 There was one day that he entered there, withdrew to the upper chamber and lay down there.

12 He said to Gehazi his lad, Call this Shunammitess; so he called her, and she stood before him.

13 He said to him, Now tell her: Behold, you have been overanxious about us with all this solicitude. What can be done for you? Is it to speak for you to the king or to the chief of the military host? She replied, I am dwelling in the midst of my people.

14 Now he said to Gehazi, And what is to be done for her? Gehazi answered, Verily, she has no son; as for her husband, he is old.

15 Now he said, Call her. So he called her, and she was standing at the opening.

16 Elisha said, At this appointed time according to the season of life, you will be embracing a son. But she replied, Certainly not, my lord, O man of the One, Elohim! You must not lie to your maidservant.

17 Yet the woman became pregnant and bore a son at this appointed time according to the season of life, just as Elisha had spoken to her.

18 The boy grew up. There was one day when he went forth to his father among the reapers.

19 Then he was saying to his father, My head, my head! So he said to his lad, Carry him to his mother.

20 Now he lifted him up and brought him to his mother. There he sat on her knees until noon; then he died.

21 She went up and laid him on the couch of the man of Elohim; she closed the door about him and went forth.

22 Now she called her husband and said, I pray, do send me one of the lads and one of the jennies, and let me run as far as the man of Elohim and then let me return.

23 Yet he replied, For what reason are you going to him today? It is neither a new moon nor a sabbath. She answered, All is well.

24 So she saddled the jenny and said to her lad, Lead on and go. You must not restrain my riding save I say so to you.

25 Then she went on and came to the man of Elohim at Mount Carmel. It came to be, as the man of Elohim saw her in the distance, he said to Gehazi his lad, Behold, this Shunammitess!

26 Now run, I pray, to meet her and say to her, Is all well with you? Is all well with your husband? Is all well with the child? She said, All is well.

27 When she came to the man of Elohim at the mountain, she held fast to his feet. Then Gehazi came close to thrust her away. But the man of Elohim said, Hold yourself back from her; for her soul is bitter in her. Yet Yahweh Himself has obscured it from me and not told me.

28 Now she said, Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, you should not put me at ease?

29 So Elisha said to Gehazi, Gird your waist, take my support-staff in your hand and go. In case you should come upon anyone, you must not bless him; in case anyone should bless you, you must not answer him. And you must place my support-staff on the face of the lad.

30 Then the mother of the lad replied, As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I shall not leave you. So Elisha arose and went behind her.

31 As for Gehazi, he passed on before them and placed the support-staff on the face of the lad. Since there was no voice and no attention, he returned to meet him and told him, saying, The lad did not awake.

32 When Elisha came to the house, behold, the lad was dead, lying on his couch.

33 So he came in, closed the door about the two of them and prayed to Yahweh.

34 Then he got up and lay on the child and placed his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, his palms on his palms. As he lay prone on him, the boy’s flesh became warm.

35 Then he turned away, walked once here and once there in the house, got up and lay prone on him. Now the lad sneezed as many as seven times. And the lad was unclosing his eyes.

36 Elisha called Gehazi and said: Call this Shunammitess. So he called her, and she came to him. Now he said, Lift up your son.

37 When she entered, she fell at his feet and prostrated herself to the earth. Then she lifted up her son and went forth.

38 As for Elisha, he returned to Gilgal. There was the famine in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. Elisha said to his lad, Set the large pot on the hearthstones and cook a stew for the sons of the prophets.

39 Then one of them went forth into the field to glean herbs. He found a field vine and gleaned field colocynth gourds from it, fully filling the fold of his cloak. When he came back, he sliced them into the pot of stew; for they were not acquainted with them.

40 So they poured it out for the men to eat. Yet it came to be as they ate from the stew that they cried out and said, Death is in the pot, O man of the One, Elohim! And they were not able to eat.

41 He replied, Then procure meal. He flung it into the pot and said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was nothing evil in the pot.

42 A man was coming from Baal-shalishah, and he brought to the man of Elohim bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley bread, and new crop grain, in his knapsack. And Elisha said, Give it to the people that they may eat.

43 Yet the one ministering to him replied, How shall I put this before a hundred men? He answered, Give it to the people that they may eat; for thus said Yahweh: They are to eat and to have surplus.

44 So he put it before them, and they ate. They had a surplus according to the word of Yahweh.

Chapter 5

1 Naaman was chief of the military host of the king of Syria; he had become a great man before his lord and reputable; for through him Yahweh had given safety to Syria. As for this man, he was a valorous master, though a leper.

2 Once Syrian raiders went forth and captured a young maiden from the land of Israel; and she came to be before Naaman’s wife.

3 She said to her mistress, Oh that my lord were before the prophet who is in Samaria. Then he would recover him from his leprosy.

4 So he came and told his lord, saying, Like this and like that spoke the maiden who is from the land of Israel.

5 The king of Syria replied, Go. Set out and let me send a scroll to the king of Israel. Then he went and took in his hand ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of gold and ten changes of garments.

6 He brought the scroll to the king of Israel, saying, Now as this scroll comes to you, behold, I send my official Naaman to you that you may recover him from his leprosy.

7 It came to be when the king of Israel had read the scroll that he tore his garments and said, Am I Elohim to put to death and to keep alive? For this one is sending to me to recover a man from his leprosy. Only realize and see now for yourselves that he is seeking an occasion against me.

8 It came to pass when Elisha the man of Elohim heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments, then he sent to the king, saying, Why did you tear your garments? I pray, let him come to me, and he shall realize that there is a prophet in Israel.

9 So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots and stood at the opening of the house of Elisha.

10 Now Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and you will bathe in the Jordan seven times that your flesh may be restored to you; and be clean.

11 Yet Naaman was wrathful and walked away. He said, Behold, I had thought to myself that he would come forth, yea come forth; and he would stand and call on the Name of Yahweh his Elohim; he would wave his hand toward the place and recover the leprous spot.

12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the streams of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Should I not bathe in them, and I would be clean? So he turned around and went away in a fury.

13 But his servants came close and spoke to him. They said: My father, had the prophet spoken to you of a great thing, would you not do it? Yet, indeed, he has but said to you, Bathe and be clean!

14 So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times according to the word of the man of Elohim. Then his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young lad, and he was clean.

15 Now he returned to the man of Elohim, he and all his camp. He came and stood before him and said: Behold, now I realize that there is no Elohim in all the earth save in Israel. And now, I pray, take a blessing gift from your servant.

16 Yet he replied, As Yahweh lives before Whom I stand, I shall not take it. Though he was urging him to take it, he still refused.

17 Then Naaman said: If not, let, I pray, your servant be given a pair of mules’ load of soil of the ground. For no longer shall your servant make an ascent offering or sacrifice to any other elohim, but rather to Yahweh.

18 As for this matter may Yahweh pardon your servant: When my lord enters the house of Rimmon to bow down there and he is leaning on my hand so that I must bow down at the house of Rimmon when I have to bow down at the house of Rimmon, may Yahweh I pray, pardon your servant on this score.

19 Elisha said to him, Go in peace. So he went away from him some distance in the land.

20 Then Gehazi the lad of Elisha the man of Elohim said: Behold, my lord has kept back this Syrian Naaman so as not to take from his hand what he brought. As Yahweh lives, but rather will I run after him and take anything from him.

21 So Gehazi pursued following Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he swooped down from the chariot to meet him and said, Is it well?

22 He replied, It is well. My lord has sent me, saying: Behold, just now two lads of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Do give them, I pray, a talent of silver and two changes of garments.

23 Naaman said, Be disposed and take the two talents. He was urging him and bundled two talents of silver in two handbags with two changes of garments. Then he gave them to two of his lads that they might carry them before him.

24 When he came to the fort, he took them from their hand, laid them up in the house, dismissed the men, and they went away.

25 When he was entering and stood before his lord, Elisha said to him, From where are you coming, Gehazi? He replied, Your servant went neither whither nor thither.

26 Then Elisha said to him: Did not my heart go with you just as the man turned to get off his chariot to meet you? Is this a time to procure silver and to procure garments, olive groves and vineyards, flocks and herds, menservants and maidservants?

27 Now Naaman’s leprosy, it shall cling to you and to your seed for the eon. Then he went forth from his presence, leprous as snow.

Chapter 6

1 The sons of the prophets said to Elisha: Behold now, the place where we are dwelling before you is too narrow for us.

2 Let us go, we pray, as far as the Jordan, and let us take from there, each man, one rafter. Let us build there for ourselves a place to dwell there. He replied, Go.

3 Then one of them said, Be disposed, I pray, and go with your servants. He replied, I myself shall go;

4 and he went with them. So they came to the Jordan and severed timber.

5 It came to be while one of them was felling his rafter that the iron ax head fell into the water. He cried out and said, Alas, my lord, it was loaned.

6 The man of Elohim asked, Whither did it fall? So he showed him the place; and he fashioned a piece of wood, flung it there and caused the iron to float.

7 Then he said, Lift it for yourself; so he put forth his hand and took it out.

8 As for the king of Syria, he came to fight against Israel; and he counseled with his officials, saying, At such and such a place shall be my camp.

9 Yet the man of Elohim sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware of passing this place, for there the Syrians are settled.

10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place of which the man of Elohim had spoken to him. He warned him that he be on guard there, not once and not twice.

11 The heart of the king of Syria was tossed by a tempest over this matter; and he called his officials and said to them, Will you not tell me who quoted us to the king of Israel?

12 One of his officials replied, No one, my lord the king; yet Elisha the prophet in Israel is telling the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedchamber.

13 So he said, Go and see where he is. Then I shall send and take him. When one told him, saying, Behold, in Dothan,

14 he sent there horses and chariots, a heavy army. They came at night and encompassed the city.

15 Now the one ministering to the man of Elohim rose early to get up, and he went forth, and behold, an army was surrounding the city with horses and chariots. Alas, my lord, his lad asked him, how shall we act?

16 Elisha replied, Do not fear, for those with us are more than those with them.

17 Now Elisha prayed and said, O Yahweh, unclose, I pray, his eyes so that he may see. Yahweh unclosed the eyes of the lad, and he saw, behold, the hill was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

18 When they came down toward him, Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said: Smite, I pray, this nation with dazzled perception. So He smote them with dazzled perception according to the word of Elisha.

19 Then Elisha said to them, This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow after me, and let me lead you to the man whom you are seeking. So he led them to Samaria.

20 It came to be as they entered Samaria that Elisha said, O Yahweh, unclose the eyes of these men so that they may see. Yahweh unclosed their eyes, and they saw; behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

21 Now the king of Israel said to Elisha, as he saw them, Shall I smite, shall I smite, my father?

22 He replied, You must not smite them. Did you capture those with your sword and with your bow that you would smite them? Place bread and water before them that they may eat and drink and then go back to their lord.

23 So he made a dinner for them, a great dinner. They ate and drank; then he dismissed them, and they went back to their lord. Syrian raiders did no longer continue to come into the land of Israel.

24 After this it came to pass that Ben-hadad king of Syria convened his entire force and marched up and besieged Samaria.

25 There came to be a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they were besieging it until a donkey’s head came to eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a cab of seed pods to five shekels of silver.

26 When the king of Israel came to pass along on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Do save us, my lord the king!

27 He said, Must not Yahweh save you! From where should I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winevat?

28 The king asked her, What have you to say? She replied, That woman said to me, Give up your son, and we shall eat him today. And my son we shall eat tomorrow.

29 So we cooked my son and ate him. Then I said to her on the next day, Give up your son, and we shall eat him. But she hid her son.

30 It came to be when the king heard the woman’s words that he tore his garments as he was passing along on the wall; and the people saw, behold, sackcloth was about his flesh inside.

31 And he said, Thus may Elohim do to me, and thus may he add, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat stays on him today.

32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him, when the king sent ahead a man from his presence. Ere the messenger came to him, he himself said to the elders, Do you see how that son of a murderer sends to take my head away? See, as the messenger comes, close the door. And you will keep the door pressed close against him. Is there not the sound of his lord’s feet behind him?

33 While he was speaking with them, behold, the king was coming down to him and said, Behold, this is the evil from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?

Chapter 7

1 Elisha replied, Hear the word of Yahweh! Thus speaks Yahweh: About this time tomorrow a seah of flour will sell for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel in the gateway of Samaria.

2 The adjutant on whose hand the king was leaning answered the man of Elohim and said, Even if Yahweh were making crevices in the heavens, could this thing come to pass? Elisha replied, Behold, you will be seeing it with your own eyes; yet you shall not eat from what will be there.

3 Now four men who were lepers were at the portal of the gateway. They said, each man to his associate, Why are we sitting here until we die?

4 If we had said, Let us enter the city, with the famine in the city, we would have died there. Yet if we sit here, we will also die. So now come and let us swoop down to the Syrian camp. If they keep us alive, we shall live. If they put us to death, then we will die.

5 So they got up in the twilight to enter the Syrian camp. When they came as far as the outposts of the Syrian camp, behold, there was no one there.

6 For Yahweh Himself had caused the Syrian camp to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said, each man to his brother, Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Musri to come against us.

7 So they got up and fled in the twilight. They forsook their tents, their horses and their donkeys, the entire camp just as it was, and they fled for their souls.

8 When those lepers had come as far as the outposts of the camp, then they entered one tent; they ate and drank; they carried from there silver, gold and garments and went off and buried them. They returned and entered another tent and carried off what was there. Again they went and buried it.

9 Then they said, each man to his associate, What we are doing is surely not right. This day, it is a day of good tidings, and we are hushing it up. If we tarry until the morning light, then depravity will come upon us. So now come, let us enter and tell the king’s household.

10 Then they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying, We came into the Syrian camp, and behold, no one was there or human sound, but only the tethered horses and the tethered donkeys, and the tents just as they were.

11 Then the gatekeepers called out and told this inside the king’s household.

12 The king arose by night and said to his officials, Now let me tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are famishing. So they went forth from the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they are coming forth from the city, then we shall apprehend them alive, and we shall enter into the city.

13 One of his officials answered and said, Now let them take five of the remaining horses that have remained here. Behold, they are doomed like the whole throng of Israel who remain in it. Behold, they are like the whole throng of Israel who will come to end. So let us send, and let us see.

14 Now they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them out after the Syrian camp, saying, Go and see.

15 They went following them as far as the Jordan; and behold, the entire road was full of garments and implements which the Syrians had flung away as they were hurrying away. Then the messengers returned and told the king.

16 Now the people went forth and plundered the Syrian camp. So a seah of flour was sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Yahweh.

17 The king himself gave supervision over the gateway to the adjutant on whose hand he was leaning; and the people tramped him down in the gateway, so that he died, just as the man of Elohim had said when he spoke as the king came down to him.

18 Thus it came to be as the man of Elohim had spoken to the king, saying, Two seahs of barley will be sold for a shekel, and a seah of flour for a shekel about this time tomorrow in the gateway of Samaria.

19 Yet the adjutant had answered the man of Elohim and said, Even if Yahweh were making crevices in the heavens, could this thing come to pass? and Elisha had replied, Behold, you will be seeing it with your own eyes; yet you shall not eat from what will be there.

20 And so it came to be for him; for the people tramped him down in the gateway, so that he died.

Chapter 8

1 Elisha himself had spoken to the woman whose son he had revived, saying, Arise and go away, you and your household, and sojourn in a place wherein you can sojourn; for Yahweh has called for a famine; besides, it will come on the land for seven years.

2 So the woman arose and did according to the word of the man of Elohim. She went away, she and her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines for seven years.

3 It came to be at the end of the seven years that the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went forth to cry out to the king for her house and for her fields.

4 Now the king was speaking to Gehazi the lad of the man of Elohim, saying, Oh do recount to me all the great things that Elisha has done.

5 And it came to pass while he was recounting to the king how he had revived the dead, that, behold, the woman whose son Elisha had revived was crying out to the king for her house and for her fields. Now Gehazi said, My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha revived.

6 The king asked the woman, and she recounted it to him. Then the king appointed a certain court official for her, saying, Restore all that belonged to her and all the yield of the field from the day she forsook the land until now.

7 Elisha came to Damascus when Ben-hadad king of Syria was ill. It was told to him, saying, The man of Elohim has come as far as here.

8 So the king said to Hazael, Take an approach present in your hand, and go to meet the man of Elohim. You will inquire of Yahweh through him, saying, Shall I revive from this illness?

9 So Hazael went to meet him; he took an approach present in his hand, even every sort of good thing of Damascus, a load of forty camels. He came and stood before him and said, Your son, Ben-hadad king of Syria, he has sent me to you, saying, Shall I revive from this illness?

10 Elisha replied to him, Go, say to him that you shall live, yea live, and that Yahweh has shown me that he shall die, yea die.

11 And he stood with his countenance fixed and kept it until Hazael was ashamed. Then the man of Elohim lamented.

12 Now Hazael said, for what reason is my lord lamenting? He replied, Because I know what evil you shall do to the sons of Israel. Their fortresses shall you consign to fire; their choice young men shall you kill with the sword; their infants shall you dash to pieces; and their pregnant women shall you rend open.

13 Then Hazael said, Indeed, what is your servant, a mere dog, that he might perform this great thing? Elisha replied, Yahweh has shown me you as king over Syria.

14 He went from Elisha and came to his lord, who asked him, What did Elisha say to you? He replied, He said to me that you shall live, yea live.

15 But it came to pass on the morrow that he took the gauze, dipped it in water and spread it out over his face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his stead.

16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king.

17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done; for Ahab’s daughter had become his wife; so he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

19 Yet Yahweh would not cause ruin to Judah on account of His servant David, just as He had promised him to give him a lamp for his sons all the days.

20 In his days Edom transgressed from under the hand of Judah and raised a king to reign over them.

21 So Joram advanced toward Zair and all the chariots with him. Now it came to pass that he himself arose by night and smote the Edomites who were surrounding him and the chariot chiefs. Yet his people fled to their tents.

22 Edom has been transgressing from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah transgressed at the same time.

23 The rest of the affairs of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

24 Joram lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his son Ahaziah reigned in his stead.

25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah became king.

26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Athaliah granddaughter of Omri king of Israel.

27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like the house of Ahab, for he was a son-in-law of the house of Ahab.

28 He went with Joram son of Ahab to the battle against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead; yet the Syrians smote Joram.

29 So king Joram returned to get healed at Jezreel from the smiting with which the Syrians smote him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. As for Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah, he went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was wounded.

Chapter 9

1 As for Elisha the prophet, he called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, Gird your waist, take a vial of this oil in your hand and go to Ramoth-gilead.

2 When you come in there, see Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi there. You will enter and make him arise from the midst of his brothers. Then you will bring him into the chamber inside a chamber.

3 You will take the vial of oil and pour it on his head. You will say, Thus speaks Yahweh: I anoint you king over Israel. Then you must open the door and flee and not tarry.

4 So the lad, the prophet’s lad, went to Ramoth-gilead.

5 When he came in, behold, the chiefs of the army were sitting together. He said, I have a word for you, O chief. Jehu replied, For which one of all of us? He answered, For you, O chief.

6 So he got up and entered into the house; and he poured the oil on his head and said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: I anoint you king over the people of Yahweh, over Israel.

7 You will smite the house of Ahab your lord. Thus will I avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh at the hand of Jezebel.

8 The whole house of Ahab must perish; and I will cut off from Ahab any man-child, restrained or set free, in Israel.

9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nabat, and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.

10 As for Jezebel, the dogs shall devour her in the portion of Jezreel, and there will be no one entombing her. Then he opened the door and fled.

11 As for Jehu, he came forth to the servants of his lord; and they said to him, Is all well? For what reason did this mad fellow come to you? He replied to them, You yourselves know the man and his concern.

12 Yet they said, It is false! Tell us now. Then he replied, Like this and like that he spoke to me, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh: I anoint you king over Israel.

13 So they hastily took each man his garment and placed it under him on the landing of the stairs. Then they blew the trumpet and said, Jehu is king.

14 Now Jehu son of Jehoshaphat son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. As for Joram, he was keeping guard at Ramoth-gilead, he and all of Israel, because of the presence of Hazael king of Syria.

15 Yet king Joram had returned to get healed at Jezreel from the smiting with which the Syrians smote him when he made war against Hazael king of Syria. Jehu said to the men, If this is your soul’s desire let not anyone seeking deliverance go forth from the city, to go and tell it in Jezreel.

16 Then Jehu mounted a chariot and went to Jezreel; for Joram was lying there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had gone down to see Joram.

17 Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel and saw the concourse of Jehu as he came near. He said, I am seeing a concourse. Joram ordered, Take a rider, send him to meet them and let him say, Is there peace?

18 Then a rider on his horse went out to meet him; he said, Thus inquires the king, Is there peace? Jehu replied What have you to do with peace? Turn around to my rear. Now the watchman told, saying, The messenger came unto them, but he did not return.

19 So Joram sent a second rider on his horse. When he came to them, he said, Thus inquires the king, Is there peace? Jehu replied, What have you to do with peace? Turn around to my rear.

20 And the watchman told, saying, He came unto them, but he did not return. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu grandson of Nimshi, for he drives with madness.

21 Now Joram ordered, Hitch up! So they hitched up his chariot, and Joram king of Israel rode forth with Ahaziah king of Judah, each man in his chariot. They rode forth to meet Jehu. They found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite.

22 It came to be as Joram saw Jehu that he said, Is there peace, Jehu? He replied, What peace is there as long as the prostitutions of your mother Jezebel and her enchantments are so many?

23 So Joram turned his hands around and fled; he said to Ahaziah, Deceit, Ahaziah!

24 As for Jehu, he filled his hand with the bow and smote Joram between his arms, so that the arrow came forth from his heart, and he crouched in his chariot.

25 Jehu said to Bidkar his adjutant, Lift him up! Fling him into the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite; for remember, I and you were riding teams behind his father Ahab when Yahweh Himself lifted up this oracle against him, saying,

26 Assuredly I saw yesternight the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons (this is the averring of Yahweh), and I will repay you in this portion, is the averring of Yahweh. So now lift him up! Fling him into the portion, according to the word of Yahweh.

27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by way of Beth-haggan. Yet Jehu pursued after him and said, Him too! And one smote him while in the chariot on the ascent to Gur which is by Ibleam. He fled to Megiddo and died there.

28 His servants conveyed him by chariot to Jerusalem and entombed him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

29 In the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab, Ahaziah had become king over Judah.

30 Jehu came to Jezreel, and Jezebel herself heard of it. She applied pigment to her eyes, did her head up well and gazed out through the window.

31 When Jehu himself entered at the gate, she said, Was there peace, Zimri, killer of his lord?

32 He lifted up his face to the window and inquired, Who is with me? Who? Now two or three eunuchs gazed down at him.

33 And he said, Throw her down! So they threw her down; and some of her blood spattered the sidewall and the horses; and they tramped her down.

34 Then he entered and ate and drank. He said, Now look after that accursed woman and entomb her; for she was a king’s daughter

35 When they went to entomb her, they found nothing of her save the skull, the feet and the palms of the hands.

36 So they returned and told him. He replied, This is the word of Yahweh that He spoke by means of His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel the dogs shall devour the flesh of Jezebel.

37 And the carcass of Jezebel will come to be like manure on the surface of the field in the portion of Jezreel that they may not say, This is Jezebel.

Chapter 10

1 Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote scrolls and sent them to Samaria to the chiefs of the city and to the elders and to the foster fathers of Ahab’s children, saying,

2 Now then, upon the coming of this scroll to you, there are with you the sons of your lord; and with you are chariots and horses and a fortress city and weapons.

3 You will select which is the best and the most upright of the sons of your lord, and you will place him on the throne of his father. Then fight for the house of your lord.

4 But they became very intensely fearful and said, Behold the two kings, they did not stand before him. How shall we ourselves stand?

5 So the one over the house and the one over the city, the elders and the foster fathers sent to Jehu, saying, We are your servants, and whatever you say to us we shall do. We shall not make anyone king. What is good in your eyes, do.

6 Then he wrote them a second scroll, saying, If you are on my side and you are hearkening to my voice, take the heads of the men who are sons of your lord, and come to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow. Now the king’s sons, seventy men, were with the great men of the city who were bringing them up.

7 It came to pass as the scroll came to them, that they took the king’s sons and slew them, seventy men. Then they put their heads in large pots and sent them to him at Jezreel.

8 When the messenger came in and told him, saying, They brought the heads of the king’s sons, he replied, Place them in two piles at the portal of the gateway until morning.

9 It came to be in the morning that he went forth and stood in the gateway of the city; he said to all the people, You are just. Behold, I myself conspired against my lord and killed him. Yet who smote all of these?

10 Know indeed that nothing from Yahweh’s word shall fall to the earth that Yahweh spoke against the house of Ahab; for Yahweh Himself has done what He spoke by means of His servant Elijah.

11 And Jehu smote all who had remained from the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his redeemers and his close acquaintances and his priests until he had let no survivor remain for him.

12 Then he arose and set out and went to Samaria. On the way when he was at Beth-eked of the shepherds,

13 Jehu himself came upon the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah. He said, Who are you? And they replied, We are brothers of Ahaziah. We are going down to bid peace to the sons of the king and the sons of the queen-mother.

14 He said, Grab them alive. So they grabbed them alive and slew them at the cistern of Beth-eked, forty-two men; and he let not one of them remain.

15 He went on from there and came upon Jehonadab son of Rechab who was on the road to meet him. He blessed him and said to him, Is your heart upright with my heart just as my own heart is with your heart? Jehonadab replied, It is. So Jehu said, If it is, do give me your hand. He gave him his hand; and he made him get up into the chariot with him.

16 He said to him, Do come with me and see my zeal for Yahweh. And he let him ride in his chariot.

17 When he came to Samaria, he smote all who had remained from the house of Ahab in Samaria until he had exterminated it, according to the word of Yahweh that He had spoken to Elijah.

18 Then Jehu convened all the people and said to them, Ahab, he served Baal a little; Jehu, he shall serve him much more.

19 So call now to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants and all his priests. Let no one be missing, because I have a great sacrifice for Baal. Everyone who should be missing shall not live. As for Jehu, he acted furtively in order to destroy the servants of Baal.

20 When Jehu ordered, Hallow a day of restraint for Baal, they called it out.

21 Then Jehu sent word through all of Israel, and all the servants of Baal came, and no one remained who did not come. They entered the house of Baal so that the house of Baal was full, end to end.

22 Jehu said to the one over the wardrobe, Bring forth clothing for all the servants of Baal; and he brought forth the clothing for them.

23 Then Jehu entered the house of Baal with Jehonadab son of Rechab; he said to the servants of Baal, Search and see lest any one be here with you from the servants of Yahweh, save the servants of Baal, they alone.

24 Then he came in to make sacrifices and ascent offerings. Jehu himself had posted eighty of his men outside and had ordered, The man who should allow escape to anyone from the men whom I am bringing into your hands, his soul shall be instead of his soul.

25 It came to be as he finished making the ascent offering that Jehu ordered the runners and the adjutants, Come, smite them! No one must come forth. So they smote them with the edge of the sword. The runners and the adjutants flung the bodies out and went into the innermost sanctuary of the house of Baal.

26 They brought forth the monument of the house of Baal and burned it.

27 They tore down the altar of Baal; they also tore down the house of Baal and turned it into latrines until this day.

28 Thus Jehu exterminated the house of Baal in Israel.

29 But as for the sins of Jeroboam son of Nabat with which he caused Israel to sin, Jehu did not withdraw from following them: the calves of gold that were in Bethel and in Dan.

30 So Yahweh said to Jehu, Because you did well in doing what is upright in My eyes and you did to the house of Ahab according to all that was in My heart, sons of yours to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel.

31 Yet Jehu, he was not on guard to walk in the law of Yahweh Elohim of Israel with all his heart. He did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam with which he caused Israel to sin.

32 In those days Yahweh started to cut away parts of Israel; and Hazael smote them in all the territory of Israel

33 from the Jordan toward sunrise, all the land of Gilead, the Gadite, the Reubenite and the Manassite, from Aroer that is on the ridge of Wadi Arnon, up to Gilead and Bashan.

34 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehu, all that he did, and all his masterful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

35 Then Jehu lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him in Samaria; his son Jehoahaz reigned in his stead.

36 The days that Jehu was king over Israel were twenty-eight years in Samaria.

Chapter 11

1 As for Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah, when she saw that her son was dead, she set out and destroyed all the royal seed.

2 Yet king Joram’s daughter Jehosheba, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from the midst of the king’s sons who were to be put to death; and she put him and his wetnurse into the chamber of couches. Thus she concealed him from the face of Athaliah; and he was not put to death.

3 He stayed with her at the house of Yahweh in hiding for six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

4 In the seventh year Jehoiada the priest sent word and took the chief officers of hundreds of the Carite and of the runners and had them brought to him in the house of Yahweh. He contracted a covenant with them and adjured them at the house of Yahweh; then he showed them the king’s son.

5 He instructed them, saying, This is the instruction of what you are to do: One third of you who are coming on duty on this sabbath shall be keeping charge of the king’s house,

6 another third shall be at the Foundation Gateway and the other third at the gateway behind the runners. You will keep charge of the house alternately.

7 The two companies of yours that are all going forth off duty this sabbath, they will keep charge of the house of Yahweh on behalf of the king.

8 You will encompass round about the king, each man with his gear in his hand. Anyone entering within the ranks shall be put to death. And stay with the king when he goes forth and when he comes in.

9 The chief officers of hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had instructed. Each one took his men, those coming on duty in this sabbath with those going forth off duty this sabbath; and they came to Jehoiada the priest.

10 Then the priest gave the chief officers of hundreds the spears and the cuirasses that had been king David’s and that were now in the house of Yahweh.

11 The runners, each man with his gear in his hand, were standing from the right flank of the house to the left flank of the house, by the altar and by the house, round about on behalf of the king.

12 Then he brought forth the king’s son; he put the insignia on him and gave him the testimony. They proclaimed him king and anointed him. They smote the palm and said, Long live the king!

13 When Athaliah heard the voice of the runners and the people, she came out to the people at the house of Yahweh.

14 Then she saw there the king standing by the column according to the custom. The chiefs with the bugles were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing bugles. Athaliah tore her garments and called out, Conspiracy, conspiracy!

15 Jehoiada the priest instructed the chief officers of hundreds, the officers of the armed unit, and said to them, Bring her forth, out from inside the ranks. Anyone coming after her shall be put to death with the sword. For the priest thought, She must not be put to death in the house of Yahweh.

16 So they laid hands on her when she came by way of the horses’ entry to the king’s house; and she was put to death there.

17 Then Jehoiada contracted the covenant between Yahweh and the king and the people that they would be Yahweh’s people; and also between the king and the people.

18 Then all the people of the land came to the house of Baal and tore it down. They broke his altars and his images for good; and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. Jehoiada the priest posted supervisors over the house of Yahweh.

19 He took the chief officers of hundreds, the Carite, the runners and all the people of the land that they might bring the king down from the house of Yahweh. They came by way of the gate of the runners to the king’s house; and he took his seat on the throne of the kings.

20 All the people of the land rejoiced; the city itself was quiet since they had put Athaliah to death with the sword in the king’s house.

21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.

Chapter 12

1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king. He reigned forty years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 Jehoash did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh all the days in which Jehoiada the priest directed him.

3 But they did not take away the high-places; the people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.

4 Jehoash said to the priests, All the silver of the holy donations that is brought to the house of Yahweh, the silver passed along by each man, his appraisal silver of souls, all the silver that comes up on a man’s heart to bring it to the house of Yahweh,

5 let the priest take, each of them from his parishoner, and let them repair any gap in the house wherever any gap may be found there.

6 Now it came to be that by the twenty-third year of king Jehoash, the priests had not yet repaired any gap in the house.

7 So king Jehoash called Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, For what reason are you not repairing any gap in the house? Now you must not take silver from your parishoners any more; but for any gap in the house should you grant it.

8 The priests consented to take by no means any silver from the people and not to repair any gap in the house.

9 Now Jehoiada the priest took one coffer and pierced a hole in its lid and set it beside the jamb at the right as one entered the house of Yahweh. And there the priests who guarded the threshold put all the silver that was brought into the house of Yahweh.

10 It came to be whenever they saw that the silver was abundant in the coffer, the king’s scribe came up with the great priest; and they would pouch and count the silver that was found at the house of Yahweh.

11 Then they would render the silver that was weighed out over to the hands of those doing the work who had been given supervision of the house of Yahweh. And they brought it forth to the carpenters and builders who were working in the house of Yahweh,

12 to the wall builders and the stone hewers, and to buy timbers and hewn stones for repairing any gap in the house of Yahweh, and for all that went forth for repair on the house.

13 Indeed, from the silver brought into the house of Yahweh, no basins of silver were made, no snippers, sprinkling bowls or bugles, nor any other article of gold or article of silver for the house of Yahweh;

14 for they gave it to those doing the work, and with it they repaired the house of Yahweh.

15 They would not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they would render the silver to give it to those doing the work, because they were performing it in faithfulness.

16 Silver shekels as guilt offerings and silver shekels as sin offerings however were not brought to the house of Yahweh, for they came to be for the priests.

17 Then Hazael king of Syria marched up and fought against Gath and seized it. Hazael also set his face to go up against Jerusalem.

18 But Jehoash king of Judah took all the holy donations that Jehoshaphat, Jehoram and Ahaziah his fathers, the kings of Judah, had sanctified, together with his own holy donations and all the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king; and he sent them to Hazael king of Syria, who then went up from against Jerusalem.

19 As for the rest of the affairs of Joash and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

20 His courtiers arose and conspired in a conspiracy and smote Joash in the house, the Millo bulwark at the descent to Silla.

21 Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer, his courtiers, they smote him so that he died. They entombed him with his fathers in the city of David; and his son Amaziah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 13

1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria for seventeen years.

2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He walked in pursuit of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin; he did not withdraw from them.

3 So Yahweh’s anger burned hot against Israel, and He gave them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad son of Hazael all these days.

4 Yet Jehoahaz beseeched the face of Yahweh; and Yahweh hearkened to him; for He had seen the oppression of Israel, because the king of Syria oppressed them. (

5 Now Yahweh provided a saviour for Israel, so that they came forth from under the hand of Syria; and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as heretofore.

6 Indeed they did not withdraw from the sins of the house of Jeroboam with which he caused Israel to sin. They walked in them; and even the Asherah pole stood in Samaria.)

7 For He had let no armed people remain to Jehoahaz save fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand men on foot, because the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like dust under threshing.

8 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoahaz, all that he did and his masterful deeds, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

9 Then Jehoahaz lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him in Samaria; his son Joash reigned in his stead.

10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria for sixteen years.

11 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not withdraw from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat with which he had caused Israel to sin; he walked in them.

12 As for the rest of the affairs of Joash, all that he did and his masterful deeds when he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

13 Then Joash lay down with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was entombed in Samaria with the kings of Israel.

14 As for Elisha, he had become ill with his illness of which he was dying. So Joash king of Israel came down to him. He wept over his face and recited, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!

15 Then Elisha said to him, Take a bow and arrows. So he took to him a bow and arrows.

16 Then he said to the king of Israel, Let your hand ride on the bow. When he let his hand ride, Elisha placed his hands over the king’s hands

17 and said, Open the window eastward. So he opened it, and Elisha ordered, Shoot. And he shot. Now he stated, An arrow of victory for Yahweh and an arrow of victory over Syria! You will smite Syria at Aphek unto the finish.

18 Then he added, Take the arrows. When he took them, he said to the king of Israel, Smite earthward. So he smote three times and stayed.

19 Now the man of Elohim was wrathful with him and stated, If you had smitten five or six times, then you would have smitten Syria unto the finish. But now you shall smite Syria only three times.

20 Elisha died, and they entombed him. Now there were Moabite raiders who entered into the land whenever a year came to its end.

21 It came to pass as they were entombing a man, behold, they saw the raiding party, and they flung the man into Elisha’s tomb. When the man came to touch the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood firm on his feet.

22 As for Hazael king of Syria, he oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.

23 Yet Yahweh was gracious to them. He had compassion on them and turned around to them on account of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He would not ruin them, and He did not fling them away from His face until now.

24 When Hazael king of Syria died, his son Ben-hadad reigned in his stead.

25 Then Jehoash son of Jehoahaz restored and took from the hand of Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that he had taken from the hand of his father Jehoahaz in war. Three times Jehoash smote him and restored the cities of Israel.

Chapter 14

1 In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah became king.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

3 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, but not like his father David. He performed according to all that his father Joash had done.

4 But they did not take away the high-places; the people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.

5 It came to pass just as the kingship was held fast in his hand that he smote his courtiers who had smitten the king his father.

6 Yet the sons of the smiters he did not put to death, according to what is written in the scroll of the law of Moses in which Yahweh gave instruction, saying, Fathers shall not be put to death on account of their sons’ sins, nor shall sons be put to death on account of their fathers’ sins, but rather shall each man be put to death for his own sin.

7 He himself smote Edom in the salt ravine, ten thousand men, and took possession of Sela in battle. He called it Joktheel; that has been its name until this day.

8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, Do come, let us stare each other in the face.

9 Yet Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon, it sent word to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Do give your daughter to my son as a wife. But an animal of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and tramped down the thistle.

10 You smote, yea smote Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Glory in it and stay in your own house. Now why should you stir yourself up for evil, so that you will fall, you and Judah with you?

11 Yet Amaziah did not hearken. So Jehoash king of Israel marched up; and they stared each other in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh in Judah.

12 And Judah was stricken before Israel, so that they fled, each man to his tent.

13 It was Amaziah king of Judah son of Jehoash son of Ahaziah whom Jehoash king of Israel apprehended at Beth-shemesh. Then he came to Jerusalem and made a breach of four hundred cubits in the wall of Jerusalem from the Ephraim Gateway unto the Corner Gateway.

14 He took all the gold and the silver, all the vessels found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the house of the king, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

15 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoash, all that he did, and his masterful deeds how he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

16 Then Jehoash lay down with his fathers and was entombed in Samaria with the kings of Israel; his son Jeroboam reigned in his stead.

17 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.

18 As for the rest of the affairs of Amaziah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

19 They conspired against him in a conspiracy in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent in pursuit of him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.

20 Then they carried him back on horses, and he was entombed in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David.

21 Now all the people of Judah took Azariah ( he was sixteen years old), and they proclaimed him king in place of his father Amaziah.

22 It was he who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his fathers.

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria for forty-one years.

24 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh. He did not withdraw from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.

25 It was he who restored the boundary of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Yahweh Elohim of Israel that He spoke by means of His servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath-hepher.

26 For Yahweh had seen the exceedingly bitter humiliation of Israel. There was nobody under restraint and nobody set free, and there was no helper for Israel.

27 Yet Yahweh had not thought to wipe out the name of Israel from under the heavens. So He saved them by means of Jeroboam son of Joash.

28 The rest of the affairs of Jeroboam, all that he did, and his masterful deeds, how he fought and how he restored for Israel Damascus and Hamath of Judah, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

29 Then Jeroboam lay down with his fathers, with the kings of Israel; and his son Zechariah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 15

1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.

2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

3 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

4 But they did not take away the high-places; the people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places.

5 Yahweh touched the king, and he remained leprous until the day of his death. He dwelt in another house divested of his duties, while Jotham the king’s son was over the royal house, judging the people of the land.

6 As for the rest of the affairs of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

7 Then Azariah lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him with his fathers in the city of David; his son Jotham reigned in his stead.

8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria for six months.

9 Yet he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his fathers had done. He did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.

10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him and smote him at Ibleam. He put him to death and reigned in his stead.

11 As for the rest of the affairs of Zechariah, behold they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.

12 This was in accord with the word of Yahweh that He had spoken to Jehu, saying, Sons of yours to the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. And so it came to pass.

13 As for Shallum son of Jabesh, he became king in the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, and he reigned a month of days in Samaria.

14 Then Menahem son of Gadi marched up from Tirzah, came to Samaria and smote Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria. He put him to death and reigned in his stead.

15 The rest of the affairs of Shallum and his conspiracy in which he conspired, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.

16 Then, out from Tirzah, Menahem smote Tiphsah and all who were in it, and its territories; because it did not open up to him, he smote its people and rent open all its pregnant women.

17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel for ten years in Samaria.

18 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; and he did not withdraw from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin. In his days

19 King Pul of Assyria invaded the land; and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that his hands might be with him to hold the kingdom fast in his own hand.

20 Menahem took forth the silver from Israel, from all the masters of ability, to give to the king of Assyria fifty shekels of silver from each one. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land.

21 As for the rest of the affairs of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel?

22 Then Menahem lay down with his fathers, and his son Pekahiah reigned in his stead.

23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria for two years.

24 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.

25 His adjutant Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him and smote him in the citadel of the king’s house in Samaria along with Argob and Arieh. And with him were fifty men from the sons of the Gileadites. He put him to death and reigned in his stead.

26 As for the rest of the affairs of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.

27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria for twenty years.

28 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh; he did not withdraw from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, with which he caused Israel to sin.

29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and took Ijon, Abelbeth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali; and he deported them to Assyria.

30 Hoshea son of Elah conspired in a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah and smote him. He put him to death and reigned in his stead, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Azariah.

31 As for the rest of the affairs of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Israel.

32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Azariah king of Judah became king.

33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years; his mother’s name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok.

34 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh. He performed according to all that his father Azariah had done.

35 But they did not take away the high-places. The people were continually sacrificing and fuming incense on the high-places. It was he who rebuilt the Upper Gateway of the house of Yahweh.

36 As for the rest of the affairs of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

37 In those days Yahweh started to send Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.

38 Then Jotham lay down with his fathers. He was entombed with his fathers in the city of his father David, and his son Ahaz reigned in his stead.

Chapter 16

1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah became king.

2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Yet he did not do what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh his Elohim like his father David.

3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even caused his sons to pass through fire, according to the abhorrences of the nations whom Yahweh had evicted before the sons of Israel.

4 He sacrificed and fumed incense on the high-places, on the hills and under every flourishing tree.

5 Then Rezin king of Syria with Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to the battle against Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz; but they did not prevail in fighting.

6 In that season Rezin king of Syria restored Elath to Edom and eased the Jews away from Elath. Then the Edomites entered Elath; and they have been dwelling there until this day.

7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the palm of the king of Syria and from the palm of the king of Israel who are arising against me.

8 And Ahaz took the silver and the gold that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent it to the king of Assyria as a bribe.

9 The king of Assyria hearkened to him. The king of Assyria marched up to Damascus and took possession of it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.

10 When king Ahaz went to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria at Damascus, then he saw the altar that was in Damascus. And king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a likeness of the altar, a model of it for all its workmanship.

11 Uriah the priest built the altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Uriah the priest was busy until king Ahaz set out from Damascus.

12 When the king came from Damascus, and when the king saw the altar, then the king drew near to the altar and offered up on it.

13 He made his ascent offering and his approach present fume. He libated his libation and sprinkled the blood of the peace offerings that were his, against the altar.

14 As for the copper altar that had been before Yahweh, he now brought it near from the facade of the house from between the new altar and the house of Yahweh and put it on the flank of the new altar northward.

15 Then king Ahaz instructed Uriah the priest, saying, On the large new altar make the morning ascent offering and the evening approach present fume, also the king’s ascent offering and his approach present, with the ascent offering of all the people of the land, their approach present and their libations. All the blood of the ascent offering and all the blood of the sacrifice shall you sprinkle against it. As for the copper altar, it shall be for me to make my quest.

16 And Uriah the priest did according to all that king Ahaz had instructed him.

17 King Ahaz cut away the insets of the bases, and he took away the laver off them; and the sea he took down off the copper oxen that were beneath it, and put it on a stone pavement.

18 The covert of the sabbath that they had built at the house and the king’s entry outside he turned about from the house of Yahweh because of the king of Assyria.

19 As for the rest of the affairs of Ahaz and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

20 Then Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and he was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his son Hezekiah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 17

1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king in Samaria over Israel for nine years.

2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

3 It was against him that Shalmaneser king of Assyria marched up. Hoshea became his servant and rendered tributary presents to him.

4 Yet the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, since he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had not brought up tributary presents to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year. Hence the king of Assyria put him under restraint and bound him in a house of detention.

5 Then the king of Assyria marched up against the whole land; he came up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.

6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria seized Samaria and deported Israel to Assyria. He made them dwell in Halah, and at the Habor, the stream of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 This came to pass because the sons of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their Elohim Who had brought them up from the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had feared other elohim

8 and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel and in the statutes that the kings of Israel had practiced.

9 The sons of Israel surreptitiously did things against Yahweh their Elohim that were not proper. They built for themselves high-places in all their cities, from the tower of field-keepers to the city fortress.

10 They set up for themselves monuments and Asherah poles on every lofty hill and under every flourishing tree.

11 There they were fuming incense on all the high-places like the nations whom Yahweh had deported from before them. They did evil things to provoke Yahweh to vexation.

12 They were serving the idol clods of which Yahweh had said to them, You must not do this thing.

13 Yahweh testified against Israel and against Judah by means of every prophet and every vision seer, saying, Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My instructions and My statutes, according to all the law that I enjoined on your fathers and that I sent to you by means of My servants the prophets.

14 Yet they did not hearken, and they stiffened the scruffs of their necks more than the scruff of their fathers who did not believe in Yahweh their Elohim.

15 They rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had contracted with their fathers, and His testimonies with which He had testified against them. They went after the idols of vanity of which they were vain, thus following the nations who were round about them, concerning whom Yahweh had enjoined them, by no means to act like them.

16 They forsook all instructions of Yahweh their Elohim; they made molten images for themselves two calves and made an Asherah pole, and they bowed themselves down to all the host of the heavens, and they served Baal.

17 They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through fire and divined by divinations; they practiced augury and sold themselves to do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke Him to vexation.

18 So Yahweh showed Himself exceedingly angered with Israel and put them away, out of His presence. None remained but the tribe of Judah by itself alone.

19 Even Judah did not keep the instructions of Yahweh their Elohim and walked in the statutes that Israel had practiced.

20 So Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel; He humbled them and gave them into the hand of robbers until He had flung them away, out of His presence.

21 When He tore Israel off the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam caused Israel to founder in following Yahweh, and he caused them to sin with a great sin.

22 The sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam that he had done. They did not withdraw from it,

23 until Yahweh put Israel away, out of His presence, just as He had spoken by means of all His servants the prophets. So Israel was deported from its own ground to Assyria until this day.

24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, from Cuthah, from Avva, from Hamath and Sepharvaim; he made them dwell in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they took over Samaria and dwelt in its cities.

25 It came to pass at the start of their dwelling there that they did not fear Yahweh. Hence Yahweh sent lions among them, and they became killers among them.

26 So they complained to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations that you deported and made dwell in the cities of Samaria do not know the customs of the elohim of the land. Hence he sent lions among them. And behold, they are putting them to death, since there are none among them knowing the customs of the elohim of the land.

27 Then the king of Assyria gave instruction, saying, Have one of the priests go back there whom you had deported from there; let him go and let him dwell there; let him direct them as to the customs of the elohim of the land.

28 So one of the priests whom they had deported from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel; he was directing them how they should fear Yahweh.

29 Yet they came to make, nation by nation, each its own elohim, which they let rest in the house of the high-places that the Samaritans had made. So they did, nation by nation, in their cities where they were dwelling.

30 As for the men of Babylon, they made Succoth-benoth; the men of Cuthah made Nergal; the men of Hamath made Ashima.

31 As for the Avvites, they made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites were burning their sons in the fire for Adrammelech and Anammelech, the elohim of Sepharvaim.

32 They came to fear Yahweh; yet they also appointed for themselves priests of the high-places from their outmost ranks. They were officiating for them in the house of the high-places.

33 It was Yahweh Whom they came to fear, while they were serving their own elohim according to the customs of the nations from where they had deported them.

34 Unto this day they are performing according to their former customs: None of them are fearing Yahweh properly. None of them are doing according to their statutes and according to their ordinances, or according to the law and according to the instruction that Yahweh enjoined on the sons of Jacob whose name He made Israel.

35 When Yahweh contracted a covenant with them, He instructed them, saying, You shall not fear other elohim; you shall not bow yourselves down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them,

36 but rather to Yahweh Who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great vigor and with an outstretched arm: Him shall you fear, to Him shall you bow yourselves down, and to Him shall you sacrifice.

37 As for the statutes and the ordinances, the law and the instruction that He wrote for you, you shall observe to do all the days; and you shall not fear other elohim.

38 And the covenant that I have contracted with you, you shall not forget; and you shall not fear other elohim,

39 but rather Yahweh your Elohim shall you fear, and He shall rescue you from the hand of all your enemies.

40 Yet they did not hearken, but rather according to their former customs were they performing.

41 So these nations came to fear Yahweh while they were serving their carvings. Even their sons and their sons’ sons, just as their fathers had done, so are they doing until this day.

Chapter 18

1 It was in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel that Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.

2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah.

3 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father David had done.

4 It was he who took away the high-places and broke down the monuments; he also cut down the Asherah pole and pounded to pieces the serpent of copper that Moses had made; for until those days the sons of Israel had been fuming incense to it, and one called it Nehushtan.

5 In Yahweh Elohim of Israel he trusted; and after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor was there among those before him.

6 He clung to Yahweh and did not withdraw from following Him; he kept His instructions that Yahweh had enjoined on Moses.

7 And Yahweh came to be with him; in all wherein he went forth, he proceeded intelligently. He revolted against the king of Assyria and would not serve him.

8 It was he who smote the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territories, from the tower of field-keepers to the city fortress.

9 It came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, that is, the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that king Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up against Samaria and besieged it.

10 They seized it at the end of three years. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was seized.

11 Then the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and had them guided to Halah, and to the Habor, the stream of Gozan, and to the cities of the Medes,

12 because they had not hearkened to the voice of Yahweh their Elohim, but had trespassed against His covenant all that Moses the servant of Yahweh had instructed. They neither hearkened nor did them.

13 In the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched up against all the fortressed cities of Judah and took possession of them.

14 So Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, I was at fault. Turn back from against me. Whatever you may impose on me I shall bear. Then the king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.

15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh and in the treasuries of the king’s house.

16 At that time Hezekiah cut away the doors of the temple of Yahweh and the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave them to the king of Assyria.

17 And the king of Assyria sent the tartan, the rab-saris and the rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a massive army. So they marched up and came to Jerusalem. They went up and came to stand by the trench of the uppermost reservoir that is at the highway of the field of the launderer.

18 They called out for the king. Yet there came forth to them Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.

19 The rab-shakeh said to them, Now you tell Hezekiah, Thus speaks the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this trust in which you have trusted?

20 You claim to have counsel and mastery for the war, yet this is only a word of lips. Now on whom have you trusted that you revolted against me?

21 Now behold, you, for your part, have trusted on the support-staff of this fractured reed, on Egypt, which, if a man should support himself on it, would enter into his palm and pierce it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

22 And in case you should say to me, On Yahweh our Elohim we trust, is He not the One Whose high-places and Whose altars Hezekiah took away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar shall you worship in Jerusalem?

23 Now then, negotiate with my lord the king of Assyria. Let me give you two thousand horses, if you are able for your part to put any riders on them.

24 Then how could you reverse the face of one viceroy of my lord’s least significant officials, when you, for your part, trusted on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

25 And now, is it apart from Yahweh that I have come up against this place to ruin it? Yahweh Himself said to me, March up against this land and ruin it.

26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah replied to the rab-shakeh: Speak, we pray, to your servants in Syrian, for we can make it out. Do not speak with us in Judean, in the ears of the people who are on the wall.

27 Yet the rab-shakeh said to them: Was it to your lord and to you that my lord has sent me to speak these words? Was it not rather to the men sitting on the wall, who shall eat their own excrement and drink their urine with you?

28 Then the rab-shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in Judean. He spoke and said, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria.

29 Thus speaks the king: Let not Hezekiah lure you, for he is not able to rescue you from my hand.

30 Let not Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall rescue, yea rescue us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

31 Do not hearken to Hezekiah. For thus speaks the king of Assyria: Make of me a blessing, and come forth to me, and eat each man of his vine and each man of his fig tree, and drink each man the water of his cistern,

32 until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and grape juice, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of clarified olive oil and honey, so that you may live and you may not die. Do not hearken to Hezekiah, for he shall allure you, saying, Yahweh Himself shall rescue us.

33 Did the elohim of the nations rescue, yea rescue any man’s land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

34 Where are the elohim of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the elohim of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah? When have they rescued Samaria from my hand?

35 Which among all the elohim of these lands rescued their land from my hand, assuring you that Yahweh shall rescue Jerusalem from my hand?

36 Yet the people kept silence and did not answer him a word: for this had been the king’s instruction, saying, You shall not answer him.

37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah, with their garments torn, and told him the words of the rab-shakeh.

Chapter 19

1 It came to be when king Hezekiah heard it that he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Yahweh.

2 He also sent Eliakim who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3 They said to him, Thus speaks Hezekiah: A day of distress, reproof and indignity is this day, as when sons have come to the point of breaking forth, yet there is no vigor to give birth.

4 Perhaps Yahweh your Elohim shall hearken to all the words of the rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord has sent to reproach the living Elohim, and He will reprove him for the words that Yahweh your Elohim has heard. Now lift up a prayer in behalf of the remnant that is found.

5 When the officials of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah,

6 Isaiah said to them, Thus you shall say to your lord, Thus speaks Yahweh: Do not stand in fear because of the words that you have heard with which the retainers of the king of Assyria taunted Me.

7 Behold, I am putting a spirit in him; he will hear a report and return to his land; and I will fell him by the sword in his own land.

8 Now the rab-shakeh had turned back and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that he had decamped from Lachish.

9 Yet he heard a report about Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, Behold, he had marched forth to fight against you. Then he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,

10 Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not your Elohim, in Whom you are trusting, lure you into thinking that Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands to doom them; and shall you be rescued?

12 Have the elohim of the nations rescued them, those which my fathers ruined, Gozan and Charan, Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Tel-assar?

13 Where is he the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?

14 Hezekiah took the scrolls from the hand of the messengers and read them and went up to the house of Yahweh. Then Hezekiah spread them out before Yahweh,

15 and Hezekiah prayed before Yahweh and said: O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, dwelling over the cherubim, You by Yourself alone are He, Who is the One Elohim over all the kingdoms of the earth. You Yourself have made the heavens and the earth.

16 Stretch out Your ear, O Yahweh, and hear! Unclose Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see! And hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living Elohim.

17 It is true, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria did drain the nations and their land

18 and put their elohim into the fire and destroyed them; for they were no elohim, but rather the work of human hands, wood and stone.

19 And now, O Yahweh our Elohim, save us, I pray, from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Yahweh, by Yourself alone are Elohim.

20 Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: What you prayed to Me as to Sennacherib king of Assyria, have I heard.

21 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him: She despises you! She derides you! The virgin daughter of Zion. Behind you, she wags her head! The daughter of Jerusalem.

22 Whom have you reproached and taunted? And against Whom have you raised high your voice And lifted up your eyes to the height? Against the Holy One of Israel!

23 By means of your messengers you have reproached Yahweh. And you said, With the multitude of my chariots I myself have ascended the height of mountains, The flanks of Lebanon, And I have cut down its tall stand of cedars, Its choicest firs, I have entered its outmost lodging, Its Carmel wildwood.

24 I myself scooped and drank alien waters, And I have drained with the sole of my feet all the waterways of lower Egypt.

25 Have you not heard? From of old I purposed it; From days aforetime also I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass that you have come into being To decimate fortressed cities into crumbled mounds.

26 Their dwellers are shorthanded, Are dismayed and ashamed. They have become like herbage of the field And green verdure, Grass of the housetops, Blasted before the east wind.

27 Your rising and your sitting down, Your going forth and your coming in, I know, And your ranting against Me.

28 Because your ranting against Me And your self-satisfaction have ascended into My ears, So I will place My gaff in your nose And My bit in your lips, And I will reverse you in the way by which you came.

29 Now this is the sign for you: Eat this year the self-sown and in the second year spontaneous growth. Yet in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

30 The salvage that remains of the house of Judah will proceed to take root downward and will yield fruit upward.

31 For from Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant And a salvage from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts, it shall achieve this.

32 Wherefore thus speaks Yahweh as to the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor confront it with a shield, Nor pour out earthwork against it.

33 By the way which he came, by it he shall return, Yet into this city he shall not enter. This is the averring of Yahweh.

34 I will protect this city to save it on My own account and on account of My servant David.

35 It came to pass on that night that a messenger of Yahweh went forth and smote 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When the king’s men rose early in the morning, behold, there were all their dead corpses.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria decamped and went home; he returned and dwelt in Nineveh.

37 Then it came to pass while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his elohim that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword. As for them, they escaped to the land of Ararat; and his son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.

Chapter 20

1 In those days Hezekiah was ill to death. So Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh: Give instruction to your household, for you are going to die; and you shall not remain alive.

2 Hezekiah turned his face around to the sidewall and prayed to Yahweh, saying,

3 Oh, Yahweh! Remember, I pray, how I walked before You in faithfulness and wholeheartedly, and I have done what is good in Your eyes. Then Hezekiah lamented with great lamentation.

4 Now this occurred to Isaiah: He had not yet gone forth from the middle court when Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,

5 Turn back and say to Hezekiah, the governor of My people, Thus speaks Yahweh, the Elohim of your father David: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I am healing you; on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh.

6 And I will add to your days fifteen years; and from the palm of the king of Assyria I shall rescue you and this city. I will protect this city on My own account and on account of My servant David.

7 Then Isaiah said to the servants, Procure pressed dried figs, let them take and place them on the boil that he may revive.

8 Now Hezekiah asked Isaiah, What is the sign that Yahweh shall heal me, and I will go up on the third day to the house of Yahweh?

9 Isaiah said, This is the sign for you from Yahweh that Yahweh shall perform this word that He has spoken: The shadow has gone on ten steps; should it return ten steps?

10 Hezekiah replied, It is but a slight thing for the shadow to decline ten steps, but not that the shadow returns back again ten steps.

11 So Isaiah the prophet called out to Yahweh; and He reversed the shadow on the steps (that had descended on the stairs of Ahaz) back again ten steps.

12 In that era, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent scrolls and a present to Hezekiah; for he had heard that Hezekiah had been ill.

13 Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold, the aromatics and the good oil, his whole house of weapons and all that was to be found in his treasuries. There was not a thing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his realm.

14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah and demanded of him, What did these men say to you? And from where did they come to you? Hezekiah replied, They came from a far land to me, from Babylon.

15 Isaiah asked, What did they see in your house? Hezekiah said, They saw everything that is in my house. There is not a thing that I did not show them in my treasuries.

16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts:

17 Behold, days are coming, this is the averring of Yahweh, when all that is in your house and that your fathers treasured until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Not a thing shall be left, says Yahweh.

18 And some of your sons, who shall come forth from you, whom you shall beget, they shall be taken away. And they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

19 Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, Good is the word of Yahweh that you have spoken. For he thought, Is it not so, if peace and faithfulness shall come to be in my days?

20 As for the rest of the affairs of Hezekiah, all his masterful deeds, how he built the reservoir and the trench and brought the water into the city, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

21 Then Hezekiah lay down with his fathers and was entombed with his fathers in the city of David; his son Manasseh reigned in his stead.

Chapter 21

1 Twelve years old was Manasseh when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah.

2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the abhorrences of the nations which Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel.

3 So he rebuilt again the high-places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he set up altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole just as king Ahab of Israel had done. He bowed himself down to all the host of the heavens and served them.

4 He built altars for them in the house of Yahweh of which Yahweh had said, In Jerusalem I shall place My Name.

5 He built altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.

6 He also caused his own son to pass through fire; he consulted clouds, practiced augury and dealt with mediums and wizards. He performed much more to do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke Him to vexation.

7 The carved Asherah pole that he had made, he placed in the house of which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son: In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I shall place My Name for the eon.

8 And I shall not again cause the foot of Israel to wander from the ground that I gave to their fathers, but only if they observe to do according to all that I instructed them, according to the whole law that My servant Moses enjoined on them.

9 Yet they did not hearken, and Manasseh led them astray to do greater evil than the nations which Yahweh had exterminated from before the sons of Israel.

10 So Yahweh spoke by means of His servants the prophets, saying,

11 Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abhorrences and has done more evil than all that the Amorite did before him, and has caused even Judah to sin with his idol clods,

12 wherefore thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such evil on Jerusalem and Judah, if anyone hears of it, both his ears shall tingle.

13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring tape of Samaria and the plummet of the house of Ahab. I will wipe out Jerusalem just as one wipes a pan, wiping it and turning it on its face.

14 I will abandon the remnant of My allotment and will give them into the hand of their enemies; and they will come to be for plunder and for robbery to all their enemies,

15 because they have done what is evil in My eyes and were provoking Me to vexation from the day when their fathers came forth from Egypt, even until this day.

16 Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he had filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin with which he caused Judah to sin by doing what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

17 As for the rest of the affairs of Manasseh, all that he did, and his sin with which he sinned, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

18 Then Manasseh lay down with his fathers and was entombed in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza; and his son Amon reigned in his stead.

19 Twenty-two years old was Amon when he became king; he reigned two years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.

20 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his father Manasseh had done.

21 He walked in all the way in which his father had walked; he served the idol clods that his father had served, and he bowed down to them.

22 He forsook Yahweh Elohim of his fathers and did not walk in the way of Yahweh.

23 Then Amon’s courtiers conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.

24 But the people of the land smote all who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land proclaimed his son Josiah king in his stead.

25 As for the rest of the affairs of Amon and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

26 They entombed him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza; and his son Josiah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 22

1 Eight years old was Josiah when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah from Bozkath.

2 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not withdraw to the right or left.

3 It came to be in the eighteenth year of king Josiah that the king sent the scribe Shaphan son of Azaliah son of Meshullam to the house of Yahweh, saying:

4 Go up to Hilkiah the great priest and let him pour out the silver brought into the house of Yahweh, that the keepers of the threshold had gathered from the people,

5 and let them put it into the hands of those doing the work who had been given supervision in the house of Yahweh, that they may give it to those doing the work who are in the house of Yahweh to repair any gap in the house,

6 to the craftsmen and the builders and wall builders, and to buy timbers and hewn stones for repairing the house.

7 However no accounting should be required from them of the silver given into their hands, because they are performing in faithfulness.

8 Then Hilkiah the great priest said to Shaphan the scribe: A scroll of the law have I found in the house of Yahweh. And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan, who read it.

9 Shaphan the scribe then came to the king and rendered a report on the matter to the king; he said: Your officials have poured forth the silver that was found in the house; and they put it into the hands of those doing the work who had been given supervision in the house of Yahweh.

10 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, There is a scroll that Hilkiah the priest has given to me. And Shaphan read it before the king.

11 It came to pass as the king heard the words of the scroll of the law, he tore his garments.

12 Then the king instructed Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe and Asaiah the king’s attendant, saying,

13 Go, inquire of Yahweh about me and about the people and about all Judah concerning the words of this scroll that has been found; for great is the fury of Yahweh which ravages against us because our fathers did not hearken to the words of this scroll and do according to all that is written concerning us.

14 So Hilkiah the priest, with Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah son of Harhas, the keeper of the garments. She was dwelling in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter; and they spoke to her.

15 She replied to them, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel. Say to the man who sent you to me,

16 Thus speaks Yahweh: Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its dwellers, all the words of the scroll that the king of Judah has read;

17 insomuch as they have forsaken Me and fumed incense to other elohim that they might provoke Me to vexation with all the deeds of their hands, My fury ravages against this place, and it shall not be quenched.

18 Regarding the king of Judah who is sending you to inquire of Yahweh, thus shall you say to him, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: As for the words that you have heard,

19 because your heart was tender and you were submissive before the face of Yahweh when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its dwellers, that it will become an appalling object and a malediction, because you tore your garments and wept before Me, I for My part have heard you too; this is the averring of Yahweh.

20 Wherefore, behold Me, I shall gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the evil which I am bringing on this place. So they brought back this decree to the king.

Chapter 23

1 Then the king sent word, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

2 The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and every man of Judah and all the dwellers of Jerusalem with him, also the priests, the prophets and all the people from the small unto the great. Then he read into their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of Yahweh.

3 The king stood by the column and contracted the covenant before Yahweh: to walk after Yahweh, to keep His instructions, His testimonies and His statutes with all the heart and with all the soul, and to carry out the words of this covenant as they were written on this scroll. Then all the people ratified the covenant.

4 The king instructed Hilkiah the great priest, the priests of the second in rank and the keepers of the threshold to bring forth from the temple of Yahweh all the furnishings made for Baal, for Asherah and for all the host of the heavens. He burned them outside Jerusalem on the Kidron terraces and carried their dust to Bethel.

5 He caused the idolatrous priests to cease (whom the kings of Judah had appointed to fume incense on the high-places at the cities of Judah and round about Jerusalem), and those fuming incense to Baal, to the sun and to the moon, to the zodiac and to all the host of the heavens.

6 He brought forth the Asherah pole from the house of Yahweh outside Jerusalem to Wadi Kidron and burned it in Wadi Kidron; he had it pulverized to dust and had its dust flung over the tombs of the sons of the people.

7 He tore down the cubicles of the cult-prostitutes that were in the house of Yahweh, where the women were weaving tunics for Asherah.

8 He brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah and defiled the high-places where the priests had fumed incense, from Geba unto Beer-sheba. He broke down the high-places of the hairy goat demons that were beside the portal of the gateway of Joshua, the city chief, which were on one’s left at the city gateway.

9 The priests of the high-places, however, did not go up to the altar of Yahweh in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread in the midst of their brothers.

10 He defiled Topheth, which is in the ravine of the sons of Hinnom, so as to lure no one to make his son or his daughter pass through fire to Moloch.

11 He eradicated the horses (that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun) at the entrance of the house of Yahweh by the room of Nathan-melech the eunuch, which was in the precincts; and he burned the chariots of the sun with fire.

12 As for the altars on the housetop of the upper chamber of Ahaz that the kings of Judah had built, and the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courts of the house of Yahweh, the king tore them down. He fractured them there and had their dust flung into Wadi Kidron.

13 As for the high-places adjoining Jerusalem, at the right of the mount of corruption, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abhorrence of the sons of Ammon, the king defiled them.

14 He broke the monuments to pieces, cut down the Asherah poles and filled their place with human bones.

15 Also the altar in Bethel, the high-place that Jeroboam son of Nebat had built, who caused Israel to sin, that altar too and the high-place he broke down. Then he burned the high-place, pulverized it to dust and burned the Asherah pole.

16 Josiah turned around and saw the tombs that were there on the hillside. So he sent and took the bones from the tombs and burned them on the altar. He defiled it according to the word of Yahweh that the man of Elohim had called out, when Jeroboam stood by the altar at the celebration; and he turned back and lifted his eyes to the tomb of the man of Elohim who had proclaimed these things.

17 Then he said, What is this cairn that I am seeing? Now the men of the city replied to him, It is the tomb of the man of Elohim who came from Judah, and he proclaimed these things that you have done against the altar of Bethel.

18 He replied, Leave him alone; do not let any man move his bones. So they left his bones undisturbed together with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.

19 Josiah also put away all the houses of the high-places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had built to provoke Yahweh to vexation; he dealt with them according to all the deeds that he had done at Bethel.

20 He sacrificed all priests of the high-places that were there, on the altars, and he burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

21 The king instructed all the people, saying, Observe the Passover for Yahweh your Elohim according to what is written on the scroll of this covenant.

22 Indeed no Passover like this had been observed since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

23 For only in the eighteenth year of king Josiah was this Passover observed to Yahweh in Jerusalem in that manner.

24 As for the mediums and the wizards, the household idols, the idol clods and all the abominations which were to be seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, Josiah took them out too in order to carry out the words of the law, written on the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of Yahweh.

25 There was no king such as he before him who turned back to Yahweh with all his heart, with all his soul and with all his intensity according to all the law of Moses; nor did anyone such as he arise after him.

26 However Yahweh did not turn back from the great heat of His anger when His anger burned hot against Judah on account of all the vexations with which Manasseh had provoked Him to vexation.

27 Yahweh said, I shall also put away Judah from My presence, just as I put away Israel; and I will reject this city that I chose, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My Name shall be there.

28 As for the rest of the affairs of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

29 In his days, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria on the stream Euphrates. And king Josiah went out to meet him in battle; yet Neco caused him to die at Megiddo when he saw him.

30 Then his servants conveyed him by chariot from Megiddo and brought him dying to Jerusalem. They entombed him in his tomb. The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz, anointed him and proclaimed him king instead of his father.

31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

32 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his fathers had done.

33 Pharaoh Neco made him prisoner at Riblah in the land of Hamath to keep him from reigning in Jerusalem, and he imposed on the land a fine of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

34 Then Pharaoh Neco made Josiah’s son Eliakim king instead of his father Josiah and turned his name around to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz who came to Egypt; and there he died.

35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; however he had the land appraised to give the silver at the bidding of Pharaoh. Of each man, according to his appraisal, he exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land in order to give it to Pharaoh Neco.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah from Rumah.

37 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his fathers had done.

Chapter 24

1 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; yet he turned back and revolted against him.

2 Yahweh sent Chaldean raiders and Syrian raiders, Moabite raiders and raiders of the sons of Ammon against him. And He sent them against the land of Judah in order to destroy it, according to Yahweh’s word that He had spoken by means of His servants the prophets.

3 It was only at the bidding of Yahweh that this occurred to Judah, to put it away from His presence for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done,

4 and also for the innocent blood which he had shed, so that he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and Yahweh would not pardon.

5 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the annals of the days of the kings of Judah?

6 Then Jehoiakim lay down with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his stead.

7 The king of Egypt never again proceeded to march forth from his land; for the king of Babylon had taken all the territory that had been under the king of Egypt, from the wadi of Egypt as far as the stream Euphrates.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king; and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem.

9 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched up against Jerusalem, so that the city came under siege.

11 When Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it,

12 Jehoiachin king of Judah went forth and surrendered to the king of Babylon, he and his mother, his officials, his chiefs and his eunuchs. The king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign.

13 Then he brought forth from there all the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king’s house; he cut away all the gold furnishings in the temple of Yahweh which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as Yahweh had decreed.

14 And he deported all of Jerusalem: all the chiefs and all the masters of valor (ten thousand deportees), every craftsman and metalworker. No one remained except the poorest people of the land.

15 He deported Jehoiachin to Babylon with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his eunuchs and the arbiters of the land; he made them go into deportation from Jerusalem to Babylon.

16 As for all the men of valor (seven thousand), craftsmen and metalworkers (a thousand), all of them masters prepared for war, the king of Babylon brought them as deportees to Babylon.

17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah his uncle king in his stead and turned his name around to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

19 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

20 For it was on account of Yahweh’s anger that this occurred in Jerusalem and in Judah, until He had flung them away from His presence. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25

1 It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month on the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he and his whole army, came up against Jerusalem. He encamped outside it, and he built siege work against it all around.

2 Thus the city came under siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

3 On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was unyielding in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4 When the city was broken into all the men trained for war went forth at night by way of the gate between the two walls that were at the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were all around against the city. When he advanced by way of the Arabah,

5 the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered away from him.

6 Then they apprehended the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon by Riblah, and he pronounced judgment on him.

7 He slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with two bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.

8 In the fifth month on the seventh day of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the grandee of the imperial guard, Nebuzaradan, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

9 He burned the house of Yahweh and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down every house of a great man with fire.

10 All the army of the Chaldeans that was with the grandee of the imperial guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 As for the rest of the people who were remaining in the city, and those who had fallen away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the throng, Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard deported them.

12 Yet the grandee of the imperial guard let some of the poorest people of the land remain as vinedressers and as field hands.

13 As for the columns of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the sea of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke them up and carried their bronze to Babylon;

14 they also took away the pots and the shovels, the snippers, the spoons and all the articles of bronze with which they had been ministering.

15 The firepans and the sprinkling bowls, whatever were of gold, the grandee of the imperial guard took away as gold, and whatever of silver, as silver.

16 The two columns, the one sea and the bases that Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was not estimated.

17 Eighteen cubits in rise was one column, and the capital on it was of bronze; the rise of the capital was three cubits; and the meshing and the pomegranates all around on the capital, the whole of it was of bronze. And the second column was like these on the meshing.

18 The grandee of the imperial guard took Seraiah the principal priest and Zephaniah the second priest and three of the keepers of the threshold.

19 From the city he took one eunuch who had been supervisor over the men of war, and five men of those appearing in the king’s presence who were found in the city, and the chief scribe of the military host who had been mustering the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.

20 The grandee of the imperial guard Nebuzaradan took them captive and made them go to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

21 The king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was deported, away from its ground.

22 As for the people who were remaining in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon let remain, he gave supervision over them to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan.

23 When all the chief officials of the armed units, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had given supervision to Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah with Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

24 Then Gedaliah adjured them and their men and said to them Do not fear to be servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

25 Yet it occurred in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama, who was of royal seed, came and ten men with him; they smote Gedaliah, so that he died, and also the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

26 Now all the people, from the small unto the great, and the chief officials of the armed units got up and came to Egypt, for they were fearful because of the Chaldeans.

27 It came to be in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of king Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of the house of detention.

28 He spoke good things to him and put his covered seat above the covered seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

29 He made him exchange the clothes of his detention, and he ate bread before him continually, all the days of his life.

30 As for his ration, a continual ration was given to him by the king, the menu of a day in its day, all the days of his life.

The Book of 1 Chronicles

Chapter 1

1 Adam, Seth, Enosh;

2 Cainan, Mahalalel, Jared;

3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech;

4 Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth.

5 Japheth’s sons: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan and Elishah, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras.

6 Gomer’s sons: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah.

7 Javan’s sons: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Rodanim.

8 Ham’s sons: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan.

9 Cush’s sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. Raamah’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

10 Cush begot Nimrod. He started to become a master in the earth.

11 Mizraim begot the Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,

12 Pathrusim, Casluhim (from where the Philistines came forth) and Caphtorim.

13 Canaan begot Sidon, his firstborn, and Heth,

14 and the Jebusite, the Amorite, the Girgashite,

15 the Hivite, the Arkite, the Sinite,

16 the Arvadite, the Zemarite and the Hamathite.

17 Shem’s sons: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. Aram’s sons: Uz, Hul, Gether and Mash.

18 Arphaxad begot Cainan, Cainan begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber.

19 To Eber were born two sons; the name of the one was Peleg; for in his days the land was distributed. His brother’s name was Joktan.

20 Joktan begot Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,

21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,

22 Obal, Abimael, Sheba,

23 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan.

24 Shem, Arphaxad, Cainan, Shelah,

25 Eber, Peleg, Reu,

26 Serug, Nahor, Terah,

27 Abram (he is Abraham).

28 Abraham’s sons: Isaac and Ishmael.

29 These are their genealogical records: The firstborn of Ishmael was Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,

30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,

31 Jetur, Naphish and Kedemah. These were they, Ishmael’s sons.

32 The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: She bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuach. Jokshan’s sons: Sheba and Dedan.

33 Midian’s sons: Ephah, Epher, Enoch, Abida and Eldaah. All these were Keturah’s sons.

34 Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac’s sons: Esau and Israel.

35 Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jalam and Korah.

36 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna and Amalek.

37 Reuel’s sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah.

38 Seir’s sons: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.

39 Lotan’s sons: Hori and Hemam; and Timna was Lotan’s sister.

40 Shobal’s sons: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam. Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah.

41 Anah’s sons: Dishon. Dishon’s sons: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Cheran.

42 Ezer’s sons: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan. Dishon’s sons: Uz and Aran.

43 And these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before a king reigned over the sons of Israel: Bela son of Beor, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

44 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his stead.

45 When Jobab died, Husham from the Temanite land reigned in his stead.

46 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Avith.

47 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his stead.

48 When Samlah died, Saul from Rehoboth by the Stream reigned in his stead.

49 When Saul died, Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his stead.

50 When Baal-hanan died, Hadad son of Bered reigned in his stead; and the name of his city was Pau. The name of his wife was Mehetabel daughter of Matred daughter of Me-zahab.

51 And Hadad died. So the sheiks of Edom came to be: The sheik of Timna, the sheik of Alvah, the sheik of Jetheth,

52 the sheik of Oholibamah, the sheik of Elah, the sheik of Pinon,

53 the sheik of Kenaz, the sheik of Teman, the sheik of Mibzar,

54 the sheik of Magdiel, the sheik of Iram. These were the sheiks of Edom.

Chapter 2

1 These are the names of Israel’s sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,

2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

3 Judah’s sons: Er, Onan and Shelah. The three were born to him by the daughter of Shua, the Canaanitess. But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in Yahweh’s eyes; and He put him to death.

4 Tamar, his daughter-in-law, bore for him Perez and Zerah. Judah’s sons were five in all.

5 Perez’s sons: Hezron and Hamul.

6 Zerah’s sons: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol and Darda; they were five in all.

7 Carmi’s sons: Achar the troubler of Israel, who offended in regard to the doomed goods.

8 Ethan’s sons: Azariah.

9 Hezron’s sons who were born to him: Jerahmeel, Ram Caleb and Aram.

10 Aram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon prince of the sons of Judah.

11 Nahshon begot Salma, and Salma begot Boaz.

12 Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse.

13 Jesse begot Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab his second, Shimea his third,

14 Nethanel his fourth, Raddai his fifth,

15 Ozem his sixth, David his seventh,

16 and their sisters Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah’s three sons: Abishai, Joab and Asahel.

17 Abigail bore Amasa; Amasa’s father was Jether the Ishmaelite.

18 Caleb son of Hezron begot, by Azubah his wife, Jerioth. These were her sons: Jesher, Shobab and Ardon.

19 When Azubah died, Caleb took to himself Ephrath, and she bore for him Hur.

20 Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezalel.

21 Afterward Hezron came to the daughter of Machir father of Gilead; he took her when he was sixty years old, and she bore for him Segub.

22 Segub begot Jair, who came to have twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.

23 Yet Geshur and Aram took Havvoth-jair from them, along with Kenath and its outskirts, sixty cities. All these were sons of Gilead’s father Machir.

24 After Hezron’s death in Caleb-ephrathah, Hezron’s wife Abiah bore for him Ashhur the father of Tekoa.

25 The sons of Hezron’s firstborn Jerahmeel were Ram his firstborn, and Bunah, Oren, Ozem and Ahijah.

26 Jerahmeel came to have another wife; her name was Atarah; she was Onam’s mother.

27 The sons of Ram, Jerahmeel’s firstborn, were Maaz, Jamin and Eker.

28 Onam’s sons were Shammai and Jada; Shammai’s sons: Nadab and Abishur.

29 The name of Abishur’s wife was Abihail; she bore for him Ahban and Molid.

30 Nadab’s sons: Seled and Appaim; Seled died, having no sons.

31 Appaim’s sons: Ishi. Ishi’s sons: Sheshan. Sheshan’s sons: Ahlai.

32 Shammai’s brother Jada’s sons: Jether and Jonathan; Jether died, having no sons.

33 Jonathan’s sons: Peleth and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel.

34 Sheshan came to have no sons, only daughters. Now Sheshan had an Egyptian servant; his name was Jarha.

35 So Sheshan gave his daughter as a wife to his servant Jarha, and she bore for him Attai.

36 Attai begot Nathan, and Nathan begot Zabad.

37 Zabad begot Ephlal, and Ephlal begot Obed.

38 Obed begot Jehu, and Jehu begot Azariah.

39 Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah.

40 Eleasah begot Sismai, and Sismai begot Shallum.

41 Shallum begot Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begot Elishama.

42 Jerahmeel’s brother Caleb’s sons: Mesha his firstborn, he was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah father of Hebron.

43 Hebron’s sons: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem and Shema.

44 Shema begot Raham father of Jorkeam, and Rekem begot Shammai.

45 Shammai’s son: Maon; and Maon was the father of Beth-zur.

46 As for Caleb’s concubine Ephah, she bore Haran, Moza and Gazez. As for Haran, he begot Gazez.

47 Jahdai’s sons: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah and Shaaph.

48 As for Caleb’s concubine Maacah, she bore Sheber and Tirhanah;

49 she bore also Shaaph father of Madmannah and Sheva father of Machbenah and father of Gibea. Caleb’s daughter was Achsah.

50 These were Caleb’s sons. The sons of Hur firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal father of Kiriath-jearim,

51 Salma father of Bethlehem, Hareph father of Beth-gader.

52 Shobal father of Kiriath-jearim came to have sons: Reaiah, half of the Menuhoth.

53 The families of Kiriath-jearim: The Ithrite, the Puthite, the Shumathite and the Mishraite. From these came forth the Zorathite and the Eshtaolite.

54 Salma’s sons: Bethlehem, the Netophathite, Atroth-beth-joab, half of the Manahathite, the Zorite.

55 The families of the scribes dwelling at Jabez: The Tirathite, Shimeathite and Sucathite. They are the Kenites who came from Hammath father of the house of Rechab.

Chapter 3

1 These are David’s sons who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, Daniel, by Abigail the Carmelite;

2 the third, Absalom, son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith;

3 the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah.

4 These six were born to him in Hebron; and he reigned there seven years and six months. Then he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.

5 These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon; these four by Bathsheba daughter of Ammiel.

6 Also there were Ibhar, Elishama, Elpelet,

7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

8 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet, these nine.

9 All were David’s sons, aside from the concubines’ sons; and Tamar was their sister.

10 Solomon’s son: Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,

11 Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,

12 Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,

13 Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,

14 Amon his son, Josiah his son.

15 Josiah’s sons: Johanan the firstborn, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum.

16 Jehoiakim’s sons: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son.

17 The sons of Jeconiah as prisoner: Shealtiel his son,

18 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah.

19 Pedaiah’s sons: Zerubbabel and Shimei. Zerubbabel’s sons: Meshullam, Hananiah and their sister Shelomith.

20 There were five others: Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, Jushab-hesed.

21 Hananiah’s sons: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah; Rephaiah’s sons, Arnan’s sons, Obadiah’s sons, Shecaniah’s sons.

22 Shecaniah’s sons: Shemaiah with the sons of Shemaiah, Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, Shaphat, six in all.

23 Neariah’s sons: Elioenai, Hizkiah, Azrikam, three in all.

24 Elioenai’s sons: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah and Anani, seven in all.

Chapter 4

1 Judah’s sons: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur and Shobal.

2 Shobal’s son Reaiah begot Jahath, and Jahath begot Ahumai and Lahad; these were the families of the Zorathite.

3 These were the sons of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma and Idbash. Their sister’s name was Hazzelelponi.

4 Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.

5 Ashhur father of Tekoa came to have two wives, Helah and Naarah.

6 Naarah bore for him Ahuzzam, Hepher, the Temenite and the Ahashtarite. All these were sons of Naarah.

7 Helah’s sons: Zereth, Zohar and Ethnan.

8 Koz begot Anub, Hazzobebah and the families of Aharhel, son of Harum.

9 Jabez came to be more illustrious than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying: Because I have borne him in grievous labor.

10 Jabez called on the Elohim of Israel, saying: May You bless, yea bless me, may You increase my territory and let Your hand be with me, and may You keep me from evil so as not to grieve me. And Elohim brought about what he requested.

11 Shuhah’s brother Kelub begot Mehir; he was the father of Eshton.

12 Eshton begot Beth-rapha, Paseah, Tehinnah father of Ir-nahash, brother of Eselan the Kenezite. These were the men of Recah.

13 Kenaz’s sons: Othniel and Seraiah. Othniel’s sons: Hathath and Meonothai.

14 Meonothai begot Ophrah, and Seraiah begot Joab the father of Ge-harashim, because they were craftsmen.

15 The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah and Naam. These were the sons of Kenaz.

16 Jehallelel’s sons: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria and Asarel.

17 Ezrah’s sons: Jether, Mered, Epher and Jalon. Jether begot Miriam, Shammai and Ishbah father of Eshtemoa.

18 His Judean wife bore Jered father of Gedor, Heber father of Soco and Jekuthiel father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithiah daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took.

19 The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham: Daliah father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maachathite.

20 Shimon’s sons: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan and Tilon. Ishi’s sons: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

21 The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er father of Lecah, Laadah father of Mareshah, the families of the house for the production of fine linen at Beth-ashbea,

22 Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash and Saraph who found spouses at Moab and returned to Bethlehem. ( The annals are ancient.)

23 They were the potters dwelling at Netaim and Gederah; they dwelt there with the king for his work.

24 Simeon’s sons: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Saul;

25 Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.

26 Mishma’s sons: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.

27 Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; yet his brothers had not many sons, so all their families did not become as numerous as Judah’s sons.

28 They dwelt in Beer-sheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

29 Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

30 Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

31 Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri and in Shaaraim. These were their cities until the reign of David.

32 Their hamlets were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token and Ashan, five cities in all,

33 together with all their hamlets around these cities as far as Baal. These were their dwellings. In their genealogy they had registered:

34 Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,

35 Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah son of Seraiah son of Asiel,

36 Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,

37 Ziza son of Shiphi son of Allon son of Jedaiah son of Shimri son of Shemaiah.

38 These (coming by names) were princes in their families, and the house of their fathers had unfolded abundantly.

39 They went to the entrance of Gedor to the east of the ravine to seek pasture for their flock.

40 They found fertile and good pasture, and the land was broad in expanse, quiet and at ease, for those dwelling there previously were from the sons of Ham.

41 But these written by names came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and smote their tents, and the Meunim who were found there, and they doomed them unto this day. They dwelt in their stead, because there was pasture there for their flock.

42 Five hundred men of them, of Simeon’s sons, went to Mount Seir, with Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah and Uzziel, sons of Ishi, at their head,

43 and smote the delivered remnant of Amalek. They have dwelt there unto this day.

Chapter 5

1 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was indeed the firstborn, but when he profaned his father’s berth, his birthright was given to the sons of Israel’s son Joseph; so in the genealogy he was not registered according to the birthright;

2 though Judah became masterful over his brothers, and a governor came from him, the birthright belonged to Joseph):

3 The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Enoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi.

4 Joel’s sons: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,

5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,

6 Beerah his son whom Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria carried away into exile; he was a prince of the Reubenite.

7 His kinsmen, by families, as registered in their genealogical records: Jeiel the head, Zechariah,

8 Bela son of Azaz son of Shema son of Joel; he dwelt in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.

9 He also dwelt to the east as far as the entrance into the wilderness that extends to the stream Euphrates, for their livestock had increased in the land of Gilead.

10 In the days of Saul they made war on the Hagarites, who fell by their hand. So they dwelt in their tents throughout the east of Gilead.

11 Gad’s sons dwelt in front of them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah:

12 Joel the head, Shapham the second, Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan.

13 Their kinsmen by their fathers’ house: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia and Eber, seven in all.

14 These were the sons of Abihail son of Huri son of Jaroah son of Gilead son of Michael son of Jeshishai son of Jahdo son of Buz.

15 Ahi son of Abdiel son of Guni was the head of their fathers’ house,

16 and they dwelt in Gilead, in Bashan and in its outskirts, and on all the common pasture lands of Sharon unto their border-areas.

17 All of them had their genealogies registered in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.

18 Reuben’s sons, the Gadite and the half tribe of Manasseh: Out of their able sons, they had 44,760 men marching forth in the militia host, who bore shield and sword, positioned the bow, and were experienced at war.

19 They made war on the Hagarites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab.

20 When they were helped against them, the Hagarites and all who were with them were given into their hand, for they cried out to Elohim in the battle, and He let Himself be entreated by them because they trusted in Him.

21 So they captured their livestock, 50,000 of their camels, 250,000 flocks of sheep, 2,000 donkeys, together with 100,000 human souls.

22 But many others fell slain because the battle was of the One, Elohim. Then they dwelt there in their stead until the deportation.

23 The sons of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir and Mount Hermon. They were numerous also in the Lebanon.

24 These were the heads of their fathers’ house: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah and Jahdiel, masterful men of valor, men of renown, heads of their fathers’ house.

25 But they offended the Elohim of their fathers and prostituted after the elohim of the peoples of the land, whom Elohim had exterminated before them.

26 So the Elohim of Israel roused the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, the spirit of Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and he deported them, that is, the Reubenite, the Gadite, and the half tribe of Manasseh; he brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara and the stream of Gozan unto this day.

Chapter 6

1 Levi’s sons: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.

2 Kohath’s sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

3 Amram’s children: Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

4 Eleazar begot Phinehas, Phinehas begot Abishua,

5 Abishua begot Bukki, Bukki begot Uzzi,

6 Uzzi begot Zerahiah, Zerahiah begot Meraioth,

7 Meraioth begot Amariah, Amariah begot Ahitub,

8 Ahitub begot Zadok, Zadok begot Ahimaaz,

9 Ahimaaz begot Azariah, Azariah begot Johanan,

10 and Johanan begot Azariah (the one who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem).

11 Azariah begot Amariah, Amariah begot Ahitub,

12 Ahitub begot Zadok, Zadok begot Shallum,

13 Shallum begot Hilkiah, Hilkiah begot Azariah,

14 Azariah begot Seraiah, Seraiah begot Jehozadak;

15 and Jehozadak went into exile when Yahweh deported Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

16 Levi’s sons: Gershom, Kohath and Merari.

17 These are the names of Gershom’s sons: Libni and Shimei.

18 Kohath’s sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.

19 Merari’s sons: Mahli and Mushi. These are the Levite families by their fathers’ house.

20 Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,

21 Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son.

22 Kohath’s sons: Izhar his son, Korah his son, Assir his son,

23 Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son,

24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, Saul his son.

25 Elkanah’s sons: Amasai and Ahimoth,

26 Elkanah his son, Zophai his son, Nahath his son,

27 Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son, Samuel his son.

28 Samuel’s sons: Joel, the firstborn, and the second, Abijah.

29 Merari’s sons: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son,

30 Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son.

31 These are the Levites whom David assigned to officiate as song-leaders in the house of Yahweh after the coffer came to its rest.

32 They were ministers in song before the tabernacle of the tent of appointment until Solomon built the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem. And they officiated in their service as was their custom.

33 Those who officiated, and their sons: Of the sons of the Kohathite: Heman the cantor, son of Joel son of Samuel

34 son of Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Eliel son of Toah

35 son of Zuph son of Elkanah son of Mahath son of Amasai

36 son of Elkanah son of Joel son of Azariah son of Zephaniah

37 son of Tahath son of Assir son of Ebiasaph son of Korah

38 son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi son of Israel;

39 and his kinsman Asaph, who stood on his right Asaph son of Berechiah son of Shimea

40 son of Michael son of Baaseiah son of Malchijah

41 son of Ethni son of Zerah son of Adaiah

42 son of Ethan son of Zimmah son of Shimei

43 son of Jahath son of Gershom son of Levi.

44 Merari’s sons, their kinsmen, stood on the left: Ethan son of Kishi son of Abdi son of Malluch

45 son of Hashabiah son of Amaziah son of Hilkiah

46 son of Amzi son of Bani son of Shemer

47 son of Mahli son of Mushi son of Merari son of Levi.

48 Their kinsmen, the Levites, were dedicated to all the service at the tabernacle of the house of Elohim;

49 but Aaron and his sons were fuming incense on the altar of ascent offering and on the altar of incense; they had all the work of the holy of holies, and to make a propitiatory shelter over Israel, performing every task just as Moses the servant of Elohim had given instruction.

50 These are Aaron’s sons: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son,

51 Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son,

52 Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son,

53 Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son.

54 These are their locations for their domiciles in their territory: to Aaron’s sons of the Kohathite family, for theirs was the first lot,

55 they gave to them Hebron in the land of Judah and its common pasture lands around it;

56 but the field of the city and its hamlets they gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh.

57 So they gave to Aaron’s sons the asylum city Hebron; also Libnah and its commons, Jattir, Eshtemoa and its commons,

58 Hilen and its commons, Debir and its commons,

59 Ashan and its commons, Juttah and its commons, and Beth-shemesh and its commons;

60 from the stock of Benjamin: Gibeon and its commons, Geba and its commons, Alemeth and its commons and Anathoth and its commons. All their cities distributed among their families were thirteen cities.

61 To the rest of Kohath’s sons fell by lot ten cities from the family of the stock of Ephraim, from the stock of Dan and from the half stock of Manasseh.

62 To Gershom’s sons according to their families fell by lot thirteen cities from the stock of Issachar, from the stock of Asher, from the stock of Naphtali, and from the stock of Manasseh in Bashan.

63 To Merari’s sons according to their families fell by lot twelve cities from the stock of Reuben, from the stock of Gad and from the stock of Zebulun.

64 So the sons of Israel gave those cities and their common pasture lands to the Levites.

65 They gave by lot from the stock of Judah’s sons, from the stock of Simeon’s sons and from the stock of Benjamin’s sons these cities which they called by names.

66 For some of the families of Kohath’s sons, the cities of their lot came from the stock of Ephraim.

67 They gave to them the asylum city Shechem and its commons in the hill country of Ephraim; also Gezer and its commons,

68 Jokmeam and its commons, Beth-horon and its commons;

69 and from the stock of Dan: Eltekeh and its commons, Gibbethon and its commons, Aijalon and its commons, Gath-rimmon and its commons;

70 and from the half stock of Manasseh: Taanach and its commons and Bileam and its commons, for the families of the rest of Kohath’s sons.

71 They gave to Gershom’s sons of the Levite families from the other half stock of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan and its commons; also Ashtaroth and its commons;

72 from the stock of Issachar: Kishion and its commons, Daberath and its commons,

73 Ramoth and its commons, Anem and its commons;

74 from the stock of Asher: Mashal and its commons, Abdon and its commons,

75 Hukok and its commons, Rehob and its commons;

76 from the stock of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee and its commons, Hammon and its commons and Kiriathaim and its commons.

77 They gave to the rest of Merari’s sons from the stock of Zebulun: Rimmono and its commons, Tabor and its commons;

78 and, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, to the east of the Jordan, from the stock of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness and its commons, Jahzah and its commons,

79 Kedemoth and its commons, Mephaath and its commons;

80 and, from the stock of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead and its commons, Mahanaim and its commons,

81 Heshbon and its commons and Jazer and its commons.

Chapter 7

1 Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron, four in all.

2 Tola’s sons: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam and Samuel, heads of their fathers’ house, by descent from Tola, and masterful men of valor; according to their genealogical records their number in the days of David was 22,600.

3 Uzzi’s sons: Izrahiah and Izrahiah’s sons: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, Isshiah; all five of them were heads.

4 Besides them, according to their genealogical records of their fathers’ house, were 36,000 troops of the military host, for they had many wives and sons.

5 Their kinsmen in all the families of Issachar were masterful soldiers, 87,000 in all, as registered in their genealogy.

6 Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Becher and Jediael, three in all.

7 Bela’s sons: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth and Iri, five in all, heads of their fathers’ house, 22,034 masterful soldiers, as registered in their genealogy.

8 Becher’s sons: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth and Alemeth. All these were Becher’s sons;

9 they were registered according to their genealogical records as heads of their fathers’ house, 20,200 masterful men of valor.

10 Jediael’s sons: Bilhan and Bilhan’s sons: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish and Ahishahar.

11 All of these were Jediael’s sons, heads of their fathers’ house, 17,200 masterful soldiers marching forth for battle in the militia host.

12 Shuppim and Huppim were the sons of Ir; Hushim the sons of Aher.

13 Naphtali’s sons: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer and Shallum; these were the sons of Bilhah.

14 Manasseh’s sons: Asriel whom his Aramean concubine bore; she also bore Machir father of Gilead.

15 Machir took a wife for Huppim and for Shuppim. His sister’s name was Maacah. The name of the second son was Zelophehad. Yet Zelophehad came to have only daughters.

16 Machir’s wife Maacah bore a son and called his name Peresh. His brother’s name was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.

17 Ulam’s sons: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead son of Machir son of Manasseh;

18 his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer and Mahlah.

19 Shemida’s sons were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi and Aniam.

20 Ephraim’s sons: Shuthelah, Becher his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son,

21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, also Ezer and Elead whom the men of Gath born in the area killed because they had gone down to take their livestock.

22 Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him.

23 Then he came to his wife; she became pregnant and bore a son. He called his name Beriah, for he was born when evil had come to his house.

24 His daughter was Sheerah who built Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah.

25 There was also Rephah his son, Resheph his son, Telah his son, Tahan his son,

26 Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,

27 Nun his son, Joshua his son.

28 Their holdings and their dwelling places were Bethel and its outskirts, to the east Naaran, to the west Gezer and its outskirts, Shechem and its outskirts as far as Ayyah and its outskirts,

29 and alongside the sons of Manasseh: Beth-shean and its outskirts, Taanach and its outskirts, Megiddo and its outskirts, Dor and its outskirts. In these dwelt the sons of Joseph son of Israel.

30 Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah and their sister Serah.

31 Beriah’s sons: Heber and Malchiel father of Birzaith.

32 Heber begot Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham and their sister Shua.

33 Japhlet’s sons: Pasach, Bimhal and Ashvath. These were Japhlet’s sons.

34 Shomer’s sons: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah and Aram.

35 His brother Helem’s sons: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh and Amal.

36 Zophah’s sons: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah,

37 Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran and Beera.

38 Jether’s sons: Jephunneh, Pispa and Ara.

39 Ulla’s sons: Arah, Hanniel and Rizia.

40 All these were Asher’s sons, heads of their fathers’ house, ideal masterful soldiers, the heads of princes; they were registered in the militia host for battle; their number was 26,000 men.

Chapter 8

1 Benjamin begot Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, Aharah the third,

2 Nohah the fourth and Rapha the fifth.

3 The sons of Bela came to be: Addar, Gera, Abihud,

4 Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah,

5 Gera, Shephuphan and Huram.

6 These were Ehud’s sons, these who were heads of their fathers’ house of those dwelling in Geba when they deported them to Manahath:

7 Naaman, Ahijah and Gera; he deported them; he begot Uzza and Ahihud.

8 Shaharaim begot children in the field of Moab after he had sent away his wives Hushim and Baara.

9 By his wife Hodesh he begot Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam,

10 Jeuz, Sakia and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of their fathers’ house.

11 By Hushim he had begotten Abitub and Elpaal.

12 Elpaal’s sons: Eber, Misham and Shemed; he built Ono and Lod with its outskirts.

13 As for Beriah and Shema, they were the heads of their fathers’ house of those dwelling in Aijalon. They drove away the dwellers of Gath.

14 Ahio, Shashak and Jeremoth,

15 Zebadiah, Arad and Eder,

16 Michael, Ishpah and Joha were the sons of Beriah.

17 Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki and Heber,

18 Ishmerai, Izliah and Jobab were the sons of Elpaal.

19 Jakim, Zichri and Zabdi,

20 Elienai, Zillethai and Eliel,

21 Adaiah, Beraiah and Shimrath were the sons of Shimei.

22 Ishpan, Eber and Eliel,

23 Abdon, Zichri and Hanan,

24 Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah,

25 Iphdeiah and Penuel were the sons of Shashak.

26 Shamsherai, Shehariah and Athaliah,

27 Jaareshiah, Elijah and Zichri were the sons of Jeroham

28 These were the heads of their fathers’ house according to their genealogical records. These heads dwelt in Jerusalem.

29 In Gibeon dwelt Jeiel the father of Gibeon and his wife (whose name was Maacah),

30 his firstborn son Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal and Nadab,

31 Gedor, Ahio and Zeker.

32 Mikloth begot Shimeah. These also dwelt in front of their kinsmen in Jerusalem with their kinsmen.

33 Ner begot Kish, and Kish begot Saul, and Saul begot Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab and Eshbaal.

34 Jonathan’s son was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal begot Micah.

35 Micah’s sons: Pithon, Melech, Tarea and Ahaz.

36 Ahaz begot Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah begot Alemeth Azmaveth and Zimri. Zimri begot Moza,

37 and Moza begot Binea; Rapha his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son.

38 Azel had six sons, and these were their names: Azrikam, Bokeru and Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan; all these were Azel’s sons.

39 His brother Eshek’s sons: Ulam his firstborn, Jeush the second, and Eliphelet the third.

40 Ulam’s sons came to be masterful men of valor, positioning the bow, having as many as 150 sons and sons of sons. All these were from the sons of Benjamin.

Chapter 9

1 So all Israel had been registered by genealogy, and behold, they were written in the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah when they were deported to Babylon for their offense.

2 The first to settle on their holdings in their cities were lay Israelites, priests, Levites and Nethinim.

3 Some of the sons of Judah, some of the sons of Benjamin and some of the sons of Ephraim and Manasseh settled in Jerusalem:

4 Uthai son of Ammihud son of Omri son of Imri son of Bani, from the sons of Perez son of Judah;

5 of the Shilonite: Asaiah the firstborn and his sons;

6 of the sons of Zerah: Jeuel and their kinsmen, 690 in all.

7 Of the sons of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam son of Hodaviah son of Hassenuah,

8 Ibneiah son of Jeroham, Elah son of Uzzi son of Michri, Meshullam son of Shephatiah son of Reuel son of Ibnijah,

9 and their kinsmen, according to their genealogical records, were 956. All these men were patriarchal heads of their fathers’ house.

10 Of the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin,

11 Azariah son of Hilkiah son of Meshullam son of Zadok son of Meraioth son of Ahitub, governor of the house of Elohim,

12 Adaiah son of Jeroham son of Pashhur son of Malchijah, Maasai son of Adiel son of Jahzerah son of Meshullam son of Meshillemith son of Immer,

13 and their kinsmen, heads of their fathers’ house, 1,760 masterful men of ability in the work of the service of the house of Elohim.

14 Of the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub son of Azrikam son of Hashabiah, from the sons of Merari;

15 Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, Mattaniah son of Mica son of Zichri son of Asaph,

16 Obadiah son of Shemaiah son of Galal son of Jeduthun, Berechiah son of Asa son of Elkanah, who dwelt in the hamlets of the Netophathite.

17 The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon and Ahiman and their brothers (Shallum was their head),

18 hitherto in the King’s Gate toward the east. They were the gatekeepers of the camps of the sons of Levi.

19 Shallum son of Kore son of Ebiasaph son of Korah, and his brothers of his father’s house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, guarding the thresholds of the tent, as their fathers had been guarding the entrance of the camp of Yahweh.

20 Formerly Phinehas son of Eleazar had been chief officer over them; Yahweh was with him.

21 Now Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper at the entrance opening to the tent of appointment.

22 All of them who were ideal as gatekeepers at the thresholds were 212. They were registered in their genealogy in their hamlets. David and Samuel the seer had founded them because of their faithfulness,

23 so that they and their sons were on guard duty at the gates to the house of Yahweh, to the house of the tent.

24 The gatekeepers were in four directions, east, west, north and south;

25 and their brothers in their hamlets had to come and join those for seven days from time to time.

26 Because of their faithfulness the four master gatekeepers (who were Levites) were in charge of the rooms and the treasuries of the house of Elohim.

27 They lodged all night round about the house of Elohim, for guard duty was upon them; and they were in charge of the key to open up from morning to morning.

28 Some of them were in charge of the service vessels, for by number they brought them in, and by number they would bring them forth.

29 Some of them were assigned to take care of the furnishings, all the vessels of the sanctuary, the flour, the wine, the oil, the frankincense and the aromatics.

30 But some of the sons of the priests compounded the ointment for the aromatics.

31 Mattithiah of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was in charge of the preparation of flat cakes because of his faithfulness.

32 Some of their kinsmen, of the sons of the Kohathite, were in charge of the bread of array, to prepare it sabbath by sabbath.

33 These were the singers, the heads of their fathers’ house of the Levites in the rooms, who were released from other duty because they were on duty in the work by day and night.

34 These were the heads of their fathers’ house of the Levites, heads according to their genealogical records. These dwelt in Jerusalem.

35 In Gibeon dwelt Jeiel the father of Gibeon and his wife (whose name was Maacah),

36 his firstborn son Abdon, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner and Nadab,

37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah and Mikloth.

38 As for Mikloth, he begot Shimeam. They too dwelt in front of their kinsmen in Jerusalem along with brothers of theirs.

39 Ner begot Kish, and Kish begot Saul, and Saul begot Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab and Eshbaal.

40 Jonathan’s son was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal begot Micah.

41 Micah’s sons: Pithon, Melech and Tahrea.

42 Ahaz begot Jarah, and Jarah begot Alemeth, Azmaveth and Zimri. Zimri begot Moza,

43 and Moza begot Binea; Rephaiah his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son.

44 Azel had six sons, and these are their names: Azrikam, Bokeru and Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah and Hanan; these were Azel’s sons.

Chapter 10

1 As for the Philistines, they made war on Israel. And the men of Israel fled before the Philistines, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

2 The Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons, and the Philistines smote Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul.

3 Then the fighting was heavy around Saul; the shooters with the bow found him; and he was wounded very severely by the shooters.

4 So Saul said to his gear-bearer, Draw your sword and stab me with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. Yet his gear-bearer did not comply, for he was very fearful. Then Saul took the sword and fell upon it.

5 When his gear-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell upon the sword and died.

6 Thus Saul died, and his three sons, on that day, and all his house they died together.

7 When all the men of Israel who were in the vale saw that Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, then they forsook their cities and fled. So the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

8 It was on the morrow when the Philistines came to strip those slain that they found Saul and his sons, fallen on Mount Gilboa.

9 They stripped him and carried off his head and his gear and sent messengers to the land of the Philistines round about to bear the tidings to their fetishes and to their people.

10 They placed his gear in the house of their elohim and fastened his skull in the house of Dagon.

11 After all those in Jabesh-gilead had heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul,

12 all men of valor rose up and carried off the corpse of Saul and the corpses of his sons and brought them to Jabesh. Then they entombed their bones under the terebinth in Jabesh; and they fasted seven days.

13 Thus Saul died for his offense with which he had offended Yahweh concerning the word of Yahweh that he had not kept and also for asking of a medium to make inquiry;

14 and he did not seek after Yahweh. Consequently He put him to death and turned the kingship over to David son of Jesse.

Chapter 11

1 All Israel convened to David at Hebron, saying: Behold, your bone and your flesh are we!

2 Heretofore, even while Saul was king, you were the one bringing Israel forth to war and bringing it in; and Yahweh your Elohim said to you, You shall shepherd My people Israel, and you shall become governor over My people Israel.

3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and David contracted a covenant with them in Hebron before Yahweh; and they anointed David as king over Israel, according to the word of Yahweh by means of Samuel.

4 After this David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus; and the Jebusite dwellers of the land lived there.

5 The dwellers of Jebus said to David, You shall not enter here. Yet David seized the fastness of Zion, that is, the city of David.

6 Now David had said, Anyone who smites a Jebusite first shall be commander in chief. At that Joab son of Zeruiah went up first and became the chief.

7 David dwelt in the fastness; therefore they called it the city of David.

8 Then he built up the city round about, from the Millo bulwark to the surrounding wall, while Joab himself revived the remainder of the city.

9 Thus David went on getting greater, and Yahweh of hosts was with him.

10 And these are the heads of David’s masters of war who showed themselves steadfast with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king according to the word of Yahweh concerning Israel.

11 This is the roster of the masters of war who belonged to David: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni, the head of the three. He brandished his spear against 300, all slain at one time.

12 Next to him came Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite, who was among the three masters of war.

13 He was with David at Pas-dammim when the Philistines were gathered there for battle, where there was a portion of a field full of barley, and the people had fled before the Philistines.

14 Yet they stood by in the midst of the portion and reclaimed it and smote the Philistines. Thus Yahweh saved with a great salvation.

15 Three of the thirty head men went down to the rock to David at the cave of Adullam, while a force of Philistines was encamping in the vale of Rephaim.

16 David was then in the fastness, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem.

17 Now David voiced his yearning and said, Who may give me to drink water from the cistern of Bethlehem that is at the gate?

18 So the three rent their way into the camp of the Philistines and bailed water from the cistern of Bethlehem at the gate. When they had carried and brought it to David, then David would not drink it, but poured a libation of it to Yahweh.

19 He said, Far be it from me, my Elohim, to do this. Should I drink the blood of these men who went risking their souls? For it was at the risk of their souls that they brought it. And he would not drink it. These are the exploits that the three masters of war performed.

20 As for Joab’s brother Abishai, who was head of another three, he brandished his spear against 300, all slain. He won a name among the second three.

21 He was more illustrious than the two others of the three; and so he became their chief. Yet he did not come to the rank of the first three.

22 Benaiah son of Jehoiada from Kabzeel was a man of many valiant deeds. It was he who smote the two sons of Ariel of Moab. Once, on a snowy day, he went down and smote a lion inside a cistern.

23 He also smote an Egyptian man, a giant of five cubits. Although the Egyptian had a spear like a weaver’s heddle-rod in his hand, he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.

24 These are the exploits that Benaiah son of Jehoiada performed. So he won a name among the three masters of war.

25 Behold, though he was more illustrious than the thirty, he did not come to the rank of the first three. Yet David placed him over his household guard.

26 These are the valiant masters of war: Asahel brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem,

27 Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite,

28 Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite,

29 Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite,

30 Maharai the Netophathite, Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite,

31 Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite,

32 Hurai from the wadis of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite,

33 Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite,

34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite,

35 Ahiam son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal son of Ur,

36 Hepher the Mekerathite, Ahijah the Pelonite,

37 Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai son of Ezbai,

38 Joel brother of Nathan, Mibhar son of Hagri,

39 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite the gear-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah

40 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite,

41 Uriah the Hittite, Zabad son of Ahlai,

42 Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, a head of the Reubenite, and by him thirty,

43 Hanan son of Maacah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite,

44 Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel sons of Hotham the Aroerite,

45 Jediael son of Shimri, and his brother Joha the Tizite,

46 Eliel the Mahavite, Jeribai and Joshaviah sons of Elnaam, Ithmah the Moabite,

47 Eliel, Obed and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

Chapter 12

1 These are the ones who came to David at Ziklag while he was restrained because of Saul son of Kish. They were among the masterful men, helpers in the warfare,

2 weaponed with the bow, using the right hand and using the left hand with sling stones or with arrows with the bow. They were of the kinsmen of Saul, from Benjamin.

3 At the head were Ahiezer and Joash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, Jeziel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth, Beracah, Jehu the Anathothite,

4 Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a masterful man among the thirty and over the thirty, Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan and Jozabad the Gederathite,

5 Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah and Shephatiah the Haruphite,

6 Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer and Jashobeam, the Korahites,

7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham, from Gedor.

8 From the Gadites these separated themselves to David at the fastness in the wilderness, masters of valor, warriors fit for battle, in array with the large shield and the lance; their faces were the faces of lions, and they were swift as gazelles upon the mountains.

9 Ezer was the head, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,

10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,

11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh,

12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,

13 Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh.

14 These from the sons of Gad were heads of the host; the least significant one was equal to a hundred, the greatest to a thousand.

15 These were the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was in full flood over all its banks; then they drove away all those in the vales, to the east and to the west.

16 Some of the sons of Benjamin and Judah came as far as the fastness, to David;

17 so David came forth before them and responded by saying to them: If you have come to me in peace, to help me, my heart shall be one with you; but if to betray me to my foe, though there is no violence in my hands, then may the Elohim of our fathers see it and arbitrate.

18 Then spirit clothed Amasai, head of the thirty: We are yours, David! We are with you, son of Jesse! Peace, peace be with you, And peace with him who helps you, For your Elohim will help you! So David received them and put them among the heads of the raiding party.

19 Some of Manasseh fell in with David when he came with the Philistines against Saul for battle. Yet they did not help them, for on counsel the chieftains of the Philistines dismissed him, saying: By our heads, he may fall in with his lord, Saul.

20 When he went to Ziklag, there fell in with him of Manasseh: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu and Zillethai, heads of the thousands who belonged to Manasseh.

21 They helped David against the raiding party, for all of them were masters of valor and came to be chiefs among the host.

22 So at that time, day in day out, they were coming to David to help him, until there was a great camp, like the camp of Elohim.

23 These are the numbers of the heads of those outfitted for the host who came to David at Hebron to turn over Saul’s kingdom to him, corresponding to the word of Yahweh:

24 Sons of Judah, carrying the large shield and the lance, 6,800 outfitted for the host;

25 of the sons of Simeon, masters of valor for the host, 7,100;

26 of the sons of the Levites, 4,600;

27 Jehoiada chief officer of the house of Aaron, and 3,700 with him;

28 Zadok, a youthful master of valor, with 22 chiefs of his father’s house;

29 of the sons of Benjamin, kinsmen of Saul, 3,000; hitherto most of them had observed allegiance to the house of Saul;

30 of the sons of Ephraim, 20,800 masters of valor, men of renown of their fathers’ house;

31 of the half stock of Manasseh, 18,000 who were specified by name to come to make David king;

32 of the sons of Issachar, knowledgeable men with an understanding for the proper time so as to realize what Israel should do; their heads were 200, with all their kinsmen at their bidding;

33 of Zebulun, 50,000 going out to the host, in array for the battle with all the weapons of war, so as to help David without a double-minded heart;

34 of Naphtali, 1,000 chiefs, and with them 37,000 with the large shield and spear;

35 of the Danites, 28,600 in array for the battle;

36 of Asher, 40,000 going out to the host, in array for the battle;

37 from Transjordan, 120,000 of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh, with all the weapons of the host for the battle.

38 All of these were men of war, flocking together in array; wholeheartedly they came to Hebron to make David king over all Israel; also all the remainder of Israel was of one heart to make David king.

39 They were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their kinsmen had prepared for them.

40 And also those near to them, as far away as Issachar, Zebulun and Naphtali, were bringing bread on donkeys, camels, mules and oxen: food, such as meal flour, pressed dried figs and clusters of raisins, wine and oil, a herd of cattle and a flock of sheep, everything in abundance, for there was rejoicing in Israel.

Chapter 13

1 David consulted with the chiefs of the thousands and the hundreds, with every chief officer.

2 Then David said to the entire assembly of Israel: If it seems good to you and if it is of Yahweh our Elohim, do let us unfold, do let us send to our remaining kinsmen in all the areas of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in the cities where they have common pasturelands, that they may gather together to us,

3 and do let us bring around the coffer of our Elohim to ourselves, for we did not seek after Him in the days of Saul.

4 The entire assembly agreed to do so, for the matter seemed upright in the eyes of all the people.

5 So David assembled all Israel from the Shihor of Egypt as far as Lebo-hamath, to bring the coffer of the One, Elohim, from Kiriath-jearim.

6 Then David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kiriath-jearim, that belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the coffer of the One, Elohim, over which the Name is called, the Name of Yahweh dwelling over the cherubim.

7 They let the coffer of the One, Elohim, ride on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, with Uzzah and Ahio leading the cart.

8 David and all Israel were gamboling before the One, Elohim, with all their strength and with songs, with harps and zithers, with tambourines, cymbals and bugles.

9 When they came to the threshing site of Kidon, Uzzah stretched forth his hand to take hold of the coffer, for the oxen were restive.

10 And the anger of Yahweh grew hot against Uzzah, and He smote him because he had laid his hand on the coffer; and so he died there before Elohim.

11 Now the distress of David grew hot because Yahweh had breached a breach against Uzzah; and one has called that place Perez-uzzah until this day.

12 David became fearful of the One, Elohim, on that day and said: How can I bring the coffer of the One, Elohim, to me?

13 So David would not take away the coffer to himself into the city of David; and he had it turned aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

14 So the coffer of the One, Elohim, remained with the house of Obed-edom, in its own abode, three months. And Yahweh blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he had.

Chapter 14

1 Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, with cedar timber, sidewall masons and carpenters to build him a palace.

2 Thus David realized that Yahweh had established him as king over Israel, for his kingship was so highly uplifted for the sake of His people Israel.

3 In Jerusalem David took more wives, and David begot more sons and daughters.

4 These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon,

5 Ibhar, Elishua and Elpelet,

6 Nogah, Nepheg and Japhia,

7 Elishama, Beeliada and Eliphelet.

8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed as king over all Israel, then all the Philistines marched up to seek David; but David heard of it and went forth facing them.

9 As for the Philistines, they came and ransacked in the vale of Rephaim.

10 David inquired of Elohim, saying: Shall I go up against the Philistines, and will You deliver them into my hand? Yahweh replied to him, Go up, for I will give them into your hand.

11 So they went up to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. David said, The One, Elohim, has breached through my enemies by my hand like a breach of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim.

12 Since they had forsaken their elohim there, David ordered that they be burned in the fire.

13 Once again the Philistines came up and ransacked in the vale of Rephaim.

14 So David inquired again of Elohim; yet the One, Elohim, replied to him, You shall not go up after them. Go around about them, so that you come against them opposite the aspens.

15 Let it come to be, as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the aspens, then go forth into the battle, for the One, Elohim, will have gone forth before you to smite the army camp of the Philistines.

16 David did so, just as the One, Elohim, had instructed him; and they smote the camp of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.

17 Thus the renown of David went forth into all the lands, and Yahweh Himself put the awe of him upon all the nations.

Chapter 15

1 When he had houses built for himself in the city of David and had a place prepared for the coffer of the One, Elohim, he pitched a tent for it.

2 Then David decreed that none save the Levites were to carry the coffer of the One, Elohim, for Yahweh had chosen them to carry the coffer of Yahweh and to minister to it for the eon.

3 David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the coffer of Yahweh to its place that he had prepared for it.

4 David also gathered together the sons of Aaron and the Levites:

5 of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief and his kinsmen 120;

6 of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief and his kinsmen 220;

7 of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief and his kinsmen 130;

8 of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief and his kinsmen 200;

9 of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief and his kinsmen 80;

10 of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief and his kinsmen 112.

11 Then David called Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites, Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab.

12 He said to them, You are the heads of the fathers’ house of the Levites; sanctify yourselves, you and your kinsmen, and bring up the coffer of Yahweh Elohim of Israel to the place that I have prepared for it.

13 Because you were not there for what was the first time, Yahweh our Elohim breached forth against us, for we had not inquired of Him according to the custom.

14 So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the coffer of Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

15 Then the sons of the Levites carried the coffer of the One, Elohim, on their shoulders with the slider bars on them, just as Moses had instructed by the word of Yahweh.

16 David also ordered the chiefs of the Levites to install their kinsmen, the singers, with the instruments of song, zithers, harps and cymbals, making them heard so as to raise high the voice of rejoicing.

17 So the Levites installed Heman son of Joel and, from his kinsmen, Asaph son of Berechiah; and, from the sons of Merari their kinsmen, Ethan son of Kushaiah;

18 together with them their kinsmen who were second in rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel and Azaziah the gatekeepers.

19 They also installed the singers Heman, Asaph and Ethan to make music with the copper cymbals;

20 and Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah with zithers tuned to alamoth.

21 And they installed Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel and Azaziah with harps tuned to the sheminith, as overseers.

22 Kenaniah, the chief of the Levites in the carrying service, was to admonish those carrying loads, for he was proficient.

23 Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the coffer,

24 while the priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer should blow the bugles before the coffer of Elohim. Obed-edom and Jehiah also were to be gatekeepers for the coffer.

25 Then David came with the elders of Israel and the chiefs over the thousands, going along to bring up the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh from the house of Obed-edom with rejoicing.

26 Since it was due to the help of the One, Elohim, that the Levites were carrying the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, they sacrificed seven young bulls and seven rams.

27 As for David, he was garbed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the coffer, the singers, and Kenaniah, the chief in charge of the carrying service by the singers. And David had on a vestment of linen.

28 So all Israel were bringing up the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh with shouting, with the sound of trumpets, with bugles and with cymbals, making music with zithers and harps.

29 As the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh was coming as far as the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal gazed out through the window and saw king David dancing and gamboling; and she despised him in her heart.

Chapter 16

1 Thus they brought in the coffer of Elohim, put it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it, and offered ascent offerings and peace offerings before the One, Elohim.

2 When David had finished offering up the ascent offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the Name of Yahweh.

3 Then he distributed portions to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to each one a loaf of bread, a date cake and a raisin-cake.

4 He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the coffer of Yahweh, to commemorate, to acclaim and to praise Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel:

5 Asaph the head, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel with instruments like zithers and harps, while Asaph was making music with cymbals.

6 Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests, with bugles, were regularly before the coffer of the covenant of Elohim.

7 Then, on that day, David gave a psalm for the first time to acclaim Yahweh by means of Asaph and his brothers:

8 Acclaim Yahweh! Call on His Name! Make known His actions among the peoples!

9 Sing to Him! Make melody to Him! Meditate on all His marvelous works!

10 Boast in His holy Name! Let the heart of those seeking Yahweh rejoice!

11 Seek after Yahweh and His strength; Seek His face continually.

12 Remember His marvelous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments of His mouth,

13 O seed of Israel, His servants, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

14 He is Yahweh, our Elohim; In all the earth are His judgments.

15 Remember His covenant for the eon, The word he enjoined on a thousand generations,

16 That He contracted with Abraham, And by His oath to Isaac.

17 He ratified it to Jacob as a statute, To Israel as a covenant eonian,

18 Saying, To you shall I give the land of Canaan, The region of your allotment.

19 When you became few adult males in number, Only a few, and sojourners in it,

20 Then they walked from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people.

21 He would not permit any man to exploit them, And on their behalf He reproved kings:

22 Saying, You must not touch My anointed ones, And to My prophets you must not do evil!

23 Sing to Yahweh, all the earth! Bear the tidings of His salvation, day after day!

24 Recount His glory among the nations, Among all the peoples, His marvelous works.

25 For great is Yahweh and praised exceedingly; Fear inspiring is He over all elohim.

26 For all the elohim of the peoples are useless idols; As for Yahweh, He has made the heavens.

27 Splendor and honor are before Him; Strength and exhilaration are in His dwelling place.

28 Grant to Yahweh, families of the peoples, Grant to Yahweh glory and strength,

29 Grant to Yahweh the glory of His Name; Bear an approach present, and come before Him! Worship Yahweh in His holy effulgence!

30 Travail because of His presence, all the earth. Indeed, established is the habitance; By no means shall it slip.

31 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult; Let them say among the nations: Yahweh Himself reigns!

32 Let the sea thunder and its fullness, Let the field be joyous and all that is in it;

33 Then the trees of the wildwood shall be jubilant Because of the presence of Yahweh. For He comes to judge the earth.

34 Acclaim Yahweh, for He is good! For His benignity is eonian.

35 And say: Save us, O Elohim of our salvation, Convene us and rescue us from the nations, To acclaim Your holy Name, To triumph in Your praise.

36 Blessed be Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, From the eon and until the eon. Then all the people were saying, Amen! and gave praise to Yahweh.

37 Then he left Asaph and his brothers there before the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, to minister before the coffer regularly, as the ritual required day by day;

38 as well as Obed-edom and his brothers 68; also Obed-edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah as gatekeepers;

39 also Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of Yahweh on the high-place that was at Gibeon,

40 to offer up ascent offerings to Yahweh on the altar of ascent offering regularly, morning and evening, and to carry out all that is written in the law of Yahweh which He had enjoined on Israel.

41 With them were Heman and Jeduthun with the rest of the ideal appointees who were specified by name to acclaim Yahweh: For His benignity is eonian!

42 With them, Heman and Jeduthun, were bugles and cymbals for making music, and instruments for the songs of Elohim; and the sons of Jeduthun were at the gateway.

43 Then all the people left, everyone to his home; and David turned around to bless his own household.

Chapter 17

1 It came to be as soon as David was settled in his palace, David said to Nathan the prophet, Behold, I am dwelling in the palace of cedars while the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh is beneath a sheet-tent.

2 Nathan replied to David, Do all that is in your heart, for the One, Elohim, is with you.

3 But it was in that same night that the word of Elohim came to Nathan the prophet, saying,

4 Go and say to David My servant, Thus said Yahweh: Not you should build for Me the house to dwell in.

5 For I have not dwelt in a house from the day that I brought up Israel until this day, but I have been moving about from tent to tent, in a tabernacle.

6 Wherever I moved about among all of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to one of Israel’s judges whom I commissioned to shepherd My people, saying, Why have you not built for Me a house of cedars?

7 And now, thus shall you say to My servant David, Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts: I Myself took you from the homestead, from following the flock, to become governor over My people Israel.

8 I shall be with you wherever you go, and I shall cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones who are on the earth.

9 And I will provide a place for My people Israel; I will plant them so that they can tabernacle by themselves and shall no longer be disturbed; the sons of iniquity shall not continue to harass them just as at the first,

10 ever since the days when I commissioned judges over My people Israel. And I will make submissive all your enemies. I am telling you that Yahweh shall build a royal house for you:

11 It will come to pass when your days are fulfilled to go and lie down with your fathers, then I will raise up your seed after you that shall come to be one of your own sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

12 He shall build a house for Me, and I will establish his throne for the eon.

13 I Myself shall become for him like a father; and he shall become for Me like a son. As for My benignity, I shall not withdraw it from him as I withdrew it from him who was before you.

14 I will install him in My house and in My kingdom for the eon; his throne, it shall become established for the eon.

15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak to David.

16 Then king David came and sat before Yahweh; he said: Who am I, O Yahweh Elohim, and what is my house that You have brought me as far as hither?

17 While this may be still small in Your eyes, O Elohim, yet You are speaking also about Your servant’s house for the far future; and You have me in Your view according to the law for humanity in ascendancy, O Yahweh Elohim.

18 What more could David add to You for the glory granted to Your servant? For You Yourself know Your servant.

19 O Yahweh, for the sake of Your servant and according to Your own heart You have done all this greatness by making known all the great achievements.

20 O Yahweh, there is no one like You, and there is no Elohim except You among all of whom we have heard with our ears.

21 And who is like Your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth that the One, Elohim, went to ransom for Himself as a people, to make for You a Name for great achievements and fear-inspiring deeds: to drive out nations before Your people that You ransomed from Egypt?

22 You have established Your people Israel for Yourself as Your people for the eon; and You Yourself, O Yahweh, have become their Elohim.

23 And now, O Yahweh, may it come true for the eon, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house; do just as You have spoken,

24 and may it come true. May Your Name be magnified for the eon, saying, Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, is Elohim over Israel; and the house of Your servant David, may it become established before You.

25 For You, my Elohim, You have revealed to the ear of Your servant, to build a house for him; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray before You.

26 And now O Yahweh, You are He Who is the One, Elohim; and You are speaking to Your servant of this goodness.

27 Now You are disposed to bless the house of Your servant that it may come to be before You for the eon; for You Yourself, O Yahweh, have blessed and are blessed for the eon.

Chapter 18

1 It occurred afterward that David smote the Philistines and made them submissive; he also took Gath and its outskirts from the hand of the Philistines.

2 Then he smote Moab. Thus the Moabite became David’s servants carrying tributary presents.

3 David also smote Hadadezer king of Zobah at Hamath as he was going to set up his hand at the stream Euphrates.

4 David seized from him 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen and 20,000 men on foot. David hamstrung all chariot steeds, yet he reserved from them enough for 100 chariots.

5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians 22,000 men.

6 Then David placed garrisons in Syrian Damascus; thus the Syrians became David’s servants carrying tributary presents. So Yahweh saved David everywhere he went.

7 David took the golden arrow-cases which were carried by Hadadezer’s servants, and brought them to Jerusalem.

8 And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very great amount of copper. With it Solomon made the copper sea and the columns and the copper furnishings.

9 When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had smitten the entire army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,

10 he sent his son Hadoram to king David to ask him about his well-being and to congratulate him because he fought against Hadadezer and smote him (for Hadadezer had been a man engaged in warfare against Tou). He also sent all sorts of articles of gold and silver and copper.

11 King David sanctified them to Yahweh, along with the silver and the gold that he had carried off from all the nations, from Edom and from Moab, from the sons of Ammon and from the Philistines and from Amalek.

12 As for Abishai son of Zeruiah, he smote Edom in the Salt Ravine, 18,000 in all.

13 Then he placed garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. So Yahweh saved David everywhere he went.

14 David reigned over all Israel; and it came to be that he was dealing out right judgment and justice to all his people.

15 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the military host; and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.

16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Abiathar son of Ahimelech were priests; and Shavsha was the scribe.

17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethite and the Pelethite; as for David’s sons, they were the first in rank at the king’s side.

Chapter 19

1 It occurred afterward that Nahash king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead.

2 David said, I shall show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, for his father showed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to console him over his father. But when David’s courtiers came to the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun to console him,

3 then the chief officials of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, Is David glorifying your father in your eyes because he sent consolers to you? Is it not rather in order to sound out the city, to overturn it and to spy in the land that his courtiers came to you?

4 So Hanun took David’s courtiers and shaved them; he cut their coats in half up to the buttocks and sent them away.

5 When others went and told David about these men, he sent to meet them, for the men had been utterly mortified. So the king said, Remain in Jericho! When your beard sprouts, then you can return.

6 The sons of Ammon discerned that they had brought themselves in bad odor with David. So Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent 1,000 talents of silver to hire for themselves from Aram-naharayim, from Syrian Maacah and from Zobah chariots and horsemen.

7 Thus they hired for themselves 32,000 chariots and the king of Maacah and his people; then they came in and encamped before Medeba. As for the sons of Ammon, they were gathered from their cities and came in for the battle.

8 When David heard of it, he sent Joab with the entire military host and the masters of war.

9 Then the sons of Ammon marched forth and arranged themselves for the battle at the portal of the city, while the kings who had come in were alone by themselves in the field.

10 When Joab saw that the battle-line was against him both front and rear, then he chose some of all the choice men in Israel and arrayed them to meet the Syrians.

11 The rest of the soldiers he gave into the hand of his brother Abishai, and they arrayed them to meet the sons of Ammon.

12 And he said, If the Syrians are too steadfast for me, then you come to my salvation. But if the sons of Ammon are too steadfast for you, then I will save you.

13 Be steadfast and do let us encourage ourselves in behalf of our people and in behalf of the cities of our Elohim. As for Yahweh, He shall do what is good in His eyes.

14 When Joab and the soldiers with him drew close for the battle facing the Syrians they fled before him.

15 As for the sons of Ammon, they saw that the Syrians had fled, and so they themselves also took to flight before his brother Abishai and went into the city. Then Joab came back to Jerusalem.

16 When the Syrians saw that they were stricken before Israel, they sent messengers and brought forth the Syrians who were from across the Stream, with Shophach, chief of Hadadezer’s military host before them.

17 When this was told to David, then he gathered all of Israel’s men, crossed the Jordan and advanced against them and drew up in battle array against them. When David drew up in battle array to meet the Syrians, then they fought against him.

18 Yet the Syrians fled from before Israel; and David killed of the Syrians 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 men on foot. He also put to death Shophach the chief of their host.

19 When all the kings, the servants of Hadadezer, saw that they were stricken before Israel, then they made peace with David and served him; and the Syrians were not willing to save the sons of Ammon any more.

Chapter 20

1 It came to be at the season of the year’s return, the season when kings march forth, that Joab led out the combat force of the host and brought ruin to the land of the sons of Ammon; he came and besieged Rabbah, while David remained in Jerusalem. Then Joab smote Rabbah and demolished it.

2 David took the crown of Milcom off its head, and found it to be a talent of gold in weight, with precious stones in it; and it was put on David’s head. The amount of loot of the city that he brought forth was very great.

3 As for the people who were in it, he brought them forth and set them to work to raze it down with iron threshers and with severing instruments. So David did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. Then David and all the soldiers returned to Jerusalem.

4 It occurred afterward that there was again a battle with the Philistines, at Gezer. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite smote Sippai who was among those born of the Rephaim; and they were made submissive.

5 When there was again a battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair smote Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear had a shaft like the heddle-rod of a weaver.

6 There was again a battle at Gath. A giant came, with his six fingers and six toes, twenty-four in number; he too was born to the Rapha.

7 When he challenged Israel, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Shimea, smote him.

8 Those were born to the Rapha in Gath; they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 21

1 Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count Israel.

2 So David said to Joab and to the chiefs of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba unto Dan, and bring it to me so that I may know their number.

3 Joab replied, May Yahweh add to His people a hundred times as many as they are. My lord the king, are not all of them servants to my lord? Why should my lord insist on this? Why should he involve Israel in guilt?

4 Yet the king’s word was unyielding to Joab. So Joab went forth and walked through all Israel. He then came back to Jerusalem.

5 Joab gave the number of the census of the people to David; it came to be, in all Israel, 1,100,000 men drawing the sword; and in Judah 470,000 men drawing the sword.

6 As for Levi and Benjamin, he did not visit in their midst, for the king’s word had become abhorrent to Joab.

7 This word was also evil in the eyes of the One, Elohim, so that He smote Israel.

8 David said to the One, Elohim, I have sinned intensely in that I have done this thing. Now, I pray, cause the depravity of Your servant to pass away; for I was exceedingly unwise.

9 Then Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s vision seer, saying,

10 Go, and you will tell David, saying, Thus says Yahweh: I proffer you three things. Choose for yourself one of them that I may do it to you.

11 When Gad came to David, he said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh: Take your choice.

12 Should there be three years of famine? Or should there be three months of being swept away before your foes, with the sword of your enemies overtaking you? Or should there be three days of the sword of Yahweh and of plague in the land, with the messenger of Yahweh bringing ruin throughout the territory of Israel? Now see what word I should bring back to the One sending me.

13 David replied to Gad, Utter distress is mine. Do let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh, for His compassions are very abundant; but let me not fall into the hand of humanity.

14 So Yahweh cast the plague on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell.

15 Then the One, Elohim, sent a messenger to Jerusalem to ruin it. When he was about to bring ruin, Yahweh was vigilant and showed Himself merciful as to the evil and said to the messenger who was causing ruin, Enough, now hold back your hand. The messenger of Yahweh was standing at the threshing site of Ornan the Jebusite.

16 David lifted his eyes and saw the messenger of Yahweh standing between the earth and the heavens, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell on their faces.

17 Now David spoke to the One, Elohim, Was it not I alone, I who ordered a count of the people? It is I, the one who has sinned, I, the shepherd, who has caused this evil; but these are the flock; what have they done? O Yahweh, my Elohim, let Your hand come to be, I pray, against me and my father’s house, and not for a stroke against Your people!

18 As for the messenger of Yahweh, he ordered Gad to tell David that David should ascend to set up an altar to Yahweh at the threshing site of Ornan the Jebusite.

19 So David went up at the word of Gad that he had spoken in the Name of Yahweh.

20 Ornan had turned back and seen the messenger; yet his four sons who were with him had hidden themselves, while Ornan was threshing wheat.

21 When David came over to Ornan, then Ornan looked up and saw David and went forth from the threshing site. He prostrated himself before David, his brow toward the earth.

22 David said to Ornan, Do give me the place of your threshing site, so that I may build an altar to Yahweh on it. At the full current price sell it to me, that the stroke may be restrained from the people.

23 Yet Ornan said to David, Take it as your own, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. See, I donate the oxen for ascent offerings, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for the approach present; I donate all of it.

24 King David replied to Ornan, No, for I shall buy, yea buy it at the full current price, because I shall not carry what is yours to Yahweh and offer up an ascent offering gratuitously.

25 So David gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the place.

26 Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered up ascent offerings and peace offerings. He called on Yahweh Who answered him with fire from the heavens upon the altar of the ascent offering.

27 Then Yahweh spoke to the messenger, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him on the threshing site of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

29 But the tabernacle of Yahweh that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of ascent offerings were at that time on the high-place at Gibeon;

30 and David was unable to go before it to seek after Elohim, since he was frightened because of the sword of the messenger of Yahweh.

Chapter 22

1 So David said: This is to be the house of Yahweh, the One, Elohim; and this is to be an altar for ascent offerings for Israel.

2 Then David ordered to collect together all the sojourners who were in the land of Israel, whom he recruited as stone hewers to hew trimmed stones for building the house of the One, Elohim.

3 David laid in great stores of iron for nails for the doors of the gateways and for clamps, and copper in such abundance there was no weighing it;

4 and of cedar timbers there was no numbering, for the Sidonians and the Tyrians brought cedar timbers in abundance to David.

5 For David had said, Solomon my son is youthful and tender, and the house to be built for Yahweh must become surpassingly magnificent, to win renown and beauteous distinction throughout all the lands. Do let me now lay in stores for it. So David was laying in great stores before his death.

6 Moreover he called Solomon his son and enjoined him to build a house for Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

7 David said to Solomon, My son, as for myself, it was in my heart to build a house for the Name of Yahweh my Elohim.

8 But the word of Yahweh came against me, saying: Much blood have you shed, and great wars have you waged. Not you shall build the house for My Name, for much blood have you shed on the earth before Me.

9 Behold, a son is being born to you; he shall be a man of rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about. Indeed, Solomon shall be his name, and peace and quiet shall I grant to Israel in his days.

10 It is he who shall build the house for My Name, and he shall be to Me like a son, and I for him like a father. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for the eon.

11 Now, my son, may Yahweh be with you, that you may prosper and build the house of Yahweh your Elohim, just as He has spoken concerning you.

12 Only may Yahweh give you intelligence and understanding when He commissions you over Israel that you may keep the law of Yahweh your Elohim.

13 Then you shall prosper if you observe to keep the statutes and the ordinances that Yahweh enjoined on Moses for Israel. Be courageous and resolute. Do not be fearful, and do not be dismayed!

14 Behold, in my humiliation I have laid in stores for the house of Yahweh: A hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver; as for copper and iron, there was no weighing it, for it was in abundance. I have also laid in stores of timber and stones; and you shall add to them.

15 With you in abundance are those doing the work of stone hewers, masons, carpenters and everyone wise in any kind of work.

16 As for the gold, the silver and the copper and the iron, there is no numbering. Rise and act, and may Yahweh be with you.

17 Then David enjoined on all chief officials of Israel to help Solomon his son:

18 Is not Yahweh your Elohim with you, and has He not granted you rest round about? For He has given into my hand the dwellers of the land, so that the land is subdued before Yahweh and before His people.

19 Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Yahweh your Elohim, and rise and build the sanctuary of Yahweh, the One, Elohim, to bring the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh and the holy vessels of the One, Elohim, to the house that is to be built for the Name of Yahweh.

Chapter 23

1 When David was old and was satisfied with days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel.

2 He gathered together all chief officials of Israel and the priests and the Levites.

3 The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward; and their number, by their polls of masters, was 38,000.

4 Of these 24,000 were acting as overseers over the work of the house of Yahweh, 6,000 as superintendents and judges,

5 4,000 as gatekeepers, and 4,000 were praising Yahweh with instruments that I had provided for giving praise.

6 David split them up into apportionments corresponding to the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath and Merari:

7 To the Gershonite, Ladan and Shimei;

8 the sons of Ladan: Jehiel the head, Zetham and Joel, three in all;

9 the sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, Haziel and Haran; these three were the heads of the fathers’ houses of Ladan;

10 the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush and Beriah; these were the sons of Shimei, four in all;

11 Jahath was the head, and Zizah the second; yet Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they became a father’s house together, a single roster.

12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel, four in all;

13 the sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses; yet Aaron was set apart to sanctify him for the holy of holies, that he and his sons, for the eon, should fume incense before Yahweh, minister to Him and bless in His Name for the eon.

14 As for Moses the man of the One, Elohim, his sons themselves were called among the tribe of Levi.

15 The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer;

16 the sons of Gershom had Shebuel as the head;

17 the sons of Eliezer came to have Rehabiah as the head; no other sons came to Eliezer; yet the sons of Rehabiah were surpassingly numerous.

18 The sons of Izhar had Shelomith as the head.

19 The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the head, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.

20 The sons of Uzziel: Micah the head, and Isshiah the second.

21 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi; the sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.

22 Eleazar died, and there were no sons for him, but rather daughters; the sons of Kish, their kinsmen, married them;

23 the sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder and Jeremoth, three in all.

24 These were the sons of Levi according to their fathers’ houses, the heads of the fathers’ houses as they were enrolled with the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of the house of Yahweh, from twenty years old and upward.

25 For David had said: Yahweh Elohim of Israel has granted rest to His people, and He is tabernacling in Jerusalem still for the eon.

26 So the Levites too are not to carry the tabernacle or any of its vessels for its service.

27 For by the last instructions of David these were the number of the sons of Levi from twenty years old and upward.

28 For their officiation was at the side of the sons of Aaron, for the service of the house of Yahweh, taking care of the courts and the rooms, and the cleansing of everything that is holy, the performance of the service of the house of the One, Elohim,

29 also the bread of array and the flour for the approach present, and the unleavened wafers and flat cakes and well-mixed offerings, as well as every kind of quantity and size.

30 They were to stand morning by morning to acclaim and to praise Yahweh, and likewise at evening,

31 and whenever ascent offerings were offered up to Yahweh, on sabbaths, new moons and appointed festivals, by number, according to their custom, continually before Yahweh.

32 Thus they kept the charge of the tent of appointment and the charge of the sanctuary and the charge of the sons of Aaron, their kinsmen, for the service of the house of Yahweh.

Chapter 24

1 As for the sons of Aaron, these were their apportionments: Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

2 Yet Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and there were no sons for them; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.

3 David, acting with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, apportioned them for their supervision in their service.

4 Since the sons of Eleazar were found to have more head men than the sons of Ithamar, they apportioned them: sixteen to the sons of Eleazar as heads for their fathers’ houses, and eight to the sons of Ithamar for their fathers’ houses.

5 They apportioned them by lots, these along with those, for they were all chiefs of the sanctuary and chiefs of the One, Elohim, from the sons of Eleazar and from the sons of Ithamar.

6 Shemaiah the scribe, a Levite, son of Nethanel, wrote them down before the king, the chief officials, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites. One father’s house was held by Eleazar, and one was held by Ithamar.

7 The first lot came forth for Jehoiarib, the second for Jedaiah,

8 the third for Harim, the fourth for Seorim,

9 the fifth for Malchijah, the sixth for Mijamin,

10 the seventh for Hakkoz, the eighth for Abijah,

11 the ninth for Jeshua, the tenth for Shecaniah,

12 the eleventh for Eliashib, the twelfth for Jakim,

13 the thirteenth for Huppah, the fourteenth for Jeshebeab,

14 the fifteenth for Bilgah, the sixteenth for Immer,

15 the seventeenth for Hezir, the eighteenth for Happizzez,

16 the nineteenth for Pethahiah, the twentieth for Jehezkel,

17 lot twenty-one for Jakin, the twenty-second for Gamul,

18 the twenty-third for Delaiah, the twenty-fourth for Maaziah.

19 This was their roster for their service, to enter the house of Yahweh according to their due right by the hand of Aaron their father, just as Yahweh Elohim of Israel had instructed him.

20 As for the rest of the sons of Levi: for the sons of Amram, Shubael; for the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah.

21 As for Rehabiah: for the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the head.

22 For the Izharite: Shelomoth; for the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath.

23 And the sons of Hebron: Jeriah the head, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth.

24 The sons of Uzziel: Micah; for the sons of Micah, Shamir.

25 The brother of Micah, Isshiah; for the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah.

26 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi with the sons of Jaaziah, his son.

27 The sons of Merari by Jaaziah, his son: Shoham, Zaccur and Ibri.

28 For Mahli: Eleazar; yet there were no sons to him.

29 As for Kish: the sons of Kish, Jerahmeel.

30 The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites by their fathers’ houses.

31 They also cast lots to correspond with their kinsmen, the sons of Aaron, before David the king and Zadok and Ahimelech and the heads of the fathers of the priests and of the Levites, the head of the fathers to correspond with his youngest brother.

Chapter 25

1 David and the chief officials of the Levitical host also set apart for service the sons of Asaph, of Heman and Jeduthun, the ones prophesying with harps, zithers and cymbals. Their roster of workmen according to their service was:

2 From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asharelah; Asaph’s sons were under the hand of Asaph who prophesied under the hands of the king.

3 As for Jeduthun, from the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all under the hands of their father Jeduthun who prophesied with the harp to acclaim and to praise Yahweh.

4 As for Heman, from the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth;

5 all these were sons of Heman, the vision seer of the king by the words of the One, Elohim, to raise up a horn. The One, Elohim, gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.

6 All these were under the hands of their father in song at the house of Yahweh with cymbals, zithers and harps for the service of the house of the One, Elohim, under the hands of the king and Asaph and Jeduthun and Heman.

7 Their number, with their kinsmen, who had been taught the song for Yahweh, was 288, everyone being proficient.

8 They cast lots for their term of duty, the youngest to correspond with the oldest, the proficient with the learner.

9 The first lot for Asaph came forth for Joseph, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve; Gedaliah the second, he and his kinsmen and his sons, twelve;

10 the third Zaccur, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

11 the fourth for Izri, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

12 the fifth Nethaniah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

13 the sixth Bukkiah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

14 the seventh Jesharelah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

15 the eighth Jeshaiah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

16 the ninth Mattaniah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

17 the tenth Shimei, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

18 the eleventh Azarel, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

19 the twelfth for Hashabiah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

20 for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

21 for the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

22 for the fifteenth, for Jerimoth, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

23 for the sixteenth, for Hananiah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

24 for the seventeenth, for Joshbekashah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

25 for the eighteenth, for Hanani, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

26 for the nineteenth, for Mallothi, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

27 for the twentieth, for Eliathah, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

28 for lot twenty-one, for Hothir, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

29 for the twenty-second, for Giddalti, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

30 for the twenty-third, for Mahazioth, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve;

31 for the twenty-fourth, for Romamti-ezer, his sons and his kinsmen, twelve.

Chapter 26

1 For the apportionments of the gatekeepers: To the Korahites, Meshelemiah son of Kore, from the sons of Asaph.

2 Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,

3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh.

4 Obed-edom also had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,

5 Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth, for Elohim had blessed him.

6 Sons were also born to his son Shemaiah; they were the rulers of their father’s house, for they were masters of valor.

7 The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad; his brothers, sons of valor, were Elihu and Semakiah.

8 All these were of the sons of Obed-edom, they and their sons and their brothers, men of valor with vigor for the service, sixty-two belonging to Obed-edom.

9 Meshelemiah had sons and brothers, sons of valor, eighteen in all.

10 Hosah from the sons of Merari had sons: Shimri the head; though he was not the firstborn, his father appointed him as head;

11 Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth. All the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen.

12 These were the apportionments of the gatekeepers by their headmen, whose term of duty was to correspond with their kinsmen to minister in the house of Yahweh.

13 They cast lots, whether young or old in their fathers’ houses, gate by gate.

14 The lot for the east gate fell to Shelemiah. Then they cast lots for Zechariah his son, a counselor with intelligence; and his lot came forth to be the north gate.

15 To Obed-edom went the south gate, and to his sons the house of gatherings.

16 To Shuppim and to Hosah went the west gate with the Shallecheth gate on the ascending entranceway. Guard group was to correspond with guard group:

17 At the east were six for a day, at the north four for a day, at the south four for a day, and at the house of gatherings, two by two.

18 At the precinct to the west, four at the entranceway and two at the precinct.

19 These were the apportionments of the gatekeepers, of the sons of the Korahite and of the sons of Merari.

20 Fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of the One, Elohim, and of the treasuries of holy donations:

21 The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonite belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers’ houses belonging to Ladan, the Gershonite: Jehieli.

22 The sons of Jehieli, Zetham and Joel his brother were in charge of the treasuries of the house of Yahweh.

23 As for the Amramite, the Izharite, the Hebronite, the Uzzielite:

24 Shebuel son of Gershom son of Moses was governor in charge of the treasuries.

25 His brothers, through Eliezer: Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son and Shelomith his son.

26 This Shelomith and his brothers were in charge of all the treasuries of the holy donations that David the king, the heads of the fathers’ houses, the chiefs of thousands and hundreds, and chiefs of the military host had sanctified.

27 From the battles and from the loot they sanctified gifts to maintain the house of Yahweh.

28 All that Samuel the seer had sanctified and Saul son of Kish and Abner son of Ner and Joab son of Zeruiah, or what any other man had sanctified, was under the hand of Shelomith and his brothers.

29 The Izharite: Kenaniah and his sons were designated for the outside work over Israel as superintendents and judges.

30 The Hebronite: Hashabiah and his brothers, 1,700 sons of ability, were in charge of the supervision of Israel, from this side of the Jordan westward, for all the work of Yahweh and for the king’s service.

31 As for the Hebronite, Jerijah was the head of the Hebronite according to the genealogical records of the fathers. In the fortieth year of David’s reign they were sought out, and masters of valor were found among them in Jazer-gilead.

32 And his brothers, 2,700 sons of ability, were heads of the fathers’ houses; David the king gave them supervision over the Reubenite, the Gadite, and the half tribe of Manasseh for all matters of the One, Elohim, and matters of the king.

Chapter 27

1 These were the sons of Israel according to their roster of heads of the fathers’ houses, the chiefs of thousands and hundreds, and their militia clerks, who were ministering to the king in every matter of the army divisions that entered and that went out month by month during all the months of the year. Each army division had 24,000 conscripts.

2 Over the first army division for the first month was Jashobeam son of Zabdiel with 24,000 in his army division.

3 He was from the sons of Perez, the head of all chiefs of the military host for the first month.

4 Over the army division of the second month was Dodai the Ahohite ( his army division had Mikloth as chief officer) with 24,000 in his army division.

5 The chief of the third militia host for the third month was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the principal priest, with 24,000 in his army division.

6 This Benaiah was a masterful man among the thirty and over the thirty, and over his army division was Ammizabad his son.

7 The fourth, for the fourth month, was Asahel brother of Joab, and his son Zebadiah after him, with 24,000 in his army division.

8 The fifth chief, for the fifth month, was Shamhuth the Izrahite, with 24,000 in his army division.

9 The sixth, for the sixth month, was Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, with 24,000 in his army division.

10 The seventh, for the seventh month, was Helez the Pelonite of the sons of Ephraim, with 24,000 in his army division.

11 The eighth, for the eighth month, was Sibbecai the Hushathite of the Zerahite, with 24,000 in his army division.

12 The ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer the Anathothite of the Benjamite, with 24,000 in his army division.

13 The tenth, for the tenth month, was Maharai the Netophathite of the Zerahite, with 24,000 in his army division.

14 The eleventh, for the eleventh month, was Benaiah the Pirathonite of the sons of Ephraim, with 24,000 in his army division.

15 The twelfth, for the twelfth month, was Heldai the Netophathite of Othniel, with 24,000 in his army division.

16 In charge of the tribes of Israel were chief officer Eliezer son of Zichri for the Reubenite; Shephatiah son of Maacah for the Simeonite;

17 Hashabiah son of Kemuel for the Levite; Zadok for Aaron;

18 Elihu, one of the brothers of David, for Judah; Omri son of Michael for Issachar;

19 Ishmaiah son of Obadiah for Zebulun; Jerimoth son of Azriel for Naphtali;

20 Hoshea son of Azaziah for the sons of Ephraim; Joel son of Pedaiah for the half tribe of Manasseh;

21 Iddo son of Zechariah for the Gilead half of Manasseh; Jaasiel son of Abner for Benjamin;

22 Azarel son of Jeroham for Dan. These were the chief officers of the tribes of Israel.

23 David did not obtain the number of those twenty years old and below, for Yahweh had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars of the heavens.

24 Joab son of Zeruiah started to count them, but he did not finish; wrath came on Israel on account of this, and the number did not come up in the scroll of the Chronicles of king David.

25 Azmaveth son of Adiel was in charge of the royal storehouses; Jonathan son of Uzziah was in charge of the storehouses in the fields, in the cities, in the shelters and in the towers.

26 Over those doing the work of the field, the servicing of the ground, was Ezri son of Kelub.

27 Shimei the Ramathite was in charge of the vineyards; Zabdi the Shiphmite was in charge of products from the vineyards for the wine vats.

28 Baal-hanan the Gederite was in charge of the olive trees and the mulberry trees which were in the low foothills, and Joash had charge of the oil storehouses.

29 Shitrai the Sharonite was overseeing the grazing herd in Sharon, and Shaphat son of Adlai the herd in the vales.

30 Obil the Ishmaelite was overseeing the camels, and Jehdeiah the Meronothite the jennies.

31 Jaziz the Hagrite was overseeing the flock. All these were the chief officials in charge of the goods that belonged to king David.

32 Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a counselor, a man of understanding; he was also a scribe. Jehiel son of Hachmoni was with the king’s sons.

33 Ahithophel was also a counselor of the king. Hushai the Archite had been the king’s associate.

34 After Ahithophel were Jehoiada son of Benaiah and Abiathar; and Joab was chief of the king’s militia host.

Chapter 28

1 David assembled at Jerusalem all the chief officials of Israel, the chief officers of the tribes, the chiefs of the army divisions who were ministering to the king, the chiefs of thousands, the chiefs of hundreds, and the chief officials in charge of all the goods and livestock belonging to the king and his sons, with the court officials, the masterful men and every master of valor.

2 King David rose to his feet in the midst of the assembly and said: Hear me, my brothers and my people. As for myself, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh, for the footstool of our Elohim; and I laid in stores for building.

3 But the One, Elohim, He said to me, Not you shall build the house for My Name, for you are a man of wars, and you have shed blood.

4 Yahweh Elohim of Israel chose me out of all my father’s house to be king over Israel for the eon; for it was Judah that He chose as governor, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons it pleased Him to make me king over all Israel.

5 Out of all my sons (for many are the sons whom Yahweh has given me), He chose Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Yahweh over Israel.

6 Further, He said to me, Solomon your son, he shall build My house and My courts; for I have chosen him to be for Me like a son, and I Myself shall become for him like a father.

7 I will establish his kingdom for the eon if he holds fast to the observance of My instructions and My ordinances, as at this day.

8 Now therefore, in the eyes of all Israel, the assembly of Yahweh, and in the ears of our Elohim, observe and seek after all the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim in order that you may tenant the good land and may give it as an allotment to your sons after you for the eon.

9 And you, Solomon my son, know the Elohim of your fathers, and serve Him wholeheartedly and with a delighting soul, for Yahweh inquires into all hearts, and He understands every form of devisings. If you seek after Him, He shall be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He shall cast you off for the future.

10 See now that Yahweh has chosen you to build a house as a sanctuary. Be steadfast and do it!

11 Then David gave Solomon his son a pattern of the portico, a pattern of the house , its storerooms, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the housing for the propitiatory shelter;

12 also the pattern of all that had come to him by the spirit for the courts of the house of Yahweh and for all the surrounding rooms, for the treasuries of the house of the One, Elohim, and for the treasuries of the holy donations;

13 for the apportionments of the priests and the Levites, for all the work of the service of the house of Yahweh and for all the vessels of the service of the house of Yahweh;

14 for the gold by weight for all the gold vessels used in service by service, for all the silver vessels by weight, for all the vessels used in service by service;

15 for the weight of the gold lampstands and their gold lamps with the weight of lampstand by lampstand and its lamps; for the silver lampstands by weight for each lampstand and its lamps according to the service of lampstand by lampstand;

16 for the gold by weight for the tables of the bread in array, table by table, as well as silver for the silver tables;

17 for the pure gold of the forks, the sprinkling bowls and the chalices, for the gold by weight for the small bowls, small bowl by small bowl, and for the small silver bowls by weight, small bowl by small bowl;

18 for the purified gold by weight for the altar of incense; also for the gold for the model of the chariot of the cherubim spreading their wings and overshadowing the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh.

19 All this, into which Yahweh gave me insight by His hand on me, is in writing, all the details of the pattern.

20 Further, David said to Solomon his son: Be steadfast, be resolute, and do it! Do not be fearful, and do not be dismayed, for Yahweh Elohim, my Elohim, is with you. He shall not neglect you nor forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is finished.

21 Here are the apportionments of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of the One, Elohim. And with you for all the work will be every willing man with wisdom for every kind of service; also the chief officials and all the people will be wholly at your word.

Chapter 29

1 Then David the king said to the entire assembly: Solomon my son, the one whom Elohim has chosen, is youthful and tender. Yet the work to be done is great, not just for a man’s castle, but for Yahweh Elohim.

2 With all my resources I have laid in stores for the house of my Elohim, gold for the goldwork, silver for the silver, copper for the copper, iron for the iron, and wood for the wooden work; onyx stones and setting-stones, stones of antimony and variegated colors as well as every precious stone and marble stones in abundance.

3 Furthermore, since I hold dear the house of my Elohim, I give the valuable treasure of gold and silver that I have to the house of my Elohim, above and beyond all that I have laid in stores for the holy house:

4 3,000 gold talents of Ophir-gold and 7,000 talents of purified silver for coating the sidewalls inside;

5 gold for the goldwork and silver for the silver and for all the work by the hand of the craftsmen. Now who will voluntarily consecrate himself today for Yahweh?

6 Then the chiefs of the fathers’ houses, the chief officers of the tribes of Israel, the chiefs of thousands and hundreds, as well as the chief officials in charge of the king’s work volunteered

7 to give for the service of the house of the One, Elohim: 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, 10,000 talents of silver, 18,000 talents of copper, and 100,000 talents of iron.

8 Those to whom precious stones were available gave them to the treasury of the house of Yahweh, under the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite.

9 And the people rejoiced because of their voluntary offerings, for they had willingly and wholeheartedly given to Yahweh. David the king also rejoiced with great joy.

10 Then David blessed Yahweh before the eyes of the entire assembly. David said: Blessed be You, O Yahweh, Elohim of our father Israel, from the eon and until the eon.

11 Yours, O Yahweh, are greatness, mastery, beauty, permanence and splendor, indeed, everything in the heavens and on the earth. Yours, O Yahweh, is the kingship, lifting Yourself up as Head over all.

12 Riches and glory come from before You, and You are ruling over all; in Your hand is vigor and mastery; and it is in Your hand to magnify and to fortify everyone.

13 And now, our Elohim, we are acclaiming You and are praising Your beauteous Name.

14 But who am I, and who is my people that we should retain the vigor to give willingly like this? For everything comes from You; and it is the gift from Your hand that we have given to You.

15 For we are sojourners before You, and settlers, like all our fathers. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no expectation.

16 O Yahweh our Elohim, all this superabundance that we have laid in stores to build You a house for Your holy Name, it is a gift from Your hand, and it is all Yours.

17 I know, O my Elohim, that You are testing the heart and are pleased with uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly given all these things. And now Your people who have converged here, I have seen them with joy making voluntary offerings to You.

18 O Yahweh, Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, do keep this for the eon as a form of devising in the heart of Your people, and establish their heart toward You.

19 And to Solomon my son give wholeheartedness to observe Your instructions, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do all, and to build the house for which I have laid in these stores.

20 Then David said to the entire assembly, Now bless Yahweh your Elohim. So the entire assembly blessed Yahweh Elohim of their fathers; they bowed their heads low and prostrated themselves before Yahweh and the king.

21 They sacrificed sacrifices to Yahweh and offered up ascent offerings to Yahweh on the morrow of that day: 1,000 young bulls, 1,000 rams, 1,000 he-lambs and their libations, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel.

22 They ate and drank before Yahweh on that day with great rejoicing. Then they proclaimed David’s son Solomon king a second time and anointed him before Yahweh as governor, and Zadok as priest.

23 So Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of his father David and prospered; and all Israel hearkened to him.

24 All the chief officials, the masters of war and all the sons of king David as well gave their hand in support of Solomon the king.

25 Yahweh magnified Solomon so highly in the eyes of all Israel and bestowed on him royal splendor such as had not come on any king over Israel before him.

26 As for David son of Jesse, he had reigned over all Israel,

27 and the days he reigned over Israel were forty years. In Hebron he reigned seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

28 He died in a good and greyhaired age, satisfied with days, riches and glory; and Solomon his son became king in his stead.

29 The affairs of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the annals of Samuel the seer, in the records of Nathan the prophet and in the records of Gad the vision seer,

30 together with all his reign and his masterful deeds and the times that had passed over him and over Israel and over all the kingdoms of the lands.

The Book of 2 Chronicles

Chapter 1

1 Solomon son of David showed himself steadfast over his kingdom, and Yahweh his Elohim was with him and magnified him surpassingly.

2 Solomon summoned all Israel, the chiefs of thousands and of hundreds, the judges and every prince of all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ houses.

3 Then Solomon and the entire assembly with him went to the high-place at Gibeon, for there was the tent of appointment of the One, Elohim, that Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness.

4 However, the coffer of the One, Elohim, David had brought up from Kiriath-jearim to the place David had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.

5 And the copper altar that Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur had made was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh; so Solomon and the assembly sought after it.

6 There Solomon ascended to the copper altar before Yahweh at the tent of appointment and offered up on it a thousand ascent offerings.

7 In that night Elohim appeared to Solomon and said to him, Ask what I shall give to you.

8 At that Solomon said to Elohim, You have shown great benignity to my father David, and You have made me king in place of him.

9 Now, O Yahweh Elohim, let Your promise to my father David prove faithful, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the soil grains of the earth.

10 Now grant me wisdom and knowledge, and so I shall go forth and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?

11 Then Elohim said to Solomon, Because this has been in your heart, and you have not asked for riches, substance and honor, or the soul of those hating you, and also you have not asked for many days, yet you are asking for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may judge My people over whom I have made you king,

12 the wisdom and knowledge are being granted to you, and also riches, substance and honor I shall give to you, such as none of the kings before you has come to have, nor shall there be any after you.

13 So from before the tent of appointment at the high-place at Gibeon, Solomon came to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel.

14 Solomon was gathering chariots and steeds; and he came to have 1,400 chariots and 12,000 steeds. He had them stabled in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

15 The king made the silver and the gold in Jerusalem as common as stones, and he made the cedars as abundant as mulberry trees that are in the low foothills.

16 The horses that Solomon had were imports from Egypt and from Kue; and the royal merchants took them from Kue at a price.

17 A chariot coming up from Egypt was sold forth for 600 shekels of silver; a horse went for 150. So they brought them forth by their hand to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Syria.

Chapter 2

1 Solomon resolved to build a house for the Name of Yahweh and a house for his royal position.

2 Solomon numbered 70,000 men as burden carriers, and 80,000 men as stone hewers in the hill-country, and 3,600 men as overseers over them.

3 Then Solomon sent to king Huram of Tyre, saying, Just as you dealt with my father David and sent him cedar to build himself a house to dwell in it

4 behold, I his son am building a house for the Name of Yahweh my Elohim to sanctify it to Him for fuming incense of spices before Him, for the continuous bread in array, and for the morning and the evening ascent offerings on sabbaths, on new moons and on appointed festivals of Yahweh our Elohim; for the eon this will be upon Israel.

5 The house that I am building shall be great, for our Elohim is greater than all the elohim.

6 Yet who could retain vigor to build Him a house, since the heavens and the heavens of the heavens cannot contain Him? And who am I that I should build Him a house save to fume incense before Him?

7 Now send me a wise man, skilled at working in gold, in silver, in bronze and in iron, also in purple, vermillion and blue wool, and knowing how to engrave engravings together with the wise men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.

8 Send me cedar timbers, firs and algum wood from the Lebanon, for I know that your servants are skilled at cutting the timber of Lebanon. Now my servants will work with your servants

9 to provide me with abundant timber, for the house that I am building will be great and marvelous.

10 I will even provide 20,000 cors of wheat as food for your servants, the choppers who cut down the trees, also 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 bath measures of wine, and 20,000 bath measures of oil.

11 King Huram of Tyre replied in writing and sent it to Solomon: In love for His people has Yahweh put you over them as king.

12 And Huram went on to say: Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel, Who made the heavens and the earth, Who has given king David a wise son, endued with intelligence and understanding, who is about to build a house for Yahweh and a house for his royal position.

13 I now send you Huram-abi, a wise man endued with understanding,

14 the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan; his father was a Tyrian man. He is skilled at working in gold, in silver, in bronze, in iron, in precious stones and in wood, in purple, in blue wool, in fine linen and in vermillion; he knows how to engrave any engraving and to devise any design that may be given to him, together with your wise men and the wise men of my lord, your father David.

15 Now let my lord send his servants the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine which my lord promised.

16 As for ourselves, we shall cut down trees from the Lebanon according to all your need and shall bring them to you as rafts by sea to Joppa; then you can take them up to Jerusalem.

17 Solomon numbered all the men who were sojourners in the land of Israel, after the numbering when his father David had enumerated them; and they were found to be 153,600.

18 He assigned 70,000 of them as burden carriers, and 80,000 as stone hewers in the hill-country, and 3,600 men as overseers to make the people serve.

Chapter 3

1 Then Solomon started to build the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah where He had appeared to his father David, at the place which David had prepared on the threshing site of Ornan the Jebusite.

2 He started to build on the second day of the second month in the fourth year of his reign.

3 Solomon laid these foundations for the building of the house of the One, Elohim: Its length in cubits by the former measure was sixty cubits, and its width twenty cubits.

4 And the portico on the facade of the house was twenty cubits in its length, on the facade of the width of the house; and its elevation was twenty. He overlaid it on the inside with pure gold.

5 The greater house he paneled with wood of fir and overspread it with good gold and set up on it palm trees and braids.

6 He overlaid the house with precious stone for beauty; the gold was gold from Parvaim.

7 He overspread the house with gold the rafters, the thresholds, its sidewalls and its doors; and he engraved cherubim on the sidewalls.

8 Inside he built the holy of holies; its length on the facade of the width of the house was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits; he overspread it with 600 talents of good gold.

9 The weight of the gold for the nails was fifty shekels; only their upper parts he overspread with gold.

10 Then, inside the holy of holies, he made two cherubim in sculpted workmanship, and he overlaid them with gold.

11 As for the wings of the cherubim, their length was twenty cubits, the one wing of five cubits touching the sidewall of the house, and the other wing of five cubits touching the wing of the other cherub.

12 And the wing of the other cherub of five cubits was touching the sidewall of the house, while the other wing of five cubits was clinging to the wing of the other cherub.

13 The wings of these cherubim were spread out twenty cubits, and they were standing on their feet with their faces inward.

14 He also made the curtain of blue wool, purple and vermillion and fine linen, and he set up cherubim on it.

15 Then he made before the house two columns, thirty-five cubits in length, and the column cap that was on top of it was five cubits.

16 He made braids in the innermost sanctuary. He also put them on top of the columns. And he made a hundred pomegranates and put them in the braids.

17 He set up the columns on the facade of the temple, one to the right and one to the left; and he called the name of the right one Jachin and the name of the left one Boaz.

Chapter 4

1 Then he made the copper altar, its length twenty cubits, its width twenty cubits, and ten cubits its rise.

2 He made the sea of cast metal, ten cubits from its one lip to its other lip, circular round about; five cubits was its rise, and a measuring tape of thirty cubits would surround it round about.

3 Beneath it was the likeness of oxen, surrounding it all around, ten in a cubit, encompassing the sea round about; the oxen were in two rows, cast in one casting with it.

4 It was standing on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The sea was above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward.

5 Its thickness was a handbreadth, and its lip was like the workmanship of the lip of a cup, like anemone petals. Filled to capacity it would contain 3,000 bath measures.

6 He also made ten lavers and put five to the right and five to the left, to wash in them; they rinsed out in them the implements for the ascent offering; but the sea was for the priests to wash in it.

7 He made the ten lampstands of gold according to their ordinance and put them in the nave, five at the right side and five at the left.

8 He also made ten tables and left them in the nave, five at the right side and five at the left, and he made a hundred sprinkling bowls of gold.

9 He made the court of the priests, the great outer court and the doors for the outer court; he overlaid their doors with bronze.

10 He put the sea on the right flank of the house, eastward, toward the south.

11 Finally Huram made the pots, the shovels and the sprinkling bowls. Thus Huram finished doing all the work that he had undertaken for king Solomon on the house of the One, Elohim:

12 The two columns, the globes and the capitals on top of the two columns; and the two meshings for covering the two globes of the capitals that were on top of the columns;

13 the 400 pomegranates for the two meshings, two rows of pomegranates for each meshing to cover the two globes of the capitals that were overlooking the columns;

14 the ten bases and the ten lavers on the bases;

15 the one sea and the twelve oxen beneath it;

16 the pots, the shovels, the forks and all these utensils that Huram-abi made of scoured bronze for king Solomon for the house of Yahweh.

17 In the basin of the Jordan the king had them cast in the thick mud of the ground between Succoth and Zarethan.

18 Solomon made all these utensils in very great quantity, so that the weight of the copper was not investigated.

19 Solomon had all the utensils made for the house of the One, Elohim: the altar of gold and the tables with the bread of the presence on them;

20 the lampstands and their lamps of plated gold, to blaze them up, according to the ordinance, before the innermost sanctuary;

21 and the petals and the lamps and the tongs of gold; this was solid gold;

22 the snippers, the sprinkling bowls, the spoons and the firepans of plated gold; the portal of the house, its inner doors to the holy of holies and the double doors of the nave of the house, all of gold.

Chapter 5

1 When all the work that Solomon had done for the house of Yahweh was accomplished, Solomon brought in the hallowed things of his father David; and the silver and the gold and all the utensils he put among the treasures of the house of the One, Elohim.

2 Then Solomon assembled all the elders of Israel and all the heads of the stocks, the patriarchal princes of the sons of Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh from the city of David, that is, Zion.

3 All the men of Israel were assembled to the king for the festival; it was in the seventh month.

4 When all the elders of Israel had come, the Levites carried the coffer,

5 and they brought up the coffer and the tent of appointment and all the hallowed utensils that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up,

6 while king Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel, all those congregated to him, were before the coffer, making sacrifices of the flock and of the herd that could not be numbered and not be counted for multitude.

7 Then the priests brought the coffer of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, to the innermost sanctuary of the house, the holy of holies, underneath the wings of the cherubim.

8 The cherubim were spreading out their wings over the place of the coffer, so that the cherubim kept the coffer and its poles covered from above.

9 Yet the poles stuck out, so that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place adjoining the innermost sanctuary, but they were not seen from the outside. There they are unto this day.

10 There was nothing in the coffer but the two tablets that Moses had placed there at Horeb when Yahweh had contracted with the sons of Israel at their coming forth from Egypt.

11 It came to be when the priests came forth from the holy place for all the priests who had converged here had sanctified themselves without keeping to the set apportionments

12 and the Levites who were singers belonging to all of them, to Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and to their sons and their brothers, clothed in fine linen, standing with cymbals and zithers and harps to the east of the altar, and with them were 120 priests blowing the bugles.

13 And buglers and singers were in unison to make one sound heard, to praise and acclaim Yahweh. And as they raised up their voice with the bugles and the cymbals and the instruments of song, and with praising Yahweh, saying: For He is good, For His benignity is for the eon, then the house was filled with a cloud, the glory of Yahweh.

14 The priests were unable to stay and minister because of the cloud; for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of the One, Elohim.

Chapter 6

1 Then Solomon stated: Yahweh Himself has said He was to tabernacle in murkiness.

2 And I, for my part, have built a house, a residence for You, a site for You to dwell in for the eons.

3 Now the king turned his face around and blessed the whole assembly of Israel while the whole assembly of Israel was standing.

4 He said, Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel, Who spoke with His mouth to my father David and fulfilled it with His hands, saying,

5 From the day on which I brought forth My people Israel from the land of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a house that My Name be there; nor have I chosen anyone to become governor over My people Israel.

6 But I chose Jerusalem that My Name be there, and I chose David that he be over My people Israel.

7 It came to be on the heart of my father David to build a house for the Name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

8 Yet Yahweh said to my father David, Inasmuch as it was on your heart to build a house for My Name, you did well that it came to be on your heart.

9 But you shall not build the house, but rather your son who is coming forth from your loins, he shall build the house for My Name.

10 Now Yahweh has carried out His word that He had spoken; for I have risen in place of my father David, and I am sitting on the throne of Israel, just as Yahweh had spoken; and I have built the house for the Name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel;

11 and there I have set the coffer wherein the covenant of Yahweh is that He contracted with the sons of Israel.

12 Then he stood before the altar of Yahweh in front of the whole assembly of Israel, and he spread out his palms.

13 For Solomon had made a platform of bronze and had placed it in the midst of the outer court. Its length was five cubits, its width five cubits, and its rise three cubits. He stood on it and knelt on his knees in front of the whole assembly of Israel; he spread out his palms to the heavens

14 and said, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, there is no elohim like You in the heavens and on the earth, keeping the covenant and the benignity toward Your servants who are walking before You with all their heart,

15 You Who have kept with Your servant David, my father, what You spoke to him. You spoke with Your mouth, and You fulfilled it with Your hand, as on this day.

16 And now, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, what You spoke to him, saying: There shall not be cut off a man of yours from before Me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons should keep their way to walk in My law just as you have walked before Me.

17 And now, O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, let Your word come true that You have spoken to Your servant, to David.

18 Will Elohim truly dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens themselves cannot contain You; how much less, indeed, this house that I have built!

19 Yet You will turn toward the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Yahweh my Elohim, to hearken to the appeal and to the prayer that Your servant is praying before You today.

20 O that Your eyes be open toward this house by day and by night, toward the place where You promised to place Your Name, to hearken to the prayer that Your servant is praying toward this place.

21 You will hearken to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; and You Yourself shall hearken from Your dwelling place, from the heavens, and when You hearken, You will pardon.

22 If a man sins against his associate who loads on him an oath of imprecation to imprecate him, and he comes with his oath of imprecation before Your altar in this house,

23 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, and You will act and judge Your servants, so as to pay back to the wicked, to bring his way on his own head, and to justify the just, to give to him according to his righteousness.

24 When Your people Israel are struck before an enemy because they were sinning against You, and they return and acclaim Your Name and pray and supplicate before You in this house,

25 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, and You will pardon the sin of Your people Israel, and You will restore them to the ground that You gave to them and to their fathers.

26 When the heavens are restrained and there is no rain because they were sinning against You, and they pray toward this place and acclaim Your Name and turn back from their sin because You made them humble,

27 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, and You will pardon the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel; for You are directing them to the good way in which they should walk; and You will give rain on Your land that You have given as an allotment to Your people.

28 In case a famine comes on the land, or a plague comes, or a blast, or mildew, in case locusts and beetles come, in case his enemy is distressing him in the land of his gates any kind of contagion, any illness

29 in every prayer, every supplication that may occur by any human or by all of Your people Israel, for they know each one his contagion and his pain, when he spreads out his palms toward this house,

30 then may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, the site of Your dwelling, and You will pardon and give to each one according to all his ways since You know his heart for You Yourself, You alone, know the heart of the sons of humanity

31 so that they may fear You and walk in Your ways all the days that they are alive on the surface of the ground that You gave to our fathers.

32 And also to the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, he who came from a far country on account of Your Name for they shall hear of Your great Name and Your steadfast hand and Your outstretched arm when they come and pray toward this house,

33 to them may You Yourself hearken from the heavens, from the site of Your dwelling, and You will act according to all for which the foreigner calls to You; in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your Name so as to fear You as do Your own people Israel, and know that Your Name has been called over this house that I have built.

34 In case Your people go forth to a battle against their enemies, in the way that You send them, and they pray to You in the direction of this city that You have chosen and toward the house that I have built for Your Name,

35 then You will hearken from the heavens to their prayer and their supplication, and You will execute right judgment for them.

36 In case they are sinning against You for there is no human who does not sin and You are angry with them, and give them up before the enemy, so that their captors capture them and bring them to the land of the enemy, far or near,

37 yet they turn back their heart in the land where they are captives, so that they return to You and supplicate in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we are depraved, and we are wicked,

38 and they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul, in the land of their captors who had captured them, and they pray in the direction of their land that You gave to their fathers and toward the city that You have chosen and toward the house that I have built for Your Name,

39 then You will hearken from the heavens, from the site of Your dwelling, to their prayer and their supplications, and You will execute right judgment for them, and You will pardon Your people who have sinned against You.

40 Now, my Elohim, I pray, may Your eyes be open, and Your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

41 And now, Do rise, O Yahweh Elohim, to Your resting place. You and the coffer of Your strength. Your priests, O Yahweh Elohim, may they be clothed with salvation, And Your benign ones, may they rejoice in Your goodness.

42 O Yahweh, Elohim, do not turn back from the face of Your anointed one; O do remember the benignities promised Your servant David.

Chapter 7

1 As Solomon finished praying, the fire itself descended from the heavens and devoured the ascent offering and the sacrifices; and Yahweh’s glory itself filled the house.

2 The priests were unable to enter the house of Yahweh on that occasion, for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh.

3 And all the sons of Israel were watching when the fire descended and the glory of Yahweh was upon the house; and they bowed their brow to the earth, on the pavement, and worshipped and acclaimed Yahweh: For He is good, for His benignity is for the eon.

4 Then the king and all the people were offering sacrifices before Yahweh.

5 King Solomon offered the sacrifice of the oxen, 22,000, and 120,000 of the flock. Thus the king and all the people dedicated the house of the One, Elohim.

6 The priests were standing over their charges, and the Levites with the instruments of song to Yahweh that king David had made to acclaim Yahweh For His benignity is for the eon when David would praise by their hand; and the priests were blowing bugles in front of them, and all Israel were standing.

7 Solomon hallowed the middle part of the court before the house of Yahweh, for there he offered the ascent offerings and the fat pieces of the peace offerings, because the copper altar that Solomon had made could not contain the ascent offering and the approach present and the fat pieces.

8 Thus Solomon observed the festival at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, coming from Lebo-hamath unto the Wadi of Egypt.

9 On the eighth day they held a day of restraint, for they had observed the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days;

10 so on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he dismissed the people to their tents, rejoicing and cheerful of heart over the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David, to Solomon and to His people Israel.

11 Thus Solomon finished the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and he prospered in everything that had come into Solomon’s heart to accomplish in the house of Yahweh and in his own house.

12 Then Yahweh appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place as Mine as a house of sacrifice.

13 If I restrain the heavens and there is no rain, or if I instruct the grasshopper to devour the land, or if I send a plague among My people,

14 when My people upon whom My Name has been called, are submissive and pray and seek My face and turn back from their evil ways, then I shall hear from the heavens, I shall pardon their sin, and I shall heal their land.

15 Now My eyes shall be open and My ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

16 Now I have chosen and sanctified this house for My Name to be there unto the eon. My eyes and My heart will be there all the days.

17 As for you, if you should walk before Me, just as your father David walked, by doing according to all that I have instructed you, and if you should keep My statutes and My ordinances,

18 then I will confirm the throne of your kingship just as I contracted with your father David, saying, There shall not be cut off a man of yours from ruling over Israel.

19 But if you yourselves should turn away and forsake My statutes and My instructions that I have set before you, so that you go and serve other elohim and bow down to them,

20 then I will pluck them up off My ground that I have given to them, and I shall fling away from My face this house that I have sanctified for My Name, and I shall make it a proverb and a byword among all the peoples.

21 This house, it shall become rubbish heaps. Everyone passing by it shall be appalled. When he asks, On what grounds did Yahweh thus to this land and to this house?

22 people will answer, Because they forsook Yahweh the Elohim of their fathers Who brought them forth from the land of Egypt, and they held fast on other elohim and worshipped them and served them. Therefore He brought all this evil on them.

Chapter 8

1 It came to be at the end of twenty years when Solomon had built the house of Yahweh and his own house,

2 that, as for the cities which Huram returned to Solomon, Solomon rebuilt them and settled the sons of Israel there.

3 Furthermore Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and fastened a hold on it.

4 He rebuilt Tadmor in the wilderness and all the provision cities that he had built in Hamath.

5 He rebuilt Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, double doors and bars,

6 also Baalath and all the provision cities that had become Solomon’s, all the chariot cities and the cities for horsemen, and all his attachments which Solomon wished to build in Jerusalem, in the Lebanon and in all the land under his rule.

7 All the people left of the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, those who were not of Israel,

8 from their sons who had been left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed Solomon brought them up for tributary service unto this day.

9 Yet there were none of the sons of Israel whom Solomon made conscript servants for his work force, for they were men of military age, his chiefs, his adjutants and the chiefs of his chariotry and his horsemen.

10 These were the chiefs of the deputies king Solomon had, 250, who were holding sway over the people.

11 Solomon led up Pharaoh’s daughter from the city of David to the house that he had built for her; for he said, Though a wife of mine, she should not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, since they are holy to which the coffer of Yahweh has come.

12 Then Solomon offered up ascent offerings to Yahweh on the altar of Yahweh that he had built before the portico,

13 as a day by day requirement to offer up according to the instruction of Moses for the sabbaths, for the new moons and for the appointed festivals three times in the year, at the festival of unleavened bread at the festival of weeks, and at the festival of booths.

14 According to the custom of his father David, he made stand the apportionments of the priests over their service, and the Levites over their charges, to praise and to minister in front of the priests, as required day in, day out, and the gatekeepers by their apportionments, gate by gate, for such was the instruction of David the man of Elohim.

15 They did not withdraw from the instruction of the king as to the priests and the Levites in regard to any matter, and to the treasuries.

16 And all of Solomon’s work was well prepared, at the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh, until he finished it; thus was the finishing up of the house of Yahweh.

17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Elath on the seashore in the land of Edom.

18 Huram sent to him ships, under the hand of his officials, along with crews who knew the sea; and they came with Solomon’s servants to Ophir and procured from there 450 talents of gold and brought it to king Solomon.

Chapter 9

1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, she came to probe Solomon with dark enigmas. She came to Jerusalem to Solomon with a very illustrious retinue, camels carrying aromatics, gold in abundance and precious stones, and she spoke with him all that was on her mind,

2 while Solomon told her all her matters. There was no matter too obscure for Solomon that he could not tell her.

3 When the queen of Sheba had discerned the wisdom of Solomon and had seen the house that he had built,

4 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, the standing of those ministering to him and their clothing, and his cupbearers and their clothing, as well as his ascent offering that he was offering up in the house of Yahweh, then there was no more spirit in her.

5 So she said to the king, True was the word that I heard in my land about your affairs and about your wisdom.

6 Yet I did not believe their words until I came and my eyes had seen it; and behold, not half of the magnitude of your wisdom was told to me. You have added beyond the report that I heard.

7 Happy are your men; happy are these officials of yours who are continually standing before you and hearkening to your wisdom.

8 May Yahweh your Elohim be blessed, Who delights in you so as to put you on His throne as king for Yahweh your Elohim. Because of your Elohim’s love for Israel to make it stand for the eon, He has constituted you as king over them to execute right judgment and justice.

9 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, a very great quantity of aromatics and precious stones. There has not been any such aromatic like this which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

10 Besides, Huram’s officials and Solomon’s servants who brought gold from Ophir, also brought algum wood and precious stones.

11 The king used the algum wood for entranceways in the house of Yahweh and in the house of the king, also for harps and zithers for the singers; none like them had been seen before in the land of Judah.

12 King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire for which she asked, more than all she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went to her own land, she and her servants.

13 The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in each year was 666 talents of gold,

14 besides that from the exploring men and what the merchants were bringing. Also all the kings of Arabia and the viceroys of the land were bringing gold and silver to Solomon.

15 King Solomon made 200 large shields of ductile gold 600 shekels of ductile gold he brought up on each large shield

16 and 300 shields of ductile gold 300 shekels of gold he brought up on each shield and the king put them in the Lebanon wildwood house.

17 The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.

18 The throne had six steps and a footrest of gold, kept bolted to the throne, also armrests on this side and on that side of the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.

19 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, on this side and on that side; such a thing had not been made for any other kingdom.

20 All king Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the Lebanon wildwood house were plated gold. Silver was not reckoned as anything in Solomon’s days.

21 For the king had ships going to Tarshish with Huram’s officials. Once in three years the Tarshish ships would come carrying gold, silver, elephant tusks, also apes and peacocks.

22 Thus king Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth.

23 And all the kings of the earth were seeking the face of Solomon to hear his wisdom that the One, Elohim, had bestowed in his heart.

24 They were bringing each his approach present, articles of silver and articles of gold and raiments, stacte and aromatics, also horses and mules, a rate year by year.

25 Solomon came to have 4,000 stalls of horses and chariots, and 12,000 steeds. He had them stabled in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.

26 He came to be ruler over all the kings from the Stream unto the land of the Philistines and unto the boundary of Egypt.

27 The king made the silver in Jerusalem as common as stones, and he made the cedars as abundant as mulberry trees that are in the low foothills.

28 The horses that Solomon had were brought forth from Egypt and from all the lands.

29 As for the remaining affairs of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the annals of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the vision seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?

30 Solomon reigned forty years over all Israel in Jerusalem.

31 Then Solomon lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him in the city of David his father; his son Rehoboam reigned in his stead.

Chapter 10

1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.

2 It came to be as Jeroboam son of Nebat heard it when he was in Egypt to which he had fled away from the face of king Solomon, that Jeroboam returned from Egypt.

3 So they sent and called him. Then Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying,

4 Your father, he made our yoke harsh. As for you now, lighten the harsh service of your father, and his heavy yoke that he put on us, and we shall serve you.

5 He replied to them, Go away for three days and then return to me. So the people went away.

6 Then king Rehoboam consulted the elders who had been standing before his father Solomon while he was alive, saying, How are you counseling to render a reply to this people?

7 They spoke to him, saying, Should you become goodhearted to this people today so that you please them and speak good words to them, then they will become your servants all their days.

8 But he forsook the counsel of the elders with which they had counseled him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who were standing before him.

9 He asked them, What are you counseling we should render as a reply to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Lighten the yoke that your father put on us.

10 Then the young men who had grown up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus you should answer the people who have spoken to you, saying, Your father, he made our yoke heavy. As for you, lighten it for us. Thus you should answer them, My small finger, it is thicker than my father’s waist.

11 And now my father, he laded a heavy yoke on you; yet I, I shall add to your yoke. My father, he flogged you with whips; yet I will do so with scorpions.

12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, just as the king had spoken, saying, Return to me on the third day.

13 Yet the king answered them obstinately; king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the elders.

14 He spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, My father, he made heavy your yoke; yet I, I shall add to it. My father, he flogged you with whips; yet I will do so with scorpions.

15 The king did not hearken to the people, for the circumstance had come from the One, Elohim, that Yahweh might carry out His word that He had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat by means of Ahijah the Shilonite.

16 When all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, then the people replied to the king, saying, What portion do we have in David? We have no allotment in the son of Jesse! Each one to your tents, O Israel! Now see to your own house, O David! So all Israel went to their tents.

17 As for the sons of Israel who were dwelling in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam still reigned over them.

18 Then king Rehoboam sent out Hadoram, who was in charge of the tributary service; but the sons of Israel pelted him with stones so that he died. Yet king Rehoboam was resolute to get up on his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.

19 So Israel transgressed against the house of David until this day.

Chapter 11

1 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, 180,000 choice men, practiced in battle, to fight against Israel, in order to restore the kingship to Rehoboam.

2 But the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah the man of Elohim, saying,

3 Speak to Rehoboam son of Solomon king of Judah and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying,

4 Thus speaks Yahweh: You shall neither go up nor fight against your brothers. Return, each man to his house; for it was from Me that this thing has come about. So they hearkened to the words of Yahweh and turned back from going against Jeroboam.

5 Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah.

6 Thus he rebuilt Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,

7 Bethzur, Soco, Adullam,

8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,

9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,

10 Zorah, Aijalon and Hebron as fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.

11 He reinforced the fortifications and put governors in them, along with storehouses of food, oil and wine,

12 as well as large shields and lances in all of them, city by city. Thus he reinforced them very much; and so Judah and Benjamin were his.

13 The priests and the Levites from all their territories in all Israel stationed themselves with him;

14 for the Levites forsook their common pasture lands and their holdings and went to Judah and to Jerusalem, since Jeroboam with his sons had cast them off from serving as priests of Yahweh.

15 He had recruited for himself priests for the high-places, for hairy goat demons and the calf idols that he had made.

16 And following them from all the tribes of Israel those who gave their heart to seek Yahweh Elohim of Israel came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh the Elohim of their fathers.

17 They made the kingdom of Judah steadfast and made Rehoboam son of Solomon resolute for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.

18 Rehoboam took a wife for himself, Mahalath, daughter of David’s son Jerimoth and of Abihail, daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab.

19 The sons she bore him were Jeush, Shemariah and Zaham.

20 After her he took for himself Maacah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza and Shelomith.

21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and his concubines for he had taken up eighteen wives and sixty concubines; he begot twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.

22 Rehoboam assigned Abijah son of Maacah to officiate as the head, as governor among his brothers, so as to make him king.

23 He acted understandingly, and he detailed some of all his sons to all the lands of Judah and Benjamin and to all the fortified cities. He gave them sustenance in abundance, and he took up for them a throng of wives.

Chapter 12

1 It came to be that, as soon as Rehoboam’s kingship was established and as soon as he held fast to it, he forsook the law of Yahweh, and all Israel with him.

2 It occurred in the fifth year of king Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt marched up against Jerusalem because they had offended Yahweh

3 with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And there was no number to the people who came with him from Egypt: Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites.

4 He seized the fortified cities in Judah and came as far as Jerusalem.

5 Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the chief officials of Judah who were gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, Thus says Yahweh: You have forsaken Me, and I also have forsaken you to the hand of Shishak.

6 Then Israel’s chief officials and the king submitted and said, Just is Yahweh.

7 When Yahweh saw that they had submitted, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah, saying, They have submitted, so I shall not bring them to ruin, and I will soon give them deliverance, and My fury shall not be poured forth on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

8 But they shall become his servants, that they may know servitude to Me and servitude to the kingdoms of the other lands.

9 When Shishak king of Egypt marched up against Jerusalem, he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the house of the king; he took them all. He was also taking away the golden shields that Solomon had made.

10 In place of them, king Rehoboam made shields of bronze and gave the supervision over them into the hand of the chiefs of the runners who were guarding the portal of the king’s house.

11 It came to be that as often as the king came to the house of Yahweh, the runners came and carried them; and afterward they would bring them back to the anteroom of the runners.

12 Since he had submitted, the anger of Yahweh turned away from him and did not bring him to ruin entirely. And, moreover, in Judah matters came to be well.

13 King Rehoboam showed himself steadfast in Jerusalem and reigned; for Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His Name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonitess.

14 He did evil, for he had not set his heart on seeking after Yahweh.

15 The affairs of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the annals of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the vision seer to be registered in his genealogy? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

16 Then Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was entombed in the city of David. His son Abijah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 13

1 In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, Abijah became king over Judah.

2 Three years he reigned in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam;

3 so Abijah engaged in the battle with an army of masters of war, 400,000 chosen men. Jeroboam arrayed for battle against him 800,000 chosen men, a masterful army.

4 Abijah rose up on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said: Hear me, Jeroboam and all Israel.

5 Do you not know that Yahweh Elohim of Israel has given the kingship over Israel to David for the eon, to him and to his sons, a covenant of salt?

6 But Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David arose and revolted against his lord.

7 Inane men gathered together around him, sons of worthlessness; they made themselves aggressive against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was a lad and tender of heart and did not have courage before them.

8 And now you resolved to reinforce yourselves before the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of David’s sons. You are a vast throng, and with you are the golden calves that Jeroboam made for you as elohim.

9 Did you not expel the priests of Yahweh, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and appoint for yourselves priests like the peoples of other lands? Now anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a bull calf of the herd, and seven rams, even he becomes a priest of no-elohim!

10 As for us, Yahweh is our Elohim, and we have not forsaken Him; and the priests ministering to Yahweh are sons of Aaron, and the Levites are at their work,

11 making ascent offerings fume to Yahweh, morning by morning and evening by evening, as well as incense of spices; they set the array of bread on the clean table; they blaze up the golden lampstand and its lamps evening by evening. Indeed we are keeping the charge of Yahweh Elohim of our fathers, but you have forsaken Him.

12 Behold, with us at the head is the One, Elohim, and His priests have bugles to blast the shout of alarm against you. Sons of Israel, do not fight against Yahweh Elohim of your fathers, for you shall not prosper.

13 Now Jeroboam, he had sent the ambush around to come from behind them, so that they were before Judah, and the ambush was behind them.

14 Then Judah turned around, and behold, the battle against them was both at their face and back. Then they cried to Yahweh, and the priests were blowing the bugles,

15 and the men of Judah raised a shout of alarm. And it came about when the men of Judah raised a shout, then the One, Elohim Himself, struck Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah;

16 and the sons of Israel fled from before Judah, and Elohim delivered them into their hand.

17 Abijah and his people smote them with a great smiting; 500,000 chosen men from Israel fell slain.

18 The sons of Israel submitted at that time, while the sons of Judah were resolute because they leaned on Yahweh Elohim of their fathers.

19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and took away from him the cities of Bethel and its outskirts, Jeshanah and its outskirts, and Ephron and its outskirts.

20 Jeroboam retained no further vigor in the days of Abijah. Yahweh struck him down and he died.

21 Abijah showed himself steadfast. He took up for himself fourteen wives and begot twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.

22 The rest of the affairs of Abijah, his ways and his matters are written in the inquiry of Iddo the prophet.

Chapter 14

1 Then Abijah lay down with his fathers; they entombed him in the city of David, and his son Asa reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.

2 Asa did what was good and upright in the eyes of Yahweh his Elohim.

3 He took away the foreign altars and the high-places. He broke down the monuments and hewed down the Asherah poles.

4 Further, he ordered Judah to seek after Yahweh Elohim of their fathers and to observe the law and the instruction;

5 from all the cities of Judah he took away the high-places and the incense stands, and the kingdom was quiet before him.

6 He built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was quiet and there was no war against him during those years, for Yahweh had given him rest.

7 So he said to Judah, Let us rebuild these cities and surround them with walls and towers, double doors and bars, while we have the land before us, because we have sought after Yahweh our Elohim; we sought after Him, and He has given us rest all around. And so they built and prospered.

8 Asa came to have an army of 300,000 from Judah carrying large shields and lances and 280,000 from Benjamin carrying shields and positioning the bow. All these were valorous masters.

9 Zerah the Cushite marched forth against them with an army of a thousand thousand and 300 chariots and came as far as Mareshah.

10 Asa marched forth before him, and they arrayed for battle in the ravine of Zephathah at Mareshah.

11 Then Asa called to Yahweh his Elohim and said, O Yahweh, there is no one beside You to help the one without vigor against the multitude. Help us, O Yahweh our Elohim, for we lean on You, and in Your Name we have come against this throng. O Yahweh, You are our Elohim; do not let mortals restrain You.

12 So Yahweh struck the Cushites before Asa and before Judah. The Cushites fled,

13 and Asa and the people with him pursued them as far as Gerar. For those of the Cushites who fell there was no preservation of life, for they were broken before Yahweh and before His camp, who carried away very much loot.

14 They also smote all the cities around Gerar, for the awe of Yahweh came on them. They plundered all those cities, for much plunder was in them.

15 Moreover, they smote the tents of the cattlemen and captured flocks in abundance and camels; then they returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 15

1 As for Azariah son of Oded, the spirit of Elohim came upon him,

2 and he went forth before Asa and said to him, Hear me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you when you are with Him. If you seek after Him, He shall be found by you. Yet if you forsake Him, He shall forsake you.

3 Now for many days Israel was without the Elohim of truth, without a priest to direct them, and without the law.

4 But in their distress they returned to Yahweh Elohim of Israel; they sought Him, and He was found by them.

5 In those eras it was not peaceful to fare forth or to come in, for great discomfitures were on all dwellers of the lands;

6 and they were pounded down, nation against nation, and city against city, for Elohim, He discomfitted them with every distress.

7 As for you, be steadfast and do not let your hands relax, for there is reward for your efforts.

8 As soon as Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he showed himself steadfast and removed the abominations from all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and from the cities that he had seized from the hill country of Ephraim. Further, he renewed the altar of Yahweh that was before the portico of Yahweh.

9 Then he convened all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the sojourners dwelling with them from Ephraim, Manasseh and Simeon; for they had fallen to him from Israel in abundance when they saw that Yahweh his Elohim was with him.

10 They came together in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign.

11 They sacrificed to Yahweh on that day from the loot which they had brought back, of the herd, 700 cattle, and of the flock, 7,000 sheep.

12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek after Yahweh Elohim of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul,

13 and that anyone who would not seek after Yahweh Elohim of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

14 So they swore to Yahweh with a loud voice and with shouting, with bugles and with trumpets.

15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they swore with all their heart and sought after Him with all their eagerness, so that He was found by them; and Yahweh gave them rest all around.

16 As for his grandmother Maacah, king Asa himself even made her withdraw from her rank of queen mother, because she had made an obscene idol for Asherah. Asa cut down her obscene idol, pulverized and burned it in Wadi Kidron.

17 Yet the high-places were not taken away from Israel. However, Asa’s heart was at peace all his days.

18 And he brought to the house of the One, Elohim, the holy things of his father and his own holy things, silver and gold and vessels.

19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign.

Chapter 16

1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasha king of Israel marched up against Judah and rebuilt Ramah so as to allow no one to go forth or come in to Asa king of Judah.

2 Now Asa brought forth silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of Yahweh and the house of the king, and he sent them to Ben-hadad king of Syria who dwelt in Damascus, saying,

3 There is a covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. Behold, I send you silver and gold; come, annul your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he may go up away from me.

4 Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa and sent the chiefs of the armies that he had, against the cities of Israel. They smote Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim and all the provision cities of Naphtali.

5 Now it came to pass as Baasha heard of it, that he left off from rebuilding Ramah and ceased his work.

6 As for king Asa, he took all of Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah and the timbers of it with which Baasha had rebuilt it. With them Asa built up Geba and Mizpah.

7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, Because you leaned on the king of Syria and did not lean on Yahweh your Elohim, therefore the army of the king of Israel escaped out of your hand.

8 As for the Cushites and the Libyans, were they not a vast army with chariots and horsemen in very great abundance? Yet because you leaned on Yahweh, He gave them into your hand.

9 For, as regards Yahweh, His eyes go to and fro through all the earth to reinforce the heart of those who are at peace with Him. You were exceedingly unwise in this matter; so henceforth there will be wars against you.

10 Asa was vexed by the seer, and he gave him over to the house of stocks because he was irate at him about this. Asa also maltreated some of the people at that time.

11 Now the affairs of Asa, first and last, behold, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.

12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was affected with gangrene in his feet until his illness became very severe. Yet even in his illness he did not seek after Yahweh, but resorted to healers.

13 Then Asa lay down with his fathers; he died in the year fortyone of his reign,

14 and they entombed him in his grand tomb that he had dug out for himself in the city of David. They laid him in the bed that was filled with aromatics, all sorts of ointments elaborately compounded. And they burned for him an exceedingly great funeral-fire.

Chapter 17

1 His son Jehoshaphat reigned in his stead and showed himself steadfast against Israel.

2 He posted armed units in all fortressed cities of Judah and put garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had seized.

3 And Yahweh was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the former ways of his father and did not inquire of the Baalim,

4 but sought after the Elohim of his father and walked in His instructions and not according to the practice of Israel.

5 So Yahweh established the kingdom under his hand, while all Judah gave presents to Jehoshaphat. He came to have riches and glory in abundance.

6 His heart was elevated in the ways of Yahweh; furthermore he took away the high-places and the Asherah poles from Judah.

7 In the third year of his reign he sent for his chief officials and sons of valor, namely Obadiah and Zechariah and Nethanel and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.

8 With them were the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah and Tob-adonijah the Levites; and with them were Elishama and Jehoram the priests.

9 They taught in Judah, and they had the scroll of the law of Yahweh with them. They went around through all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

10 The awe of Yahweh came to be upon all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, and they did not make war with Jehoshaphat.

11 Some of the Philistines were bringing presents and a load of silver to Jehoshaphat; the Arabians also were bringing flocks to him, 7,700 rams and 7,700 buck goats.

12 Jehoshaphat continued advancing and growing surpassingly great; he built fortified-places and provision cities in Judah

13 and engaged himself in numerous works in the cities of Judah. He had men of war, valorous masters, in Jerusalem,

14 and these were their rosters according to their fathers’ houses: From Judah: chiefs of thousands, Adnah the chief, with him 300,000 valorous masters;

15 and alongside him Jehohanan the chief, with him 280,000;

16 and alongside him Amasiah son of Zichri who volunteered for Yahweh, with him 200,000 valorous masters.

17 From Benjamin: the valorous master Eliada, with him 200,000 weaponed with bow and shield;

18 and alongside him Jehozabad, with him 180,000 troops outfitted for war.

19 These were the ones ministering to the king besides those whom the king had posted in the fortress cities throughout all Judah.

Chapter 18

1 Jehoshaphat came to have riches and glory in abundance, and he intermarried with the house of Ahab.

2 So years later he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered sheep of the flock and cattle of the herd in abundance for him and for the people with him; and he allured him to march up with him against Ramoth-gilead.

3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Are you going with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he replied to him, I likewise, such as you; my people likewise, such as your people, with you in the war.

4 Jehoshaphat also said to the king of Israel, I pray, inquire today for the word of Yahweh.

5 So the king of Israel convened the prophets, 400 men, and he said to them, Shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I forbear? They replied, Go up; the One, Elohim, shall give it into the king’s hand.

6 Yet Jehoshaphat said, Is there no other prophet of Yahweh here that we may inquire through him?

7 The king of Israel replied to Jehoshaphat, There is one more man through whom to inquire of Yahweh; yet I hate him, for he is not prophesying good for me, but evil, all his days; he is Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat answered, The king must not speak thus.

8 Then the king of Israel called a certain court official and said, Bring Micaiah son of Imlah quickly.

9 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah, being clothed in their royal-robes, were sitting each one on his throne, sitting at the threshing site by the portal of the gate of Samaria; and all the prophets before them feigned themselves prophets.

10 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, Thus speaks Yahweh: With these you shall gore Syria unto their finish.

11 All the prophets were prophesying so, saying, March up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper. Yahweh will give it into the king’s hand.

12 The messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets, with one mouth, are well pleasing to the king. I pray, let your word become like one word with them, and you will speak good things.

13 Yet Micaiah replied, As Yahweh lives, what my Elohim should say to me, this is it, that I shall speak.

14 When he came to the king then the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I forbear? He replied, March up and prosper. They shall be given into your hand.

15 Now the king said to him, How many times have I been adjuring you, that you should speak to me nothing but the truth in the Name of Yahweh?

16 Then he replied, I saw all Israel scattered over the mountains, like a flock of sheep that have no shepherd; and Yahweh said: These have no lord. Let each man return to his home in peace.

17 At this the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell you that at no time he prophesied good for me, but rather evil?

18 Micaiah replied, Not so! Hear the word of Yahweh: I saw Yahweh sitting on His throne and all the host of the heavens standing to His right and His left.

19 Yahweh said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, so that he may march up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? Now this speaker said thus, and another was saying thus.

20 Then a spirit came forth, stood before Yahweh and said, I Myself shall entice him. Yahweh asked him, By what means?

21 He replied, I shall go forth, and I will become a false spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then He said, You shall entice, and, moreover, you shall prevail. Go forth and do so.

22 And now behold, Yahweh has bestowed a false spirit into the mouth of these prophets of yours, for Yahweh Himself has decreed evil concerning you.

23 Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came close, smote Micaiah on the cheek and said, Just where is the way that the spirit of Yahweh passed from me to speak with you?

24 Micaiah replied, Behold, you shall be seeing it on that day when you come to hide in the chamber inside a chamber.

25 Then the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah and turn him back to Amon chief of the city and to Joash son of the king.

26 And you will say, Thus said the king, Put this one in the house of detention, and feed him with bread of oppression and water of oppression until I get back in peace.

27 Micaiah replied, Should you return, yea return in peace, then Yahweh has not spoken through me. And he added, Hear, ye peoples, all of them!

28 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah marched up to Ramoth-gilead.

29 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and enter into the battle; yet you, put on my garments. So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they entered into the battle.

30 As for the king of Syria, he instructed the chief chariot officers that he had, saying, You shall not fight with the small or the great, but rather with the king of Israel, with him alone.

31 Then it came to be, as the chief chariot officers saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, He is the king of Israel. When they turned around to fight against him, Jehoshaphat cried out, and Yahweh, He helped him. Elohim allured them away from him;

32 so it came to be as the chief chariot officers saw he was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from following him.

33 Someone drew his bow at random and smote the king of Israel between the scale-armor and the body-armor, so that he said to his charioteer, Turn your hands around and bring me forth from the fighting force, for I have been wounded.

34 While the battle ascended in violence on that day, the king of Israel himself remained standing in the chariot over against the Syrians until the evening; then he died at sunset time.

Chapter 19

1 Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned in peace to his house in Jerusalem.

2 Jehu son of Hanani the vision seer now went out to face him and said to king Jehoshaphat, Do you love to help the wicked and those who are hating Yahweh, and by this bring wrath on you from the face of Yahweh?

3 However, there are good things that have been found with you, for you have taken out the Asherah poles from the land of Judah and have set your heart to seek after the One, Elohim.

4 Jehoshaphat had his residence in Jerusalem; but he went out again among the people from Beer-sheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and he brought them back to Yahweh, the Elohim of their fathers.

5 He also installed judges in the land in all the fortressed cities of Judah, city by city,

6 and he said to the judges, Consider what you are doing, for you are not judging for man but for Yahweh, and He shall be with you in matters of judgment.

7 And now let the awe of Yahweh be upon you. Be on guard and act with care, for with Yahweh our Elohim there is no iniquity or partiality or bribe taking.

8 In Jerusalem also, Jehoshaphat installed some of the Levites and priests and of the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel for judgment in matters of Yahweh and for contested matters they dwelled in Jerusalem;

9 and he instructed them, saying: Thus should you act in the fear of Yahweh, with faithfulness and wholeheartedly.

10 In any contested matter which comes before you from your kinsmen dwelling in their cities, whether cases of blood against blood, or offenses against the law, the instructions, statutes or ordinances, you must warn them so that they do not incur guilt before Yahweh, and wrath come upon you and your brothers. Thus you must do; then you shall not incur guilt.

11 Behold, Amariah the head priest is over you in all matters of Yahweh, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the governor of the house of Judah, in all matters of the king. And the Levites will serve as clerks before you. Be steadfast and act, and Yahweh shall be with the good.

Chapter 20

1 It came about afterward when the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon and with them some of the Meunim had set out against Jehoshaphat in war,

2 that people came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, A vast throng is setting out against you from across the Sea, from Syria. And behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar, that is, En-gedi.

3 Jehoshaphat became fearful and set his face to inquire of Yahweh, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah.

4 So those of Judah were brought together to appeal earnestly to Yahweh. Also they came in from all cities of Judah to seek after Yahweh.

5 Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah in Jerusalem at the house of Yahweh before the new court.

6 He said: O Yahweh Elohim of our fathers, are You not the Elohim of the heavens? You are ruling over all the kingdoms of the nations; vigor and mastery are in Your hand, and no one is able to stand up against You.

7 Are not You our Elohim Who evicted the dwellers of this land from before Your people Israel? And You gave it for the eon to the seed of Abraham who loved You.

8 They settled in it, and in it they built for You a sanctuary for Your Name, saying,

9 If evil comes upon us, whether sword, judgment, plague or famine, let us stand before this house and before You, for Your Name is called in this house; and we shall cry out to You in our distress, and You shall hear and save us.

10 Now, behold the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, into whose area You did not let Israel enter when they came from the land of Egypt, but they withdrew from them and did not exterminate them.

11 And now, behold, they are requiting us by coming in to drive us out from Your tenancy that You let us take over.

12 O Yahweh our Elohim, will You not judge them? For no vigor is there in us facing this vast throng that has set out against us, and we ourselves do not know what we should do; but our eyes are toward You.

13 All Judah were standing before Yahweh, as well as their little ones, their wives and their sons.

14 Then in the midst of the assembly the spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah son of Benaiah son of Jeiel son of Mattaniah the Levite, of the sons of Asaph.

15 He said, Pay attention, all Judah, dwellers of Jerusalem, and king Jehoshaphat, thus says Yahweh to you: Do not you fear, and do not you be dismayed because of this vast throng, for the battle is not yours, but Elohim’s.

16 Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they are ascending by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the rear of the wadi facing the wilderness of Jeruel.

17 You will not have to fight in this battle. Stand by; stand and see the salvation by Yahweh Who is with you. Judah and Jerusalem, do not fear, and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow march forth facing them, and Yahweh will be with you.

18 Jehoshaphat bowed his head low with his brow toward the earth, and all Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh.

19 Then the Levites of the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites rose up to praise Yahweh Elohim of Israel with a surpassingly loud voice.

20 They rose early in the morning and marched forth to the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, Judah and dwellers of Jerusalem! Put faith in Yahweh your Elohim, and you shall be found faithful. Believe in His prophets, and prosper.

21 After consulting with the people, he recruited singers for Yahweh praising His holy effulgence, as they went forth before the vanguard, saying, Acclaim Yahweh, for His benignity is for the eon.

22 Now as they started off with jubilant song and praise, Yahweh set ambushers against the sons of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir who had set out against Judah, and they were struck down.

23 The sons of Ammon and Moab stood up against the dwellers from Mount Seir to doom and exterminate them. And as soon as they finished with the dwellers from Seir, they backed up their own massacre, each man against his associate.

24 When Judah came to the overlook in the wilderness, they viewed the throng, and behold, there they were, corpses fallen to the earth; there had been no deliverance.

25 So Jehoshaphat and his people came to plunder the loot on them. They found domestic beasts in abundance, as well as materiel and clothes and coveted articles. So they despoiled for themselves until they were no longer able to carry it away. For three days they were plundering the loot, for it was abundant.

26 And on the fourth day they assembled in the Vale of Beracah, for there they blessed Yahweh. Therefore they call the name of that place Vale of Beracah until today.

27 All the men of Judah and Jerusalem turned about with Jehoshaphat at their head, to return to Jerusalem with rejoicing, for Yahweh had made them rejoice over their enemies.

28 They entered Jerusalem with zithers and harps and bugles playing and went to the house of Yahweh.

29 Now the awe of Elohim came upon all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that Yahweh had fought against the enemies of Israel.

30 So Jehoshaphat’s kingdom had quietness, for his Elohim had granted him rest round about.

31 Thus Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.

32 He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not withdraw from it, doing what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh.

33 However, they did not take away the high-places, and the people themselves had not yet prepared their heart for the Elohim of their fathers.

34 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the annals of Jehu son of Hanani that were entered in the scroll of the kings of Israel.

35 Afterward, king Jehoshaphat of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted wickedly in what he did.

36 With him he made a partnership to build with him ships that could go to Tarshish. They built the ships at Ezion-geber.

37 Then Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because you joined yourself with Ahaziah, Yahweh will breach your work. And so the ships were broken and did not steer to go to Tarshish.

Chapter 21

1 Jehoshaphat lay down with his fathers; he was entombed with his fathers in the city of David, and his son Jehoram reigned in his stead.

2 He had six brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All of these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Judah.

3 Their father gave them many gifts of silver and of gold and other costly gifts, as well as fortified cities in Judah. Yet he gave the kingdom to Jehoram since he was the firstborn.

4 When Jehoram rose up over the kingdom of his father, he reinforced his position and killed all his brothers with the sword, as well as some of the chief officials of Israel.

5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s daughter had become his wife; so he did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

7 Yet Yahweh would not cause ruin to the house of David on account of the covenant that He contracted with David, just as He had promised him to give a lamp to him and his sons all the days.

8 In his days Edom transgressed from under the hand of Judah and raised a king to reign over them.

9 So Jehoram advanced into Edom with his chief officers and all the chariots with him. Now it came to pass that he arose by night and smote the Edomites who were surrounding him and the chariot chiefs.

10 Edom has been transgressing from under the hand of Judah until this day. Then Libnah transgressed at the same time from under his hand, for he had forsaken Yahweh Elohim of his fathers.

11 Moreover, he himself built high-places in the mountains of Judah, and he caused the dwellers of Jerusalem to commit prostitution and was driving Judah astray.

12 Then a document came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying: Thus says Yahweh Elohim of your father David: Whereas you do not walk in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,

13 and whereas you have been walking in the way of the kings of Israel and have caused Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem to commit prostitution, as the house of Ahab had caused the commission of prostitution, and you also killed your brothers of your father’s house, who were better than you,

14 behold, Yahweh will strike a great stroke against your people, against your sons, against your wives, against all your goods,

15 and against you with an evil illness, with an illness of your bowels, until, because of the illness, your bowels shall come forth, day by day.

16 Yahweh roused against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were by the side of the Cushites.

17 They marched up against Judah, broke through its defenses and captured all the goods that were found in the king’s house, as well as his sons and his wives; no son remained to him, only Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

18 After all this, Yahweh struck him in his bowels with an illness for which there was no healing.

19 It continued for day after day, and as the time went forth, after the end of two years of days, his bowels came forth because of his illness; and he died in evil travail. But his people made no funeral-fire for him like the funeral-fires of his fathers.

20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He departed as not desirable, and they entombed him in the city of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.

Chapter 22

1 The dwellers of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead, for the raiding party that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the first ones; so Ahaziah son of Jehoram reigned as king of Judah.

2 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Athaliah granddaughter of Omri.

3 He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother became his counselor to act wickedly.

4 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, like the house of Ahab, for after his father’s death they became his counselors, to his ruin.

5 Moreover, he followed their counsel and went with Joram son of king Ahab of Israel to the battle against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead; yet the Syrians smote Joram.

6 So he returned to get healed at Jezreel from the smiting with which they smote him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. As for Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah, he went down to see Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, for he was wounded.

7 It was from Elohim that the complete-ruin of Ahaziah came to pass by his coming to Joram. When he had come, he went forth with Joram to Jehu grandson of Nimshi whom Yahweh had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

8 So it came about while Jehu was bringing the house of Ahab to judgment, he found the chief officials of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers ministering to Ahaziah, and he killed them.

9 He then sought out Ahaziah; they seized him while he was hiding in Samaria and brought him to Jehu, and he put him to death. They entombed him, for they said, He was the grandson of Jehoshaphat who sought after Yahweh with all his heart. So there was no one of the house of Ahaziah to retain vigor for the kingship.

10 As for Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah, when she saw that her son was dead, she set out and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah.

11 Yet the king’s daughter Jehosheba took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from the midst of the king’s sons who were to be put to death; and she put him and his wetnurse into the chamber of couches. Thus Jehosheba daughter of king Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, since she was Ahaziah’s sister, concealed him from the face of Athaliah so that she did not put him to death.

12 He stayed with them at the house of Elohim in hiding for six years, while Athaliah was reigning over the land.

Chapter 23

1 In the seventh year Jehoiada showed himself steadfast and took the chief officers of hundreds into a covenant with him, namely Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.

2 They went around throughout Judah and gathered together the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel who then came to Jerusalem.

3 The entire assembly contracted a covenant with the king at the house of Elohim. Then he said to them: Here is the king’s son! He shall reign just as Yahweh has promised concerning the sons of David.

4 This is the instruction of what you are to do: One third of you, priests and Levites, as you come on duty on this sabbath, shall be gatekeepers at the thresholds,

5 another third at the king’s house, and the other third at the Foundation Gateway. All of the people shall be in the courts of the house of Yahweh.

6 Let no one enter the house of Yahweh except the priests and the ministering Levites. They may enter because they are holy; as for all of the people, they should keep Yahweh’s charge.

7 The Levites will encompass round about the king, each man with his gear in his hand. Anyone entering the house shall be put to death. And stay with the king when he comes in and when he goes forth.

8 The Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had instructed. Each one took his men, those coming on duty in this sabbath with those going forth off duty this sabbath; for Jehoiada the priest had not released the outgoing apportionments from duty.

9 Then Jehoiada the priest gave the chief officers of hundreds the spears, the shields and the cuirasses that had been king David’s and that were now in the house of Elohim.

10 And he made the entire force stand, each man with his javelin in his hand, from the right flank of the house to the left flank of the house, by the altar and by the house, round about on behalf of the king.

11 Then they brought forth the king’s son; they put the insignia on him and gave him the testimony. They proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, Long live the king!

12 When Athaliah heard the voice of the people and the runners praising the king, she came out to the people at the house of Yahweh.

13 Then she saw there the king standing by his column at the entry. The chiefs with the bugles were beside the king, and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing bugles, and the singers with instruments of song, knowledgeable in leading the praise. Athaliah tore her garments and shouted, Conspiracy, conspiracy!

14 Jehoiada the priest instructed the chief officials of hundreds, the officers of the armed unit, and said to them, Bring her forth, out from inside the ranks. Anyone coming after her shall be put to death with the sword. For the priest thought, You must not put her to death in the house of Yahweh.

15 So they laid hands on her when she came to the entry of the Horse Gate to the king’s house; and they put her to death there.

16 Then Jehoiada contracted a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they would be Yahweh’s people.

17 Then all the people came to the house of Baal and tore it down. They broke his altars and his images; and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.

18 Jehoiada posted supervisors over the house of Yahweh into the hand of the Levitical priests whom David had apportioned over the house of Yahweh to offer up ascent offerings to Yahweh, as written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with song by the hands of David.

19 He made the gatekeepers stand at the gateways of the house of Yahweh so that no one who was unclean in any way might enter.

20 He took the chief officers of hundreds, the nobles, and the rulers of the people and all the people of the land, and he brought the king down from the house of Yahweh. They came in through the Upper Gate to the king’s house; and they seated the king on the royal throne.

21 All the people of the land rejoiced; the city itself was quiet, since they had put Athaliah to death with the sword.

Chapter 24

1 Joash was seven years old when he became king. He reigned forty years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba.

2 Joash did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada the priest.

3 Jehoiada had him marry two wives, and he begot sons and daughters.

4 It was afterward that it lay on the heart of Joash to renew the house of Yahweh.

5 So he convened the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go forth to the cities of Judah and collect together from all Israel the money to repair the house of your Elohim from the year by year quota. And you should act quickly in the matter. Yet the Levites did not act quickly.

6 So the king called Jehoiada the head priest and said to him, For what reason have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and from Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of Yahweh and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the testimony?

7 For Athaliah was a wicked woman, and her sons themselves had breached the house of Elohim and had even used all the holy things of the house of Yahweh for the Baalim.

8 Now the king ordered that they prepare one coffer and place it outside the gateway of the house of Yahweh.

9 Then they issued a proclamation in Judah and in Jerusalem to bring to Yahweh the tax imposed on Israel in the wilderness by Moses the servant of Elohim.

10 All the chiefs and all the people paid up; they brought it and dropped it into the coffer until it was full.

11 Now it came about at the proper time, one had the coffer brought in to the king’s supervisor by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was abundant money, then the king’s scribe and the head priest’s supervisor came and emptied out the coffer, lifted it up and returned it to its place. Thus they did day by day, so that they gathered money in abundance.

12 The king and Jehoiada the priest gave it to those overseeing the work of servicing the house of Yahweh; they were hiring stone hewers and craftsmen in wood to renew the house of Yahweh, as well as craftsmen in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh.

13 The overseers did their work; under their hand the repairwork progressed, and they made the house of Elohim stand in its original state and made it structurally strong.

14 When they had finished, they brought the remaining money before the king and Jehoiada, from which one made utensils for the house of Yahweh, utensils for the ministry and for the ascent offerings, spoons, golden and silver utensils. They were offering up ascent approaches in the house of Yahweh continually all the days of Jehoiada.

15 Now Jehoiada was old and satisfied with days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old at his death.

16 They entombed him with the kings in the city of David, because he had done good in Israel, and on behalf of the One, Elohim, and His house.

17 After the death of Jehoiada the chief officials of Judah came and bowed down to the king; from then on the king hearkened to them.

18 When they forsook the house of Yahweh, the Elohim of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and the fetishes, then there was wrath upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

19 So He sent prophets among them to bring them back to Yahweh; they testified against them, yet they did not listen.

20 The spirit of Elohim was put on Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest; he stood above the people and said to them, Thus says the One, Elohim: Why are you trespassing the instructions of Yahweh so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken Yahweh, He is forsaking you.

21 But they conspired against him, and by instruction from the king they pelted him with stones in the court of the house of Yahweh.

22 King Joash did not remember the kindness that his father Jehoiada had shown to him, and he killed his son. As he was dying, he said, Yahweh is seeing and is inquiring.

23 It came about at the revolution of the year that the army of Syria marched up against him; they came to Judah and Jerusalem and massacred all the chief officers of the force from among the people; they sent all their loot to the king of Damascus.

24 Though the army of Syria had come with only an insignificant number of men, Yahweh, He delivered a much larger army into their hands, for they had forsaken Yahweh Elohim of their fathers. Therefore they executed judgment against Joash.

25 When they departed from him, for they left him with many wounds, his courtiers conspired against him because of the bloodguilt over the son of Jehoiada the priest; they killed him on his couch. He died, and they entombed him in the city of David; yet they did not entomb him in the tombs of the kings.

26 Those conspiring against him were Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess.

27 As for his sons, and the abundance of the oracle against him, and the refounding of the house of Elohim, behold, they are written in the exposition of the scroll of the kings. His son Amaziah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 25

1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.

2 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, but not wholeheartedly.

3 It came to pass just as the kingship under him was held fast that he killed his courtiers who had smitten the king his father.

4 Yet their sons he did not put to death, according to what is written in the scroll of the law of Moses in which Yahweh gave instruction, saying, Fathers shall not be put to death on account of their sons’ sins, nor shall sons be put to death on account of their fathers’ sins, but rather shall each man be put to death for his own sin.

5 Amaziah brought the house of Judah together and had them stand, according to the fathers’ houses, under chief officers of thousands and chief officers of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin. He mustered them from twenty years old and upward, and he found them to be 300,000 choice men going forth for enlistment, holding lance and large shield.

6 He also hired from Israel 100,000 masterful soldiers for a hundred talents of silver.

7 Then a man of the One, Elohim, came to him, saying, O king, let not the Israelite troops come with you, for Yahweh is not with Israel, with all the sons of Ephraim.

8 But rather set out by yourself and do it; have courage for battle, or the One, Elohim, shall make you falter before the enemy. For there is vigor with Elohim to help you or to make you falter.

9 At this Amaziah asked the man of Elohim, What am I to do about the one hundred talents that I gave for the Israelite troops? The man of Elohim replied, Yahweh has more to give you than this.

10 So Amaziah separated them out and let the troops that had come to him from Ephraim go to their own place. Their anger against Judah was exceedingly hot, and they returned to their place in hot anger.

11 As for Amaziah, he showed himself steadfast; he led his force and marched to the salt ravine. He smote 10,000 of the sons of Seir.

12 The sons of Judah captured 10,000 alive and brought them to the top of the crag. They flung them down from the top of the crag, and all of them were mangled.

13 As for the men of the troops whom Amaziah had turned back from going with him to war, they ransacked the cities of Judah from Samaria unto Beth-horon. They smote 3,000 of them and plundered much plunder.

14 It occurred after Amaziah had come back from smiting the Edomites that he brought along the elohim of the sons of Seir and made them stand as elohim for himself. He worshiped before them and fumed incense to them.

15 At that Yahweh’s anger grew hot against Amaziah, and He sent a prophet to him who said to him, Why do you seek after the elohim of the people which could not rescue their people from your hand?

16 And it came to pass while he spoke to him that Amaziah said to him, Have we appointed you a counselor to the king? Leave off for your own sake! Why should they smite you? So the prophet left off; but first he said, I know that Elohim has counseled to ruin you, since you act this way and do not hearken to my counsel.

17 Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent word to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, Come, let us stare each other in the face.

18 Yet Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon, it sent word to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Do give your daughter to my son as a wife. But an animal of the field that was in Lebanon, passed by and tramped down the thistle.

19 You thought that you smote Edom, and your heart has lifted you up to be glorified. Now do stay in your own house. Why should you stir yourself up for evil, so that you will fall, you and Judah with you?

20 Yet Amaziah did not hearken; for it was from the One, Elohim, in order to give them into the hand of Jehoash, because they had sought after the elohim of Edom.

21 So Jehoash king of Israel marched up; and they stared each other in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh in Judah.

22 And Judah was stricken before Israel, so that they fled, each man to his tent.

23 It was Amaziah king of Judah son of Joash son of Jehoahaz whom Jehoash king of Israel apprehended at Beth-shemesh. Then he brought him to Jerusalem and made a breach of four hundred cubits in the wall of Jerusalem, from the Ephraim Gateway unto the Corner Gateway.

24 He took all the gold and the silver, all the vessels found in the house of Elohim in charge of Obed-edom, and in the treasures of the house of the king, and the hostages. Then he returned to Samaria.

25 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.

26 As for the rest of the affairs of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel?

27 From the time that Amaziah withdrew from following Yahweh, they conspired against him in a conspiracy in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent in pursuit of him to Lachish, and they put him to death there.

28 Then they carried him back on horses and entombed him with his fathers in the city of David.

Chapter 26

1 Now all the people of Judah took Uzziah ( he was sixteen years old), and they proclaimed him king in place of his father Amaziah.

2 It was he who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his fathers.

3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

4 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

5 He came to seek after Elohim in the days of Zechariah who gave him understanding in the fear of Elohim; and during the days he sought after Yahweh, the One, Elohim, prospered him.

6 He marched forth and made war against the Philistines; he breached the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod; then he built cities around Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.

7 The One, Elohim, helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who were dwelling in Gur-baal, and the Meunim.

8 The Ammonim brought an approach present to Uzziah, and his name spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became surpassingly steadfast.

9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem on the Corner Gateway and on the Ravine Gateway and on the Angle-Corner, and he reinforced them.

10 He also built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many cisterns, for much cattle became his both in the low foothills and on the tableland, and farmworkers and vinedressers in the hills and on the crop land, since he was a lover of the ground.

11 Uzziah came to have an army engaging in war, a military host marching forth by troops as they were noted in number by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the militia clerk at the side of Hananiah, one of the king’s chief officers.

12 The entire number of the heads of the fathers’ houses over the valorous masters was 2,600;

13 and under their hand was the army host of 307,500 men engaging in war with vigor and ability to help the king against the enemy.

14 Uzziah provided for them, for the entire host, shields and lances, helmets and body-armor, bows and sling stones.

15 He made machines in Jerusalem, devices of an engineer to be set on the towers and on the corners for shooting arrows and large stones. His name spread forth unto a far distance; for he was marvelously helped until he became steadfast.

16 Yet as soon as he was steadfast, his heart became haughty, and he even acted corruptly; he offended Yahweh his Elohim when he entered the temple of Yahweh to fume incense on the incense altar.

17 At that Azariah the priest came in after him, and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, sons of valor.

18 They stood up against king Uzziah and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to fume incense to Yahweh, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are hallowed to fume incense. Forth with you from the sanctuary; for you have offended, and there will be no glory in it for you from Yahweh Elohim.

19 Now Uzziah became irate while the censer for fuming incense was in his hand. But during his ire at the priests a leprous disease flashed up on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of Yahweh beside the incense altar.

20 When Azariah the head priest and all the priests turned toward him, behold, he was leprous on his forehead; so they hustled him from there; and he too pressed on to go forth, for Yahweh had touched him.

21 King Uzziah remained leprous until the day of his death. He dwelt in another house divested of his duties, being leprous, for he was severed from the house of Yahweh, while his son Jotham was over the royal house, judging the people of the land.

22 As for the rest of the affairs of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, has written.

23 Then Uzziah lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him with his fathers, in the entombment field of the kings, for they said, he was leprous; his son Jotham reigned in his stead.

Chapter 27

1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years; his mother’s name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.

2 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh, according to all that his father Uzziah had done; but he did not invade the temple of Yahweh; yet the people still acted corruptly.

3 It was he who rebuilt the Upper Gateway of the house of Yahweh, and he greatly built up on the wall of Ophel.

4 He also built cities in the hill country of Judah, and in the woodland he built fortified-places and towers.

5 He fought against the king of the sons of Ammon and conquered them; the sons of Ammon gave him that year a hundred talents of silver and 10,000 cors of wheat and another 10,000 of barley. This was what the sons of Ammon rendered to him, also in the second year and the third.

6 Jotham showed himself steadfast, for he established his ways before Yahweh his Elohim.

7 As for the rest of the affairs of Jotham and all his wars and his ways, behold, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.

8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years.

9 Then Jotham lay down with his fathers. They entombed him in the city of David, and his son Ahaz reigned in his stead.

Chapter 28

1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Yet he did not do what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh like his father David.

2 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel; he even made molten images for the Baalim.

3 It was he who fumed incense in the ravine of the son of Hinnom and caused his sons to be consumed by fire, according to the abhorrences of the nations whom Yahweh had evicted before the sons of Israel.

4 He sacrificed and fumed incense on the high-places, on the hills and under every flourishing tree.

5 So Yahweh his Elohim gave him into the hand of the king of Syria; they smote him and captured a great many captives from him, and brought them to Damascus. And also into the hand of the king of Israel was he given who smote him with a great smiting.

6 Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, killed in Judah 120,000 in one day, all sons of valor, because they had forsaken Yahweh Elohim of their fathers.

7 Zichri, a master of war from Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, and Azrikam governor of the royal house, and Elkanah, the second to the king.

8 The sons of Israel captured from their kinsmen 200,000 women, sons and daughters. They also plundered much loot from them and brought the loot to Samaria.

9 But a prophet of Yahweh was there; Oded was his name. He went forth, facing the military host that came back to Samaria, and he said to them, Behold, it was because of the fury of Yahweh Elohim of your fathers against Judah that He gave them into your hand, and you killed among them with an ire that has towered up unto the heavens.

10 And now you are thinking to subdue the sons of Judah and Jerusalem as menservants and maidservants for yourselves. But are there not with you yourselves guilty acts against Yahweh your Elohim?

11 Now then, hearken to me and return the captives whom you captured from your kinsmen, for the anger of Yahweh is burning hot against you.

12 At that Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth and Jehizkiah son of Shallum and Amasa son of Hadlai, men of the heads of the sons of Ephraim, rose up against those coming from the military host

13 and said to them, You must not bring the captives hither to us, since it is guilt before Yahweh on our part. You are thinking to add to our sins and our guilty acts, for abundant is the guilt we have, and burning hot is the anger of Yahweh against Israel.

14 So the outfit left the captives and the plunder before the chief officials and all the assembly.

15 Then the men who were specified by name rose up and aided the captives. From the loot they clothed all the naked among them; they gave them clothes, and they gave them sandals; they gave them to eat, and they gave them to drink; they rubbed them with oil; they conducted the unsteady, all of them, on donkeys, and they brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, beside their kinsmen. Then they returned to Samaria.

16 At that time, king Ahaz sent to the king of Assyria to help him.

17 Again the Edomites came and smote Judah and captured captives,

18 while the Philistines ransacked the cities of the low foothills and the Negeb of Judah; they seized Beth-shemesh and Aijalon and Gederoth, and Soco with its outskirts, and Timnah with its outskirts, and Gimzo with its outskirts; and they settled there.

19 Thus Yahweh caused Judah to submit on account of Ahaz king of Judah, for he caused unrestraint in Judah and offended Yahweh by his offense.

20 Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria set out against him, but he distressed him and did not aid him.

21 For Ahaz took portions of treasures from the house of Yahweh, from the house of the king, and from the chief officials and gave them to the king of Assyria; but it was no help to him.

22 In the time of his distress, this king Ahaz continued to offend Yahweh.

23 He sacrificed to the elohim of Damascus which had smitten him, for he thought, Since the elohim of the kings of Syria are those helping them, I shall sacrifice to them, so that they may help me. But they became a stumbling block to him and to all Israel.

24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings of the house of Elohim, and he cut away the furnishings of the house of Elohim. He locked the doors of the house of Yahweh and made himself altars at every corner in Jerusalem.

25 And in every city, each city of Judah, he made high-places to fume incense to other elohim; thus he provoked Yahweh Elohim of his fathers to vexation.

26 As for the rest of his affairs and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.

27 Then Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they entombed him in the city, in Jerusalem, for they did not bring him to the tombs of the kings of Israel; his son Hezekiah reigned in his stead.

Chapter 29

1 Hezekiah, he became king at the age of twenty-five years, and he reigned in Jerusalem twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.

2 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father David had done.

3 And it came to pass as he was established in his kingdom, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, that he opened the doors of the house of Yahweh and repaired them.

4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the east square

5 and said to them: Hearken to me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves and hallow the house of Yahweh Elohim of your fathers. Bring forth the impurity from the sanctuary.

6 For our fathers had offended and done evil in the eyes of Yahweh our Elohim, since they forsook Him and turned about their faces from the tabernacle of Yahweh, and they were giving Him the scruff.

7 They even locked the doors of the portico and quenched the lamps; they fumed no incense and offered up no ascent offering in the sanctuary of the Elohim of Israel.

8 Therefore the wrath of Yahweh came over Judah and Jerusalem; He made them a stirring horror, an appalling object and a hissing, as you are seeing with your own eyes.

9 Hence it is that our fathers fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters and our wives are in captivity in a land not theirs. On this account,

10 it is now in my heart to contract a covenant with Yahweh Elohim of Israel, so that His hot anger may turn back from us.

11 My sons, now you must not be at ease, for Yahweh has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to continue in His ministry and the fuming of incense.

12 So the Levites set to work: Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah from the sons of the Kohathite; from the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonite, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;

13 from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeiel; from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;

14 from the sons of Heman, Jehiel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.

15 They gathered together their kinsmen and sanctified themselves; then they came to cleanse the house of Yahweh, according to the instruction of the king by the words of Yahweh.

16 The priests now came inside the house of Yahweh to cleanse it; they brought forth all the uncleanness they found in the temple of Yahweh out into the court of the house of Yahweh; and the Levites received it to carry it forth outside to Wadi Kidron.

17 They started off with hallowing on day one of the first month, and by the eighth day of the month they came to the portico of Yahweh. They hallowed the house of Yahweh for eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished.

18 Then they came inside to king Hezekiah and reported, We have cleansed all the house of Yahweh, the altar of ascent offering with all its furnishings, and the table for the bread in array with all its furnishings.

19 We have also prepared and hallowed all the furnishings that king Ahaz in his offense had cast off during his reign; there they are before the altar of Yahweh.

20 King Hezekiah rose early, gathered together the chief officials of the city and went up to the house of Yahweh.

21 They brought seven young bulls, seven rams, seven he-lambs and seven he-goats of the goats as a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. He told the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them up on the altar of Yahweh.

22 So they slew the oxen, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it toward the altar, they slew the rams and sprinkled the blood toward the altar, and they slew the he-lambs and sprinkled the blood toward the altar.

23 Then they brought the hairy goats of the sin offering close before the king and the assembly, who supported their hands on them.

24 The priests slew them and made a sin offering with their blood toward the altar, to make a propitiatory shelter over all Israel; for the king had ordered an ascent offering and a sin offering for all Israel.

25 He made the Levites stand in the house of Yahweh with cymbals, zithers and harps in accordance with the instruction of David, Gad the king’s vision seer, and Nathan the prophet, for such was the instruction by the hand of Yahweh by means of His prophets.

26 When the Levites stood ready with the instruments of David, and the priests with the bugles,

27 Hezekiah ordered to offer up the ascent offering on the altar. And now, as the ascent offering started, the song of Yahweh and the bugles also started, along with the instruments of king David of Israel.

28 All the assembly was worshiping, while the song was sung and the bugles were blown; all this continued until the ascent offering was finished.

29 At the end of the offering up, the king and all those found with him bowed and prostrated themselves.

30 Then king Hezekiah and the chief officials ordered the Levites to praise Yahweh in the words of David and Asaph the vision seer; so they gave praise with rejoicing, and they bowed and prostrated themselves.

31 Hezekiah responded and said, Now you have consecrated yourselves to Yahweh. Come close and bring sacrifices and acclamation offerings to the house of Yahweh. So the assembly brought sacrifices and acclamation offerings to the house of Yahweh, and all willing of heart brought ascent offerings.

32 And the number of ascent offerings that the assembly brought was seventy oxen, a hundred rams, two hundred he-lambs all these for ascent offerings to Yahweh;

33 and the holy offerings were six hundred oxen and three thousand flocklings.

34 But the priests were too few and could not flay all the ascent offerings. So their kinsmen, the Levites, aided them until the work was finished and until other priests had hallowed themselves; for the Levites were more upright of heart in hallowing themselves than the priests.

35 For besides ascent offerings in abundance, there were the fat pieces of the peace offerings and the libations for the ascent offerings; so the service of the house of Yahweh was prepared.

36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over the preparation that the One, Elohim, had made for the people, for the thing had come about so suddenly.

Chapter 30

1 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah; he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem to celebrate the passover to Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

2 The king and his chief officials and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to celebrate the passover in the second month.

3 For they had been unable to celebrate it at its time since the priests had not hallowed themselves in sufficient numbers, and the people had not gathered themselves at Jerusalem.

4 The plan seemed upright in the eyes of the king and in the eyes of all the assembly.

5 So they affirmed the plan to let the proclamation pass through all Israel from Beer-sheba unto Dan, to come and celebrate the passover to Yahweh Elohim of Israel in Jerusalem, for in such multitude they had not celebrated it according to what was written.

6 So the couriers went out with the letters from the hand of the king and his chief officials through all Israel and Judah, according to the instruction of the king, saying: Sons of Israel! Return to Yahweh Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and He shall return to the remnant of you who were delivered from the palm of the kings of Assyria.

7 Do not be like your fathers and like your brothers who offended Yahweh Elohim of their fathers, so He gave them up to desolation, as you see.

8 Now do not stiffen your scruff like your fathers; give acclamation to Yahweh your Elohim and come to His sanctuary, which He has sanctified for the eon, and serve Yahweh your Elohim, and He shall turn back from you His hot anger.

9 For if you return to Yahweh, your brothers and your sons will win compassion before all their captors and return to this land; for Yahweh your Elohim is gracious and compassionate; He shall not withdraw His face from you if you return to Him.

10 So the couriers continued on, passing along from city to city in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun; but they were ridiculing them and deriding them.

11 Nevertheless some men from Asher and Manasseh and from Zebulun were submissive and came to Jerusalem.

12 Furthermore, the hand of Elohim was on Judah to give them one heart to do the instruction of the king and the chief officials, by the word of Yahweh.

13 Many people gathered at Jerusalem to celebrate the festival of unleavened bread in the second month, a very numerous assembly.

14 They rose up and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and they took off all the incense stands and flung them into Wadi Kidron.

15 They slew the passover on the fourteenth of the second month; the priests and the Levites were mortified, and they hallowed themselves and brought ascent offerings to the house of Yahweh.

16 They stood at their position as was their custom according to the law of Moses, the man of Elohim. The priests were sprinkling the blood received from the hand of the Levites.

17 Since there were many in the assembly who had not hallowed themselves, the Levites were in charge of slaying the passover lambs so as to sanctify them to Yahweh for everyone who was not cleansed.

18 For most of the people many from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not cleansed themselves; so they ate the passover, yet not according to what is written. Hence Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, Yahweh is good; may He make a propitiatory shelter about

19 everyone who has set his heart to seek after the One, Elohim, Yahweh Elohim of his fathers, though not according to the cleansing rules of the sanctuary.

20 Yahweh hearkened to Hezekiah and healed the people.

21 The sons of Israel who had converged in Jerusalem celebrated the festival of unleavened bread seven days with great rejoicing, while the Levites and the priests were praising Yahweh day by day with powerful instruments for Yahweh.

22 Hezekiah spoke to the heart of all the Levites who had proceeded effectively and with good insight concerning Yahweh. They ate the appointed feast for seven days, sacrificing sacrifices of peace offerings and acclaiming Yahweh Elohim of their fathers.

23 Then all the assembly took counsel to celebrate another seven days; and so they celebrated seven more days with rejoicing.

24 For Hezekiah king of Judah himself donated for the assembly 1,000 young bulls and 7,000 flocklings, and the chief officials donated for the assembly 1,000 young bulls and 10,000 flocklings; and priests hallowed themselves in abundance.

25 All the assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and the Levites, along with all the assembly coming from Israel and the sojourners coming from the land of Israel and those dwelling in Judah.

26 There was great rejoicing in Jerusalem, for since the days of David’s son Solomon king of Israel, nothing like this had occurred in Jerusalem.

27 The Levitical priests rose up and blessed the people; Yahweh heard their voice, and their prayer advanced to His holy habitation, to the heavens.

Chapter 31

1 When all this was finished, all Israel who had converged went out to the cities of Judah and broke down the monuments, hacked down the Asherah poles, tore down the high-places and the altars from all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had finished. Then all sons of Israel returned to their own cities, each man to his holding.

2 Hezekiah assigned the apportionments of the priests and the Levites to officiate according to their apportionments, each one of the priests and the Levites corresponding to his service, for ascent offerings and for peace offerings, to minister and to acclaim and to praise in the gates of the camps of Yahweh;

3 and the king’s assigned contribution from his goods was for ascent offerings: for the morning and the evening ascent offerings, and the ascent offerings for sabbaths, and for new moons, and for appointed festivals, according to what is written in the law of Yahweh.

4 He ordered the people, the dwellers of Jerusalem, to give the assigned contribution for the priests and the Levites, so that they might be steadfast in the law of Yahweh.

5 As soon as the word breached forth, the sons of Israel brought in abundance the firstfruit of grain, grape juice, clarified oil, honey and all the harvest yield of the field; they brought in the tithe of everything in abundance.

6 As for the sons of Israel and Judah who dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of the herd and the flock and the tithe of the holy offerings hallowed to Yahweh their Elohim; they brought them and put in grain-pile by grain-pile.

7 In the third month they started off with laying the foundation of the grain-piles, and in the seventh month they finished.

8 When Hezekiah and the chief officials came and saw the grain-piles, they blessed Yahweh and His people Israel.

9 Hezekiah inquired of the priests and the Levites concerning the grain-piles.

10 Azariah the head priest, of the house of Zadok, replied to him; he said, Since they started off with bringing the heave offering to the house of Yahweh, we have eaten and drunk; we are satisfied and have still surplus in abundance, for Yahweh has blessed His people; and what has been left over is this superabundance.

11 Hezekiah then ordered to prepare storerooms in the house of Yahweh; thus they prepared them.

12 And they were bringing there the heave offering and the tithe and the holy offerings in faithfulness. The chief officer in charge of them was Conaniah the Levite, and his brother Shimei was second in rank.

13 Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismakiah, Mahath and Benaiah and his sons were supervisors under the hand of Conaniah and his brother Shimei, by appointment of Hezekiah the king and Azariah who was the chief officer of the house of Elohim.

14 Kore son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the East Gate, was in charge of the voluntary offerings to the One, Elohim, distributing the heave offering to Yahweh, and the holy donations of holy offerings.

15 By his hand were Eden, Miniamim, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah and Shecaniah in the cities of the priests, in faithfulness distributing: to their kinsmen by apportionments, to great and small alike;

16 to males from three years old and above, aside from their genealogical registration; to all who came to the house of Yahweh for duty day by day for their service in their charges by their apportionments.

17 The priests were registered by their fathers’ houses, the Levites from twenty years old and above by their charges in their apportionments.

18 They were registered with all their little ones, their wives, their sons and their daughters, for the whole assembly, for in their faithfulness they hallowed themselves in holiness.

19 As for the priests, the sons of Aaron, living in the fields of common pasture land around their cities, there were men in any city by city who were specified by names to distribute assigned rations to every male among the priests and to all registered Levites.

20 This is what Hezekiah did in all of Judah; he was doing what was good and upright and faithful before Yahweh his Elohim.

21 In every work that he started in the service of the house of Elohim and in obedience to the law and in the instruction to seek after his Elohim, he did so with all his heart; and he prospered.

Chapter 32

1 After these events and this faithfulness Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He encamped against the fortressed cities and thought to get them for himself by breaking through their defenses.

2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come with his face set for war against Jerusalem,

3 then he took counsel with his chief officials and his masters of war about stopping up the waters of the springs that were outside the city; and they helped him.

4 Thus many people gathered together and stopped up all the waters of the springs, and the wadi that was overflowing through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant waters?

5 Hezekiah showed himself steadfast and rebuilt the whole breached wall and set up towers on it. And outside it he built another wall and reinforced the Millo bulwark of the city of David. Furthermore he made javelins in abundance and shields.

6 He appointed military chiefs over the people and gathered them together before him in the square of the city gate; he spoke to their heart, saying,

7 Be steadfast and be resolute; do not fear and do not be dismayed because of the king of Assyria and because of the presence of all the throng that is with him, for with us is more than with him.

8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is Yahweh our Elohim to help us and to fight our battles. And the people were supported by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

9 After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria, while he was at Lachish and all his chief rulers with him, sent his officials to Jerusalem to Hezekiah king of Judah and to all of Judah in Jerusalem, saying,

10 Thus speaks Sennacherib king of Assyria: On what are you trusting that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?

11 Is not Hezekiah alluring you to let you die by famine and by thirst, saying, Yahweh our Elohim shall rescue us from the palm of the king of Assyria?

12 Is it not Hezekiah himself who took away His high-places and His altars and said to Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, saying, Before one altar shall you worship, and on it shall you fume incense?

13 Do you not know what I myself and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Could, yea could the elohim of the nations of the lands rescue their land from my hand?

14 Who of all the elohim of these nations that my father doomed, was able to rescue his people from my hand? How could your elohim rescue you from my hand?

15 Now let not Hezekiah lure you; let him not allure you like this; do not believe him. For no eloah at all of any nation or kingdom was able to rescue his people from my hand and from the hand of my fathers. How much less then would your elohim rescue you from my hand?

16 His servants spoke still further against Yahweh the One Elohim and against Hezekiah His servant;

17 he also wrote letters to reproach Yahweh Elohim of Israel and to talk against Him, saying, Just as the elohim of the nations of the lands did not rescue their people from my hand, so the Elohim of Hezekiah shall not rescue his people from my hand.

18 They called with a loud voice in Judean to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall to intimidate them and to fill them with panic so that they might seize the city.

19 They spoke about the Elohim of Jerusalem as they did about the elohim of the other peoples of the earth, the products of human hands.

20 Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah son of Amoz the prophet prayed over this and cried out to the heavens.

21 Yahweh sent a messenger who suppressed every masterful soldier and chief officer and chief in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his land; when he entered the house of his elohim, some of the offspring of his bowels fell him there with the sword.

22 Thus Yahweh saved Hezekiah and the dwellers of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria, and from the hand of everyone; He granted them rest from those round about.

23 Many were bringing an approach present for Yahweh to Jerusalem, and costly gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah; thereafter he was lifted up in the eyes of all the nations.

24 In those days Hezekiah was ill to death. He prayed to Yahweh Who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.

25 But for the well-dealing done to him Hezekiah made no return, for his heart became haughty; so wrath came on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

26 Then Hezekiah was submissive in the haughtiness of his heart, he and the dwellers of Jerusalem, and no wrath of Yahweh came on them in the days of Hezekiah.

27 Hezekiah came to have riches and glory in very great abundance; and he made for himself treasuries for silver, for gold and for precious stones, also for aromatics, for shields and for all coveted articles;

28 and provision cities for the harvest yield of grain, grape juice and clarified oil, and stalls for every kind of domestic beast and droves in stalls.

29 He acquired cities for himself, and also livestock of the flock and the herd in abundance, for Elohim gave him very many goods.

30 It was the same Hezekiah who stopped up the upper flowing well of the waters of Gihon and unleashed them downward to the west of the city of David; Hezekiah prospered in his every work.

31 So too with the intermediaries of the chiefs of Babylon who sent to him to inquire about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, when the One, Elohim, forsook him in order to probe him, to know all that was in his heart.

32 As for the rest of the affairs of Hezekiah, and his kindness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, the prophet, and on the scroll of the kings of Judah and Israel.

33 Then Hezekiah lay down with his fathers; they entombed him in the ascent of the tombs of the sons of David; all of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem showed him honor in his death; his son Manasseh reigned in his stead.

Chapter 33

1 Twelve years old was Manasseh when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.

2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the abhorrences of the nations which Yahweh had evicted from before the sons of Israel.

3 So he rebuilt again the high-places that his father Hezekiah had torn down; he set up altars for the Baalim and made Asherah poles. He bowed himself down to all the host of the heavens and served them.

4 He built altars for them in the house of Yahweh of which Yahweh had said, My Name shall be in Jerusalem for the eon.

5 He built altars to all the host of the heavens in the two courts of the house of Yahweh.

6 He also caused his sons to pass through fire in the ravine of the son of Hinnom; he consulted clouds, practiced augury, practiced enchantment and dealt with mediums and wizards. He performed much more to do what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke Him to vexation.

7 The carved figure that he had made, he placed in the house of the One, Elohim, of which Elohim had said to David and to Solomon his son: In this house and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I shall place My Name for the eon.

8 And I shall not again cause the foot of Israel to withdraw from the ground that I affirmed to your fathers, but only if they observe to do all that I instructed them, according to the whole law and statutes and ordinances by the hand of Moses.

9 Yet Manasseh led Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem astray to do greater evil than the nations which Yahweh had exterminated from before the sons of Israel.

10 So Yahweh spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention.

11 Hence Yahweh brought against them the chiefs of the military host of the king of Assyria; they seized Manasseh with gaffs, bound him with two bronze fetters, and led him off to Babylon.

12 As soon as he was in travail, he besought the face of Yahweh his Elohim and was exceedingly submissive before the Elohim of his fathers.

13 He prayed to Him, and He let Himself be entreated by him; He hearkened to his supplication, and He restored him to his kingdom in Jerusalem. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh, He alone, was the One Elohim.

14 Afterward he rebuilt the wall outside the city of David west of Gihon in the wadi to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and it surrounded Ophel; he made it very lofty. He also placed army chiefs in all the fortressed cities in Judah.

15 He put away the foreign elohim and the figure from the house of Yahweh and all the altars that he had built on the mount of the house of Yahweh and in Jerusalem and had them flung outside the city.

16 He rebuilt the altar of Yahweh and sacrificed on it peace offerings and acclamation sacrifices; moreover he ordered Judah to serve Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

17 Nevertheless the people were still sacrificing at the high-places, though only to Yahweh their Elohim.

18 As for the rest of the affairs of Manasseh, and his prayer to his Elohim, and the words of the vision seers who spoke to him in the Name of Yahweh Elohim of Israel, behold, they are written in the annals of the kings of Israel.

19 As for his prayer, how Yahweh let Himself be entreated by him, and all his sin and his offense, and the places in which he built high-places and installed the Asherah poles and the carvings before he was submissive, behold, they are written in the annals of Hozai.

20 Then Manasseh lay down with his fathers; they entombed him in the garden of his house; and his son Amon reigned in his stead.

21 Twenty-two years old was Amon when he became king; he reigned two years in Jerusalem.

22 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh, just as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carvings that his father Manasseh had made and served them.

23 He was not submissive before Yahweh, as his father Manasseh had been submissive; instead, he, Amon, increased his guilt.

24 Finally his courtiers conspired against him and put him to death in his own house.

25 But the people of the land smote all who had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land proclaimed his son Josiah king in his stead.

Chapter 34

1 Eight years old was Josiah when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.

2 He did what was upright in the eyes of Yahweh and walked in the ways of his father David; he did not withdraw to the right or left.

3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still a lad, he started to seek after the Elohim of his father David, and in the twelfth year he started to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem from the high-places, the Asherah poles, the carvings and the molten images.

4 In his presence, they tore down the altars of the Baalim, and he had the incense stands that were upward above them hewn down; he had the Asherah poles, the carvings and the molten images broken down, pulverized and sprinkled on the surface of the tombs of those who had sacrificed to them.

5 He burned the bones of priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

6 In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, he blazed up their houses all around.

7 Thus he was tearing down the altars and the Asherah poles, pounding the carvings to pieces so as to pulverize them, and hewing down all the incense stands throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.

8 In the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the chief of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz the recorder to repair the house of Yahweh his Elohim.

9 When they came to Hilkiah the great priest, they delivered the silver brought into the house of Elohim, that the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered from the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel, as well as from all of Judah and Benjamin and the dwellers of Jerusalem.

10 They put it into the hands of those overseeing the work who had been given supervision in the house of Yahweh, that they may deliver it to those doing the work who are working in the house of Yahweh to fill the gaps and to repair the house.

11 So they gave it to the craftsmen and the builders to buy hewn stones and timbers for the clamps, and to lay rafters for the buildings that had been brought to ruin by the kings of Judah.

12 The men were performing the work in faithfulness; over them supervision had been given to the Levites, Jahath and Obadiah, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to oversee, while other Levites, all proficient with the instruments of song,

13 were over the burden carriers as overseers of all doing the work, service by service; some of the Levites were scribes and clerks and gatekeepers.

14 While they were bringing forth the silver that had been brought to the house of Yahweh, Hilkiah the priest found a scroll of the law of Yahweh given by means of Moses.

15 Hilkiah responded and said to Shaphan the scribe, A scroll of the law have I found in the house of Yahweh. And Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan.

16 Then Shaphan brought the scroll to the king and furthermore rendered a report to the king, saying, All that was put in the hand of your officials, they are doing.

17 They have poured forth the silver that was found in the house of Yahweh; and they put it into the hands of the supervisors and into the hands of those doing the work.

18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, There is a scroll that Hilkiah the priest has given to me. And Shaphan read from it before the king.

19 It came to pass as the king heard the words of the law, he tore his garments.

20 Then the king instructed Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king’s attendant, saying,

21 Go, inquire of Yahweh about me and about the remnant in Israel and in Judah concerning the words of the scroll that has been found; for great is the fury of Yahweh which is poured forth on us because our fathers did not observe the word of Yahweh and do according to all that is written in this scroll.

22 So Hilkiah and those whom the king had instructed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath son of Hasrah, the keeper of the garments. She was dwelling in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter; and they spoke to her about this.

23 She replied to them, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel. Say to the man who sent you to me,

24 Thus speaks Yahweh: Behold, I am bringing evil on this place and on its dwellers, all the execrations written on the scroll that they read before the king of Judah,

25 insomuch as they have forsaken Me and fumed incense to other elohim that they might provoke Me to vexation with all the deeds of their hands, My fury shall be poured forth on this place and it shall not be quenched.

26 Regarding the king of Judah who is sending you to inquire of Yahweh, thus you shall say to him, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: As for the words that you have heard,

27 because your heart was tender, and you were submissive before Elohim when you heard His words against this place and against its dwellers, and you were submissive before Me and tore your garments and wept before Me, I for My part have heard you too; this is the averring of Yahweh.

28 Behold, I shall gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your tombs in peace. Your eyes shall not see all the evil which I am bringing on this place and on its dwellers. So they brought back this decree to the king.

29 Then the king sent word and gathered all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem.

30 The king went up to the house of Yahweh, and every man of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem, also the priests, the Levites and all the people from the great unto the small. Then he read into their ears all the words of the scroll of the covenant that had been found in the house of Yahweh.

31 The king stood at his position and contracted the covenant before Yahweh: to walk after Yahweh, to keep His instructions, His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and with all his soul, and to perform the words of the covenant as they were written on this scroll.

32 He made all those who had converged in Jerusalem and Benjamin ratify it; and the dwellers of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of Elohim, the Elohim of their fathers.

33 Josiah took away all the abhorrences from all the areas that belonged to the sons of Israel, and he had all those who had converged in Israel take up service to serve Yahweh their Elohim. All his days they did not withdraw from following Yahweh Elohim of their fathers.

Chapter 35

1 Josiah observed the Passover for Yahweh in Jerusalem; they slew the passover on the fourteenth of the first month.

2 He assigned the priests to officiate in their terms of duty and encouraged them in the service of the house of Yahweh.

3 He said to the Levites who taught all Israel understanding and were holy to Yahweh: Put the holy coffer in the house that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built; it is no longer carried on your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your Elohim and His people Israel.

4 Prepare yourselves by your fathers’ houses according to your apportionments and the written decree of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son;

5 and stand ready in the sanctuary, by the distributions of your fathers’ houses, for your kinsmen, the sons of the people, so that there be Levites for each apportionment of a father’s house.

6 Slay the passover lambs and sanctify yourselves and prepare it for your kinsmen to observe it according to the word of Yahweh given by means of Moses.

7 Josiah donated to the sons of the people small cattle, helambs and young goats all as passover offerings to all who had converged to the number of 30,000, and large cattle, 3,000; these were from the king’s own goods.

8 As for his chief officials, they donated a voluntary offering to the people, to the priests and to the Levites; Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel who were the chief officers of the house of Elohim, gave to the priest as passover offerings 2,600 small cattle, he-lambs and young goats, and 300 large cattle.

9 Conaniah, Benaiah, Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel and Jozabad, who were chief officials of the Levites, donated as passover offerings to the Levites 5,000 small cattle and 500 large cattle.

10 The service was prepared; the priests stood at their positions and the Levites in their apportionments, according to the king’s instruction.

11 They slew the passover lambs, and the priests received the blood from their hand and sprinkled it, while the Levites did the flaying.

12 They took away the ascent offerings to give them for distribution to the fathers’ houses, to the sons of the people, that they might offer them to Yahweh, according to what is written in the scroll of Moses; and thus also with the large cattle.

13 They cooked the passover offerings with fire according to the custom, while the holy offerings they cooked in pots, in cauldrons and in pans, and brought them rapidly to all the sons of the people.

14 And afterward they made preparations for themselves and for the priests, since the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering up the ascent offering and the fat portions until night; and the Levites, for their part, made preparations for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their standing ground, according to the instruction of David and Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, the vision seer of the king; and the gatekeepers were at each and every gate. There was no need for them to withdraw from their service since their kinsmen the Levites made the preparations for them.

16 So all the service of Yahweh was prepared that day to observe the Passover and to offer up ascent offerings on the altar of Yahweh according to the instruction of king Josiah.

17 The sons of Israel who had converged, observed the Passover at that time, and the festival of unleavened bread for seven days.

18 Indeed no Passover like it had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet; none of all the kings of Israel had observed such a Passover as Josiah did, with the priests and the Levites and all Judah and Israel who had converged with the dwellers of Jerusalem.

19 This Passover was observed in the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah.

20 After all this, when Josiah had provided for the house, Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah marched forth to meet him.

21 But Neco sent messengers to him, saying, What is there between me and you, king of Judah? It is not against you that I am coming hither today, but against the house with which I am at war. And Elohim Himself ordered me to speed up. Forbear for your own sake from interfering with Elohim Who is with me, so He does not ruin you.

22 Yet Josiah would not be deflected from facing him; instead, he disguised himself to fight him. He would not hearken to Neco’s words from the mouth of Elohim; and he came to fight in the valley of Megiddo.

23 Shooters shot king Josiah; then the king said to his servants, Pass me along for I am intensely wounded.

24 So his servants passed him along from the chariot and had him ride in the second chariot that he had and conducted him to Jerusalem where he died and was entombed in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem were mourning over Josiah;

25 and Jeremiah composed a dirge for Josiah. All the male singers and the female singers lamented for Josiah in their dirges until today; they made them a tradition in Israel, and they are now written up in the dirges.

26 As for the rest of the affairs of Josiah, and his loyalties according to what is written in the law of Yahweh,

27 his affairs, first and last, behold, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah.

Chapter 36

1 The people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and proclaimed him king instead of his father in Jerusalem.

2 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

3 The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

4 Then the king of Egypt made his brother Eliakim king over Judah and Jerusalem and turned his name around to Jehoiakim. Pharaoh Neco took his brother Joahaz and brought him to Egypt; and there he died.

5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh his Elohim.

6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him; he bound him with two bronze fetters to lead him off to Babylon.

7 Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the vessels of the house of Yahweh to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon.

8 As for the rest of the affairs of Jehoiakim, and his abhorrences which he committed, and what was found against him, behold, they are written on the scroll of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then Jehoiakim lay down with his fathers and was entombed in the garden of Uzza with his fathers. His son Jehoiachin reigned in his stead.

9 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king; and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.

10 At the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the coveted furnishings of the house of Yahweh; he made his kinsman Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

12 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh his Elohim; and he was not submissive before Jeremiah the prophet at the word from the mouth of Yahweh.

13 Furthermore he revolted against king Nebuchadnezzar who had made him swear fealty by Elohim; he stiffened his scruff and made his heart resolute rather than turn about to Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

14 Moreover all the chief officials of Judah and the priests and the people of the land offended with increasing offense according to all the abhorrences of the nations. They defiled the house of Yahweh that He had sanctified in Jerusalem.

15 Yahweh Elohim of their fathers sent word to them early, by means of His messengers, and He sent it again; for He took pity on His people and on His habitation.

16 But they continued to sneer at the messengers of Elohim, despising His words and flouting at His prophets until the fury of Yahweh against His people grew up, until there was no remedy.

17 So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their choice young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary; he did not spare choice youth or virgin, elder or hoary headed; He gave them all into his hand.

18 All the vessels of the house of Elohim, large and small, also the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king and his chief officials, all of them he brought to Babylon.

19 They burned the house of Elohim and tore down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its mansions with fire, and wrecked all its coveted furnishings.

20 He deported those remaining from the sword to Babylon, and they became slaves to him and to his sons until the royalty of Persia began to reign,

21 to fulfill the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had accepted its sabbaths; all the days of its desolation it kept sabbath to fulfill seventy years.

22 In year one of Cyrus king of Persia, to conclude the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh aroused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he had a proclamation passed throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying,

23 Thus speaks Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh Elohim of the heavens has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He Himself has committed to me to build for Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone among you of all His people, Yahweh his Elohim be with him. Let him go up.

The Book of Ezra

Chapter 1

1 In year one of Cyrus king of Persia, to conclude the word of Yahweh from the mouth of Jeremiah, Yahweh aroused the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he had a proclamation passed throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying,

2 Thus speaks Cyrus king of Persia: Yahweh Elohim of the heavens has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He Himself has committed to me to build for Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

3 Anyone among you of all His people, may his Elohim be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and let him rebuild the house of Yahweh Elohim of Israel. He is the One, Elohim, Who is in Jerusalem.

4 As for anyone who is remaining from all the places where he is sojourning, let the men of his place assist him with silver and with gold, with goods and beasts, along with the voluntary offering for the house of the One, Elohim, Who is in Jerusalem.

5 The patriarchal heads of Judah and Benjamin arose, also the priests and the Levites, with everyone whose spirit the One, Elohim, had roused to go up to rebuild the house of Yahweh Who is in Jerusalem.

6 As for all those around them, they encouraged their hands with articles of silver, with gold, with goods and beasts and token presents besides all that was voluntarily given.

7 As for king Cyrus, he brought forth the articles of the house of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth from Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his elohim.

8 Cyrus king of Persia brought them forth by the hand of the treasurer Mithredath who counted them off to Sheshbazzar prince of Judah.

9 Now these were the numbers of them: thirty vessels of gold, a thousand vessels of silver, twenty-nine alternatives,

10 thirty small bowls of gold, two thousand four hundred ten small bowls of silver, a thousand other articles.

11 All the articles of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. Sheshbazzar brought all these up while bringing up the sons of deportation from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Chapter 2

1 These were the sons of the province who came up from the captivity of deportation that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported to Babylon; they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each man to his city,

2 those who came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

3 The sons of Parosh 2,172;

4 the sons of Shephatiah 372;

5 the sons of Arah 775;

6 the sons of Pahath-moab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab 2,812;

7 the sons of Elam 1,254;

8 the sons of Zattu 945;

9 the sons of Zaccai 760;

10 the sons of Bani 642;

11 the sons of Bebai 623;

12 the sons of Azgad 1,222;

13 the sons of Adonikam 666;

14 the sons of Bigvai 2,056;

15 the sons of Adin 454;

16 the sons of Ater, of Hezekiah 98;

17 the sons of Bezai 323;

18 the sons of Jorah 112;

19 the sons of Hashum 223;

20 the sons of Gibbar 95;

21 the sons of Bethlehem 123;

22 the men of Netophah 56;

23 the men of Anathoth 128;

24 the sons of Azmaveth 42;

25 the sons of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah and Beeroth 743;

26 the sons of Ramah and Geba 621;

27 the men of Michmas 122;

28 the men of Bethel and Ai 223;

29 the sons of Nebo 52;

30 the sons of Magbish 156;

31 the sons of Elam-ar 1,254;

32 the sons of Harim 320;

33 the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono 725;

34 the sons of Jericho 345;

35 the sons of Senaah 3,630.

36 The priests: The sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua 973;

37 the sons of Immer 1,052;

38 the sons of Pashhur 1,247;

39 the sons of Harim 1,017.

40 The Levites: The sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah 74.

41 The singers: The sons of Asaph 128.

42 The sons of the gatekeepers: The sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, all together 139.

43 The Nethinim: The sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth,

44 the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon,

45 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub,

46 the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shalmai, the sons of Hanan,

47 the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah,

48 the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam,

49 the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai,

50 the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephusim,

51 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur,

52 the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha,

53 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah,

54 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

55 The sons of the servants of Solomon: The sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Peruda,

56 the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel,

57 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth, the sons of Hazzebaim, the sons of Ami.

58 All the Nethinim and the sons of the servants of Solomon 392.

59 These were the ones coming up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan and Immer; yet they were not able to tell the house of their fathers or their seed, whether they were descended from Israel:

60 The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda 652.

61 And from the sons of the priests: The sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name.

62 These sought their registration; yet they were not found as being registered. So they were disqualified from the priesthood.

63 Hence the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat from the holy of holies until a priest would stand up with Urim and Thummim.

64 The entire assembly as one group was 42,360,

65 besides their manservants and their maidservants, those being 7,337; They also had 200 male singers and female singers.

66 Their horses were 736; their mules 245;

67 their camels 435; their donkeys 6,720.

68 As for some of the patriarchal heads, when they came to the site of the house of Yahweh Who is in Jerusalem, they gave voluntarily for the house of the One, Elohim, to make it stand on its site.

69 According to their fortune they gave to the treasury of the work: gold 61,000 darics, silver 5,000 minas, and tunics for priests 100.

70 The priests, the Levites and some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers and the Nethinim were dwelling in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Chapter 3

1 When the seventh month was attained and the sons of Israel had settled in their cities, then the people gathered as one man in Jerusalem.

2 Then Jeshua son of Jozadak arose with his brother priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and his brothers. They built the altar of the Elohim of Israel, to offer up on it ascent offerings as it is written in the law of Moses the man of Elohim.

3 They established the altar on its bases, for dread was on them because of the peoples of the lands; and they brought up on it ascent offerings to Yahweh, the ascent offerings for the morning and for the evening.

4 Then they held the festival of booths as it is written, with the ascent offering day by day, in number according to the custom, the requirement of a day in its day.

5 Afterward there was the regular ascent offering for the sabbaths and for the new months, for all the hallowed appointed seasons of Yahweh and for everyone who willingly brought a voluntary offering to Yahweh.

6 From day one of the seventh month they started to bring up ascent offerings to Yahweh, though for Yahweh’s temple itself no foundation had yet been laid.

7 Then they gave silver to hewers of stone and to craftsmen, and food, drink and oil to the Sidonians and to the Tyrians for bringing cedar timbers from the Lebanon by sea to Joppa, according to the permission given them by Cyrus king of Persia.

8 In the second year of their coming to the site of the house of Elohim at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak and the remnants of their brother priests and Levites started with all who had come from the captivity to Jerusalem. They installed Levites from twenty years of age and above to oversee the work on the house of Yahweh.

9 So Jeshua and his sons and his brothers stood as one group with Kadmiel and his sons, of the sons of Hodaviah, to oversee those doing the work on the house of Elohim, also the sons of Henadad, their sons and their brothers, the Levites.

10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Yahweh, then priests clothed in their vestments, with bugles, and Levites (sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their stand to praise Yahweh according to the acclamation directions of David king of Israel.

11 They responded by praising and acclaiming Yahweh: For He is good; indeed His benignity toward Israel is for the eon. As for all the people, they shouted a loud shout in praising Yahweh because the foundation of the house of Yahweh had been laid.

12 Many of the older priests and Levites and patriarchal heads who had seen the former house were lamenting with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes. Many others raised up the voice in shouting and rejoicing.

13 There was no one of the people recognizing the sound of the rejoicing shout from the sound of the lamenting of the people, for the people were shouting a loud shout, and the sound itself was heard even from afar.

Chapter 4

1 When the foes of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of deportation were building a temple for Yahweh Elohim of Israel,

2 they came close to Zerubbabel and to the patriarchal heads and said to them: Let us build together with you; for we seek after your Elohim like you, and to Him we have been sacrificing since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria who brought us up here.

3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the remnants of the patriarchal heads of Israel said to them, You have nothing in common with us to build the house for our Elohim; for only we ourselves shall build it for Yahweh Elohim of Israel, just as the king, Cyrus king of Persia, has instructed us.

4 So it came to be that the people of the land were holding back the hands of the people of Judah, thus deterring them from building.

5 They were hiring counselors against them to have their purpose quashed all the days of Cyrus king of Persia and until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

6 And during the reign of Ahasuerus, at the start of his reign, they wrote an accusation against those dwelling in Judah and Jerusalem.

7 Then in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and the remainder of his colleagues wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia; the writing of the dispatch was written in Aramaic and interpreted. Aramaic text:

8 High commissioner Rehum and scribe Shimshai, they wrote one letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king, as follows:

9 (Then they wrote, high commissioner Rehum and scribe Shimshai, and the rest of their colleagues, the adjudicators and the officials over the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Erechites, the Babylonians, the Susaites, that is, the Elamites,

10 and the rest of the leagues whom the great and esteemed Osnappar deported and caused them to settle in the towns of Samaria and the rest of Beyond-the-Stream. And now,

11 this is a transcript of the letter that they sent to him): To king Artaxerxes from your servants, the men Beyond-the-Stream. And now,

12 let it become known to the king that the Judeans who came up here from you to us, have arrived at Jerusalem. They are rebuilding the revolting and stinking town. They are completing the walls and are repairing the foundations.

13 Now let it become known to the king that, if this town should be rebuilt and the walls be completed, they shall not pay tribute, tax or toll, and it shall cause damage to the revenue of the kings.

14 Now forasmuch as we have salted the salt of the palace, and it is not proper for us to perceive the denuding of the king, we have sent and have let the king know of this,

15 that one should make a quest in the scroll of the memoranda of your fathers. Then you shall find in the scroll of the memoranda, and you shall know that this town is a revolting town, causing damage to kings and provinces. Those making insurrections were in its midst from the days of the eon. On this account this town was laid waste.

16 We are making known to the king, if this town should be rebuilt and the walls should be completed, in view of this there will be no portion for you in the province Beyond-the-Stream.

17 The king sent this rescript to high commissioner Rehum and scribe Shimshai, and the rest of their colleagues who were settled in Samaria and the rest Beyond-the-Stream: Peace! Now

18 the dispatch that you sent to us has been read before me in translation.

19 So a decree was promulgated from me, and they have made a quest and have found that this town had lifted itself up against kings from the days of the eon and that revolting and insurrection were made in it.

20 There were mighty kings over Jerusalem with authority over the whole province Beyond-the-Stream; and tribute, tax and toll were granted to them.

21 Now issue an order for these masters to halt. This town may not be rebuilt until an order from me is promulgated.

22 And be warned against acting carelessly in this matter. Why let this harm grow great so as to cause damage to the kings?

23 Then after a transcript of the dispatch of king Artaxerxes had been read before Rehum and scribe Shimshai and their colleagues, they departed in a fluster to Jerusalem to the Judeans and made them halt by force of arms.

24 Then the work on the house of Eloah in Jerusalem was halted. And it remained halted until the year two of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Chapter 5

1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, prophesied to the Judeans in Judah and in Jerusalem in the Name of Eloah of Israel Who was over them.

2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of Eloah in Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of the One, Eloah, giving them aid.

3 At the same stated time Tattenai viceroy Beyond-the-Stream came hither to them with Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues. This is what they were saying to them: Who promulgated a decree for you to rebuild this house and to complete this beam structure?

4 Then they asked them this: What are the names of the masters who are building this structure?

5 Yet the eye of their Eloah was over the greyhaired elders of the Judeans; so they did not make them halt while a report went to Darius; then they would reply with a dispatch about this matter.

6 This is a transcript of the letter that Tattenai viceroy Beyond-the-Stream, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues, the officials Beyond-the-Stream, sent to king Darius.

7 They sent the rescript to him, and this was written within it: To king Darius: Peace at all times!

8 Let it become known to the king that we departed to the province of Judah to the great house of Eloah. It is being rebuilt of dressed stone and timber placed in the sidewalls. This work is thoroughly done and prospering under their hands.

9 Then we asked these greyhaired elders (this is what we said to them): Who promulgated a decree for you to rebuild this house and to complete this beam structure?

10 And we also asked them their names to let you know, so that we could write down the names of the masters who were over their heads.

11 This is the rescript of what they replied to us saying: We are the servants of Him Who is Eloah of the heavens and the earth. And we are rebuilding the house that had been built a huge number of years before this, when a great king of Israel built it and completed it.

12 Only because our fathers angered Eloah of the heavens, He granted them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldean, king of Babylon; and he demolished this house and deported the people to Babylon.

13 But in year one of king Cyrus of Babylon, king Cyrus promulgated a decree to rebuild this house of Eloah.

14 And also the vessels of gold and silver of the house of Eloah that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had transferred them to the temple in Babylon king Cyrus removed them from the temple in Babylon, and they were granted to Sheshbazzar; this was the name of him whom he had appointed viceroy.

15 And he said to him: Carry these vessels with you; depart and put them down in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of Eloah be rebuilt on its site.

16 Then this Sheshbazzar arrived and laid the foundations of the house of Eloah in Jerusalem. From then on until now it is being rebuilt; but it is not yet accomplished.

17 And now, if it seems good to the king, let a quest be made in the house of storerooms of the king there in Babylon to see whether a decree was actually promulgated from king Cyrus to rebuild this house of Eloah in Jerusalem. Then let the king send his decision in this matter to us.

Chapter 6

1 Then king Darius promulgated a decree, and they made a quest for the scrolls that were put down in the house of storerooms there in Babylon.

2 But it was in the castle of Ecbatana in the province of Media that one scroll was found, and this was written within it: Memorandum:

3 In year one of king Cyrus, king Cyrus promulgated a decree concerning the house of Eloah in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt, a place for sacrificing sacrifices, and its foundations should be retained. Let its height be sixty cubits and its breadth be sixty cubits,

4 three courses of dressed stone and one course of timber; and let disbursement be granted from the king’s house.

5 Also, the gold and silver vessels of the house of Eloah should be returned that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and had transferred to Babylon. Let each go back to the temple in Jerusalem to its place; you shall put it down in the house of Eloah.

6 Now you, Tattenai viceroy Beyond-the-Stream, Shetharbo-zenai, and you, their colleagues, the officials of Beyond-the-Stream, stay away from there.

7 Leave the viceroy of the Judeans and the greyhaired elders of the Judeans alone for the work on this house of Eloah. Let them rebuild this house of Eloah on its site.

8 So a decree is being promulgated from me as to what you shall do for these greyhaired elders of the Judeans in the rebuilding of this house of Eloah. Out of the king’s resources, from the tribute of the province Beyond-the-Stream, disbursement shall be fully granted to these masters, so as not to halt the work.

9 And what is needed, such as young bulls, rams and lambs for ascent offerings to Eloah of the heavens, wheat, salt, turbid wine and oil, according to the word of the priests in Jerusalem, let it be granted to them day by day without fail,

10 so that they may be offering fragrant incense to Eloah of the heavens and be praying for the life of the king and his sons.

11 So a decree is being promulgated from me that, as for any man who alters this rescript, a timber beam shall be torn out of his house; and lifted up, he shall be impaled on it. And his house shall be turned into ruins on account of this.

12 May Eloah Who made His Name tabernacle there, overturn any king or people that stretches out his hand to alter this rescript by harming this house of Eloah in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have promulgated the decree. Let it be carried out thoroughly.

13 Then Tattenai viceroy Beyond-the-Stream, Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues carried this out thoroughly, just as king Darius had sent word.

14 So the greyhaired elders of the Judeans and the Levites were rebuilding and prospering because of the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. Thus they rebuilt and completed the work due to the order of Eloah of Israel and due to a decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia.

15 This house was finished on day three of the month of Adar, that is, in the year six of the reign of king Darius.

16 The sons of Israel, the priests, the Levites and the rest of the sons of the deportation held the dedication of this house of Eloah with exhilaration.

17 And they offered for the dedication of this house of Eloah a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats of the goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

18 They set up the priests in their distributions and the Levites in their apportionments for the service of Eloah in Jerusalem, as prescribed in the scroll of Moses.

19 The sons of deportation held the Passover on the fourteenth of the first month.

20 For the priests and the Levites had cleansed themselves as one man; all of them were clean. Then they slayed the passover for all the sons of deportation and for their brother priests and for themselves.

21 So they ate, that is the sons of Israel who had returned from the deportation, and everyone who had joined them by separating himself from the uncleanness of the nations of the land, to seek after Yahweh Elohim of Israel.

22 They held the festival of unleavened bread seven days with rejoicing; for Yahweh made them rejoice, since He had turned the heart of the king of Assyria around toward them to reinforce their hands in the work of the house of Elohim, the Elohim of Israel.

Chapter 7

1 After these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,

2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,

3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,

4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,

5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the principal priest,

6 even that Ezra himself came up from Babylon. He was a scribe, expert in the law of Moses that Yahweh Elohim of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his urgent appeal, according to the hand of Yahweh his Elohim on him.

7 Some of the sons of Israel and some of the priests, the Levites and the singers, the gatekeepers and the Nethinim also came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of king Artaxerxes.

8 They came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, that is, in the seventh year of the king.

9 For on day one of the first month this Ezra had deliberately determined the departure from Babylon; and on day one of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his Elohim on him.

10 For Ezra himself had prepared his heart to inquire of the law of Yahweh and to observe it and to teach in Israel statute and ordinance.

11 Now this is a transcript of the dispatch that king Artaxerxes gave Ezra the priest and scribe, a scholar in matters concerning the instructions of Yahweh and His statutes for Israel:

12 Artaxerxes king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scholar in the edict of the Eloah of the heavens. Peace being perfected! And now

13 a decree is being promulgated from me, that anyone in my kingdom who is from the people of Israel and its priests and Levites and who is willing to go to Jerusalem with you, may go.

14 Forasmuch as you are being sent from before the king and his seven counselors to make a quest about Judah and Jerusalem in accord with the edict of your Eloah which is under your hand,

15 and to transfer the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have voluntarily given to the Eloah of Israel Whose tabernacle is in Jerusalem,

16 together with all the silver and gold that you may obtain in the whole province of Babylon along with the voluntary offering that the people and the priests are willingly giving to the house of their Eloah in Jerusalem.

17 Wherefore you shall buy promptly with this money bulls, rams, lambs, their approach presents and their libations; and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your Eloah in Jerusalem.

18 Whatever may seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, you may do according to the decision of your Eloah.

19 The vessels that are provided for you for the service of the house of your Eloah, convey them before the Eloah in Jerusalem.

20 The remaining requirements for the house of your Eloah which it falls to you to provide, you may provide from the king’s house of storerooms.

21 Now from me, king Artaxerxes, a decree is being promulgated to all the treasurers in the province Beyond-the-Stream, that everything that Ezra the priest, scholar in the edict of the Eloah of the heavens, may request from you, should be done promptly,

22 up to a hundred talents of silver, up to a hundred cors of wheat, up to a hundred baths of turbid wine, up to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribed limit.

23 Let all that is by the order of the Eloah of the heavens be done diligently for the house of the Eloah of the heavens, lest there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons.

24 And let it be known to you treasurers: As for any of the priests and the Levites, the musicians, the gatekeepers, the Nethinim and others serving at this house of Eloah, you have no authority to impose tribute, tax or toll on them.

25 And you, Ezra, by the wisdom of your Eloah that is in your hand, assign judges and adjudicators who shall be adjudicating all the people in the province Beyond-the-Stream, all who are knowing the edicts of your Eloah; and you all shall teach anyone who does not know them.

26 As for everyone who is not doing what the edict of your Eloah and the edict of the king says, adjudication shall be promptly done to him, whether by death or by banishment, whether by a fine from his resources or by imprisonment.

27 Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of our fathers, Who has put such as this into the heart of the king to beautify the house of Yahweh in Jerusalem.

28 And He has stretched out kindness toward me from before the king and his counselors and all the masterful chief officials of the king. So I encouraged myself according to the hand of Yahweh my Elohim on me, and I convened the heads out of Israel to go up with me.

Chapter 8

1 These were their patriarchal heads and those registered with them who came up with me from Babylon in the reign of king Artaxerxes:

2 From the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; from the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; from the sons of David, Hattush

3 son of Shecaniah; from the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were registered 150 males;

4 from the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 males;

5 from the sons of Zattu, Shecaniah son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males;

6 and from the sons of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males;

7 and from the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males;

8 and from the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 males;

9 from the sons of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 males;

10 and from the sons of Bani, Shelomith son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males;

11 and from the sons of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 males;

12 and from the sons of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males;

13 and from the sons of Adonikam, who were the last ones, and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeiel and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males;

14 and from the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zaccur, and with them 70 males.

15 I convened them at the stream that comes to Ahava; and we encamped there for three days, that I might review the people and the priests, yet I did not find there anyone from the sons of Levi.

16 So I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah and Elnathan and Jarib and Elnathan and Nathan and Zechariah and Meshullam, heads, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding.

17 Then I gave them instructions concerning Iddo the head at the place called Casiphia. I put in their mouth words to speak to Iddo and his brother and the Nethinim at the place called Casiphia, to bring to us ministers for the house of our Elohim.

18 Because of the good hand of our Elohim upon us, they brought to us a man of intelligence from the sons of Mahli son of Levi son of Israel, namely Sherebiah and his sons and his brothers, eighteen in all;

19 and Hashabiah and with him Jeshaiah from the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty in all;

20 and from the Nethinim, whom David and the chief officials gave to the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim; all of them were specified by name.

21 Then I proclaimed a fast there by the stream Ahava to humble ourselves before our Elohim so as to seek from Him a straight journey for us and for our little ones and for all our goods.

22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to help us against enemy attack on the way, since we had told the king, saying: The hand of our Elohim is over all those seeking Him for good; yet His strength and His anger are against all those forsaking Him.

23 So we fasted and besought our Elohim for this, and He let Himself be entreated by us.

24 From the priests’ chiefs I then separated twelve, namely Sherebiah and Hashabiah, and with them ten of their brothers.

25 To them I weighed out the silver, the gold and the vessels the heave offering for the house of our Elohim that the king and his counselors and his chief officials and all of Israel who were available had donated.

26 Thus I weighed out into their hand six hundred fifty talents of silver, a hundred silver vessels valued at . . . talents, a hundred talents of gold,

27 twenty small bowls of gold valued at a thousand darics, and two vessels of good glistening copper, as desirable as gold.

28 And I said to them: You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to Yahweh Elohim of your fathers.

29 Be alert and guard them until you weigh them out in the rooms of the house of Yahweh before the priests’ chiefs and the Levites and the heads of the fathers’ houses of Israel in Jerusalem.

30 So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our Elohim.

31 Then we journeyed from the Ahava stream on the twelfth of the first month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our Elohim was over us: He rescued us from the palm of the enemy and the ambush on the way.

32 When we came to Jerusalem, we sat there three days.

33 On the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed out in the house of our Elohim into the hand of Meremoth son of Uriah the priest, with whom was Eleazar son of Phinehas; with them were also Jozabad son of Jeshua, and Noadiah son of Binnui, the Levites.

34 Everything was checked by number and by weight; and the entire weight was listed. At that time

35 those who had come from the captivity, the sons of deportation, offered ascent offerings to the Elohim of Israel: twelve young bulls on behalf of all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-two he-lambs (and twelve he-goats as a sin offering); all this was an ascent offering to Yahweh.

36 They also delivered the king’s edicts to the satraps of the king and the viceroys Beyond-the-Stream who then assisted the people and the house of the One, Elohim.

Chapter 9

1 After the conclusion of these events, the chief officials came close to me, saying: The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not kept themselves separate from the peoples of the lands despite their abhorrent acts, those of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, the Ammonite, the Moabite, the Egyptian and the Amorite.

2 For they have taken up some of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed has become mixed with the peoples of these lands. And the hand of the chief officials and the prefects has been first in this offense.

3 When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe and plucked out some of the hair of my head and my beard and sat down in desolation.

4 Around me were gathering all those trembling at the words of the Elohim of Israel on account of the offense of the sons of deportation. And I continued sitting in desolation until the evening approach present.

5 Then at the time of the evening approach present I arose from my self-abasement, and with my garment and my robe torn on me, I bowed down on my knees and spread out my palms to Yahweh my Elohim

6 and said: My Elohim, I am ashamed and mortified to raise up my face to You, my Elohim, for our depravities, they are abundant, above our heads, and our guilt towers unto the heavens.

7 From the days of our fathers we have been in great guilt until this day; because of our depravities we ourselves, our kings, our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering and to shame of face, just as this day.

8 Yet now for a little moment, grace from Yahweh our Elohim has come to leave us as a remnant for deliverance and to give us a peg in His holy place, so that our Elohim may enlighten our eyes and give us a little revival in our servitudes.

9 Though we are slaves, our Elohim has not forsaken us in our servitudes; He is stretching out His benignity toward us before the kings of Persia in giving us a revival to raise up the house of our Elohim and to let its deserted places stand firm and in giving us a barrier-wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.

10 And now, what shall we say after this, O our Elohim? For we have forsaken Your instructions

11 that You enjoined on us by means of Your servants the prophets, saying, The land that you are entering to tenant it, a land of impurity is it, because of the impurity of the peoples of the lands and their abhorrences with which they have filled it from edge to edge with their uncleanness.

12 Now then, you must not give your daughters to their sons, and you must not take up their daughters for your sons. And you shall not seek after their well-being and their good until the eon, so that you may be unyielding and eat the good of the land and leave it as a tenancy to your sons until the eon.

13 After all that has come over us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt though You, O our Elohim, have kept back, punishing us less than our depravity deserves, and You have given us a deliverance, such as this

14 shall we again quash Your instructions by intermarrying with the peoples who commit these abhorrences? Are You not angry with us to the point of entirely destroying us until there is no remnant and deliverance?

15 O Yahweh Elohim of Israel, You are the Righteous One! For we are left as a remnant for deliverance, as at this day. Here we are before You in our guilt, though no one can stand before You on account of this.

Chapter 10

1 While Ezra was praying and while he was confessing, lamenting and cast to the ground before the house of the One, Elohim, those from Israel convened around him, a very great assembly, men, women and children; for the people lamented with increased lamentation.

2 Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel of the sons of Elam responded and said to Ezra: We ourselves have offended our Elohim when we located in our houses foreign women from the peoples of the land. Yet now there is expectation for Israel in spite of this.

3 Let us now contract a covenant with our Elohim to send forth all our foreign women and the children born of them, in accordance with the counsel of Yahweh and of those who are trembling at the instruction of our Elohim; and let it be done according to the law.

4 Arise, for the matter devolves on you, and we are with you. Be steadfast and act.

5 So Ezra arose and made the priests’ chiefs, the Levites and all Israel swear to do according to this word. And they swore.

6 When Ezra rose from his place before the house of the One, Elohim, he went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib; while he lodged there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he was mourning over the offense of the sons of deportation.

7 Then they let a proclamation pass in Judah and in Jerusalem to all the sons of deportation to convene to Jerusalem;

8 and anyone who did not come within three days might, on the counsel of the chiefs and the elders, have all his goods doomed and he himself be separated from the assembly of the sons of deportation.

9 So within the three days all the men of Judah and Benjamin convened in Jerusalem; it was in the ninth month on the twentieth day of the month. All the people were sitting in the square of the house of the One, Elohim, quivering on account of the matter and because of the downpours.

10 Then Ezra the priest arose and said to them: You yourselves have offended and located in your houses foreign women, thus adding to the guilt of Israel.

11 So now make confession to Yahweh Elohim of your fathers and get His approval, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.

12 The entire assembly responded and avowed with a loud voice: Just so; it is on us to act according to your word.

13 Nevertheless, the people are numerous, and it is the season of downpours. No one has the vigor to stand outdoors; and the work is not for one day and not for two, for many of us have transgressed in this matter.

14 Let now our chief officials stay on behalf of the entire assembly, and let everyone who is in our cities who located in his house foreign women come at stated times, together with them the elders, city by city, and its judges, until the hot anger of our Elohim on account of this matter is turned away from us.

15 (Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah stood up against this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite were backing up their opposition.)

16 So that is what the sons of deportation did. Ezra the priest set apart various men who were the patriarchal heads of their fathers’ house, all of them by name; and they sat down on day one of the tenth month to inquire into the matter.

17 By day one of the first month they had concluded dealing with all the men who located in their houses foreign women.

18 Among the sons of priests who had located in their houses foreign women were found, of the sons of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers: Maaseiah and Eliezer and Jarib and Gedaliah.

19 They gave their hand to send forth their foreign women and, being guilty, offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.

20 Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.

21 Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah and Elijah and Shemaiah and Jehiel and Uzziah.

22 Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad and Elasah.

23 Of the Levites: Jozabad and Shimei and Kelaiah (that is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah and Eliezer.

24 Of the singers: Eliashib; and of the gatekeepers: Shallum and Telem and Uri.

25 Of Israel of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah and Benaiah.

26 Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth and Elijah.

27 Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad and Aziza.

28 Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai and Athlai.

29 Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal and Ramoth.

30 Of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui and Manasseh.

31 Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshiah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,

32 Benjamin, Malluch and Shemariah.

33 Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh and Shimei.

34 Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram and Uel,

35 also Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,

36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,

37 Mattaniah, Mattenai and Jaasai.

38 Of the sons of Binnui: Shimei,

39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,

40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,

41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,

42 Shallum, Amariah and Joseph.

43 Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jaddai, Joel and Benaiah.

44 All of these had taken up foreign women, and among them there were women who had even borne sons.

The Book of Nehemiah

Chapter 1

1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: It came to be in the month of Kislev of the twentieth year while I was in the castle of Shushan,

2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah, he and other men. I asked them about the Judeans, the remnant for deliverance that remained from the captivity, and about Jerusalem.

3 They said to me: The remnant that remained from the captivity, there in the province, they are in great evil and in reproach; Jerusalem’s wall is full of breaches, and its gates were ravaged with fire.

4 It came to be when I heard these words that I sat down and lamented and mourned for days while I was fasting and praying before the Elohim of the heavens.

5 I said: Oh, Yahweh Elohim of the heavens, the great and fear-inspiring El, Who is keeping the covenant and the benignity with those loving Him and observing His instructions,

6 I pray, let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant that I am praying before You today, by day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel with which we have sinned against You. We have sinned, both I and my father’s house.

7 We have acted malevolently, yea malevolently against You and have not observed the instructions, the statutes and the ordinances that You enjoined on Moses Your servant.

8 I pray, remember the word that You enjoined on Moses Your servant, saying: If you are offending, I shall cause you to scatter among the peoples;

9 but if you return to Me and observe My instructions and keep them, even if it should occur that your expelled ones were at the end of the heavens, then I shall convene them from there and bring them to the place where I have chosen to let My Name tabernacle.

10 For they are Your servants and Your people whom You ransomed by Your great vigor and Your steadfast hand.

11 Oh, Yahweh, I pray, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who take a delight in fearing Your Name. And I pray, do let Your servant prosper today, and grant him to find compassions before this man. As for me, I was cupbearer to the king.

Chapter 2

1 It came to pass in the month of Nisan of the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes that wine was before me; I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Yet I had never been troubled in his presence.

2 So the king said to me: For what reason is your face troubled when you yourself are not ailing? This is nothing but a troubled heart. Now I stood very much in fear.

3 Then I said to the king: May the king himself live for the eon! For what reason should my face not look troubled when the city, the house of my patriarchal tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been devoured by fire.

4 The king replied to me: What is this that you are seeking? Then I prayed to the Elohim of the heavens

5 and said to the king: If it seems good to the king, and if your servant might find favor before you, I would ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my patriarchal tombs, so that I may rebuild it.

6 The king (with the consort seated beside him) asked me: How long shall your journey come to be? And when shall you return? So it seemed good before the king, and he sent me after I had given him a stated time.

7 Then I said to the king: If it seems good to the king, let letters be given to me to the viceroys Beyond-the-Stream, that they may grant passage to me until I come to Judah;

8 also a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s park, that he may give me timber to make rafters for the gates of the castle by the house and for the city wall and for the house in which I shall come to reside. The king gave them to me because the good hand of my Elohim was on me.

9 So I came to the viceroys Beyond-the-Stream and gave them the king’s letters. The king also sent with me chiefs of the army and horsemen.

10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of this, it displeased them as a great evil that a person had come to seek out the good of the sons of Israel.

11 I came to Jerusalem and rested there three days.

12 Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I had not told anyone what my Elohim was putting into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was not even a beast with me save the beast on which I was riding.

13 I went forth by the Ravine Gate at night, in view of the snake’s spring toward the Gate of Ash Heaps. I was surveying in detail the walls of Jerusalem, how they were breached, and its gates had been devoured by fire.

14 Then I passed on toward the Spring Gate and toward the king’s reservoir, but there was no place for the beast under me to pass along.

15 So I was ascending in the night by the wadi; and I was surveying in detail the wall. Then I turned back, entered by the Ravine Gate, and returned.

16 As for the prefects, they did not know whither I had gone or what I was doing; nor had I as yet told the Judeans, the priests, the notables, the prefects or the rest of those doing the work.

17 So I said to them: You are seeing the evil in which we are, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates were ravaged by fire. Come now and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we are no longer a reproach.

18 I told them of the hand of my Elohim, how it had been good to me, and also of the king’s words that he had said to me. They replied: Let us get up and rebuild. And they encouraged their hands for the good.

19 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arabian heard of it, they derided us and despised us and said: What is this thing that you are doing? Is it against the king that you are revolting?

20 I replied to them with this word that I said to them: The Elohim of the heavens, He shall prosper us, and we, His servants, we shall get up and rebuild. But for you, there is no portion or righteous claim or remembrance in Jerusalem.

Chapter 3

1 Eliashib the great priest with his fellow priests got up; they rebuilt the Flock Gate. They themselves hallowed it and installed its doors; as far as the Tower of the Hundred they hallowed it, as far as the Tower of Hananel.

2 At his side the men of Jericho rebuilt, and at their side Zaccur son of Imri rebuilt.

3 It was the Fish Gate that the sons of Hassenaah rebuilt; they themselves laid its rafters and installed its doors, its latches and its bars.

4 At their side Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired; at their side Meshullam son of Berechiah son of Meshezabel repaired, and at their side Zadok son of Baana repaired.

5 At their side the Tekoites repaired; as for their nobles, they did not bring their neck into the service of their Lord.

6 It was the Secondary Gate that Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired; they themselves laid its rafters and installed its doors, its latches and its bars.

7 At their side Melatiah the Gibeonite repaired with Jadon the Meronothite and the men of Gibeon and the Mizpah that pertained to the throne of the viceroy Beyond-the Stream.

8 At his side Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired; and at his side Hananiah, one of the ointment mixers, repaired. They set free the wall of Jerusalem as far as the broad wall.

9 At their side Rephaiah son of Hur, chief of half the tract of Jerusalem repaired.

10 At their side Jedaiah son of Harumaph repaired in front of his house; and at his side Hattush son of Hashabneiah repaired.

11 Malchijah son of Harim with Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired a second measured section and the Tower of the Stoves.

12 At his side Shallum son of Hallohesh, chief of the other half tract of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters.

13 It was the Ravine Gate that Hanun repaired with the dwellers of Zanoah; they themselves rebuilt it and installed its doors, its latches and its bars; they also repaired a thousand cubits in the wall as far as the Gate of Ash Heaps.

14 It was the Gate of Ash Heaps that Malchijah son of Rechab, chief of the Beth-haccherem tract, repaired. He himself rebuilt it and installed its doors, its latches and its bars.

15 It was the Spring Gate that Shallun son of Col-hozeh, chief of the Mizpah tract, repaired; he himself rebuilt it, roofed it and installed its doors, its latches and its bars; and he rebuilt the wall of the Shelah reservoir of the king’s garden and as far as the stairs descending from the city of David.

16 After him Nehemiah son of Azbuk, chief of half the Beth-zur tract, repaired as far as in front of the tomb of David, and as far as the reservoir that had been made, and as far as the house of the masters of war.

17 After him the Levites repaired: Rehum son of Bani, and at his side Hashabiah, chief of half the tract of Keilah, repaired for his tract.

18 After him their brothers repaired, Bavvai son of Henadad, chief of the other half tract of Keilah.

19 At his side Ezer son of Jeshua, the chief of Mizpah, repaired a second measured section from in front of the ascent to the armory by the Angle-corner.

20 After him, uphill, Baruch son of Zaccai repaired a second measured section from the Angle-corner as far as the portal of the house of Eliashib, the great priest.

21 After him Meremoth son of Uriah son of Hakkoz repaired a second measured section from the portal of Eliashib’s house as far as the boundary of Eliashib’s house.

22 After him the priests, men of the circumjacent tract, repaired.

23 After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired in front of their house. After them Azariah son of Maaseiah son of Ananiah repaired beside his house.

24 After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired a second measured section from Azariah’s house toward the Angle-corner, as far as the corner.

25 Palal son of Uzai repaired from in front of the Angle-corner and the upper tower that is protruding from the king’s house and that belongs to the court of the jail. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh repaired.

26 As for the Nethinim, they were dwelling on the Ophel; they repaired as far as in front of the Water Gate toward the east and the protruding tower.

27 After them the Tekoites repaired a secondary measured section from in front of the great protruding tower as far as the wall of the Ophel.

28 Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each in front of his house.

29 After them Zadok son of Immer repaired in front of his house; and after him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired.

30 After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah, with Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired a secondary measured section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah repaired in front of his own room.

31 After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the Nethinim and the traders in front of the Supervision Gate as far as the upper chamber of the corner.

32 And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Flock Gate the goldsmiths and the traders repaired.

Chapter 4

1 It came to be when Sanballat heard we were rebuilding the wall, that his anger burned hot, and he was greatly vexed. He derided the Judeans

2 when he protested in the presence of his brothers and the army of Samaria. He said: What are the feeble Judeans doing? Are they setting it free all by themselves? Are they sacrificing? Are they finishing up in a day? Are they reviving the stones from the dirty rubble piles, burned as they are?

3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him; he said: Even what they are building, if a fox went up against it, he would breach their wall of stones.

4 Hear, our Elohim, for we have become despised; and let their reproach turn back upon their own heads, and give them over to plundering in a land of captivity.

5 Do not cover over their depravity, and let not their sin be wiped out from before You, for they have provoked You to vexation in front of the builders.

6 So we were rebuilding the wall until the wall was tied together all around to half its height; for the people’s heart was set to work.

7 Then it came to be when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard the wholeness of the walls of Jerusalem was getting on and the breached parts had started to be stopped up, that their anger burned very hot;

8 and they conspired, all of them together, to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion to me.

9 So we prayed to our Elohim, and against them we installed a guard by day and night because of them.

10 Yet the Judean community was singing: The vigor of the burden carrier has faltered, And there is so much dirty rubble; We ourselves shall never be able To rebuild the wall.

11 Our foes said: They shall not know, and they shall not see until we come into their midst. Then we will kill them and cause the work to cease.

12 Now it came to be when the Judeans dwelling beside them would come, then they would tell us ten times about all the scheming which they had devised against us.

13 So, at the nether parts of the place behind the wall, I let the men stand in exposed places; and I kept the people standing by families with their swords, their lances and their bows.

14 When I had examined them I arose and said to the notables, the prefects and the rest of the people: You must not fear because of them. Remember the great and fear-inspiring Yahweh, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.

15 It came to be when our enemies had heard it was known to us, and the One, Elohim, had quashed their counsel, that we returned to the wall, all of us, each man to his work.

16 It came to be that from this day on half of my retainers were engaged in the work while half of them were holding fast the lances, the shields, the bows and the coats of mail. And the chiefs were behind the whole house of Judah

17 who were rebuilding the wall. Those bearing the burden were lading, each with his one hand engaged in the work and with the other holding fast the javelin.

18 And the builders were engaged, each with his sword on his waist, and rebuilding; yet the one blowing the trumpet was beside me.

19 Then I said to the notables, the prefects and the rest of the people: There is much work, and it is widely spread; we are kept apart along the wall, each man far from his brothers.

20 At the place where you hear the sound of the trumpet, there you shall convene to us. Our Elohim shall fight for us.

21 And so we were engaged in the work, while half of them were holding fast the lances, from the ascent of dawn until the stars came forth.

22 At that time I said also to the people: Let each man with his retainer lodge in Jerusalem that they become for us a guard by night and a work force by day.

23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my retainers nor the men of the guard who were behind me we were not stripping off our clothes, each man kept his javelin at his right hand.

Chapter 5

1 There came to be a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Judeans.

2 There were some who said: With our sons and our daughters we are numerous; so let us procure grain so that we may eat and may live.

3 There were others who said: We are giving our fields, our vineyards and our houses as surety so that we may procure grain during the famine.

4 And there were others who said: We have borrowed money on our fields and our vineyards to pay the king’s tribute.

5 Now our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, our sons are like their sons; but here we have to bring our sons and our daughters into bondage as slaves. And there are some of our daughters already in bondage, for there is nothing at the disposal of our hand while our fields and our vineyards belong to others.

6 My anger burned very hot when I heard their outcry and these words.

7 My heart was mastered within me, and I contended with the notables and the prefects and said to them: With a loan on pledge is each of you astricting his brother. Then I set a great assembly against them

8 and said to them: We ourselves have bought back as many as we could of our Judean brothers who were sold to the nations. You however, you are selling your own brothers, so that they will have to be sold back to us. They kept silence and found no word of reply.

9 Then I continued: The thing you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our Elohim because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies?

10 I, my brothers and my retainers also have been lending them money and grain. Let us now forsake this loan on pledge.

11 Do return to them, as of today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive trees and their houses, and the percentage on the money, the grain, the grape juice and the clarified oil with which you are astricting them.

12 They replied: We shall return them, and we shall not seek to extract anything from them; so shall we do, just as you are saying. Then I called the priests and made them swear to act according to this word.

13 I also shook out my bosom pouch and said: Thus may the One, Elohim, shake out from his house and from the result of his labor every man who does not carry out this word; thus may he become shaken out and empty. Then the whole assembly said Amen and praised Yahweh. And the people acted according to this word.

14 Moreover from the day that I was commissioned to be their viceroy in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of king Artaxerxes, for twelve years neither I nor my brothers ate the bread due the viceroy.

15 As for the former viceroys who came before me, they laid a heavy yoke on the people and procured from them for each day forty shekels of silver for bread and wine. Their retainers too domineered over the people. As for me, I have not acted thus because of the fear of Elohim.

16 I rather held fast to the work of this wall; I did not acquire a field, and all my retainers came together there for the work.

17 There were at my table 150 men, Judeans and prefects, beside those coming to us from the nations that were around us.

18 What was prepared for each day, one steer, six choice flocklings and poultry, they were prepared at my expense, and once every ten days all sorts of wine in abundance; yet for all this I never sought to exact the bread due the viceroy, for the king’s service lay heavily on this people.

19 Do remember me, O my Elohim, for all the good that I have done on behalf of this people.

Chapter 6

1 Now it came to be when it was announced to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and that no breach was left in it (though at this juncture I had not yet installed the doors in the gateways),

2 then Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying: Come now, let us make an appointment and meet together at the shelters in the valley of Ono. But they were devising to cause me evil.

3 So I sent messengers to them, saying: I am doing a great work, and I can not go down. Why should the work cease while I neglect it and go down to you?

4 They sent me this same word four times, and I replied to them with this same word.

5 Then Sanballat sent me this same word a fifth time by his retainer who had in his hand an open letter

6 in which was written: It is announced among the nations, and Gashmu is saying it, that you and the Judeans are devising to revolt. Therefore you are rebuilding the wall, and, according to these reports, you are about to become a king over them.

7 Moreover you have installed prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem about you, saying: There is a king in Judah! Now words like these shall be announced to the king; so now do come, and let us consult together.

8 I sent word to him, saying: Nothing like these things that you are saying has occurred, since you are inventing them in your own heart.

9 For all of them were meant to intimidate us, saying: Their hands shall neglect the work, and it shall not be completed. So now I made steadfast my hands.

10 Then I myself entered the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah son of Mehetabel when he was under restraint, and he said, Let us meet by appointment At the house of Elohim, Inside the temple, And let us lock the temple doors; For they are coming to kill you, By night they are coming to kill you.

11 I replied: A man like me, should he run away? And who such as me could enter into the temple and live? I shall not enter.

12 Then I recognized: Behold! Not Elohim had sent him; for he had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah himself and Sanballat had hired

13 a throng against me. He was hired that I might be intimidated and act in this way and thus would sin. It would get me an evil name among them so that they might reproach me.

14 O my Elohim, do remember Tobiah and Sanballat according to these doings of theirs, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the rest of the prophets who were intimidating me.

15 The rebuilding of the wall was accomplished on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

16 It came to be when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were intimidated and fell exceedingly in their own eyes. They realized that this work had been done by our Elohim.

17 Moreover in those days, an increasing number of their letters was going from the notables of Judah to Tobiah; and those of Tobiah were coming in to them.

18 For many in Judah were plighted to him by oath, since he was son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.

19 Moreover, they were speaking before me good things about him, while they were sending forth my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

Chapter 7

1 It came to be as soon as the wall was rebuilt that I installed the doors. Then the gatekeepers, the singers and the Levites were mustered for their tasks.

2 And I instructed my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the chief of the castle, to oversee Jerusalem, since he feared the One, Elohim, more than most, as only a faithful man can do.

3 I said to them: The gates of Jerusalem should not be left open while the sun is brightly warm; but while they stay watching, let them slam the doors. And keep them bolted! Also let the dwellers of Jerusalem have guards stand, each man in his ward, and each man in front of his own house.

4 Now the city was wide on all sides and large; but the people in it were few, and there were not enough rebuilt houses.

5 Then my Elohim put it into my heart that I should convene the notables and the prefects and the people in order to get themselves registered. I found the register scroll of those who had come up at the first and found written in it:

6 These were the sons of the province who came up from the captivity of deportation that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported; they returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, each man to his city,

7 those who came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

8 The sons of Parosh 2,172;

9 the sons of Shephatiah 372;

10 the sons of Arah 652;

11 the sons of Pahath-moab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab 2,818;

12 the sons of Elam 1,254;

13 the sons of Zattu 845;

14 the sons of Zaccai 760;

15 the sons of Binnui 648;

16 the sons of Bebai 628;

17 the sons of Azgad 2,322;

18 the sons of Adonikam 667;

19 the sons of Bigvai 2,067;

20 the sons of Adin 655;

21 the sons of Ater, of Hezekiah 98;

22 the sons of Hashum 328;

23 the sons of Bezai 324;

24 the sons of Hariph 112;

25 the sons of Gibeon 95;

26 the men of Bethlehem and Netophah 188;

27 the men of Anathoth 128;

28 the men of Beth-azmaveth 42;

29 the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah and Beeroth 743;

30 the men of Ramah and Geba 621;

31 the men of Michmas 122;

32 the men of Bethel and Ai 123;

33 the men of Nebo 52;

34 the sons of Elam-ar 1,254;

35 the sons of Harim 320;

36 the sons of Jericho 345;

37 the sons of Lod, Hadid and Ono 721;

38 the sons of Senaah 3,930.

39 The priests: The sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua 973;

40 the sons of Immer 1,052;

41 the sons of Pashhur 1,247;

42 the sons of Harim 1,017.

43 The Levites: The sons of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodevah 74.

44 The singers: The sons of Asaph 148.

45 The gatekeepers: The sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai 138.

46 The Nethinim: The sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth,

47 the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon,

48 the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Shalmai,

49 the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar,

50 the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda,

51 the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah,

52 the sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephushesim,

53 the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur,

54 the sons of Bazlith, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha,

55 the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah,

56 the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha.

57 The sons of the servants of Solomon: The sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida,

58 the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel,

59 the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth, the sons of Hazzebaim, the sons of Amon.

60 All the Nethinim and the sons of the servants of Solomon 392.

61 These were the ones coming up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon and Immer; yet they were not able to tell the house of their fathers or their seed, whether they were descended from Israel:

62 The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda 642.

63 And from the priests: The sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name.

64 These sought their registration among those who had been registered, yet it was not found. So they were disqualified from the priesthood.

65 Hence the Tirshatha said to them that they should not eat from the holy of holies until a priest would stand up with Urim and Thummim.

66 The entire assembly as one group was 42,360,

67 besides their manservants and their maidservants, those being 7,337. They also had 245 male singers and female singers.

68 Their horses were 736; their mules 245;

69 the camels were 435, the donkeys 6,720.

70 As for some of the patriarchal heads, they gave to the work. The Tirshatha himself gave to the treasury: gold 1,000 darics, sprinkling bowls 50, tunics for priests 30, and silver 500 minas.

71 As for some of the patriarchal heads, they gave to the treasury of the work: gold 20,000 darics, and silver 2,200 minas.

72 And what the remainder of the people gave was: gold 20,000 darics, silver 2,000 minas, and tunics for priests 67.

73 The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the Nethinim and all Israel were dwelling in their cities. When the seventh moon was attained, then the sons of Israel had settled in their cities.

Chapter 8

1 All the people gathered as one man in the square before the water gate and asked Ezra the scribe to bring out the scroll of the law of Moses which Yahweh had enjoined on Israel.

2 So on day one of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought out the law before the assembly, both man and woman and all who could hear with understanding.

3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from the first light until midday in front of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were toward the scroll of the law.

4 Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden tower that they had built for the occasion. And beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah on his right, and on his left Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.

5 Ezra opened the scroll before the eyes of all the people, for he was above all the people. And as he opened it, all the people stood up.

6 Now Ezra blessed Yahweh the great Elohim, and all the people responded: Amen! Amen! with the lifting up of their hands. They bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before Yahweh with their nostrils to the earth.

7 Then Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, were explaining the law to the people, with the people in their standing position.

8 They read from the scroll from the law of the One, Elohim. It was expounded to make it intelligible, so that the people could understand the reading.

9 [Nehemiah the Tirshatha and] Ezra the priest, the scribe, with the Levites who were explaining it to the people, he said to all the people: This day, it is holy to Yahweh your Elohim. You must not mourn, and you must not weep. For all the people were weeping as they were hearing the words of the law.

10 So he said to them: Go, eat rich food and drink sweet wine, and send assigned shares to the one for whom nothing has been prepared, for the day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for it is the exhilaration of Yahweh that is your stronghold.

11 The Levites too were causing all the people to hush, saying: Be quelled! For the day is holy, and you must not grieve.

12 Then all the people went away to eat and to drink and to send assigned shares and to show a great rejoicing, for they had understood the words that had been made known to them.

13 On the second day the patriarchal heads of all the people, the priests and the Levites gathered to Ezra the scribe to gain further insight into the words of the law.

14 They found written in the law that Yahweh had enjoined by means of Moses that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths during the festival in the seventh month

15 and that they should announce it. So they caused a proclamation to pass along to all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying: Go forth into the hill country and bring in olive leaves, oleaster tree leaves, myrtle leaves, leafy branches of palm trees and leaves of other leafy trees to make booths, according to what is written.

16 Then the people went forth and brought them in and made booths for themselves, each on his housetop, and in their courts, in the courts of the house of Elohim, in the square of the Water Gate and in the square of the Ephraim Gate.

17 The whole assembly who had returned from the captivity made booths and dwelled in the booths; for the sons of Israel had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day; and there was very great rejoicing.

18 He read from the scroll of the law of the One, Elohim, day by day, from the first day until the last day. They kept the festival seven days, and on the eighth day there was a day of restraint according to the ordinance.

Chapter 9

1 On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the sons of Israel gathered with fasting, with sackcloth and dust from the ground on them.

2 Then those of the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood up and confessed their own sins and their fathers’ depravities.

3 They rose up, while in their standing position they read from the scroll of the law of Yahweh their Elohim for a fourth of the day, and they were confessing and prostrating themselves before Yahweh their Elohim for another fourth.

4 On the podium of the Levites rose up Jeshua with Bennui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani who cried out with a loud voice to Yahweh their Elohim.

5 The Levites Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bennui, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah said: Rise! Bless Yahweh your Elohim Who is from the eon unto the eon. Blessed is Your glorious Name and exalted over all blessing and praise.

6 You are He, Yahweh You alone. You Yourself have made the heavens, the heavens of the heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You are keeping all of them alive, and the host of the heavens are prostrating themselves before You.

7 You are He, Yahweh the One Elohim, You Who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans and changed his name to Abraham.

8 You found his heart faithful before You and contracted a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite to give it to his seed. And You carried out Your promises, for You are righteous.

9 You saw the humiliation of our fathers in Egypt; and You heard their outcry at the Sea of Weeds.

10 You performed signs and miracles against Pharaoh, against all his officials and against all the people of his land; for You knew how arrogantly they treated them. You made a Name for Yourself as it remains to this day.

11 You split the sea apart before them, so they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; and their pursuers You flung into shadowy depths, like a stone into strong waters.

12 In a column of cloud You guided them by day, and in a column of fire by night to light up for them the way in which they should go.

13 You descended on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from the heavens; You gave to them upright ordinances and laws of truth, statutes and instructions that are good.

14 Your holy sabbath You made known to them; and instructions, statutes and a law You enjoined on them by means of Your servant Moses.

15 Bread from the heavens You gave to them for their hunger; and waters from a crag You brought forth to them for their thirst. And You told them to enter and tenant the land about which You had sworn with Your uplifted hand to give it to them.

16 But they our fathers acted arrogantly and stiffened the scruff of their neck and did not hearken to Your instructions.

17 They refused to hearken and were not mindful of Your marvels that You performed among them. They stiffened the scruff of their neck and appointed a head in order to return to their servitude in Egypt. But You are the Eloah of pardons, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and with much benignity; so You did not forsake them

18 even when they made for themselves a molten calf and said: This is your elohim, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, and when they committed great indignities.

19 In Your great compassion You did not forsake them in the wilderness. Neither did the column of cloud take off from over them by day to guide them on the way, nor did the column of fire by night fail to light up for them the way in which they should go.

20 You gave Your good spirit in order to make them contemplate; You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and You gave waters to them for their thirst.

21 Forty years You sustained them in the wilderness so that they lacked nothing, their raiment did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.

22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples, and You apportioned them to the edge when they tenanted the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

23 You made their sons as numerous as the stars of the heavens, and You brought them into the land that You promised to their fathers they would enter to tenant.

24 So the sons entered and tenanted the land. You made the dwellers of the land, the Canaanites, submissive before them, and You gave them into their hand, both their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them according to what was acceptable to them.

25 They seized fortress cities and fertile ground; they took over houses full of every good thing, cisterns hewn out, vineyards and olive groves and food trees in abundance. So they ate, they were surfeited and grew stout; they luxuriated in Your great goodness.

26 But they became defiant, revolted against You and flung Your law behind their body. They killed Your prophets who testified against them so as to cause them to return to You; they committed great indignities.

27 Then You gave them into the hand of their foes who caused them distress. Yet when they cried to You in the time of their distress, You heard them from the heavens, and in Your great compassion You gave them saviours who saved them from the hand of their foes.

28 But as soon as they were at rest, they again started doing evil before You; then You forsook them into the hand of their enemies who held sway over them. Yet when they cried out to You again, You heard them from the heavens, and in Your compassion You rescued them many times.

29 You testified against them in order to turn them back to Your law, but they acted arrogantly and did not hearken to Your instructions, and against Your ordinances they sinned, against them which a man should do, and so he will live by them. They turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened the scruff of their neck and did not hearken.

30 Many years You were indulgent with them. You testified against them by Your spirit, by means of Your prophets. But they did not listen. Then You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

31 Yet in Your great compassion You did not make an extermination of them, and You did not forsake them, for You are the gracious and compassionate El.

32 And now, our Elohim, the great, masterful and fear-inspiring El, Who are keeping the covenant and the benignity, let not appear little before You all the stress that came upon us, our kings, our chiefs, our priests and our prophets, on our fathers and all of Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.

33 You have been in the right regarding everything that has come upon us; for You acted faithfully, yet we, we did wickedness.

34 Our kings, our chiefs, our priests and our fathers, neither did they observe Your law, nor did they pay attention to Your instructions and Your testimonies with which You testified against them.

35 When they were in their own kingdom, in Your great goodness that You bestowed on them, and in the wide and fertile land that You provided before them, they did not serve You and did not turn back from their evil practices.

36 Behold, we are servants today; and the land that You gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants on it.

37 Its abundant yield goes to the kings whom You set over us because of our sins; and they are ruling over our bodies and our domestic beasts according to what is acceptable to them. We are in great distress.

38 In view of all this we are contracting an authenticated covenant in writing, and on the sealed document are the names of our chiefs, our Levites, our priests.

Chapter 10

1 Those who are sealing it are: Nehemiah the Tirshatha, son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah;

2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,

3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,

4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,

5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,

6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,

7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,

8 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah; these are the priests.

9 And the Levites: Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel;

10 and their brothers: Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,

11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,

12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,

13 Hodiah, Bani, Beninu.

14 The heads of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,

15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,

16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,

17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,

18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,

19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai,

20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,

21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,

22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,

23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,

24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,

25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah

26 and Ahiah, Hanan, Anan,

27 Malluch, Harim, Baanah.

28 And the remainder of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and everyone who had separated himself from the peoples of the lands to the law of Elohim, their wives, their sons and their daughters, everyone having enough knowledge to understand,

29 they were taking courage to join with their brothers, their nobles, and entering into an imprecation and an oath to walk in the law of Elohim that was given by means of Moses the servant of Elohim, and to observe and do all the instructions of Yahweh our Lord, His ordinances and His statutes.

30 Namely: We shall not give our daughters in marriage to the peoples of the land; and we shall not take their daughters for our sons.

31 As for the peoples of the land who are bringing their wares or any food-grain on the day of the sabbath to sell we shall take nothing from them on the sabbath or on a holy day. We shall forgo the produce of the seventh year, and every outstanding debt.

32 We will lay obligatory instructions upon ourselves: To give, each of us, a third of a shekel per year for the service of the house of our Elohim,

33 for the array of bread, the continual approach present and the continual ascent offering, for those of the sabbaths, the new months, for the appointed seasons, for holy offerings, for sin offerings to make a propitiatory shelter over Israel, and for all the work of the house of our Elohim.

34 We have cast lots among the priests, the Levites and the people, over the supply of wood, to bring it to the house of our Elohim, by our patriarchal houses at stated times year by year, to blaze forth on the altar of Yahweh our Elohim, as it is written in the law.

35 And we pledge ourselves to bring to the house of Yahweh, year by year, the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree;

36 also the firstborn of our sons and our domestic beasts, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and our flocks, to bring to the house of our Elohim, to the priests ministering in the house of our Elohim.

37 We shall bring also the first batch of our coarse meal, our heave offerings, and of the fruit of every tree, of grape juice and of clarified oil to the priests in the rooms of the house of our Elohim, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, since they, the Levites, are those taking the tenth in all cities of our service.

38 And a priest, a son of Aaron, must come with the Levites when the Levites take the tenth; and the Levites themselves shall bring up a tenth of the tithe to the house of our Elohim, to the rooms of the treasury house.

39 For it is to these rooms that the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi must bring the heave offering of grain, grape juice and clarified oil; there are the vessels of the sanctuary, the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the singers. We shall not forsake the house of our Elohim.

Chapter 11

1 The chief officials of the people were dwelling in Jerusalem; and the remainder of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and the other nine hands to stay in the other cities.

2 And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to dwell in Jerusalem.

3 These are the heads of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem; yet those in the cities of Judah dwelt, each man on his holding in their cities: the Israelites, the priests and the Levites, the Nethinim and the sons of the servants of Solomon,

4 while in Jerusalem some of the sons of Judah and some of the sons of Benjamin dwelt: Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah son of Zechariah son of Amariah son of Shephatiah son of Mahalalel of the sons of Perez.

5 And Maaseiah son of Baruch son of Col-hozeh son of Hazaiah son of Adaiah son of Joiarib son of Zechariah son of the Shilonite.

6 All the sons of Perez dwelling in Jerusalem were 468 men of valor.

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,

8 and his brothers Gabbai and Sallai 928.

9 Joel son of Zichri was supervisor over them, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second in command over the city.

10 Of the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib, Jachin,

11 Seraiah son of Hilkiah son of Meshullam son of Zadok son of Meraioth son of Ahitub, governor of the house of Elohim,

12 and their brothers who did the work for the house 822; and Adaiah son of Jeroham son of Pelaliah son of Amzi son of Zechariah son of Pashhur son of Malchijah,

13 and his brothers, patriarchal heads 242; and Amashsai son of Azarel son of Ahzai son of Meshillemoth son of Immer,

14 and their brothers, masterful men of valor 128; and Zabdiel son of Haggedolim was supervisor over them.

15 Of the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub son of Azrikam son of Hashabiah son of Bunni;

16 and Shabbethai and Jozabad of the heads of the Levites were over the work outside the house of Elohim;

17 Mattaniah son of Micah son of Zichri son of Asaph, the head of the praise singing, was acclaiming at prayer while Bakbukiah was second among his brothers; and Abda son of Shammua son of Galal son of Jeduthun.

18 All the Levites in the holy city were 284.

19 The gatekeepers who were on guard at the gates, Akkub, Talmon and their brothers, were 172.

20 The remainder of the Israelites, of the priests and of the Levites were in all the cities of Judah, each man in his allotment.

21 The Nethinim were dwelling on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were over the Nethinim.

22 The supervisor of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani son of Hashabiah son of Mattaniah son of Micah, one of the sons of Asaph who were the singers in front of the work of the house of Elohim.

23 For there was an instruction of the king on behalf of them, an authenticated ordinance of a day by day program for the singers.

24 Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah son of Judah, was at the king’s hand on all matters relating to the people.

25 As for the hamlets with their fields: Some of the sons of Judah dwelt in Kiriath-arba and its outskirts, in Dibon and its outskirts and in Jekabzeel and its hamlets;

26 in Jeshua, in Moladah and in Beth-pelet;

27 in Hazar-shual, in Beer-sheba and its outskirts;

28 in Ziklag and in Mekonah and in its outskirts;

29 in En-rimmon and in Zorah and in Jarmuth,

30 Zanoah, Adullam and their hamlets; Lachish and its fields; Azekah and its outskirts. So they encamped from Beer-sheba unto the ravine of Hinnom.

31 Some of the sons of Benjamin dwelt in Geba, Michmash, Aija and Bethel and its outskirts,

32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,

33 Hazor, Raman, Gittaim,

34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,

35 Lod and Ono, and the ravine of artificers.

36 Some of the Judean apportionments of the Levites were assigned to Benjamin.

Chapter 12

1 These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

4 Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,

5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

6 Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah,

7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

8 The Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah and Mattaniah who was over the acclamations, he and his brothers,

9 while Bakbukiah and Unni and their brothers were in front of them for guard duties.

10 Jeshua begot Joiakim; Joiakim begot Eliashib, and Eliashib Joiada;

11 Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.

12 In the days of Joiakim there were his brothers, the priests and patriarchal heads: for the clan of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

14 of Malluch, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;

15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;

16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin [ . . . ]; of Moadiah, Piltai;

18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Ebed;

21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

22 The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua were registered as patriarchal heads; so also were the priests unto the reign of Darius the Persian.

23 The sons of Levi, the patriarchal heads, were written on a scroll of records of the days, unto the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.

24 The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah and Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel and their brothers in front of them for praising and acclaiming in accord with the instruction of David the man of Elohim, one guard post to correspond with the other guard post,

25 namely Mattaniah and Bakbukiah and Obadiah. Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were keeping guard as gatekeepers at the vestibules of the gateways.

26 These served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua son of Jozadak and in the days of Nehemiah the viceroy and Ezra the priest and scribe.

27 At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to perform the dedication and rejoicing with acclamations and with song, cymbals, zithers and harps.

28 The sons of Levi, the singers gathered from the circumjacent tract round about Jerusalem, from the Netophathite hamlets,

29 from Beth-gilgal and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built hamlets for themselves round about Jerusalem.

30 When the priests and the Levites had cleansed themselves, they cleansed the people and the gateways and the wall.

31 Then I let the chief officials of Judah ascend, upward to the wall. I organized two large acclamation choirs and processions, one going to the right, upward to the wall toward the Gate of Ash Heaps.

32 Hoshaiah and half of the chief officials of Judah went after them.

33 So did Azariah, Ezra and Meshullam,

34 Judah and Benjamin, Shemaiah and Jeremiah;

35 also some of the sons of the priests with bugles; Zechariah son of Jonathan son of Shemaiah son of Mattaniah son of Micaiah son of Zaccur son of Asaph,

36 and his brothers Shemaiah and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah and Hanani with the instruments of song of David the man of Elohim; and Ezra the scribe was before them.

37 At the Spring Gate, in front of them, they went up the stairs of the city of David on the ascent to the wall above the house of David and unto the Water Gate toward the east.

38 The second acclamation choir was going in the opposite direction, and I with half of the people after it, upward to the wall, above the Tower of the Stoves, and unto the broad wall;

39 and above the Gate of Ephraim on to the Secondary Gate, on to the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Hundred as far as the Flock Gate; and they stayed at the Gate of the Tail.

40 Then the two acclamation choirs took their stand in the house of Elohim, as did I and half of the prefects with me,

41 and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, Hananiah with bugles,

42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam and Ezer. Then the singers made themselves heard, with Izrahiah as supervisor.

43 They sacrificed on that day great sacrifices and rejoiced, for the One, Elohim, made them rejoice with great rejoicing; the women and the children rejoiced too; and the rejoicing in Jerusalem was heard from afar.

44 On that day men were mustered to oversee the rooms for the treasuries, for the heave offerings, for the firstfruit, and for the tithes, to collect into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions assigned by the law for the priests and the Levites; for Judah’s rejoicing was on account of the priests and the Levites who were officiating

45 and kept the charge of their Elohim and the charge of cleansing, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the instruction of David and Solomon his son.

46 For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were heads of the singers and the song of praise and acclaiming to Elohim.

47 In the days of Zerubbabel and the days of Nehemiah, all of Israel were giving the portions assigned for the singers and the gatekeepers as a day by day program, and they were sanctifying that which was for the other Levites, and the Levites were sanctifying that for the sons of Aaron.

Chapter 13

1 On that day scripture from the scroll of Moses was read into the ears of the people, and there was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should enter the assembly of Elohim for the eon,

2 for they had not succored the sons of Israel with bread and water, but had even hired against them Balaam to maledict them, though our Elohim turned the malediction into a blessing.

3 So it came to be as soon as they heard this law that they separated out of Israel all those of mixed descent.

4 Before this, Eliashib the priest, who had been set over the rooms in the house of our Elohim and was near in friendship with Tobiah,

5 provided for his use a large room where there had previously been put the approach present, the frankincense and the vessels, the tithes of grain, grape juice and clarified oil, given by obligatory instructions to the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and the heave offering for the priests.

6 During all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, I had come back to the king. Yet at the end of those days I asked leave of the king.

7 When I came to Jerusalem, I got to detect the extent of the evil which Eliashib had committed on behalf of Tobiah in providing for him a room in the courts of the house of Elohim.

8 I was very displeased, and I flung all the household furnishings of Tobiah outside of the room.

9 Then I said that they should cleanse the rooms, and I had the vessels of the house of Elohim with the approach present and the frankincense restored there.

10 I also realized that the assigned portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers, the ones doing the work, had hastened away, each man to his own field.

11 Hence I contended with the prefects and said, For what reason was the house of Elohim forsaken? Then I convened them and installed them again in their position,

12 and all of Judah brought the tithe of grain, grape juice and clarified oil to the treasuries.

13 I appointed as treasurers over the treasuries Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur son of Mattaniah at their side, for they were accounted faithful; so it devolved on them to distribute portions to their brothers.

14 Do remember me, O my Elohim, for this, and do not wipe out my kindness which I showed to the house of my Elohim and its observances.

15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading winetroughs on the sabbath, bringing threshed grain and lading it on donkeys, and also wine, grapes and figs; indeed every kind of load were they bringing into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. So I testified against them on the day they sold provisions.

16 Tyrians who dwelt in it, were bringing fish and all kinds of ware and were selling them on the sabbath to the sons of Judah, and that in Jerusalem.

17 I contended with the notables of Judah and said to them, What evil thing is this that you are doing by profaning the sabbath day?

18 Was it not thus that your fathers did, so that our Elohim brought upon us and this city all this evil? Yet you are adding to His hot anger against Israel by profaning the sabbath.

19 It came to be, as soon as the gateways of Jerusalem became shadowed before the sabbath, that I said, The doors should be closed, and I added that they should not open them until after the sabbath. And I let some of my retainers stand at the gates, so that no load might enter on the sabbath day.

20 Hence the traders and the sellers of all kinds of ware lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.

21 I testified against them and said to them, For what reason are you lodging in front of the wall? If you should repeat this, I shall put forth hands on you. From that time on they did not come on the sabbath.

22 I said to the Levites that they should be cleansing themselves and come and guard the gates so as to hallow the sabbath day. Do remember me also for this, O my Elohim, and do commiserate with me according to Your abundant benignity.

23 Moreover, in those days I saw Judeans who had located in their houses foreign women, Ashdodite, Ammonite and Moabite.

24 As for their sons, half were speaking Ashdodite or the tongue of this people and that people; yet there were none of them recognizing how to speak Judean.

25 So I contended with and maledicted them; I smote some men of them and plucked out their hair. I made them swear by Elohim: You ought not to give your daughters to their sons or take up some of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

26 Was it not on account of such women as these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him; he was loved by his Elohim, and Elohim made him king over all Israel. Yet foreign women caused even him to sin.

27 As for you, should we acquiesce in your doing all this great evil and in offending our Elohim by locating in your houses foreign women?

28 Now one of the sons of Joiada son of the great priest Eliashib was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; so I drove him away from me.

29 Do remember them, O my Elohim, on account of their sullying of the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 Then I cleansed them from everything foreign, and organized the chargers for the priests and for the Levites (each in his work)

31 as well as the supply of wood at stated times and the firstfruits. Do remember me, O my Elohim, for good.

The Book of Esther

Chapter 1

1 It was in the days of Ahasuerus that Ahasuerus who was reigning over 127 provinces from India unto Cush.

2 In those days when king Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the castle of Susa,

3 he gave a banquet in the third year of his reign for all his chief officials and courtiers: the retinue of Persia and Media, the highborn and the chiefs of the provinces who were before him,

4 when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the esteem and beauty of his greatness, for many days 180 days.

5 And when these days were fulfilled, the king gave a seven-day banquet in the court of the king’s garden pavilion for all the people found in the castle of Susa, from the greatest unto the smallest.

6 Awnings of pale cotton and blue wool were held with cord lines of fine linen and purple material on silver ring-bands and marble columns. There were couches of gold and silver on a pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and black marble.

7 Drinks were served in gold vessels, some vessels being diverse from other vessels, and the royal wine was abundant, according to the means of the king.

8 Yet drinking was according to this edict: There was to be no bother, for the king had made this deliberation to every wine steward of his household to serve according to each man’s approval.

9 Queen Vashti too gave a banquet for the women at the royal house of king Ahasuerus.

10 On the seventh day, when the king’s heart was cheerful with wine, he ordered Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Carkas (the seven eunuchs ministering in the presence of king Ahasuerus),

11 to bring queen Vashti before the king, with the royal diadem, to show off her loveliness to the peoples and the chief officials, for she was good-looking in appearance.

12 But queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s order that was conveyed by means of the eunuchs. The king was exceedingly wrathful, and his fury blazed up in him.

13 So the king asked the wise men who had knowledge of precedents, for this was the royal practice before all those having knowledge of edict and adjudication.

14 The ones next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, seven chief officials of Persia and Media, who were seeing the royal presence and were sitting first in the kingdom.

15 He asked: According to the edict, what should be done to queen Vashti because she did not obey king Ahasuerus’ order by means of the eunuchs?

16 Memucan then replied before the king and the chief officials: It was not the king himself alone whom queen Vashti has degraded, but all chief officials and all peoples in all provinces of king Ahasuerus.

17 For the affair of the queen shall go forth to all the wives and cause them to despise their spouses in their own eyes when they say that king Ahasuerus himself ordered to bring queen Vashti before him, but she did not come.

18 So this very day the chief ladies of Persia and Media, who have heard of the queen’s affair, shall cite it to all the king’s chief officials, and there will be an infestation of contempt and wrath.

19 If it seems good to the king, a royal decree may go forth from before him, and it may be written into the edicts of Persia and Media so that it cannot be revoked, that Vashti must never again enter into the presence of king Ahasuerus, and that the king shall bestow her royal position upon an associate of hers who is better than she.

20 When the king’s rescript, that he must execute, is announced in all his kingdom, vast as it is, then all wives shall render esteem to their spouses from the greatest unto the smallest.

21 The proposal was good in the eyes of the king and the chief officials, and the king did according to Memucan’s proposal.

22 He sent letters to all the king’s provinces, to each province in its own provincial writing, and to each people in its own popular tongue, so that every man should be in control of his household and speak the tongue of his own people.

Chapter 2

1 After these things, when king Ahasuerus’ fury had subsided, he remembered Vashti and what she had done and that a severance decree was issued against her.

2 So the king’s retainers who were ministering to him said: Let them seek out maidens for the king, virgins and good-looking in appearance.

3 May the king look after supervisors in all provinces of his kingdom, and let them convene every maiden virgin, good-looking in appearance, at the castle of Susa at the house of women under the hand of Hegai, the king’s eunuch who is in charge of the women; and let them be provided with their beauty-treatments.

4 Then let the maiden who is well pleasing in the king’s eyes be queen instead of Vashti. The proposal was good in the king’s eyes, and he did so.

5 There was in the castle of Susa a Jewish man. His name was Mordecai son of Jair son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjamite man,

6 whose family had been carried away from Jerusalem with the deportation that had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported.

7 And Mordecai had become foster father to Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. The maiden had a lovely shape and was good-looking in appearance. At the death of her father and her mother Mordecai took her to himself as a daughter.

8 Now it came to be, when the king’s decree and his edict was announced and when many maidens were brought together at the castle of Susa under the hand of Hegai, then Esther was also taken to the king’s house under the hand of Hegai who was in charge of the women.

9 The maiden was well pleasing in his eyes, and she obtained kindness before him, so that he speeded up her beauty-treatments and her assigned rations, and he provided her with the seven selected maidens, assigned to her from the king’s house. Then he let her and her maidens occupy the best quarters in the house of the women.

10 Esther had not told about her people or her kindred, for Mordecai had enjoined on her that she should not tell.

11 Every day Mordecai was walking about before the court of the house of the women so as to know of Esther’s well-being and what was being done with her.

12 When a maiden’s turn was attained and the maiden had to come to king Ahasuerus at the end of the women’s twelve months’ regimen prescribed for her, since in this way the days of her beauty-treatments were fulfilled: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with aromatics and with beauty-treatments of the women

13 when after this the maiden was coming to the king, then anything she asked for was given to her to come with her from the house of the women to the king’s house.

14 She would be entering in the evening, and she would be returning in the morning to the second house of the women under the hand of Shaashgaz the king’s eunuch, the guardian of the concubines. She would not come again to the king unless the king had taken delight in her and she had been called by name.

15 When the turn was attained for Esther (whom Mordecai had taken to himself as a daughter she was the daughter of his uncle Abihail) to come to the king, she did not seek permission for anything save what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the guardian of the women, had advised. Esther had been obtaining favor in the eyes of all those seeing her;

16 so when Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus at his royal house in the tenth month (that is, the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign),

17 the king loved Esther more than all the other women. She obtained more favor and kindness before him than all the other virgins, so that he placed the royal diadem on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti.

18 Then the king gave a great banquet for all his chief officials and his courtiers, the banquet of Esther; and he granted a rest day for the provinces and distributed helpings according to the means of the king.

19 When diverse virgins were brought together, Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gateway.

20 Esther was not telling about her kindred or her people just as Mordecai had enjoined on her; for Esther was obeying Mordecai’s order just as before when she had been a foster child under his care.

21 In those days when Mordecai was sitting in the king’s gateway, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs of the guardians of the threshold, were wrathful and sought out to lay hand on king Ahasuerus.

22 Yet the plot became known to Mordecai, and he told it to queen Esther. In Mordecai’s name, Esther reported it to the king.

23 When the plot was sought out and was found to be true, then the two of them were hanged on the gallows, and it was written on the scroll of records of the days before the king.

Chapter 3

1 After these things king Ahasuerus magnified Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite; he advanced him and put his covered seat above all the other chief officials who were with him.

2 All the king’s courtiers in the king’s gateway were bowing down and prostrating themselves before Haman; for so were the instructions the king had given concerning him. As for Mordecai, he did neither bow down nor prostrate himself.

3 So the king’s courtiers in the king’s gateway said to Mordecai: For what reason are you trespassing the king’s instruction?

4 Then it came to be, when they had spoken to him day after day and he had not hearkened to them, that they told Haman in order to see whether Mordecai’s affairs would persist; for he had professed to them that he was a Jew.

5 When Haman saw that Mordecai was not bowing down nor prostrating himself before him, Haman was filled with fury.

6 But it was despicable in his eyes to lay hand on Mordecai alone (for they had told him about Mordecai’s people); so Haman sought out to exterminate all the Jews, Mordecai’s people, who were in the entire kingdom of Ahasuerus.

7 In the first month, that is, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, someone cast pur (that is, the lot) before Haman from day to day and from month to month, to the twelfth, that is, the month of Adar.

8 Then Haman said to king Ahasuerus: There is a certain people dispersed and parted among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; and their edicts are diverse from any other people. They are not obeying the king’s edicts, and for the king it is not appropriate to tolerate them.

9 If it seems good to the king, it may be written to destroy them; and for the hands of those doing the work I shall weigh out ten thousand silver talents to bring to the king’s storerooms.

10 So the king withdrew his ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of the Jews.

11 And the king said to Haman: The silver be given to you, also the people, to do with them according to what is well pleasing in your eyes.

12 Then the king’s scribes were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it. According to all the instructions that Haman had given, it was written to the king’s satraps, to the viceroys who were over the different provinces, and to the chief officials of the different peoples, to each province in its own provincial writing, and to each people in its own popular tongue. It was written in the name of king Ahasuerus and was sealed with the king’s ring.

13 Letters were sent by means of couriers to all the king’s provinces, to exterminate, to kill and to destroy all the Jews from youth unto old age, both little ones and women, on a single day, the thirteenth of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to plunder the loot of them.

14 A transcript of the written text was to be promulgated as an edict in all the different provinces and was to be revealed to all the peoples, namely, to become equipped for this day.

15 The couriers rode forth posthaste by order of the king, and the edict was promulgated in the castle of Susa. Then the king and Haman sat down to drink, but Susa city was doleful.

Chapter 4

1 When Mordecai got knowledge of everything that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes. Then he went forth into the midst of the city and cried out with a loud and bitter outcry,

2 until he came before the king’s gateway (for no one was to come into the king’s gateway in clothing of sackcloth).

3 Also, in every place of the different provinces to which the king’s order and his edict were attaining, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and lamentation and wailing. Sackcloth and ashes became a berth for many.

4 When Esther’s maidens and her eunuchs came and told her, then was the queen in intense mental travail; then she sent clothes for Mordecai to put on and to take off his sackcloth from him; but he would not receive them.

5 Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs whom he had assigned to officiate before her, and she gave him instruction about Mordecai, to get knowledge what this meant and what this was all about.

6 So Hathach went forth to Mordecai into the city square that was before the king’s gateway.

7 Then Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and also about the exact amount of silver that Haman had promised to weigh out for the king’s storerooms against the Jews, to destroy them.

8 He also gave him a transcript of the written text of the edict that had been issued in Susa to have them exterminated. He told him to show it to Esther and to tell her and to enjoin on her to come in to the king and supplicate to him and appeal earnestly before him on behalf of her people.

9 When Hathach came back and told Esther Mordecai’s words,

10 then Esther replied to Hathach and gave him instruction for Mordecai:

11 All the king’s courtiers and the people of the king’s provinces know that for any man or woman coming in to the king into the inner court who was not called, his only edict is to be put to death, aside from the one to whom the king might hold out the golden scepter; he will stay alive. As for me, I have not been called to come in to the king for these past thirty days.

12 Hathach told Mordecai Esther’s words.

13 Then Mordecai said to reply to Esther: Do not imagine in your own soul that in the king’s house you will escape any more than all the other Jews.

14 For if you keep silence, yea silence in this crisis, sustentation and rescue shall stand up for the Jews from another place; but you and your father’s house, you shall perish. And who is there knowing whether it was for a crisis like this that you have attained to the royal position?

15 Esther said to reply to Mordecai:

16 Go, collect together all the Jews who are to be found in Susa, and fast on my behalf. Do not eat and do not drink for three days, night and day. I too with my maidens shall fast likewise. In this way I shall come in to the king, even though it is not according to the edict. And if I should perish, I shall perish.

17 Then Mordecai passed along and did all just as Esther had enjoined on him.

Chapter 5

1 It was on the third day that Esther put on royal clothing and took her stand in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house, while the king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal house, over against the portal of the house.

2 It came to be, as the king saw queen Esther standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his eyes, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther approached and touched the top of the scepter.

3 Then the king said to her: What have you to say, queen Esther? What is your urgent appeal? Even unto half of the kingship, it shall be granted to you.

4 Esther replied: If it seems good to the king, let the king come today with Haman to the banquet that I have prepared for him.

5 The king commanded: Bring Haman quickly to act at the word of Esther. So the king came with Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

6 At the wine feast, the king said to Esther: What is your request? It shall be granted to you. What is your urgent appeal? Unto half of the kingship, it shall be granted to you.

7 Esther answered and said: My request and my urgent appeal is:

8 If I have found favor in the king’s eyes, and if it seems good to the king, to grant my request and to attend to my urgent appeal, let the king come tomorrow with Haman to the banquet that I shall prepare for them; and tomorrow I shall comply with the word of the king.

9 On that day Haman went forth rejoicing and cheerful of heart. When Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gateway that he did not rise and did not even stir about because of him, then Haman was filled with fury against Mordecai.

10 Yet Haman checked himself and came to his house; he sent word and let his male friends and his wife Zeresh come.

11 Haman related to them the glory of his riches, his many sons and all about how the king had magnified him and how he had advanced him above all the king’s chief officials and courtiers.

12 Haman added: Indeed, queen Esther let no one save me come with the king to the banquet that she gave; and also tomorrow I am invited to come to her with the king.

13 But all of this, it is no compensation for me every time I see Mordecai the Jew sitting in the king’s gateway.

14 So his wife Zeresh with all his male friends advised him: Let them build a lofty gallows of fifty cubits, and in the morning ask the king that they should hang Mordecai on it. Then set out with the king to the banquet rejoicing. The plan seemed good before Haman, and he had the gallows built.

Chapter 6

1 During that night, sleep flitted away from the king, and he said to bring the memorial scroll of records of the days; and they were read before the king.

2 There it was found written that Mordecai had denounced Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs of the guardians of the threshold, who had sought to lay hand on king Ahasuerus.

3 The king asked: What esteem and greatness has been conferred on Mordecai for this? The king’s retainers who were ministering to him answered: Nothing was conferred on him.

4 Then the king asked: Who is in the court? (Now Haman had just entered the court outside the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.)

5 The king’s retainers replied to him: Here is Haman standing in the court. So the king ordered: Let him enter.

6 When Haman came in, the king asked him: What ought to be done for the man in whose esteem the king has taken a delight? Now Haman said in his heart: To whom but me would the king desire to confer superlative esteem?

7 So Haman said to the king: For the man in whose esteem the king has taken a delight,

8 let them bring out royal clothing with which the king has clothed himself, and a horse on which the king has ridden, with the royal diadem that has been placed on its head.

9 Then may the clothing and horse be put at the hand of one of the king’s highborn chief officials, and let him clothe the man in whose esteem the king has taken a delight, and parade him on the horse in the city square, while proclaiming before him: Thus is it done to the man in whose esteem the king has taken a delight.

10 Then the king ordered Haman: Make haste and take the clothing and the horse, just as you have said, and deal in this way with Mordecai the Jew who is sitting in the king’s gateway. You must not omit anything of all that you have spoken.

11 So Haman took the clothing and the horse, clothed Mordecai and paraded him in the city square while he proclaimed before him: Thus is it done to the man in whose esteem the king has taken a delight.

12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gateway. As for Haman, he went posthaste to his house, mournful with hooded head.

13 Haman related to his wife Zeresh and to all his male friends everything that had just happened to him. His advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him: Since Mordecai, before whom you have started to fall, is from the seed of the Jews, you shall not prevail against him; indeed, you shall fall, yea fall before him.

14 While they were still speaking with him, the king’s eunuchs attained and hustled to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Chapter 7

1 So the king and Haman came to feast with queen Esther.

2 Then, on the second day during the wine feast, the king asked Esther again: What is your request, queen Esther? It shall be granted to you. What is your urgent appeal? Unto half of the kingship, it shall be granted to you.

3 Queen Esther answered and said: If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it seems good to the king, may my own soul be granted to me at my request, and my people’s at my urgent appeal.

4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be exterminated, to be killed and to be destroyed. Now supposing we had been sold as male slaves and as maids, I would have kept silent, for it would not be appropriate to report such a distress, and cause trouble to the king.

5 Then king Ahasuerus inquired; he asked queen Esther: Who, then, is he? And just where is he who has filled his heart to act in this way?

6 Esther replied: The man, the foe and enemy, is this evil Haman. Haman was frightened before the king and the queen.

7 When the king, in his fury, arose from the wine feast to go into the garden of the pavilion, Haman stayed behind to appeal earnestly for his soul from queen Esther, for he saw that there was evil determined against him from the king.

8 Yet the king returned from the garden of the pavilion to the house of the wine feast as Haman was falling upon the couch on which Esther was. So the king shouted: Will he even molest the queen, with me in the house? As the word had come forth from the king’s mouth, they hooded Haman’s face.

9 And Harbona, one of the eunuchs before the king, said: Moreover, behold, there is standing at Haman’s house the lofty gallows of fifty cubits that Haman had prepared for Mordecai who had spoken to the good of the king. So the king ordered: Hang him on it!

10 Then they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. And the king’s fury subsided.

Chapter 8

1 On the same day king Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the foe of the Jews, to queen Esther. As for Mordecai, he came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her.

2 The king took off his ring that he had reclaimed from Haman and bestowed it on Mordecai; and Esther appointed Mordecai to oversee Haman’s house.

3 Then Esther pleaded again before the king and fell down before his feet. She wept and supplicated him to avert the evil plotted by Haman the Agagite, and his devising that he had devised against the Jews.

4 When the king held out the golden scepter to Esther, then Esther arose and stood before the king,

5 and she said: If it seems good to the king, and if I have found favor before him, and the request seems right before the king, and I am well pleasing in his eyes, let a decree be written to reverse the letters, the devising of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, those which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king’s provinces.

6 For how can I endure to see this evil that is coming upon my people? And how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred?

7 King Ahasuerus replied to queen Esther and to Mordecai the Jew: Behold, I have given Haman’s house to Esther, and they hanged him on the gallows because he put forth his hand against the Jews.

8 As for you, write on behalf of the Jews as seems best in your eyes. Write in the king’s name and seal it with the king’s ring. (For a writing which is written in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring can not be reversed.)

9 So the king’s scribes were called at that time, in the third month, that is, the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it. All was written, just as Mordecai instructed them, to the Jews and to the satraps, the viceroys and chief officials of all the provinces, 127 provinces from India unto Cush, to each province in its provincial writing, and to each people in its popular tongue, and to the Jews in their writing and in their tongue.

10 Mordecai wrote in the name of king Ahasuerus, sealed with the king’s ring and sent letters by means of couriers on horseback, riding the stallions of the royal service, those bred of its stud-mares.

11 By these letters the king granted the Jews who were in every place, city by city, the right to assemble and to stand up for their souls, to exterminate, to kill and to destroy every armed unit of any people or province that might besiege them, their little ones or their women, and that might plunder the loot of them,

12 on a single day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar.

13 A transcript of the written text was to be promulgated as an edict in all the different provinces and was to be revealed to all the peoples, that the Jews would be equipped for this day to avenge themselves on their enemies.

14 The couriers, riding the stallions of the royal service, rode forth, speeding up posthaste by order of the king; and the edict was promulgated in the castle of Susa.

15 As for Mordecai, he went forth from before the king in royal clothing of blue and pale cotton, wearing a magnified coronet of gold and a cloak of fine linen and purple wool. And Susa city was noisy with rejoicing.

16 For the Jews there was light with rejoicing, elation and esteem.

17 Also in every place of the different provinces and in each of the different cities to which the king’s order and his edict were attaining, there was rejoicing and elation for the Jews, with feasting and a cheerful day. And many of the peoples of the country were professing themselves Jews, for awesome fear of the Jews had fallen on them.

Chapter 9

1 In the twelfth month, that is, the month of Adar, on the thirteenth day of it, when the king’s order and his edict attained to be executed, on that day to which the enemies of the Jews had looked forward so as to domineer over them, then this was overturned, in that the Jews themselves domineered over those hating them.

2 In all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, the Jews had assembled in their cities to lay hand on those seeking to exact evil on them. No man could stand before them, for awesome fear had fallen on all the peoples.

3 All chief officials of the provinces, the satraps and the viceroys, those conducting the king’s business, were assisting the Jews; for awesome fear of Mordecai had fallen on them.

4 For Mordecai’s influence was great in the king’s house, and his fame was spreading in all the provinces as the influence of the man Mordecai became towering.

5 The Jews smote all their enemies with the smiting of the sword, with killing and destruction; they did to those hating them as was acceptable to them.

6 In the castle of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed 500 men,

7 also Parshandatha, Dalphon and Aspatha,

8 Poratha, Adalia and Aridatha,

9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai and Vaizatha,

10 the ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the foe of the Jews. They killed them, but they did not lay their hand on the plunder.

11 On the same day the number of those killed in the castle of Susa came before the king;

12 and the king said to queen Esther: In the castle of Susa alone the Jews have killed and destroyed 500 men and the ten sons of Haman. What have they done in the remainder of the king’s provinces? Now what is your request? It shall be granted to you. And what is your other urgent appeal? It shall also be done.

13 Esther answered: If it seems good to the king, let it be granted to the Jews in Susa to execute also tomorrow according to the edict for today, and let them hang the bodies of the ten sons of Haman on the gallows.

14 So the king ordered it to be done in this way; an edict was issued in Susa, and they hanged the ten sons of Haman.

15 The Jews in Susa assembled again on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed 300 men in Susa, but they did not lay their hand on the plunder.

16 The remainder of the Jews in the king’s provinces had assembled to stand up for their souls and to find rest from their enemies. They killed 75,000 of those hating them, but they did not lay their hand on the plunder.

17 That was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and they came to rest on the fourteenth day of it and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

18 As for the Jews in Susa, they had assembled both on the thirteenth day of it and on the fourteenth day of it; and they came to rest on the fifteenth day of it and made it a day of feasting and rejoicing.

19 Therefore the rural Jews, those dwelling in unwalled villages, were observing the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of rejoicing and feasting and a cheerful day for the sending of assigned shares, each man to his associate.

20 Mordecai wrote up these things and sent letters to all the Jews, those who were near and far, in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus,

21 to make it mandatory for them to keep on observing annually the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day of it, in every year

22 as the days on which the Jews found rest from their enemies and as the month when it turned for them from affliction to rejoicing and from mourning to a cheerful day, to observe them as days of feasting and rejoicing and the sending of assigned shares, each man to his associate, and gifts to the needy.

23 The Jews received as custom what they had started to practice and what Mordecai had written to them.

24 For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the foe of all the Jews, had devised against the Jews to destroy them and had cast pur (that is, the lot) to discomfit them and to destroy them.

25 But when it came before the king, he ordered with a letter that his evil devising that he had devised against the Jews should get back on his own head; and so they hanged him and his sons on the gallows.

26 Therefore they called these days Purim, by the name of the pur. Therefore because of all the instructions of this letter and of what they had faced as to this matter and of what had attained to them,

27 the Jews confirmed this and received it as custom for themselves and for their seed and for all joining them as proselytes that they should not trespass; they ought to keep on observing annually these two days in accord with their written text and at their stated time in every year.

28 These days should be remembered and observed by all, generation after generation, family after family, province after province, and city after city. These days of Purim should never pass away from the midst of the Jews, and their remembrance should not terminate among their seed.

29 Also queen Esther daughter of Abihail, along with Mordecai the Jew, wrote with full enforcement to confirm this second letter of Purim.

30 So letters were sent to all the Jews, to the 127 provinces in Ahasuerus’ kingdom, in words of peace and truth,

31 to confirm these days of Purim at their stated times just as Mordecai the Jew along with queen Esther had set these up for them, and just as they had made mandatory the instructions of fastings and their outcry for their own soul and for their seed.

32 Thus Esther’s order confirmed these details of Purim, and it was written down in a scroll.

Chapter 10

1 King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on the mainland and the islands of the sea.

2 All the achievements of his might and his masterful deeds, and the exact statement of Mordecai’s greatness whom the king had magnified, are they not written in the scroll of records of the days of the kings of Media and Persia?

3 For Mordecai the Jew was second to king Ahasuerus and towering among the Jews and held dear by many of his brothers; he sought after the good for his people and spoke up for the well-being of all his seed.

The Book of Job

Chapter 1

1 There was a man in the land of Uz. Job was his name. This man was flawless and upright, fearing Elohim and keeping away from evil.

2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him,

3 and his acquisitions came to be seven thousand small cattle, three thousand camels, five hundred pair of oxen and five hundred jennies, beside very many servants, so that this man came to be the greatest of all the sons of the east.

4 Now his sons would go and hold a feast, each in his house on his day, and they would send and call to their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

5 And it came to be when the feast days were concluded, that Job would send and have them hallowed. He would rise early in the morning and offer up ascent offerings in number as them all. For Job would say, Perhaps my sons have sinned and have scorned Elohim in their heart. Thus Job was doing for all these days.

6 There was a day when the sons of Elohim would come to station themselves before Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst.

7 Yahweh said to the Adversary, From where are you coming? Then the Adversary answered Yahweh and said, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking about in it.

8 So Yahweh said to the Adversary, Have you set your heart on My servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a man flawless and upright, fearing Elohim and keeping away from evil.

9 Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying, Does Job fear Elohim gratuitously?

10 Have you yourself not hedged him about, and about his house and about all that is his all around? The work of his hands you have blessed, and his cattle breach forth throughout the countryside.

11 Nevertheless, now put forth your hand and touch all that is his. He shall assuredly scorn you to your face.

12 Hence Yahweh said to the Adversary, Behold, all that he has is in your hand, but you must not put forth your hand upon himself. Then the Adversary went forth from Yahweh’s presence.

13 Now the day came when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn.

14 And a messenger came to Job and said, The oxen were plowing, and the jennies were grazing at their sides,

15 when the Sabeans swooped down and took them. Then they smote the lads with the edge of the sword, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.

16 This one was still speaking when another came and said, The fire of Elohim, it fell from the heavens, it consumed the small cattle and the lads, and it devoured them, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.

17 This one was still speaking when another came and said, The Chaldeans, they formed three bands, and they merged on the camels and took them. Then they smote the lads with the edge of the sword, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.

18 This one was still speaking when another came and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in the house of their brother, the firstborn,

19 when behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness, and it assaulted the four corners of the house. It fell upon the young people, and they died, yet I escaped, but I myself alone, to tell it to you.

20 Then Job arose, tore his robe and sheared his head. He fell to the earth and worshiped.

21 And he said, Naked I came forth from the belly of my mother, and naked I shall return there. Yahweh, He gives, and Yahweh, He takes away. Blessed be the Name of Yahweh.

22 In all this, Job neither sinned nor ascribed anything improper to Elohim.

Chapter 2

1 The day came around again when the sons of Elohim came to station themselves before Yahweh, and the Adversary came also in their midst to station himself before Yahweh.

2 Yahweh said to the Adversary, From where are you coming? Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying, From going to and fro in the earth and from walking about in it.

3 Yahweh said to the Adversary, Have you set your heart on My servant Job? For there is no one like him on earth, a man flawless and upright, fearing Elohim and keeping away from evil. And he still is holding fast to his integrity, though you would incite Me against him to swallow him up gratuitously.

4 Then the Adversary answered Yahweh, saying, Skin in behalf of skin, for all that a man has would he give in behalf of his soul.

5 Nevertheless, now put forth your hand and touch his bone and his flesh. He shall assuredly scorn you to your face.

6 Hence Yahweh said to the Adversary, Behold him in your hand; only keep his soul alive.

7 Then the Adversary went forth from Yahweh’s presence, and he smote Job with evil boils from the sole of his foot unto his scalp.

8 So he took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with it as he was sitting in the midst of ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, Are you still holding fast to your integrity? Scorn Elohim and die.

10 Yet he said to her, As some decadent woman speaks are you speaking. Indeed should we receive good from the One, Elohim, and should we not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

11 Now three associates of Job heard about all this evil coming on him, and they set out, each one from his place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come and condole with him and comfort him.

12 When they lifted their eyes from afar, they did not recognize him. Then they lifted their voice and lamented, while each one tore his robe, and they sprinkled soil toward the heavens on their heads.

13 They sat with him on the earth seven days and seven nights. And there was no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Chapter 3

1 Afterward Job opened his mouth, and he maledicted his day.

2 Thus Job asserted, saying:

3 May the day perish in which I was born, And the night that said, A master is engendered!

4 That day! let it be darkness; Let not Eloah from above seek after it, And let not a light beam shine on it.

5 May darkness and the blackest shadow redeem it back; May a cloud tabernacle over it; May rolling fogs of the day frighten it.

6 That night! may gloom take hold of it; May it not be one of the days of the year; In the numbering of the months, may it not enter.

7 Behold, that night! may it be stark; Let no jubilant song enter into it.

8 May those who curse the day revile it, Who are equipped to rouse the dragon.

9 May the stars of its morning twilight be darkened; May it expect light and there be none, And let it not see the eyelids of the dawn.

10 For it did not close the doors of my mother’s belly Or conceal misery from my eyes.

11 Why did I not die from the womb, From the belly come forth and breathe my last?

12 For what reason did two knees anticipate me, And why the two breasts that I could suck?

13 For now I would lie and be quiet; I would sleep; then there would be rest for me,

14 With kings and counselors of the earth, The builders of desert tombs for themselves,

15 Or with chiefs who had gold, Who were filling their houses with silver.

16 Why was I not like a buried stillborn child, Like babes who have not seen light?

17 There the wicked leave off all disturbance, And there those wearied from vigor are resting.

18 Prisoners are tranquil together; They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.

19 Small or great, he is there, And the servant is free from his lords.

20 Why is He giving light to the miserable, And life to the bitter of soul

21 (Who tarry for death, yet it is not coming, And delve for it more than for buried treasures,

22 Who rejoice unto exultation, And are elated when they find the tomb),

23 To a master whose way is concealed When Eloah has screened him about?

24 For like my bread comes my sighing, And my roarings pour forth like water.

25 For the alarm I am afraid of, it arrives for me, And that which I shrink from comes to me.

26 I have no ease, and I am not quiet; I have no rest, and disturbance keeps coming.

Chapter 4

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:

2 Can one try a word with you? You would tire; Yet who is able to restrain from declarations?

3 Behold, you have admonished many, And you reinforced slacking hands.

4 Your declarations raised one who was stumbling, And you made the bowing knees resolute.

5 But now it is coming on you, and you tire; It is touching unto you, and you are flustered.

6 Is not your devout fear your confidence, And your flawless ways your expectation?

7 Remember, I pray, who that is innocent perishes? And where are the upright suppressed?

8 Just as I have seen, those who plow lawlessness And sow misery are reaping it.

9 By the breath of Eloah are they perishing, And by the spirit of His nostrils are they being consumed.

10 The roaring of the lion and the voice of the black lion are gone, And the teeth of the sheltered lions are broken out;

11 The long-maned lion is perishing from lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are parted away.

12 Now a word was brought stealthily to me, And my ear took hold of a little buzz of it.

13 In disquieting thoughts from visions of the night, In that stupor which falls on mortals,

14 Alarm befell me and quivering, And it made the multitude of my bones afraid.

15 Then a wind passed by before my face; The hair of my flesh bristled.

16 Something stood there, yet I could not recognize its appearance; A representation was in front of my eyes; It was still, and I heard a voice:

17 Can a mortal be righteous before Eloah? Or a master be pure before his Maker?

18 If He places no faith in His servants, And He charges His messengers with impropriety,

19 How much more so those who tabernacle in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the soil? Forces crush them like a moth.

20 Between morning and evening they are being pounded; Without being regarded, they perish permanently.

21 Has not their tent cord been pulled up from them? They die, but not with wisdom.

Chapter 5

1 Call now! is there one who will answer you? And to whom from the holy ones shall you face?

2 Indeed vexation shall kill the foolish man, And jealousy shall put the simple one to death.

3 I myself have seen a foolish man taking root, And I saw his homestead suddenly reviled:

4 May his sons go far from safety, And may they be crushed in the gate when there is no rescuer.

5 His harvest, the hungry one shall eat, And he shall take it away to secluded places; And the thirsting one will gasp for their estate.

6 For sorrow does not grow forth from the soil, And from the ground, misery does not sprout,

7 But humanity is born to misery, Even as sparks of burning coal fly aloft.

8 Nevertheless, as for me, I inquire of El, And before Elohim do I place my cause,

9 Doer of great deeds, of which there is no fathoming, Marvelous works of which there is no enumeration,

10 Who is giving rain on the surface of the earth And sending waters over the surface of the open places.

11 In order to set the lowly on high, And so the somber may become impregnable in safety,

12 He is annulling the devisings of the crafty, So that their hands may not achieve prosperity,

13 Seizing the wise in their craftiness, So that the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

14 By day they encounter darkness, And they grope at noon as in the night.

15 Yet He saves the needy from the sword of their mouth And from the hand of the unyielding.

16 Hence there comes to be expectation for the poor one, And iniquity, it shuts its mouth.

17 Behold, happy is the mortal whom Eloah corrects; Thus you must not reject the admonition of Him Who-Suffices.

18 For He Himself causes pain, and He shall bind up; He transfixes, and His hands, they shall heal.

19 In six distresses He shall rescue you, And in seven, evil shall not touch you.

20 In famine, He will ransom you from death, And in battle from the hands of the sword.

21 From scourge of tongue shall you be hidden, And you shall not fear devastation when it comes.

22 Devastation and starvation shall you ridicule, And you shall certainly not fear the wild animal of the land.

23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, And the wild animal of the field will be at peace with you.

24 You will know that your tent lies in peace, And you will check over your homestead and shall not miss anything.

25 You will know also that your seed will be abundant, And your offspring like the herbage of the earth.

26 You shall come to the tomb in mature age, Like a shock of grain that ascends in its season.

27 Behold this, we have investigated it; it is so; Do hear it; and you, get to know it for yourself.

Chapter 6

1 Then Job answered, saying:

2 O that my vexation could be weighed, yea weighed, And they could take up my woe upon the scales together with it.

3 Because now it is heavier than the sand of the seas, Therefore my words are impetuous.

4 For the arrows of Him Who-Suffices are in me; Their venom is what my spirit has been drinking; Frightenings from Eloah are arrayed against me.

5 Does an onager bray over verdure? Would a bull low over its fodder?

6 Is insipid food being eaten without salt? Or is there taste in the ooze of purslane?

7 My soul refuses to touch them; They are like bread of sickness to me.

8 O that my request would come, That Eloah would grant my expectation,

9 That Eloah would be disposed to crush me! May He let loose His hand and clip me off!

10 Then there would still be this consolation for me, While I flinch in the travail which He is not sparing, That I have not suppressed the words of the Holy One.

11 What is my vigor that I should wait? And what is my end that I should prolong my soul?

12 Is my vigor the vigor of stones, Or my flesh like bronze?

13 Isn’t it that there is nothing in me to help myself, And all prosperity has been driven away from me?

14 One who is in meltdown should have kindness from his associates, Even if he should forsake the fear of Him Who-Suffices.

15 My brothers, they are treacherous like a wadi, Like a channel of wadis that overflow,

16 That become somber because of ice, And snow obscures them.

17 In the season when they thaw they are effaced; In the bright warmth they are extinguished from their place.

18 Caravans are sent aside from their way; They ascend into the wasteland and perish.

19 The caravans of Tema look for waters; The wayfarers of Sheba expect to find them.

20 But they are ashamed that each one trusted the place; They come to it, and they are abashed.

21 Thus have you now become to me; You see catastrophe, and you are fearful.

22 Indeed have I said, Grant something to me? Or, Pay a bribe from your fortune in my behalf?

23 Or, Deliver me forth from the hand of a foe? Or, You shall ransom me from the hand of terrifiers?

24 Direct me, and I shall keep silent, And where I have erred, make me understand.

25 How savory are words of uprightness, Yet how can correction from you be correcting?

26 Are you designing to correct with declarations, Yet treat as wind the words of a desperate man?

27 Indeed, you would cast lots for the orphan, And you would barter over your associate.

28 Yet now be kindly disposed; face me; I shall assuredly not lie to your face.

29 Relent, I pray; let it not become iniquity, And relent further; my righteousness is at stake in it.

30 Is there iniquity on my tongue? Or does not my palate understand woes?

Chapter 7

1 Has not a mortal a hard enlistment on the earth? And his days, are they not like the days of a hireling?

2 Like a slave who is gasping after shade, And like a hireling who is expecting his wages,

3 So am I allotted months of futility for myself, And nights of misery have they assigned to me.

4 When I lie down, then I say, When shall I rise? Yet the evening is interminable, And I am surfeited with restlessness until the morning twilight.

5 My flesh is clothed with maggot and dirty scab; My skin is split apart and is fetid.

6 My days are fleeter than a weaver’s shuttle, And they shall conclude with the limit of the weaving thread.

7 Remember that my life is a wind; My eye shall not turn back to see good.

8 The eye of Him with sight shall not regard me; Your eyes will look for me, but I will not be there.

9 As a cloud vanishes and goes away, So one descending to the unseen shall not ascend.

10 He shall not return any more to his house, And his place shall not recognize him again.

11 Indeed for me, I shall not keep back my mouth; O let me speak in the distress of my spirit; O let me importune in the bitterness of my soul.

12 Am I the sea or the sea monster That You should place a guard over me?

13 For I said, My cot shall comfort me; My bed shall bear away my concern;

14 Yet You have dismayed me with dreams, And with visions You have frightened me.

15 So my soul would choose strangling, Death, rather than my bodily staunchness.

16 I reject this; I would not live for the eon; Let me alone, for my days are a transitory breath.

17 What is a mortal that You should make a great thing of him, Or that You should set Your heart on him?

18 Or You should check him every morning, And You should test him every moment?

19 How long? Shall You never take Your probing heed from me, Never let me relax even until I swallow my saliva?

20 I have sinned, Yet what do I contrive against You, O Preserver of mankind? Why have You established me as Your target mark, That I should become a load to You?

21 Why do You not bear my transgression And pass over my depravity? For now I shall lie in the soil, And You would seek me early, but I will not be there.

Chapter 8

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:

2 How long shall you declare these things, And the sayings of your mouth be such abundant wind?

3 Does El distort judgment, And should He Who-Suffices distort justice?

4 If your sons sin against Him, Then He shall cast them out into the grip of their transgression.

5 Yet if you yourself seek early for El, And to Him Who-Suffices you supplicate,

6 If you are spotless and upright, Even now He would rouse Himself over you, And He would bring peace to your righteous homestead.

7 So your beginning will seem inferior, Yet your latter state shall grow very great.

8 For ask, I pray, of the former generation, And survey the investigations of their fathers.

9 For we are of yesterday, and we know nothing, For our days on the earth are but a shadow.

10 Shall they not direct you, apprise you And bring forth declarations from their heart?

11 Can papyrus grow with no marsh? Can marsh grass grow great without water?

12 Even while it is in its full pollination, though it be not plucked, Yet it would dry up before all other grass.

13 So are the paths laid for all those forgetting El, And so the expectation of the polluted man shall perish,

14 He whose confidence is cut asunder, And his trust is a spider’s house.

15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not stand firm.

16 He is moist in the presence of the sun, And his young shoots are sent forth throughout his garden.

17 His roots become tangled about a mound; He holds on a house of stones.

18 But if one swallows him up from his place, Then it disavows him: I have not seen you.

19 Behold, this is the elation of his brief way, And from the soil others shall sprout.

20 Behold, El Himself does not reject the flawless man, And He does not hold fast on the hand of evildoers.

21 He shall yet fill your mouth with mirth, And your lips with joyful shouting.

22 Those hating you shall be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked, it shall be no more.

Chapter 9

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 Truly I know that this is so, Yet how can a mortal be righteous before El?

3 If he desires to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

4 He is wise in heart and resolute in vigor; Who has stiffened himself against Him and fared well?

5 He is the One shifting mountains, and they do not know it, Who overturns them in His anger,

6 The One disturbing the earth from its place, So that its columns are shuddering,

7 The One speaking to the sun’s disk so that it does not rise, And Who places a seal about the stars,

8 Who alone is stretching out the heavens, And Who is treading on the high swells of the sea,

9 Who is making the Great Bear, Orion And the Pleiades, besides the chambers of the south,

10 Who is doing great wonders until there can be no fathoming, And marvelous works until there can be no numbering.

11 Behold, when He passes before me I cannot see Him, And when He passes by, I cannot detect Him.

12 Behold, should He abduct, who could turn Him back? Who could say to Him, What are You doing?

13 Eloah, He does not reverse His anger; The helpers of Rahab prostrate beneath Him.

14 Indeed, how should I answer Him Or choose my words with Him?

15 I, who, though I were righteous, am not answered When I am supplicating to my Judge.

16 If I call out, and He should answer me, I could not believe that He is giving ear to my voice.

17 He Who is hurting me with a hurricane, And Who has multiplied my injuries gratuitously,

18 He does not allow me to get back my wind, But rather He surfeits me with bitter things.

19 As for vigor, behold the Resolute One, And as for judgment, who can summon Him?

20 Though I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; Though I were flawless, He would declare me perverse.

21 Were I flawless, I would not know my own soul; I would reject my life.

22 It is all one. Therefore I say, Both the flawless and wicked one Will He bring to their end.

23 If a scourge brings death suddenly, He derides the trial of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges; If not He, indeed who is it?

25 My days are fleeter than a runner; They race away; they see no good.

26 They pass on like ships of bulrush, Like the vulture that pounces down on its food.

27 If I say, Let me forget my concern, Let me set my face free and smile,

28 I still shrink before all my griefs; I know that You do not hold me innocent.

29 I am already being condemned; Why is this that I should be wearied in vain?

30 If I washed myself with waters of snow And purged my palms in purity,

31 Then You would dip me in the slough, And my own raiment would abhor me.

32 For He is not a man like me that I should assert to Him: Let us come together for judgment.

33 There is not any arbitrator between us, Who could set his hand on us both.

34 Let Him withdraw His club from me, And let not the dread of Him frighten me.

35 Let me speak and not fear Him, But I am not so within myself.

Chapter 10

1 My soul is disgusted with my life; Let me give free rein to myself and my concern; Let me speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 Let me say to Eloah, O do not condemn me! Let me know why You contend with me!

3 Is it good to You that You should work harm, That You should reject the labor of Your palms, And that You shine on the counsel of the wicked?

4 Do You have eyes of flesh? Can You see as a mortal sees?

5 Are Your days like a mortal’s days, Or Your years like the days of a human master,

6 That You should seek out my depravity And should inquire into my sin,

7 Although Your knowledge is that I am not wicked, And there is no one rescuing from Your hand?

8 Your hands shaped me and made me; Yet afterward You swallow me up round about.

9 Remember, I pray, that You molded me like clay, And You shall turn me back to soil.

10 Did You not pour me forth like milk And curdle me like cheese?

11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, And hedged me together with bones and sinews.

12 Life and benignity have You granted to me, And Your supervision has guarded my spirit.

13 Yet these things You secluded in Your heart; I know that this was in Your mind:

14 If I sin, then You observe me, And You do not hold me innocent of my depravity.

15 If I am wicked, woe to me! Yet if I am righteous, I shall not lift up my head, Surfeited with dishonor and satiated with my humiliation.

16 August, You hunt me like a black lion; Then You again and again send marvelous works against me.

17 You renew Your testimonies in front of me, And You increase Your vexation against me; Changes of hosts come upon me.

18 Then why did You bring me forth from the womb? I would have breathed my last, and no eye would have seen me.

19 I would have been just as if I had not come into being; I would have been fetched from the belly to the tomb.

20 Are not the days of my transient lifetime few? Turn away from me that I may smile a little,

21 Ere I go away and not return, To a country of darkness and the blackest shadow,

22 A country of such faintness as deepest gloom, Of blackest shadow and disorder, And which shines like deepest gloom.

Chapter 11

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, saying:

2 Shall this multitude of words not be answered? And should this man of glib lips be found righteous?

3 Shall your inventions turn men to silence? And shall you keep deriding while there is no one criticizing?

4 Now you say, My doctrine is spotless, And I am purified in Your eyes.

5 Nevertheless O that Eloah would speak, That He should open His lips before you!

6 Then He would tell you obscured secrets of wisdom, For reality has double sides; Hence know this: that Eloah is granting you oblivion of some of your depravity.

7 Can you find out the fathoming of Eloah? Could you find out the perfection of Him Who-Suffices?

8 These are loftier than the heavens; what can you contrive? Deeper than the unseen; what can you know?

9 Its measure is longer than the earth And wider than the sea.

10 If He should pass by or lock up Or call an assembly, who could turn Him back?

11 For He Himself knows men of hypocrisy; When He sees lawlessness, shall He not consider?

12 The hollow man shall become wise of heart Whenever the colt of an onager is born a human.

13 If you yourself prepare your heart, And you spread out your palms to Him,

14 If lawlessness is in your hand, put it far away, And do not allow iniquity to tabernacle in your tents,

15 Then without blemish, you may lift up your face, And you will become solidly set and shall not fear.

16 For you would forget the misery; You would remember it only like waters that have passed.

17 And higher than the noonday sun your life-course shall rise; Should it be faint, it shall become like the morning.

18 You will trust because there will be expectation; When you reconnoiter, you may lie down in trust.

19 When you recline, there will be no trembling, And many will beseech your face.

20 Yet the eyes of the wicked shall be exhausted, And flight to safety will perish for them And their expectation become an expiring of soul.

Chapter 12

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 Truly, you are the people, And with you wisdom shall die!

3 However, I have heart understanding as well as you; I am not falling behind you; For who is there not knowing such things as these?

4 As the sport of his associates am I becoming, Who was calling on Eloah, and He answered him, Made sport of, though righteous and flawless.

5 Contempt for misfortune is in the reflections of the self-satisfied one, Readied for those of tottering feet.

6 The tents of devastators are at ease, And for those disturbing El there is serenity, For him who brings along an eloah in his hand.

7 Nevertheless, ask, I pray, one of the beasts, and let it direct you, And the flyer of the heavens, and let it tell you,

8 Or importune to the earth, and it shall direct you, And let the fish of the sea recount it to you.

9 Who among all these does not know That the hand of Eloah, it has done this?

10 In Whose hand is the soul of every living creature And the spirit in all flesh of man.

11 Does not the ear test declarations As the palate tastes its food?

12 Does wisdom come with being hoary headed, And understanding with length of days?

13 With Him are wisdom and mastery; His are counsel and understanding.

14 If He demolishes, it shall not be rebuilt, Or He locks up a man, it shall not be opened.

15 If He restrains the waters, they shall dry up, Or He sends them forth, they shall overrun the earth.

16 With Him are strength and prosperity; Both the erring one and the one causing error are His.

17 Causing counselors to go forth looted, He also makes judges rave as fools.

18 He unlooses the disciplining authority of kings, And He binds a belt about their waists.

19 Causing priests to go forth looted, He also overthrows the well-established.

20 Putting away the eloquence of the sure, He also takes away the discretion of elders.

21 Pouring out contempt on patrons, He also makes the cordon of the mighty repressors fall slack.

22 Exposing the deep things out of darkness, He also brings forth the blackest shadow to light.

23 Making nations grow great, He also destroys them; Spreading out nations, He also guides them away.

24 Putting away heart understanding from the heads of the people of the earth, He also causes them to stray in a wayless wasteland.

25 They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stray like a drunkard.

Chapter 13

1 Behold, my eye has seen all these things; My ear has heard and understands it.

2 Where you have knowledge, so also do I know; I am not falling behind you.

3 Nevertheless, as for me, I would speak to Him Who-Suffices, And to plead with El is what I desire.

4 Nevertheless, you are smearing with falsehood; Useless healers are all of you.

5 O that you would keep silent, yea silent, That would be wisdom for you.

6 Hear now my pleading, And to the arguments of my lips, attend.

7 Is it for El that you speak iniquity? And for Him that you speak deceitfully?

8 Would you show partiality toward Him? Would you contend for El?

9 Would it be well if He were investigating you? Could you delude Him as one deludes a mortal?

10 He shall reprove, yea reprove you If in secrecy you show partiality.

11 Will His majestic bearing not frighten you, And alarm of Him fall upon you?

12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; Your bulwarks are bulwarks of clay.

13 Keep silent before me, and do let me speak, And let whatever comes pass upon me.

14 I shall take up my flesh in my teeth And place my soul in my palm.

15 Behold, He may despatch me, yet I shall wait for Him; Yea, I shall plead my ways before His face.

16 Moreover, this will be salvation for me, For a polluted man would not come before Him.

17 Hear, yea hear my declaration, And let my disclosure come into your ears.

18 Behold now, I have arranged a plea; I know that I shall be found righteous.

19 Who is he who shall contend against me? For I would then keep silent and breathe my last.

20 Only two things, O do not do to me; Then I shall not conceal myself from Your face:

21 Keep Your palm far from me, And let not the dread of You frighten me.

22 Either call, and I shall answer, Or I shall speak; then, I pray, reply to me.

23 How many are my depravities and sins? Let me know my transgression and my sin.

24 Why should You conceal Your face And reckon me as Your enemy?

25 Would You terrify a leaf being whisked away? And would You pursue dry stubble?

26 That You may list bitter things against me, And impute to me the depravities of my youth,

27 And that You may place my feet in shackles And keep watch over all my paths; That You may set a statute for the bottoms of my feet.

28 A man, like a rotten thing, he is disintegrating, Like a cloak when a moth has eaten it.

Chapter 14

1 A human, born of a woman, Is short of days and surfeited with disturbance.

2 He comes forth like a blossom and is snipped off; He races away like a shadow and does not stand.

3 Indeed, it is on one like this that You focus Your eyes, And You bring me into judgment before You.

4 Who can make what is clean from the unclean? No one.

5 Since his days are decided, The number of his months are set by You, And You have made his statutory time, Which he cannot surpass,

6 Be heedless of him, and forbear, Until, like a hireling, he may fill in his days.

7 For there is expectation for a tree: If it is cut down, then it may rejuvenate again, And its young shoots may not be halted.

8 If its roots grow old in the earth, And its trunk-base dies in the soil,

9 At the scent of water it shall bud, And it will produce harvest branches like a plant.

10 Yet a master shall die and be laid defeated; A human shall breathe his last, and where is he?

11 As waters depart from a lake, And a stream is drained and dries up,

12 So a man lies down and shall not rise; Until the heavens fail, they shall not awake, Nor shall they be roused from their sleep.

13 O that You would seclude me in the unseen, That You would conceal me until Your anger turns back, That You would set a statutory time for me and then remember me.

14 If a master dies shall he live again? All the days of my enlistment I shall wait until my relief comes.

15 You shall call, and I shall answer You; You shall long for the work of Your hands.

16 Even if You are now numbering my steps, You shall then no longer observe my sin,

17 My transgression shall be sealed up in a pouch, And You shall cover over my depravity.

18 Nevertheless, even the mountain falls and decays, And the rock shifts from its place.

19 Water reduces stones to powder; The flattening rain overflows the soil of the earth; So do You cause the expectation of a mortal to perish.

20 You overpower him permanently, and he goes away; His face alters, and You send him afar.

21 His sons may attain glory, yet he does not know it; Or they may be discredited, yet he does not understand it of them.

22 Yea, his flesh shall be in pain over himself, And his soul shall mourn over his state.

Chapter 15

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:

2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge? Or should he fill his belly with the east wind?

3 Ought he to plead with speech that is unprofitable, And with declarations that have no benefit in them?

4 Yet you, indeed you quash devout fear, And you deprecate pious meditation before El.

5 For your depravity trains your mouth, So that you choose the tongue of the crafty.

6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I, And your lips answer against you.

7 Are you the first human ever born? Were you travailed in birth before the hills?

8 Do you hear the deliberation of Eloah, Or do you hold a monopoly for yourself on wisdom?

9 What do you know that we do not know, Or understand, and it is not with us?

10 Among us are both the greyhaired and hoary headed, More abundant in days than your father.

11 Are the consolations of El a little thing for you, Or the word gently shared with you?

12 Why does your heart take you away, And why do your eyes scowl,

13 That you should reverse your spirit against El And send forth these declarations from your mouth?

14 What is a mortal that he should be cleared, Or that one born of a woman should be found righteous?

15 If even on His holy ones, He puts no reliance, And the heavens are not purged in His eyes,

16 How much less man, Who is abhorrent and spoiled, Who is drinking iniquity like water.

17 I shall disclose it to you; hear me; This which I have perceived, let me recount it,

18 That which the wise can tell, And they suppressed nothing received from their fathers,

19 (To them, to them alone was given the countryside, And no alien passed in their midst):

20 All the days of the wicked man, he is travailing, Even throughout the number of years that are stored up for the terrifier.

21 The sound of alarming things is in his ears; When at peace, the devastator comes against him.

22 He cannot believe in restoration from darkness, And he must be on watch for the sword.

23 He is wandering about as bread for the falcon; He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand.

24 Frightening him are distress and constraint; It shall overpower him like a king equipped for onslaught.

25 For he has stretched his hand out against El, And he makes himself an arrogant master against Him Who-Suffices.

26 He runs against Him with neck armor, With his thickly bossed shields.

27 Indeed he has covered his face with his fat, And he gathers fat pads on his hips.

28 Yet he shall tabernacle in suppressed cities, Houses in which no one shall later dwell, That are destined to become mounds.

29 He shall not be enriched; His estate shall not rise, And his shadow shall not stretch out over the earth.

30 He shall not be taken away from darkness; The blaze shall dry up his young shoot, And his bud shall be taken away by the wind.

31 Let him not rely on futility; He will be led astray, For his palm tree shall become futility.

32 When not yet its day, it shall be snipped off, And its fronds shall not be flourishing.

33 Like a vine he shall cast down his unripe grape, And he shall fling off his blossom like an olive.

34 For the congregation of the polluted is stark, And fire devours the tents of bribery.

35 They engender misery and beget lawlessness, And their belly, it prepares deceit.

Chapter 16

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 I have heard many things like these; Miserable comforters are you all.

3 Will there be an end to such windy words? Or what is so painful to you that you should answer?

4 I myself also could speak like you; O that your soul were in the place of my soul: I would indeed join declarations together against you, And I would indeed wag my head over you.

5 I could make you resolute with my mouth, And the condolence of my lips would keep back grief.

6 When I do speak, my pain is not being kept back, Yet when I do forbear, what pain is going away from me?

7 Surely, now it has made me tired; You have made all my company desolate,

8 And You arrest me. This has become a witness, And it rises against me: That is, my emaciation answers against my face.

9 His anger has found a prey and assailed me; He gnashes at me with His teeth. My Opponent hones His eyes against me.

10 Men gape at me with their mouth; In reproach they smite my cheeks; They mass themselves together against me.

11 El surrenders me over to iniquitous men, And He precipitates me into the hands of the wicked.

12 I was at ease, and He quashed me; He held me by the nape of my neck, and He shattered me; He set me up as His target.

13 His multitudes surround me; He thrusts through my kidneys and does not spare; He pours out my bile on the earth.

14 He breaches me, breach adjoining breach; He runs upon me like a master of war.

15 I sewed sackcloth over my hide, And I plowed down my horn into the soil.

16 My face is swollen out from weeping, And on my eyelids is the blackest shadow,

17 Although there is no violence in my palms, And my prayer is spotless.

18 O earth, do not cover my blood, And let there be no place for my outcry to rest.

19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in the heavens, And my Guarantor is in the heights.

20 My associates are my mockers; My eye weeps forth to Eloah,

21 That He may plead between a master and Eloah, As between a son of humanity and his associate.

22 For the years few in number have arrived, And I shall go on the path where I shall not return.

Chapter 17

1 My spirit is devitalized; My days are extinct; The tombs are ready for me.

2 Assuredly, captious men are all around me, And my eye lodges all night upon their bitterness.

3 Lay down, I pray, surety for me with Yourself; Who is he that would clasp my hand in pledge?

4 For You have secluded their heart from intelligence; Therefore, You shall not exalt them.

5 Such a one denounces his associates for a portion, While the eyes of his own sons are failing.

6 He has put me down as a proverb to the people, So that I become one spit at to the face.

7 My eye grows dim from vexation, And my features, all of them, are like a shadow.

8 Upright men are appalled at this, And the innocent man rouses himself against the polluted man,

9 But the righteous one holds to his way, And the one of clean hands continues in resoluteness.

10 Nevertheless, all of you, come forward again, I pray; Though I shall not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have passed; My plans are pulled apart, Even the proposal of my heart.

12 They convert night into day, Making light seem near in the face of darkness.

13 Since I expect the unseen as my house, I will strew out my berth in darkness;

14 I will call out to corruption, My father are you, To the maggot, My mother and my sister.

15 Where indeed is my expectation? And any good for me, who can regard it?

16 Shall they descend by my side to the unseen, Or will our rest be together in the soil?

Chapter 18

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:

2 How long before you shall make an end to these declarations? May you understand, and after that we shall speak.

3 For what reason are we reckoned like beasts Or counted unclean in your eyes?

4 O one tearing his soul to pieces in his anger, On account of you shall the earth be forsaken, And the rock be shifted from its place?

5 Indeed the light of the wicked shall be extinguished, And the flare of his fire shall not brighten.

6 The light in his tent, it will become dark, And his lamp above him, it shall be extinguished.

7 The steps of his virility shall become constricted, And his own counsel shall fling him down.

8 For he will be sent forth into a net by his own feet, And he shall walk about on the mesh.

9 A snare shall hold him by his heel; Thirst shall hold fast onto him.

10 The rope line is buried for him in the earth, And a seizing device for him on his track.

11 Decadent things frighten him round about, And they hound him at his every footstep.

12 His virility shall be turned to famishing, And calamity stands ready against his reproductive organs.

13 His skin shall be eaten by sickness; The firstborn of death shall eat his organs.

14 He shall be pulled away from his tent where his trust had dwelt; And it makes him march to the king of decadent things.

15 It shall tabernacle in his tent which no longer is his; Sulfur shall be sifted about his homestead.

16 From beneath, his roots dry up, And from above, his harvest branches are snipped off.

17 His remembrance perishes from the earth, And he has no name on the face of the open place.

18 They shall thrust him from light into darkness, And they shall chase him from the habitance.

19 He will have no progeny and no posterity among his people, And there will be no survivor in the places of his sojourning.

20 Westerners are appalled at his day of ruin, And easterners hold back in horror.

21 Surely these were the tabernacles of an iniquitous man, And this was the place of one who knew not El.

Chapter 19

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 How long shall you afflict my soul And crush me with declarations?

3 These ten times have you mortified me; You are not ashamed that you ill-treat me.

4 Yet indeed, even if I truly have erred, My error would lodge in me.

5 If truly you would magnify yourselves over me And plead against me my reproach,

6 Know indeed that Eloah Himself has overturned me, And His weir trap has encompassed me.

7 Behold, I am crying out: Violence! Yet I am not being answered; I am imploring, Yet there is no right judgment.

8 He has diked up my path, and I cannot pass; He settles darkness over my tracks.

9 My glory He has stripped from me, And He takes away the crown from my head.

10 He breaks me down round about, so that I go away, And He uproots my expectation like a tree.

11 He heats up His anger against me, And to Himself He reckons me as one of His foes.

12 His troops come together And heap up their road against me, And they encamp round about my tent.

13 He has put my brothers far away from me, And my acquaintances have surely alienated themselves from me.

14 My near kinsmen have shunned me, And my acquaintances have forgotten me.

15 The sojourners in my house and my maidservants reckon me as an alien; I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

16 I call to my servant, yet he does not answer; With my mouth I supplicate to him.

17 My scent has become alien to my wife, And I have become repellent to the sons of my mother’s womb.

18 Even youngsters have rejected me; I rise up, and they speak against me.

19 All men of my intimate group abhor me, And those I have loved are turned against me.

20 My bones cling to my skin and my flesh, And I escape only with the skin of my teeth.

21 Be gracious to me! be gracious to me, you, my associates! For the hand of Eloah has touched me.

22 Why are you pursuing me like El And are not satisfied with my flesh?

23 O that indeed my declarations were written down! O that they were delineated in a scroll,

24 With iron pen and lead, That they should be hewn in rock for the future!

25 Yet as for me, I know my Redeemer is living, And after this He shall arise on the soil;

26 And behind my skin I will stand erect, And from my flesh I shall perceive Eloah,

27 Whom I shall perceive for myself, And my own eyes will see, and not an alien. My innermost being is consumed in my bosom.

28 If you are saying, How may we pursue him? And: The root of the matter is found in him,

29 Shrink for yourselves from the presence of the sword (For fury brings the wretchedness of the sword) That you may know what adjudication is.

Chapter 20

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, saying:

2 Therefore my disquieting thoughts are causing me to reply, On account of my hurried sense within me.

3 I am hearing admonition meant for my mortification, And the spirit of my understanding makes me respond.

4 Don’t you know this, from long ago, From when humanity was placed on the earth,

5 That the jubilant song of the wicked is brief, And the rejoicing of the polluted lasts but a moment?

6 Even if his dignity ascends to the heavens, And his head touches the thick clouds,

7 He shall perish permanently like his own ordure; Those having seen him shall say, Where is he?

8 He shall fly away like a dream, and they shall not find him, For he shall be bolted away like a vision of the night.

9 The eye that glimpsed him shall not do so anymore, Neither shall his place regard him further.

10 His sons shall seek benevolence from the poor, When his hands relinquish their virility.

11 His bones were filled by his adolescence, Yet that gain shall lie with him in the soil.

12 Even if evil is sweet in his mouth, And he suppresses it under his tongue,

13 Though he spares it and does not forsake it, And he holds fast to it on the midst of his palate,

14 Yet his bread will be turned sour in his bowels; The bile of cobras is within him.

15 The estate he has swallowed down, he shall vomit it up; El shall evict it from his belly.

16 He shall suck the poison of cobras; The tongue of a puff-adder shall kill him.

17 He shall certainly not see the rillets, The streams of torrents of honey and clotted cream.

18 He must return the fruit of his labor and not swallow it down, And in the estate of his commerce, he has no enjoyment.

19 For he has maltreated, he has forsaken the poor; He has pillaged a house which he did not build.

20 For he has not known ease in his belly; From his coveting, he has not tried to escape.

21 There is nothing in store of his food. Therefore his bounty cannot hope to last.

22 When his affluence is full there shall be distress for him; Every means of misery shall come upon him.

23 It shall come to be, in order to fill his belly, That He shall send against him the heat of His anger And shall rain it upon him as his nourishment.

24 He shall run away from a weapon of iron; From a bronze bow it shall cut into him.

25 It will be pulled out and brought forth from his body, And a flashing blade from his bile; Dread shall come over him.

26 Total darkness lies buried for his secluded riches; A fire that was not blown upon shall devour him; It shall imperil anything surviving in his tent.

27 The heavens shall expose his depravity, And the earth will rise against him.

28 The deluge shall deport his house, Spilling over in the day of His anger.

29 This is the portion from Elohim for the wicked person, And the allotment assigned him by El.

Chapter 21

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 Hearken, yea hearken to my declaration, And let this be your consolations to me.

3 Bear with me while I am speaking, And after I have spoken, you may deride.

4 As for me, is my concern directed to a human? And if so, for what reason should not my spirit be impatient?

5 Face me, and be desolated, And place your hand over your mouth.

6 When I remember this, I am filled with panic, And shuddering takes hold of my flesh.

7 For what reason should the wicked live on? They develop and become masterful with potent power.

8 Their seed is established with them in their presence, And their offspring in front of their eyes.

9 Their houses remain in peace apart from alarm, And no club of Eloah is upon them.

10 Their bull impregnates and is never fruitless; Their young cow delivers and does not miscarry.

11 They let their youngsters go forth like the flock, And their children are dancing.

12 They take up tambourine and harp, And they rejoice to the sound of the shepherd’s pipe.

13 They finish their days in well-being, And they settle down in a quiet moment to the unseen.

14 Yet they say to El, Go away from us, For we do not desire a knowledge of Your ways.

15 What is He Who-Suffices that we should serve Him? And what benefit would we gain that we should make intercession to Him?

16 Behold, is not their good in their hand? (Still, the counsel of the wicked is far from me.)

17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished That their calamity comes on them, That He apportions cramps in His anger?

18 Do they become like crushed straw before the wind, Or like trash that the sweeping whirlwind steals away?

19 Is Eloah secluding payment for his lawlessness to give to his sons? May He repay him that he may know!

20 May his own eyes see his downfall, And may he drink of the fury of Him Who-Suffices.

21 For what is his delight in his house after he is gone, When the number of his months has run out?

22 Who shall teach knowledge to El, Since He Himself shall judge the exalted ones?

23 This one dies in his robust plentifulness, His whole state snug and at ease;

24 His viscera are full of fat, And the marrow of his bones is hearty.

25 Yet another dies with a bitter soul, Who has never eaten of good.

26 They lie together in the soil, And maggots cover them both.

27 Behold, I know your devisings And the schemes that you wrongly make against me.

28 For you are saying, Where is the house of the tyrant, And where are the tent tabernacles of the wicked?

29 Have you not asked those passing on the way, And do you not admit their evidence,

30 That the evil one is kept back in the day of calamity; In the day of rage they are escorted safely?

31 Who denounces his way to his face, And who repays him for what he himself has done?

32 When he is fetched to the burying ground, Watch is set alert over the grave-mound.

33 The clods of the wadi are sweet to him; All humanity draws out after him, And there is no numbering of those before him.

34 How then can you comfort me with vanity, When only offense remains in your replies?

Chapter 22

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:

2 Is it to El that a master is profitable? Rather the intelligent one is profitable to himself.

3 Is it delight to Him Who-Suffices that you should be found righteous? And should it be His gain that your ways become flawless?

4 Is it because of your devout fear that He is correcting you, That He is entering into judgment with you?

5 Is it not because your evil is great, And there is no end to your depravities?

6 For you have exacted pledge of your brothers gratuitously, And you have stripped off the garments of the naked.

7 No water have you given the faint to drink, And from the hungry have you withheld bread.

8 The man of the arm of power, he has the land, And he of repute is dwelling in it.

9 Widows you have sent away empty, And the arms of orphans you have crushed.

10 Therefore, snares are round about you, And sudden alarm fills you with panic;

11 Light has become darkness so you cannot see, And a concourse of water is covering you.

12 Is not Eloah loftier than the heavens? See the topmost stars, how high they are.

13 Yet you say, What does El know? Can He judge through murkiness?

14 Thick clouds are a concealment for Him, so that He cannot see, And He walks about the circle of the heavens.

15 Are you keeping the path of the eon of old That the men of lawlessness trod,

16 Who were arrested when not yet their time, When a stream was poured over their foundation,

17 Who were saying to El, Withdraw from us, And, What can He Who-Suffices effect for us?

18 Yet He Himself had filled their houses with good; (Still the counsel of the wicked is far from me.)

19 The righteous see it and rejoice, And the innocent one derides them, saying:

20 Assuredly whoever rose against us is suppressed, And fire has devoured their surplus.

21 Be careful, I pray, toward Him, and fare well; By these means good shall come to you.

22 Take hold, I pray, to the law from His mouth, And place His sayings in your heart.

23 If you return unto Him Who-Suffices and you submit, If you put iniquity far from your tent

24 And set aside your gold ore upon the soil, And wealth of Ophir among the rocks of the wadis,

25 Then He Who-Suffices will become your gold ore And rich pinnacles of silver for you.

26 For then you shall find pleasure for yourself in Him Who-Suffices, And you shall lift up your face to Eloah.

27 You shall entreat Him, and He shall hear you, And you shall pay your vows.

28 When you prescribe a matter, it shall be confirmed to you, And light will brighten your ways.

29 When they abase, then you may claim pride, For He shall save the downcast of eyes.

30 He shall give escape to the innocent man, And you shall escape by the purity of your palms.

Chapter 23

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 Today as well, my concern will seem rebellious; His hand is heavy on my sighing.

3 O that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come unto His establishment!

4 I would arrange a plea before Him And fill my mouth with pleadings.

5 I would know the declarations with which He shall answer, And I would understand what He shall say to me.

6 Shall He contend against me with an abundance of vigor? Surely He Himself shall not place charges against me!

7 There an upright man could plead with Him; And I would be delivered permanently from my Judge.

8 Behold, I go to the east, and He is not there, And back again, and I cannot detect Him.

9 When He is working to the left, I do not perceive Him; He is draped to the right, and I do not see Him.

10 But He knows the way with me; When He tests me, I shall go forth like gold.

11 My feet have held closely to His movement; I have kept to His way and have not turned aside.

12 From the instruction of His lips I do not remove myself; I have secluded in my bosom the sayings of His mouth.

13 Yet He is One, and who can turn Him back? What His soul has yearned for He shall do.

14 For He shall accomplish what is marked out for me, And many other plans are with Him like these.

15 Therefore, I am flustered at His presence; When I consider I am afraid of Him.

16 El Himself has made my heart timorous, And He Who-Suffices has flustered me.

17 But I am not effaced because of darkness And because gloom has covered my face.

Chapter 24

1 For what reason have times for judgment not been set aside by Him Who-Suffices, And why do those knowing Him not perceive His days?

2 The wicked move away boundary markers; They pillage the drove and openly graze them.

3 The orphans’ donkey they lead away; They take the widow’s bull as a pledge.

4 They turn aside the needy from the way; The humbled of the earth must hide together.

5 Behold, like onagers in the wilderness They go forth early for prey, In their contriving until the evening; Yet no nourishment for their youths!

6 They reap in the field at night, And they scavenge in the vineyard of the wicked.

7 Naked, they lodge at night without clothing, And they have no covering for the cold.

8 They are doused by the mountain storm, And without a refuge they hug to a rock.

9 Yet others snatch the orphan from the breast, And they take as a pledge the infant of the humble.

10 Naked they go about without clothing, And hungry they carry the sheaf.

11 Without their songs they clarify oil; They tread the winevats yet are thirsty.

12 In the city the dying moan, And the soul of the wounded implores for help; Yet Eloah, He does not place charges of impropriety.

13 They are among those revolting against the light; They neither recognize its ways Nor dwell in its tracks.

14 When the light is gone the murderer arises; He despatches the humble and needy one; And in the night he continues as a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer keeps watch for the twilight, Saying, No eye can regard me; And he places a concealment over his face;

16 In the darkness he burrows into houses. By day they seal themselves up; They do not know the light.

17 For altogether morning is blackest shadow to them, For each one values the decadent things of the blackest shadow.

18 He is fleet over the surface of the waters. May their portion be dishonored on the land; May he not face the way of the vineyards.

19 May aridity and warmth siphon away the snow waters, And the unseen those who have sinned.

20 May the city square forget him, The maggot find him sweet; May he not be remembered any more, So that, like a tree, iniquity shall be broken down.

21 He has done evil to the barren one who bears not, And he has not done good for the widow.

22 He draws forth the sturdy ones by his vigor; He arises, and none can put reliance in their lives.

23 He gives serenity to him, and he leans back, Yet His eyes are on their ways.

24 They are exalted a little while, but each will be no more; They will be reduced; Like all others they shall be shut off, And like the head of a grainstalk they shall be snipped off.

25 But if not so, indeed who can prove me a liar Or establish my declaration as nothing?

Chapter 25

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, saying:

2 Rule and awesome might are with Him, Who is establishing peace in His heights.

3 Is it possible to number His troops, And on whom does His light not rise?

4 How then can a mortal be found righteous before El, And how can one born of woman be spotless?

5 If even the moon does not irradiate, And the stars, they are not spotless in His eyes,

6 How much less a mortal, that maggot, And a son of humanity, that worm?

Chapter 26

1 So Job answered, saying:

2 How you have helped one without vigor And saved an arm without strength!

3 How you have counseled one without wisdom, And the reality of things you have abundantly made known!

4 For whom have you told these declarations, And whose breath has come forth from you?

5 The Rephaim, they travailed, Those beneath the waters and tabernacling in them.

6 The unseen was naked in front of Him, And there was no covering for Abaddon.

7 He stretched out the north over the chaos, Hanging the earth upon nothingness.

8 He bundled up the waters in His thick clouds, And the cloud was not rent beneath them.

9 He held back the face of the full moon, Spreading over it His cloud.

10 He delineated the horizon over the surface of the waters, Unto the boundary of light with darkness.

11 The columns of the heavens were made to collapse And were stunned at His rebuke.

12 By His vigor He lulled the sea, And by His understanding He transfixed Rahab.

13 By His spirit the heavens were made seemly; His hand travailed with the fugitive serpent.

14 Behold, these are but the fringes of His ways, And what a little buzz of a word is heard of Him! Yet the thunder of His masterful deeds, who shall understand it?

Chapter 27

1 Then Job continued to lift up his discourse, saying:

2 As El lives, Who has taken away judgment for me, He Who-Suffices, Who has brought bitterness on my soul,

3 As long as my breath is yet whole within me And the spirit of Eloah is in my nostrils,

4 My lips shall assuredly not speak iniquity, And my tongue, it shall assuredly not utter deceit.

5 Far be it from me should I ever justify you; Until I breathe my last, I shall not put away my integrity from me.

6 I will hold fast to my righteousness, and I shall not relax; My heart shall never reproach me throughout my days.

7 May my enemy become like the wicked, And the one rising against me like the iniquitous.

8 For what is the expectation of the polluted when he is clipped off, When Eloah eases away his soul?

9 Shall El hearken to his cry? When distress comes upon him,

10 Would he find pleasure in Him Who-Suffices? Would he call on Eloah at all times?

11 I shall direct back to you these matters about the hand of El; What is concerning Him Who-Suffices I shall not suppress.

12 If all of you have perceived this yourselves, Then why are you vain with this transitory breath?

13 ``This is the portion of a wicked person from El And the allotment terrifiers procure from Him Who-Suffices.

14 However many are his sons, for them is the sword, And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.

15 In a death plague his survivors shall be entombed, And his widows shall not lament.

16 If he piles up silver like soil And lays clothing in store like clay,

17 He shall lay it in store, yet the righteous one shall put it on, And the innocent one shall apportion the silver.

18 He builds his house like a cocoon, And like a booth that a field-keeper makes.

19 He shall lie down rich, yet he may not do so again; When he uncloses his eyes it shall not be there.

20 Decadent things shall overtake him by day; A sweeping whirlwind will steal him away at night.

21 The east wind shall carry him off so that he is gone, And it shall toss him away in a hurricane from his place.

22 It shall fling violently against him and not spare As he runs away, yea away from its hand.

23 It shall slap its palms at him And hiss him away from his place.‘’

Chapter 28

1 Indeed, for silver there is a mine, And for gold a place where they may purify it.

2 Iron may be taken from the soil, And from ore copper may be smelted.

3 He puts an end to darkness, And to every limit is He fathoming The ore in gloom and blackest shadow.

4 A torrent breaches forth away from people, sojourning; The forgotten-ones going by foot become impoverished; Far from mortal man, they rove about.

5 The earth, from her is coming forth bread, Yet beneath her, all is overturned as though by fire,

6 A place where her stones are sapphire, And it has the soil of gold;

7 That track, the bird of prey does not know it, And the eye of the falcon has never glimpsed it;

8 The strutting beasts have never trod along it; The black lion has never passed over it.

9 He has put forth His hand on the flintstone; He has overturned the root of the mountains.

10 He has rent open waterways through the rock, And His eye has seen every precious treasure.

11 He has bound up streams from their seeping, And the obscured secret He brings forth to light.

12 But wisdom, where can it be found? And just where is the place of understanding?

13 Mortal man does not know its appraisal, And it is not being found in the land of the living.

14 The abyss says, It is not in me! And the sea says, There is no such thing with me!

15 Solid gold cannot be given instead of it, And silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16 It cannot be classed with certified gold of Ophir, Or with precious onyx and sapphire.

17 Neither gold or glass can be its appraisal, Or articles of glittering gold its exchange.

18 Coral and crystal, such shall not even be mentioned; Wisdom is more attractive than rubies.

19 Peridot of Cush is not its appraisal; With pure certified gold it cannot be classed.

20 From where then can wisdom come? And just where is the place of understanding?

21 It has been obscured from the eyes of every living creature, And from the flyer of the heavens it has been concealed.

22 Abaddon and death say: With our ears we have heard report of it.

23 Elohim, He understands its way, And He, yea He Himself knows its place.

24 For He looks to the ends of the earth; He sees under the entire heavens.

25 When He granted weight to the wind And when He gauged the waters by measure,

26 When He imposed a statutory limit on the rain And a pathway for the thunderbolts,

27 Then He saw it and rehearsed it; He prepared it and also fathomed it.

28 And He said to mankind, Behold, the fear of Yahweh, it is wisdom, And to withdraw from evil is understanding.

Chapter 29

1 Then Job continued to lift up his discourse, saying:

2 O that I were as in former months, As in the days when He, Eloah, was guarding me,

3 When He caused His lamp to irradiate over my head, And by His light I went through the darkness,

4 Just as I was in the days of my autumn, When the deliberation of Eloah watched over my tent,

5 When He Who-Suffices was still with me, And my lads were around me,

6 When my goings were washed in clotted cream, And the rock poured out for me rillets of oil.

7 When I went forth to the gate standing over the town And prepared my seat in the square,

8 The youths would see me and hide themselves, While the hoary headed would rise and stand.

9 The chiefs would restrain their declarations And place the palm over their mouth;

10 The voices of the noblemen were hidden back, And their tongue would cling to their palate.

11 When the ear heard, it called me happy, And when the eye saw, it testified in my favor.

12 For I made a way of escape for the humble who implored, And the orphan and him who had no helper.

13 The blessing of the one perishing came on me, And I caused the heart of the widow to be jubilant.

14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; My right judgment was like a robe and a turban.

15 I became eyes to the blind, And feet to the lame was I.

16 I was father to the needy ones, And the cause of him I knew not, I would investigate it.

17 I would break the fangs of the iniquitous And would fling the prey from his teeth.

18 And so I would say within myself: I shall breathe my last in old age, And I shall multiply my days like sand;

19 My root is open to the water, And the night mist lodges on my harvest branch;

20 My glory will keep new within me, And my bow shall rejuvenate in my hand.

21 Men hearkened to me, and they waited; They would stand still for my counsel.

22 After my speech they would not alter it, And my declaration dropped gently on them.

23 They waited for me as for rain, And they gaped with their mouth as for the latter rain.

24 I would uplift them when they were not sure, And the light of my countenance they would not cast down.

25 I would choose the way for them and would sit as their head, And I would tabernacle like a king among his troops, Just as one who comforts mourners.

Chapter 30

1 Yet now they make sport of me, Men junior to me in days, Whose fathers I would have rejected To set with the dogs of my flock.

2 Even the vigor of their hands, what use was it to me? Their strength had entirely perished.

3 In want and in stark starvation They were gnawing on arid ground Yesternight’s ruination and wasteness.

4 They were plucking the orach among the shrubs, And the root of the broom bush was their bread.

5 From society they were driven out; Men shouted after them as after a thief.

6 In the craters of the wadis they tabernacled, In holes of dirt and caverns.

7 Among the shrubs they brayed; Under the prickly acanthus they were huddled together.

8 Sons of decadence, even sons of those without a name, They were cut off from the land.

9 And now I have become their jest, And I continue as a mocking declaration of theirs.

10 They abhor me; they keep far from me, Yet they do not keep back their spitting from my face.

11 Now that He has unloosed my cord and is humbling me, They have let the restraining bridle go in my presence.

12 On the right hand the vile brood rise up; They have sent forth my feet, And they heap up their paths of calamity against me.

13 They have torn up my own track; They add on to my woe; No one is restraining them.

14 As through a wide breach they arrive; They have rolled themselves forward under the ruinations.

15 Decadent things have turned against me; My reputation is pursued as by the wind, And my salvation has passed away like a dense haze.

16 And now, my soul is poured out upon me; Days of humiliation are taking hold of me.

17 By night He gouges out my bones all over me, And my gnawing pains never lie still.

18 With His great vigor He grabs my clothing; He belts me about like the collar of my tunic.

19 He has shot me down into the clay, So that I am made comparable to dirt and ashes.

20 I implore to You, yet You do not answer me; I stand up, yet You do not consider me.

21 You are turned cruel toward me; With the staunchness of Your hand, You assail me.

22 You lift me up into the wind and make me ride on it, And You dissolve me in the tumult.

23 I know that You are returning me to death, To that house appointed for all the living.

24 Yea I did not put forth my hand against the humble, If in his misfortune he is imploring to me.

25 Would I not lament for one in hardship of days? My soul was always sorry for the needy.

26 Indeed I expected good, yet evil came, And I waited for light, yet gloom has come.

27 My bowels, they boil and are never still; Days of humiliation confront me.

28 I go about in somberness without sunshine; I rise up in the assembly and implore.

29 I have become a brother to wild jackals, And an associate to ostriches.

30 My skin, it blackens and falls from me, And my bones burn hot with scorching heat.

31 My harp is turned to mourning, And my shepherd’s pipe to the sound of lamenting.

Chapter 31

1 I contracted a covenant with my eyes, So how should I wrongly consider a virgin?

2 Yet what is the portion of Eloah from above, And the allotment of Him Who-Suffices from the heights?

3 Should not calamity be for the iniquitous, And disaster for contrivers of lawlessness?

4 Does He not see my ways And number all my steps?

5 If I have walked with hypocrisy, And my foot has hurried after deceit

6 (Let Him weigh me in the scales of justice, And let Eloah know my integrity),

7 If my movement has turned aside from the way, And my heart has run after what my eyes see, And any blemish clings to my palms,

8 Then let me sow, and another eat, And may my output be rooted out.

9 If my heart has been enticed by another’s wife, Or I have waited in ambush at my associate’s portal,

10 May my wife grind corn for another, And may others crouch down upon her.

11 For that would be a crime, And that would be depravity calling for judiciary mediators.

12 For that would be a fire that devours unto Abaddon And roots out all my yield.

13 If I have rejected the plea of my servant and my maidservant When they have brought an indictment against me,

14 Then what shall I do when El arises, And when He visits, what shall I reply to Him?

15 Did not He Who made me in the belly make him also, So that the same One prepared us both in the womb?

16 If I have withheld the desire of the poor And have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17 And I have eaten my morsel by myself alone, So that the orphan could not eat of it

18 (Indeed from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And from the belly of my mother I have guided her),

19 If I have seen anyone perishing from lack of clothing, And there was no covering for the needy,

20 If his loins did not bless me, Since he was warmed with the fleece of my lambs,

21 If I have swung my hand against the orphan Because I saw my backing was in the gate,

22 Then may my shoulder fall away from the back, And may my arm be broken from the clavicle.

23 (Indeed I have an awe of calamity from El, And I cannot endure before His majestic bearing.)

24 If I have made gold my confidence, And I have said to certified gold: My trust,

25 If I have rejoiced that my estate is vast And that my hand has found abundance,

26 If I have looked at the sunlight when it irradiates, And the moon advancing like a precious gem,

27 So that my heart was enticed in secret, And my hand kissed my mouth,

28 This also would be depravity calling for judiciary mediation, For I then would have disavowed El above.

29 If I have rejoiced in the misfortune of the one hating me, And I have roused myself in joy because evil had overtaken him

30 (Yet I have not allowed my mouth to sin By asking with an imprecation against his soul),

31 If the men of my tent have never said: Who can be found who has not been satisfied with his meat?

32 (The sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

33 If I have covered up my transgression like Adam, By burying my depravity in my lap,

34 Because I was terrified of the vast throng, And the contempt of families caused me dismay, And I kept still and would not go forth from the portal

35 (O that I had someone hearing me! Here is my mark; may He Who-Suffices answer me! Let a man write his indictment against me on a scroll;

36 Assuredly, I would bear it on my shoulder; I would wind it as a tiered crown upon me;

37 I would tell him the tale of my steps; Like a nobleman I would approach him.)

38 If my ground has cried out against me, And its furrows have wept together with it,

39 If I have eaten of its vigor without paying silver, So that I have caused the soul of its headmen to expire,

40 Then may the thistle come forth instead of wheat, And nightshade instead of barley! The words of Job are finished.

Chapter 32

1 So these three men ceased from answering Job, for he was righteous in his own eyes.

2 Yet the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, from the family of Ram, grew hot. His anger burned hot against Job because he justified his own soul rather than Elohim.

3 And his anger burned hot against his three associates because they had not found an answer, and so they condemned Elohim.

4 As for Elihu, he had tarried while they spoke to Job, for they were older than he was in days.

5 When Elihu saw that there was no further answer in the mouths of the three men, his anger grew even hotter.

6 So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered, saying: I am junior to you in days, and you are hoary headed; Therefore I shrank back and was fearful From disclosing my knowledge to you.

7 I said to myself, Let days speak And many years make wisdom known.

8 But surely it is the spirit in a mortal, And the breath of Him Who-Suffices that gives them understanding.

9 Seniors may not be wise Or elders understand right judgment.

10 Therefore I say, Do hearken to me; Let me disclose my knowledge, me too.

11 Behold, I waited for your words; I listened for your understanding While you were sounding out declarations.

12 I gave consideration to you, Yet behold, there was no correcting of Job Or answer to his arguments from you.

13 Beware lest you say, We have found wisdom; El Himself is our Mentor, not man.

14 Hence I shall not array such declarations as these, And with your arguments I shall not reply to him.

15 They are dismayed; they do not answer further; They shift declarations away from them.

16 I have waited, but since they are not speaking, Since they stand and do not answer further,

17 Let me answer, me too, with my portion; Let me disclose my knowledge, me too.

18 For I am full of declarations; The spirit of my inner being constrains me.

19 Behold, my inner being is like wine that is not opened, Like new wineskins, it is ready to split.

20 Let me speak so that it can ventilate me; I must open my lips and answer.

21 Indeed I certainly shall not show partiality to any man, Nor shall I flatter a human.

22 For I do not know how I could flatter, Else my Maker would carry me off speedily.

Chapter 33

1 Nevertheless now, I pray, Job, hear my declarations, And do give ear to all my words.

2 Behold, now, I open my mouth; My tongue speaks on my palate.

3 My sayings reflect the uprightness of my heart, And my lips declare knowledge in purity.

4 The spirit of El, it has made me, And the breath of Him Who-Suffices, it preserves me alive.

5 Reply to me if you can; Do arrange yourself and stand up before me;

6 Behold, I am corresponding to you before El; I myself also was nipped off from the clay.

7 Behold, no dread of me should frighten you, And my palm shall not lie heavy on you.

8 Yea, you have spoken in my ears, And I have heard the sound of these declarations:

9 ``I am spotless, without transgression; I am unstained, and no depravity is in me;

10 Behold, He finds reasons to repudiate me And reckons me as an enemy to Him;

11 He places my feet in shackles; He observes all my paths.‘’

12 Behold, I am answering you: In this you are not righteous, For Eloah is greater than a mortal.

13 For what reason do you contend against Him That He does not answer all his words?

14 Indeed El does speak once, And twice, yet no one regards it,

15 In a dream, a vision of the night, When stupor falls upon men, In slumberings on their bed;

16 Then He reveals matters to the ear of men, And He dismays them with admonitions,

17 To withdraw a human from his deed, And that He may obliterate pride in a master.

18 He keeps back his soul from the pit And his life from passing into the unseen.

19 Also he is corrected by pain on his bed, And by perennial disputing in his bones,

20 So that bread is repugnant to him, to his life, And to his soul, the food of yearning.

21 His flesh is vanishing from sight, And his bones are ridges that once were not seen.

22 His soul draws near to the pit And his life to the place of the dead.

23 If there is a messenger on his behalf, An intermediary, one out of a thousand, To tell the human what is upright for him,

24 And he is gracious to him and says, Do ransom him from descending to the pit; I have found a propitiatory shelter,

25 Then his flesh will become hale with youth And shall be restored to the days of his adolescence.

26 He shall entreat to Eloah, and He shall accept him; He shall see His face with joyful shouting, And He shall restore to the mortal his righteousness.

27 He shall sing before men and say, I have sinned and contorted what is upright, Yet He did not compensate it fully to me.

28 He ransomed my soul from passing into the pit, And my life is seeing the light.

29 Behold, El is effecting all these things Twice and thrice with a master,

30 To restore his soul from the pit, To enlighten him with the light of the living.

31 Attend, Job; hearken to me; Be silent, and I myself shall speak.

32 If there are declarations, reply to me; Speak, for I would delight to justify you.

33 If there is no word from you, hearken to me; Be silent, and I shall train you in wisdom.

Chapter 34

1 Then Elihu continued to answer, saying:

2 Hear my declarations, you wise men, And you having knowledge, give ear to me.

3 For the ear tests declarations As the palate tastes food.

4 Let us choose for ourselves what is due; Let us know among us what is good.

5 For Job has said: I am righteous, Yet El, He has taken away my due;

6 Concerning my due, should I lie? My lesion is mortal, yet I am without transgression.

7 What master is like Job? He drinks derision like water;

8 He travels in partnership with contrivers of lawlessness And goes about with men of wickedness.

9 For he says, It is unprofitable for a master When he strives to be acceptable to Elohim.

10 Wherefore, men of heart understanding, hearken to me: Far be it from El to do wickedness, And Him Who-Suffices to do iniquity.

11 For the contrivance of a human, He shall repay it to him, And according to man’s path, He shall provide it to him.

12 El, truly indeed He does not do wickedness, And He Who-Suffices does not distort judgment.

13 Who gave supervision to Him over the earth, And who placed Him over the habitance, all of it?

14 If He places it in His heart concerning him, He can gather back His spirit and His breath to Himself;

15 All flesh would breathe its last together, And humanity would return to the soil.

16 Now if you have understanding, do hear this; Do give ear to the sound of my declarations.

17 Indeed, can anyone hating right judgment govern? And would you condemn the Abundantly Righteous One,

18 Who says to a king, Worthless one, And to patrons, Wicked one,

19 Who does not repute chiefs, Nor is He partial to the rich-man above the poor one, For they all are the work of His hands?

20 In a moment they die; At midnight the people reel and pass away, And the sturdy are taken away by no human hand.

21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps.

22 There is no darkness and no blackest shadow To conceal there the contrivers of lawlessness.

23 For it is not for a man that he may set an appointed time To go before El in judgment.

24 He smashes those of abundance without investigation And installs others in their stead.

25 Wherefore, He recognizes their occupations And overturns them in a night, and they are crushed.

26 He slaps them down with the wicked, In a place where all can see,

27 Because they withdrew from following Him And did not contemplate any of His ways,

28 But they caused the cry of the poor one to be brought before Him, So that He heard the cry of the humbled.

29 When He is quiet, who can condemn? When He conceals His face, who can regard Him? Yet He is over a nation and over humanity alike,

30 Lest a polluted human reign, One from the entrappers of the people.

31 Indeed has one said to El, I have been lured away; I shall not harm any more;

32 Until I can perceive, direct me Yourself; If I have contrived iniquity, I shall not do so again?

33 Shall He repay it on your terms since you have rejected otherwise, Since you yourself are choosing, and not I? Now what you know, speak.

34 Men of heart understanding shall say to me, And any wise master who is hearkening to me:

35 Job is not speaking with knowledge, And his words are not with intelligence.

36 My will is that Job should be tested unto permanence For making replies like men of lawlessness.

37 For he adds transgression to his sin; Among us he slaps his hands And increases his sayings against El.

Chapter 35

1 Then Elihu continued to answer, saying:

2 Is this what you reckon as right judgment? Do you say, This is my righteousness before El,

3 When you ask, How is it profitable to me? What more do I benefit than if I had sinned?

4 I myself shall reply to you with declarations, And to your associates with you.

5 Look at the heavens and see; Regard the skies; they are loftier than you.

6 If you sin, what effect do you have on Him, And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?

7 If you are righteous, what do you give to Him? Or what does He derive from your hand?

8 Your wickedness affects a man like yourself, And your righteousness a son of humanity.

9 Under a multitude of exploitings they cry out; They implore under the arm of those with great power.

10 But not one has said, Where is Eloah, my Maker, Who is giving psalms in the night,

11 Training us by the beasts of the earth, And by the flyer of the heavens, He makes us wise?

12 There they cry, yet He does not answer Because of the pride of evil men.

13 Yea, it is futility; El does not hear, And He Who-Suffices does not regard it.

14 How much less when you complain you cannot find Him out, That adjudication is set before Him, and you are waiting for Him!

15 And now because He does not visit His anger And does not acknowledge the transgression of humanity,

16 Job is opening his mouth wide with transitory breath; He makes declarations abound without knowledge.

Chapter 36

1 Elihu continued, saying:

2 Compass about me a bit, and I shall disclose it all to you, For I still have declarations concerning Eloah.

3 I shall bear my knowledge from afar And ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4 For truly my declarations are not false; One of integrity in knowledge is with you.

5 Behold, El is abundant in vigorAnd does not reject the pure of heart.

6 He does not keep the wicked alive But gives the humble redress.

7 He does not diminish the guard of His eyes over the righteous, But with kings on the throne He seats them permanently, And they are elevated.

8 But if being bound with manacles, They are seized by the cord lines of humiliation,

9 Then He is telling them of their deeds And their transgressions, that they are making themselves arrogant masters.

10 Thus He reveals to their ears His disciplining authority, And demands that they turn back from lawlessness.

11 If they hearken and serve Him, They finish their days in well-being And their years in pleasantness.

12 But if they do not hearken, They pass away by the javelin And breathe their last without knowledge.

13 As for the polluted of heart who nourish anger, Who do not implore when He binds them,

14 Their soul dies in youth, And their life ends among the cult-prostitutes.

15 He liberates the humble one by his humiliations And reveals truth to their ears by oppression.

16 Thus also He will allure you from the mouth of distress To a wide place without constraint, in its stead; And for rest at your table He will fill it with richness.

17 And with the adjudication of the wicked one you will be filled; Adjudication and right judgment shall be upheld.

18 But beware lest one should allure you with affluence; Let not the vastness of the sheltering gift turn you aside.

19 Shall He arrange your salvation without distress And all exertions of vigor?

20 Do not gasp after the night When peoples ascend to their place.

21 Beware, you must not turn around to lawlessness, For on account of this you have been tested by humiliation.

22 Behold, El is impregnable in His vigor; Who is a Director like Him?

23 Who calls His way to account against Him? Or who says, You have contrived iniquity?

24 Remember that you should extol His deeds, Of which men have sung.

25 All humanity have perceived it; A mortal, he looks from afar.

26 Behold, El is so great we cannot know it, And the number of His years is fathomless.

27 For He condenses the drops of water That filter as rain for His mist,

28 That exude from the skies And drip down on humanity as showers.

29 Indeed, can one understand the spreading, thick clouds, The thunderous tumults from His booth?

30 Behold, He spreads His mist over it, And covers the roots of the sea.

31 For with them He gives sustenance to the peoples; He gives food in abundance.

32 He covers lightning in His palms And instructs it with sure aim.

33 His thunder tells about it, The cattle, also, about what is coming up.

Chapter 37

1 Indeed, at this my heart trembles And leaps out of its place.

2 Hearken, yea hearken to the thunderous sound of His voice And the rumbling soliloquy that comes forth from His mouth;

3 Under the entire heavens He unleashes it, And His lightning over the wings of the earth.

4 After it roars a voice; He thunders with His swelling voice And does not stem them so that His voice is heard.

5 El thunders marvelously with His voice, Doing great things that we cannot know.

6 For He says to the snow, Fall on the earth, And to the downpour of rain, even His strong downpours of rains.

7 On the hand of every human He places a seal So that all men may know His work.

8 Then the wild animal enters into its lair, And tabernacles in its habitations.

9 From its chamber comes the sweeping whirlwind, And cold from the sifting winds.

10 By the breath of El ice is made, And the broad waters become a frozen solid.

11 Indeed, He encumbers the thick cloud with soaking moisture; He scatters His lightning cloud,

12 And He directs them round about, Turning according to His strategies, That their deeds be all that He instructs them On the face of the earth’s habitation.

13 Whether it be for a club that He fulfills His approved plan, Or for benignity, it is He Who causes it to occur.

14 Do give ear to this, Job; Stand and consider the marvelous works of El.

15 Do you know in what way Eloah sets direction over them And how He causes the lightning of His cloud to shine?

16 Do you know about the balancings of the thick cloud, The marvels of One flawless in knowledge,

17 You whose garments are warm When the earth is quiet because of the south wind?

18 Could you with Him have made the atmosphere in the skies, Steadfast as a mirror that is solidly set?

19 Inform us what we should say to Him; We cannot arrange our case because of the darkness.

20 Should it be recounted to Him that I would speak? Would a man ask that he be swallowed down?

21 Now men cannot examine the sunlight as it is ablaze in the skies, When the wind has passed and made them clean,

22 And from the north, rays of gold arrive. About Eloah is fearful splendor;

23 He Who-Suffices, we cannot find Him out, Great in vigor and right judgment, And abundant in righteousness, Who humbles not.

24 Wherefore, men fear Him; Do not all wise of heart stand in fear?

Chapter 38

1 Then Yahweh answered Job from the tempest, saying:

2 Who is this who darkens counsel By declarations without knowledge?

3 Belt up your loins now like a master; I shall ask of you, and you inform Me.

4 Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell if you know with understanding.

5 Who determined its measurements for surely you know! Or who stretched out a measuring tape upon it?

6 On what were its sockets sunk? Or who directed its cornerstone in place,

7 When the stars of the morning were jubilant together, And all the sons of Elohim raised a joyful shout?

8 Who shut in the sea with double doors When it rushed forth, when it came forth from the womb,

9 When I made the cloud its clothing And murkiness its swaddling band,

10 When I impressed My statute upon it And set bar and double doors,

11 When I said, Unto here shall you come but shall not proceed farther, And here a limit is set to your swelling billows?

12 In all your days have you ever instructed the morning? Have you made known to the dawn its place,

13 That it might take hold of the wings of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it?

14 It turns itself to hues like sealed clay Till they are set like those of clothing.

15 Then from the wicked their light is withheld And the exalted arm is broken.

16 Have you ever come unto the seepings of the sea Or walked about in the fathoms of the abyss?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you, And have you seen the gates of the blackest shadow?

18 Have you comprehended the vast width of the earth? Tell if you know all of it.

19 Where is this, the pathway where light tabernacles, And where is this, where darkness has its place,

20 That you may take it to its territory, And that you may understand the tracks to its home?

21 You know, for you were born back then! And the number of your days is vast!

22 Have you entered into the storehouses of snow, And have you seen the storehouses of hail,

23 Which I have kept back for the season of distress, For the day of attack and war?

24 Where is this, the pathway where light is apportioned, Where the east wind is scattered over the earth?

25 Who has divided off a trench for overflowing rains And set a pathway for the thunderbolts,

26 To bring rain on a land where no man is, A wilderness with no human in it,

27 To satisfy areas of ruination and wasteness, And to cause verdure to sprout from the arid place?

28 Is there a father for the rain? Or who has begotten the globules of dew?

29 From whose belly has the ice come forth? And the hoarfrost of the heavens, who has generated it,

30 When water hides itself as stone, And the face of the abyss is frozen over?

31 Can you tie up the windings of the Pleiades? Or can you unloose the draw-cords of Orion?

32 Can you bring forth the constellations of the zodiac in their season? And the Great Bear with her cubs, can you guide them?

33 Do you know the statutes of the heavens? Or can you establish its superintendence over the earth?

34 Can you raise up your voice to the thick clouds That the accumulation of water may cover you?

35 Can you send forth the lightning bolts that they may go? And do they say to you, Here we are?

36 Who has set wisdom in the hidden parts? Or who has given understanding to the intuition?

37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? And the waterskins of the heavens, who can tip down,

38 When the soil is solidly set into lumpy casts, And the clods are clung together?

39 Can you hunt the prey for the lioness? And can you fill the life needs of the sheltered lions,

40 When they crouch prostrate in their habitations, Sit for ambush in their covert?

41 Who prepares its provision for the raven, When its young implore to El, Which stray from lack of food?

Chapter 39

1 Are you acquainted with the bearing of the ibexes of the crag? Do you observe the travailing in birth of the hinds?

2 Do you number the months they must fulfill, And do you know the time of their bearing?

3 They crouch; they deliver their young; They put forth the cause of their cramps.

4 Their young ones thrive; they grow up in the open; They go forth and return no more to them.

5 Who has sent forth the onager free, And who has unloosed the bonds of the wild donkey,

6 Whose home I have constituted the steppe, And the salty wastes as his habitat?

7 He makes sport of the clamor of the town; He does not hear the tumults of the taskmaster.

8 He explores the mountains as his pasture And seeks after every green thing.

9 Is the wild bull willing to serve you? Would he lodge all night at your crib?

10 Can you tie the wild bull with curb and rope? Would he harrow the vales after you?

11 Would you put trust in him because his vigor is great, And would you entrust your labor to him?

12 Would you put reliance on him that he would return And gather your seed to your threshing site?

13 The wing of the ostrich flaps joyously, But it is not the pinion of the stork with its feathers.

14 When she entrusts her eggs to the land And warms them on the soil,

15 She forgets that a foot may press down on it, Or a wild animal of the field may stomp on it.

16 She is made indurate to her young as though not hers, Without alarm that her labor be for nought.

17 For Eloah caused her to be oblivious to wisdom And did not apportion understanding to her.

18 Yet any time she springs up on high, She makes sport of the horse and his rider.

19 Do you give to the horse its mastery? Do you clothe its neck with thunder?

20 Do you make him quake like the locust? The splendor of his snorting strikes dread.

21 He paws in the vale and is elated in his vigor; He goes forth to meet the weapons of battle.

22 He makes sport of alarm and is not dismayed; Neither does he turn back because of the sword.

23 On him the quiver is jubilant, The blaze of spear and scimitar.

24 With quaking and thunderous sound, he gulps up the earth, And he cannot stand restfully at the sound of the trumpet.

25 As soon as the trumpet sounds, he shouts, Aha! And from afar he smells the battle, The thunder of the chiefs and the shouting!

26 Is it by your understanding that the hawk glides, That it spreads its wings southward?

27 Or is it by your bidding that the vulture soars aloft, And that he makes his nest so high?

28 He roosts on a crag and lodges himself On the tooth of a crag and a fastness;

29 From there he reconnoiters for food; His eyes scrutinize far off;

30 His brood imbibe the blood, And where there are the slain, there he is.

Chapter 40

1 So Yahweh answered Job, saying:

2 Will one contending with Him Who-Suffices admonish Him? The one reproving Eloah, let him answer it.

3 Then Job answered Yahweh, saying,

4 Behold, I am slight; how can I reply to You? I place my hand upon my mouth.

5 I spoke once but shall not answer further, Twice, but I shall not continue.

6 So Yahweh answered Job from the tempest, saying:

7 Belt up your loins then like a master; I shall ask of you, and you inform Me.

8 Indeed, would you ever annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you might be found righteous?

9 Do you have an arm like El’s? And can you thunder with a voice like His?

10 Ornament yourself then with augustness and loftiness, And with splendor and honor you shall clothe yourself.

11 Scatter forth the ragings of your anger; Discern every proud one and abase him.

12 Discern every proud one and bring him into submission; Crush the wicked where they are.

13 Bury them in the soil together; Bind up their faces in the burial crypt.

14 Then even I Myself shall acclaim you, Because your right hand has brought salvation to you.

15 Behold now, the behemoth that I made as I did you; He eats grass like the ox.

16 Behold now his vigor in his waist, His virility in the muscles of his belly;

17 He makes his tail taut like a cedar; The sinews of his awesome thighs are intertwined.

18 His bones are tubings of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron.

19 He is the first of the ways of El; The One Who made him, He brought close to him his sword.

20 Indeed the hills bear fodder for him, And all the wild animals of the field gambol there.

21 Under the lotuses he lies In the concealment of reeds and marsh.

22 The lotuses overshadow him for his shade; The oleanders of the wadi surround him.

23 If the stream threatens he does not hurry away; He is trusting even if Jordan rushes forth up to his mouth.

24 Can anyone take him by his eyes Or pierce his nose with a trap?

Chapter 41

1 Can you draw out the dragon with a fishhook, Or hold down his tongue with a line?

2 Can you place a rush rope in his nose, Or pierce his jawbone with a gaff?

3 Would he make many supplications to you, Or speak to you with tender words?

4 Would he contract a covenant with you That you may take him as a servant for the eon?

5 Can you sport with him as with a bird, Or tie him up for your maidens?

6 Would partners bargain over him That they may divide him up among traffickers?

7 Can you fill his skin with barbs Or his head with the fishing spear?

8 Place your palm on him; Remember the battle; you would certainly not do it again!

9 Behold, one’s hope is proved a lie; Even at the sight of him one is hurled down.

10 Is he not too cruel that one may rouse him? Who then is he who can station himself before Me?

11 Who can confront Me and would fare well? Whatever is under the entire heavens, it is Mine.

12 I shall not keep silence about his constitution Or the matter of his grand mastery that is without appraisal.

13 Who has rolled back his surface clothing? Who can enter through his double coat-of-armor?

14 Who has opened the doors of his face? All around his teeth is dread.

15 His body is made of channels of shields, Closed by a constricting seal.

16 One to the other, they are so close That the wind cannot enter between them.

17 They are clung together each to its fellow; They seize each other and cannot be parted.

18 His sneezings make the light irradiate, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

19 Flaming torches go out from his mouth; Darts of fire escape forth.

20 Out from his snorting nostrils smoke goes forth As from a steaming cauldron or burning rushes.

21 His soul sets embers aflame, And a blaze goes forth from his mouth.

22 In his neck lodges strength, And shock romps before him.

23 The flaps of his flesh cling together, Solidly set upon him; it is immovable.

24 His heart is solidly set like stone, Even solidly set like the lower grindstone.

25 At his lifting up, the subjectors shrink back; At his breaking forth, they recede.

26 Though the sword overtakes him, it does not avail, As also the spear, the dagger and the short arrow.

27 He reckons iron as crushed straw, Bronze as rotten wood.

28 The son of the bow cannot make him run away; Sling stones are turned to stubble for him.

29 The bludgeon is reckoned by him as stubble, And he ridicules the whizzing of the dart.

30 His underparts are sharp pieces of shard; He strews spike marks on the mud.

31 He makes the shadowy deep boil like a pot; He makes the sea appear like foaming ointment.

32 Behind him he makes his track resplendent; One would reckon the abyss to be greyhaired.

33 There is no one on the soil comparable to him, Who was made to be without dismay.

34 He stares down on every haughty creature; He is king over every strutting beast.

Chapter 42

1 Then Job answered Yahweh, saying:

2 I know that You are able in all things, And no plan of Yours can be thwarted.

3 Who is this who obscures counsel without knowledge?'' Wherefore I have professed ideas when I was not understanding, Marvelous thoughts from me, that I did not know. 4 Hearken now, and I Myself shall speak;I shall ask of you, and you inform Me.‘’

5 With the hearing of the ear I had heard of You, But now my eye sees You.

6 Therefore I recant and repent On soil and ashes.

7 It came to pass after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job that Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite: My anger is hot against you and your two associates because you did not speak concerning Me what is rightly so as My servant Job has done.

8 Now take for yourselves seven young bulls and seven rams. Go to My servant Job, and offer up an ascent offering on behalf of yourselves. And Job, My servant, he shall pray for you. For then I shall lift up his face by not inflicting on you any disgrace. For you did not speak concerning Me what is rightly so as My servant Job has done.

9 So they went, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, and they did just as Yahweh had spoken to them. And Yahweh lifted up Job’s face.

10 Then Yahweh Himself turned back the captivity of Job when he prayed on behalf of his associates. And Yahweh added to all that Job had by a double portion.

11 All his brothers and all his sisters came to him and all his acquaintances from before, and they ate bread with him in his house. Then they sympathized with him and comforted him over all the evil that Yahweh had brought upon him. Each of them gave to him one kesitah, and each, one pendant of gold.

12 Thus Yahweh Himself blessed the latter years of Job more than his beginning. He came to have a flock of fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand pair of oxen and a thousand jennies.

13 Also he came to have seven sons and three daughters.

14 He called the name of the first one Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.

15 Women so lovely as the daughters of Job were not found in the whole land. Their father gave them an allotment in the midst of their brothers.

16 Job lived after this a hundred and forty years. And he saw his sons and his sons’ sons to four generations.

17 Then Job died, old and satisfied with days.

The Book of Psalms

Chapter 1

1 Happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, And in the way of sinners does not stand, And in the seat of mockers does not sit.

2 But rather in the law of Yahweh is his delight, And from His law is he soliloquizing by day and night.

3 So he comes to be like a tree transplanted by rillets of water, That yields its fruit in its season, And its leaf does not decay; Hence all that he does shall prosper.

4 Not so the wicked, But rather they are like the trash that the wind whisks away.

5 Therefore, the wicked shall not rise up in judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6 For Yahweh is knowing the way of the righteous, Yet the way of the wicked, it shall perish.

Chapter 2

1 Why are the nations perturbed, And the folk, they mumble empty phrases?

2 Standing by are the kings of the earth, And the chancellors, they are gathered together Against Yahweh and against His Anointed One, saying,

3 Do let us pull away their bonds, And do let us fling off their ropes from us.

4 The One sitting in the heavens, He shall ridicule; Yahweh, He shall deride them.

5 Then He shall speak to them in His anger, And in His hot anger He shall fill them with panic, saying,

6 I will pour a libation on My King, On Zion, My holy mountain.

7 Do let me recount the statute of Yahweh: He has said to Me, My Son are You; I, today, have begotten You.

8 Ask of Me, And I shall give the nations as Your allotment, And as Your holding, the limits of the earth.

9 You shall smash them with a club of iron; Like a vessel of a potter, You shall shatter them.

10 And now, kings, be intelligent; Be admonished, all judges of the earth;

11 Serve Yahweh with fear, And exult with quivering.

12 Bear admonition lest He should be angry, And you should perish in the way, For His anger shall consume speedily. Happy are all those taking refuge in Him. A Davidic Psalm When he ran away from the face of Absalom his son.

Chapter 3

1 O Yahweh, how my foes do multiply! Many are those rising against me.

2 Many are those saying to my soul, There is no salvation for him in his Elohim. Interlude

3 Yet You, O Yahweh, have been a shield about me, My Glory, and the One raising up my head.

4 I called to Yahweh with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain. Interlude

5 As for me, I will lie down that I may sleep; I will awake, for Yahweh, He shall support me.

6 I shall not fear myriads of people Who are set against me, round about.

7 Do arise, O Yahweh! Save me, my Elohim! For You will smite all my enemies on the cheek; The teeth of the wicked You will break.

8 To Yahweh belongs the salvation; On Your people be Your blessing! Interlude Permanent, With Accompaniments A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 4

1 When I called, He answered me, Elohim of my righteousness; In my distress, You made a wideness for me; Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer.

2 Sons of man, how long, turning my glory into mortification, Shall you love empty words and seek after a lie? Interlude

3 Now know that Yahweh has distinguished the benign one for Himself; Yahweh, He shall hear when I call to Him.

4 Be astounded, yet do not sin; Commune in your heart on your bed, and be still. Interlude

5 Sacrifice the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in Yahweh.

6 Many are saying, Shall anyone show us good? Lift up the light of Your countenance over us, O Yahweh.

7 You have placed rejoicing in my heart, More than in the season when their grain and their grape juice multiplied.

8 Do let me lie down and sleep in peace at once, For You, O Yahweh, alone are causing me to dwell in serenity. Permanent, Concerning the Allotments A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 5

1 To my sayings do give ear, O Yahweh! Do understand my soliloquy!

2 Do attend to the sound of my imploring, O my King and my Elohim! For I am praying to You, O Yahweh.

3 In the morning You shall hear my voice; In the morning I shall arrange for You and watch.

4 For You are not an El Whose delight is in wickedness; Evil may not sojourn with You.

5 No boasters may set themselves up in front of Your eyes; You hate all contrivers of lawlessness;

6 You shall destroy all those speaking a lie. A man of bloodshed and deceit Yahweh abhors.

7 As for me, in the vastness of Your benignity I shall enter Your house; I shall worship toward Your holy temple in devout fear of You.

8 O Yahweh, guide me in Your righteousness on account of those who lie in wait for me; Straighten Your way before me.

9 For there is nothing established in their mouth; Within them are woes; A sepulcher opened is their throat; With their tongue they deal slickly.

10 Convict them of guilt, O Elohim; Let them fall by their own counsels, And in the multitude of their transgressions, expel them, For they have rebelled against You.

11 But all those taking refuge in You shall rejoice; They shall be jubilant for the eon. You shall overshadow them, And those loving Your Name shall be glad in You.

12 For You shall bless the righteous one, O Yahweh; Like a large shield, You shall encircle him with benevolence. Permanent, With Accompaniments on the Octave A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 6

1 O Yahweh, do not correct me in Your anger, And do not discipline me in Your fury.

2 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, for I am feeble; Heal me, O Yahweh, for my bones are flustered,

3 And my soul, it is flustered exceedingly. But You, O Yahweh, how long?

4 Do return, O Yahweh! Do extricate my soul! Save me on account of Your benignity.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the unseen, who shall acclaim You?

6 I am weary with my sighing; Through all the night I inundate my couch; With my tears I saturate my cot.

7 My eye is exhausted from vexation; It shifts about because of all my foes.

8 Withdraw from me, all contrivers of lawlessness, For Yahweh has heard the sound of my lamenting.

9 Yahweh has heard my supplication; Yahweh, He is taking my prayer.

10 May all my enemies be ashamed and exceedingly flustered; May they turn back and be ashamed in a moment. Overtaking Davidic Which he sang unto Yahweh concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite.

Chapter 7

1 O Yahweh my Elohim, I take refuge in You; Save me from all those pursuing me, and rescue me!

2 Lest he should tear my soul to pieces like a lion, Tearing it off while there is no rescuer.

3 O Yahweh my Elohim, if I have done this, If there is iniquity in my palms,

4 If I have requited evil to one at peace with me I, who pulled off valueless spoils from my foe

5 May the enemy pursue my soul and overtake it, May he tramp my life into the earth, And may he cause my glory to tabernacle in the soil. Interlude

6 Do arise, O Yahweh, in Your anger, Lift up Yourself against the rages of my foes; Do rouse for me the judgment You have determined.

7 So the congregation of the folk, it shall surround You; Therefore on its account, do return to the height.

8 Yahweh, He shall adjudicate the peoples; Judge me, O Yahweh, according to my righteousness, And according to my integrity, O Supreme.

9 O let the evil of the wicked reach an end, And may You establish the righteous one, Testing the hearts and innermost being, O righteous Elohim.

10 My shield is settled on Elohim, Who is saving the upright of heart.

11 Elohim is the righteous Judge; El holds indignation every day;

12 If he does not turn back, He shall hone His sword; He has positioned His bow and is preparing it.

13 So He has prepared for him the instruments of death; He makes His arrows flaring ones.

14 Behold, he shall be cramped with lawlessness, And he will become pregnant with toil, And he will generate falsehood.

15 He has dug a crypt and delved it deep, Yet he shall fall into the pit he has been making.

16 His toil shall turn back upon his head, And his wrong shall descend on his scalp.

17 I shall acclaim Yahweh according to His righteousness, And I shall make melody to the Name of Yahweh Supreme. Permanent, On the Winetrough A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 8

1 O Yahweh our Lord, How noble is Your Name in all the earth, You Whose splendor is bestowed on the heavens.

2 From the mouth of the unweaned and sucklings You have founded strength on account of Your foes, To cause the enemy and avenger to cease.

3 When I see Your heavens, the works of Your fingers, The moon and stars which You have established,

4 What is a mortal that You are mindful of him, Or a son of mankind that You are visiting him?

5 You make him lack a little of the messengers, And with glory and honor You crown him.

6 You give him the rule over the works of Your hands; All have You set under his feet:

7 Flocks and domestic animals, all of them, And beasts of the field as well,

8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Crossing the paths of the seas.

9 O Yahweh our Lord, How noble is Your Name in all the earth. Permanent, The Eons of the Son A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 9

1 I shall acclaim You, O Yahweh, with all my heart; I shall indeed recount all Your marvelous works.

2 I shall greatly rejoice and be glad in You; I shall surely make melody to Your Name, O Supreme.

3 When my enemies are reversed backward, They shall stumble and perish from Your presence,

4 For You execute my judgment and my adjudication; You are seated on the throne, judging righteously.

5 You rebuke the nations; You destroy the wicked one; Their name You wipe out for the eon and further.

6 As for the enemy, they will come to end like permanent deserts, And their cities You will eliminate; Their remembrance will perish with them.

7 Yet Yahweh, He shall sit enthroned for the eon; He will establish His throne for judgment,

8 And He shall judge the habitance with justice; He shall adjudicate the folk with equity.

9 Yahweh shall become an Impregnable Retreat for the crushed, An Impregnable Retreat for seasons of distress.

10 So those knowing Your Name shall trust in You, For You do not forsake those inquiring for You, O Yahweh.

11 Make melody to Yahweh, the One dwelling in Zion; Tell His activities among the peoples.

12 For the One inquiring into bloodshed, He remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the humble.

13 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh; See my humiliation from those hating me; You are raising me up from the gateways of death,

14 That I may indeed recount all Your praises in the gateways of the daughter of Zion; Do let me exult in Your salvation.

15 The nations are sunk in the pit they have made; Their foot is seized in the net that they have buried.

16 Yahweh is known by the judgment He executes; The wicked one is trapped by the deed of His palms. Chant, Interlude

17 The wicked shall return to the unseen, All the nations, forgetful of Elohim.

18 For the needy one shall not be forgotten permanently; The expectation of the humble, it shall not perish for the future.

19 Do arise! O Yahweh, let not a mortal prevail; Let the nations be judged at Your presence.

20 Do set fear before them, O Yahweh; Let the nations know they are mortal. Interlude

Chapter 10

1 Why are You standing far off, O Yahweh? Why are You obscuring Yourself in seasons of distress?

2 In his pride, the wicked one is dashing after the humble; Let them be grabbed in the schemes that they have devised.

3 For the wicked one boasts over the lusting of his soul, And the greedy one, he scorns, Yea, he spurns Yahweh:

4 The wicked one, in his haughty anger, is not inquiring at all. There is no Elohim in all his schemes;

5 Potent are his ways in every season. Your judgments are withdrawn from in front of him; All his foes he puffs at them.

6 He says in his heart, I shall not slip at all; For generation after generation, I shall not be in evil.

7 His mouth is full of imprecation, with deceit and fraud; Under his tongue are misery and lawlessness.

8 He sits in ambush in the hamlets; In places of concealment he kills the innocent one; His eyes lurk for the pauper.

9 He waits in ambush in concealment like a lion in its covert; He waits in ambush to kidnap the humble; He kidnaps the humble by drawing him into his net.

10 The distressed one, he is crushed and bows down, And the army of paupers falls prey to his staunch ones.

11 He says in his heart, El, He has forgotten; He has concealed His face; He will not see at all, permanently.

12 Do arise, O Yahweh! O El, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble.

13 On what grounds does the wicked one spurn Elohim? He says in his heart that You shall not inquire.

14 You see, indeed You, the toil and vexation; You shall look to place it into Your hand. Unto You, the pauper shall entrust himself; You are the One helping the orphan.

15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil one; May You inquire into his wickedness until You find no more.

16 Yahweh is King for the eon and further. The nations will perish from His land.

17 You hear the yearning of the humble, O Yahweh; You shall establish their heart; Your ear shall attend,

18 To redress the orphan and the crushed. A mortal of the earth shall not continue at all to terrify any more. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 11

1 In Yahweh I take refuge; How are you saying to my soul, Soar like a bird to the mountain?

2 For behold, the wicked, they are positioning the bow; They make their arrow ready on the cord, To shoot in the gloom at the upright of heart.

3 When the settled things are being pulled down, The righteous one what can he effect?

4 Yahweh is in His holy temple; Yahweh His throne is in the heavens. His eyes are perceiving; His eyelids are testing the sons of humanity.

5 Yahweh, He is testing the righteous one, Yet the wicked one and the one loving wrong, His soul hates.

6 Let Him rain coals of fire and sulfur on the wicked, And let a simoon wind be the assigned portion of their cup.

7 For Yahweh is righteous; He loves righteous deeds. The upright, they shall perceive His face. Permanent, Concerning the Octave A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 12

1 Do save, O Yahweh, for the benign one has reached an end, For the faithful ones have disappeared from the sons of humanity;

2 They speak hypocrisy, each one with his associate; With a lip of slick words, with a double-minded heart they speak.

3 May Yahweh cut off all lips of slick words, The tongue speaking great things:

4 Who say, With our tongue we shall have mastery; Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?

5 Because of the devastation of the humble, Because of the groaning of the needy, Now I shall arise, says Yahweh; I shall set him in safety; I shall shine forth for him.

6 The words of Yahweh are clean words, Silver refined in a kiln, Fine gold purified seven times.

7 You, O Yahweh, You shall guard them; You shall preserve us from this generation for the eon.

8 The wicked walk round about, As the squanderings of the sons of humanity are exalted. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 13

1 How long, O Yahweh? Shall You forget me permanently? How long shall You conceal Your face from me?

2 How long shall I set griefs in my soul, With affliction in my heart by day and night? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Do look! Answer me, O Yahweh my Elohim; Do enlighten my eyes lest I should sleep in death,

4 Lest my enemy should say, I have prevailed over him, Lest my foes, they should exult when I slip.

5 Yet as for me, I trust in Your benignity; My heart shall exult in Your salvation.

6 I shall surely sing to Yahweh, for He has dealt bountifully with me, And I shall make melody to the Name of Yahweh Supreme. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 14

1 The decadent one says in his heart, There is no Elohim. They have become corrupt and abhorrent in activity; There is no one doing good.

2 Yahweh, He gazes down from the heavens on the sons of humanity, To see whether there is anyone acting intelligently, Anyone seeking after Elohim.

3 All withdraw aside; Together they are spoiled. There is no one doing good; There is not even one.

4 Have they no knowledge, all these contrivers of lawlessness, Who are devouring My people as they would devour bread? They do not call upon Yahweh.

5 There they are afraid with alarm when no alarm is present, For Elohim is with the generation of the righteous one.

6 You evildoers would put to shame the counsel of the humble one, Yet Yahweh is his Refuge.

7 O that the Salvation of Israel would come from Zion, When Yahweh will reverse the captivity of His people! Let Jacob exult! Let Israel rejoice! A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 15

1 O Yahweh, who shall sojourn in Your tent? Who shall tabernacle on Your holy mountain?

2 He who is walking flawlessly and effecting righteousness, He who is speaking truth in his heart,

3 He has not vilified with his tongue; He has done no evil to his associate And has borne no reproach against the one near him.

4 Despised in his eyes is the reprobate, Yet he glorifies those fearing Yahweh. He has sworn to his associate and shall not change.

5 He has neither lent his money at interest Nor taken a bribe against the innocent. He who is doing these things shall not slip for the eon. A Davidic Inscribed Psalm

Chapter 16

1 Keep me, O El, for I have taken refuge in You.

2 I have said to Yahweh: You are my Lord; My goodness is nothing at all before You.

3 Concerning the saints, who are in the land, They are noble ones; All my delight is in them.

4 Yet their griefs shall increase who hasten after another elohim; Not at all shall I libate their libations of blood, And not at all shall I bear their names on my lips.

5 Yahweh is the assigned share of my portion and my cup; You are the One upholding my lot.

6 The lines, they have fallen for me in pleasant places; Indeed, the allotment is seemly for me.

7 I shall bless Yahweh Who has counseled me; Indeed, in the nights my innermost being has admonished me.

8 I poise Yahweh in front of me continually; Because He is at my right hand, I shall not slip at all.

9 Wherefore, my heart rejoices, and my glory shall exult; Indeed, my flesh, it shall tabernacle in serenity.

10 For You shall not forsake my soul in the unseen; You shall not allow Your benign one to see corruption.

11 You shall acquaint me with the path of life; Satisfying rejoicings are in Your presence; Pleasantness is at Your right hand. Permanent A Davidic Prayer

Chapter 17

1 O Yahweh, do hear my plea for justice! Do attend to my appeal! Do give ear to my prayer, uttered without deceitful lips.

2 Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Your eyes, may they perceive equity.

3 You have tested my heart; You have visited by night; You have refined me and find no crime in me at all; My mouth shall not trespass.

4 As for the contrivances of humanity, By the word of Your lips I have kept from the burglar’s paths;

5 My movement is upheld in Your rounds; My footsteps shall slip no more.

6 I call upon You, for You shall answer me, O El; Stretch out Your ear to me, and hear my word.

7 Show the marvel of Your benignities, You Who are saving those taking refuge from rising foes, with Your right hand.

8 Keep me as the pupil of Your eye; In the shadow of Your wings You shall conceal me

9 From the face of the wicked, those who devastate me; My enemies against my soul encompass about me.

10 They have closed their calloused heart; Their mouths have spoken in pride.

11 They surround me now in my movement; They are setting their eyes to turn me aside to the earth.

12 His likeness is like a lion that longs to tear prey, And like a sheltered lion sitting in concealment.

13 O Yahweh, do arise; Do confront him to his face; Make him bow down. Do deliver my soul from the wicked one by Your sword,

14 From such men by Your hand, O Yahweh, From such men of transience; Their portion is in this life, And You fill their belly with what You have stored up; They are satisfied with sons, And they leave their surplus to their descendants.

15 As for me, in righteousness I shall perceive Your face; I shall indeed be satisfied when I awake to Your semblance. Permanent Concerning the servant of Yahweh, concerning David, who spoke to Yahweh the words of this song on the day Yahweh rescued him from the palm of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. Thus he said:

Chapter 18

1 I feel deep passion for You, O Yahweh, my Steadfastness,

2 O Yahweh, my Crag and my Fastness and my Deliverance! My El, my Rock! I take refuge in Him, My Shield and the Horn of my salvation! My Impregnable Retreat!

3 The One being praised! I call on Yahweh, And from my enemies I am being saved.

4 The cables of death have enveloped me, And the torrents of decadence, they frighten me.

5 The cables of the unseen, they have surrounded me; The traps of death have confronted me.

6 In my distress I called on Yahweh, And to my Elohim I implored. From His temple He heard my voice, And my imploring before Him, it came to His ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and quaked, And the foundations of the mountains, they were disturbed, And they reeled, for His anger grew hot.

8 Smoke ascended from His nostrils, And fire that devours from His mouth; Flashing embers, they blazed forth from Him.

9 He stretched out the heavens and descended, And murkiness was beneath His feet.

10 He rode on a cherub and flew; So He swooped down on the wings of the wind.

11 He set darkness as His concealment round about Him; His booth was the darkness of waters, the thick clouds of the skies.

12 Out of the brightness in front of Him His thick clouds passed With hail and flashing embers of fire.

13 Then Yahweh thundered from the heavens, And the Supreme, He gave forth His voice With hail and flashing embers of fire.

14 He sent off His arrows, with which He scattered them, And He multiplied bolts of lightning, with which He discomfited them.

15 So the channels of water were made to appear, And the foundations of the habitance were revealed, By Your rebuke, O Yahweh, By the breath of the wind of Your nostrils.

16 He sent from the height; He took me; He removed me from many waters;

17 He rescued me from my strong enemy And from those hating me; For they were more aggressive than I.

18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, Yet Yahweh became my Stay.

19 He brought me forth into a wide place; He liberated me, for He has delighted in me.

20 Yahweh requited me according to my righteousness; According to the purity of my hands He recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, And I have not been wicked by turning from my Elohim.

22 For all His ordinances have been in front of me, And I have not put away His statutes from me.

23 I have become flawless before Him; Let me keep myself from my depravity.

24 Yahweh recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the purity of my hands in front of His eyes.

25 With the benign one You show Yourself benign, With a flawless master You show Yourself flawless;

26 With the purified one You show Yourself pure, But with the perverse one You show Yourself cunning.

27 For You Yourself shall save the humbled people, But You shall abase those whose eyes are exalted.

28 Indeed You Yourself shall light up my lamp, O Yahweh; My Elohim, He shall brighten my darkness,

29 So that by You I may run over a stone dike, And by my Elohim I may leap a barricade.

30 The One, El, His way is flawless; The word of Yahweh is refined; He is a Shield to all who are taking refuge in Him.

31 For is there any Eloah apart from Yahweh? And is there any Rock except our Elohim?

32 He is the One, El, the One belting me with valor, And He spreads flawlessness on my way,

33 The One poising my feet like hinds’, And on my high-places He causes me to stand.

34 He is the One teaching my hands for the battle, So that my arms may manage a bow of bronze.

35 You gave to me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand, it braced me, And Your help, it made me great.

36 You widened my steps beneath me, So that my limbs have not tottered.

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them, And I did not return until they were finished.

38 I transfixed them, and they were not able to rise. They fell beneath my feet.

39 You belted me with valor for the battle; You bowed beneath me those rising against me.

40 As for my enemies, You gave to me the scruff of their necks, And those hating me, I effaced them.

41 They implored, yet there was no salvation; They called to Yahweh, yet He would not answer them.

42 I reduced them to powder like the dust before the face of the wind; Like the mud of the streets I pulverized them.

43 You delivered me from the disputes of the people; You placed me at the head of the nations. A people I had not known, they serve me;

44 As soon as the ear is hearing they hearken to me. The sons of the foreigner, they cower before me;

45 The sons of the foreigner, they disintegrate, And they come cringing from their enclosures.

46 Alive is Yahweh, and being blessed is my Rock; Let the Elohim of my salvation be exalted.

47 He is the One, El, Who is rendering vengeance for me, And He subdues the peoples under me,

48 The One delivering me from my enemies. Indeed from those rising against me have You exalted me; From the man of violence have You rescued me.

49 Therefore, I shall acclaim You among the nations, O Yahweh, And to Your Name shall I indeed make melody.

50 He is the One magnifying the salvations of His king, And showing benignity to His anointed one, To David, and to his seed for the eon. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 19

1 The heavens are recounting the glory of El, And the atmosphere is telling the work of His hands.

2 Day after day is uttering a saying, And night after night is disclosing knowledge.

3 There is no audible saying, and there are no words; Their voice is unheard.

4 Yet into the entire earth their voice goes forth, And into the ends of the habitance their declarations. For the sun, He has placed a tent in them,

5 So it is like a bridegroom going forth from his canopy; It is elated like a master, to run its path.

6 From the end of the heavens is its going forth, And its circling around goes on to their ends, So that there is nothing being concealed from its sunshine.

7 The law of Yahweh is flawless, restoring the soul; The testimony of Yahweh is faithful, making wise the simple;

8 The precepts of Yahweh are upright, rejoicing the heart; The instruction of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes;

9 The fear of Yahweh is clean, standing unto the future; The ordinances of Yahweh are truth; they are righteous altogether:

10 Coveted more than gold, and more than much glittering gold, And sweeter than honey and syrup of the combs.

11 Moreover, Your servant is being warned by them; In the keeping of them is a great consequence.

12 Who can detect inadvertent errors? From those concealed to me, hold me innocent.

13 Moreover, keep back Your servant from arrogancies; Let them not rule over me. Then I shall be flawless, And I will be innocent of great transgression.

14 May the sayings of my mouth be acceptable And the soliloquy of my heart be pleasing before You, O Yahweh, my Rock and my Redeemer! Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 20

1 May Yahweh answer you in a day of distress; May the Name of Jacob’s Elohim be your impregnable retreat.

2 May He send to your help from the sanctuary, And from Zion, may He brace you.

3 May He remember all your approach presents, And upon your ascent offerings, may He confer richness. Interlude

4 May He give to you according to your heart, And all your counsel, may He fulfill.

5 Do let us be jubilant in your salvation, And in the Name of Elohim, may we raise a standard. May Yahweh fulfill all your requests.

6 Now I know that Yahweh will save His anointed one; He shall answer him from His holy heavens By the saving masterful deeds of His right hand.

7 These boast in chariots, and those in horses, But as for us, concerning the Name of Yahweh our Elohim, we are ever mindful.

8 They, indeed they will bow down and fall, But as for us, we will rise and shall become attested.

9 O Yahweh, do save the king, And answer us on the day we call. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 21

1 O Yahweh, in Your strength is the king rejoicing, And in Your salvation, how exceedingly is he exulting!

2 The yearning of his heart, You will give to him, And the proposal of his lips, You will not withhold at all. Interlude

3 For You shall succor him with blessings of good; You shall set a glittering gold crown on his head.

4 He asked life from You; You will give it to him: Length of days for an eon and further.

5 Great is his glory through Your salvation; Splendor and honor shall You poise on him.

6 For You are setting him for blessings for the future; You are exhilarating him with the rejoicing of Your presence.

7 For the king is trusting in Yahweh, And in the benignity of the Supreme he shall not slip at all.

8 Your hand shall find all Your enemies; Your right hand, it shall find those hating You.

9 You shall make them like a fiery stove in the era of Your presence. Yahweh, He shall swallow them up in His anger, And fire shall devour them.

10 You shall destroy their fruit from the earth And their seed from among the sons of humanity.

11 Though they have intended evil against You, And they have devised a scheme, They shall not prevail.

12 For You shall make them turn their backs; With Your bowcords You shall be ready against their faces.

13 Be exalted indeed, O Yahweh, in Your strength; We shall sing and make melody concerning Your masterful deeds. Permanent, Concerning the Hind of the Dawn A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 22

1 My El! My El! Why have You forsaken me? Far from my salvation are these words of my roaring.

2 My Elohim, I am calling by day, yet You are not answering, And by night, yet there is no stillness for me.

3 But You are holy, The One dwelling among the praises of Israel.

4 In You our fathers trusted; They trusted, and You delivered them.

5 To You they cried out, and they escaped; In You they trusted, and they were not put to shame.

6 But I am a worm and not a man, A reproach to humanity and despised by the people.

7 All those seeing me, they are deriding me; They are opening up the lip; They wag their head, saying,

8 He hands over himself to Yahweh; let Him deliver him! Let Him rescue him, if He delights in him!

9 Indeed You were the One rushing me forth from the belly, Causing me to trust on my mother’s breasts.

10 On You was I flung from the womb; From my mother’s belly, You have been my El.

11 O do not be far from me, for distress is near, Because there is no one helping.

12 Many young bulls surround me; Sturdy ones of Bashan, they compass me about.

13 They open their mouth wide against me Like a lion, ravening and roaring.

14 Like water I am poured out, And all my bones are disjointed. My heart has become like wax; It is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15 My vigor is dried up like earthenware, And my tongue clings to my jaws; To the soil of death You bring me low.

16 For curs have surrounded me; The crowd of evildoers, it has encompassed me; They dig into my hands and my feet.

17 I number all my bones; They look; they stare at me.

18 They apportion my garments among themselves, And they cast the lot for my clothing.

19 Yet You, O Yahweh, do not be far away! My Fortitude, do hurry to my help!

20 Do rescue my soul from the sword, My only one from the paw of the cur.

21 Save me from the mouth of the lion And from the horns of the wild bulls You have answered me!

22 Do let me recount Your Name to my brothers; In the midst of the assembly shall I praise You.

23 Those fearing Yahweh, praise Him! All the seed of Jacob, glorify Him! And revere Him, all the seed of Israel!

24 For He has neither despised Nor abominated the humiliation of the humble, And He has not concealed His face from him. But when he implored to Him, He hearkened.

25 From You comes my praise in the vast assembly; I shall pay my vows in front of those fearing Him.

26 The humble shall eat and shall be satisfied; And those seeking after Him shall praise Yahweh. May their hearts live for the future.

27 All the limits of the earth shall remember and return to Yahweh; All the families of the nations shall worship before Him.

28 For Yahweh’s is the kingdom, And He is the One ruling among the nations.

29 Yea, to Him shall bow down all those about to be sleeping in the earth; Before Him shall crouch all those descending to the soil. And he who did not keep his soul alive

30 His seed shall serve Him; It shall be recounted about Yahweh To the generation that is coming.

31 And they shall tell of His righteousness To a people about to be born, Declaring that He has done this. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 23

1 Yahweh is my Shepherd; Nothing shall I lack.

2 In verdant oases, He is making me recline; Beside restful waters, He is conducting me.

3 My soul He is restoring; He is guiding me in the routes of righteousness, on account of His Name.

4 Even though I should walk in the ravine of blackest shadow, I shall not fear evil, For You are with me; Your club and Your staff, they are comforting me.

5 You are arranging a table before me in front of my foes; You have sleeked my head with oil; My cup is satiated.

6 Yea, goodness and benignity, they shall pursue me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh for length of days. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 24

1 Yahweh’s is the earth and its fullness, The habitance and those dwelling in it.

2 For He, on the seas He has founded it, And on the streams He has established it.

3 Who shall ascend into the mountain of Yahweh, And who shall rise in His holy place?

4 The innocent of palms and pure of heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to mere idols, And has not sworn by what is deceitful,

5 He shall obtain blessing from Yahweh, And righteousness from the Elohim of his salvation.

6 This is the generation of those seeking after Him, Those seeking Your face, O Elohim of Jacob. Interlude

7 Lift up your heads, gateways, And be lifted up, portals eonian, That the King of glory may come in!

8 Who is this King of glory? Yahweh, strong and masterful! Yahweh, masterful in battle!

9 Lift up your heads, gateways, And be lifted up, portals eonian, That the King of glory may come in!

10 Who is He, this King of glory? Yahweh of hosts, He is the King of glory! Interlude A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 25

1 To You, O Yahweh, am I lifting up my soul;

2 My Elohim, in You have I trusted. Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies be glad over me.

3 Indeed, all expecting You shall not be ashamed; They shall be ashamed who are being treacherous without excuse.

4 Acquaint me with Your ways, O Yahweh; Teach me Your paths.

5 Cause me to tread in Your truth, and teach me, For You are the Elohim of my salvation, And I expect You the entire day.

6 Remember Your compassions, O Yahweh, And Your benignities, for they are from the eon.

7 The sins of my youth and my transgressions do not remember; According to Your benignity, remember me, I pray You, On account of Your goodness, O Yahweh.

8 Good and upright is Yahweh; Therefore, He shall direct sinners in the way;

9 He shall cause the humble to tread in right judgment, And He shall teach the humble His way.

10 All the paths of Yahweh are benignity and truth For those preserving His covenant and His testimonies.

11 On account of Your Name, O Yahweh, Thus You will pardon my depravity, though it be great.

12 Whatever man this is who is fearing Yahweh, He shall direct him in the way he should choose;

13 His soul, it shall lodge in good, And his seed, it shall tenant the land.

14 The intimacy of Yahweh is for those fearing Him, And His covenant, to give them knowledge.

15 My eyes are continually toward Yahweh, For He, He shall bring forth my feet from the net.

16 Turn toward me, and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and humble;

17 In the distresses of my heart make a wideness for me, And bring me forth from my constraints.

18 Meet my humiliation and my toil, And bear away all my sins.

19 See my enemies, how they multiply And hate me with violent hatred.

20 Do guard my soul, and rescue me; Do not let me be ashamed, for I have taken refuge in You.

21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I expect You.

22 O Elohim, ransom Israel from all their distresses. Davidic

Chapter 26

1 Judge me, O Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity, And I have trusted in Yahweh; I shall not totter.

2 Test me, O Yahweh, and try me; Do refine my innermost being and my heart.

3 For Your benignity is in front of my eyes, And I have walked in Your truth.

4 I have not sat with men of hypocrisy, And with dissemblers I shall not enter.

5 I have hated the assembly of evildoers, And with the wicked I shall not sit.

6 I shall wash my palms in innocency, And I shall indeed go around Your altar, O Yahweh,

7 To announce with the voice of acclamation, And to recount all Your marvelous works.

8 O Yahweh, I have loved the pleasantness of Your house And the place where Your glory is tabernacling.

9 Do not gather up my soul with sinners Or my life with bloodthirsty men,

10 In whose hands is scheming, And their right hand is full of bribes.

11 As for me, I shall walk in my integrity; Ransom me, and be gracious to me.

12 My foot, it has stood on level ground; In the assemblies, I shall bless You, O Yahweh. Davidic

Chapter 27

1 Yahweh is my Light and my Salvation; Whom should I fear? Yahweh is the stronghold of my life; Of whom should I be afraid?

2 When evildoers drew near against me To devour my flesh, They who were to me my foes and my enemies, They stumbled and fell.

3 Though an armed force should encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war should rise up against me, In spite of this I am trusting.

4 One thing I have asked from Yahweh Only it am I seeking: That I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, To perceive the pleasantness of Yahweh, And to make my quest in His temple.

5 For He shall seclude me in His booth in the day of evil; He shall conceal me in the secrecy of His tent; He shall safely set me high on a rock.

6 Even now my head is being raised high over my enemies round about me, And I shall sacrifice in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I shall indeed sing and make melody to Yahweh.

7 Hear my voice, O Yahweh, when I call; Be gracious to me, and answer me.

8 To You my heart has said, I have sought Your face; Your face, O Yahweh, am I seeking.

9 Do not conceal Your face from me, Do not turn aside Your servant in anger, You Who have become my Help! Do not abandon me, And do not forsake me, O Elohim of my salvation.

10 For my father and my mother, they have forsaken me, Yet Yahweh, He shall gather me in.

11 Direct me, O Yahweh, in Your way, And guide me in a straight path on account of those lying in wait for me.

12 Do not give me up to the soul’s desire of my foes, For false witnesses have risen against me, Even malicious calumniators.

13 I believe that I will see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living.

14 Be expectant toward Yahweh; Be steadfast, and let your heart be resolute. Yea, be expectant toward Yahweh. Davidic

Chapter 28

1 To You, O Yahweh, am I calling out; My Rock, do not turn from me in silence. Lest, if You should hush to me, I would become comparable with descenders to the crypt.

2 Hear the voice of my supplications when I implore to You, When I lift up my hands toward Your innermost sanctuary.

3 Do not draw me away with the wicked Or with contrivers of lawlessness, Those speaking peace with their associates, But evil is in their heart.

4 Give to them according to their contriving And according to the evil of their actions; According to the work of their hands, give to them; Reverse their dealing upon them.

5 For they do not understand Yahweh’s wise deeds Or the work of His hands. He shall pull them down and not build them up again.

6 Blessed be Yahweh, For He has heard the voice of my supplications.

7 Yahweh is my Strength and my Shield; In Him has my heart trusted, And I have been helped So that my heart is joyous, And with my song am I acclaiming Him.

8 Yahweh is the strength of His people, And He is the stronghold of salvation for His anointed one.

9 Do save Your people, And bless Your allotment; Shepherd them, And lift them up for the eon. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 29

1 Grant to Yahweh, sons of the elim, Grant to Yahweh glory and strength.

2 Grant to Yahweh the glory of His Name; Worship Yahweh in His holy effulgence.

3 The voice of Yahweh is over the waters; The El of glory, He thunders; Yahweh is over the abundant waters.

4 The voice of Yahweh sounds with vigor; The voice of Yahweh is filled with honor.

5 The voice of Yahweh is breaking cedars, And Yahweh is breaking the cedars of Lebanon;

6 He is causing them to dance like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild bull.

7 The voice of Yahweh is hewing with blazes of fire.

8 The voice of Yahweh, it is causing the wilderness to travail; Yahweh is causing the wilderness of Kadesh to travail.

9 The voice of Yahweh, it makes the hinds travail in birth, And He is stripping the wildwoods bare. In His temple everyone is saying, Glory.

10 Yahweh, He sat enthroned above the deluge, And Yahweh shall sit enthroned as King for the eon.

11 Yahweh, strength shall He give to His people; Yahweh, He shall bless His people with peace. A Psalm Dedication Song of the House, Davidic

Chapter 30

1 I am exalting You, O Yahweh, For You have drawn me out, And You have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

2 O Yahweh my Elohim, I implored to You, And You healed me.

3 O Yahweh, You have brought my soul up from the unseen; You have preserved me alive from descending to the crypt.

4 Make melody to Yahweh, His benign ones, And give acclamation to His holy Name.

5 For there is only a moment under His anger But a lifetime under His benevolence. In the evening, lamentation may lodge, But in the morning there is jubilant song.

6 Yet I, I have said in my ease, I shall not slip at all for the eon.

7 O Yahweh, in Your benevolence, You have made my mountain to stand in strength. If You conceal Your face, I become flustered;

8 To You, O Yahweh, am I calling, And to my Lord am I supplicating.

9 What gain is there in my blood poured out, In my descending to the pit? Does soil acclaim You? Does it tell Your faithfulness?

10 Hear, O Yahweh, and be gracious to me; O Yahweh, be my Help!

11 You have turned my wailing into fluting for me. You have unloosed my sackcloth And are belting me with rejoicing,

12 So that one may make melody to You, my Glory, And may not be still. O Yahweh my Elohim, for the eon shall I acclaim You. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 31

1 In You, O Yahweh, have I taken refuge; Do not let me be ashamed for the eon; In Your righteousness deliver me.

2 Stretch out Your ear to me; Rescue me quickly, O Yahweh! Become mine for a Rock, a Stronghold, For a house of fastness to save me.

3 For my Crag and my Fastness are You, And on account of Your Name, O Yahweh, You shall guide me, And You shall conduct me.

4 You shall bring me forth from the net That they have buried for me; For You are my Stronghold.

5 Into Your hand am I committing my spirit; You have ransomed me, O Yahweh, El of faithfulness.

6 I hate those keeping hypocritical vanities, Yet I, in Yahweh I trust.

7 I shall exult and rejoice in Your benignity, You Who have seen my humiliation; You know all about the distresses of my soul,

8 And You have not locked me up into the hand of the enemy; You have made my feet stand in a wide place.

9 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, for distress has been mine; My eye was exhausted by vexation, My soul and my inner being.

10 For my life was consumed with affliction, And my years with sighing; My vigor stumbled with my humiliation, And my bones, they were exhausted.

11 Because of all my foes I became a reproach, Even to my neighbors, exceedingly so, And an alarm to my close acquaintances; Those seeing me in the street, they would bolt away from me.

12 I was forgotten, like a dead man, out of heart; I became like a lost vessel.

13 For I heard the muttering of many; Shrinking fear was round about; In their deliberation together against me, They schemed to take away my soul.

14 Yet I, in You I trusted, O Yahweh; I said, My Elohim are You;

15 In Your hand are my seasons; Rescue me from the hand of my enemies And from those pursuing me.

16 Do let Your face light up over Your servant; Save me in Your benignity.

17 O Yahweh, do not let me be ashamed, For I have called out to You. Let the wicked be ashamed; Let them be still in the unseen;

18 Let false lips be muted, Those speaking against the righteous with impertinence, In pride and contempt.

19 How great is Your goodness Which You have stored up for those fearing You, And You have effected for those seeking refuge in You In front of the sons of humanity.

20 You shall conceal them in the concealment of Your presence From the coalitions of man; You shall seclude them in a booth From the dispute of tongues.

21 Blessed be Yahweh, For He made marvelous His benignity to me In a besieged city.

22 Yet I, I had said in my consternation, I am severed from in front of Your eyes. Nevertheless, You heard the voice of my supplications In my imploring to You.

23 Love Yahweh, all His benign ones; The faithful, Yahweh is preserving, Yet He is repaying with a surplus the one acting in pride.

24 Be steadfast, And let your heart be resolute, All you who are waiting for Yahweh. Davidic, Contemplating

Chapter 32

1 Happy he whose transgression is lifted away, Whose sin is covered over!

2 Happy the human to whom Yahweh is not reckoning depravity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

3 When I kept silent toward You, my bones became worn out With my roaring the entire day.

4 For by day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me; My freshness was turned into the scorching heats of summer. Interlude

5 My sin I am now acknowledging to You, And my depravity I do not cover over. I said, I shall confess against myself my transgressions to Yahweh, And You, You lift away the depravity of my sin. Interlude

6 Concerning this, let every benign one pray to You in a season of finding; Surely at the overflowing of many waters they shall not attain to him.

7 You are a Concealment for me; From distress shall You preserve me; With jubilant songs of deliverance shall You surround me. Interlude

8 You said, I shall make you contemplate, And I shall direct you in the way that you should go; I shall indeed give counsel with My eye upon you.

9 You must not become like a horse, Like a mule in which there is no understanding, Whose scruff must be curbed with bit and bridle Or it would never come near to you.

10 Many are the pains for the wicked one, Yet for the one trusting in Yahweh, benignity, it shall surround him.

11 Rejoice in Yahweh, and exult, righteous ones, And be jubilant, all who are upright of heart.

Chapter 33

1 Be jubilant, righteous ones, in Yahweh; Praise is comely for the upright ones.

2 Acclaim Yahweh on a harp; On a zither of ten strings make melody to Him.

3 Sing to Him a new song; Be skillful to play with joyful shouting.

4 For upright is the word of Yahweh, And all His work is in faithfulness.

5 He is loving righteousness and right judgment; With the benignity of Yahweh the earth is filled.

6 By the word of Yahweh, the heavens were made, And by the spirit of His mouth, all their host.

7 He is collecting the waters of the sea together as a waterspout, Bestowing the abyss in treasure vaults.

8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh; Let all those dwelling in the habitance revere Him.

9 For He spoke, and it came to be; He enjoined, and it stood firm.

10 Yahweh, He annuls the counsel of the nations; He repudiates the devices of the peoples.

11 The counsel of Yahweh shall stand for the eon, The designs of His heart for generation after generation.

12 Happy is the nation that has Yahweh as its Elohim, The people He chooses as an allotment for Himself.

13 From the heavens Yahweh looks down; He sees all the sons of humanity.

14 From His established dwelling He peers Upon all those dwelling on the earth,

15 He Who is forming their hearts individually, Who is understanding all their doings.

16 The king is not saved by a great army; A master is not rescued by great vigor;

17 The horse is a false hope for salvation, And by its vast valor it cannot provide escape.

18 Behold, the eye of Yahweh is toward those fearing Him, Toward those waiting for His benignity,

19 To rescue their soul from death And to preserve them alive in famine.

20 Our soul, it tarries for Yahweh; Our Help and our Shield is He.

21 For in Him our heart is rejoicing; For in His holy Name we trust.

22 O Yahweh, let Your benignity come to be upon us Even as we wait for You. Davidic When he altered his sanity before Abimelech so that he drove him out, and he went away.

Chapter 34

1 Let me bless Yahweh in every season; His praise is in my mouth continually.

2 In Yahweh my soul boasts; The humble ones hear and rejoice.

3 Magnify Yahweh with me, And let us exalt His Name together.

4 I have sought after Yahweh, and He has answered me, And from all my shrinking fear He has rescued me.

5 Look to Him and beam, And do not let your faces be abashed.

6 This humble one called, and Yahweh heard, And from all his distresses, He saved him.

7 Encamping is the messenger of Yahweh around those fearing Him, And He shall liberate them.

8 Taste and see that Yahweh is good; Happy is the master who takes refuge in Him.

9 Fear Yahweh, all His saints, For there is no lack to those fearing Him.

10 The sheltered lions, they are destitute, and they famish, But those seeking after Yahweh, they shall not lack any good.

11 Come my sons; hearken to me! I shall teach you the devout fear of Yahweh.

12 Who is the man whose delight is life, Loving sufficient days in order to see good?

13 Preserve your tongue from evil And your lips from speaking deceit.

14 Withdraw from evil, and do good; Seek peace, and pursue it.

15 The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous, And His ears are toward their imploring.

16 The face of Yahweh is against those doing evil, To cut off their remembrance from the earth.

17 The righteous cry out, and Yahweh hears, And from all their distresses He rescues them.

18 Near is Yahweh to the broken of heart, And those crushed of spirit He shall save.

19 Many are the evils on the righteous one, But Yahweh shall rescue him from them all,

20 He Who is guarding all his bones So that not one of them is broken.

21 Evil shall put the wicked to death, And those hating the righteous one shall be found guilty.

22 Yahweh is ransoming the soul of His servants, And all those taking refuge in Him shall not be found guilty. Davidic

Chapter 35

1 Do contend, O Yahweh, with my contenders; Fight against those fighting me.

2 Hold fast the buckler and the large shield; Do rise up to my help.

3 Unsheathe the spear and the pike to meet my pursuers. Say to my soul, I am your Salvation!

4 May they be ashamed, And may they be mortified, who are seeking my soul; May they be turned away, And may they be abashed, who are devising evil against me.

5 May they become like trash before the wind, With a messenger of Yahweh expelling them.

6 Let their way become dark and slick surfaced, With a messenger of Yahweh pursuing them.

7 For gratuitously have they buried their net for me; Gratuitously have they delved a pit for my soul.

8 May ruination come upon him when he is not knowing it, And may his net that he has buried seize him; To ruination, let him fall into it.

9 Yet my soul, it shall exult in Yahweh; It shall be elated in His salvation.

10 All my bones, they shall say, O Yahweh, who is like You? Rescuing the humble from one too unyielding for him, And the humble and the needy from one pillaging him.

11 Malicious witnesses arise; They ask me that which I do not know;

12 They are repaying me evil for good, Seeking bereavement to my soul.

13 As for me, when they were ill my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, Yet my prayer, it turned back on my bosom.

14 As for an associate, as for my brother, I walked about grieving; Like one mourning for his mother, I bowed down in somberness.

15 Yet when I was limping, they rejoiced and gathered together; They gathered together against me, Smiters, and I did not know it; They tore at me and would not be still.

16 With the pollutions of derisive derisions, They gnashed their teeth against me.

17 O Yahweh, how long shall You look on? Do restore my soul from their ruinations, My only one from the sheltered lions.

18 I shall acclaim You in the vast assembly; Among a staunch people shall I praise You.

19 Let them not rejoice over me, my enemies who are false; Nor let them wink the eye, who are hating me gratuitously.

20 For they do not speak peace, And they are devising words of deceit against those enjoying respite in the land.

21 They widen their mouth against me; They say, Aha, aha, our eyes have seen it.

22 You have seen this; O Yahweh, do not be silent; O Yahweh, do not be far from me.

23 Do rouse; do awake for my due, My Elohim and my Lord, for my cause.

24 Judge me according to Your righteousness, O Yahweh my Elohim, And let them not rejoice over me.

25 Let them not say in their heart, Aha, our soul is pleased; Let them not say, We swallowed him up.

26 May those be ashamed and abashed together, Who are rejoicing in my evil lot; May those be clothed with shame and mortification, Who are magnifying themselves against me.

27 May those be jubilant and rejoice, Who take delight in my righteousness; May they say continually, Let Yahweh be magnified, Whose delight is in His servant’s well-being.

28 Then my tongue, it shall soliloquize of Your righteousness, Of Your praise, the entire day. Permanent, To the Servant of Yahweh Davidic

Chapter 36

1 The wicked one has a watchword of transgression within his heart; There is no awe of Elohim in front of his eyes;

2 For he apportions too much to himself in his own eyes To find out his depravity and to hate it.

3 The words of his mouth are lawlessness and deceit; He evades even to contemplate doing good.

4 He devises lawlessness on his bed; He stations himself on a pathway that is not good; He does not reject what is evil.

5 O Yahweh, Your benignity reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness unto the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mountain ranges of El, Your judgment like the vast abyss: Both human and beast You save, O Yahweh.

7 How precious is Your benignity, O Elohim, So that the sons of humanity, they may take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.

8 They are satiated with the richness of Your house, And the watercourse of Your luxuries You give them to drink;

9 For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light shall we see light.

10 Protract Your benignity to those knowing You, And Your righteousness to the upright of heart.

11 Do not let the foot of pride come against me; And do not let the hand of the wicked cause me to wander.

12 The contrivers of lawlessness are desolated; they have fallen; They have been tripped up, and they are not able to rise. Davidic

Chapter 37

1 Do not heat yourself up because of evildoers; Do not be jealous over those doing iniquity.

2 For like grass, they shall quickly be snipped off, And like green verdure, they shall decay.

3 Trust in Yahweh, and do good; Tabernacle in the land, and graze in faithfulness.

4 Find pleasure in Yahweh, And He shall give you the requests of your heart.

5 Hand over your way to Yahweh; Trust Him, and He shall do it.

6 So He will make your righteousness shine forth like the light, And your right judgment like the noonday sun.

7 Be still before Yahweh, and wait for Him; Do not heat yourself up because someone prospers his way, Because a man is carrying out his schemes;

8 Hold back from anger, and forsake fury; Do not heat yourself up; it leads only to evil.

9 For the evildoers, they shall be cut off, Yet those expecting Yahweh, they shall tenant the land.

10 And still a little while, and there will be no wicked one; When you consider his place, he will not be there.

11 Yet the humble, they shall tenant the land, And they will find pleasure in abundance of well-being.

12 The wicked one is scheming against the righteous one, And is gnashing his teeth at him.

13 Yahweh, He is ridiculing him, For He sees that his day shall come.

14 The wicked unloose the sword, And they position their bow, To cast down the humble and the needy one, To slaughter the upright of way.

15 Their sword, it shall enter their own heart, And their bows, they shall be broken.

16 Better are a few who are for the righteous one Than a throng of many wicked ones.

17 For the arms of the wicked, they shall be broken, Yet Yahweh is supporting the righteous.

18 Yahweh is knowing the days of the flawless, And their allotment, it shall be for the eon.

19 They shall not be ashamed in an evil season, And in days of famine, they shall be satisfied.

20 But the wicked, they shall perish, even the enemies of Yahweh, Like the precious bloom of the meadows, they will vanish; Like smoke, they will vanish.

21 The wicked one is borrowing, but he does not repay, Yet the just one is generous and giving.

22 For those being blessed by Him, they shall tenant the land, Yet those being maledicted by Him, they shall be cut off.

23 By Yahweh are the steps of a master prepared, And in His way shall he delight.

24 Though he should fall, he shall not be cast forth, For Yahweh is supporting his hand.

25 I was a youth, and now I am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous one forsaken Or his seed seeking bread.

26 The entire day he is generous and obliging, And his seed becomes a blessing.

27 Withdraw from evil, and do good; Then tabernacle for the eon.

28 For Yahweh is loving right judgment, And He shall not forsake His benign ones. The iniquitous will be exterminated for the eon, And the seed of the wicked, it will be cut off.

29 The righteous, they shall tenant the land, And they shall tabernacle on it for the future.

30 The mouth of the righteous one, it soliloquizes wisdom, And his tongue, it speaks right judgment.

31 The law of his Elohim is in his heart, And his movement is not tottering.

32 The wicked one is watching for the righteous one And is seeking to put him to death.

33 Yahweh, He shall not forsake him to his hand, And He shall not let him be condemned when he is judged.

34 Be expectant toward Yahweh, and keep His way, And He shall exalt you to tenant the land. When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.

35 I have seen a wicked one, a terrifier, Elevating himself like a flourishing native tree.

36 Yet I passed by, and behold, he was not there, And I sought him, and he was not found.

37 Observe the flawless one, and see the upright one, That there is a hereafter for the man of peace.

38 Yet transgressors, they will be exterminated together; The hereafter of the wicked, it will be cut off.

39 The salvation of the righteous is from Yahweh, Their Stronghold in a season of distress.

40 And Yahweh shall help them and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the wicked and save them, For they took refuge in Him. A Davidic Psalm, For Remembrance

Chapter 38

1 O Yahweh, do not correct me in Your wrath Or discipline me in Your fury.

2 For Your arrows, they have settled deep in me, And Your hand is settling down on me.

3 There is no soundness in my flesh in view of Your indignation; There is no peace in my bones in view of my sin.

4 For my depravities, they pass over my head; Like a heavy load, they are too heavy for me.

5 My welts stink and are putrefied In view of my folly.

6 I am wretched; I bow down very low. The entire day I walk in somberness.

7 For my hips, they are filled with searing pain, And there is no soundness in my flesh.

8 I am torpid and utterly crushed; I roar out from the anguish of my heart.

9 O Yahweh, in front of You is all my yearning, And my sighing, it is not concealed from You.

10 My heart, it throbs; my vigor forsakes me, And the light of my eyes, even that is not with me.

11 Those loving me and my associates, they are standing aloof from my contagion, And my near friends, they stand far off.

12 Those seeking my soul lay traps, And those seeking after evil to me, they speak woes; The entire day they mumble deceptions.

13 Yet I am like a deaf man; I do not hear, And like a mute who does not open his mouth.

14 So I have become like a man who is not hearing, In whose mouth there are no reproofs.

15 But on You, O Yahweh, have I placed my hope; You Yourself shall answer, O Yahweh my Elohim.

16 For I pleaded: Otherwise they might rejoice against me; When my feet slip, they would magnify themselves over me.

17 But I am prepared for limping, And my pain is in front of me continually.

18 For I shall profess my depravity; I am anxious because of my sin.

19 Yet those being my enemies gratuitously, they are plentiful, And those hating me falsely have multiplied.

20 Those repaying evil for good, They are my adversaries in my pursuit of the good.

21 Do not forsake me, O Yahweh; My Elohim, do not be far from me.

22 Do hurry to my help, O Yahweh, my Salvation. Permanent, For Acclamation A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 39

1 I said, I shall indeed keep my ways from sinning with my tongue; I shall indeed place a muzzle over my mouth, As long as anyone wicked is in front of me.

2 I have become mute in stillness; I hushed even from what is good, Yet my pain, it was troubled more.

3 My heart kindled warm within me; A fire consumed in my soliloquy; I spoke with my tongue:

4 Acquaint me, O Yahweh, with my end And the measure of my days what it is. Do let me realize how quickly my leaving off can be.

5 Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my transient lifetime is as nothing in front of You. Yea, all of humanity, standing up, is altogether a transitory breath. Interlude

6 Yea, man walks about, merely an image; Yea, they clamor about in vain; He piles up goods but does not know who will be gathering them in.

7 And now, what do I expect, O Yahweh? My waiting, it is for You!

8 Rescue me from all my transgressions; Do not constitute me the reproach of the decadent one.

9 I have become mute; I shall not open my mouth, For You Yourself have acted.

10 Withdraw Your touch from me; I am exhausted from the stirring up of Your hand.

11 You have disciplined man with corrections for depravity, And what he has coveted, You are melting away like a moth. Yea, all of humanity is a transitory breath. Interlude

12 Do hear my prayer, O Yahweh, And do give ear to my imploring; Do not be deaf to my tears, For with You, I am a sojourner, An alien settler like all my fathers.

13 Take Your probing heed from me that I may smile, Ere I shall go away and be no more. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 40

1 Expectantly I have expected Yahweh, And He stretched out to me and heard my imploring;

2 He brought me up from the cistern of tumult, From the miry mud; Then He raised my feet upon a crag; He has established my movement.

3 Now He is putting a new song in my mouth, A hymn of praise to our Elohim. Many shall see it and shall fear, And they shall trust in Yahweh.

4 Happy is the master who makes Yahweh his trust And does not countenance the audacious Or those swerving to a lie.

5 Many are Your marvelous works which You have done, O Yahweh my Elohim, even Your designs for us. There is no one arranging them for You! Should I tell and should I speak of them, They are more plentiful than could be numbered.

6 Sacrifice and approach present You do not desire, Yet a body have You prepared for me; Both ears have You dug for me; The ascent offering and sin offering You do not ask for.

7 Then I said, Behold, I have come! In the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me;

8 I delight to do what is acceptable to You, my Elohim, And Your law is in the midst of my internal parts.

9 I bear tidings of righteousness in the vast assembly; Behold, I shall not close off my lips; O Yahweh, You know.

10 Your righteousness I have not covered inside my heart; Your faithfulness and Your salvation I have affirmed; I have not suppressed Your benignity and Your truth from the vast assembly.

11 You, O Yahweh, may You not close off Your compassion from me; Your benignity and Your truth, may they continually preserve me.

12 For evils have enveloped about me until there is no numbering; My depravities have overtaken me so that I am not able to see. They are more plentiful than the hairs of my head, And my heart, it has forsaken me.

13 Be pleased, O Yahweh, to rescue me; O Yahweh, do hurry to my help!

14 May they be ashamed and abashed together, who are seeking my soul to sweep it up. May they be turned away backward and be mortified, the ones desiring evil to me.

15 May they be desolate in consequence of their shame, who are saying to me, Aha! Aha!

16 Let them be elated and rejoice in You, all who are seeking You; And let them say continually, May Yahweh be magnified, who are loving Your salvation.

17 Yet I am humble and needy; May Yahweh devise for me. My Help and my Deliverance are You; O my Elohim, do not delay. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 41

1 Happy is he who is acting intelligently toward the poor and needy one; In a day of evil, Yahweh shall provide his escape.

2 Yahweh, He shall guard him and preserve his life; He shall make him happy in the land, And He shall certainly not give him over to the soul’s desires of his enemies.

3 Yahweh, He shall brace him on the cot of sickness. You turn all his bedding in his illness.

4 As for me, I said, O Yahweh, be gracious to me; Do heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.

5 My enemies, they speak evil of me, saying, When shall he die and his name perish?

6 And if one comes to see me, he speaks hypocrisy; His heart, it musters lawlessness to itself; He goes forth to those outside and speaks.

7 Together, all who are hating me whisper against me; Against me, they are devising evil for me, saying,

8 A decadent disease has been poured out upon him; Now that he has lain down, he shall not rise again.

9 Even the man bidding me peace, in whom I trusted, who was eating my bread, He has magnified his heel against me.

10 Yet You, O Yahweh, be gracious to me, and raise me up, That I may surely repay them.

11 By this I know that You delight in me, For my enemy is not shouting in triumph over me.

12 As for me, in my integrity You uphold me, And You station me before You for the eon.

13 Blessed be Yahweh Elohim of Israel From the eon and unto the eon. Amen and Amen Permanent SCROLL TWO Contemplating, For the Sons of Korah

Chapter 42

1 As a deer is panting over the channels of water, So is my soul panting for You, O Elohim!

2 My soul thirsts for Elohim, for the living El; When shall I come and appear before Elohim?

3 My tears were my bread by day and night, While they said to me the entire day, Where is your Elohim?

4 Do let me remember these things While I am indeed pouring out my soul within me: How I would pass along with the assemblage; I would pilgrimage with them unto the house of Elohim, With voice of jubilant song and acclamation among the celebrating throng.

5 Why are you prostrated, my soul, And why are you discomfited within me? Wait for Elohim, for I shall acclaim Him further, The Grand Salvation of my countenance, and my Elohim.

6 My soul, it is prostrated within me; Therefore I am remembering You From the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, From the mount of Mizar.

7 Abyss to abyss is calling in the sound of Your cataracts; All Your breakers and Your billows, they pass over me.

8 By day Yahweh enjoins His benignity, And by night His song is with me, A prayer to the El of my life.

9 I say to El, my Crag: Why have You forgotten me? Why must I walk in somberness under the oppression of the enemy?

10 With murder against my bones, My foes reproached me, While they said to me the entire day, Where is your Elohim?

11 Why are you prostrated, my soul, And why are you discomfited within me? Wait for Elohim, for I shall acclaim Him further, The Grand Salvation of my countenance, and my Elohim.

Chapter 43

1 Judge me, O Elohim, and do contend my cause against an unkind nation. From the man of deceit and iniquity, may You deliver me.

2 For You are the Elohim of my stronghold; Why have You cast me off? Why must I walk in somberness under the oppression of the enemy?

3 Send Your light and Your truth; Let them guide me; Let them bring me to Your holy mountain And to Your grand tabernacle.

4 Then let me come to the altar of Elohim, To the El of my exultant rejoicing, And I shall acclaim You with the harp, O Elohim, my Elohim.

5 Why are you prostrated, my soul, And why are you discomfited within me? Wait for Elohim, for I shall acclaim Him further, The Grand Salvation of my countenance, and my Elohim. Permanent For the Sons of Korah, Contemplating

Chapter 44

1 O Elohim, with our ears we have heard; Our fathers, they recounted it to us: The deed You effected in their days, in the days aforetime.

2 You, by Your hand, You evicted the nations, And You planted them there. You brought evil to the folk, And You sent them in.

3 For neither by their sword did they tenant the land, Nor did their arm bring salvation for them. But it was Your right hand and Your arm of power and the light of Your countenance, For You held them dear.

4 You are He, my King and my Elohim, Who is determining the grand salvation of Jacob.

5 By You, we gored our foes; In Your Name we trampled those rising against us.

6 Hence I shall neither trust in my bow, Nor shall my sword bring me salvation;

7 For You have saved us from our foes, And those hating us You have put to shame.

8 In Elohim we will boast the entire day, And Your Name we shall acclaim for the eon. Interlude

9 Yet indeed, now You have cast us off and are mortifying us; You do not go forth, O Elohim, among our hosts.

10 You reverse us backward from the foe, And those hating us, they rob for themselves.

11 You give us up like the flock, for food, And among the nations You have winnowed us.

12 You sell Your people, yet not for wealth; Nor are You increased by the price for them.

13 You constitute us a reproach to our neighbors, A derision and a scoffing to those round about us.

14 You constitute us a proverbial byword among the nations, A shaking of the head among the folk.

15 The entire day my mortification is in front of me, And shame, it has covered my face,

16 Because of the voice of the reproacher and taunter, Because of the face of the enemy and avenger.

17 All this, it has come on us, yet we have neither forgotten You, Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.

18 Our heart has not turned away backward, Nor has our movement turned aside from Your path.

19 But You have crushed us as a place of monsters, And You cover us over with the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the Name of our Elohim And spread out our palms to an alien el,

21 Would not Elohim Himself investigate this? For He is knowing the obscured secrets of the heart.

22 For on Your account we are killed the entire day; We are reckoned as a flock for slaughter.

23 Do rouse! Why do You sleep, O Yahweh? Do awake! Do not cast us off permanently.

24 Why are You concealing Your face? Are You forgetting our humiliation and our oppression?

25 For our soul has been prostrated to the soil; Our belly clings to the earth.

26 Do arise as our Help! And ransom us on account of Your benignity. Permanent, Concerning Elations For the Sons of Korah, Contemplating A Song of Darlings

Chapter 45

1 My heart bubbles over with good words; I shall recite my compositions concerning the King; My tongue is the pen of a swift scribe.

2 You are lovely beyond the sons of humanity; Grace is poured out upon Your lips; Therefore Elohim has blessed You for the eon.

3 Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Master, Your splendor and Your honor.

4 And in Your honor prosper, ride forth On behalf of truth and humility and righteousness; Then may Your right hand direct You in fear inspiring deeds.

5 Your arrows being whetted, Peoples, beneath You shall they fall, Struck in the heart of the King’s enemies.

6 Your throne, O Elohim, is for the eon and further; A scepter of equity is the scepter of Your kingdom.

7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore Elohim Your Elohim has anointed You With the oil of elation beyond Your partners.

8 All Your garments are myrrh and aloes and cassia; From ivory palaces, lutes rejoice You.

9 Daughters of kings are among Your precious ones; The consort is stationed at Your right hand with certified gold of Ophir.

10 Hear, daughter, and see, and stretch out your ear, And forget your people and the house of your father.

11 The King yearns for your loveliness, For He is your Lord; worship Him.

12 The daughter of Tyre comes with an approach present, The rich of the people are beseeching Your presence.

13 All glorious is the royal daughter while inside; Her clothing is with mountings of gold;

14 In embroidered robes she is fetched to the King; The virgins, her associates, are behind her, being brought to her.

15 They are fetched with joy and exultation; They come into the palace of the King.

16 Instead of your fathers shall be your sons; You shall set them as chiefs through the entire earth.

17 I shall indeed make Your Name remembered in every generation after generation; Therefore the peoples, they shall acclaim You for the eon and further. Permanent For the Sons of Korah Concerning the Eons, A Song

Chapter 46

1 Elohim is our Refuge and Strength, A very providing Help in distresses.

2 Therefore, we shall not fear when the earth is made to change, Or when the mountains slide into the heart of the seas.

3 Its waters clamor; they foam; The mountains quake at its swelling. Interlude

4 A stream! Its rillets shall make the city of Elohim rejoice, The holiest grand tabernacle of the Supreme.

5 Elohim is within it; it shall never slip; Elohim shall help it at the presence of the morning.

6 The nations clamor; the kingdoms slip; He will give forth His voice; the earth shall dissolve.

7 Yahweh of hosts is with us; Our Impregnable Retreat is the Elohim of Jacob. Interlude

8 Go; perceive the deeds of Yahweh, Desolations which He has placed on the earth,

9 Who is making wars cease unto the end of the earth. He shall break the bow, and He cuts away the spear; He shall burn the battle carts with fire.

10 Relax and know that I am Elohim; I shall be exalted among the nations; I shall be exalted in the earth.

11 Yahweh of hosts is with us; Our Impregnable Retreat is the Elohim of Jacob. Permanent For the Sons of Korah, A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 47

1 All peoples, applaud with the palm; Raise a joyful shout to Elohim with the voice of jubilant song!

2 For Yahweh Supreme is fear inspiring The great King over the entire earth.

3 He subdued peoples under us, And folk under our feet.

4 He chose our allotment for us, The pride of Jacob whom He loves. Interlude

5 Elohim ascended with a shout, Yahweh with the sound of a trumpet.

6 Make melody to Elohim, make melody; Make melody to our King, make melody.

7 For Elohim is King of the entire earth; Make melody with intelligence.

8 Elohim reigns over the nations; Elohim, He sits on His holy throne.

9 The patrons of the peoples, they are gathered With the people of the Elohim of Abraham, For the prefects of the earth belong to Elohim; Exceedingly ascendant is He. A Song, A Psalm for the Sons of Korah

Chapter 48

1 Great is Yahweh, and praised exceedingly In the city of our Elohim, His holy mountain;

2 Lovely of undulation, The elation of the entire earth is Mount Zion, The flanks of the north, the town of the great King.

3 Elohim, in her citadels He is known as an Impregnable Retreat.

4 For behold, the kings, they congregated; They crossed over together.

5 They themselves saw, so they were amazed; They were filled with panic; they hurried away.

6 Quivering had taken hold of them there, Travail like one giving birth,

7 Like the east wind, Which broke up the ships of Tarshish.

8 Just as we had heard, so we saw, In the city of Yahweh of hosts, In the city of our Elohim. Elohim, He shall establish it for the eon. Interlude

9 O Elohim, we have mused upon Your benignity Within Your temple.

10 As is Your Name, O Elohim, so is Your praise Unto the ends of the earth; Your right hand is filled with righteousness.

11 Mount Zion shall rejoice; The daughters of Judah shall exult, On account of Your judgments, O Yahweh.

12 Go around Zion, and do encompass her; Count off her towers;

13 Set your heart on her rampart; Survey her citadels, That you may recount it to the next generation.

14 For this is Elohim, our Elohim, for the eon and further; He Himself shall lead us for the eons. Permanent For the Sons of Korah, A Psalm

Chapter 49

1 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all dwellers of this transience!

2 Both common sons of Adam and noted sons of man, The rich one and the needy one together.

3 My mouth, it shall speak wisdom, And the soliloquy of my heart, understanding.

4 I shall stretch out my ear to a proverb; I shall open out my enigma with a harp.

5 Why should I fear in the days of evil, When the depravity of my circumventers, it surrounds me,

6 Who are trusting in their estate And are boasting in the abundance of their riches?

7 Yea it shall not ransom, yea ransom a man; Neither shall one pay to Elohim his sheltering ransom

8 (For the ransom of his soul is too precious a price, And he shuns it for the eon),

9 That he should live further, permanently, And not see the pit.

10 Yet he sees wise ones, even they die; The stupid one, together with the irrational one, they perish, And they leave their estate to others.

11 Their tombs are their houses for the eon, Their tabernacles for generation after generation, Those who had called their grounds after their names.

12 But the human, in his self-esteem, is not understanding at all; He is comparable to the beasts that are dumb.

13 This is their way, their stupidity, And of those after them, who approve of their mouthings. Interlude

14 Like a flock, they are set for the unseen; Death, it shall graze on them. The upright shall sway over them in the morning; Their form is for decay, the unseen their residence.

15 Yea Elohim, He shall ransom my soul from the hand of the unseen, For He shall take hold of me. Interlude

16 Do not fear when a man is enriched, When the glory of his house is increased,

17 For, in his death, he cannot take anything along; His glory shall not descend after him.

18 For his soul, it was blessed in his lifetime (And they acclaim you while you are doing well for yourself),

19 Yet he shall come unto the generation of his fathers; Unto permanence, they shall not see light.

20 The human, in his self-esteem, he is not understanding; He is comparable to the beasts that are dumb. An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 50

1 El, Elohim, Yahweh, He speaks and calls to the earth From the rising of the sun unto its setting.

2 From Zion, the Consummation of Loveliness, Elohim, He shines forth.

3 Our Elohim shall come, And He shall certainly not be silent; Fire, it shall devour before Him, And round about Him it is very tempestuous.

4 He shall call to the heavens above And to the earth, to adjudicate His people.

5 Gather my benign ones to Me, Contractors of a covenant with Me by sacrifice.

6 Then the heavens shall tell of His righteousness, For He, Elohim, is the Judge. Interlude

7 Do hear, My people, and do let Me speak, Israel, and do let Me testify against you; Elohim, your Elohim, am I.

8 Not for your sacrifices shall I reprove you Or for your ascent offerings in front of Me continually.

9 I shall not take a young bull from your household, Or he-goats from your folds.

10 For Mine is every animal of the wildwood, And domestic beasts by the thousands on My mountains.

11 I know every flyer of the heavens, And the mammal of the field is before Me.

12 If I were famishing, I would not speak to you, For the habitance is Mine, and its fullness.

13 Do I eat the flesh of sturdy beasts And drink the blood of he-goats?

14 Sacrifice to Elohim acclamation, And pay to the Supreme your vows.

15 And call upon Me in the day of distress; I shall liberate you, and you shall glorify Me.

16 Yet Elohim says to the wicked one, What is it to you to recount My statutes, Or that you bear My covenant on your mouth?

17 For you, you hate admonition, And you fling My words behind you.

18 If you see a thief, you approve of him, And your portion is with those committing adultery.

19 You have let loose your mouth into evil, And your tongue, it is paired with deceit.

20 You speak shame against your brother; You give out scandal against your mother’s son.

21 You do these things, yet I keep silent; You imagined that I should become, yea become like you. I shall reprove you, And I shall indeed arrange the charge before your eyes.

22 Now understand this, you who are forgetting Eloah, Lest I should tear you to pieces, and there be no rescuer.

23 The one sacrificing acclamation, he is glorifying Me; Thus he orders his way so that I may show him the salvation of Elohim. Permanent A Davidic Psalm When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had come to Bathsheba.

Chapter 51

1 Be gracious to me, O Elohim, according to Your benignity; According to Your many compassions wipe out my transgressions.

2 Rinse me abundantly from my depravity, And from my sin cleanse me.

3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is in front of me continually.

4 Against You, against You alone have I sinned And done what is evil in Your eyes, So that You may be found righteous when You speak, And be cleared when You judge.

5 Behold, I was with depravity when I was travailed in birth, And in sin when my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, You delight in truth even in the hidden parts, And in the secret parts You cause me to know wisdom.

7 Expiate me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Rinse me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

8 Let me hear elation and rejoicing; Let the bones You have crushed exult.

9 Conceal Your face from my sins, And all my depravities wipe out.

10 Create for me a clean heart, O Elohim, And renew within me an established spirit.

11 Do not fling me from Your presence, And do not take Your holy spirit from me.

12 Do restore to me the elation of Your salvation, And stabilize me with a willing spirit.

13 Let me teach transgressors Your ways, That sinners may return to You.

14 Rescue me from bloodguilt, O Elohim, the Elohim of my salvation, That my tongue may be jubilant at Your righteousness.

15 O Yahweh, open my lips, That my mouth may tell forth Your praise.

16 For You are not delighting in sacrifice, that I should give it; An ascent offering You are not holding dear.

17 The sacrifices to Elohim are a broken spirit; A broken and crushed heart, O Elohim, You shall not despise.

18 In Your benevolence, do bring good to Zion; You shall build up the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then You shall delight in righteous sacrifices, ascent offering and wholly fumed offering; Then young bulls shall be offered up on Your altar. Permanent Contemplating, Davidic When Doeg the Edomite came to tell Saul, saying to him, David has come to the house of Ahimelech.

Chapter 52

1 Why are you boasting in evil, masterful man? Only the benignity of El lasts the entire day.

2 Your tongue devises woes, Like a honed razor, you who practice deceit.

3 You love evil rather than good, Falsehood rather than speaking righteousness. Interlude

4 You love all pernicious words, You, deceitful of tongue.

5 But El, He shall break you down permanently; He shall rake you up and tear you out from your tent, And He will root you out from the land of the living. Interlude

6 Then the righteous shall see and fear, And they shall ridicule him and say:

7 Here is the master who is not making Elohim his stronghold, And is trusting in the vastness of his riches; He is strengthening himself by his works of woe.

8 Yet I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of Elohim; I trust in the benignity of Elohim which lasts for the eon and further.

9 I shall acclaim You for the eon, for You have acted, And I shall expect in Your Name, for it is good, Doing this in front of Your benign ones. Permanent, Concerning a Chorus Contemplating, Davidic

Chapter 53

1 The decadent one says in his heart, There is no Elohim. They have become corrupt and abhorrent with iniquity; There is no one doing good.

2 Elohim, He gazes down from the heavens on the sons of humanity, To see whether there is anyone acting intelligently, Anyone seeking after Elohim.

3 Everyone has turned away; Together they are spoiled. There is no one doing good; There is not even one.

4 Have they no knowledge, these contrivers of lawlessness, Who are devouring My people as they would devour bread? They do not call upon Elohim.

5 There they are afraid with alarm when no alarm is present, For Elohim, He disperses the bones of the foe encamping against you; You put them to shame, for Elohim rejected them.

6 O that the Grand Salvation of Israel would come from Zion, When Elohim will reverse the captivity of His people! Let Jacob exult! Let Israel rejoice! Permanent, With Accompaniments Contemplating, Davidic When the Ziphites came and said to Saul, Is not David concealing himself among us?

Chapter 54

1 O Elohim, save me by Your Name, And adjudicate me by Your mastery.

2 O Elohim, hear my prayer; Do give ear to the sayings of my mouth.

3 For aliens, they rise against me, And terrifiers, they seek my soul; They do not set Elohim in front of them. Interlude

4 Behold, Elohim is my Helper; Yahweh is with the supporters of my soul.

5 Let evil turn back against those who lie in wait for me; By Your truth efface them.

6 With a volunteer offering I shall indeed sacrifice to You; I shall acclaim Your Name, O Yahweh, for it is good.

7 For He rescues me from all distress, And my eye sees the fate of my enemies. Permanent, With Accompaniments Contemplating, Davidic

Chapter 55

1 Do give ear, O Elohim, to my prayer, And do not obscure Yourself from my supplication.

2 Do attend to me and answer me; I am pressed down by my concern. And I am discomfited

3 by the voice of the enemy, Because of the pressure of the wicked. For they are slipping lawlessness upon me And are assailing me in anger.

4 My heart, it is travailing within me, And dreadings of death, they have fallen upon me.

5 Fear and quivering, it comes over me, And shuddering covers me.

6 I said, O that I had pinions like a dove; I would surely fly away and tabernacle in serenity.

7 Behold, I would bolt away afar; I would lodge in the wilderness. Interlude

8 I would surely hurry to a place of deliverance for me, Away from the gusting wind and from the tempest.

9 Do away with them, O Yahweh; befuddle their tongue, For I see violence and contention in the city;

10 By day and night they go round about it on its walls, And lawlessness and misery are within it.

11 Woes are within it, And fraud and deceit do not remove from its square.

12 For it is not an enemy who is reproaching me; Then I could bear it; It is not one hating me who magnifies himself against me; Then I could conceal myself from him;

13 But it is you, a mortal of my own rank, My mentor and my close acquaintance.

14 We who together made sweet deliberation, We walked with the foregathering crowd in the house of Elohim.

15 May death lure them away; May they descend to the unseen alive, For evils are among them in their sojourning.

16 As for me, I am calling to Elohim, And Yahweh, He is saving me.

17 Evening, morning and noon I importune and clamor, And He hears my voice.

18 He ransoms my soul in peace from the attack against me, Though many have come to be against me.

19 El shall hear, and He shall answer them, Even the One dwelling from aforetime, Interlude He in Whom there are no changes; Yet they do not fear Elohim.

20 He has put forth his hands against those at peace with him; He has profaned his own covenant.

21 Words from his mouth are slicker than clotted cream, Yet an attack is planned in his heart; His words are more soothing than oil, Yet they are unloosed swords!

22 Fling your granted burden on Yahweh, And He Himself shall sustain you; He shall not allow the righteous one to slip for the eon.

23 And You, O Elohim, You shall bring them down to the well of ruin, These mortals of bloodshed and deceit, Who shall not live half their days; As for me, I am trusting in You. Permanent, Concerning the Mute Dove Afar A Davidic Inscribed Psalm When the Philistines held him in Gath.

Chapter 56

1 Be gracious to me, O Elohim, for a mortal gasps after me; All day long this fighting man is oppressing me.

2 They gasp, those who lie in wait for me the entire day, For many are fighting against me haughtily.

3 The day when I am fearing I am trusting in You.

4 In Elohim, I am praising His word; In Elohim I trust; I shall not fear; What can flesh do to me?

5 All day long they are wresting my words; All their devisings are against me for evil.

6 They are stirring up plots; they are lurking; They are keeping track of my heel prints, As though they expected to take my soul.

7 Mete out to them according to their lawlessness; In anger bring down the peoples, O Elohim.

8 You Yourself keep number of my wanderings; Do place my tears in Your skin bottle; Are they not recorded in Your scroll?

9 Then my enemies shall turn away in the day I call out; This I know: that Elohim is for me.

10 In Elohim I shall praise the word; In Yahweh I shall praise the word;

11 In Elohim I trust; I shall not fear; What can a human do to me?

12 O Elohim, I am under vows to You; I shall pay acclamation offerings to You.

13 For You have rescued my soul from death, And not also my feet from foundering? That I may walk before Elohim in the light of the living. Permanent, Do Not Bring Ruin! A Davidic Inscribed Psalm When he ran away from the face of Saul into the cave.

Chapter 57

1 Be gracious to me, O Elohim, be gracious to me; For in You my soul takes refuge, And in the shadow of Your wings shall I take refuge Until the woes pass away.

2 I am calling to Elohim Supreme, To El Who is perfecting for me.

3 He shall send from the heavens and save me; He will reproach the one gasping after me; Interlude Elohim shall send His benignity and His faithfulness.

4 My soul is in the midst of parent-lions; Let me confidently lie among flaming foes, even sons of humanity; Their teeth are spears and arrows, And their tongue a sharp sword.

5 O be exalted over the heavens, O Elohim; Let Your glory be over the entire earth!

6 They have prepared a net for my footsteps; My soul is bent down; They have dug a pit before me, Yet they have fallen into its midst. Interlude

7 My heart is established, O Elohim, My heart is established; I shall sing and make melody.

8 Do rouse, my glory; Do rouse zither and harp; I shall rouse the dawn.

9 I shall acclaim You among the peoples, O Yahweh; I shall make melody among the folk.

10 For Your benignity is great unto the heavens, And Your faithfulness unto the skies.

11 O be exalted over the heavens, O Elohim, Let Your glory be over the entire earth! Permanent, Do Not Bring Ruin! A Davidic Inscribed Psalm

Chapter 58

1 Nevertheless if you were truly pronouncing justice, You would judge with equity, sons of humanity.

2 Indeed, in heart you are contriving iniquities; With your hands you are meting out violence on earth.

3 From the womb, the wicked are alienated; From the belly, they stray, speaking a lie.

4 Their venom is like the venom of a serpent, Like a deaf cobra that has contracted its ear,

5 That will not hearken to the sound of those intonating, Or of one charming with wise charmings.

6 O Elohim, demolish their teeth in their mouth; Wrench out the fangs of the sheltered lions, O Yahweh.

7 May they melt like waters going away to their place; May He position His arrows that they be snipped off;

8 Like a slug melting away as it goes along; Like the stillborn of a woman, they will fail to perceive the sun.

9 Ere their pots could detect the boxthorn fire, Like a thistle, like a prickly acanthus, He shall toss him away in a hurricane.

10 The righteous one shall rejoice when he perceives the vengeance; He shall bathe his footsteps in the blood of the wicked one.

11 Then mankind shall say, Yea, there is fruit for the righteous one; Yea, there is an Elohim Who is judging in the earth! Permanent, Do Not Bring Ruin! A Davidic Inscribed Psalm When Saul sent, and they kept watch over the house to put him to death.

Chapter 59

1 Rescue me from my enemies, O my Elohim; From those rising against me, may You make me impregnable.

2 Rescue me from those contriving lawlessness, And from men of bloodshed, save me.

3 For behold, they wait in ambush for my soul; Strong men are stirring up plots against me, But not for my transgression and not for my sin, O Yahweh.

4 Without depravity of mine, they are running and preparing themselves; Do rouse to meet me and see this.

5 Yea, You, O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, Elohim of Israel, Do awake to call all the nations to account; Do not be gracious to any who are treacherous with lawlessness. Interlude

6 They are returning each evening, clamoring like curs And going round about the city.

7 Behold, they are uttering growls with their mouth; Swords are on their lips, saying, Who is hearing?

8 Yet You, O Yahweh, You shall ridicule them; You shall deride all the nations.

9 O my Strength, I will keep watch for You, For Elohim is my Impregnable Retreat.

10 The Elohim of benignity to me, He shall go before me; Elohim, He shall let me see the fate of those who lie in wait for me.

11 Do not kill them lest my people should forget; By Your potent power, make them rove, And bring them down, O our Shield, Yahweh.

12 For the sin of their mouth, the word of their lips, May they be seized in their pomp; And because of the execration and sham which they are rehearsing,

13 Finish them in fury; finish them until they are no more; Then they shall know that Elohim is Ruler in Jacob To the limits of the earth. Interlude

14 They are returning each evening, clamoring like curs And going round about the city;

15 They shall rove for food, And if they are not satisfied, then they shall grumble.

16 But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength And be jubilant each morning over Your benignity; For You are the Impregnable Retreat for me, And my Haven in the day of my distress.

17 O my Strength, to You am I making melody, For Elohim is my Impregnable Retreat, Elohim of benignity to me. Permanent, Concerning Elation, A Testimony A Davidic Inscribed Psalm, For Teaching When he ravaged Aram-naharaim and the Syrian Zobah, and Joab returned and smote Edom in the salt ravine, twelve thousand.

Chapter 60

1 O Elohim, You have cast us off; You have breached forth upon us; You have been angry; May You turn back to us.

2 You have made the earth quake; You have riven it; Heal its breaks, for it has slipped.

3 You have shown Your people hardship; You have made us drink wine of tremoring.

4 You have given a banner to those fearing You For flight from the face of the bow. Interlude

5 That Your beloved ones may be liberated, Do save with Your right hand and so answer me.

6 Elohim, He has spoken in His holiness: I shall indeed ascend; I shall indeed apportion out Shechem, And I shall measure off the vale of Succoth.

7 Mine is Gilead, and Mine is Manasseh, And Ephraim is the stronghold of My head; Judah is My statute-maker;

8 Moab is My washbasin; Unto Edom shall I fling My sandal; Over Philistia shall I shout in triumph.

9 Who shall escort me to the fortified city? Who will guide me unto Edom?

10 O Elohim, have You Yourself not cast us off? And shall You not go forth, O Elohim, with our hosts?

11 Do grant to us help from distress, For salvation from a human is futile.

12 With Elohim shall we do valiantly, For He Himself shall trample our foes. Permanent, With Accompaniment Davidic

Chapter 61

1 Do hear my appeal, O Elohim; Do attend to my prayer.

2 From the outmost part of the land am I calling to You while my heart droops; Guide me to a rock that is higher than I.

3 For You have become my Refuge, A strong Tower before the face of the enemy.

4 Let me sojourn in Your tent for the eons; Let me take refuge in the concealment of Your wings. Interlude

5 For You, O Elohim, You have hearkened to my vows; You have given me the tenancy of those fearing Your Name.

6 Add days to the days of the king, His years for generation after generation.

7 May he dwell for the eon before Elohim; Assign benignity and faithfulness that they may preserve him.

8 So let me make melody to Your Name for the future, To pay my vows day by day. Permanent, For Acclamation A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 62

1 Only in Elohim is my soul stilled; From Him comes my salvation.

2 He only is my Rock and my Salvation, My Impregnable Retreat; I shall not slip more.

3 How long shall you foes be hostile against a man, All of you, that you may murder him, As though he were a slanting sidewall Or a foundering stone dike?

4 They intrigue only to trip him up from his dignity; They approve of lies; With their mouth they bless, Yet within them, they are maledicting. Interlude

5 Only in Elohim be still, my soul, For from Him comes my expectation.

6 He only is my Rock and my Salvation, My Impregnable Retreat; I shall not slip.

7 On Elohim rest my salvation and my glory; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in Elohim.

8 Trust in Him at all times, people; Pour out your heart before Him; Elohim is our Refuge. Interlude

9 Common sons of Adam are only a transitory breath, Noted sons of man a lie; If brought up on the scales, They are less than a transitory breath altogether.

10 Do not trust in extortion, And in pillage, do not place vain hope; Though your estate be producing, do not set your heart on it.

11 Once Elohim has spoken; Two times have I heard this: That strength belongs to Elohim,

12 And to You, O Yahweh, belongs benignity, For You Yourself shall pay each man according to his deeds. A Davidic Psalm When he was in the wilderness of Judah.

Chapter 63

1 O Elohim, You are my El! Early am I seeking You. My soul thirsts for You; My flesh craves for You, Like a land arid and faint, without water.

2 So longing, in the sanctuary, I envisioned You, Beholding Your strength and Your glory;

3 For Your benignity is better than life itself; My lips, they shall laud You.

4 So shall I bless You in all my life; In Your Name shall I lift up my palms,

5 As with fatness and richness my soul shall be satisfied, And with jubilant lips my mouth shall praise.

6 When I remember You on my berth, In night vigils shall I soliloquize about You.

7 For You became my Help, And in the shadow of Your wings shall I be jubilant.

8 My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.

9 As for those who are seeking my soul for its ruination, May they come into the nether parts of the earth.

10 Those who would topple him down by means of the sword, May they become an assigned portion for jackals.

11 Yet the king, he is rejoicing in Elohim; Everyone who is swearing by Him shall boast, But the mouth of those speaking falsehood shall be held in check. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 64

1 Hear, O Elohim, my voice in my concern; From alarm of the enemy preserve my life.

2 Conceal me from the deliberation of evildoers, From the foregathering of the contrivers of lawlessness,

3 Who whet their tongue like a sword; They position their arrow a bitter word

4 To shoot at the flawless from concealment; Suddenly they shoot at him and do not fear.

5 They are encouraging themselves in an evil matter; They are recounting plans to bury traps; They say, Who shall see us?

6 They are searching into iniquity, Saying, We will finish a thorough search. The inward thought of each and the heart are deep.

7 Yet Elohim shall shoot an arrow at them; Suddenly smitings will come on them,

8 And they shall stumble by it: their own tongue against them. All seeing them shall bolt away,

9 And every human shall fear. Then they shall tell of Elohim’s deeds And will contemplate His handiwork.

10 The righteous one shall rejoice in Yahweh, And he will take refuge in Him. And all the upright of heart shall praise. Permanent A Davidic Psalm, A Song

Chapter 65

1 To You behooves praise, O Elohim, in Zion, And to You shall be paid the vow in Jerusalem.

2 O Hearer of prayer, Unto You all flesh shall come.

3 When matters of depravity have mastery over us, Our transgressions, You Yourself shall make a propitiatory shelter for them.

4 Happy is he whom You are choosing and are bringing near; He shall tabernacle in Your courts. We shall be surfeited with the goodness of Your house, The holiness of Your temple.

5 By fear inspiring deeds shall You answer us in righteousness, O Elohim of our salvation, Trust of all the ends of the earth and the sea afar,

6 Establishing the mountains by His vigor, Being belted with mastery,

7 Becalming the tumult of the seas, The tumult of their billows and clamor of the folk.

8 And the dwellers of the ends shall fear because of Your signs; The breaking forth of the morning and evening You shall cause to be jubilant.

9 You will supervise the land and shall make it flourish; Much shall You enrich it; The rillet of Elohim, it will fill with water; You shall provide their grain, for thus shall You prepare it.

10 Soak its furrows, settling its slashes; With showers shall You soften it; Its sprouting shall You bless.

11 You will crown the year with Your goodness, And Your rounds, they shall drip with richness.

12 The oases of the wilderness shall drip richly, And with exultation the hills shall be girded.

13 The meadows will be clothed with the flock, And the vales, they shall droop with cereal grain. They shall raise a joyful shout! Indeed, they shall sing! Permanent A Song, A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 66

1 Raise a joyful shout to Elohim, all the earth!

2 Make melody for the glory of His Name! Make glorious His praise!

3 Say to Elohim, How fear inspiring are Your doings! Because of the vastness of Your strength Your enemies shall cower before You.

4 All the earth shall bow down to You and shall make melody to You; They shall make melody to Your Name. Interlude

5 Come and see the deeds of Elohim; His activity is fear inspiring to the sons of humanity.

6 He turns the sea to dry ground. In the stream they are passing on foot. There let us rejoice in Him.

7 Ruling by His mastery for the eon, His eyes shall watch among the nations. Let not the stubborn exalt themselves. Interlude

8 Bless our Elohim, peoples, And make the sound of His praise heard!

9 The One placing our souls among the living, And Who does not allow our feet to slip.

10 For You test us, O Elohim; You refine us like the refining of silver.

11 You bring us into a fastness; You place pressure on our waists.

12 You cause a mortal to ride over our head. We come through fire and through water, Yet You are bringing us forth into satiation.

13 I shall come to Your house with ascent offerings; I shall pay my vows to You,

14 Concerning which my lips opened wide, And my mouth spoke in my distress.

15 Ascent offerings of the full-fed shall I bring up to You with the fumes of rams. I shall offer the ox with he-goats. Interlude

16 Come, hear, all who fear Elohim, And let me recount what He does for my soul.

17 To Him I call with my mouth, And He is exalted with my tongue.

18 If I had regarded lawlessness in my heart, Yahweh would not hear.

19 But Elohim surely hears And attends to the sound of my prayer.

20 Blessed be Elohim, Who neither takes away my prayer Nor withholds His benignity from me. Permanent, With Accompaniments A Davidic Psalm, A Song

Chapter 67

1 Elohim, may He be gracious to us and bless us; May He light up His face toward us. Interlude

2 In knowing Your way in the earth, Your salvation among all nations,

3 May the peoples acclaim You, O Elohim! May the peoples acclaim You all of them!

4 May the folk rejoice and be jubilant, For You shall judge the peoples with equity, And You shall guide the folk in the earth. Interlude

5 May the peoples acclaim You, O Elohim; May the peoples acclaim You all of them!

6 The earth, it has given its crop; Elohim, our Elohim, is blessing us.

7 Elohim is blessing us, And all the limits of the earth shall fear Him. Permanent A Davidic Psalm, A Song

Chapter 68

1 Elohim shall arise! His enemies shall be scattered, And those hating Him shall flee from His presence!

2 Like the whisking away of smoke shall they be whisked away; Like the melting of wax from the face of fire, So shall the wicked perish from the presence of Elohim.

3 Yet the righteous, they shall rejoice; They shall be glad before Elohim, And they shall be elated with rejoicing.

4 Sing to Elohim! Make melody to His Name! Make a highway in the plains for the Rider; In Yah, His Name, be joyous before Him,

5 The Father of orphans and Adjudicator of widows, Elohim in His holy habitation.

6 Elohim is causing the lonely to dwell at home, Bringing forth the bound into successes; But the stubborn tabernacle in a glaring land.

7 O Elohim, at Your going forth before Your people, At Your march in the desolation: Interlude

8 The earth quaked; Indeed, the heavens dropped at the presence of Elohim, As Sinai was in commotion at the presence of Elohim, the Elohim of Israel.

9 A liberal downpour were You waving, O Elohim; Your allotment, when it was tired, You Yourself established it.

10 Your living ones, they will dwell in it; You are providing, in Your goodness, for the humble, O Elohim.

11 Yahweh Himself gave the saying; The women who bore the tidings were a vast host;

12 Kings of hosts, they bolted away; they bolted away, And she in the homestead house apportioned the loot.

13 Though you may lie between the hearthstones, The dove’s wings are overspread with silver, And her pinions with greenish gold dust.

14 When He Who-Suffices spread kings about in it, It snowed in Zalmon.

15 The mountain of Elohim is the mountain of Bashan; A lofty mountain is the mountain of Bashan.

16 Why are you looking askance, lofty mountains, At the mountain Elohim covets for His dwelling? Indeed, Yahweh Himself shall tabernacle there permanently.

17 The chariots of Elohim are myriads repeated thousands; Yahweh is among them, as in Sinai in the holy place.

18 You ascend on high, You capture captivity, You apportion gifts among mankind, And also for the stubborn, to tabernacle with Yah Elohim.

19 Blessed be Yahweh; Day by day shall He lade good upon us, The El of our salvation. Interlude

20 Our El is an El of grand salvation, And to Yahweh, my Lord, belong the exits from death.

21 Yea, Elohim Himself shall transfix the head of His enemies, The hairy scalp of him who walks in his guilty acts.

22 Yahweh has said: I shall restore from Bashan; I shall restore from the swamps of the sea,

23 That you may bathe your foot in blood, And the tongue of your curs may have its assignment of the enemies.

24 They have seen Your processions, O Elohim, The processions of my El, my King, in the sanctuary.

25 Singers precede, after them the players, In the midst of the damsels playing the tambourine.

26 Bless Elohim in the great assembly, Yahweh from the fountain of Israel.

27 There Benjamin the junior is holding sway over them, The chiefs of Judah and their great foregathering, The chiefs of Zebulun, the chiefs of Naphtali.

28 Your Elohim has determined your strength. O Elohim, do strengthen this that You have effected for us

29 From Your temple at Jerusalem. Let kings fetch an indemnity to You.

30 Rebuke the animal of the reeds, The crowd of sturdy beasts among the calves of the peoples, Debasing themselves for gold ore and silver; Dissipate the peoples who are delighting in attacks.

31 Let envoys arrive from Egypt; Let Cush run with its hands stretched out to Elohim.

32 Kingdoms of the earth, sing to Elohim! Make melody to Yahweh, Interlude

33 To the Rider in the heavens of heavens aforetime! Behold, He shall send out His voice, a strong voice.

34 Ascribe strength to Elohim; Over Israel is His augustness, And His strength is in the skies.

35 Fear inspiring is Elohim from His grand sanctuary; The El of Israel, He gives strength and staunchness to His people. Blessed be Elohim! Permanent, Concerning Elations Davidic

Chapter 69

1 Save me, O Elohim, for waters come unto my soul!

2 I sink in the mire of a swamp, and there is no standing ground. I come into deep waters, and the surge engulfs me.

3 I am weary with all my calling; my throat is parched. My eyes have failed, waiting for my Elohim.

4 Multiplied more than the hairs of my head are those hating me gratuitously; Plentiful are those seeking to efface me, my enemies, dealing falsely. Must I restore then what I have not pillaged?

5 O Elohim, You know my folly, And my guilty acts are not suppressed from You.

6 Let not those expecting You be put to shame through me, O my Lord, Yahweh of hosts! Let not those seeking You be mortified through me, O Elohim of Israel!

7 For on Your account I bear reproach; Mortification covers my face.

8 I have become an alien to my brothers And a foreigner to the sons of my mother.

9 For the zeal of Your house, it devours me, And the reproaches of those reproaching You, they fall on me.

10 When I lament by the fasting of my soul, It becomes a reproach against me;

11 When I make my clothing of sackcloth, I become a proverb to them.

12 Those sitting in the gateway are mulling over me, And those drinking intoxicants make me the accompaniment of their songs.

13 As for me, my prayer is to You, O Yahweh, for a season acceptable; O Elohim, in Your great benignity, answer me with the faithfulness of Your salvation.

14 Rescue me from the mud, and let me not sink; Let me be rescued from those hating me, and from the depths of the waters.

15 Let not the surge of the water be engulfing me, Let not the swamp be swallowing me up, And let not the well be blocking off its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O Yahweh, for Your benignity is good; Turn toward me according to Your many compassions.

17 Do not conceal Your face from Your servant, For distress is mine; quickly answer me.

18 Do come near to my soul and redeem it; On account of my enemies, ransom me.

19 You Yourself know my reproach and my shame and my mortification; In front of You are all my foes.

20 Reproach, it has broken my heart, and I do feel my mortality; I expect one to sympathize, and there is none, And look for comforters, yet I find not one.

21 They give me poison in my repast, And for my thirst they cause me to drink vinegar.

22 Let their table become a trap before them, And a repayment and a snare.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, kept from seeing, And let their waist totter continually.

24 Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your hot anger overtake them.

25 Let their domicile become desolate; Let no one be dwelling in their tents.

26 For You they persecute those whom You have smitten, And they are recounting the pain of those wounded by You.

27 Do bestow depravity on their depravity, And let them not come into Your righteousness.

28 Let them be wiped out from the scroll of life, And let them not be written with the righteous.

29 I am humble and pained; Your salvation, O Elohim may it make me impregnable.

30 I shall praise the Name of Elohim with a song, And I shall magnify Him with acclamation.

31 It shall be better to Yahweh than a plowing ox Or a young bull, horned and hoofed.

32 The humble will see, and they shall rejoice; All those seeking after Elohim, let your heart revive.

33 For Yahweh is hearkening to the needy, And He does not despise His prisoners.

34 Let the heavens and the earth praise Him, The seas and all moving about in them.

35 For Elohim, He shall save Zion, And He shall rebuild the cities of Judah. Then they will dwell there and tenant it,

36 And to the seed of His servants shall they allot it, And those loving His Name, they shall tabernacle in it. Permanent Davidic, For Remembrance

Chapter 70

1 O Elohim, come to rescue me! O Yahweh, do hurry to my help!

2 May they be ashamed and abashed, who are seeking my soul; May they be turned away backward and mortified, the ones desiring evil to me.

3 May they turn back in consequence of their shame, who are saying to me, Aha! Aha!

4 Let them be elated and rejoice in You, all who are seeking You; And let them say continually, May Elohim be magnified, those loving Your salvation.

5 Yet I am humble and needy; O Elohim, do hurry to me! My Help and my Deliverance are You; O Yahweh, do not delay!

Chapter 71

1 In You, O Yahweh, I take refuge. Let me not be ashamed for the eon!

2 In Your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me; Stretch out Your ear to me and save me.

3 Become mine for a Rock, a Stronghold to come to continually; You have determined to save me, For You are my Crag and my Fastness.

4 My Elohim, deliver me from the hand of the wicked, From the clutch of the iniquitous and violent one.

5 For You are my Expectation, O my Lord Yahweh, My Trust from my youth.

6 By You have I been supported from the belly; From the internal parts of my mother, You have been my Strength. In You is my praise continually.

7 I have become like a portent to many, Yet You are my Strong Refuge.

8 My mouth is filled with Your praise, The entire day, with Your beauty.

9 Do not fling me away at the time of my old age; When my vigor is exhausted, do not forsake me.

10 For my enemies commune against me, And those keeping watch against my soul intrigue together,

11 Saying, Elohim Himself has forsaken him; Pursue and grasp him, for there is no rescuer.

12 O Elohim, do not be far from me! My Elohim, do hurry to my help!

13 Let the adversaries of my soul be ashamed and finished; Let those seeking evil to me be muffled with reproach and mortification.

14 As for me, I shall continually wait, And I will add onto all Your praise.

15 My mouth, it shall recount Your righteousness, The entire day, Your salvation, for I do not know their number.

16 I shall come with praise of the masterful deeds of my Lord; O Yahweh, I shall mention Your righteousness, Yours alone.

17 O Elohim, You have taught me from my youth, And hitherto am I telling of Your marvelous works.

18 Even when I am old and greyhaired, O Elohim, do not forsake me, Until I should tell of Your arm of power to the next generation, Of Your mastery to all who shall come.

19 Your righteousness, O Elohim, reaches unto the height, You Who have done great things; O Elohim, Who is like You?

20 You Who have made me see distresses, many and evil, You shall turn back; You shall revive me; You shall turn back; You shall bring me up from the abyss of the earth.

21 You shall increase Your greatness, And You shall surround and comfort me.

22 I too, I shall acclaim You for Your faithfulness, with the zither instrument, my Elohim; I shall indeed make melody to You with the harp, O Holy One of Israel!

23 My lips shall be jubilant when I indeed make melody to You, Even my soul, which You have ransomed.

24 Moreover, my tongue shall soliloquize of Your righteousness the entire day. For they will be ashamed; indeed those seeking evil to me will be abashed. Solomonic

Chapter 72

1 O Elohim, bestow Your right judgment on the king, And Your righteousness on the son of the king.

2 May he adjudicate Your people with righteousness, And Your humble ones with right judgment.

3 The mountains shall bear peace for the people, And the hills blossom with righteousness.

4 He shall redress the humble of the people; He shall save the sons of the needy one And crush the exploiter.

5 He shall abide long as the sun And before the moon, in a generation of generations.

6 He shall descend like rain on the grassland, Like showers, drenching the earth.

7 Righteousness shall bud in His days, And abundant peace until the moon is no more.

8 He shall hold sway from sea unto sea, And from the Stream unto the limits of the earth.

9 Before Him His foes shall bow, And His enemies, they shall lick up the soil.

10 The kings of Tarshish and the coastlands, they shall render a tributary present; The kings of Sheba and Seba, they shall offer levy.

11 And all the kings shall bow down to Him; All nations, they shall serve Him.

12 For He shall rescue the needy one imploring, And the humble one, when there is no helper for him.

13 He shall be a refuge for the poor and needy one, And the souls of the needy shall He save.

14 From fraud and from violence shall He redeem their soul, And their blood shall be precious in His eyes.

15 And He shall be living; One shall give to Him from Sheba’s gold, And one shall pray about Him continually; The entire day shall bless Him.

16 There shall come to be a plenitude of cereal in the earth to the summit of the mountains. Its fruit shall rustle like Lebanon, And they of the city shall blossom like herbage of the earth.

17 His Name shall remain for the eon; Before the sun shall His Name be propagated, And all nations shall bless themselves in Him and call Him happy.

18 Blessed be Yahweh Elohim, the Elohim of Israel, Doing marvelous works by Himself alone,

19 And blessed be His glorious Name for the eon! The entire earth shall be filled with His glory! Amen and Amen.

20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended. SCROLL THREE An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 73

1 Surely Elohim is good to Israel, To those who are pure of heart.

2 As for me, my feet had almost turned aside; My movement was nearly made useless.

3 For I was jealous of those who are boasting; I was seeing the well-being of the wicked.

4 For there are no hindrances for them; Robust and plump is their physique.

5 They are not involved in the toil of a mortal, And they are not touched by ills with humanity.

6 Wherefore pride is their necklace; Violence is draping about them like a burnoose.

7 Their eyes protrude from fat; Vain fancies pass through their heart.

8 They belittle and speak with evil intent; From their height they are plotting extortion.

9 They set their mouth in the heavens, And their tongue is going about the earth.

10 Wherefore His people are turning away thither, And waters of intemperance are being wrung out by them.

11 And they say, How can El know? And is there knowledge in the Supreme?

12 Behold, these are the wicked! Even these at ease eonian, who make their estate huge.

13 Surely for nought have I purged my heart And have been washing my palms in innocency.

14 I am touched by ills the entire day, And my correction begins in the mornings.

15 If I had said, I shall indeed endorse things like this, Behold, I would be treacherous to a generation of Your sons.

16 When I am attempting to realize this, It is toil in my eyes,

17 Until I am coming to the grand sanctuary of El; Then I am understanding what is in their hereafter.

18 Surely You shall set them down in slippery places; You will cast them into ruinations.

19 How they will become a desolation, as in a moment! They will be swept up; they will be finished by decadence!

20 Like a dream when one is waking, O Yahweh, when rousing, You shall lay waste their phantom.

21 For my heart was soured, And in my innermost being I was pricked.

22 I was irrational, and I was ignorant; I became like the beasts before You.

23 Yet I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.

24 By Your counsel are You guiding me, And afterward You shall take me into glory.

25 Who do I have in the heavens but You? And besides You, none do I desire on earth.

26 Exhausted is my brawn, and my heart; The Rock of my heart and my Portion is Elohim for the eon.

27 For behold, those who are far from You, they shall perish; You will efface all who prostitute away from You.

28 As for me, it is good for me to be near Elohim; I have set my refuge in my Lord Yahweh, To recount all Your praises in the gateways of the daughter of Zion. Contemplating, Asaphic

Chapter 74

1 Why, O Elohim, have You cast us off permanently? Shall Your anger smolder long against the flock of Your pasture?

2 Remember Your congregation, which You acquired aforetime, Which You redeemed as the tribe of Your allotment, Mount Zion, in which You tabernacled.

3 Do raise up Your footsteps unto the permanent ruinations, All the evil the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

4 Your foes roar within Your appointed place; They set up their ensigns as signs.

5 They hacked to pieces like men wielding upward With hatchets into a thicket of trees.

6 And now its engraved panels altogether They are battering with crowbar and bills.

7 They send up Your sanctuary in fire; Down to the earth they profane the tabernacle of Your Name.

8 They say in their heart, We shall tyrannize them together; They burn all the appointed places of El in the land.

9 Our signs we cannot see; There is no prophet any more, And not one of us is knowing what is still ahead.

10 How long, O Elohim, shall the foe reproach? Shall the enemy spurn Your Name permanently?

11 Why are You turning back Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it from within Your bosom and finish them.

12 Yet Elohim is my King from aforetime, Who is effecting saving works within the earth.

13 You Yourself partitioned the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

14 You Yourself bruised the heads of the dragon; You gave it as food to a people, to desert-tribes.

15 You Yourself rent open spring and watercourse; You Yourself dried up the perennial streams.

16 Yours is the day; indeed Yours is the night; You Yourself established the luminary and the sun.

17 You Yourself set up all the boundaries of the earth; Summer and winter, You Yourself formed them.

18 Remember this: The enemy, he has reproached You, O Yahweh, And the decadent people, they have spurned Your Name.

19 Do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the wild animals; Do not forget the life of Your humble ones permanently.

20 Look to Your covenant, For haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

21 Do not let the crushed one turn away mortified; The humble and needy one, may they praise Your Name.

22 Do rise, O Elohim, do contend Your cause; Remember the reproach against You the entire day by the decadent.

23 Do not forget the voice of Your foes; The tumult of those rising against You is ascending continually. Permanent, Do Not Bring Ruin! An Asaphic Psalm, A Song

Chapter 75

1 We acclaim You, O Elohim; We acclaim, for Your Name is near; Your marvelous works recount it.

2 You say, When I take up the appointed time, I Myself shall judge with equity;

3 Though the earth is undermined, and all those dwelling in it, I Myself steady its columns. Interlude

4 I say to those boasting, Do not boast; And to the wicked, Do not exalt the horn.

5 You must not exalt your horn to the heights, Or speak with an impertinent neck.

6 For no one from the sun’s coming forth or from the west, And no one from the wilderness can exalt a man;

7 For it is Elohim Who is judging; This one He is abasing, and this one He is exalting.

8 For a cup is in the hand of Yahweh, And the wine foams; it is fully blended, And He shall spill this out; Yea, its lees shall all the wicked of the earth squeeze and drink.

9 As for me, I shall exult for the eon; I shall indeed make melody to the Elohim of Jacob.

10 And I shall hew down all the horns of the wicked; The horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Permanent, With Accompaniments An Asaphic Psalm, A Song

Chapter 76

1 He Who is known in Judah is Elohim; In Israel His Name is great.

2 His covert is in Salem And His habitation in Zion.

3 There He breaks the flaming arrows of the bow, The shield and sword and battle weapon. Interlude

4 Resplendent are You, More noble than the mountain ranges of prey.

5 The sturdy of heart are looted; They slumber in their sleep, And none of the men of valor can use their hands.

6 At Your rebuke, O Elohim of Jacob, Stupefied are both rider and horse.

7 You, indeed You are fear inspiring, And who may stand before You from the strength of Your anger?

8 From the heavens have You announced adjudication; The earth, it feared and was quiet,

9 When Elohim rose for judgment, To save all the humble of the earth. Interlude

10 For the fury of humanity, it is acclaiming You; The remainder of the fury, it shall celebrate to You.

11 Vow and pay to Yahweh your Elohim; Let all who are around Him fetch an indemnity to the fear inspiring One.

12 He shall restrict the spirit of governors, He Who is fear inspiring to the kings of the earth. Permanent, For Acclamation An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 77

1 My voice went forth to Elohim; do let me cry out; My voice went forth to Elohim that He would give ear to me.

2 In the day of my distress I sought after Yahweh; At night my hand was stirred up in prayer, And it would not give way; My soul refused to be consoled.

3 I indeed remembered Elohim, yet I was deeply discomfited; I indeed meditated, yet my spirit drooped. Interlude

4 You held open the guardians of my eyes; I was agitated, and I could not speak.

5 I took account of the days from aforetime, The years of the eons, saying,

6 Do let me remember my soliloquy in the night; Do let me meditate with my heart. So my spirit searched, saying,

7 Shall Yahweh cast off for the eons, And shall He not continue to be benevolent any more?

8 Has His benignity reached its limit permanently? Has the promise reached an end for generation after generation?

9 Has El forgotten to be gracious? Or has He shut off His compassions in anger? Interlude

10 Yet I am saying, This is the ground of my beseeching: The years of the right hand of the Supreme;

11 I shall remember the activities of Yah; Indeed I shall remember Your marvelous works from aforetime.

12 Thus I soliloquize on all Your deeds, And on Your activities, do let me meditate.

13 O Elohim, Your way is in holiness; Who is a great El like our Elohim?

14 You are the El Who performed a marvel; You made Your strength known among the peoples.

15 With Your arm of power You redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Interlude

16 The waters saw You, O Elohim; The waters saw You, and they travailed; Indeed the abyss was disturbed.

17 Thick clouds were made to storm down waters; The skies cast forth their voice; Indeed Your arrows, they flew about.

18 The voice of Your thunder was in the cyclone; Lightning bolts lit up the habitance; The earth was disturbed and quaked.

19 Your way was through the sea, And Your trails led through vast waters, Yet Your heel prints were not known.

20 You guided Your people like a flock, By the hand of Moses and Aaron. Contemplating, Asaphic

Chapter 78

1 Do give ear, my people, to my law; Stretch out your ear to the sayings of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth with a proverb; I will indeed utter enigmas from aforetime,

3 Which we have heard, and we know them, And our fathers, they have recounted to us.

4 We shall not suppress them from their sons, Recounting to the next generation the praises of Yahweh, And His strength and His marvelous works that He has done.

5 For He set up a testimony in Jacob, And He placed a law in Israel, Which He enjoined on our fathers To make them known to their sons,

6 That the next generation may know, The sons who shall be born; They shall rise and recount them to their sons.

7 Thus they shall place their confidence in Elohim, And they shall not forget the activities of El, And His instructions shall they preserve.

8 Then they shall not become like their fathers, A generation stubborn and rebellious, A generation that had neither established its heart, Nor was its spirit faithful to El.

9 The sons of Ephraim, though weaponed archers, They turned back in the day of attack.

10 They did not keep the covenant of Elohim, And in His law they refused to walk.

11 They forgot His activities And His marvelous works that He had shown them.

12 In front of their fathers He had performed a marvel, In the land of Egypt, the field of Zoan:

13 He rent the sea and caused them to pass over, And He made the waters stand up like a waterspout.

14 He guided them with a cloud by day, And all the night with a light of fire.

15 He rent rocks in the wilderness And let them drink as from the abyss abundantly.

16 He brought forth floods from a crag, And He made the water descend like streams.

17 Yet they continued still to sin against Him, To rebel against the Supreme in an arid place.

18 They probed El in their heart By requesting food for their soul.

19 So they spoke against Elohim; they said, Is El able to arrange a table in the wilderness?

20 Behold, He smote the rock, and waters gushed out, And the watercourses, they overflowed, But is He able to give bread? Or can He prepare meat for His people?

21 Wherefore Yahweh heard, and He was enraged, And a fire, it was ignited against Jacob, And indeed anger, it ascended against Israel.

22 For they did not believe in Elohim, And they did not trust in His salvation.

23 Yet He enjoined the skies above, And the double doors of the heavens He opened.

24 He rained on them manna to eat, And grain of the heavens He gave them.

25 Each one ate bread of sturdy ones; He sent provision to them, to satisfaction.

26 He made an east wind to journey in the heavens, And He drove forth a south wind by His strength.

27 So He rained meat on them like dust, And the winged flyer like sand of the seas.

28 And He cast them down within His camp, Round about His grand tabernacle.

29 They ate and were surfeited exceedingly, And He brought all their yearning to them.

30 Yet they were not alienated from their yearning; Their food was still in their mouth

31 When the anger of Elohim, it ascended against them; He killed the stoutest of them, And the choice ones of Israel He cut off.

32 In spite of all this they still sinned And believed not in His marvelous works.

33 So He ended their days in failure, And their years in panic.

34 Whenever He killed them, then they sought after Him, And they returned and sought early for El.

35 Then they remembered that Elohim is their Rock, And El Supreme is their Redeemer.

36 Yet they would entice Him with their mouth And lie to Him with their tongue.

37 Their heart, it was not established before Him, And they were not faithful to His covenant.

38 Yet He was compassionate; He made a propitiatory shelter for depravity, And He did not bring ruin; He acted many times to reverse His anger, And He would not rouse all His fury.

39 He ever remembered that they were flesh, A wind going that is not returning.

40 How often they defied Him in the wilderness; They grieved Him in the desolation.

41 They were turning back and probing El, And the Holy One of Israel they set as a mark.

42 They did not remember His hand: The day when He ransomed them from the foe,

43 When He placed His signs in Egypt, And His miracles in the field of Zoan.

44 He turned their waterways to blood, So they could drink from their flowings no more.

45 He sent a mixture of flies among them, and it devoured them, And the frog plague, and it ruined them.

46 He gave their crop over to the beetle, And the fruit of their labor to the locust.

47 He killed their vine with hail, And their mulberry trees with sleet.

48 He closed their livestock over to hail, And their cattle to siroccos.

49 He sent upon them the heat of His anger, Rage and indignation and distress, A mission of the messengers of evils,

50 Who aligned a track for His anger; He did not keep back their soul from death, And He closed their life over to the plague.

51 Then He smote every firstborn in Egypt, The beginning of virility in the tents of Ham.

52 But He made His people to journey like a flock, And He led them like a drove in the wilderness.

53 He guided them, in trust, and they were not afraid, Yet the sea covered their enemies.

54 Thus He brought them to His holy territory, This hill country that His right hand had acquired.

55 He drove out the nations before them, And He allocated to them their allotment by the line. He caused Israel’s tribes to tabernacle in their tents.

56 Yet they probed and defied Elohim Supreme, And His testimonies they did not keep.

57 They were turned away and treacherous like their fathers; They were warped like a deceptive bow.

58 They provoked Him to vexation with their high-places, And with their carvings they made Him jealous.

59 Elohim heard, and He was enraged, And He utterly rejected Israel.

60 Then He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent He had made to tabernacle among humanity.

61 He sent His strength into captivity, And His beauty into the hand of the foe.

62 He closed His people over to the sword, And with His allotment He was enraged.

63 Fire devoured their choice young men, And their virgins had no nuptial song.

64 Their priests fell by the sword, Yet their widows could not lament.

65 Then Yahweh awoke as from sleep, Like a master jubilant from wine.

66 He smote His foes backward; He gave them an eonian reproach.

67 He rejected the tent of Joseph, And the tribe of Ephraim He did not choose.

68 Yet He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loves;

69 And He built His sanctuary like the heights of heaven, Like the earth that He founded for the eon.

70 He chose David, His servant, And He took him from the folds of the flock;

71 From following the ewes, He brought him To shepherd Jacob, His people, And Israel, His allotment.

72 So he shepherded them in the integrity of his heart, And by the understanding of his palms, he guided them. An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 79

1 O Elohim, the nations have entered Your allotment; They have defiled Your holy temple; They have turned Jerusalem into rubbish heaps.

2 They have given the carcasses of Your servants as food to the flyer of the heavens, The flesh of Your benign ones to the wild animal of the earth.

3 They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, And there was no one entombing them.

4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, A derision and a scoffing to those round about us.

5 How long, O Yahweh? Shall You be angry permanently? How long shall Your jealousy consume like a fire?

6 Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know You, And on kingdoms that do not call on Your Name.

7 For they have devoured Jacob, And they have desolated his homestead.

8 Do not hold against us the depravities of former times; Let Your compassions quickly confront us, For we are very impoverished.

9 Help us, O Elohim of our salvation, on behalf of the glory of Your Name; Rescue us and make a propitiatory shelter over our sins on account of Your Name.

10 Why should the nations say, Where is their Elohim? Let it be made known among the nations before our eyes: Vengeance for the shed blood of Your servants.

11 May the groaning of the bound one come before You; According to the greatness of Your arm reserve the sons of death.

12 Turn back sevenfold to our neighbors into their bosom, Their reproach with which they reproached You, O Yahweh.

13 Then we, Your people and the flock of Your pasture, We shall acclaim You for the eon; For generation after generation we shall recount Your praise. Permanent, Concerning Elations, A Testimony An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 80

1 O Shepherd of Israel, do give ear; You Who are leading Joseph like a flock, Who are dwelling over the cherubim, do shine forth.

2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh, Do rouse Your mastery, And do come to our salvation.

3 O Elohim, restore us, And light up Your face so that we may indeed be saved.

4 O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, How long will You smolder against the prayer of Your people?

5 You have fed them the bread of tears; You have even made them drink tears by the bowlful.

6 You make us a quarrel to our neighbors, And our enemies, they deride us.

7 O Elohim of hosts, restore us, And light up Your face so that we may indeed be saved.

8 You caused a vine to journey from Egypt; You drove out the nations, and You planted it.

9 You cleared out the way before it, So that it rooted its roots and filled the land.

10 The mountains were covered by its shadow, And the cedars of El by its boughs.

11 It sent its harvest branches unto the Sea, And its young shoots to the Stream.

12 Why have You breached its stone dikes, So that all who are passing by the way nip off its fruit?

13 The boar from the wildwood gorges on it, And the field mammal, it grazes upon it.

14 O Elohim of hosts, return, I pray; Look down from the heavens and see, And note this vine,

15 Even the sprig that Your right hand has planted; And watch over the son You have made resolute for Yourself.

16 It is burned with fire, obliterated; At the rebuke of Your countenance they are perishing.

17 May Your hand rest on the man of Your right hand, On the son of humanity whom You have made resolute for Yourself.

18 Then we shall not turn away from You; May You revive us so that we shall call on Your Name.

19 O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, restore us; Light up Your face so that we may indeed be saved. Permanent, On the Winetrough Asaphic

Chapter 81

1 Be jubilant to Elohim, our Strength; Raise a joyful shout to the Elohim of Jacob!

2 Lift up a melody, and sound forth the tambourine, The pleasant harp with the zither.

3 Blow the trumpet in the new moon, In the full moon for the day of our festival.

4 For it is a statute for Israel, An ordinance of the Elohim of Jacob.

5 He established it as a testimony in Joseph, When He went forth over the land of Egypt. There I was hearing from the lip of the One Whom I had not known, saying:

6 I have withdrawn his back from its burden; His palms, they were freed from the pannier.

7 You called in distress, and I liberated you; I answered you out of the concealment of the thundercloud; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Interlude

8 Hear, My people, and I shall indeed testify among you, Israel, if you would but hearken to Me;

9 An alien el shall not come among you, And you shall not bow down to a foreign el.

10 I, Yahweh, am your Elohim, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open wide your mouth, and I shall fill it.

11 Yet My people would not hearken to My voice, And Israel, he would not comply with Me.

12 So I let them go in the obduracy of their own heart; They went in their own counsels.

13 O that My people were hearkening to Me, And Israel, they were walking in My ways!

14 Soon I would cause their enemies to submit, And I would reverse My hand against their foes.

15 Those hating Yahweh, they shall cower before Him, And their season for this shall be for the eon.

16 Yet He shall feed him with the fat of the wheat; With honey from the rock shall I satisfy you. An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 82

1 Elohim is stationed in the congregation of El; Among the elohim is He judging:

2 How long shall you judge with iniquity And lift up the faces of the wicked? Interlude

3 Redress the poor one and the orphan; To the humble and destitute one grant justice.

4 Deliver the poor and the needy one; From the hand of the wicked, give rescue.

5 (They do not know and are not understanding; In darkness are they walking about; All the foundations of the earth are slipping.)

6 I Myself have said: you are elohim, And sons of the Supreme are all of you.

7 Yet you shall die like common humanity, And like any other of the chiefs you shall fall.

8 Do arise, O Elohim; do judge the earth; For it is You Yourself Who shall have the allotment of all the nations. A Song, An Asaphic Psalm

Chapter 83

1 O Elohim, let there not be stillness on Your part; Do not be silent, and do not be quiet, O El.

2 For behold, Your enemies, they are clamoring, And those hating You, they lift up their head.

3 Against Your people are they carrying on deliberation in craftiness, And they are intriguing against Your secluded ones.

4 They say, Come, and let us suppress them as a nation, That the name of Israel not be remembered any more.

5 For they have intrigued in heart together; Against You are they contracting a covenant,

6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarites,

7 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the dwellers of Tyre;

8 Even Assyria is allied with them; They have become an arm to the sons of Lot. Interlude

9 Do to them as You did to Midian, as to Sisera, As to Jabin at Wadi Kishon:

10 They were exterminated at Endor; They became manure for the ground.

11 As for their patrons, set them down like Oreb and like Zeeb, And all their overlords like Zebah and like Zalmunna,

12 Who said, Do let us tenant for ourselves The oases of Elohim.

13 O my Elohim, set them aside like tumbleweed, Like straw before the wind.

14 Like fire that consumes the wildwood, And like a blaze that sets the mountains aflame,

15 So You shall pursue them with Your tempest And fill them with panic with Your sweeping whirlwind.

16 Fill their faces with dishonor, So that men shall seek Your Name, O Yahweh.

17 May they be ashamed and filled with panic for the future, And may they be abashed and perish,

18 So that men may realize that You, You, Whose Name is Yahweh, Yours alone, Are the Supreme over all the earth. Permanent, On the Winetrough For the Sons of Korah, A Psalm

Chapter 84

1 How endearing is Your grand tabernacle, O Yahweh of hosts.

2 My soul longs and consumes for the courts of Yahweh; My heart and my flesh, they are appealing to the living El.

3 Even the sparrow finds a home, And the swallow a nest for herself, In which she sets her broods So also Your altars, O Yahweh of hosts, My King and my Elohim.

4 Happy are those dwelling in Your house; They shall continually praise You. Interlude

5 Happy is the human whose strength is in You; Pilgrim highways are in their heart.

6 As they are passing through the vale of aspen, He is making it a vale of springs; Indeed the former rain is muffling it with blessings.

7 They go from rampart to rampart Till each appears before Elohim in Zion.

8 O Yahweh Elohim of hosts, do hear my prayer; Do give ear, O Elohim of Jacob. Interlude

9 See to our shield, O Elohim, And look upon the face of Your anointed one.

10 For better is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would choose to sweep in the house of my Elohim, Rather than abide in the tents of wickedness.

11 For Sun and Shield is Yahweh Elohim; Grace and glory does Yahweh bestow; He does not withhold good from those walking with integrity.

12 O Yahweh of hosts, Happy is the human trusting in You. Permanent For the Sons of Korah, A Psalm

Chapter 85

1 You have held Your land dear, O Yahweh; You have reversed the captivity of Jacob.

2 You have borne the depravity of Your people; You have covered all their sin. Interlude

3 You have gathered aside all Your rage; You have turned back from the heat of Your anger.

4 Turn us back, O Elohim of our salvation, And annul Your vexation toward us.

5 Shall You be angry with us for the eon? Shall You protract Your anger for generation after generation?

6 Shall You Yourself not turn back and revive us, That Your people may rejoice in You?

7 Show us, O Yahweh, Your benignity, And grant us Your salvation.

8 Do let me hear what the One, El, shall speak; Yahweh indeed, He shall pronounce well-being to His people, To His benign ones, To those who turn back their heart to Him.

9 Yea, His salvation is near to those fearing Him, That glory may tabernacle in our land.

10 Benignity and truth, they will encounter; Righteousness and peace, they will kiss.

11 Truth shall sprout from the earth, And righteousness will gaze down from the heavens.

12 Indeed Yahweh Himself shall give good, And our land, it shall bring forth its crop.

13 Righteousness shall go before Him, As He places His footsteps on the way. A Davidic Prayer

Chapter 86

1 Stretch out Your ear, O Yahweh; Answer me, for humble and needy am I.

2 Do guard my soul, for I am a benign one; Save Your servant, You Who are my Elohim, who is trusting in You.

3 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh, For I am calling on You the entire day.

4 Rejoice the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Yahweh, am I lifting up my soul.

5 For You, O Yahweh, are good and pardoning, And with much benignity to all calling on You.

6 Do give ear, O Yahweh, to my prayer, And do attend to the voice of my supplications.

7 In the day of my distress I shall call on You, For You shall answer me.

8 There are none like You among the elohim, O Yahweh, And there are no deeds like Yours.

9 All nations which You have made, They shall come and worship before You, O Yahweh, And they shall glorify Your Name.

10 For You are great and are doing marvelous works; You are Elohim by Yourself alone.

11 Direct me, O Yahweh, in Your way; I shall walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your Name.

12 I shall acclaim You, O Yahweh my Elohim, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your Name for the eon.

13 For Your benignity over me is great, And You have rescued my soul from the unseen beneath.

14 O Elohim, the arrogant rise against me, And the crowd of terrifiers seeks my soul; They do not place You in front of them.

15 Yet You, O Yahweh, are an El compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and with much benignity and faithfulness.

16 Turn toward me and be gracious to me; Do grant Your strength to Your servant, And do save the son of Your maidservant.

17 Make a sign of good to be with me, That those hating me may see and be ashamed, Because You, O Yahweh, You have helped me and comforted me. For the Sons of Korah, A Psalm, A Song

Chapter 87

1 His foundation in the holy mountain ranges:

2 Yahweh is loving the gateways of Zion More than all the tabernacles of Jacob.

3 Glorious things are spoken of you, City of the One, Elohim. Interlude

4 I shall mention Rahab and Babylon as among those knowing Me, Behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush: This one was born there.

5 Indeed concerning Zion it shall be said: Each and every one was born in her, And He Who is Supreme, He shall establish her.

6 Yahweh, He shall recount in the list of the peoples: This one was born there. Interlude

7 The singers, like a chorus, will say: All my springs are in you. A Song, A Psalm, For the Sons of Korah Permanent, Concerning a Chorus for Response Contemplating, For Heman the Ezrahite

Chapter 88

1 O Yahweh, Elohim of my salvation, By day I cry out, Even in the night in front of You.

2 May my prayer come before You; Stretch out Your ear to my appeal.

3 For my soul is surfeited with evils, And my life touches close to the unseen.

4 I am reckoned with descenders to the crypt; I become like a master who is without stamina,

5 With the dead set free, Like the slain who lie in a burying ground, Whom You do not remember any more, For they, they are severed from Your hand.

6 You have set me down in the nether crypt, In utter darkness, in shadowy depths;

7 Your fury bears down upon me, And You humble me with all Your breakers. Interlude

8 You have taken my close acquaintances far from me; You have set me down as abhorrent to them; Being shut up, I cannot go forth.

9 My eye, it pines away with humiliation; I call on You, O Yahweh, throughout every day; I spread out my palms to You.

10 Would You perform marvelous works for the dead? Or do Rephaim arise and acclaim You? Interlude

11 Is Your benignity recounted in the tomb, Your faithfulness in destruction?

12 Are Your marvelous works known in darkness, And Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?

13 As for me, I implore You, O Yahweh; In the morning, my prayer goes out before You.

14 Why, O Yahweh, are You casting off my soul And concealing Your face from me?

15 From my youth have I been humbled and wearied unto death; I have borne the dread of You; I am distracted.

16 Your hot anger has passed upon me; Your frightenings, they have effaced me.

17 They surround me like waters the entire day; They encompass about me altogether.

18 You have taken far from me loved one and associate; My close acquaintances are darkness to me. Contemplating, For Ethan the Ezrahite

Chapter 89

1 Of the benignity of Yahweh shall I sing for the eon; For generation after generation shall I make known Your faithfulness with my mouth.

2 For I have said, Eonian benignity shall be built; You shall establish Your faithfulness in the heavens themselves.

3 I contracted a covenant with My chosen one; I swore to David My servant:

4 I shall establish your seed for the eon, And I will build your throne for generation after generation. Interlude

5 The heavens are acclaiming Your marvelous works, O Yahweh, Indeed Your faithfulness in the assembly of the saints.

6 For who in the skies can be appraised with Yahweh? Who is like Yahweh among the sons of the elim?

7 El is greatly terrifying among the council of the saints, And fear inspiring to all those round about Him.

8 O Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, Who is like You, an invincible Yah, With Your faithfulness round about You?

9 You are ruling over the swelling sea; When its billows are lifted, You, You becalm them.

10 You, You crushed Rahab who became like one slain; With Your strong arm You dispersed Your enemies.

11 Yours are the heavens; indeed Yours is the earth; The habitance and its fullness, You, You founded them.

12 The north and the south, You, You created them; Tabor and Hermon are jubilant in Your Name.

13 Yours is an arm with mastery; Your hand is strong; Your right hand is exalted.

14 Righteousness and right judgment are the basis of Your throne; Benignity and truth, they stand before Your presence.

15 Happy are the people who know the joyful shouting; O Yahweh, they shall walk in the light of Your presence.

16 In Your Name shall they exult the entire day, And in Your righteousness shall they be exalted.

17 For You are the beauty of their strength, And by Your benevolence shall our horn be exalted.

18 For our shield is of Yahweh, And our king is of the Holy One of Israel.

19 Then You spoke in a vision to Your benign ones, And You said: I have poised help on a master; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

20 I have found David My servant; With My holy oil have I anointed him,

21 With whom My hand, it shall stand readied; Indeed My arm, it shall make him resolute.

22 The enemy shall not astrict him, And the son of iniquity shall not humiliate him.

23 I will pound down his foes before him, And I shall strike against those hating him.

24 Yet My faithfulness and My benignity will be with him, And in My Name shall his horn be exalted.

25 I will place his hand over the sea, And his right hand over the streams.

26 He, he shall call out to Me, You are my Father, My El and the Rock of my salvation.

27 Indeed, I, I shall make him the firstborn, The uppermost of the kings of the earth.

28 For the eon shall I keep My benignity upon him, And My covenant with him is faithful.

29 I will establish his seed for the future, And his throne as the days of the heavens.

30 If his sons should forsake My law, And they should not walk in My ordinances,

31 If they should profane My statutes And should not keep My instructions,

32 Then I will visit their transgression with a club, And their depravity with contagions.

33 Yet I shall not withdraw My benignity from him, And I shall not be false in My faithfulness.

34 I shall not profane My covenant, And I shall not alter the utterance of My lips.

35 Once for all have I sworn by My holiness; I shall assuredly not lie to David:

36 His seed shall continue for the eon, And his throne as the sun in front of Me,

37 Like the moon, it shall be established for the eon, Faithful like that witness in the sky. Interlude

38 Yet You, You have cast off and are rejecting; You are enraged with Your anointed one.

39 You have disowned the covenant with Your servant; You have profaned his insignia down to the earth.

40 You have breached all his stone dikes; You have made fatal cracks in his defenses.

41 All those passing by the way rob him; He has become a reproach to his neighbors.

42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; You have made all his enemies rejoice.

43 Indeed You turn back the sharpness of his sword, And have not raised him up in battle.

44 You have caused his luster to cease, And You have toppled his throne to the earth.

45 You have shortened the days of his adolescence; You have muffled him with shame. Interlude

46 How long, O Yahweh; shall You be concealed permanently? How long shall Your fury consume like fire?

47 Remember how transient is my life, For what futility have You created all the sons of humanity?

48 What master could live and not see death? Could his soul escape from the hand of the unseen? Interlude

49 Where are Your former benignities, O Yahweh, Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness?

50 Remember, O Yahweh, the reproach of Your servants; I bear in my bosom the mortification from many peoples,

51 With which Your enemies reproach, O Yahweh, With which they reproach the heel prints of Your anointed one.

52 Blessed be Yahweh for the eon. Amen and amen. SCROLL FOUR A Prayer, For Moses, the Man of the One, Elohim

Chapter 90

1 O Yahweh, You Yourself have become our Habitation in generation after generation;

2 Ere the mountains were born, And You travailed with the earth and the habitance, From eon unto eon You are El.

3 You turn a mortal back to crushed dust And say, Return, sons of humanity.

4 For a thousand years are in Your eyes Like yesterday’s day when it has passed, Or like a vigil in the night.

5 You storm them away to sleep; They become like the grass in the morning that passes by;

6 In the morning it blossoms, but it passes by; By evening it is snipped off and has dried up.

7 For we are consumed by Your anger, And by Your fury are we filled with panic.

8 You have set our depravities in front of You, Our obscured deeds in the full light of Your face.

9 Indeed all our days, they turn around before Your rage; We finish our years like a mumble.

10 The days of our years, in them are seventy years, And if by mastery there are eighty years, Yet even in their heyday is toil and sorrow, For it is sheared off hurriedly, and we fly away.

11 Who is knowing the strength of Your anger And Your rage, according to the fear due to You?

12 So make us know how to assign our days, That we may come to a heart of wisdom.

13 Do turn back, O Yahweh! How long? Show Yourself merciful over Your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with Your benignity, That we may be jubilant and rejoice through all our days.

15 Make us rejoice according to the days You humbled us, The years we have seen evil.

16 May Your deeds be seen by Your servants, And Your honor by their sons.

17 Let the pleasantness of Yahweh our Elohim be over us; Do establish the work of our hands for us; Yea, the work of our hands, do establish it.

Chapter 91

1 He who is dwelling in the concealment of the Supreme Shall lodge in the shadow of Him Who-Suffices.

2 I shall say of Yahweh: My Refuge and my Fastness, My Elohim, in Whom I trust.

3 For He Himself shall rescue you from the snare of the trapper, From the plague of woes.

4 With His pinions shall He overshadow you, And under His wings shall you take refuge; A large shield and encircling-guard is His faithfulness.

5 You shall not fear the alarm at night, Or the arrow that flies by day,

6 Neither the plague that walks in gloom, Nor the sting that devastates at high noon.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; It shall not come close to you.

8 But with your eyes you shall look And see the repayment of the wicked.

9 For You, O Yahweh, are my Refuge! Because you have made the Supreme your habitation,

10 Evil shall not be your fate, And contagion, it shall not approach into your tent.

11 For He shall enjoin His messengers concerning you, To keep you in all your ways.

12 On their palms shall they lift you, Lest you should strike your foot against a stone.

13 Upon the black lion and the cobra shall you tread; You shall tramp down the sheltered lion and the snake.

14 Because he is attached to Me, I shall deliver him; I shall make him impregnable, for he knows My Name.

15 He shall call on Me, and I shall answer him; I am with him in distress; I shall liberate him and glorify him.

16 With length of days shall I satisfy him, And I shall show him My salvation. A Psalm, A Song for the Sabbath Day

Chapter 92

1 Good is it to acclaim Yahweh, And to make melody to Your Name, O Supreme!

2 To tell, in the morning, Your benignity, And Your faithfulness in the nights,

3 On ten strings and on the zither, In a chant with a harp.

4 For You make me rejoice, O Yahweh, by Your deeds; In the works of Your hands I am jubilant.

5 How great are Your works, O Yahweh, Exceedingly deep, Your designs!

6 An irrational man, he does not know, And a stupid one, he cannot understand this:

7 The wicked bud like herbage, And all contrivers of lawlessness blossom, But only that they be exterminated until the future,

8 When You are on high for the eon, O Yahweh.

9 For behold, Your enemies, O Yahweh, For behold, Your enemies, they shall perish! All contrivers of lawlessness shall be routed!

10 Yet You shall exalt my horn like that of a wild bull; You will empower me with flourishing oil.

11 And my eye shall look upon those lying in wait for me; My ears shall hear of the evildoers rising against me.

12 The righteous one, he shall bud like a palm tree; Like a cedar in Lebanon, he shall grow great.

13 Those transplanted into the house of Yahweh, They shall bud in the courts of our Elohim.

14 They shall still produce when greyhaired; They shall be sleek and flourishing,

15 Telling that Yahweh is upright, My Rock, and no iniquity is in Him.

Chapter 93

1 Yahweh, He reigns! With augustness is He clothed; Yahweh is clothed with strength; Thus has He belted Himself. Indeed, the habitance is established; It is immovable.

2 Your throne has been established from long ago; You are from the eon.

3 The streams lift up, O Yahweh, The streams lift up their voice; The streams shall lift up their crushing waves.

4 Greater than the sounds of mighty waters, Nobler than the breakers of the sea, Is Yahweh noble in the height.

5 Your testimonies, they are very faithful; Holiness befits Your house For length of days, O Yahweh.

Chapter 94

1 O El of avenging, Yahweh, El of avenging, shine forth!

2 Lift Yourself up, O Judge of the earth; Turn back a requital upon the proud.

3 How long shall the wicked, O Yahweh, How long shall the wicked be joyous,

4 Shall they utter, shall they speak with impertinence, Shall they vaunt themselves, All these contrivers of lawlessness?

5 They crush Your people, O Yahweh, And they humble Your allotment.

6 The widow and the sojourner they kill, And the orphans they murder.

7 They say, Yah is not seeing, And the Elohim of Jacob is not understanding.

8 Understand, you irrational ones among the people! And you stupid ones, when shall you act intelligently?

9 The One Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? Or the One Who formed the eye, shall He not look?

10 The One Who disciplines the nations, shall He not correct, The One Who teaches humanity knowledge?

11 Yahweh is the One knowing the devisings of humanity, That they are a transitory breath.

12 Happy is the master whom You are disciplining, O Yah; From Your law are You teaching him,

13 To give him quiet from days of evil, Until a pit is dug for the wicked.

14 For Yahweh shall not abandon His people, And He shall not forsake His allotment.

15 For judgment shall turn back to righteousness, And all the upright of heart will follow after it.

16 Who shall rise for me against evildoers? Who shall stand by for me against contrivers of lawlessness?

17 Unless Yahweh were my Help, Soon my soul would tabernacle in stillness.

18 If I say, My foot slips! Your benignity, O Yahweh, it is already bracing me.

19 When my disquieting thoughts within me are many, Your consolations, they are heartening my soul.

20 Could a throne of woes be made partner with You, One forming misery by its statute?

21 They slash against the soul of the righteous, And they condemn innocent blood.

22 But Yahweh shall be my Impregnable Retreat, And my Elohim, the Rock of my refuge.

23 He shall reverse their lawlessness upon them, And by their evil He shall efface them; Yahweh our Elohim shall efface them.

Chapter 95

1 Come, do let us be jubilant before Yahweh; Do let us raise a joyful shout before the Rock of our salvation.

2 Do let us go before His presence with acclamation; In melodies may we raise a joyful shout before Him.

3 For Yahweh is the great El, And the great King over all the elohim,

4 In Whose hand are the far depths of the earth, And the pinnacles of the mountains are His;

5 Whose is the sea, for He Himself has made it, And the dry land that His hands have formed.

6 Come, let us worship and indeed bow down; Let us indeed kneel before Yahweh, our Maker.

7 For He is our Elohim, And we are the people of His pasture And the flock of His hand. Today, if His voice you should hear,

8 You must not be stiffening your heart as in the contention, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

9 Where your fathers probed Me and tested Me, Though they had seen My deeds.

10 Forty years I was disgusted with this generation, And I said, They are a people straying in heart, And they, they give no thought to My ways.

11 As I swear in My anger, They assuredly shall not enter into My resting place!

Chapter 96

1 Sing to Yahweh a new song; Sing to Yahweh, all the earth!

2 Sing to Yahweh; bless His Name; Bear the tidings of His salvation day after day!

3 Recount His glory among the nations, Among all the peoples, His marvelous works.

4 For great is Yahweh, and praised exceedingly; Fear inspiring is He over all elohim.

5 For all the elohim of the peoples are useless idols; As for Yahweh, He has made the heavens.

6 Splendor and honor are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

7 Grant to Yahweh, families of the peoples, Grant to Yahweh glory and strength.

8 Grant to Yahweh the glory of His Name; Bear an approach present, and come before Him.

9 Worship Yahweh in His holy effulgence! Travail because of His presence, all the earth.

10 Say among the nations, Yahweh, He reigns! Indeed, established is the habitance; By no means shall it slip; He shall adjudicate the peoples with equity.

11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth exult; Let the sea thunder and its fullness;

12 Let the field be joyous, and all that is in it; Then all the trees of the wildwood shall be jubilant

13 Before Yahweh, for He comes; For He comes to judge the earth; He shall judge the habitance in righteousness, And the peoples in His truth.

Chapter 97

1 Yahweh, He reigns; let the earth exult; Let the many coastlands rejoice.

2 Cloud and murkiness are around Him; Righteousness and right judgment are the basis of His throne.

3 Fire, it is going before Him, And it sets His foes aflame round about;

4 His lightning bolts light up the habitance; The earth sees and is travailing.

5 The mountains are melted like wax before the presence of Yahweh, Before the presence of the Lord of all the earth.

6 The heavens tell of His righteousness, And all the peoples see His glory.

7 May all the servants of a carving be ashamed, The ones boasting in useless idols; Bow down to Him, all you elohim.

8 Zion hears and is rejoicing, And the daughters of Judah are exulting On account of Your right judgments, O Yahweh.

9 For You, O Yahweh, are Supreme over all the earth; You are exceedingly ascendant over all elohim.

10 Hate evil, you who are loving Yahweh, The One guarding the souls of His benign ones; From the hand of the wicked shall He rescue them.

11 Light is sown for the righteous, And rejoicing for the upright of heart.

12 Rejoice, righteous ones, in Yahweh, And acclaim His holy Name. A Psalm

Chapter 98

1 Sing to Yahweh a new song, For He has done marvelous works; His right hand and His holy arm have brought His salvation.

2 Yahweh has made known His salvation; To the eyes of the nations He has revealed His righteousness.

3 He has remembered His benignity and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the limits of the earth have seen the salvation of our Elohim.

4 Raise a joyful shout to Yahweh, all the earth; Burst forth and be jubilant and make melody.

5 Make melody to Yahweh with the harp, With the harp and the sound of melody;

6 With bugles and the sound of the trumpet, Raise a joyful shout before Yahweh the King.

7 Let the sea thunder, and its fullness, The habitance and those dwelling in it.

8 The streams, let them clap with the palm, The mountains, let them be jubilant together

9 before Yahweh. For He comes to judge the earth; He shall judge the habitance in righteousness, And the peoples with equity.

Chapter 99

1 Yahweh, He reigns; let the peoples be disturbed; He is dwelling over the cherubim; let the earth slide.

2 Great is Yahweh in Zion, And exalted is He over all the peoples.

3 Let them acclaim Your Name, great and fear inspiring: Holy is He!

4 And the strong King, Who loves right judgment! You Yourself have established equity; You Yourself have executed right judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

5 Exalt Yahweh our Elohim, And bow down at His footstool, For holy is He.

6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel among those calling on His Name; They were calling on Yahweh, and He Himself answered them.

7 In the cloud column He spoke to them; They kept His testimonies and the statute He gave to them.

8 O Yahweh our Elohim, You Yourself answered them; You were an El bearing with them, Though avenging their iniquitous deeds.

9 Exalt Yahweh our Elohim, And bow down at His holy mountain, For holy is Yahweh our Elohim. A Psalm for Acclamation

Chapter 100

1 Raise a joyful shout to Yahweh, all the earth!

2 Serve Yahweh with rejoicing! Come to His presence with jubilant song!

3 Know that Yahweh, He is Elohim; He it is Who has made us, and we are His. His people are we and the flock of His pasture.

4 Enter His gateways with acclamation! His courts with praise! Acclaim Him! Bless His Name!

5 For Yahweh is good; His benignity is eonian, And His faithfulness unto generation after generation. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 101

1 Of benignity and judgment shall I surely sing; To You, O Yahweh, shall I indeed make melody.

2 I shall indeed contemplate the flawless way. When shall You come to me? I shall walk in the integrity of my heart within my house.

3 I shall not set a worthless matter in front of my eyes; The doing of those who swerve I hate; It shall not cling to me.

4 A perverse heart, it shall withdraw from me; Evil I shall not know.

5 The one slandering his associate in secret, I shall efface him. The haughty of eyes and inflated of heart, I shall not endure him.

6 My eyes are with the faithful of the land, to dwell with me; He who is going in a flawless way, he shall minister for me.

7 One doing deceit shall not dwell within my house; One speaking falsehoods, he shall not be established in front of my eyes.

8 In the mornings I shall efface all the wicked of the land, To cut off from the city of Yahweh all contrivers of lawlessness. A Prayer For the humble one when he is drooping and is pouring out his concern before Yahweh.

Chapter 102

1 O Yahweh, do hear my prayer, And let my imploring come to You.

2 Do not conceal Your face from me in the day of my distress! Stretch out Your ear to me; Answer me quickly, in the day I shall call.

3 For my days vanish like smoke, And my bones, they burn hot like glowing embers.

4 My heart is smitten and is drying up like herbage, For I forget to eat my bread.

5 Because of the sound of my sighing My bones cling to my flesh.

6 I am like a pelican of the marshy wilderness; I have become like a little owl of the deserted places.

7 I am alert, And I am becoming like a solitary bird on a housetop.

8 The entire day my enemies reproach me; Those raving against me swear a curse by me.

9 For I eat ashes like bread, And I blend my drink with lamentation,

10 In view of Your indignation and Your wrath, For You have lifted me up and are flinging me down.

11 My days are like the declining shadow, And I, I am drying up like herbage.

12 Yet You, O Yahweh, You are dwelling for the eon, And Your Name for generation after generation.

13 You Yourself shall rise; You shall have compassion on Zion, For it is the era to be gracious to her, Since the appointed time has come.

14 For Your servants hold her stones dear, And they show favor to her soil.

15 The nations shall fear the Name of Yahweh, And all the kings of the earth Your glory.

16 For Yahweh will build up Zion; He will appear in His glory.

17 He will turn toward the prayer of the forlorn, And He will not despise their prayer.

18 Let this be written for a later generation, When a people yet being created shall praise Yah.

19 For He will gaze from His sanctuary on high; Yahweh, from the heavens to the earth He will look down,

20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To unloose the sons of death,

21 So that the Name of Yahweh may be recounted in Zion And His praise in Jerusalem,

22 When the peoples are convened together And the kingdoms come to serve Yahweh.

23 On the way He has humbled my vigor; He has shortened my days.

24 I am saying, O my El, do not take me away at the half of my days! Through generation after generations Your years continue.

25 Beforetime You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.

26 They shall perish, yet You shall stand. All of them shall decay like a cloak; Like clothing, You shall change them, and they shall pass by.

27 Yet You remain the same, And Your years shall not come to end.

28 The sons of Your servants, they shall tabernacle in serenity, And their seed, they shall be established before You. Davidic

Chapter 103

1 Bless Yahweh, my soul, And all within me, bless His holy Name!

2 Bless Yahweh, my soul, And do not forget any of His well-dealings,

3 Who is pardoning all your depravity, Who is healing all your ailments,

4 Who is redeeming your life from ruin, Who is crowning you with benignity and compassion,

5 Who is satisfying your future with good, So your youth is renewed like the vulture’s.

6 Yahweh is the One executing acts of righteousness And right judgments for all those being exploited.

7 He made His ways known to Moses, To the sons of Israel His activities.

8 Compassionate and gracious is Yahweh, Slow to anger and with much benignity.

9 He shall not contend permanently, And He shall not hold resentment for the eon.

10 He has neither done to us according to our sins, Nor has He requited us according to our depravities.

11 For as the heavens are lofty over the earth, So is His benignity masterful over those fearing Him.

12 As far as the east is from the west, So He removes our transgressions far from us.

13 As a father shows compassion over his sons, So Yahweh shows compassion over those fearing Him.

14 For He knows our formation, Remembering that we are soil.

15 As for mortal man, his days are like grass, Like a blossom of the field, so is he blossoming.

16 For the wind, it passes over him, and he is no more, And his place shall not recognize him any longer.

17 Yet the benignity of Yahweh is from eon unto eon over those fearing Him, And His righteousness continues for the sons of sons,

18 To those keeping His covenant And to those remembering His precepts, to do them.

19 Yahweh, He has established His throne in the heavens, And His kingdom rules among all.

20 Bless Yahweh, all His messengers, Masters of valor, doing His word, So as to hearken to the voice of His word!

21 Bless Yahweh, all His hosts, Who are ministering to Him, Doing what is acceptable to Him!

22 Bless Yahweh, all His works, In all places of His rule! Bless Yahweh, my soul!

Chapter 104

1 Bless Yahweh, my soul! O Yahweh, my Elohim, You are exceedingly great. With splendor and honor are You clothed;

2 You are muffled with light as raiment. Stretching out the heavens like a sheet,

3 The One Who is laying the rafters of His upper chambers on their waters, Who is making the thick clouds His chariot, Who is going on the wings of the wind,

4 Who is making His messengers winds, His ministers a flaming fire,

5 He has founded the earth on its bases. It shall never slip for the eon and further.

6 You covered it with the abyss as clothing; The waters stood above the mountains,

7 Yet from Your rebuke they fled; From the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.

8 They ascended over the mountains; They descended to the valleys, To the place that You had founded for them.

9 You placed a boundary that they would never pass; They shall never return to cover the earth.

10 You are the One sending springs into the wadis; Between the mountains are they going.

11 They give drink to all the field life; Onagers break their thirst.

12 The flyers of the heavens roost by them; From among the thick-foliage they give out their sound.

13 You are the One irrigating the mountains from His upper chambers; From the fruit of Your works the earth is satisfied:

14 You are the One making grass sprout for the beasts And herbage for the service of humanity, To bring forth bread from the earth

15 And wine that makes the heart of a mortal rejoice, To make the face lustrous with oil, And bread that braces the heart of mortal man.

16 The trees of Yahweh are satisfied, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted,

17 Where the birds are nesting, Firs where the stork has her home.

18 The lofty mountains are for the ibexes; The crags are a refuge for the coneys.

19 He made the moon for appointed times, The sun that knows its setting.

20 You impose darkness, and it becomes night; All the life of the wildwood move about in it,

21 The sheltered lions roaring for prey And seeking their food from El.

22 When the sun is radiant again, they gather away, And they recline in their habitations.

23 Then humanity goes forth to its deeds And to its service until evening.

24 How numerous are Your works, O Yahweh! You have made all of them in wisdom; The earth is filled with Your achievements:

25 This sea, great and wide on all hands; The creeper is there, and it is numberless, Animals, both small and great;

26 There the sea monsters are going, The dragon that You have formed to gambol in it.

27 All of them, they look forward to You To supply their food in its season;

28 You supply it to them; they pick it up. You open Your hand; they are well satisfied.

29 You conceal Your face; they are filled with panic. You gather away their spirit; they breathe their last And return to their soil.

30 You send forth Your spirit; they are created, And You renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of Yahweh remain for the eon. May Yahweh rejoice in His works.

32 He is looking at the earth, and it quivers; He is touching the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I shall surely sing to Yahweh throughout my life; I shall indeed make melody to my Elohim throughout my future.

34 May my meditation be congenial to Him; I shall rejoice in Yahweh.

35 May sinners be completely removed from the earth, And the wicked let them be no more. Bless Yahweh, my soul! Praise Yah!

Chapter 105

1 Acclaim Yahweh! Call on His Name! Make known His actions among the peoples!

2 Sing to Him! Make melody to Him! Meditate on all His marvelous works!

3 Boast in His holy Name! Let the heart of those seeking Yahweh rejoice!

4 Seek after Yahweh and His strength; Seek His face continually.

5 Remember His marvelous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments of His mouth,

6 Seed of Israel, His servants, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.

7 He is Yahweh, our Elohim; In all the earth are His judgments.

8 He remembers His covenant for the eon, The word He enjoined on a thousand generations,

9 That He contracted with Abraham, And by His oath to Isaac.

10 He ratified it to Jacob as a statute, To Israel as a covenant eonian,

11 Saying, To you shall I give the land of Canaan, The region of your allotment.

12 When they became few adult males in number, Only a few, and sojourners in it,

13 Then they walked from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people.

14 He would not permit any man to exploit them, And on their behalf He reproved kings:

15 Saying, You must not touch My anointed ones, And to My prophets you must not do evil!

16 He called forth a famine on the earth; The entire stock of bread He broke off.

17 He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.

18 They humbled his feet in fetters; His soul was inserted in iron

19 Until the era when His word came to pass, When the saying of Yahweh, it had refined him.

20 The king sent and let him loose; The ruler of the peoples opened his way.

21 He constituted him lord over his house And ruler among all his acquisitions,

22 To discipline his chiefs at his soul’s desire, So that he should make his elders wise.

23 Then Israel came down to Egypt, And Jacob, he sojourned in the land of Ham.

24 Then He made His people exceedingly fruitful And made them more plentiful than their foes.

25 He turned their heart to hate His people, To plot against His servants.

26 He sent Moses, His servant, And Aaron whom He had chosen.

27 He placed the words of His signs before them, And His miracles before the land of Ham.

28 He sent darkness, and it became very dark, And they could not defy His words.

29 He turned their waters to blood, And He put their fish to death.

30 Their land swarmed with frogs, Into the chambers of their kings.

31 He spoke, and there came a mixture of flies, Lice in all their territory.

32 He turned their downpours to hail, With fiery bolts, a blazing in their land.

33 He smote their vines and their fig trees, And He broke down the trees of their territory.

34 He spoke, and the locust came, And the young-locust, and they were without number.

35 It devoured all the herbage in their land And devoured the fruit of their ground.

36 Then He smote all the firstborn in their land, The beginning of all their virility.

37 Thus He brought His people forth with silver and gold, And there was no one stumbling among their tribes.

38 Egypt rejoiced at their going forth, For alarm over them had fallen upon them.

39 He spread a cloud as a blanket, And a fire to light up the night.

40 They asked, and He brought forth quail, And He satisfied them with bread from the heavens.

41 He opened a rock, and waters gushed out; They flowed into the arid places as a stream.

42 For He was mindful of His holy word With Abraham, His servant,

43 And He brought His people forth with elation, His chosen ones with jubilant song.

44 He gave the lands of the nations to them, And they took over the toil of the folk,

45 In order that they should keep His statutes And should preserve His laws. Praise Yah!

Chapter 106

1 Praise Yah! Acclaim Yahweh, for He is good! For His benignity is eonian.

2 Who can declare the masterful deeds of Yahweh Or make all His praise heard?

3 Happy are those keeping right judgment, Executing righteousness in every era.

4 Remember me, O Yahweh, in Your benevolence to Your people; Notice me in Your salvation,

5 That I may see the good of Your chosen ones, To rejoice in the rejoicing of Your own nation, To praise with Your allotment.

6 We have sinned with our fathers; We have sown depravity; We have acted wickedly.

7 Our fathers in Egypt, they did not contemplate Your marvelous works; They did not remember Your many benignities, And they defied the Supreme by the Sea of Weeds.

8 Yet He saved them on account of His Name, To make known His masterful deeds.

9 He rebuked the Sea of Weeds, and it became drained, And He enabled them to walk through the abyss as through a wilderness.

10 So He saved them from the hand of the one hating them, And He redeemed them from the hand of their enemy.

11 The waters covered their foes; Not one of them was left.

12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.

13 But they quickly forgot His deeds; They did not tarry for His counsel.

14 They lusted with yearning in the wilderness, And they tried El in the desolation.

15 So He gave them their request, And He sent sustenance for their soul.

16 They grew jealous of Moses in the camp, And of Aaron, the holy one of Yahweh.

17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, And it covered over the congregation of Abiram.

18 Fire consumed in their congregation; A blaze set the wicked aflame.

19 They made a calf at Horeb, And they bowed down to a molten image.

20 They changed His glory Into the model of a bull calf that feeds on herbage.

21 They forgot the El Who was saving them, Who was doing great deeds in Egypt,

22 Marvelous works in the land of Ham, Fear inspiring deeds by the Sea of Weeds.

23 He said that He would exterminate them, Except that Moses, His chosen one, Stood in the breach before Him, To turn back His fury from bringing ruin on them.

24 Then they rejected the coveted land; They did not believe His word,

25 And they murmured in their tents; They did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh.

26 So He lifted His hand in swearing to them To cast them down in the wilderness,

27 And to scatter their seed among the nations, And to toss them away throughout the lands.

28 Yet they paired themselves with Baal-peor, And they ate sacrifices offered to dead idols.

29 They provoked Him to vexation with their actions, So that a stroke breached forth among them.

30 But Phinehas stood up and mediated, And the stroke was restrained.

31 This was reckoned to him for righteousness For generation after generation for the eon.

32 They prompted wrath at the waters of Meribah, And it was evil for Moses for their sake

33 Because they provoked his spirit, And he talked rashly with his lips.

34 They did not exterminate the peoples As Yahweh had ordered them.

35 They mixed with the nations, And they learned their customs.

36 They served their fetishes, And these came to be a trap for them.

37 They sacrificed their sons And their daughters to demons;

38 So they shed innocent blood, The blood of their sons and their daughters, Whom they sacrificed to the fetishes of Canaan, And the land was polluted with bloodshed.

39 Thus they defiled themselves by their deeds, And they prostituted themselves by their actions.

40 So the anger of Yahweh grew hot against His people, And He abhorred His allotment.

41 He gave them into the hand of the nations So that those hating them ruled among them.

42 Their enemies oppressed them, And they were made to submit under their hand.

43 Many times He rescued them, But they were rebellious in their counsel, And they were reduced lower in their depravity.

44 Yet He saw their distress, On His hearing of their appeal,

45 And, for them, He remembered His covenant, So that He was merciful according to His many benignities.

46 He gave them over to compassions Before all those holding them captive.

47 Save us, O Yahweh our Elohim, And convene us from the nations, To acclaim Your holy Name, To triumph in Your praise.

48 Blessed be Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, From the eon and until the eon. Then all the people will say, Amen. Praise Yah! SCROLL FIVE

Chapter 107

1 Acclaim Yahweh, for He is good, For His benignity is eonian.

2 Let the redeemed of Yahweh testify so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the foe.

3 He has convened them from far lands, From east and from west, From north and from the sea.

4 They strayed in a wilderness, in a desolation; They could not find the way to a city of dwelling.

5 Famished and thirsty, Their soul within them, it was drooping,

6 And they cried out to Yahweh in their distress. From their constraints, He rescued them,

7 And He caused them to tread in a straight way, To go to a city of dwelling.

8 Let them acclaim Yahweh for His benignity And His marvelous works to the sons of humanity.

9 For He satisfied the thirst of the unappeased soul, And the famished soul He filled with good.

10 Those dwelling in darkness and the shadow of death, The bound ones in humiliation and iron,

11 Because they had rebelled against the sayings of El, And the counsel of the Supreme they had spurned,

12 He brought their heart into submission with toil; They stumbled, and there was no one to help.

13 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their distress; From their constraints He saved them;

14 He brought them forth from darkness and the shadow of death, And their bonds He pulled away.

15 Let them acclaim Yahweh for His benignity And His marvelous works to the sons of humanity.

16 For He broke the doors of bronze And hacked down the bars of iron.

17 The foolish, because of the way of their transgression, And because of their depravities, they were humbled.

18 Their soul abhorred all food, And they touched close unto the gates of death.

19 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their distress; He saved them from their constraints;

20 He sent forth His word and healed them, And He provided escape from their pit.

21 Let them acclaim Yahweh for His benignity And His marvelous works to the sons of humanity.

22 And let them sacrifice sacrifices of acclamation And recount His deeds with jubilant song.

23 Those going down to the sea in ships, Who do their work on vast waters,

24 They have seen the deeds of Yahweh, And His marvelous works in the shadowy deep.

25 He spoke and recruited a tempestuous wind, And it raised its billows high.

26 They ascended to the heavens; they descended to the abyss; Their soul dissolved because of the evil.

27 They circled and staggered like a drunkard, And all their wisdom, it was swallowed up.

28 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their distress, And He brought them forth from their constraints.

29 He recast the tempest into stillness, And the billows against them were hushed;

30 So they rejoiced that they were calmed, And He guided them to the perception of their desire.

31 Let them acclaim Yahweh for His benignity And His marvelous works to the sons of humanity.

32 And let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people, And in the dwelling of the elders, let them praise Him.

33 He can convert streams into wilderness, And flowing wells of water into thirsty ground,

34 A fruitful land into a salty waste, Because of the evil of those dwelling in it.

35 He can convert a wilderness into a pond of water And an arid land into flowing wells of water.

36 And He shall cause the famished to dwell there; They shall establish a city of dwelling.

37 They shall sow fields and plant vineyards, And they shall get a fruitful yield.

38 Then He shall bless them, and they shall increase exceedingly, And He shall not let their domestic beasts decrease.

39 When they are decreased and bowed down Because of restraint, evil and affliction,

40 He is pouring out contempt upon the tyrants, So that He causes them to stray in a wayless wasteland.

41 Yet for the needy one He makes an impregnable retreat from humiliation, And He establishes his families like a flock.

42 The upright see it, and they rejoice, Yet all iniquity, it will shut its mouth.

43 Whoever is wise, let him observe these things; Let them consider the benignities of Yahweh. A Song, A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 108

1 My heart is established, O Elohim; My heart is established; Let me sing and make melody; You are my Glory.

2 Do rouse, zither and harp! Let me arouse the dawn.

3 I shall acclaim You among the peoples, O Yahweh, And I shall make melody to You among the folk.

4 For Your benignity is towering above the heavens, And Your faithfulness unto the skies.

5 Be exalted over the heavens, O Elohim, And let Your glory be over all the earth.

6 That Your beloved ones may be liberated, Do save with Your right hand, and so answer me.

7 Elohim, He has spoken in His holiness: I shall ascend; I shall apportion out Shechem, And I shall measure off the vale of Succoth.

8 Mine is Gilead; Mine is Manasseh, And Ephraim is the stronghold of My head; Judah is My statute-maker;

9 Moab is My washbasin; Unto Edom shall I fling My sandal; Over Philistia shall I shout in triumph.

10 Who shall escort me to the fortress city? Who will guide me unto Edom?

11 O Elohim, have You not cast us off? And shall You not go forth, O Elohim, with our hosts?

12 Do grant to us help from distress, For futile is salvation from a human.

13 With Elohim we shall do valiantly, For He Himself shall trample our foes. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 109

1 O Elohim of my praise, do not be silent,

2 For a mouth of wickedness and a mouth of deceit They have opened against me; They have spoken against me with a tongue of falsehood;

3 With words of hatred, they have surrounded me, And they fight against me gratuitously.

4 In return for my love they are my adversaries, Even while I was in prayer.

5 They bring evil upon me in return for good, And hatred in return for my love.

6 Post a wicked person over him, And let an adversary stand at his right hand.

7 When he is judged, let him go forth condemned, And let his prayer be seen as sin.

8 May his days come to be few; May his supervision be taken by another.

9 May his sons become orphans, And his wife a widow.

10 May his sons rove, yea rove so that they must beg, And may they be driven out from their deserted homes.

11 May the creditor confiscate all that he has, And may aliens plunder the fruit of his labor.

12 There must not be anyone being indulgent with kindness to him, And there must not be anyone showing grace to his orphans.

13 May his posterity be cut off; In the generation following, may his name be wiped out.

14 May the depravity of his fathers be remembered before Yahweh, And the sin of his mother, let it not be wiped out.

15 Let these be in front of Yahweh continually, And let their family’s remembrance be cut off from the earth,

16 Because he did not remember to show kindness, And he persecuted the humble man and the needy one And the sore of heart, to put him to death.

17 He loved malediction; May it come back on him. He has not delighted in blessing; May it stay far from him.

18 He clothed himself with malediction as his coat; May it enter within him like water, And like oil into his bones.

19 May it be upon him like a cloak with which he is muffled, And like a cordon that he girds about him continually.

20 May this be the wage for my adversaries from Yahweh, And for those speaking evil against my soul.

21 But You, O Yahweh my Lord, deal with me on account of Your Name; Because Your benignity is good, rescue me.

22 For humble and needy am I, And my heart, it is wounded within me.

23 Like a shadow as it stretches out, I fade away; I am shaken off like a locust.

24 My knees, they stumble from fasting, And my flesh, it is emaciated for want of oil.

25 And I have become a reproach to them; When they see me, they wag their head.

26 Help me, O Yahweh my Elohim; Save me according to Your benignity.

27 Then they shall know that this is Your handiwork, That You Yourself, O Yahweh, have done it.

28 They may maledict, but You shall bless; Those rising against me, they shall be ashamed, yet Your servant, he shall rejoice.

29 Let my adversaries be clothed with mortification, And let them be muffled with their shame like a robe.

30 I shall acclaim Yahweh very highly with my mouth, And in the midst of multitudes shall I praise Him.

31 For He is standing at the right hand of the needy one, In order to save him from those judging his soul. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 110

1 The averring of Yahweh to my Lord: Sit at My right Until I should set Your enemies as a stool for Your feet.

2 The rod of Your strength shall Yahweh send from Zion; Sway among Your enemies.

3 Your people shall be willing in the day of Your potent power; In holy effulgence from the womb of the dawn, You will have the dew of Your childhood.

4 Yahweh has sworn, and He shall not regret: You are a priest for the eon According to the order of Melchizedek.

5 Yahweh is at Your right; He will transfix kings in the day of His anger.

6 He shall adjudicate among the nations; He will fill them with dead bodies; He will transfix heads over the vast earth.

7 He shall drink from the watercourse along the way; Therefore He shall hold His head high. Praise Yah

Chapter 111

1 I shall acclaim Yahweh with my whole heart, In the council of the upright, in the congregation.

2 Great are the works of Yahweh, Sought after by all who delight in them.

3 Splendor and honor are His deeds, And His righteousness is standing into the future.

4 He has made His marvelous works memorable; Gracious and compassionate is Yahweh.

5 He gave viands to those fearing Him; He shall remember His covenant for the eon.

6 He has told of the vigor of His works to His people, That He would give to them the allotment of the nations.

7 The works of His hands are truth and right judgment; Faithful are all His precepts,

8 Supported into the future, for the eon, Worked out in truth and uprightness.

9 He sent a ransom for His people; He enjoined His covenant on them for the eon; Holy and fear inspiring is His Name.

10 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom; All who practice it have a good insight. His praise is standing into the future. Praise Yah

Chapter 112

1 Happy is the man who fears Yahweh; In His instructions he very much delights.

2 His seed shall become masterful in the land; The generation of the upright, it shall be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house, And his righteousness is standing into the future.

4 In the darkness he radiates as a light for the upright ones; He is gracious, compassionate and righteous.

5 It is good when a man is gracious and obliging; He shall sustain his affairs with right judgment.

6 Truly he shall not slip for the eon; The righteous one shall become an eonian remembrance.

7 He shall not fear an evil report; His heart is established, trusting in Yahweh.

8 His heart is stalwart; he shall not fear, Since he shall see the fate of his foes.

9 He disperses; he gives to the needy; His righteousness is standing into the future; His horn, it shall be exalted in glory.

10 The wicked one, he shall see and be vexed; He shall gnash his teeth and melt away. The yearning of the wicked, it shall perish. Praise Yah

Chapter 113

1 Praise, servants of Yahweh, Praise the Name of Yahweh.

2 Let the Name of Yahweh be blessed, Henceforth and for the eon.

3 From the rising of the sun unto its setting, Let the Name of Yahweh be praised.

4 Exalted over all nations is Yahweh, Over the heavens, His glory.

5 Who is like Yahweh our Elohim, The One elevated in His dwelling,

6 The One condescending in His vigilance Over the heavens and the earth.

7 Raising the poor one from the soil, He exalts the needy one from the ash heaps,

8 Giving a seat among the patrons, Among the patrons of His people,

9 Causing the barren woman to dwell at home, Now a mother of sons, rejoicing. Praise Yah.

Chapter 114

1 When Israel went forth from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a barbarous people,

2 Judah became His sanctuary, Israel, His grand realm.

3 The sea, it looked and fled; The Jordan, it turned around backward.

4 The mountains, they danced like rams, The hills like the young of the flock.

5 What is it with you, sea, that you are fleeing, Jordan, that you are turning around backward,

6 Mountains, that you are dancing like rams. Hills, like the young of the flock?

7 At the presence of the Lord, travail, earth, At the presence of the Elohim of Jacob,

8 The One Who turned the rock into a pond of water, The flintstone into a spring of water.

Chapter 115

1 Not to us, O Yahweh, not to us, But to Your Name give glory, On account of Your benignity, Your faithfulness.

2 Why should the nations say, Where, pray, is their Elohim?

3 Indeed our Elohim is in the heavens; All that He desires, He does.

4 Their fetishes are silver and gold, The work of human hands;

5 They have a mouth, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see;

6 They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have a nose, but they cannot smell;

7 Their hands, they cannot feel; Their feet, they cannot walk; They cannot even mumble in their throat.

8 Like them, may their makers become, All who are trusting in them.

9 House of Israel, trust in Yahweh; He is their Help and their Shield.

10 House of Aaron, trust in Yahweh; He is their Help and their Shield.

11 You who are fearing Yahweh, trust in Yahweh; He is their Help and their Shield.

12 Yahweh, He remembers us; He shall bless us; He shall bless the house of Israel; He shall bless the house of Aaron;

13 He shall bless those fearing Yahweh, The small with the great.

14 May Yahweh add to you, To you and to your sons.

15 Blessed be you by Yahweh, Maker of the heavens and earth.

16 The heavens are Yahweh’s heavens, Yet He has given the earth to the sons of humanity.

17 The dead cannot praise Yah, Nor all those descending into stillness.

18 But we, the living, we shall bless Yah, Henceforth and unto the eon. Praise Yah!

Chapter 116

1 I love Him because Yahweh has heard my voice, my supplications;

2 For He has stretched out His ear to me, And I shall call on Him throughout all my days.

3 The cables of death have enveloped me, And the constrictions of the unseen, they have converged upon me; I found distress and affliction.

4 Then I called on the Name of Yahweh, Oh Yahweh, do make a way of escape for my soul.

5 Gracious is Yahweh and righteous, And our Elohim is compassionate;

6 The One guarding the simple is Yahweh; I was impoverished, and He saved me.

7 Return to your rest, my soul, For Yahweh, He has dealt bountifully with you.

8 Indeed, You have extricated my soul from death, My eye from tears, My foot from foundering.

9 I shall walk before Yahweh In the lands of the living.

10 I believe; wherefore I am speaking: I am very much humbled;

11 I said in my consternation, Every human is a liar.

12 What can I restore to Yahweh For all His bountiful dealings toward me?

13 I shall take up the cup of salvation And call on the Name of Yahweh.

14 I shall pay my vows to Yahweh Indeed in front of all His people.

15 Precious in the eyes of Yahweh Is the death of His benign ones.

16 Oh Yahweh, seeing that I am Your servant, I am Your servant, son of Your maidservant, You have opened up my bonds;

17 I shall sacrifice to You a sacrifice of acclamation And call on the Name of Yahweh.

18 I shall pay my vows to Yahweh Straight in front of all His people,

19 In the courts of Yahweh’s house, In your midst, Jerusalem. Praise Yah.

Chapter 117

1 Praise Yahweh, all nations! Laud Him, all clans!

2 For His benignity is masterful over us, And Yahweh’s faithfulness is eonian. Praise Yah.

Chapter 118

1 Acclaim Yahweh, for He is good! For His benignity is eonian.

2 Let Israel surely say, His benignity is eonian.

3 Let the house of Aaron surely say, His benignity is eonian.

4 Let those fearing Yahweh surely say, His benignity is eonian.

5 From my constriction, I called on Yah; Yah answered me with a wide place.

6 Yahweh is for me; I shall not fear What a human may do to me.

7 Yahweh is for me among those helping me, And I shall see the fate of those hating me.

8 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh Than to trust in a human.

9 It is better to take refuge in Yahweh Than to trust in patrons.

10 All nations, they have surrounded me; It was in the Name of Yahweh that I cut them off.

11 They surrounded me; indeed they surrounded me; It was in the Name of Yahweh that I cut them off.

12 They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished like a fire of thorns. It was in the Name of Yahweh that I cut them off.

13 I was pushed, yea pushed so as to fall, Yet Yahweh, He helped me.

14 Yah is my Strength and my Melody, And He became mine for salvation.

15 The sound of jubilant song and salvation Comes from the tents of the righteous: Yahweh’s right hand is doing valiantly;

16 Yahweh’s right hand is being exalted; Yahweh’s right hand is doing valiantly.

17 I shall not die but shall live, And I shall recount the deeds of Yah.

18 Yah has disciplined, yea disciplined me, Yet He has not given me over to death.

19 Open the gates of righteousness to me; I shall enter through them and acclaim Yah.

20 This is the gate belonging to Yahweh; The righteous, they shall enter through it.

21 I am acclaiming You, for You have answered me, And You became mine for salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected, It came to be for the head of the corner.

23 From Yahweh came this; It is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day Yahweh has made; Do let us exult and rejoice in it.

25 Oh Yahweh, do save us indeed! Oh Yahweh, do prosper us indeed!

26 Blessed in the Name of Yahweh is he who is coming; We bless you from the house of Yahweh.

27 El is Yahweh, and He shall enlighten us. Bind the way of festival with entwined boughs Unto the horns of the altar.

28 You are my El, and I am acclaiming You; My Elohim, I am exalting You.

29 Acclaim Yahweh, for He is good! For His benignity is eonian.

Chapter 119

1 Happy are those whose way is flawless, Who are walking in the law of Yahweh.

2 Happy are those preserving His testimonies; With all their heart, they are seeking after Him.

3 Indeed, they do not contrive iniquity; In His ways they walk.

4 You Yourself have enjoined that Your precepts Are to be kept very faithfully.

5 Oh that my ways should be established To keep Your statutes.

6 Then I should not be ashamed When I look to all Your instructions.

7 I shall acclaim You in uprightness of heart, While I learn Your righteous ordinances.

8 Your statutes shall I keep; Do not forsake me utterly.

9 Whereby shall a youth purge his path? By keeping Your word.

10 With all my heart, I have sought after You; Do not let me err from Your instructions.

11 In my heart have I stored up Your promise, That I may not sin against You.

12 Blessed be You, O Yahweh; Teach me Your statutes.

13 With my lips I recount All the ordinances from Your mouth.

14 In the way of Your testimonies I am elated, As over all wealth.

15 In Your precepts I shall indeed meditate, And indeed I shall scrutinize Your paths.

16 In Your statutes am I reveling; I am not forgetting Your word.

17 Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and surely keep Your word.

18 Give revelation to my eyes that I may indeed scrutinize The marvels of Your law.

19 I am a sojourner upon the earth; Do not conceal Your instructions from me.

20 My soul is broken up by an ardent desire For Your ordinances in every season.

21 You rebuke the arrogant, who are accursed, Who are erring from Your instructions.

22 Roll reproach and contempt away from me, For I have preserved Your testimonies.

23 Even though chiefs have sat and plotted against me, Your servant, he shall meditate on Your statutes;

24 Even so Your testimonies are my delectations, Your statutes are my men of counsel.

25 My soul clings to the soil; Revive me according to Your word.

26 I have recounted my ways, and You answered me; Teach me Your statutes.

27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts, And I shall indeed meditate on Your marvelous works.

28 My soul is racked with affliction; Raise me up according to Your word.

29 Withdraw the false way from me, And favor me with Your own law.

30 The way of faithfulness have I chosen; Your ordinances have I poised before me.

31 I cling to Your testimonies; O Yahweh, let me not be put to shame.

32 In the way of Your instructions shall I run, For You are widening my heart.

33 Direct me, O Yahweh, in the way of Your statutes, That I may preserve it as the consequence.

34 Make me understand, and I shall indeed preserve Your law, And I shall keep it with all my heart.

35 Cause me to tread in the track of Your instructions, For I delight in it.

36 Stretch out my heart to Your testimonies, And not at all to selfish gain.

37 Avert my eyes from looking at futile things; Revive me in Your way.

38 Confirm for Your servant Your promise That leads me to the fear of You.

39 Cause my reproach, from which I shrink, to pass away, For Your ordinances are good.

40 Behold, I ardently desire Your precepts; Revive me in Your righteousness.

41 And let Your benignities come to me, O Yahweh, Your salvation according to Your promise.

42 Then I shall have a word to answer the one reproaching me; For I trust in Your word.

43 Do not divert the word of truth from my mouth utterly, For I have set my hope in Your ordinances.

44 I shall indeed keep your law continually, For the eon and further.

45 I shall indeed walk in wideness, For I have sought after Your precepts.

46 I shall indeed speak of Your testimonies in front of kings, And I shall not be ashamed.

47 For I am reveling in Your instructions Which I love.

48 Thus I am lifting my palms unto Your instructions which I love, And I shall indeed meditate on Your statutes.

49 Remember Your word to Your servant, On which You have set my hope.

50 This is my consolation in my humiliation, That Your promise revives me.

51 The arrogant, they mock me exceedingly, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law.

52 I remember Your ordinances from the eon, O Yahweh, And I find comfort for myself.

53 A simoon storm, it has taken hold of me because of the wicked Who are forsaking Your law.

54 Your statutes have become psalms to me In the house of my sojournings.

55 I remember Your Name in the night, O Yahweh, That I may indeed keep Your law.

56 This has become my practice, That I preserve Your precepts.

57 You are my Portion, O Yahweh; I have promised to keep Your words.

58 I have beseeched Your presence with all my heart; Be gracious to me according to Your promise.

59 I have taken account of my ways; So let me turn back my feet to Your testimonies.

60 I hurry and do not dally To keep Your instructions.

61 The cables of the wicked, they bind me about, Yet I do not forget Your law.

62 At midnight I arise to acclaim You For Your righteous ordinances.

63 I am a partner to all who fear You, And to those keeping Your precepts.

64 Your benignity, O Yahweh, it fills the earth; Teach me Your statutes.

65 You have dealt well with Your servant, O Yahweh, according to Your word.

66 Teach me good discretion and knowledge, For I rely upon Your instructions.

67 Before I was humbled, I was erring, But now I keep Your promise close.

68 You are good and are doing good; Teach me Your statutes.

69 The arrogant smear me with falsehood; As for me, with all my heart I preserve Your precepts.

70 Stolid like fat is their heart; As for me, I revel in Your law.

71 It is good for me that I was humbled, That I may learn Your statutes.

72 Better to me is the law of Your mouth Than thousands of gold and silver.

73 Your hands, they have made me and are establishing me; Give me understanding so I may learn Your instructions.

74 May those fearing You see me and rejoice, For I set my hope in Your word.

75 I know, O Yahweh, that Your ordinances are righteous, And You have humbled me in faithfulness.

76 Now may Your benignity become my comfort, According to Your promise to Your servant.

77 May Your compassions come on me that I may live, For Your law is my delectation.

78 May the arrogant be ashamed, for without cause have they distorted me; As for me, I shall meditate on Your precepts.

79 May those fearing You turn back to me, Those knowing Your testimonies.

80 May my heart become flawless in Your statutes, That I may not be ashamed.

81 My soul is exhausted looking for Your salvation; I have set my hope in Your word.

82 My eyes are exhausted looking for Your promise, Asking, When shall You comfort me?

83 Though I have become like an unused skin-bottle, hanging in smoke fumes, I have not forgotten Your statutes.

84 How long are the days of Your servant? When shall You bring judgment upon my persecutors?

85 The arrogant dig pits to trap me, Who do not act according to Your law.

86 All Your instructions are faithful, But they persecute me without cause; help me.

87 Soon they would finish me from the earth, Yet I myself have not forsaken Your precepts.

88 Revive me according to Your benignity, And I will keep the testimony of Your mouth.

89 For the eon, O Yahweh, Your word is stationed in the heavens.

90 For generation after generation is Your faithfulness; You have established the earth, and it shall stand.

91 They stand today by Your ordinances, For they all are Your servants.

92 Unless Your law had been my delectation, Then I would have perished in my humiliation.

93 For the eon I shall not forget Your precepts, For by them have You revived me.

94 I am Yours; save me, For I have sought after Your precepts.

95 The wicked stretch out toward me to destroy me, But I gain understanding of Your testimonies.

96 I have seen the end of every aspiration, Yet Your instruction is very wide.

97 How I love Your law! The entire day it is my meditation.

98 Your instruction makes me wiser than my enemies, For it is with me for the eon.

99 I have gained insight more than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation.

100 I have gained more understanding than elders, For I preserve Your precepts.

101 I detain my feet from every evil path, That I may keep Your word.

102 I do not withdraw from Your ordinances, For You Yourself direct me.

103 How savory are Your promises to my palate, Better than honey to my mouth!

104 From Your precepts I gain understanding; Therefore I hate every false path.

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my tracks.

106 I have sworn let me confirm it To keep Your righteous ordinances.

107 I am humbled utterly; O Yahweh, revive me according to Your word.

108 Do accept the voluntary offerings of my mouth, O Yahweh, And teach me Your ordinances.

109 My soul is placed in my palms continually, Yet I do not forget Your law.

110 Wicked ones have placed a snare for me, Yet I do not stray from Your precepts.

111 I am allotted Your testimonies for the eon; Indeed they are the elation of my heart.

112 I stretch out my heart to perform Your statutes; The consequence is for the eon.

113 I hate forked tongues, But I love Your law.

114 My Concealment and my Shield are You; I set my hope in Your word.

115 Go away from me, you evildoers; I will preserve the instructions of my Elohim.

116 Support me according to Your promise that I may live, And let me not be put to shame because of my hopefulness.

117 Brace me that I may be saved, And I will continually heed Your statutes.

118 You have cast aside all those erring from Your statutes, For their deceitfulness shows their falsity.

119 You have reckoned all the wicked of the earth as dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies.

120 My flesh bristles from awe of You, And I fear Your judgments.

121 I have performed right judgment and righteousness; Do not leave me to those extorting me.

122 Be surety for Your servant’s well-being; Let not the arrogant be extorting me.

123 My eyes, they are exhausted, looking for Your salvation And for Your righteous promise.

124 Deal with Your servant according to Your benignity, And teach me Your statutes.

125 I am Your servant; give me understanding So that I may know Your testimonies.

126 It is the season for Yahweh to act; They annul Your law.

127 Therefore I love Your instructions More than gold, even than glittering gold.

128 Therefore all Your precepts do I hold upright; Every false path do I hate.

129 Marvelous are Your testimonies; Therefore my soul preserves them.

130 The opening of Your words, it is enlightening, Making the simple proficient.

131 With my mouth I gape; so let me gasp, For I ardently desire Your instructions.

132 Turn toward me and be gracious to me According to the custom for those loving Your Name.

133 Establish my footsteps in Your promise, And let not any lawlessness have authority over me.

134 Ransom me from human extortion, And I will indeed keep Your precepts.

135 Let Your face enlighten Your servant, And teach me Your statutes.

136 Rillets of water, they descend from my eyes Because men do not keep Your law.

137 You are righteous, O Yahweh, And Your judgments are upright.

138 Your testimonies which You have enjoined are righteous And very faithful.

139 My zeal gnaws at me, For my foes forget Your words.

140 Refined is Your promise exceedingly, And Your servant, he loves it.

141 I am insignificant and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts.

142 Your righteousness is eonian righteousness, And Your law is truth.

143 Though distress and constraint, they have converged on me, Your instructions are my delectations.

144 Your testimonies are eonian righteousness; Give me understanding that I may live.

145 I call out with all my heart; answer me, O Yahweh; I will indeed preserve Your statutes.

146 I call out to You; save me, And I will keep Your testimonies.

147 I rise before the morning twilight, that I may implore; I set my hope in Your words.

148 My wakeful eyes have gone before the night vigils To meditate on Your promise.

149 Do hear my voice according to Your benignity; O Yahweh, according to Your right judgment, revive me.

150 Those persecuting me draw near with evil scheme; They are far from Your law.

151 You are near, O Yahweh, And all Your instructions are truth.

152 Long ago I came to know from Your testimonies That You had founded them for the eon.

153 See my humiliation, and liberate me, For I have not forgotten Your law.

154 Do contend my cause and redeem me; Revive me with Your promise.

155 Far from the wicked is salvation, For they do not seek after Your statutes.

156 Your compassions are many, O Yahweh; Revive me according to Your ordinances.

157 Many are my persecutors and my foes, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies.

158 I see the treacherous, and I am disgusted Because they do not keep Your promise close.

159 See how I love Your precepts; O Yahweh, according to Your benignity revive me.

160 The sum of Your word is truth, And all of Your righteous ordinances are eonian.

161 Chief men, they persecute me gratuitously, Yet my heart stands in awe before Your word.

162 I am elated over Your promise Like one finding much loot.

163 I hate what is false, and I will always abhor it; I love Your law.

164 Seven times in a day I praise You For Your righteous ordinances.

165 Much peace is for those loving Your law, And there is no stumbling block for them.

166 I look forward to Your salvation, O Yahweh, And I perform Your instructions.

167 My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly.

168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are in front of You.

169 May my appeal come near before You, O Yahweh; According to Your word, give me understanding.

170 May my supplication come before You; According to Your promise, rescue me.

171 May my lips utter praise, For You teach me Your statutes.

172 May my tongue sing in response to Your promise, For all Your instructions are righteous.

173 May Your hand be ready to help me, For I have chosen Your precepts.

174 I ardently desire Your salvation, O Yahweh, And Your law is my delectation.

175 May my soul live and praise You, And may Your ordinances help me.

176 I have strayed like a lost flockling; seek Your servant, For I have not forgotten Your instructions. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 120

1 To Yahweh in my distress I call out that He may answer me.

2 O Yahweh, do rescue my soul from the false lip, From the deceitful tongue.

3 What shall He give to you, And what more shall He add for you, deceitful tongue?

4 He will send arrows of the masterful, whetted With glowing embers of broom!

5 Woe to me, for I sojourn in Meshech; I tabernacle among the tents of Kedar.

6 Long enough for itself has my soul tabernacled With a people hating peace.

7 I am for peace, yet when I speak They are for war. A Song for Ascents

Chapter 121

1 I am lifting my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come?

2 My help is from Yahweh, Maker of the heavens and earth.

3 He shall certainly not allow your foot to slip; Your Guardian shall certainly not slumber.

4 Behold, He is neither slumbering nor sleeping, The Guardian of Israel.

5 Yahweh is your Guardian; Yahweh is your Protecting Shade at your right hand.

6 By day the sun shall not smite you, Nor the moon by night.

7 Yahweh Himself shall guard you from all evil; He shall guard your soul.

8 Yahweh Himself shall guard your going forth and your coming in, Henceforth and unto the eon. A Song of Ascents, Davidic

Chapter 122

1 I rejoiced with those saying to me, Let us go to the house of Yahweh.

2 Our feet are standing In your gateways, Jerusalem,

3 Jerusalem, being built Like a city that is joined to itself together,

4 Where the tribes ascend, The tribes of Yah, a testimony for Israel, To acclaim the Name of Yahweh.

5 For there are located thrones of judgment, The thrones for the house of David.

6 Ask for Jerusalem’s well-being; May those loving you be at ease.

7 May peace be within your estate, Ease within your citadels.

8 For the sake of my brothers and my associates, Let me say again, Peace be within you.

9 For the sake of the house of Yahweh our Elohim, Let me seek your good. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 123

1 To You I lift up my eyes, The One dwelling in the heavens.

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their lords, As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, So do our eyes look to Yahweh our Elohim Until He should be gracious to us.

3 Be gracious to us, O Yahweh, be gracious to us, For we are surfeited greatly with contempt.

4 For itself is our soul greatly surfeited With the derision of the self-satisfied, With the contempt of the proud. A Song of Ascents, Davidic

Chapter 124

1 Unless Yahweh Himself had been for us, Now let Israel say,

2 Unless Yahweh Himself had been for us, When mankind rose against us,

3 Then they would have swallowed us up alive In the heat of their anger against us;

4 Then the waters, they would have engulfed us, The torrent, it would have passed over our soul;

5 Then there would have passed over our soul The rampaging waters.

6 Blessed be Yahweh, Who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul, like a bird has it escaped from the snare of the trappers; The snare has been broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the Name of Yahweh, Maker of the heavens and earth. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 125

1 Those who trust in Yahweh are like Mount Zion which is immovable; It shall dwell securely for the eon.

2 As Jerusalem has mountains round about it, So Yahweh is round about His people Henceforth and unto the eon.

3 For the scepter of the wicked shall not settle over the lot of the righteous, So that the righteous may not put forth their hands into iniquity.

4 Do good, O Yahweh, to the good And to those who are upright in their hearts.

5 As for those who turn aside to their tortuous ways, May Yahweh banish them with the contrivers of lawlessness. Peace be on Israel. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 126

1 When Yahweh reversed the captivity of Zion, We became like those who are dreaming.

2 Then our mouth was filled with mirth And our tongue with jubilant song. Then they said among the nations, Yahweh has done great things in His dealings with these people.

3 Yahweh did do great things in His dealings with us; We were a rejoicing people.

4 Do reverse again, O Yahweh, our captivity Like channels in the Negeb.

5 Those who sow with tears, With jubilant song shall they reap.

6 Going out, he goes with weeping, Bearing the drawbag of seed; Coming in, he comes with jubilant song, Bearing his grain-sheaves. A Song of Ascents, Solomonic

Chapter 127

1 If Yahweh Himself is not building a house, Its builders toil futilely in it. If Yahweh Himself is not guarding a city, The guard is alert futilely.

2 Futile is it for you to rise early, And stay up late, Eating the bread of grievous labor; Yet so is He giving to His beloved in their sleep.

3 Behold, sons are an allotment from Yahweh; The fruit of the belly is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a master, So are the sons of youthful parents.

5 Happy is the master who fills his quiver with them; They shall not be ashamed When they are speaking with enemies in the gateway. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 128

1 Happy is everyone who is fearing Yahweh, Who is walking in His ways.

2 The labor of your palms shall you surely eat; Happy are you, and it will be well for you.

3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your house, Your sons like transplanted olive shoots round about your table.

4 Behold that so a master is being blessed, Who is fearing Yahweh.

5 May Yahweh bless you from Zion; Thus see the goodness of Jerusalem all the days of your life,

6 And see the sons of your sons. Peace be on Israel. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 129

1 Many times have they distressed me from my youth, May Israel now say,

2 Many times have they distressed me from my youth, Yet they did not prevail against me.

3 On my arched back have the wicked plowed; They have lengthened their plowing lines.

4 Yahweh is just; He has cut away the ropes of the wicked.

5 They shall be put to shame and turned away backward, All who are hating Zion.

6 They shall become like grass on the housetops, Which dries up before it unfurls,

7 With which neither the one reaping can fill his palm, Nor the one binding sheaves his bosom pouch.

8 And those passing by do not even say, Yahweh’s blessing be on you. Yet we do bless you all in the Name of Yahweh. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 130

1 From the depths I call out to You, O Yahweh;

2 O Yahweh, do hear my voice; Let Your ears be attentive To the sound of my supplications.

3 If You should keep account of depravities, O Yah, O Yahweh, who should stand?

4 For with You is pardon That You may be feared.

5 I am expectant for Yahweh; My soul is expectant, And I wait for His word.

6 My soul longs for Yahweh More than sentinels for the morning, Yea, sentinels for the morning.

7 Wait, Israel, for Yahweh, For with Yahweh is benignity, And with Him abundant ransom.

8 And He Himself shall ransom Israel From all its depravities. A Song of Ascents, Davidic

Chapter 131

1 O Yahweh, my heart is not haughty; Nor are my eyes set high, And I do not walk in ways too great Or too difficult for me.

2 Assuredly I have poised and stilled my soul Like a weaned child with his mother; Like a weaned child is my soul to me.

3 Wait, Israel, for Yahweh, Henceforth and unto the eon. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 132

1 Remember, O Yahweh, concerning David, All his humiliation,

2 How he swore to Yahweh And vowed to the Sturdy One of Jacob:

3 I shall assuredly not come into my tent house, Assuredly not go up to the cot of my berth,

4 Assuredly not give sleep to my eyes, Or slumber to my eyelids,

5 Until I should find a place for Yahweh, A grand tabernacle for the Sturdy One of Jacob.

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; We found it in the fields of Jaar.

7 Let us go to His grand tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool.

8 Do arise, O Yahweh, to Your resting place, You and the coffer of Your strength.

9 Your priests, may they be clothed with righteousness, And Your benign ones, may they be jubilant.

10 For the sake of David, Your servant, Do not turn back from the face of Your anointed one.

11 Yahweh has sworn to David the truth; He shall not turn back from it: Out of the fruit of your loin Shall I set One on your throne.

12 If your sons should keep My covenant And My testimonies that I shall teach them, Their sons also unto the future, They shall sit on your throne.

13 For Yahweh has chosen Zion; He yearns for it as His dwelling place:

14 This is My resting place unto the future; Here shall I dwell, for I yearn for it.

15 Its provision shall I bless, yea bless; Its needy ones shall I satisfy with bread;

16 Its priests shall I clothe with salvation, And its benign ones, they shall be jubilant, yea jubilant;

17 There shall I make the horn of David sprout; I will arrange a lamp for My anointed one.

18 His enemies shall I clothe with shame, Yet his insignia shall blossom upon him. A Song of Ascents, Davidic

Chapter 133

1 Behold, how good and how pleasant For brothers to dwell as one.

2 It is like the good oil upon the head, Descending upon the beard, Aaron’s beard, which is descending over the slit of his coats.

3 It is like the night mist of Hermon, Which is descending upon the mountain ranges of Zion, For there Yahweh has determined the blessing to be, Life for the eon. A Song of Ascents

Chapter 134

1 Behold, bless Yahweh, all servants of Yahweh, Who are standing in Yahweh’s house by night.

2 Lift your hands toward the sanctuary, And bless Yahweh.

3 May Yahweh bless you from Zion, Maker of the heavens and earth.

Chapter 135

1 Praise Yah. Praise the Name of Yahweh; Praise Him, servants of Yahweh,

2 Who are standing in Yahweh’s house, In the courts of the house of our Elohim.

3 Praise Yah, for Yahweh is good; Make melody to His Name, for it is pleasant.

4 For Yah chose Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special possession.

5 For I myself know that Yahweh is great, And our Lord is greater than all elohim.

6 All that Yahweh delights He does, In the heavens and on earth, In the seas and every abyss;

7 He Who is bringing up vapors from the end of the earth, He makes lightening bolts for the rain, Bringing forth the wind from His treasuries.

8 He Who smote the firstborn of Egypt From human unto beast,

9 He sent signs and miracles into your midst, Egypt, Against Pharaoh and all his servants;

10 He Who smote many nations And killed staunch kings,

11 Sihon, king of the Amorite, And Og, king of Bashan, And all the kingdoms of Canaan,

12 He gave their land as an allotment, An allotment for Israel, His people.

13 O Yahweh, Your Name is for the eon; O Yahweh, Your Remembrance is for generation after generation.

14 For Yahweh shall adjudicate His people, And He shall show Himself merciful over His servants.

15 The fetishes of the nations are silver and gold, The work of human hands.

16 They have a mouth, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see;

17 They have ears, but they cannot listen; Indeed, there is really no spirit in their mouth.

18 Like them, may their makers become, All who are trusting in them.

19 House of Israel, bless Yahweh; House of Aaron, bless Yahweh;

20 House of the Levite, bless Yahweh; You who are fearing Yahweh, bless Yahweh.

21 Blessed be Yahweh from Zion, Who is tabernacling in Jerusalem. Praise Yah.

Chapter 136

1 Give acclamation to Yahweh, for He is good, For His benignity is eonian;

2 Give acclamation to the Elohim of elohim, For His benignity is eonian;

3 Give acclamation to the Lord of lords, For His benignity is eonian,

4 To the One alone working great marvels, For His benignity is eonian,

5 To the One making the heavens with understanding, For His benignity is eonian,

6 To the One stamping out the earth above the waters, For His benignity is eonian,

7 To the One making the great lights, For His benignity is eonian,

8 The sun for ruling over the day, For His benignity is eonian,

9 The moon and stars for ruling over the night, For His benignity is eonian,

10 To the One smiting Egypt in their firstborn, For His benignity is eonian,

11 And Who brought forth Israel from their midst, For His benignity is eonian,

12 By a steadfast hand and by an outstretched arm, For His benignity is eonian,

13 To the One severing the Sea of Weeds into severed parts, For His benignity is eonian,

14 And Who caused Israel to pass through its midst, For His benignity is eonian,

15 And Who shook off Pharaoh and his army into the Sea of Weeds, For His benignity is eonian,

16 To the One conducting His people through the wilderness, For His benignity is eonian,

17 To the One smiting great kings, For His benignity is eonian,

18 And Who killed prestigious kings, For His benignity is eonian,

19 Sihon king of the Amorite, For His benignity is eonian,

20 And Og king of Bashan, For His benignity is eonian;

21 He gave their land as an allotment, For His benignity is eonian,

22 An allotment to Israel, His servant, For His benignity is eonian,

23 Who in our lowliness remembered us, For His benignity is eonian,

24 And Who tore us off from our foes, For His benignity is eonian,

25 Who is giving nourishment to all flesh, For His benignity is eonian;

26 Give acclamation to the El of the heavens, For His benignity is eonian.

Chapter 137

1 By the streams of Babylon, There we sat down and lamented, While we remembered Zion.

2 On the oleanders in its midst We hung our harps,

3 For there our captors asked us for words of song, And our enslavers for rejoicing: Sing for us from a song of Zion.

4 How should we sing a song of Yahweh On foreign ground?

5 If I should forget you, Jerusalem, May my right hand forget its skill.

6 May my tongue cling to my palate, If I should not remember you, If I should not elevate Jerusalem Over my principal rejoicings.

7 Remember, O Yahweh, against Edom’s sons, In Jerusalem’s day, Those who were saying, Raze it, raze it, Even to its foundation.

8 Daughter of Babylon, the devastator, Happy is he who shall repay you With your dealing which you dealt to us.

9 Happy is he who shall hold and shatter your descendants Against the crag. Davidic

Chapter 138

1 I shall acclaim You, O Yahweh, with all my heart; In front of the elohim shall I make melody to You.

2 I shall worship toward Your holy temple And shall acclaim Your Name For Your benignity and for Your faithfulness, For You have magnified Your Name, Your promise, over all else.

3 In the day I call, then You answer me; You make me dauntless with strength in my soul.

4 May all the kings of the earth acclaim You, O Yahweh, When they hear the promises of Your mouth;

5 And may they sing of Yahweh’s ways, For great is the glory of Yahweh.

6 Though Yahweh is exalted, yet He discerns the lowly, And He knows the haughty one from afar.

7 If I walk within distress, You revive me; You send Your hand upon the anger of my enemies, And Your right hand saves me.

8 Yahweh, He shall perfect in my future; O Yahweh, Your benignity is for the eon. The works of Your hands, do not relax. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 139

1 O Yahweh, You investigate me and are knowing me;

2 You Yourself know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought from afar;

3 My path and my pallet You have measured off, And for all my ways You have made provision.

4 For though there be no declaration on my tongue, Behold, O Yahweh, You know it all.

5 Back and front, You have besieged me, And You set Your palm upon me.

6 Marvelous is such knowledge beyond me; It is impregnable; I cannot reach to it.

7 Whither could I go from Your spirit, And whither could I run away from Your presence?

8 If I should climb to the heavens, You are there, And should I make my berth in the unseen, behold, You are there.

9 Should I wear the wings of dawn, Should I indeed tabernacle in the hindmost sea,

10 Even there Your hand, it would guide me, And Your right hand would hold me.

11 If I said, Surely darkness, it snuffed me up, And night is belted about me,

12 Even darkness, it is not darkening to You, And the night, as the day, is giving light; Darkness is as light.

13 For You Yourself achieved the making of my innermost being; You overshadowed me in my mother’s belly.

14 I shall acclaim You, for You are fearfully distinguished; Marvelous are Your works. You have known my soul very thoroughly;

15 My skeleton was not suppressed from You, When I was made in concealment; I was woven together as in the nether parts of the earth.

16 Your eyes saw my embryo, And my days, all of them were written upon Your scroll; The days, they were formed when there was not one of them.

17 How precious are Your thoughts to me, O El, How plentiful are their sums:

18 If I number them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You.

19 O that You would despatch the wicked, O Eloah, And bloodthirsty men would withdraw from me,

20 Those who speak of You with evil scheming; They bear words of hypocrisy against You.

21 Do I not hate those hating You, O Yahweh, And with those rising against You, am I not disgusted?

22 With complete hatred I hate them; They have become enemies to me.

23 Search me out, O El, and know my heart; Test me, and know my disquieting thoughts.

24 See if a grievous way is in me, And guide me in the way eonian. Permanent A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 140

1 Liberate me, O Yahweh, from the evil person; From the man of violence may You preserve me;

2 Those who devise evil deeds in their heart, All day long they stir up warfare;

3 They whet their tongue like a serpent; The venom of an asp is under their lips. Interlude

4 Keep me, O Yahweh, from the hands of the wicked one; From the man of violence may You preserve me, Those who devise ways to trip up my footsteps.

5 Proud men bury a snare for me, And they spread lines, a net at the side of my route; They set traps for me. Interlude

6 I avow to Yahweh, You are my El; Do give ear, O Yahweh, to the voice of my supplications.

7 O Yahweh, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, You overshadow my head in the day of the weapon.

8 Do not grant, O Yahweh, the yearnings of the wicked one; Do not promote his scheme; let them not be exalted. Interlude

9 As for the heads of those round about me, May the misery done by their lips cover them;

10 May glowing embers slip down over them; May He cast them into the fire, Into chasms, so they may rise no more.

11 May a man of slander no more become established in the land; A man of violence, may evil hunt him with jolt after jolt.

12 I know that Yahweh shall execute adjudication for the humble, Right judgment for the needy.

13 Yea, the righteous, they shall acclaim Your Name; The upright shall dwell in Your presence. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 141

1 O Yahweh, I call on You; do hurry to me; Do give ear to my voice when I call on You.

2 May my prayer be established as incense before You, The lifting of my palms as the evening approach present.

3 Do set, O Yahweh, a sentinel for my mouth, A preserver at the door of my lips.

4 Do not turn my heart aside to evil speaking, To set in action activities in wickedness with men who are contrivers of lawlessness. And may I dine not at all on their pleasant things;

5 Should the righteous one beat me, it were kindness, And should he reprove me, it were oil on my head; May my head not repudiate it at all. But still, my prayer is against their evil deeds;

6 When they are released into the hands of our Crag, their Grand Judge, Then they will hear my sayings and see that they are pleasant.

7 As when one is harrowing and rending the earth, So our bones are dispersed at the mouth of the unseen.

8 Indeed toward You, O Yahweh my Lord, are my eyes directed; In You I take refuge; do not empty out my soul.

9 Keep me from the grip of the snare they have set to trap me, And from the traps of contrivers of lawlessness.

10 May the wicked ones fall, each into his own nooses, While I pass by altogether. Contemplating, Davidic When He was in the Cave, A Prayer

Chapter 142

1 With my voice am I crying out to Yahweh; With my voice am I supplicating to Yahweh.

2 I am pouring out my concern before Him; My distress am I telling before Him.

3 When my spirit droops within me, Then it is You Yourself Who knows my tracks; In the path that I am walking, They have buried a snare for me.

4 I look to the right, and I see, Yet there is no one recognizing my need; Hope of fleeing has perished from me; There is no one caring for my soul.

5 I cry out to You, O Yahweh; I say, You are my Refuge, My Portion in the land of the living.

6 Do attend to my appeal, For I am exceedingly impoverished; Rescue me from my persecutors, For they are more aggressive than I.

7 Do bring my soul forth from this enclosure To acclaim Your Name; The righteous shall compass about me, For You shall deal bountifully with me. A Davidic Psalm

Chapter 143

1 O Yahweh, hear my prayer; Do give ear to my supplications; In Your faithfulness answer me, in Your righteousness.

2 Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For no living one at all can be found righteous before You.

3 For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the earth; He has made me sit in utter darkness like the eonian dead.

4 My spirit is drooping within me; In my midst my heart is dejected.

5 Yet I remember the days aforetime; I soliloquize upon all Your deeds; Upon the works of Your hands am I meditating.

6 I spread forth my hands to You; My soul looks to You like a fainting land. Interlude

7 Quickly answer me, O Yahweh; my spirit is exhausted; Do not conceal Your face from me, Or I would become comparable with descenders to the crypt.

8 Let me hear of Your benignity in each morning, For I trust in You; Let me know that way I should go, For I lift up my soul to You.

9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Yahweh; To You I look for cover.

10 Teach me to do what is acceptable to You, For You are my Elohim; With Your good spirit in an upright land may You guide me.

11 For Your Name’s sake, O Yahweh, may You revive me; In Your righteousness, may You bring my soul forth from distress.

12 In Your benignity may You efface my enemies; And You will destroy all the foes of my soul, For I am Your servant. Davidic

Chapter 144

1 Blessed be Yahweh, my Rock, Who is teaching my hands for the attack, My fingers for the battle,

2 My Benignity and my Fastness, My Impregnable Retreat and my Deliverance for me, My Shield; in Him I take refuge, The One bringing down the peoples under me.

3 O Yahweh, what is a human that You should acknowledge him, A son of a mortal that You should take account of him?

4 A human is like a transitory breath, His days like a passing shadow.

5 O Yahweh, stretch out Your heavens that You may descend; Touch the mountains that they may smoke.

6 Make lightning flash that You may scatter them; Send Your arrows that You may discomfit them.

7 Put forth Your hands from the height; Set me loose and rescue me from the great waters, From the hand of a foreigner’s sons,

8 Whose mouth speaks hypocrisy, And their right hand is a false right hand.

9 O Elohim, let me sing a new song to You; On a zither of ten strings let me make melody to You,

10 Who are giving salvation to kings, Who are setting loose His servant David from the vicious sword.

11 Set me loose and rescue me from the hand of a foreigner’s sons, Whose mouth speaks hypocrisy, And their right hand is a false right hand:

12 That our sons be like plants grown great in their youth, Our daughters like cornerposts sculptured as in palace style,

13 Our garners be filled with harvested crops from one sort to every sort, Our flock become thousands, ten thousands in our open places,

14 And our domestic animals strong for bearing burdens. There will be no breaching of walls, And there will be no going forth in defeat; There will be no fearful yelling in our squares.

15 Happy is the people for whom it is thus; Happy is the people whose Elohim is Yahweh. A Davidic Praise

Chapter 145

1 I shall exalt You, my Elohim the King; Let me bless Your Name for the eon and further.

2 In every day I shall bless You; Let me praise Your Name for the eon and further.

3 Great is Yahweh, and praised exceedingly, And as to His greatness there is no fathoming.

4 May one generation laud Your works to another generation, And of Your masterful deeds may they tell.

5 On the honor glorious of Your splendor And the words of Your marvelous works let me meditate.

6 The strength of Your fear inspiring deeds may they affirm, And Your great achievements let me relate.

7 The remembrance of Your great goodness, may they utter, And in Your righteousness may they be jubilant.

8 Gracious and compassionate is Yahweh, Slow to anger and with great benignity.

9 Good is Yahweh to all, And His compassions are over all His works.

10 May all Your works acclaim You, O Yahweh, And let Your benign ones bless You.

11 The glory of Your kingdom, may they affirm, And of Your powerful mastery may they speak,

12 To make known to the sons of humanity His masterful deeds, And the glorious honor of His kingdom.

13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all the eons, And Your rule for every generation after generation. Faithful is Yahweh in all His words, And benign in all His works.

14 Supporting is Yahweh all who are falling And is making erect all who are bent down.

15 The eyes of all place hopefulness on You, And You are giving them their food in its season,

16 Opening Your hand And satisfying every living creature with benevolence.

17 Righteous is Yahweh in all His ways, And benign in all His works.

18 Near is Yahweh to all calling on Him, To all who are calling on Him in truth.

19 Benevolence for those fearing Him is He providing, And their imploring is He hearing and is saving them.

20 Guarding is Yahweh all who are loving Him, Yet all the wicked shall He exterminate.

21 The praise of Yahweh, may my mouth speak, And may all flesh bless His holy Name For the eon and further.

Chapter 146

1 Praise Yah. Praise Yahweh, my soul.

2 Let me praise Yahweh throughout my life; Let me make melody to my Elohim through all my future.

3 Do not trust in patrons, In a son of humanity with whom there is no salvation.

4 His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return to his ground; In that day his reflections perish.

5 Happy is he who has the El of Jacob as his Help; His hopefulness is set on Yahweh his Elohim,

6 Maker of the heavens and earth, The sea and all that is in them, The Guardian of truth for the eon;

7 He is the One executing right judgment for those being exploited, The One giving bread to the famished, Yahweh, letting loose those who are bound,

8 Yahweh, unclosing the eyes of the blind, Yahweh, making erect those who are bent down, Yahweh, loving those who are righteous,

9 Yahweh, Guardian over the sojourners; The orphan and the widow shall He bolster up, Yet the way of the wicked shall He overturn.

10 Yahweh shall reign for the eon, Your Elohim, O Zion, for generation after generation. Praise Yah.

Chapter 147

1 Praise Yah. Indeed it is good to make melody to our Elohim; Indeed it is pleasant to make comely praise.

2 Yahweh is building up Jerusalem; He is collecting together the expelled of Israel,

3 The One healing the broken heart And binding up their grievous wounds;

4 The One counting the number of stars, He is calling them all by their names.

5 Great is our Lord and vast in vigor; As to His understanding, there is no enumeration of it.

6 Yahweh is bolstering up the humble ones, Abasing the wicked to the earth.

7 Respond to Yahweh with acclamation; Make melody to our Elohim with the harp,

8 The One covering the heavens with thick clouds, The One preparing rain for the earth, The One sprouting grass on the mountains,

9 Giving its nourishment to the beasts, To the raven’s young when they should call.

10 Not in the horse’s mastery is He delighting; Not in the legs of a man is He placing approval;

11 Yahweh is placing approval in those fearing Him, In those waiting for His benignity.

12 Laud Yahweh, Jerusalem; Praise your Elohim, Zion,

13 For He has reinforced the bars of your gates And has blessed your sons within you.

14 The One giving peace in your territory, With the fat of wheat He is satisfying you;

15 The One sending His saying to the earth, His word is running quickly;

16 The One giving snow like wool, He is dispersing hoarfrost like ashes,

17 Flinging down His ice like morsels of bread; Who can stand before His cold blast?

18 He is sending His word and melts them; He is reversing His wind, and the waters flow.

19 He is telling His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.

20 He has not done so for any other nation, And His ordinances, they do not know them at all. Praise Yah.

Chapter 148

1 Praise Yah. Praise Yahweh from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights.

2 Praise Him, all His messengers; Praise Him, all His hosts.

3 Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light.

4 Praise Him, heavens of the heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens.

5 May they praise the Name of Yahweh, For He Himself determined, and they were created.

6 He makes them stand for the future, for the eon; He has set down a statute, and it shall not pass away.

7 Praise Yahweh from the earth, Sea monsters and every abyss,

8 Fire and hail, snow and fume, Tempestuous wind, performing His word,

9 Mountains and all hills, Fruit trees and all cedars,

10 Wild animal and every domestic beast, Reptile and winged bird,

11 Kings of the earth and all folk, Chiefs and all judges of the earth,

12 Choice young men and virgins too, Old men along with youths.

13 May they praise the Name of Yahweh, For an impregnable retreat is His Name, His alone; His splendor is over the earth and heavens;

14 He has raised up a horn for His people, Praise for all His benign ones, For the sons of Israel, a people near Him. Praise Yah.

Chapter 149

1 Praise Yah. Sing to Yahweh a new song, His praise in the assembly of the benign ones.

2 May Israel rejoice in its Maker; The sons of Zion, may they exult in their King.

3 May they praise His Name in chorus; With tambourine and harp may they make melody to Him.

4 For Yahweh is placing approval on His people; He is making the humble beautiful with salvation.

5 May the benign ones be joyous in this glory; May they be jubilant upon their beds.

6 May exaltations of El be in their throat And a serrated sword in their hand,

7 To execute vengeance on the nations, Corrections on the folk;

8 To bind their kings with manacles And their glorious nobles with fetters of iron,

9 To execute the written judgment against them, This is the honor of all His benign ones. Praise Yah.

Chapter 150

1 Praise Yah. Praise El in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His powerful atmosphere.

2 Praise Him in accord with His masterful deeds; Praise Him according to His vast greatness.

3 Praise Him with the blowing of a trumpet; Praise Him with zither and harp.

4 Praise Him with tambourine and chorus; Praise Him with lute and shepherd’s pipe.

5 Praise Him with resounding cymbals; Praise Him with shouting cymbals.

6 May all that has breath praise Yah. Praise Yah.

The Book of Proverbs

Chapter 1

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and admonition, To comprehend sayings of understanding,

3 To procure discipline, to gain intelligence, Righteousness and right judgment and equities,

4 To give to the simple, prudence, To youth, knowledge and foresight

5 The wise one may also hear and add to his education, And the one of understanding may acquire skills

6 To understand proverb and puzzle, The words of the wise and their enigmas:

7 The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge; Wisdom and admonition the foolish ones despise.

8 Hearken, my son, to the admonition of your father, And do not abandon the law of your mother.

9 For they are a wreath of grace for your head, And necklaces for your throat.

10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not comply with them;

11 If they say, Do walk with us; Let us wait in ambush for blood; Let us lurk gratuitously for the innocent;

12 Like the unseen, we shall swallow them up alive And robust, like those descending to a crypt;

13 All precious wealth shall we find; We shall fill our houses with loot;

14 Your lot, let it be cast in our midst; One purse, it shall be for us all

15 My son, do not walk in the way with them; Withhold your foot from their track.

16 For their feet run to evil, And they hasten to shed blood.

17 For gratuitously is the net tossed Before the eyes of all the possessors of wings.

18 Yet they themselves wait in ambush for their own blood; They lurk for their own souls.

19 Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain; It takes away the soul of its possessors.

20 Wisdom, she is jubilant in the street; In the squares she is raising her voice.

21 At the top of the walls she is calling; At the portals of the gates in the city she is speaking her sayings:

22 How long, simple ones, shall you love simplicity, And mockers covet their mocking, And stupid ones hate knowledge?

23 May you turn back at my reproof; Behold, let me utter what is in my spirit to you; Let me make known my words to you.

24 Because I called, and you refused, I stretched out my hand, and no one attended,

25 And you renounced all my counsel, And my reproof you would not heed,

26 Indeed, I myself shall ridicule in your calamity; I shall deride when alarm comes upon you,

27 When alarm comes upon you like a thunderstorm, And calamity, it arrives upon you like a sweeping whirlwind, When distress and constraint come upon you.

28 Then they shall call me, yet I shall not answer; They shall seek me early, yet they shall not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge, And the fear of Yahweh they would not choose,

30 They would not heed my counsel, They spurned all my reproof,

31 Thus they shall eat of the fruit of their way, And with their counsels they shall be surfeited.

32 For the instability of the simple, it shall kill them, And the carelessness of the stupid, it shall destroy them.

33 Yet whoever is hearkening to me, he shall tabernacle in serenity, And he will be tranquil, away from alarm of evil.

Chapter 2

1 My son, if you take my sayings, And my instructions you store up within you,

2 Attending with your ear to wisdom, And you stretch out your heart to comprehension,

3 Indeed if you call out for understanding, And you raise your voice for comprehension,

4 If you seek it like silver And search for it like buried treasures,

5 Then you shall understand the fear of Yahweh, And the knowledge of Elohim you shall find.

6 For Yahweh Himself gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and comprehension;

7 He stores up sagacity for the upright, A shield for those walking with integrity,

8 So as to preserve the paths of right judgment, And so He may guard the way of His benign ones.

9 Then you shall understand righteousness and right judgment, And you shall be upright in every good route;

10 For wisdom shall come into your heart, And knowledge, it shall be pleasant to your soul.

11 Foresight, it shall guard over you; Comprehension, it shall preserve you,

12 So as to rescue you from the way of evil, From the man who is speaking duplicity,

13 From those who forsake the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness,

14 Who rejoice in doing evil, Who exult in the duplicity of evil,

15 Whose paths are perverse, And who are devious in their routes.

16 This will also rescue you from the alien woman, From the foreign woman who makes her sayings slick,

17 Who forsakes the mentor of her youth, And the covenant of her Elohim she forgets.

18 For her house slips down to death And her routes to the Rephaim;

19 All who enter it shall not return, Nor shall they overtake the paths of life.

20 Heed this that you may walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous;

21 For the upright, they shall tabernacle in the land, And those of integrity, they shall be left in it,

22 Yet the wicked, they shall be cut off from the land, And the treacherous, they shall be torn out from it.

Chapter 3

1 My son, do not forget my law, And my instructions your heart shall preserve;

2 For length of days and years of life And well-being shall they add to you.

3 Benignity and truth, let them not forsake you; Tie them about your throat, And write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Thus find grace and good intelligence In the eyes of Elohim and humanity.

5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, And do not lean to your own understanding.

6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He Himself shall straighten your paths.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear Yahweh, and withdraw from evil;

8 It shall mean health to your flesh And refreshing drink to your bones.

9 Glorify Yahweh with your wealth And with the firstfruit of all your income;

10 Then your granaries shall be filled with plenty, And grape juice shall breach your winevats.

11 The admonition of Yahweh, my son, do not reject, And do not be irritated by His reproof,

12 For whom Yahweh loves He corrects, And He gives pain to the son He holds dear.

13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains hold of comprehension,

14 For her merchandise is better than merchandise of silver, And her income than fine gold.

15 She is more precious than rubies, So that all your desires are not equal to her.

16 Length of days are in her right hand, And in her left hand are riches and glory.

17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her tracks are peace.

18 She is a tree of life to those holding fast to her, And those upholding her will be made happy.

19 Yahweh, by wisdom, He founded the earth; He established the heavens by comprehension.

20 By His knowledge the abysses broke forth, And the skies drip down the night mist.

21 My son, let them not steal away from your eyes: Preserve sagacity and foresight,

22 So that they become life to your soul And grace to your throat.

23 Then you shall go your way in serenity, And your foot, it shall not trip.

24 Whenever you lie down you shall not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be congenial.

25 You shall certainly not fear sudden alarm Or the ruination of the wicked that is coming;

26 For Yahweh, He shall be your confidence, And He will keep your foot from seizure.

27 Do not withhold good from one petitioning it, When it is at the disposal of your hand to act.

28 Do not say to your associate, Go now and return, And tomorrow I shall give it, when it is already with you.

29 Do not machinate evil against your associate, When he is dwelling in serenity with you.

30 Do not contend against a man gratuitously, When he has not dealt you evil.

31 Do not be jealous of the violent man, And do not choose any of his ways.

32 For an abhorrence to Yahweh is the devious man, Yet with the upright is His intimacy.

33 The curse of Yahweh is on the house of the wicked one, Yet the homestead of the righteous He blesses.

34 If as to mockers, He Himself mocks, So as to the humble, He gives grace.

35 The wise are allotted glory, Yet the stupid are raised up to dishonor.

Chapter 4

1 Hearken, sons, to a father’s admonition, And attend in order to know understanding.

2 For I give you good monition; Do not forsake my law.

3 When I was a young son before my father, Tender, and an only child before my mother,

4 He directed me and said to me: May your heart uphold my words; Keep my instructions and live;

5 Acquire wisdom; acquire understanding; Do not forget, and do not turn aside from the sayings of my mouth;

6 Do not forsake her, and she shall guard you; Love her, and she shall preserve you.

7 The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom, And with all your acquisition, acquire understanding;

8 Highly regard her, and she shall raise you up; She shall bring you glory as you embrace her;

9 She shall bestow a wreath of grace on your head; A crown of beauty shall she award to you.

10 Hearken, my son, and take in my sayings, That they may increase the years of your life.

11 For in the way of wisdom I direct you; I cause you to tread in routes of uprightness.

12 When you walk, your step shall not be constricted, And when you run, you shall not stumble.

13 Hold fast to admonition; do not relax your hold; Preserve her, for she is your life.

14 In the path of the wicked, do not enter, And do not progress along the way of evil men.

15 Renounce it; do not pass within it; Swerve from it, and pass on.

16 For they cannot sleep until they assuredly do evil, And their sleep is snatched away if they have not caused someone to stumble.

17 Indeed they dine on the bread of wickedness, And the wine of violent acts they drink.

18 While the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn’s brightness, Advancing and becoming resplendent until the day is established,

19 The way of the wicked is like gloom; They do not know over what they stumble.

20 My son, do attend to my words; To my sayings stretch out your ear;

21 Let them not steal away from before your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;

22 For they are life to those finding them, And to one’s entire flesh, they are health.

23 More than any guarding, preserve your heart, For from it spring the outflowings of life.

24 Put away from you a perverse mouth, And devious lips keep far from you.

25 Let your eyes look ahead, And your eyelids be straight in front of you.

26 Balance the route of your foot, And all your ways, let them be established.

27 Do not turn aside to the right or left; Take away your foot from evil.

Chapter 5

1 My son, do attend to my wisdom; To my comprehension, stretch out your ear,

2 In order to guard foresight, That your lips may preserve knowledge.

3 For the lips of an alien woman drip with honeycomb, And the words of her palate are slicker than oil.

4 Yet the aftereffect from her is bitter as absinth, Sharp as a two-edged sword.

5 Her feet are descending to death; To the unseen her steps hold firm.

6 Lest she should balance the path of life, Her routes rove about, yet she knows not where.

7 So now, my sons, hearken to me, And do not withdraw from the sayings of my mouth.

8 Keep your way far from her; Do not go near to the portal of her house,

9 Lest you should give your splendor to others And your years to the cruel one,

10 Lest aliens should surfeit themselves on your vigor And on your grievous labors in the house of a foreigner,

11 And you have anguish in your latter days When your flesh and your brawn are exhausted,

12 And you say, How I have hated admonition, And reproof my heart has spurned!

13 I have not hearkened to the voice of those directing me, And to those teaching me I have not stretched out my ear;

14 Soon I came to be in all sorts of evil In the midst of the assembly and the congregation.

15 Drink water from your own cistern, And the flowings from the midst of your own well;

16 Should your springs scatter forth in the streets, Your rillets of water in the public squares?

17 Let them be yours, for you alone, And not for aliens along with you.

18 May your fountain become blessed; Rejoice in the wife of your youth,

19 A loving hind and a graceful ibex; May her affections satiate you in every season; May you be inebriated by her love continually.

20 Why should you be inebriated, my son, by an alien woman And embrace the bosom of a foreign woman?

21 For before the eyes of Yahweh are a man’s ways, And all his routes He is balancing.

22 Concerning the wicked one, his depravities, they shall seize him, And by the cables of his sin shall he be held firm.

23 He himself shall die in his lack of discipline, And in his great folly he shall breathe his last.

Chapter 6

1 My son, if you have become surety for your associate, And you have clasped your palms in pledge for an alien,

2 If you have been trapped by words of your mouth, Have been seized by sayings of your mouth,

3 Do this, indeed, my son, and rescue yourself Since you have come into the clutch of your associate: Go, debase yourself and beset your associate;

4 Do not grant sleep to your eyes Or slumber to your eyelids;

5 Rescue yourself like a gazelle from the hunter, And like a bird from the hand of the trapper.

6 Go to the ant, slothful one; Consider its ways and be wise;

7 Note that there is no captain for it, Superintendent or ruler;

8 Yet it is preparing its bread in summer; It hoards its food at harvest.

9 How long shall you lie down, slothful one? When shall you rise from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands, to lie at rest,

11 And your destitution will come like a wayfarer, And your want like a man with a shield.

12 A decadent human, a lawless man Is one who goes about with a perverse mouth,

13 Who winks with his eyes, who declares with his feet, Who signals with his fingers;

14 Duplicity is in his heart; It is engrossed with evil in every season; It is instigating quarrels.

15 Therefore calamity for him shall come suddenly; He shall be broken instantly, and there will be no healing.

16 These are six things Yahweh hates, Even seven that are an abhorrence to His soul:

17 Exalted eyes, a false tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood;

18 A heart engrossed with lawless devisings, Feet that make haste to run to evil,

19 A false witness who breathes out lies, And one who instigates quarrels among brothers.

20 My son, preserve the instruction of your father, And do not abandon the law of your mother.

21 Tie them upon your heart continually; Wind them about your throat.

22 When you walk about, it shall give you guidance, When you lie down, it shall guard over you, And when you awake, it shall importune you.

23 For instruction is a lamp, and law is a light, And the reproofs of admonition are the way to life,

24 To keep you from the evil woman, From the slick tongue of the foreign woman.

25 Do not covet after her loveliness in your heart, And do not let her captivate you with her eyelids.

26 For a woman of prostitution hunts for a loaf of bread, Yet the adulterous wife of a man hunts a precious soul.

27 Can a man bank a fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned?

28 Or can a man walk on burning embers And his feet not be scorched?

29 So is he who comes to the wife of his associate; Anyone who touches her shall not be held innocent.

30 Men do not despise a thief when he steals In order to fill his soul’s needs when he is famishing,

31 Yet when he is found, he shall repay sevenfold Though he must give up all the wealth of his house.

32 But he who commits adultery with another’s wife has lack of heart wisdom; He is bringing his soul to ruin who does it.

33 Contagion and dishonor shall he find, And his reproach, it cannot be wiped out;

34 For jealousy is fury in a master, And he shall not spare in the day of vengeance;

35 He shall not respect any sheltering gift And shall not be compliant though you increase the bribe.

Chapter 7

1 My son, keep my sayings, And store up my instructions within you.

2 Keep my instructions and live, And guard my law as the pupil of your eyes.

3 Tie them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.

4 Say to wisdom, You are my sister, And call understanding your near relative,

5 In order to keep you from the alien woman, From the foreign woman who makes her sayings slick.

6 For at the window of my house I gazed out through my latticed oriel,

7 And I saw among the simple, I detected among the young ones, A youth who had lack of heart wisdom.

8 He was passing along the roadway beside her corner, And he stepped the way to her house,

9 In the twilight at the evening of the day, In the tranquil night and the gloom;

10 And behold, a woman met him In the burnoose of a prostitute and wily of heart.

11 She is clamorous and stubborn; Her feet never tabernacle at her home;

12 At times in the street, at times in the squares, And beside every corner she waits in ambush.

13 She held him fast and kissed him; She set her face with impudence and said to him:

14 The sacrifices of peace offerings were due from me; Today I paid my vows.

15 Therefore, I came forth to meet you, To seek your face early, and I am finding you.

16 I have decorated my divan with decorative covers, With bedspreads of Egyptian yarn.

17 I have wafted my bed with myrrh, Aloes and cinnamon.

18 Do come, let us satiate ourselves with affection until the morning; Let us make ourselves joyous with love expressions.

19 For the husband is not in his home; He has gone on his way afar.

20 He took a pouch of silver in his hand, And he shall come back to his home only with the day of full moon.

21 She turned him aside with her great influence; With slick words on her lips she induced him.

22 Suddenly he was going after her, Like a bull that comes to the slaughter, Like a calf to the bonds of foolish creatures,

23 Until an arrow thrusts through his liver, As through a bird that hastened to the snare When it did not know that it was set for its soul.

24 Now then, my sons, hearken to me, And attend to the sayings of my mouth.

25 Do not let your heart swerve to her ways; Do not stray into her tracks.

26 For many are the slain she has cast down, And plentiful are all those killed by her.

27 In her house are ways to the unseen, Descending to the chambers of death.

Chapter 8

1 Is not wisdom calling And comprehension giving forth her voice?

2 At the summit of the heights upon the way, The meeting house of the tracks, there she is stationed.

3 At the side of the gates, at the edge of the town, The entry of the portals, there she makes her appeal.

4 To you, men, I am calling And raising my voice to the sons of humanity;

5 To the simple: Understand prudence; And to the stupid: Understand heart wisdom.

6 Hearken, for I am speaking correct words, And the opening of my lips reveals uprightness.

7 For my palate is uttering truth, While wickedness is an abhorrence to my lips.

8 In righteousness are all the sayings of my mouth; There is nothing twisted or perverse in them.

9 All of them are correct to the understanding one, And upright to those who find knowledge.

10 Take in my admonition, and do not prefer silver, And take knowledge rather than choice, fine gold.

11 For wisdom is better than rubies, And all delights are not equal to her.

12 I, wisdom, I tabernacle with prudence, And I keep hold of knowledge and foresight.

13 The fear of Yahweh means to hate evil; Pride and pomp and the way of evil And a mouth of duplicity I hate.

14 Counsel and sagacity are mine; I have understanding; mastery is mine.

15 By me kings reign, And chancellors make statutes of righteousness.

16 By me chief men control affairs, And patrons, all who are judging on the earth.

17 I love those who love me, And those who seek me early, they find me.

18 Riches and glory are with me, Boundless wealth and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than fine gold, even more than glittering gold, And my yield is more than choice silver.

20 In the path of righteousness I walk, In the midst of the tracks of right judgment,

21 To allot prosperity to those loving me, So that I fill their treasuries.

22 Yahweh Himself acquired me as the beginning of His way; Preceding His deeds of yore.

23 From the eon was I inaugurated, From the beginning, preceding the earth;

24 When there were no abysses I was travailed in birth, When there were no springs teeming with water.

25 Ere the mountains were sunk in place, Before the hills, I was travailed in birth,

26 When He had not yet made the earth and its open places, Or the beginning of soil for the habitance.

27 When He established the heavens I was there, When He delineated the horizon on the face of the abyss,

28 When He made the skies firm above, When He set the springs of the abyss with strength,

29 When He established for the sea its statutory limit, So that the waters, they may not pass beyond His bidding, When He delineated the foundations of the earth.

30 Then I was beside Him as His foster child, And I was filled with bliss day by day, Gamboling before Him in every season,

31 Gamboling in the habitance of His earth, And my bliss was in the sons of humanity.

32 Now then, my sons, hearken to me; Happy are those who keep my ways.

33 Hearken to admonition, and be wise; Do not renounce it.

34 Happy is the man who hearkens to me, Being alert at my doors day by day, Keeping watch at the jambs of my portals.

35 For whoever finds me will find life And shall gain hold of benevolence from Yahweh.

36 Yet whoever misses me wrongs his soul; All who hate me love death.

Chapter 9

1 Wisdom, she has built her house; She has hewn out her seven columns.

2 She has slaughtered her slaughter; She has blended her wine; Indeed, she has arranged her table.

3 She has sent forth her maidens; She is calling from the peaks of the town heights:

4 Whoever is simple, let him withdraw hither, She says to him who has lack of heart wisdom.

5 Come, dine on my bread, And drink of the wine I have blended.

6 Forsake your simple ways and live, And progress in the way of understanding.

7 He who admonishes a mocker is procuring an affront to himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets himself a blemish.

8 Do not reprove a mocker lest he should hate you; Reprove a wise man, and he shall love you.

9 Teach a wise man, and he shall be wiser still; Inform a righteous man, and he shall add to his education.

10 The starting point of wisdom is the fear of Yahweh, And the knowledge of the Grand Holy One is understanding.

11 For by me your days shall increase, And years of life shall be added to you.

12 If you are wise, you are wise to your gain, And if you mock, you shall bear the results by yourself alone.

13 The woman, stupidity, is clamorous and simple, And she does not know anything at all.

14 She sits at the portal of her house, On a covered seat at the heights of the town,

15 Calling to those passing on the way, Those going straight along their paths:

16 Let whoever is simple withdraw hither, And whoever has lack of heart wisdom; And she says to him:

17 Stolen water, it is sweet, And bread eaten in concealments, it is pleasant.

18 But he does not know that the Rephaim are there, That those she has called are in the depths of the unseen.

Chapter 10

1 Proverbs of Solomon: A wise son makes his father rejoice, Yet a stupid son is affliction to his mother.

2 Treasures gained by wickedness shall not benefit, Yet righteousness, it shall rescue from death.

3 Yahweh shall not allow the soul of the righteous to hunger, Yet He shall thrust away the avarice of the wicked.

4 A deceitful palm makes destitute, Yet an industrious hand, it shall enrich.

5 He who hoards food in the summer is a son of intelligence; He who is in a stupor in the harvest is a son of shame.

6 Blessings wreathe the head of the righteous one, Yet violence is covering over the mouth of the wicked.

7 The memory of the righteous one is a blessing, Yet the name of the wicked shall rot away.

8 The one wise of heart is taking in instruction, Yet the one foolish of lips shall flounder.

9 He who walks with integrity walks in trust, Yet he who perverts his ways shall be imperiled.

10 He who winks the eye is making grief, And the one foolish of lips shall flounder.

11 A fountain of life is the mouth of the righteous one, Yet violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

12 Hatred, it rouses up quarrels, Yet love covers over all transgressions.

13 Wisdom is found on the lips of the understanding, Yet a club is for the back of him who has lack of heart wisdom.

14 Wise men, they store up knowledge, Yet the mouth of a foolish man brings his undoing near.

15 The wealth of a rich man is his strong town; Their destitution is the undoing of the poor.

16 The wage of the righteous one leads to life; The income of the wicked one leads to sin.

17 He who keeps admonition is on the path to life, Yet he who forsakes reproof goes astray.

18 He who covers up hatred has false lips, And he who brings forth gossip, he is stupid.

19 In the multiplying of words, transgression does not halt, Yet he who keeps back his lips is intelligent.

20 Choice silver is the tongue of the righteous one; The heart wisdom of the wicked is of little value.

21 The lips of the righteous one, they shepherd many, Yet the foolish die from lack of heart wisdom.

22 The blessing of Yahweh, it enriches, And He shall not add grief to it.

23 To the stupid one it is like sport to commit crime, Yet it is like venom to a man of comprehension.

24 What the wicked one shrinks from, it shall come to him, And what the righteous yearn for shall be given.

25 Like the passing sweeping whirlwind, the wicked one is not remaining, Yet the righteous one is founded for the eon.

26 Like vinegar to the teeth and like smoke to the eyes, So is the slothful one to those who send him.

27 The fear of Yahweh, it shall add days, Yet the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

28 The hope of the righteous brings rejoicing, Yet the expectation of the wicked shall perish.

29 A stronghold for the flawless one is the way of Yahweh, Yet their undoing to the contrivers of lawlessness.

30 By no means shall the righteous one slip for the eon, Yet the wicked shall not tabernacle in the land.

31 The mouth of the righteous one is producing wisdom, Yet the tongue of duplicity shall be cut off.

32 The lips of the righteous one know what is acceptable, Yet the mouth of the wicked is duplicity.

Chapter 11

1 Deceitful scales are an abhorrence to Yahweh, Yet an equitable standard weight is dear to Him.

2 When arrogance comes, then dishonor shall also come, Yet with the meek is wisdom.

3 The integrity of the upright shall guide them, Yet the subversion of the treacherous shall devastate them.

4 Wealth brings no benefit in the day of rage, Yet righteousness shall rescue from death.

5 The righteousness of the man of integrity shall make his way straight, Yet by his wickedness shall the wicked one fall.

6 The righteousness of the upright shall rescue them, Yet by their own avarice the treacherous shall be seized.

7 With the death of a wicked man his expectation shall perish, And the hope of lawless men perishes;

8 The righteous one is extricated from distress, And the wicked one shall come in his stead.

9 With his mouth the polluted man would bring ruin on his associate, Yet by knowledge the righteous shall be extricated.

10 In the bounty of the righteous the town is glad, And in the destruction of the wicked there is jubilant song.

11 By the blessing of the upright the town shall be exalted, Yet by the mouth of the wicked it shall be demolished.

12 One who despises his associate has lack of heart wisdom, But the man of comprehension keeps silence.

13 He who goes about as a defamer reveals secret deliberation, Yet one faithful of spirit covers a confidential matter.

14 When there are no strategies a people shall fall, Yet in many counselors there is safety.

15 He shall be imperiled with evil when one is surety for an alien, Yet he who hates clasping hands in pledge dwells in trust.

16 A gracious woman, she takes firm hold on glory, Yet terrifying men, they take firm hold on riches.

17 A man of kindness enlarges his soul, Yet a cruel man brings trouble on his own brawn.

18 The wicked one makes false reward, Yet he who sows righteousness reaps faithful hire.

19 To acquire righteousness leads to life, Yet he who pursues evil goes to his death.

20 An abhorrence to Yahweh are those who are perverse of heart, Yet dear to Him are those flawless of way.

21 A hand upon hand: the evil person shall not be held innocent, Yet the seed of the righteous will be left undisturbed.

22 A pendant of gold in a swine’s snout, Such is a lovely woman who withdraws from discretion.

23 The yearning of the righteous ends only in good, The expectation of the wicked in rage.

24 There is one who disperses yet is enhanced more, And another who keeps back more than what is upright yet ends only with a lack.

25 The soul who gives blessing is conferred with richness, And he who waters, he himself shall be watered also.

26 The folk shall revile him who withholds cereal grain, Yet blessing is on the head of him who retails it.

27 He who seeks early for good shall discover benevolence, And he who seeks after evil, it shall come to him.

28 He who trusts in his riches, he himself shall fall, Yet the righteous shall bud like a leaf.

29 He who brings trouble on his own house shall be allotted wind, And the foolish one shall be servant to the wise of heart.

30 The fruit of a righteous man is a tree of life, And he who procures souls is wise.

31 If the righteous one receives repayment on earth, How much more indeed the wicked one and the sinner.

Chapter 12

1 He who loves admonition loves knowledge, Yet he who hates reproof is irrational.

2 A good man shall gain hold of benevolence from Yahweh, Yet He shall condemn a scheming man.

3 A man cannot be established by wickedness, Yet the root of the righteous is immovable.

4 An able wife is her spouse’s crown, Yet she who brings shame is like rottenness in his bones.

5 The designs of the righteous are duly just; The strategies of the wicked are deceitful.

6 The words of the wicked wait in ambush for blood, Yet the mouth of the upright shall rescue them.

7 The wicked are overturned, and they become nothing, Yet the house of the righteous shall stand.

8 A man is praised corresponding to his intelligence, Yet he who is depraved of heart becomes despised.

9 Better he who is slighted yet who has a servant Than he who glorifies himself yet has lack of bread.

10 The just man knows the soul’s needs of even his domestic beast, Yet even the compassions of the wicked are cruel.

11 He who cultivates his ground shall be satisfied with bread, Yet he who pursues empty dreams has lack of heart wisdom.

12 The wicked one covets the weir trap of evils, Yet the root of the righteous shall produce fruit.

13 By the transgression of his lips the evil one is entrapped, Yet the righteous one shall come forth from distress.

14 From the fruit of a man’s mouth he shall be satisfied with good As surely as the requital of a man’s hands shall return to him.

15 The way of a fool seems upright in his own eyes, Yet a wise man hearkens to counsel.

16 A fool makes his vexation known right away, Yet a prudent man covers up an affront.

17 He who breathes out truth shall tell what is just, Yet a false witness will speak deceit.

18 There is talk that is like stabbings of a sword, Yet the tongue of the wise is healing.

19 The lip of truth is established into the future, Yet the false tongue lasts only for a moment.

20 Deceit is in the heart of those engrossed with evil, Yet rejoicing is for those who counsel peace.

21 Any sorrow shall not be the fate of the righteous one, Yet the wicked, they are filled with evils.

22 False lips are an abhorrence to Yahweh, Yet those who hold to truth are dear to Him.

23 A prudent man covers his knowledge, Yet the heart of the stupid proclaims its folly.

24 The hand of the industrious shall rule, Yet an indolent man shall become tributary.

25 Anxiety in a man’s heart shall bow it down, Yet a good word shall make it rejoice.

26 The righteous man explores more than his associate, Yet the way of the wicked shall lead them astray.

27 The indolent hunter does not singe his game, Yet the wealth of an industrious man is precious.

28 In the path of righteousness is life, Yet the way of abhorrence leads to death.

Chapter 13

1 A wise son heeds his father’s admonition, Yet a mocker does not hearken to rebuke.

2 From the fruit of righteousness the mouth of a man shall eat good, Yet the soul of the treacherous will eat violence.

3 He who constricts his mouth guards his soul; He who distends his lips, it is his undoing.

4 The slothful man yearns for a thing, and his soul finds it not, Yet the soul of the industrious is conferred with richness.

5 The righteous man hates a false word, Yet the wicked one, he brings bad odor and abashment.

6 Righteousness, it shall preserve one whose way is flawless, Yet wickedness, it shall overthrow the sinner.

7 There is one who feigns himself rich yet has nothing at all; Another feigns himself destitute, yet his wealth is great.

8 His riches can be a ransoming shelter for a man’s soul, While one who is destitute need not hearken to threat.

9 The light of the righteous is radiant, Yet the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

10 Surely arrogance produces strife, Yet wisdom is found with those taking counsel.

11 Wealth gained from vanity decreases, Yet one who gets it together by his hands increases it.

12 Hope protracted makes the heart ill, Yet yearning that comes to pass is a tree of life.

13 He who despises the word is held pledged to its terms, Yet he who fears the law’s instruction, he shall fare well.

14 The law of the wise man is a fountain of life, To keep one away from the traps of death.

15 Goodness of intelligence produces grace, Yet the way of the treacherous brings calamity.

16 Every prudent man acts with knowledge, Yet the stupid one spreads folly.

17 A wicked messenger casts one into evils, Yet a faithful agent brings healing.

18 Destitution and dishonor come to one who renounces admonition, Yet he who observes reproof shall be glorified.

19 Yearning that comes to pass is congenial to the soul, Yet it is an abhorrence to the stupid to withdraw from evil.

20 He who walks with the wise, he becomes wise, Yet he who associates with the stupid is imperiled.

21 Evil pursues sinners, Yet good is the repayment of the righteous.

22 The good man leaves an allotment to his sons’ sons, Yet the estate of the sinner is stored up for the righteous one.

23 The fallow ground of the destitute may yield much food, Yet it is swept away when there is no right judgment.

24 He who keeps back his club hates his son, Yet he who loves him is early to discipline him.

25 The righteous one is eating to his soul’s satisfaction, Yet the belly of the wicked shall have lack.

Chapter 14

1 A woman’s wisdom builds her house, Yet folly pulls it down with her hands.

2 He who walks in uprightness fears Yahweh, Yet he who deviates in his ways despises Him.

3 In the mouth of the foolish man is a switch for his pride, Yet the lips of the wise shall guard them.

4 When there are no domestic animals the crib is neat, Yet much harvest yield depends on the vigor of the ox.

5 A faithful witness will not lie, Yet a false witness breathes out lies.

6 A mocker seeks wisdom and finds it not, Yet knowledge comes easily to one of understanding.

7 Walk aloof from a stupid man, For you will never become acquainted with lips of knowledge there.

8 The wisdom of the prudent man is to give consideration to his way, Yet the folly of the stupid is self-deceit.

9 Every fool mocks at a guilt offering, Yet among the upright it is dear.

10 The heart knows its own bitterness of soul, And in its rejoicing no alien can partake.

11 The house of the wicked, it shall be exterminated, Yet the tent of the upright, it shall burst into bud.

12 There is a way that seems upright before a man, Yet its end becomes the ways of death.

13 Even in mirth the heart may be in pain, And in its end, rejoicing may become affliction.

14 He whose heart turns away shall be fully repaid for his ways, And the good man for his actions.

15 A simple person believes every word, Yet a prudent man gives consideration to his movement.

16 A wise man is fearing and withdrawing from evil, Yet the stupid one is congenial and trusting to it.

17 One who is impatient in anger does folly, And a man of evil scheming is hated.

18 The simple are allotted folly, Yet the prudent are tenants of knowledge.

19 Evil men bow down before the good And the wicked at the gates of a righteous people.

20 The destitute one is hated even by his associate, And those in friendship with the rich man are many;

21 He who despises his associate is sinning, Yet happy is he who is gracious to the humble.

22 Do they not stray who are engrossed with evil? Yet those engrossed with good show benignity and faithfulness.

23 In all grievous labor there is advantage, Yet mere speech of the lips leads only to want.

24 The crown of the wise is their riches; The folly of the stupid is but folly.

25 A faithful witness rescues souls, Yet he who breathes out lies is lost in deceit.

26 In the fear of Yahweh lies a stronghold of trust, And it shall become a refuge for his sons.

27 The fear of Yahweh is a fountain of life To keep one away from the traps of death.

28 In a multitude of people is a king’s honor, Yet in a limit of folk is a chancellor’s undoing.

29 He who is slow to anger shows great comprehension, Yet he who is impatient of spirit heightens folly.

30 A healing heart is life to the flesh, Yet jealousy is rottenness to the bones.

31 He who exploits the poor person shows reproach to his Maker, Yet he glorifies Him who is gracious to the needy.

32 The wicked man is tripped up by his evil, Yet the righteous one finds refuge in his integrity.

33 Wisdom finds rest in the heart of the one with understanding, Yet within the stupid it is not known.

34 Righteousness, it exalts a nation, Yet sin is the base thing of a folk.

35 A king’s benevolence is for an intelligent servant, Yet his rage is bestowed on the one causing shame.

Chapter 15

1 A tender-hearted response turns away fury, Yet grievous speech kindles anger.

2 The tongue of the wise uses knowledge well, Yet the mouth of the stupid utters folly.

3 The eyes of Yahweh are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good ones.

4 A healing tongue is a tree of life, Yet words of subversion in it are a breaking of the spirit.

5 A fool spurns his father’s admonition, Yet he who observes reproof shall become prudent.

6 The house of the righteous man contains great assets, Yet the income of the wicked person brings on trouble.

7 The lips of the wise disseminate knowledge, Yet not so the heart of the stupid.

8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abhorrence to Yahweh, Yet the prayer of the upright is dear to Him.

9 An abhorrence to Yahweh is the way of the wicked one, Yet the one pursuing righteousness He loves.

10 Admonition is evil to one who forsakes the path; He who hates reproof, he shall die.

11 The unseen and Abaddon lie open in front of Yahweh; How much more so the hearts of the sons of humanity!

12 A mocker does not love any reproof of himself; He does not go to the wise.

13 A rejoicing heart makes the countenance cheerful, Yet by grief of heart the spirit becomes despondent.

14 The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, Yet the mouth of the stupid grazes on folly.

15 All the days of a humbled man seem evil, Yet one cheerful of heart has a continual feast.

16 Better is a little with the fear of Yahweh Than much treasure and discomfiture along with it;

17 Better a ration of greens when love is there Than a fattened ox when hatred is with it.

18 A venomous man stirs up a quarrel, Yet one slow to anger quietens a dispute.

19 The way of a slothful man is like a hedge of prickly nightshade, Yet the path of the upright is a highway.

20 A wise son rejoices his father, Yet a stupid man despises his mother.

21 Folly is amusement to one who has lack of heart wisdom, Yet a man of comprehension keeps to a straight walk.

22 Designs are quashed when there is no deliberation, Yet with many counselors they shall stand firm.

23 Rejoicing comes to a man in the apt response of his mouth, And a word in its season, how good!

24 The path of life leads upward for the intelligent one, That he may keep away from the unseen below.

25 Yahweh shall tear away the house of the proud, Yet He shall keep the widow’s boundaries intact.

26 Evil devisings are an abhorrence to Yahweh, Yet the sayings of pleasantness are pure.

27 He who is greedy for dishonest gain brings trouble on his house, Yet he who hates bribes shall live.

28 The heart of the righteous man cogitates on its answers, Yet the mouth of the wicked utters evil things.

29 Yahweh is far from the wicked, Yet He hears the prayer of the righteous.

30 The luminosity of the eyes rejoices the heart; A good report confers richness on the bones.

31 The ear that is hearkening to life-giving reproof, It shall lodge among the wise.

32 He who renounces admonition rejects his own soul, Yet he who hearkens to reproof acquires heart wisdom.

33 The fear of Yahweh is the discipline of wisdom, And humility goes before glory.

Chapter 16

1 To humanity belong the arrangements of the heart, Yet from Yahweh comes the response of the tongue.

2 All the ways of a man seem spotless in his own eyes, Yet it is Yahweh Who weighs out the spirits.

3 Hand over your doings to Yahweh, And your designs shall be established.

4 Yahweh has made everything for its own outcome, Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

5 An abhorrence to Yahweh is everyone haughty of heart; A hand upon hand, he shall not be held innocent.

6 By benignity and faithfulness a propitiatory shelter shall be made for depravity, And by the fear of Yahweh one will withdraw from evil.

7 When a man’s ways please Yahweh He makes even his enemies live at peace with him.

8 Better is a little with righteousness Than much income with injustice.

9 A man’s heart, it devises his way, Yet Yahweh, He establishes his steps.

10 Divination belongs on the lips of a king; In judgment he should not offend with his mouth.

11 Balance and duly just scales are Yahweh’s; All the standard weights of the purse are His work.

12 The doing of wickedness is an abhorrence to kings, For by righteousness is a throne established.

13 Lips of righteousness are dear to a grand king, And he loves the one who speaks upright words.

14 The fury of a king is like many messengers of death, Yet a wise man shall appease it.

15 In the light of a king’s countenance is life, And his benevolence is like a thick cloud of latter rain.

16 To acquire wisdom, how much better than fine gold, And to acquire understanding, more to be chosen than silver!

17 The highway of the upright goes away from evil; He guards his soul who preserves his way.

18 Pride goes before a breaking down, And a haughty spirit before a stumbling.

19 It is better to be lowly of spirit with the humble Than to split up loot with the proud.

20 He who contemplates on the word shall find good, And who trusts in Yahweh, happy is he.

21 The one wise of heart shall be called an understanding man, And sweetness of lips shall add to his influence.

22 Intelligence is a fountain of life to its possessors, And folly is the flogging of the foolish.

23 The heart of a wise man gives his mouth intelligence, And to his lips it adds influence.

24 Pleasant sayings are honey of the comb, Sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.

25 There is a way that seems upright before a man, Yet its end becomes the ways of death.

26 The toiler’s soul toils for him, For his mouth prods him on.

27 A decadent man digs a pit of evil, And on his lips is speech like searing fire.

28 A man of duplicity sends forth a quarrel, And a babbler breaks apart comradeship.

29 A malicious man entices his associate And leads him into a way that is not good;

30 He who fixes his eyes in devising duplicity, Who twitches his lips, he determines evil.

31 Grey hair is a crown of beauty; It is found in the way of righteousness.

32 He who is slow to anger is better than a masterful man, And he who rules over his spirit than one who seizes a city.

33 It is the lot that is cast forth in the bosom; Yet from Yahweh is its every judgment.

Chapter 17

1 Better is a dried-up morsel when ease is with it Than a house full of feastings, with contention.

2 A servant who acts intelligently shall rule over a son who causes shame, And in the midst of the brothers he is apportioned an allotment.

3 The smelter for silver and the crucible for gold, Yet Yahweh is testing hearts.

4 The evildoer attends to lawless lips; The false man gives ear to the woe-scheming tongue.

5 He who derides the destitute one reproaches his Maker; He who rejoices at calamity shall not be held innocent.

6 Sons of sons are the crown of the old, And their fathers are the beauty of sons.

7 Excelling eloquence is not befitting for the decadent person; How much less indeed false eloquence in the patron.

8 A bribe is like a stone for favor in the eyes of its possessors; Wherever it is present it proceeds effectively.

9 He who covers a transgression seeks love, Yet he who repeats a matter breaks apart comradeship.

10 A rebuke settles deeper into one of understanding Than a hundred smitings into a stupid man.

11 An evil man is seeking only rebellion, And a cruel messenger is sent against him.

12 Let a bereaved bear encounter a man, But certainly not a stupid person in his folly.

13 If one returns evil for good, Evil shall not remove itself from his house.

14 The beginning of a quarrel is like opening up a dam of water, So before the dispute rails, abandon it.

15 He who justifies the wicked person and he who condemns the righteous man, Even both of them are an abhorrence to Yahweh.

16 Why then should the price be in the hand of a stupid man To acquire wisdom, since he has no heart understanding?

17 The close associate keeps friendship in every season, And a brother is born to share distress.

18 A man who has lack of heart wisdom will clasp his palm in pledge, Becoming hostage as surety in the presence of his associate.

19 He who loves transgression loves strife; He who makes his portal lofty seeks its breaking down.

20 A perverse heart does not find good, And he who is warped in his tongue falls into evil.

21 One who begets a stupid child has affliction for himself, And a father of a decadent son cannot rejoice.

22 A rejoicing heart does good as a cure, Yet a despondent spirit dries up the ribs.

23 A wicked man takes a bribe from the bosom To turn aside the paths of right judgment.

24 Wisdom lies before the face of the one of understanding, Yet the eyes of the stupid one roam to the ends of the earth.

25 A stupid son is vexation to his father And bitterness to her who bore him.

26 To fine also the righteous one is not good, Or to smite patrons for their uprightness.

27 One who knows knowledge keeps back on his sayings, And the man of comprehension is reticent of spirit.

28 Even a fool who keeps silence is reckoned wise; He who closes up his lips has understanding.

Chapter 18

1 From a complainer one is seeking to be parted; Against all sagacity is he railing.

2 The stupid man does not delight in comprehension, But rather in confiding his heart to others.

3 When wickedness comes, so also comes contempt, And with dishonor comes reproach.

4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters; The fountain of wisdom is a watercourse bubbling forth.

5 To show partiality to the wicked is not good, Or to turn aside the righteous one in judgment.

6 The lips of a stupid man bring him into controversy, And his mouth calls for beatings.

7 The mouth of a stupid man is his undoing, And his lips are a trap for his soul.

8 The words of a babbler are like tidbits; They descend to the chambers of the belly.

9 One who is slack in his work, He is brother to a ruinous person.

10 The Name of Yahweh is a strong tower; The righteous one runs to it and is made impregnable.

11 The rich man’s wealth is his strong town, And in his fancy it is like an impregnable wall.

12 The heart of a man is haughty before a breaking, Yet humility comes before glory.

13 He who replies with speech ere he has heard, It is folly to him and mortification.

14 A man’s spirit sustains him in his illness, Yet a despondent spirit, who can bear it?

15 The heart of one who has understanding acquires knowledge, And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

16 A man’s gift widens the way for him, And guides him before the great.

17 The first one to make his contention seems right Until his associate comes and investigates him.

18 Casting the lot causes quarrels to cease, And keeps staunch foes apart.

19 A brother transgressed against is more unyielding than a strong town, And quarrels are like bars of a citadel.

20 From the fruit of a man’s mouth, his belly is satisfied; He must be satisfied with the yield from his lips.

21 Death and life lie in the grip of the tongue, And they who love it shall eat its fruit.

22 If one finds a wife he finds good, And he gains hold of benevolence from Yahweh.

23 One who is destitute speaks with supplications, Yet the rich man responds with roughness.

24 There are associates disposed to be evildoers, Yet there is a friendship more loyal than a brother’s.

Chapter 19

1 Better one who is destitute who walks in his integrity Than one who is perverse with his lips, who also is stupid.

2 Indeed any soul without knowledge is not good, And he who rushes with his feet misses his goal.

3 A man’s folly subverts his way, And his heart is irate against Yahweh.

4 Wealth adds many associates, Yet the poor man is parted from his associate.

5 A false witness shall not be held innocent, And he who breathes out lies shall not escape.

6 Many beseech a patron to his face, And everyone is the associate of a man with gifts.

7 All the brothers of a destitute man hate him; How much more do his associates keep far from him. To pursue sayings does not gain them;

8 He who acquires heart wisdom loves his soul; He who guards comprehension will find good.

9 A false witness shall not be held innocent, And he who breathes out lies shall perish.

10 Rich delights are not comely for the stupid person; How much less for a servant to rule over chiefs.

11 It is intelligence for a man when he postpones his anger, And it is his beauty to pass over a transgression.

12 The ire of a king is a growling like that of a sheltered lion, Yet his benevolence is like night mist on the herbage.

13 A stupid son is woe to his father, And a quarrelsome wife like persistent dripping of water.

14 A house and wealth are an allotment from fathers, Yet from Yahweh comes an intelligent wife.

15 Slothfulness casts one down into stupor, So that the soul of the indolent man shall famish.

16 He who observes instruction guards his soul; He who despises his ways shall die.

17 He who is gracious to a poor man lends to Yahweh, And He shall pay him his requital.

18 Discipline your son while there is expectation, And let not your soul assist in letting him die.

19 A man of great fury incurs a fine, For if you try to reclaim him, you must do it again and again.

20 Hearken to counsel and receive admonition That you may be wise in your latter days.

21 Many are the designs in a man’s heart, Yet the counsel of Yahweh, it shall stand firm.

22 The comeliness of a man is his kindness, And a destitute friend is better than a man of lies.

23 The fear of Yahweh leads to life; Then one shall lodge satisfied, no more being visited by evil.

24 The slothful man buries his hand into the dinner-bowl, And he does not even bring it back to his mouth.

25 You smite a mocker, and a simple man shall become prudent; You reprove one of understanding, and he shall understand more knowledge.

26 He who devastates his father and drives away his mother Is a son causing shame and abashment.

27 My son, shun the hearing of admonition That causes to err, away from the sayings of knowledge.

28 A worthless witness mocks at right judgment, And the mouth of the wicked swallows down lawlessness.

29 Judgments are prepared for mockers And beatings for the backs of the stupid.

Chapter 20

1 Wine is a mocker, an intoxicant a discomfiter; And anyone inebriated by it, he is not wise.

2 Dread inspired by a king is a growling like that of a sheltered lion; He who enrages him sins against his own soul.

3 It is glory to a man to cease from disputing, Yet every fool, he rails on.

4 In autumn the slothful man does not plow; In harvest time he shall be begging, but there will be nothing.

5 The counsel in a man’s heart is like deep waters, Yet a man of comprehension shall draw it out.

6 Many a man proclaims, each one, his kindness, Yet a faithful man who can find?

7 A righteous man who is walking in his integrity Happy are his sons after him.

8 A king sitting on the throne of adjudication Winnows out all evil with his eyes.

9 Who can say, I have made my heart spotless; I am cleansed from my sin?

10 Standard weight differing with standard weight, ephah with ephah, An abhorrence to Yahweh are they both.

11 Even a youth is recognized by his actions, Whether his deeds are spotless and upright.

12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye Yahweh has made them both.

13 Do not love sleep lest you should become destitute; Unclose your eyes so as to be surfeited with bread.

14 Bad, Bad! says the buyer, Yet after his departing, then he boasts.

15 Gold there is and many rubies, Yet a most precious jewel is lips speaking knowledge.

16 Take his cloak, for he has become surety for an alien, And since it is in behalf of a foreign woman, hold it in pledge.

17 Congenial to a man is bread gained by falsehood, Yet afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

18 Designs should be established by counsel; Execute war according to strategies.

19 He who goes about as a defamer reveals secret deliberation, And so you should not mix with one who entices with his lips.

20 He who maledicts his father and his mother, His lamp shall be extinguished at the approach of darkness.

21 An allotment rashly gained at first, It shall not be blessed at last.

22 Do not say, I shall indeed repay for evil; Be expectant toward Yahweh, and He shall save you.

23 An abhorrence to Yahweh is a standard weight differing with standard weight, And deceitful scales are not good.

24 A master’s steps are directed by Yahweh; How then can a man understand his way?

25 It is a trap when a man impetuously pledges a holy donation, And only after making his vows makes a quest into it.

26 A wise king winnows the wicked And turns about the wheel over them.

27 The lamp of Yahweh is the lifebreath of mankind, Searching all the chambers of the inner being.

28 Benignity and faithfulness, they preserve the king, And by benignity his throne is braced.

29 The beauty of those in their prime is their vigor, And the honor of those who are old is grey hair.

30 Welts and injury are the scouring agents against evil, And blows purge the chambers of the inner being.

Chapter 21

1 Like rillets of water is the king’s heart in the hand of Yahweh; Wherever He desires, He redirects it.

2 Every way of a man seems upright in his own eyes, Yet it is Yahweh Who gauges the hearts.

3 To do righteousness and right judgment Is more choice to Yahweh than sacrifice.

4 Haughty eyes and a pretentious heart, The lamp of the wicked, are sin.

5 The designs of the industrious lead surely to advantage, Yet all who rush come surely to want.

6 The contriving together of treasures by a false tongue Is a vanity whisked away, a seeking of death.

7 The devastation of the wicked, it shall turn against them, For they refuse to execute right judgment.

8 Oblique is the way of a man laden with guilt, Yet spotless is the upright man in his deeds.

9 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop Than share with a quarrelsome wife a house of partnership.

10 The soul of the wicked man lusts after evil; His associate shall not be shown grace in his eyes.

11 When a mocker is fined, the simple person shall become wise, And when a wise man gains intelligence, he procures knowledge.

12 The Righteous One is intelligent as to the heart of the wicked man Overthrowing the wicked into evil.

13 Whoever closes up his ear to the outcry of the poor one When he himself also calls out, he shall not be answered.

14 A gift in concealment mollifies anger, And a bribe in the bosom, strong fury.

15 A rejoicing to the righteous one is the execution of right judgment, Yet an undoing to those who contrive lawlessness.

16 The man who strays from the way of intelligence Comes to rest in the assembly of the Rephaim.

17 A man of want is he who loves amusement; He who loves wine and oil shall never be rich.

18 The wicked man is a ransoming shelter for the righteous one, And the treacherous person for the upright.

19 It is better to dwell in a wilderness land Than with a quarrelsome and vexatious wife.

20 Coveted treasure and oil are in the homestead of the wise man, Yet the stupid man swallows it all up.

21 He who pursues righteousness and benignity, He shall find life, righteousness and glory.

22 A wise man ascends against a city of the masterful And brings down the stronghold of its trust.

23 He who guards his mouth and his tongue, He keeps his soul from distresses.

24 The arrogant and ostentatious man mocker is his name, The one who acts with arrogant rage.

25 The yearning of the slothful man puts him to death, For his hands refuse to work;

26 All the day he yearns with yearning, Yet the righteous one gives and does not keep back.

27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abhorrence; How much more so when such a one brings it with scheming.

28 The witness of lies, he shall perish, Yet the man who hearkens carefully, he shall speak with permanent force.

29 A wicked man sets his face with impudence, Yet an upright man, he considers his way.

30 There is no wisdom, there is no comprehension, And there is no counsel in confronting Yahweh.

31 A horse is prepared for the day of battle, Yet the victory belongs to Yahweh.

Chapter 22

1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches; Grace is better than silver and gold.

2 The rich man and the destitute one encounter in this: Yahweh is the Maker of them all.

3 A prudent man, he sees evil ahead and conceals himself, Yet the simple pass along, and they are mulcted.

4 The consequence of humility is fear of Yahweh, Riches and glory and life.

5 Pricking thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse man; He who guards his soul shall keep far from them.

6 Train up a youth in accordance with his proper way; Even when he is old he shall not withdraw from it.

7 The rich man rules over the destitute, And the borrower is slave to the man who lends.

8 He who sows iniquity shall reap sorrow, And the club of his rage shall fail.

9 He who has a bountiful eye shall be blessed, For he gives of his bread to the poor person.

10 Drive out the mocker, and quarreling shall go forth, And suing and dishonor shall cease.

11 He who loves a clean heart, on whose lips is grace, The king shall be his associate.

12 The eyes of Yahweh, they preserve knowledge, Yet He overthrows the words of the treacherous one.

13 The slothful man says: There is a lion outdoors; I shall be murdered in the midst of the square.

14 The mouth of the alien woman is a deep pit; He with whom Yahweh is indignant shall fall thereinto.

15 Folly is tied to the heart of a youth; The club of discipline shall put it far from him.

16 He who exploits the poor one to increase his gain And he who gives to the rich will surely come to want.

17 Stretch out your ear and hear the words of the wise, And let your heart be set on my knowledge.

18 For it will be pleasant when you keep them in your inner being, When they are established together on your lips.

19 That your trust may come to be in Yahweh, I make them known to you today, indeed you.

20 Have I not written for you threefold With counsels and knowledge,

21 To cause you to know verity, sayings of truth, To reply with sayings, truth for those sending you?

22 Do not pillage the poor person, for he is weak, And do not crush the humble one in the gate.

23 For Yahweh, He shall contend their cause, And He will defraud their defrauders of their soul.

24 Do not associate with an angry person, And do not set out with a furious man,

25 Lest you should become trained in his paths, And you get into a trap for your soul.

26 Do not be among those who clasp the palm in pledge, Among those who are surety for loans;

27 If you have nothing to make a repayment, Why have your bed taken from under you?

28 Do not move away the eonian boundary marker Which your fathers have made.

29 Do you perceive a man who is swift in his errand? He shall station himself before kings; By no means shall he station himself before the commonplace.

Chapter 23

1 In case you sit to dine with a ruler, You should understand, yea understand who is before you,

2 And place a knife-point to your gullet If you are a person of gluttony.

3 Do not yearn for his tasty dishes, For that is bread of lies.

4 Do not labor to become rich; In your understanding, forbear.

5 While your eyes are on it, does it fly away and is no more? Indeed riches make wings for themselves And fly away to the heavens like a vulture.

6 Do not dine on the bread of one having a stingy eye, And do not yearn for his tasty dishes,

7 For like one who calculates within his soul, so is he; Eat and drink, he says to you, Yet his heart is by no means with you.

8 Your morsel you have eaten, you shall vomit it up, And ruin your pleasant words.

9 Into the ears of the stupid man do not speak, For he shall despise the intelligence of your declarations.

10 Do not move away the boundary marker of the widow, And into the fields of the orphans do not enter,

11 For their Redeemer is steadfast; He Himself shall contend their cause against you.

12 Do bring your heart to admonition And your ear to the sayings of knowledge.

13 Do not withhold discipline from the youth, For should you smite him with the club he shall not die;

14 You shall smite him with the club And so rescue his soul from the unseen.

15 My son, if your heart is wise, My heart shall rejoice, even I;

16 My innermost being shall be joyous When your lips speak upright words.

17 Let not your heart be jealous of sinners, But rather be zealous for the fear of Yahweh all the day,

18 For then you have a hereafter, And your expectation, it shall not be cut off.

19 Hearken now, my son, and be wise, And make your heart progress in the way.

20 Do not be among wine carousers, Among those who are gluttonous on flesh for themselves;

21 For the carouser and the gluttonous man shall become destitute, And slumber shall clothe one in tatters.

22 Hearken to your father, this one who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Wisdom and admonition and understanding.

24 The father of a righteous son shall exult, yea unto exultation; He who begets a wise son shall rejoice in him;

25 Your father and your mother shall rejoice; She who bore you shall exult.

26 My son, do give your heart to me, And let your eyes hold my ways dear.

27 For the prostitute is a deep pit, And the foreign woman is a narrow well.

28 Indeed she waits in ambush like an abductor, And she adds to the treacherous ones among mankind.

29 Who has woe? who has uneasiness? who has quarrels? Who has deep concerns? who has gratuitous injuries? Who has bloodshot eyes?

30 They have who delay over wine, Who come to investigate a blend.

31 Do not stare at wine when it is red, When it casts its sparkle in the cup and goes down evenly.

32 Its aftereffect shall bite like a serpent And spread pain like a viper.

33 Your eyes shall see alien things, And your heart shall speak wayward thoughts.

34 You will become like one who lies down on the heart of the sea, Or like one who lies down on the top of the rigging.

35 They smite me, yet I am not at all wounded; They beat me, yet I have no knowledge of it. When shall I awake? I shall again seek it once more.

Chapter 24

1 Do not be jealous of evil men, And do not yearn to be with them.

2 For their heart cogitates on devastation, And their lips plan misery.

3 By wisdom a house is built, And by comprehension it is established.

4 By knowledge its chambers are filled With all precious and pleasant wealth.

5 A wise master is one with strength, And a man of knowledge is resolute with vigor;

6 For you wage war for yourself according to strategy, And in many counselors there is safety.

7 Wisdom is too high for the fool; In the gateway he does not open his mouth.

8 He who designs to do evil, They shall call him a scheming person.

9 The scheming of folly is sin, And a mocker is an abhorrence to humanity.

10 If you slacken in a day of distress, How constricted is your vigor!

11 Rescue those being taken away to death, And you should keep back those who are slipping away to the kill.

12 If you say, Behold, we know nothing about this, Does not He Who gauges hearts detect it, And He Who preserves your soul know it, Who will render to a man according to his deed?

13 My son, eat honey, for it is good, And honeycomb is sweet on your palate;

14 Do know that wisdom is so to your soul when you find it, And it has a future so that your expectation shall not be cut off.

15 Do not wait in ambush as a wicked man against the homestead of a righteous one; Do not devastate his reclining place;

16 For the righteous one shall fall seven times and still rise, Yet the wicked shall be stumbled by evil plight.

17 At the fall of your enemy do not rejoice, And at his stumbling do not let your heart exult,

18 Lest Yahweh should see, and it be evil in His eyes, So that He turns away His anger from him.

19 Do not grow hot over evildoers; Do not be jealous over the wicked;

20 For there shall be no good end for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked, it shall be extinguished.

21 Fear Yahweh, my son, and the king; With both of them do not be enraged;

22 For suddenly calamity from them shall rise, And misfortune from them both, who can know it?

23 These also are sayings of the wise: To be biased in judgment is never good.

24 He who says to the wicked man, You are righteous The peoples shall revile him; the folk shall be indignant toward him.

25 Yet for those who reprove, it shall be pleasant, And on them shall come the blessing of good.

26 He kisses the lips Who replies with corrective words.

27 Prepare your work outside, and equip it for yourself in the field; Afterward you may then build up your household.

28 Do not become a gratuitous witness against your associate, Or would you dupe with your lips?

29 Do not say, Just as he did to me, so shall I do to him; I shall render to the man according to his deed.

30 I passed by the field of the slothful man, And by the vineyard of the man who has lack of heart wisdom,

31 And behold, all of it came up with stinging nettles, Prickly acanthus covered its surface, And its barrier-wall of stones was pulled down.

32 Then I myself perceived and set my heart on it; I saw and took admonition:

33 A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands, to lie at rest,

34 And your destitution will come like a wayfarer, And your want like a man with a shield.

Chapter 25

1 These also are proverbs of Solomon Which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed:

2 It is the glory of Elohim to conceal a matter, And the glory of kings to investigate a matter.

3 The heavens for height and the earth for depth, And the heart of kings is fathomless.

4 Remove away the dross from silver, And a vessel shall come forth for the refiner;

5 Remove away the wicked one from before the king, And his throne shall be established in righteousness.

6 Do not honor yourself before the king, And do not install yourself in the place of the great;

7 For it is better that it be said to you, Come up here, Than for you to be abased before the patron. What your eyes have seen,

8 Do not speak forth hastily in contending your case; For what shall you do in its end, When your associate mortifies you?

9 Contend your cause privately with your associate, And do not expose another’s deliberation,

10 Lest he who hears should embarrass you When you cannot retract your gossip.

11 Apricots of gold in pictures of silver Is a word aptly spoken.

12 A pendant of gold and an eardrop of certified gold Is the reproof of a wise man upon a hearkening ear.

13 Like the chill of snow in the day of harvest Is a faithful agent to those who send him; He restores the soul of his lords.

14 Like vapors and wind when there is no downpour Is a man who boasts in a gift of falsity.

15 By slowness of anger a captain can be enticed, And a tender tongue can break the rib.

16 When you find honey eat only what is sufficient for you, Lest you should be so surfeited with it that you vomit it up;

17 Let your foot be seldom in your associate’s house, Lest he should be so surfeited with you that he will hate you.

18 A maul, a sword and a whetted arrow, Such is a man who asserts against his associate with false testimony.

19 A bad tooth and a tottering foot, Such is trust placed in a treacherous one in a day of distress.

20 Like one disrobing a cloak on a cold day, like vinegar on soda, So is one singing songs to a troubled heart.

21 If one hating you is hungry, give him bread to eat, And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,

22 For you will be banking burning embers on his head, And Yahweh Himself shall repay you.

23 A north wind travails forth a downpour, And a clandestine tongue makes a menacing face.

24 It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop Than share with a quarrelsome wife a house of partnership.

25 Alike are cold water to a fainting soul And a good report from a far off land.

26 A fouled spring and a corrupted fountain, Such is a righteous man who is movable before the wicked person.

27 To eat much honey is not good, Nor is investigation of their own glory a glory for men.

28 A breached city where there is no wall, Such is a man to whose spirit there is no restraint.

Chapter 26

1 Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest, So glory is not befitting for the stupid one.

2 Like the sparrow in its flitting, like the swallow in its flying, So a gratuitous malediction does not come to rest.

3 A whip for the horse, a bit for the donkey, And a club for the back of the stupid.

4 Do not answer a stupid man according to his folly, Lest you should become equal to him, even you.

5 Answer a stupid man according to his folly, Lest he should become wise in his own eyes.

6 He cuts away his feet, drinking violence, Who sends words by the hand of a stupid person.

7 The legs of a lame man are impoverished; So is a proverb in the mouth of the stupid.

8 Like one who ties up a stone in a slingshot, So is he who gives glory to the stupid one.

9 A thistle taken up in the hand of a drunkard, So is a proverb in the mouth of the stupid.

10 Much travails forth all the more, Yet the hire of the stupid person and his hirer shall pass away.

11 Like a cur that returns to its vomit, So is a stupid man who repeats his folly.

12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more expectation for a stupid man than for him.

13 The slothful man says, There is a black lion in the road, A lion in the square!

14 The door turns about on its hinges, And the slothful one on his couch.

15 The slothful man buries his hand into the dinner-bowl; He is too tired to bring it back to his mouth.

16 The slothful man is wiser in his own eyes Than seven men who reply with discretion.

17 Holding a cur fast by its ears: So is a passerby who trespasses upon a dispute not belonging to him.

18 Like a frantic man who shoots firebrands, arrows and death,

19 So is the man who deceives his associate And then says, Did I not make good sport?

20 When the wood reaches its limit, a fire is quenched, And when there is no babbler, a quarrel calms down.

21 Charcoal for embers and wood for fire, And a quarrelsome man to heat a contention.

22 The words of a babbler are like tidbits; They descend to the chambers of one’s belly.

23 Silver dross overlaying earthenware, Such are slick lips when the heart is evil.

24 With his lips, one who hates dissembles, Yet within him he firmly sets deceit;

25 When his voice sounds generous, do not believe him, For seven abhorrences are in his heart.

26 One’s hatred can be covered by guile, But his evil shall be revealed in the assembly.

27 He who digs a pit, he shall fall into it, And he who rolls a stone, it shall turn back upon him.

28 A false tongue hates those crushed by it, And a slick mouth works havoc.

Chapter 27

1 Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may generate.

2 Let an alien praise you, and not your own mouth, A foreigner, and certainly not your own lips.

3 Heavy is stone, and weighty is sand, Yet vexation from a fool is heavier than them both.

4 Fury is cruel, and anger overwhelming, Yet who can stand before jealousy?

5 Better is exposed reproof Than love that is concealed.

6 Faithful are the injuries of one in friendship, Yet shifty are the kisses of one who hates.

7 The soul that is surfeited tramples on honeycomb, Yet to the famished soul, any bitter thing is sweet.

8 Like a bird that wanders from its nest, So is a man who wanders from his place.

9 Oil and incense rejoice the heart, And the sweetness of one’s associate stems from the counsel of his soul.

10 Do not forsake your associate or your father’s associate; Do not set out to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; Better a neighbor who is near than a brother far away.

11 Be wise, my son, and rejoice my heart, So that I can return a good word to him who challenges me.

12 A prudent man sees evil ahead and conceals himself; The simple pass along and are mulcted.

13 Take his cloak, for he has become surety for an alien, And since it is in behalf of a foreign woman, hold it in pledge.

14 He who blesses his associate with a loud voice rising early in the morning It shall be reckoned to him as a malediction.

15 A persistent dripping of water on a blustery day And a quarrelsome wife it is equal;

16 He who stifles her can stifle the wind And can dictate to oil in his right hand.

17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the acumen of his associate.

18 He who nurtures a fig tree shall eat its fruit, And he who guards his lord shall be glorified.

19 As water reflects face to face, So is the heart of a human to a human.

20 The unseen and Abaddon are never satisfied, And the eyes of humanity are also never satisfied.

21 The smelter for silver and the crucible for gold, Yet a man is tested corresponding to his praise.

22 Though you bray the fool in a mortar, In the midst of the grist with a pestle, His folly shall not go away from him.

23 You should know, yea know, the condition of your flock; Set your heart upon your droves;

24 For assets do not last for an eon, Nor a treasure for generation after generation.

25 When the grass is carried away and new verdure is seen, And the herbage of the mountains is gathered in,

26 The he-lambs will supply your clothing, And the he-goats the price of a field;

27 There will be sufficient goat milk for your nourishment and for your household’s nourishment, And the means of life for your maidens.

Chapter 28

1 The wicked man flees when there is no one pursuing, Yet the righteous trust confidently like a sheltered lion.

2 With transgression in a land, its chiefs are many, Yet with a man of understanding who knows properly, it shall be prolonged.

3 A wicked master, who exploits the poor, Is a flattening rain that makes no nourishment.

4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, Yet those who keep the law struggle against them.

5 Evil men do not understand right judgment, Yet those who seek Yahweh understand it all.

6 Better is a destitute man who walks in his integrity Than one whose ways are perverse, though he be rich.

7 He who preserves the law is an understanding son, Yet he who associates with prodigals mortifies his father.

8 He who increases his wealth by advance interest and by accrued interest, He is getting it together for him who is gracious to the poor.

9 He who keeps his ear away from hearing the law Even his prayer is an abhorrence.

10 He who causes the upright to err into an evil way He himself shall fall into his own pit, Yet those of integrity shall have a good allotment.

11 A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, Yet an understanding poor man shall investigate him.

12 When the righteous are glad there is great felicity everywhere, Yet when the wicked rise humanity must lie low.

13 He who covers his transgressions shall not prosper, Yet he who confesses and forsakes them shall receive compassion.

14 Happy is the man who is in awe continually, Yet he whose heart is obstinate shall fall into evils.

15 A growling lion and a prowling bear Such is a wicked ruler over a poor people.

16 A governor attempting many extortions has lack of comprehension, But one who hates greed shall prolong his days.

17 A man threatened for shedding the blood of a soul shall flee until descending to the crypt. Let them not uphold him.

18 He who walks flawlessly shall be kept in safety, Yet he whose ways are perverse shall fall into a pit.

19 He who serves his ground shall be fully repaid with bread, Yet he who pursues empty dreams shall be fully repaid with destitution.

20 A faithful man shall have many blessings, Yet he who rushes to be rich shall not be held innocent.

21 To be biased is not good, Yet for a morsel of bread a master may transgress.

22 A man who is stingy of eye hustles after wealth, Yet he does not know that want shall come to him.

23 He who reproves a man shall find more grace afterward Than he who is slick of tongue.

24 He who pillages his father and his mother And says, This is not transgression, He is partner to the corrupt man.

25 A pretentious soul stirs up a quarrel, Yet he who trusts in Yahweh shall be conferred with richness.

26 He who trusts in his own heart is stupid, Yet he who walks in wisdom shall escape from harm.

27 He who gives to the destitute person shall have no lack, Yet for him who obscures his eyes from such are many curses.

28 When the wicked rise, humanity must get concealed, Yet when they perish, the righteous increase.

Chapter 29

1 The man receiving reproofs who is still stiff-necked, He shall be broken in an instant, and there will be no healing.

2 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, Yet when the wicked man rules, the people sigh.

3 A man who loves wisdom rejoices his father, Yet he who associates with prostitutes destroys his wealth.

4 A king by right judgment makes a land stand firm, Yet a man of deceit pulls it down.

5 A master who is slick of tongue toward his associate Is one who spreads a net for his footsteps.

6 In the transgression of an evil man is a trap, Yet the righteous one may run and rejoice.

7 The righteous man knows adjudication for the poor; The wicked one does not understand such knowledge.

8 Mocking men breathe out trouble in a town, Yet wise men turn away anger.

9 If a wise man seeks judgment with a foolish man, Then the fool rants and ridicules, and there is no rest.

10 Bloodthirsty men hate the man of integrity, And the wicked seek his soul.

11 A stupid man speaks forth all his spirit of anger, Yet a wise one becalms it back.

12 If a ruler attends to the word of falsehood, All his ministers will be wicked.

13 The destitute one and the fraudulent man encounter in this: Yahweh gives light to the eyes of them both.

14 If a king judges the poor with truth, His throne shall be established for the future.

15 The club of correction gives wisdom, Yet a youth left alone puts his mother to shame.

16 When the wicked increase transgression increases, Yet the righteous shall see their downfall.

17 Discipline your son, and he shall give you rest And give contentment to your soul.

18 When there is no vision a people becomes unbridled, Yet keeping the law makes it happy.

19 A servant is not disciplined by mere words; Though he understands, yet there is no response.

20 Do you perceive a man who rushes with his words? There is more expectation for a stupid man than for him.

21 If a man pampers his servant from youth, Then in his end he shall become refractory.

22 An angry man stirs up a quarrel, And a furious person works much transgression.

23 A man’s pride abases him, Yet he who is lowly of spirit shall take firm hold of glory.

24 The accomplice of a thief is hating his own soul; He hears the imprecation yet does not tell.

25 A man’s overanxiety becomes a trap for him, Yet he who trusts in Yahweh shall be made impregnable.

26 Many seek the presence of a ruler, Yet, from Yahweh a man gets right judgment.

27 The abhorrence of righteous men is the man of iniquity, Yet the abhorrence of a wicked man is the one upright of way.

Chapter 30

1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh the oracle: The averring of this master: I am tired, O El; I am tired, O El, and finished.

2 Indeed I am brutish, less than a man, And human understanding is not in me.

3 I have not learned wisdom That I may know of the knowledge of the grand Holy One.

4 Who has ascended the heavens and descended? Who has gathered the wind in both His hands? Who has tied up the waters in a piece of raiment? Who has confirmed all the limits of the earth? What is His Name, and what is His Son’s Name, in case you know?

5 Every saying of Eloah is refined; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.

6 Do not add to His words, Lest He should correct you, and you be proved a liar.

7 Two things I ask from You; Do not withhold them from me ere I die:

8 Put hypocrisy and the lying word far from me; Destitution or riches do not give to me; Only provide me a meal of my daily dole of bread,

9 Lest I should be surfeited So that I disavow You and say, Who is Yahweh? Or lest I be destitute and steal, So that I denigrate the Name of my Elohim.

10 Do not slander a servant to his lord, Lest he should maledict you, and you be held guilty.

11 There is a generation that maledicts its father And does not bless even its mother,

12 A generation that is clean in its own eyes Yet is not washed from its filth;

13 A generation how exalted are its eyes And lifted up are its eyelids!

14 A generation whose teeth are swords, And whose canines are knives, To devour the humble from the earth And the needy from mankind.

15 The leech has two daughters, crying: Grant to us, grant to us! They are three that are never satisfied, Four that never say, Enough wealth!:

16 The unseen and the restrained womb, The earth when it is not satisfied with water, And fire that never says: Enough wealth!

17 The eye that derides a father And despises the homage due a mother The ravens of the watercourse shall pick it out, And the young vultures shall eat it.

18 These three things are too marvelous for me, Even four I cannot explain them:

19 The way of the vulture in the heavens; The way of a serpent over a rock; The way of a ship in the heart of the sea; And the way of a master with a damsel.

20 So also is the way of an adulterous woman; She eats and wipes off her mouth, And she says, I have not contrived lawlessness.

21 Under three things the earth is disturbed, And under four it is not able to bear up:

22 Under a slave who becomes king; And a decadent man who is surfeited with bread;

23 Under a hated woman who finds a spouse; And a maid who dispossesses her mistress.

24 These four things are small in the earth, Yet they are wisest of the wise:

25 Ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their bread in summer;

26 Coneys are a people not staunch, Yet they make their home in the crags;

27 There is no king for the locust, Yet its entire force goes forth in divisions;

28 The salamander you may grasp with your hands, Yet it is found in palaces of a king.

29 These three things are goodly of step, Even four, well pleasing in walk:

30 The long-maned lion is masterful among the beasts And does not turn back from the face of anyone;

31 A greyhound, a buck goat, And a king, irresistible before his people.

32 If you have disgraced yourself by lifting yourself up, Or if you have schemed evil, put your hand to your mouth.

33 For as the squeezing of milk brings forth clotted cream, And the squeezing of the nose brings forth blood, So the squeezing of anger brings forth a dispute.

Chapter 31

1 The words of Lemuel, a king: The oracle with which his mother admonished him:

2 What, my son, and what, son of my inner being! What, son of my vows!

3 Do not give your potency to women, And your efforts to those who wipe out kings.

4 It must not be for kings, Lemuel, It must not be for kings to drink wine, Or for chancellors to yearn for intoxicant,

5 Lest such a one should drink and forget the statute, And should alter the adjudication of all the sons of humiliation.

6 Give intoxicant to him who is perishing, And wine to those bitter of soul.

7 Let him drink and forget his destitution, And let him remember his misery no further.

8 Open your mouth for the mute, For the adjudication of all the sons of insecurity;

9 Open your mouth; judge righteously; And adjudicate the humble and needy one.

10 A wife of ability, who can find? Far more than rubies is her worth.

11 Her spouse’s heart understanding puts trust in her, So that he lacks no proceeds.

12 She requites him with good and not evil All the days of her life.

13 She seeks after wool and flax And works them according to the delight of her palms.

14 She is like the ships of a merchant; She brings her bread from afar.

15 She rises while it is still night And provides viands for her household And dole for her maidens.

16 She plans for a field and procures it; From the fruit of her palms she plants a vineyard.

17 She girds her waist with strength, And she makes her arms resolute.

18 She inspects to see that her merchandise is good; Her lamp is not quenched at night.

19 She puts forth her hands on the distaff, And her palms hold firm to the spindle.

20 She spreads out her palm to the humble one And puts forth her hands to the needy one.

21 She does not fear the snow for her household, For all in her household are clothed with double garments.

22 She makes decorative covers for herself; Her clothing is cambric and purple.

23 Her spouse is acknowledged in the gateways, When he sits with the elders of the land.

24 She makes shirts and sells them, And she produces girdles for the trafficker.

25 Strength and honor are her clothing, And she can make sport of the days hereafter.

26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, And the law of benignity is on her tongue.

27 She watches over the affairs of her household And does not eat the bread of slothfulness.

28 Her sons arise and call her happy; Her spouse also praises her, saying:

29 Many daughters do ably, Yet you ascend over them all.

30 Grace may be false and loveliness transitory, But the woman fearful of Yahweh, she shall be praised.

31 Give honor to her for the fruit of her hands, And let them praise her in the gateways for her deeds.

The Book of Ecclesiastes

Chapter 1

1 The words of the Assembler, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Assembler; Vanity of vanities, the whole is vanity.

3 What advantage has a human in all his toil Which he toils under the sun?

4 One generation goes, and another generation comes, Yet the earth is standing for the eon.

5 The sun rises, and the sun sets And gasps back to its place, That it may rise there once more.

6 Going to the south and turning around to the north, Around and around the wind is going, Yet on its courses the wind returns.

7 All the watercourses are flowing to the sea, Yet this is not filling the sea; To the place from which the watercourses are flowing, There they are returning to go forth again.

8 All the words are weary; A man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

9 What occurred once, it shall occur again, And what was done, it shall be done again. There is nothing at all new under the sun.

10 Is there anything of which one may say: See this, it is new? It has already occurred In eons that were before us.

11 There is no remembrance of former generations, And also for those who shall come after us, A remembrance of them shall not continue With those who shall come afterward.

12 I myself, the Assembler, came to be king over Israel in Jerusalem.

13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: It is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

14 I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun, And behold, the whole is vanity and a grazing on wind.

15 What is distorted cannot be set in order, And what is lacking cannot be counted.

16 I spoke with my heart, saying, Behold, I have grown great and have added in wisdom Over all who were over Jerusalem before me; My heart has seen much of wisdom and knowledge.

17 Then I applied my heart to know wisdom, As well as to know about raving and frivolity; I realize that even this, it is a grazing on wind.

18 For in much wisdom is much vexation, And he who adds knowledge adds pain.

Chapter 2

1 I said in my heart: Do come then, Let me probe you with rejoicing; Now look at what is good. But behold, even this was vanity.

2 Mirth, I said, is a raving, And rejoicing, what then is it achieving?

3 I explored within my heart by stimulating my flesh with wine (While my heart was leading with wisdom) And by getting a hold on frivolity, Until I should see just where good may be for the sons of humanity In what they do under the heavens during the number of days in their lives.

4 I made great things as my works; I built houses for myself; I planted vineyards for myself;

5 I made gardens and parks for myself, And I planted in them trees of every fruit.

6 I made reservoirs of water for myself, To irrigate from them the sprouting grove of trees.

7 I acquired menservants and maidservants, And any sons born in the household became mine; Moreover, abundant cattle, herds and flocks became mine, More than all who were over Jerusalem before me.

8 I collected also silver and gold for myself, The valuable treasures of kings and provinces; I provided male singers and female singers for myself, And with the rich delights of the sons of humanity, a wine waiter and wine waitresses.

9 As I grew greater and added more than anyone who was over Jerusalem before me, Indeed my wisdom, it stayed by me.

10 All that my eyes asked for I did not deny to them; I did not withhold my heart from any rejoicing, For my heart had rejoicing from all my toil, And this itself was my portion from all my toil.

11 Yet when I faced all my deeds that my hands had done, And the toil that I had toiled in doing them, Behold, the whole was vanity and a grazing on wind, And there was nothing of advantage under the sun.

12 Then I turned around to see wisdom compared with raving and frivolity (For what will the man who comes after the king do Beyond what others have already done?),

13 And I saw there is more advantage for wisdom than for frivolity Just as there is more advantage for light than for darkness;

14 The wise man uses his eyes in his head, While the stupid man walks in darkness; Yet I realized indeed that one destiny befalls them all.

15 So I said in my heart, Since the destiny of the stupid man is also mine, and it shall befall me, To what advantage then have I been wise? Hence I spoke in my heart, This too is vanity.

16 For there is no remembrance of the wise man or the stupid man for the eon; In the days which are already coming everyone is forgotten; Alas, the wise man dies along with the stupid one!

17 Then I hated life, For to me the work was evil that was done under the sun, For the whole is vanity and a grazing on wind.

18 And I hated all the fruit of my toil for which I was toiling under the sun, That I would leave to the man who shall come after me.

19 Who knows if he shall be a wise or a frivolous man? Yet he shall have authority over all the fruit of my toil for which I toiled, And in which I was wise under the sun; This too is vanity.

20 So I turned around again with despair in my heart Over all the fruit of toil for which I had toiled under the sun.

21 For there is a man whose fruit of toil is in wisdom and in knowledge and in success, Yet to another man who has not toiled for it, he must give it as his portion; This too is vanity and a great evil.

22 For what is coming to a man for all his toil, And for the shepherding of his heart which he is toiling under the sun?

23 For all his days, pains and vexation are his experience; Even in the night his heart will not lie still; This too, it is vanity.

24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink And cause his soul to see good from his toil; This too I see that it is from the hand of Elohim.

25 For who can eat, and who can hurry to it outside of Him?

26 For to the man who is well pleasing before Him, He gives wisdom and knowledge and rejoicing; Yet to the sinner He gives the experience of gathering and of collecting together, To give it to one who is well pleasing before the One, Elohim; This too is vanity and a grazing on wind.

Chapter 3

1 For everything there is a stated time, And a season for every event under the heavens:

2 A season to give birth and a season to die; A season to plant and a season to chop down what is planted,

3 A season to kill and a season to heal; A season to breach and a season to build;

4 A season to weep and a season to make merry; A season of wailing and a season of dancing;

5 A season to fling away stones and a season to collect stones together; A season to embrace and a season to stay far from embracing;

6 A season to seek and a season to count as lost; A season to keep and a season to fling away;

7 A season to tear and a season to sew; A season to hush and a season to speak;

8 A season to love and a season to hate; A season of war and a season of peace.

9 What advantage does the worker have in what he is toiling?

10 I see the experience that Elohim gives To the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

11 He has made everything fitting in its season; However, He has put obscurity in their heart So that the man may not find out His work, That which the One, Elohim, does from the beginning to the terminus.

12 I know that there is no good for them But to rejoice and to achieve good in one’s life;

13 And, moreover, anyone of humanity, That he should eat and drink and see good from all his toil, It is a gift of Elohim.

14 I know that whatever the One, Elohim, is doing, It shall be for the eon; Onto it there can be nothing to add, And from it there can be nothing to subtract; The One, Elohim, He does it that they may fear before Him.

15 That which is, it already was, And what is to come already has been; And the One, Elohim, He shall seek out what has been pursued away.

16 Yet further, I have seen under the sun, Where the place of judgment is, there is wickedness, And where the place of justice is, there is wickedness.

17 I said in my heart: As for the righteous one and the wicked one, the One, Elohim, shall judge both of them. For He has set a season for every event and for every deed.

18 I said in my heart: It is on account of the sons of humanity That the One, Elohim, seeks to manifest them And to show them that they themselves are beasts.

19 For the destiny of the sons of humanity And the destiny of the beast, It is one destiny for them; As death is for this one, so is death for that one, And one spirit is for all; There is no advantage for the human over the beast, For the whole is vanity.

20 All are going to one place; All have come from the soil, and all return to the soil.

21 Who is knowing about the spirit of the sons of humanity, whether it is ascending above, And the spirit of the beast, whether it is descending below to the earth?

22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than that he rejoices in his works Since that is his portion; For who can bring him to see what shall come after him?

Chapter 4

1 I turned about and saw all the exploitings that are done under the sun; Behold, the tears of those being exploited, And there is no comforter for them; Vigor is in the hand of their exploiters, And there is no comforter for them.

2 So I lauded the dead, those who had already died, Over the living, those who are still alive;

3 Yet better than them both is the one who still has not come into being, Who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.

4 And I saw all the toil and all the success of the work done, That it was jealousy of one man over his associate; This too is vanity and a grazing on wind.

5 The stupid man folds his hands And eats his own flesh;

6 Yet better is one palm full with rest Than both hands full with toil and a grazing on wind.

7 I turned about and saw a vanity under the sun:

8 There was one person, but there was no second; There even was no son or brother for him; Also there was no end to all his toil, Yet his eyes were not satisfied with his riches. Then he said, For whom am I toiling And making my soul lack good? This too is vanity, and it is an experience of evil.

9 Two are better than one Because there is better reward for them in their toil;

10 For if they fall, one can raise up his partner; But woe to him, the one who falls when there is no second person to raise him up.

11 Also, if two lie down together it is warm for them, Yet for one, how can he keep warm?

12 And if somebody can overpower him who is single, Then two can stand firm in front of him who attacks. A threefold thread cannot quickly be pulled apart.

13 Better a boy, provident and wise, Than a king, old and stupid, who does not know how to take warning any more.

14 For from a house of prisoners one came forth to reign, Even though in his kingdom he was born destitute;

15 Yet I saw all the living who were going about under the sun Staying with the second boy who stood up in his stead.

16 There was no end to all the people, to all before whom he was set, Yet those coming later were not rejoicing in him; Indeed this too is vanity and a grazing on wind.

Chapter 5

1 Guard your feet when you go to the house of Elohim; To go near to hear is better than that the stupid should offer sacrifice, For they know nothing but to do evil.

2 Do not be rash with your mouth, And your heart, it must not hasten to bring forth speech before the One, Elohim; For the One, Elohim, is in the heavens, And you are on the earth; Therefore, let your words become few.

3 For as a dream comes with many experiences, So the voice of a stupid person comes with many words.

4 Whenever you vow a vow to Elohim, do not delay to pay it, For He has no delight in those who are stupid; That which you vow, pay.

5 It is better that you should not vow Than that you should vow and not pay.

6 Do not allow your mouth to cause your flesh to sin, And do not protest before the temple messenger that it was an error. Why should the One, Elohim, be wrathful at your voice And bring harm to the work of your hands?

7 For in many dreams and vanities, there are many words; Therefore fear the One, Elohim.

8 If you should see extortion of the destitute And pillage of judgment and justice in a province, Do not be amazed over the event, For one lofty official above another lofty official is observing, And other lofty officials are over them.

9 Yet an advantage to the land in all respects is this: A king devoted to the field that it be served.

10 One who loves silver is never satisfied with his silver, And one who loves superabundance never has enough income; This too is vanity.

11 When goods increase those who devour them multiply; And what profit are they to their possessor save for the sight of his eyes?

12 The sleep of the servant is sweet, Whether he eats little or much; Yet the plenty which the rich man has, it does not permit him to sleep.

13 There is a travailing evil I have seen under the sun: Riches are kept by their possessor to his evil;

14 Then these riches perish through some experience of evil; Then he begets a son, when there is not anything left in his hand.

15 Just as he came forth from his mother’s belly, Naked shall he return, to go as he came; He shall not take up anything from his toil which he may carry in his hand.

16 This too is a travailing evil; Exactly as he came, so shall he go, And what advantage is it to him since he toiled for wind?

17 Moreover, all his days are in darkness and mourning, With much vexation and illness and wrath.

18 Behold, that which I have seen that is good, that is fitting, is: To eat and to drink and to see good in all one’s toil that he is toiling under the sun, During the number of days in his life that the One, Elohim, has given to him, For that is his portion.

19 Moreover, concerning any man to whom the One, Elohim, gives riches and substance, And gives him power to eat of it and to obtain his portion and to rejoice in his toil, This good, it is a gift of Elohim.

20 For he shall not be much mindful of the days of his life, For the One, Elohim, is keeping him humble in the rejoicing of his heart.

Chapter 6

1 There is an evil under the sun that I have seen, And it lies great upon humanity:

2 When a man to whom the One, Elohim, gives riches and substance and glory, And he has no lack to his soul of all that it yearns for, Yet the One, Elohim, does not give him power to eat of it because a foreign man eats it, This is a vanity, and it is a travailing evil.

3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives for many years, So that the days of his years become a multitude, Yet his soul is not satisfied with good, And also there is no tomb for him, I say, A stillborn child is better off than he.

4 For it comes in vanity, And in darkness it goes away, And in darkness its name is covered over.

5 Moreover, it neither saw the sun nor knew anything; Thus this had more rest than that man,

6 Even supposing he lived twice a thousand years and saw no good; Are not all going to the same place?

7 All of a man’s toil is for his mouth, Yet even then the soul is never filled.

8 For what advantage has a wise man over the stupid one, And what for the humble man who knows how to walk in front of the living?

9 Better the sight of the eyes than the roving of the soul. This too is vanity and a grazing on wind.

10 What has come to be has already been called by its name, And that which man is has been foreknown; No one can adjudicate against Him Who is mightier than he.

11 When there are many words the vanity increases; What advantage is that to man?

12 For who knows what is good for a man in life During the number of days in his transitory life, Seeing that He makes them like a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall come after him under the sun?

Chapter 7

1 A good name is better than the best attar, And the day of one’s death than the day of his birth.

2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting In that it is the terminus of every human; Thus let the living lay this on his heart.

3 Better is vexation than mirth, For with a troubled face the heart may become better.

4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, And the heart of the stupid in the house of rejoicing.

5 Better to hear the rebuke of a wise man Than for one to hear the song of the stupid.

6 For as the sound of the briars under the pot, So is the mirth of the stupid man; This too is vanity.

7 Extortion makes a wise man raving, And a bribe destroys the heart.

8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning; A long-suffering spirit is better than a haughty spirit.

9 Do not be rash to be vexed in your spirit, For vexation rests in the bosom of the stupid.

10 Do not say, Why is it that the former days were better than these present times? For it is not in wisdom that you ask about this.

11 Wisdom is good with an allotment And an advantage to those seeing the sun.

12 For in the shadow of wisdom it is as in the shadow of silver, And the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps alive those possessing it.

13 See the work of the One, Elohim; For who can set in order that which He has overturned?

14 In a day of good be resting in the good, And in a day of evil, be vigilant; Indeed the One, Elohim, has made this one along with that one For this reason, that a man cannot find out anything about his hereafter.

15 I have seen all this in my transitory days: There is the righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, And there is the wicked man who is prolonged in his evil.

16 Do not be abundantly self-righteous, And do not be thinking yourself superlatively wise; Why should you make yourself desolate?

17 Do not be abundantly wicked, and do not be frivolous; Why should you die when it is not your season?

18 It is good that you hold to this, And from that also do not let your hand rest; For he who is fearful of Elohim shall come forth from them all.

19 Wisdom itself gives more strength to the wise man Than ten men of authority who are in a city.

20 For there is no righteous man in the earth Who does good and never sins.

21 Moreover, to all the words that people speak do not give your heart’s attention, That you may not hear your servant maledicting you;

22 For even many times your heart knows That you yourself also have maledicted others.

23 All this I probed by wisdom; I said, I shall indeed be wise, Yet it was far from me;

24 Far away is that which has been, and deep, deep Who can find it out?

25 I turned about that my heart may know and explore, That it may seek out wisdom and design And may know the wickedness of stupidity and the frivolity in raving.

26 I found more bitter than death: That kind of woman whose heart is like weir traps and seine nets, And her hands like bonds; The man doing well before the One, Elohim, he shall escape from her, And the sinner, he shall be seized by her.

27 See, this is what I found, said the Assembler: Adding one thing to another to find a design,

28 Which my soul still sought, but I could not find, I found one man out of a thousand, Yet I could not find a woman among all these

29 See, I found this alone: That the One, Elohim, made humanity upright, Yet they seek many devisings.

Chapter 8

1 Who is like the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a matter? Wisdom for a man lightens up his countenance, And the harsh strength of his face is altered.

2 Observe the king’s bidding, And that on account of the oath of Elohim.

3 Do not be rash in going from his presence; Do not stand in an evil matter, For all that he desires he does.

4 Since a king’s word has authority, Who can say to him, What are you doing?

5 He who is observing instruction shall know no evil matter, And the wise heart shall know season and judgment.

6 For there is season and judgment for every event, Since the evil for a man is abundant upon him.

7 For no one knows what shall come, For just as it shall be, who can tell him?

8 No man has authority over the spirit to detain the spirit, And no one has authority over the day of death; There is no dismissal in war, And wickedness shall make no way of escape for its possessor.

9 All this I have seen and have applied my heart to all work that is done under the sun, At a season when a man has authority over another man to his evil;

10 In such a case I saw the wicked entombed, Those who used to come and go from the holy place And were lauded in the city where they had done such things. This too is vanity.

11 Because there is no sentence executed quickly against the evil deed, Therefore the heart of the sons of humanity in them is fully given to do evil.

12 Though a sinner does a hundred evils and days are prolonged for him, Yet I know that good shall come to those fearful of the One, Elohim, Who stand in fear before Him.

13 Yet good shall not come to the wicked one, Nor shall he prolong his days which are like a shadow, Because he has no fear before Elohim.

14 There is another vanity that is done on the earth: There are righteous men for whom retribution is according to the work of the wicked, And there are wicked ones for whom retribution is according to the work of the righteous; I say that this too is vanity.

15 So I lauded rejoicing, Since there is no good for a man under the sun Save to eat and to drink and to rejoice. And it shall be allied with him in his toil through the days of his life, Which the One, Elohim, gives to him under the sun.

16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom, And to see the experience that is appointed on earth (Even though by day and night, one does not see sleep with his eyes),

17 Then I saw in all the work of the One, Elohim, That a man is not able to find out the work that is done under the sun, Forasmuch as a man may toil in seeking it out but shall not find it; And even if a wise man says he knows, he is not able to find it out.

Chapter 9

1 For I laid all this on my heart, and my heart saw all this: That the righteous and the wise and their services are in the hand of the One, Elohim; Whether it will be love or hate, a man is not able to know; Everything before them is vanity.

2 Just as to all, there is one destiny for the righteous one and for the wicked one, For the good one and for the bad one, For the clean one and for the unclean one, For the one who sacrifices and for him who makes no sacrifice, So it is for the good person as for the sinner, For the one who swears just as for one fearful of an oath.

3 This is the evil in all that is done under the sun: That one destiny is for all; Moreover the heart of the sons of humanity is full of evil, And ravings are in their heart throughout their lives, Yet after it, they are joined to the dead.

4 Indeed for anyone who is joined with all the living there is trust; For it is better to be a living cur than a dead lion.

5 For the living know that they shall die, But the dead know nothing whatsoever; There is no further reward for them; Indeed remembrance of them is forgotten.

6 Both their love and their hate as well as their jealousy have perished already, And there is no further portion for them for the eon In all that is done under the sun.

7 Go, eat your bread with rejoicing, and drink your wine with good heart, For already the One, Elohim, has approved of your works.

8 In every season, let your garments be white, And oil on your head, let it not be lacking.

9 See life with a wife whom you love all the days of your transitory life, Which He gives to you under the sun all your transitory days, For this is your portion in life And in your toil that you are toiling under the sun.

10 All that your hand finds to do, do with your vigor, For there is no doing or devising or knowledge or wisdom In the unseen where you are going.

11 I turned about and saw under the sun That the race is not to the fleet, Nor the battle to masters of war, Nor even bread for the wise, Nor even riches for the understanding, Nor even grace for the knowing, For a season of mischance shall happen to them all.

12 For, moreover, a man does not know his season; Like fish that are held in an evil weir, And like birds that are held in a snare, So the sons of humanity themselves are trapped by a season of evil, When it falls on them suddenly.

13 I also saw this wisdom under the sun, And it seemed great to me:

14 There was a small city with only a few mortals in it, And a great king came against it and surrounded it, And he built great siege works against it.

15 Now a man was available in it, provident and wise, And he would have provided escape for the city by his wisdom, Yet not one person remembered that provident man.

16 So I said, Better is wisdom than mastery, Yet the wisdom of a provident man is despised, And his words are no longer hearkened to.

17 The restful words of wise men, hearkened to, Are better than the outcry of a ruler among the stupid.

18 Wisdom is better than weapons of attack, Yet one sinner destroys much good.

Chapter 10

1  As dead gadflies cause a compound of oil to stink, to bubble forth, So a little frivolity outweighs wisdom and glory.

2 The heart of the wise man inclines to his right, Yet the heart of the stupid man to his left.

3 Even as the frivolous man walks along the way, his heart betrays a lack And affirms to all that he is frivolous.

4 If the spirit of a ruler ascends against you, do not leave your place, For a healing time gives rest to great sins.

5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun Like an inadvertent error that comes forth from before one in authority:

6 Frivolity is put in high positions; The great and the rich nobles sit in low ones.

7 I have seen slaves on horseback And chiefs walking upon the earth like slaves.

8 He who delves a pit-hole may fall into it, And he who breaches a stone dike, a serpent may bite him.

9 He who quarries out stones may come to grief by them; He who splits timbers may be endangered by them.

10 If the iron tool has become blunt, and one does not polish the surface, Then he must be masterful with potency, yet wisdom would succeed for advantage.

11 If a serpent should bite when there was no snake-charm, Then there is no advantage to the possessor of a charming tongue.

12 Words from the mouth of a wise man are grace, Yet the lips of a stupid man swallow him up.

13 At the start the words of his mouth are frivolity, And at last from his mouth comes evil raving.

14 The frivolous man multiplies words; But a man does not know what shall be, And what shall come after him, who can tell him?

15 The toil of the stupid wearies him, Seeing that he does not even know how to go to the city.

16 Woe to you, land, whose king is a youth, And whose chiefs feast in the morning.

17 Happy are you, land, whose king is a son of notables, And whose chiefs eat in season For mastery and not for a drinking bout.

18 Because of slothfulness the rafters shall sag, And because of laziness of hands, the house shall leak.

19 The making of bread is for mirth, And wine gives rejoicing to life, While silver answers for everything.

20 Even in your thinking do not maledict a king, And do not maledict a rich man in your bed chamber Because a flyer of the heavens may carry the voice, And a possessor of wings may tell your speech.

Chapter 11

1  Send forth your bread on the surface of the water, For after many days you shall find it.

2 Give a portion to seven, yea even to eight, For you do not know what evil may come upon the earth.

3 If the thick clouds are full for a downpour, They shall empty out upon the earth, And if a tree falls to the south, or if to the north, The place where the tree falls, there shall it rest.

4 He who observes the wind does not sow, And he who examines the thick clouds does not reap.

5 Just as you do not know what the way of the wind may be, Or how bones are formed in the full womb, Thus you cannot know the work of the One, Elohim, Who does the whole.

6 Sow your seed in the morning, and do not let your hand rest at evening, For you do not know wherein this may succeed, whether this or that, Or whether both of them alike are good.

7 The light is sweet, And it is good for the eyes to see the sun.

8 For if a man lives many years he should rejoice in them all, Yet he should remember the days of darkness, For they shall be many; All that will come is vanity.

9 Rejoice, choice youth, in your childhood, And let your heart make you cheerful in the days of your prime; Walk in the ways of your heart and by the sight of your eyes, Yet know that for all these the One, Elohim, shall bring you into judgment.

10 Take away vexation from your heart, And expel evil sufferings from your flesh, For childhood and early days are transitory;

Chapter 12

1  Yet remember your Creator in the days of your prime, While the evil days have not yet come, Or the years encroach when you shall say: There is no delight for me in them,

2 While the sun and the light is not yet darkened Or the moon and the stars, And before the thick clouds return after the downpour:

3 In the day when the keepers of the house stir in a sweat, And the men of valor bend down, When the grinding maids halt because they are few, And those seeing out through the crevices are darkened,

4 When the double doors to the roadway are closed, When the sound of the grinding becomes low, And one rises at the sound of the bird, Yet all the daughters of song are prostrate;

5 Moreover, one fears lofty heights, And catastrophes are on the road, When the almond tree flowers, And the grasshopper is burdensome, And the caperberry’s effects are annulled, When man goes to his eonian home, And those wailing turn about in the roadway;

6 Remember Him, while the silver cable is not yet pulled away, And the golden bowl is splintered, And the jar is broken at the fount, And the rolling wheel is splintered at the cistern,

7 And the soil returns to the earth just as it was, And the spirit, it returns to the One, Elohim, Who gave it.

8 Vanity of vanities, says the Assembler, The whole is vanity.

9 Yet furthermore, because the Assembler was wise, He still taught the people knowledge, And he listened and investigated And set in order many proverbs.

10 The Assembler sought to find words of delight, And what was written is uprightness and words of truth.

11 The words of the wise are like goad points, And like imbedded bolts is the possessing of gathered sayings; They are given by one shepherd.

12 Yet furthermore, my son, beyond these, be warned; Of the making of many scrolls there is no end, And much study is weariness to the flesh.

13 The terminus of the whole matter has been heard: Fear the One, Elohim, and keep His instructions, For this is the whole duty of humanity.

14 For the One, Elohim, shall bring every deed into judgment concerning all that is obscured, Whether good or whether evil.

The Song of Songs

Chapter 1

1 The song of songs, which is Solomonic:

2 Let him kiss me with kisses of his mouth. Truly your affections are better than wine;

3 As for scent, your attars are well pleasing; Your name is like attar as it is being emptied out; Therefore, the damsels love you.

4 Draw me after you; let us run; The king would bring me to his chambers. Let us exult and rejoice with you; Let us commemorate your affections as better than wine. The upright love you.

5 Dusky am I, and comely, daughters of Jerusalem, Like the tents of Kedar, Like the sheets of Solomon.

6 Do not stare at me because I am dusky, Because the sun has glared upon me; My mother’s sons burned hot against me; They placed me custodian over the vineyards; Over my vineyard which was for myself, I had not the custody.

7 Do tell me, you whom my soul loves, Where do you graze your flock? Where do you recline them at noon? Why should I become like a muffled woman Beside the droves of your partners?

8 If you do not know for yourself, loveliest among women, Go forth for yourself at the heels of the flock, And graze your kids by the tabernacles of the shepherds.

9 To my mare among the chariots of Pharaoh I liken you, my dearest.

10 Your cheeks are comely with bead-rows, Your neck with threaded gems.

11 (We shall make bead-rows of gold for you, With specks of silver.)

12 While the king was in his surroundings, My nard gave forth its scent.

13 A sachet of myrrh is my darling to me, Lodged between my breasts.

14 A cluster of henna blossoms is my darling to me, In the vineyards of Engedi.

15 How lovely you are, my dearest! How lovely you are; your eyes are doves!

16 How lovely you are, my darling, indeed so pleasant! Indeed our divan is under flourishing trees,

17 The rafters of our grand house are cedars, And our gutters are firs.

Chapter 2

1 I am a narcissus of the Sharon, An anemone of the vales.

2 Like an anemone among the thistles, So is my dearest among the daughters.

3 Like an apricot tree among the trees of the wildwood, So is my darling among the sons; In his shadow I covet that I may sit, And his fruit is sweet to my palate.

4 He brings me to the house of wine, And his standard over me is love.

5 Support me with raisin-cakes; Reinvigorate me with apricots, For I am ailing with love.

6 His left hand is under my head, And his right arm embraces me.

7 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, By gazelles or by hinds of the field: Do not rouse, and do not rouse up love Until it delight.

8 Hark, my darling! Behold, this one comes, Leaping over the mountains, Bounding over the hills!

9 My darling is like a gazelle Or a fawn of the deer; Behold, this one stands behind our house wall, Peering through the windows, Gazing forth through the lattices.

10 My darling answered and said to me: Arise, you, my dearest! My lovely one, now go you forth!

11 For behold, the wintry weather has passed; The downpour has passed on and has itself gone.

12 The flowers are seen in the land; The season for pruning is attained, And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.

13 The fig tree flavors its green figs, And the vines, in bloom, give scent. Arise, you, my dearest! My lovely one, now go you forth!

14 My dove, in the clefts of the crag, In the concealment of the cliff, Let me see your appearance; Let me hear your voice; For your voice is congenial, And your appearance is comely.

15 Get hold of the foxes for us, The small foxes that harm the vineyards, For our vineyards are in bloom.

16 My darling is mine, and I am his; He is grazing among the anemones.

17 While the day blows gently, And the shadows flee, Turn around, my darling, be you like a gazelle Or a fawn of the deer on the sundered mountains.

Chapter 3

1 On my bed in the nights I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, yet I did not find him.

2 Let me rise now, and let me go around in the city, Through the roadways and through the squares; Let me seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, yet I did not find him.

3 The guards who go around in the city found me. He whom my soul loves, have you seen him?

4 Barely had I passed by them When I found him whom my soul loves; I held him and would not slacken my grip on him, Until I brought him to my mother’s house, To the chamber of her who was pregnant with me.

5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, By gazelles or by hinds of the field: Do not rouse, and do not rouse up love Until it delight.

6 Who is this ascending from the wilderness Like pillars of smoke, From fumes of myrrh and frankincense, From all the powder of the trader?

7 Behold, his couch, that which is Solomon’s! Sixty masterful men surround it, From the masterful men of Israel,

8 All of them holding a sword, taught in warfare, Each with his sword on his thigh, Because of alarm at night.

9 King Solomon made the sedan-litter for himself From wood of Lebanon.

10 Its columns he made of silver, Its bolster of gold, Its riding seat of purple, Its interior inlaid with love By the daughters of Jerusalem.

11 Come forth, daughters of Zion, and see king Solomon, With the crown with which his mother crowned him On the day of his wedding, And on the day of the rejoicing of his heart.

Chapter 4

1 How lovely you are, my dearest! How lovely you are! Your eyes are doves behind your face veil; Your hair is like a drove of goats that streams down from Mount Gilead;

2 Your teeth are like a fashioned drove that ascends from the washing; All of them have their twins, And there are none among them bereaved.

3 Your lips are like thread of scarlet, And your mouth is comely; Like a slice of pomegranate are your temples behind your face veil.

4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory; A thousand shields are hung on it, all cuirasses of the masterful.

5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle that graze among the anemones.

6 While the day blows gently, And the shadows flee, I shall betake me to the mountain of myrrh And to the hill of frankincense.

7 All of you is lovely, my dearest, And there is no blemish in you.

8 With me from Lebanon, O bride, Come with me from Lebanon; Regard the scene from the summit of Amana, From the summit of Shenir and Hermon, From the habitations of lions, From the mountain ranges of leopards.

9 You stir my heart, my sister, O bride, you stir my heart With one glance from your eyes, With one coil of your necklace.

10 How lovely are your affections, my sister, bride, How much better are your affections than wine, And the scent of your attars than all aromatics!

11 Your lips drip with honeycomb, O bride; Honey and milk are under your tongue, And the scent of your raiment is like the scent of Lebanon.

12 You are a garden latched, my sister, bride, A garden latched, a spring sealed.

13 Your runners form a park of pomegranates, With finest fruit, Henna blossoms with nards,

14 Nard and saffron, reed and cinnamon, With all the woods of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, With all the topmost aromatics.

15 You are a spring for gardens, A well of living waters, Even those flowing from Lebanon.

16 Rouse, north wind, and come, south wind; Blow on my garden that its aromatics may flow; Let my darling come to his garden That he may eat its fine fruit.

Chapter 5

1 I come to my garden, my sister, bride; I nip off my myrrh with my aromatics; I eat my wildwood fare with my honey; I drink my wine with my milk. Eat, associates! Drink and drink freely, friends!

2 I was asleep, yet my heart was aroused; Hark, my darling knocking! Open to me, my sister, my dearest, My dove, my flawless one, For my head is covered with night mist, My locks with moisture of the night.

3 I have stripped off my tunic; how should I put it on again? I have washed my feet; how should I dirty them again?

4 My darling put forth his hand into the latch hole, And my bowels clamored for him.

5 I arose to open for my darling; My hands dripped with myrrh, And my fingers with overflowing myrrh On the handgrips of the latch.

6 I opened for my darling, Yet my darling had vanished; he had passed aside. My soul had gone forth when he spoke; I sought him, yet I did not find him; I called him, yet he did not answer me.

7 The guards who go around in the city found me; They smote me; they injured me; They lifted my cape off me, those guards of the walls.

8 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my darling, what shall you tell him? That I am ailing with love!

9 How is your darling better than another darling, Loveliest among women? How is your darling better than another darling That thus you adjure us?

10 My darling is shimmering and ruddy, Preeminent among ten thousand.

11 His head is certified gold, glittering gold; His locks are pendulous, dusky as a raven.

12 His eyes are like doves by channels of water, Washed in milk, seated by a brimming pool.

13 His cheeks are like beds of aromatics, towers of sweet compounds; His lips are like anemones, dripping with overflowing myrrh.

14 His hands are like ring-bands of gold, filled with topaz; His belly is like reflecting ivory, bedecked with sapphires.

15 His legs are like columns of marble, founded on sockets of glittering gold; His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as its cedars.

16 The words of his palate are most sweet, And all of him is coveted. This is my darling, and this is my dearest, daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6

1 Whither has your darling gone, loveliest among women? Whither has your darling faced? Let us seek him with you.

2 My darling has descended to his garden, To the beds of aromatics, To graze in the gardens And to glean anemones.

3 I am my darling’s, and my darling is mine; He is grazing among the anemones.

4 You are lovely, my dearest, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Majestic as standard bearers.

5 Turn your eyes about from in front of me, For they beset me. Your hair is like a drove of goats that streams down from Gilead;

6 Your teeth are like a drove of ewes that ascends from the washing; All of them have their twins, And there are none among them bereaved;

7 Like a slice of pomegranate are your temples behind your face veil.

8 Sixty queens, they may be, and eighty concubines, And damsels may be without number,

9 But only one is she, my dove, my flawless one, The only one is she of her mother, The pure one is she of the one who bore her. Daughters see her and call her happy; Queens and concubines, let them praise her.

10 Who is this who gazes forth like the dawn, Lovely as the moonbeam, Pure as the sunshine, Majestic as standard bearers?

11 I descended to the walnut garden To see the pollination about the watercourse, To see whether the vine had budded And the pomegranates had flowered.

12 Before I knew it, My soul set me among the chariots of my princely kinsmen.

13 Return, return, Shulammite; Return, return, that we may perceive you. What do you perceive in the Shulammite? Something like the Mahanaim chorus?

Chapter 7

1 How lovely are your sandaled footsteps, princely daughter; The curvings of your thighs are like eardrops, The work of true craftsman hands.

2 Your navel is like a goblet, well-rounded, which never lacks liquor; Your belly is like a grain-pile of wheat, fenced about by anemones.

3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, Twins of a gazelle;

4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory; Your eyes are like reservoirs in Heshbon by the gate of Bath-rabbim; Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, watching the face of Damascus.

5 Your head upon you is like Carmel, And the tresses of your head are like purple: A king is bound by the strands.

6 How lovely you are, and how pleasant you are, O love, among rich delights.

7 This is your stature: It is like the palm tree, And your breasts like clusters.

8 I said, Let me ascend into the palm tree; Let me take hold of its topmost branches. Oh that your breasts may become like the clusters of the vine, And the scent of your nose like apricots,

9 And your palate like the best wine. May it go to my darling, As evenly gliding over lips and teeth.

10 I am my darling’s, And his impulse is toward me.

11 Do come, my darling, let us go forth to the field; Let us lodge among the henna bushes;

12 Let us go early to the vineyards; Let us see if the vine has budded, The bloom has opened, And the pomegranates have flowered; There I shall give my affections to you.

13 The mandrakes give forth their scent, And at our portals are all fine fruits, Both new and stored, That I have secluded for you, my darling.

Chapter 8

1 O that you were like a brother to me, Who suckled at the breasts of my mother! Then if I found you outdoors I would kiss you, And no one would despise me.

2 I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house, Who has taught me; I would give you to drink of spiced wine, Of my pomegranate new wine.

3 His left hand is under my head, And his right arm embraces me.

4 I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, Why do you rouse, and why do you rouse up love, When it already delights?

5 Who is this ascending from the wilderness, Intimately leaning on her darling? Under the apricot tree I roused you; There your mother was cramped with you; There she was cramped, who bore you.

6 Place me like a seal upon your heart, Like a seal upon your arm, For love is strong as death, Its jealousy hard as the unseen, Its burning coals as burning coals of fire, The blaze of Yah.

7 Many waters cannot quench love, Nor can streams overwhelm it. If a man should give all the wealth of his house for love, People would despise, yea despise him.

8 We have a young sister, And her breasts are not yet grown. What shall we do for our sister On the day when she is spoken for?

9 If she is a wall, We shall build a battlement of silver upon it, And if she is a door, We shall buttress it with planks of cedar.

10 I am a wall, And my breasts are like towers; I have, then, become in his eyes Like one providing peace.

11 For Solomon, there was a vineyard in Baal-hamon; He gave out the vineyard to custodians; A man would bring for its fruit a thousand silver pieces.

12 I have my own vineyard before me; The thousand are for you, Solomon, And two hundred for the custodians of its fruit.

13 You who are dwelling in the gardens, The partners are attending to your voice; Let me hear it.

14 Hasten away, my darling, And be you like a gazelle Or a fawn of the deer On the mountains of aromatics!

The Book of Isaiah

Chapter 1

1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz which he perceived concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear, heavens, And give ear, earth, For Yahweh Himself speaks: Sons have I magnified and exalted, Yet they have transgressed against Me.

3 The plowing ox knows his owner, And the donkey the crib of his possessors; Yet Israel, it does not know Me; And My people, they do not consider Me.

4 Woe, nation of sin! People heavy with depravity! Seed of evildoers! Sons who are corrupters! They forsake Yahweh! They spurn the Holy One of Israel! They are alienated, going backward!

5 On what shall you be smitten further, Since you are adding more stubbornness? All of the head is ill, And all of the heart is sick;

6 From the sole of the foot unto the head there is no soundness in it; Injury and welt and smiting raw, They are not pressed out nor bound up nor made tender with oil.

7 Your land is a desolation, Your cities burned with fire; Your ground in front of you aliens are devouring it, Yea desolation like the overturning by aliens.

8 The daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, Like a hut in a cucumber patch, like a city besieged.

9 Unless Yahweh of hosts Himself had left for us a few survivors, As Sodom would we become, And to Gomorrah would we be likened.

10 Hear the word of Yahweh, captains of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our Elohim, people of Gomorrah.

11 Why, to Me, your many sacrifices? Yahweh is saying; I am surfeited with ascent offerings of rams and the fat of fatlings; And the blood of young bulls and he-lambs and he-goats I do not desire.

12 In that you are coming to appear before Me, Who sought this from your hand, to tramp My courts?

13 Do not continue to bring a futile approach present; Incense, it is an abhorrence to Me; New moon and sabbath, proclaiming of a meeting I cannot bear a fast and a day of restraint.

14 Your new moons and your appointed seasons My soul hates; They have become an encumbrance to Me; I am tired of bearing them.

15 And when you spread out your palms to Me, I shall obscure My eyes from you; Even though you multiply prayers, I will not hearken. Your hands, they are full of blood, Your fingers with lawlessness.

16 Wash; purge yourselves! Take away the evil of your actions from in front of My eyes! Desist from doing evil;

17 Learn to do good! Inquire for right judgment; Make happy the wronged! Seek right judgment for the orphan; Contend for the widow!

18 Come now, and let us have it corrected, Yahweh is saying. If your sins become like scarlet, as snow shall they be white; If they are red as crimson, as wool shall they become.

19 If you are willing and hearken, the good of the land shall you eat,

20 Yet if you are refusing and rebel, by the sword shall you be devoured, For the mouth of Yahweh, it has spoken.

21 How has she become a prostitute, a town that was faithful? Full of right judgment was Zion. Righteousness, it was lodging in her, yet now, murderers!

22 Your silver, it has become dross; Your strong wine is adulterated with water.

23 Your chiefs are stubborn and partners of thieves; Everyone is loving a bribe and is pursuing payments; They are not seeking right judgment for the orphan, And the cause of the widow is not coming before them.

24 Therefore, averring is the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the Sturdy One of Israel: Woe! I shall be comforted over My foes! And I shall certainly be avenged on My enemies!

25 I shall certainly restore My hand on you, So that I may refine your dross in a crucible; I shall certainly take away all your tin alloy.

26 I shall certainly restore your judges as at the first And your counselors as at the start; Afterward it shall be proclaimed concerning you: City of righteousness, Faithful town.

27 Zion, with right judgment shall she be ransomed, And her restored ones with righteousness.

28 Yet there shall be a breaking of transgressors and sinners together, And those forsaking Yahweh, they shall be finished.

29 For they shall be ashamed because of the oaks which you have coveted, And you shall be abashed because of the gardens which you have chosen.

30 For you shall become like a terebinth decayed in its leaf And like a garden for which there is no water.

31 And the safeguarded one will become tinder, And his contrivance a spark; They will blaze up, the two of them together, And there will be no one to quench it.

Chapter 2

1 The word which came from Yahweh to Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 And it will come to pass in the latter days, The Mount of the House of Yahweh shall be established on the summit of the mountains, And it shall be lifted up above the hills, And all the nations will stream unto it.

3 Many peoples will come and say: Come, and let us ascend to the Mount of Yahweh, To the house of the Elohim of Jacob; And He shall direct us out of His ways, So that we may indeed walk in His paths. For from Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

4 He will judge between the nations And arbitrate for the many peoples. They will pound their swords into mattocks, And their spears into pruners; Nation shall not lift sword against nation, Nor shall they learn war any more.

5 House of Jacob, come, And let us walk in the light of Yahweh.

6 For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, For they are full of divinations from the east And of consulting clouds like the Philistines, And with children of foreigners they slap hands.

7 Their land is full of silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land is full of horses, And there is no end to their chariots.

8 Their land is full of forbidden idols; They bow down to the work of their hands, To that which they have made with their fingers;

9 So that the human is bowed down, And the man is abased! O do not lift them up!

10 Enter into the rock, And bury yourself in the soil, From the face of the awe inspiring Yahweh, And from the effulgence of His augustness, When He rises to terrify the earth.

11 The eyes of the haughtiness of humanity will be brought low, And the highness of men will be bowed down, And Yahweh by Himself alone will be impregnable in that day.

12 For a day has Yahweh of hosts against everyone proud and high, And against everyone uplifted, so that he will be abased,

13 Against all the cedars of Lebanon, high and uplifted, And against all the oaks of Bashan,

14 Against all the high mountains, And against all the uplifted hills,

15 Against every lofty tower, And against every fortressed wall,

16 Against all the ships of Tarshish, And against all the coveted barks.

17 The haughtiness of humanity will be bowed down, And the highness of men will be abased, And Yahweh by Himself alone will be impregnable in that day.

18 As for the forbidden idols, they shall completely pass by.

19 People will enter into caves of the rocks And into tunnels of the soil, From the face of the awe inspiring Yahweh, And from the effulgence of His augustness, When He rises to terrify the earth.

20 In that day the human shall fling away his forbidden idols of silver And his forbidden idols of gold which he made, each for himself to worship, To moles and to bats,

21 In order to enter the fissures of the rocks And the overhangs of the crags, From the face of the awe inspiring Yahweh And from the effulgence of His augustness, When He rises to terrify the earth.

22 Desist for yourselves from looking to humanity, in whose nostrils is breath, For in what way is he of account?

Chapter 3

1 For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah: Both stay and prop, Every stay of bread and every stay of water,

2 Master and man of war, Judge and prophet, Diviner and elder,

3 Chief of fifty and dignitary, Counselor and shrewd artificer, And one who understands a snake-charm.

4 Then I will give them youths for their chiefs, And wanton practices, they shall rule over them,

5 So that the people will be hard-pressed, One man by another man, And each man by his associate; They shall be audacious, the youth toward the elder, And the dishonored toward the illustrious.

6 When a man should grasp onto his brother in his father’s house, saying: You have raiment; You shall become our captain, And this stumbling heap will be under your hand,

7 He shall lift up his voice in that day, saying: I shall not become one who binds up, And in my house there is no bread, and there is no raiment; You shall not make me captain over a people.

8 For Jerusalem stumbles, And Judah, it falls Because their tongue and their actions toward Yahweh serve to defy the eyes of His glory;

9 The expression of their faces, it answers against them, And their sin they profess as Sodom did; They do not suppress it. Woe to their soul! For they have dealt out evil to themselves.

10 Say to the righteous one that he shall have good, For the fruit of their actions shall they eat.

11 Woe to the wicked one; evil for him. For the dealing of his hands, it shall return to him.

12 My people its taskmasters are clean-gleaners, And the taskmasters, they rule over it; My people those making you happy are leading astray, And the way of your paths they swallow up.

13 Yahweh is stationed to contend, And is standing to adjudicate His people.

14 Yahweh, He shall enter into judgment with the elders of His people and its chiefs: It is you, you consume the vineyard; Pillage from the humble is in your houses.

15 What is it to you that you are crushing My people, And the faces of the humble you are grinding? averring is my Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

16 Then Yahweh said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, And they are walking with outstretched throat And with wanton eyes, Going about and swaggering as they walk, And on their feet they tinkle anklets,

17 Hence Yahweh will abase the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, And Yahweh, He shall make naked their embellished head.

18 In that day, Yahweh shall take away their beauty: The anklets and the frontlets and the crescents,

19 The drops and the arm-chains and the fluttering veils,

20 The tiaras and the stepping chains and the wide ribbons, And the scent vials and the charm whistles,

21 The rings and the nose pendants,

22 The fine outfits and the lounging robes, And the shawls and the handbags,

23 And the lacy garments and the chemises, And the turbans and the capes,

24 So that instead of an aromatic scent, there will be putrefaction, And instead of a girdle skirt, there shall be a girth, And instead of an elaborate coiffure, baldness, And instead of rich attire, a girding of sackcloth, Indeed instead of loveliness, shame.

25 Your men, by the sword they shall fall, And your masters in battle;

26 Your portals will complain and mourn, And you will be cleaned out; you will sit on the earth.

Chapter 4

1 And seven women will hold fast to one man in that day, saying: Our own bread shall we eat, And with our own raiment shall we clothe ourselves; But let your name be called upon us; Gather up our reproach.

2 In that day the shimmering of Yahweh shall come to be for stateliness and for glory, And the face of the land for augustness and for beauty, For the delivered of Israel and Judah.

3 And it will come to be that the remnant in Zion And the rest in Jerusalem, It shall be said of them: Holy, All who are written for life in Jerusalem.

4 When Yahweh has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, And has rinsed out the bloodguilt of Jerusalem from within it, By a spirit of judgment, And by a spirit of consuming,

5 Then He will come, And there will be over every site of Mount Zion, And over all its common lands, A cloud by day, and smoke, And the brightness of a blazing fire by night; For over all, the glory will be a canopy;

6 And a booth, it shall be for shade by day from scorching heat, And for refuge, And for concealment from storm and from rain.

Chapter 5

1 Let me sing, now, for my Friend, A song about my Friend for His vineyard: A vineyard, it belonged to my Friend on a horn-like, very fertile hill.

2 He dug it up and threw out its stones, And He planted it with a yellow muscat vine; He built a tower in its midst And also hewed a winevat in it; Then He expected it to yield grapes, Yet it is yielding stinking fruit.

3 And now, dweller of Jerusalem and man of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard;

4 What more is there to do for My vineyard that I have not done for it? For what reason, when I expected it to yield grapes, does it yield stinking fruit?

5 And now, let Me make known to you what I will be doing to My vineyard: I shall take away its hedge, and it will become consumed; I shall breach its stone dike, and it will become tramped down.

6 I shall make it a waste, And it shall neither be pruned nor hoed, And it will come up buckthorn and spines; And I shall instruct the thick clouds to keep from raining rain on it.

7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel, And each man of Judah His plant delectable; He was expecting right judgment, and behold, transgression! Justice, and behold, a cry!

8 Woe to those touching house to house! Field to field they bring near unto the limit of a place, And you are made to dwell by yourselves alone within the open country.

9 For He was heard in my ears, Yahweh of hosts: Assuredly many houses shall become a desolation, Great and good ones without a dweller!

10 For ten acres of vineyard, they shall yield one bath, And a homer’s seed, it shall yield an ephah.

11 Woe to those rising early in the morning that they may pursue intoxicant, Who are up late in the twilight until wine inflames them.

12 There is harp and zither, tambourine and flute And wine at their feasts, Yet at the deeds of Yahweh they do not look, And the work of His hands they do not see.

13 Therefore, My people are deported for lack of knowledge, And its abundance are men of famine, And its throng are glazed with thirst.

14 Therefore, the unseen widens its greedy soul And gapes with its mouth without limitation; Her effulgence and her throng descend With her tumult and gladness into it.

15 Thus the human is bowed down, And the man is abased, And the eyes of the haughty, they are brought low.

16 Yet Yahweh of hosts is elevated in judgment, And the holy El, He is hallowed in righteousness.

17 The lambs graze as in their pen, And the kids, they eat on the deserted places behind the full-fed.

18 Woe to those who are drawing depravity with the cord lines of hypocrisy, And sin as with cart ropes,

19 Who are saying, Let it hasten; Let His work hurry, that we may see; And let it come near; Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know.

20 Woe to those who are calling evil, good, and good, evil, Placing darkness for light, and light for darkness, Placing bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.

21 Woe to those wise in their own eyes, And understanding in front of their own faces.

22 Woe to masters at drinking wine, And valorous men at blending intoxicant,

23 Who are justifying the wicked one in consequence of a bribe, Yet the righteousness of the righteous one they are taking away from him.

24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire devours stubble, And chaff, it collapses in a blaze, Their root, it shall become as putrefaction, And their bud, it shall ascend as dust; For they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts, And the word of the Holy One of Israel they have spurned.

25 Therefore, the anger of Yahweh burns hot against His people, And His hand stretches out upon it, And He smites it, And the mountains are disturbed, And its carcasses become like offal within the streets. In all this His anger does not reverse, And His hand is outstretched still.

26 And He lifts up a banner for a nation from afar; He whistles for it from the outmost part of the earth, And behold, quickly, fleetly it is coming!

27 There is none faint, and there is no one who stumbles in it; Not one is slumbering, and not one is sleeping, Nor is the belt of his loins unloosed, Nor is the lacing of his sandals pulled away,

28 Whose arrows are whetted, And all his bows are positioned. The hoofs of his horses, they are reckoned to be like rock, And his rolling wheels like a sweeping whirlwind.

29 His roaring is like a parent lion; Indeed he roars like sheltered lions; He shall growl and hold the prey and deliver it away, And there will be no rescuer.

30 He shall growl over it in that day like the growling of the sea, When one looks to the land, and behold, darkness, distress, And the light, it is kept back in its spray.

Chapter 6

1 In the year of king Uzziah’s death, I saw Yahweh sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and His skirts were filling the temple.

2 Seraphim were standing above Him with six wings, six wings to each one; with two each covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.

3 And this one called to that one and said: Holy! holy! holy! Yahweh of hosts! The fullness of the whole earth manifests His glory!

4 And the cubits of the thresholds swayed at the sound of the calling, and the house, it was filling with smoke.

5 So I said: Woe to me, for I am stilled! For a man of unclean lips am I, And in the midst of people of unclean lips am I dwelling! For the King, Yahweh of hosts, my eyes have seen!

6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal he had taken with tongs off the altar.

7 He touched it to my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips, And your depravity is withdrawn, And a propitiatory shelter is made for your sin.

8 Then I heard the voice of Yahweh saying: Whom shall I send? And who shall go to this nation? So I answered, Behold me! Send me!

9 Then He said: Go, and you will say to this people, Hear, yea hear, yet do not understand; And see, yea see, yet do not know.

10 Stouten the heart of this people, And make its ears heavy, And make its eyes squint, Lest it may see with its eyes, And with its ears it may hear, And with its heart it may understand, And it gets healing again for itself.

11 Then I said, How long, O Yahweh? And He answered: Until the cities should be decimated without a dweller, And the houses without a human, And the ground, it is decimated in desolation.

12 Yahweh will remove the human afar, And the forsaken places will be many within the land.

13 Though a tenth still remains in it, Yet again it will become consumed; Like a terebinth and like an oak which when flung down is a monument, In it the holy seed will be its monument.

Chapter 7

1 It came to be in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Syria, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to fight against it, yet they were not able to fight against it.

2 And it was told to the house of David, saying: Syria has been guided to Ephraim; and his heart swayed, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wildwood sway because of the wind.

3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah: Go forth now to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, to the end of the trench of the uppermost reservoir, to the highway of the field of the launderer.

4 And you will say to him, Keep calm and be quiet. Do not fear, and let not your heart be timid because of these two tails of smoking wooden pokers, that are by the hot anger of Rezin and Syria and Remaliah’s son,

5 because Syria counsels evil against you, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son, saying,

6 Let us go up into Judah and terrorize it, and let us rend it for ourselves. We shall raise a king to reign in its midst, the son of Tabeel.

7 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: This shall not be confirmed, And it shall not come to pass.

8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, And the head of Damascus is Rezin, And in another sixty-five years Ephraim shall be undone as a people,

9 And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, And the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son. If you are not believing, then you are not faithful.

10 Then Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying:

11 Ask for yourself a sign from Yahweh your Elohim. Deepen it toward the unseen, Or elevate it toward that above.

12 Yet Ahaz said: I shall not ask, nor shall I probe Yahweh.

13 Then he said, Hear now, house of David! Is it too little a thing for you to tire men That you should also tire my Elohim?

14 Therefore Yahweh Himself shall give a sign to you: Behold, the damsel shall be pregnant and bear a son, And you will call his name Immanuel;

15 Clotted cream and honey shall he eat before he knows to reject evil and to choose good.

16 For ere the lad shall know to reject evil and to choose good, Forsaken shall be the ground before whose two kings you are irritated.

17 Yahweh shall bring upon you, and upon your people, and upon your father’s house, days such as have not come since the day Ephraim withdrew from Judah the king of Assyria!

18 It will come to be in that day, Yahweh shall whistle for the gadfly which is at the end of the waterways of Egypt, and for the bee which is in the land of Assyria.

19 They will come and settle, all of them, in the steep wadis and in the rifts of crags and in all the thorn trees and in all the thorn hedges.

20 In that day Yahweh shall shave with a razor that is hired, with those across the Stream, with the king of Assyria; the head and the hair of the feet and even the beard shall it sweep off.

21 It will come to be in that day that a man shall keep alive a heifer of the herd and two ewes of the flock.

22 And it will come to be that from a vast yield of milk he shall eat clotted cream, for everyone who is left within the land shall eat clotted cream and honey.

23 And it will come to be in that day: It shall be that every place where there are a thousand vines worth a thousand silver pieces shall become a place for buckthorn and for spines.

24 One shall come there with arrows and with bow, for the entire land shall become buckthorn and spines,

25 and all the mountains which should be hoed with a hoe, you shall not enter there for fear of buckthorn and spines. And it will become a place for sending forth of kine and for tramping down by flocklings.

Chapter 8

1 Then Yahweh said to me, Take for yourself a large parchment roll, and write on it with a stylus of a mortal: To hasten-loot-hurry-plunder;

2 and call to witness for Me, faithful witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah, son of Jeberechiah.

3 Then I came near to the prophetess, and she became pregnant and bore a son. And Yahweh said to me: Call his name, Maher-shalal-hash-baz;

4 for ere the lad shall know to call: Abi, and, Ami, the estate of Damascus and the loot of Samaria shall be carried off before the king of Assyria.

5 Then Yahweh yet again spoke to me, saying:

6 Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that flow so gently, and has given elation to Rezin and Remaliah’s son,

7 now therefore, behold,Yahweh is bringing up over them the waters of the Stream, staunch and abundant, the king of Assyria and all his glory: It will ascend over all its channels And go over all its banks;

8 It will pass on into Judah, Overflow and pass along until it touches the neck; And there will be a stretching out of its wings, Filling the width of your land, O Immanuel!

9 Know, peoples, and be dismayed, And give ear, all far places of the earth! Belt yourselves, and be dismayed! Belt yourselves, and be dismayed!

10 Counsel with counsel, yet it shall be annulled! Speak a word, yet it shall not be confirmed; For with us is El.

11 For thus Yahweh said to me as with a steadfast hand, that He might discipline me from walking in the way of this people, saying:

12 You shall not say holy to all that this people says is holy, And its fear you shall not fear nor be terrified.

13 Yahweh of hosts, Him shall you sanctify, And He shall be your fear, and He, your terror.

14 And if you are expectant toward Him, He will be a Sanctuary And not a Stone of tripping or a Rock of stumbling, Yet for the two houses of Israel, a Snare, And a Trap for the dweller of Jerusalem.

15 Many will stumble among them, And they will fall and be broken, And they will be trapped and seized.

16 Tie up the testimony, and seal the law among my disciples.

17 I also will tarry for Yahweh, Who conceals His face from the house of Jacob, and I will be expectant toward Him.

18 Behold, I and the boys whom Yahweh has given to me are for signs and for miracles in the house of Israel from Yahweh of hosts Who tabernacles in Mount Zion.

19 And when they say to you, Inquire of the mediums and the wizards who chirp and who coo, ask, Should not a people inquire of its Elohim? What do they inquire of the dead about the living?

20 To the law and to the testimony! If they are not speaking according to this word, for which there is no bribe,

21 Then each one will pass through it, hard pressed and famished, And it will come to be when he is famishing, he will be wrathful, And he will maledict his king and his Elohim. Then he will face upward to the heavens above,

22 And look to the earth beneath, And behold, distress and darkness, Faintness of constraint and expulsion into gloom!

Chapter 9

1 But no faintness will be hers who was in constraint, As in the first era when He slighted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; Yet in the latter era He will glorify the way of the sea, Across the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

2 The people walking in darkness, they will see a great light; Dwellers in a land of blackest shadow, light, it will be bright over them.

3 You will increase the exultation; You will magnify the rejoicing; They will rejoice before You as the rejoicing in the harvest, Just as they exult when they apportion loot.

4 For the yoke of their burden, The slider bar of their shoulder, The club of their taskmaster, All these Yahweh will shatter apart as in the day of Midian.

5 For every boot booted on in the quaking and raiment rolled in blood Will come to be for burning, fuel for fire.

6 For a Boy, He is born to us; A Son, He is given to us, And the chieftainship shall come to be on His shoulder, And one shall call His name Marvelous; Counsel to the master shall He bring, Unto the chief, well-being.

7 To the increase of the chieftainship And to the well-being there will be no end; On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to brace it with right judgment and with justice, Henceforth and in the future eon, The zeal of Yahweh of hosts, it shall achieve this.

8 A word Yahweh sent against Jacob, And it fell in Israel.

9 And the people, all of it, knew, Ephraim and the dweller of Samaria, In pride and insolence of heart, saying:

10 The bricks, they have fallen, yet we shall rebuild with trimmed stone; The mulberry trees, they have been hacked down, yet we shall change to cedars.

11 But Yahweh shall make the foes of Rezin impregnable over him, And He shall screen his enemies,

12 Syria from the east And the Philistines from behind, And they shall devour Israel with a whole mouth. And in all this His anger does not reverse, And His hand is outstretched still.

13 Yet the people, they do not return unto the One Who smote it, And to Yahweh of hosts they do not inquire.

14 So Yahweh shall cut off from Israel head and tail, Frond and rush in one day.

15 The elder and the dignitary, he is the head, And the prophet who directs falsehood, he is the tail.

16 Those making this people happy become those leading astray, And its people being made happy are those being swallowed up.

17 Therefore Yahweh shall not spare its choice youth, And He shall not have compassion on its orphans and its widows, For all of it is polluted and doing evil, And every mouth speaks decadence. In all this His anger does not reverse, And His hand is outstretched still.

18 For wickedness consumes like a fire; It shall devour buckthorn and spines And ravage in the thickets of the wildwood, And they shall mount up with swelling smoke.

19 By the rage of Yahweh of hosts the land is incinerated, And the people shall be as fuel for the fire. A man shall not spare his brother,

20 And he shall sever on the right yet be famished, And shall eat on the left, yet they will not be satisfied; Each shall eat the flesh of his own seed:

21 Manasseh on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh, And they together on Judah. And in all this His anger does not reverse, And His hand is outstretched still.

Chapter 10

1   Woe to the statute-makers of lawless statutes, Who write iniquitous writings,

2 To turn the poor aside from adjudication, And to pillage right judgment from the humble of My people, That widows may become their loot, And they may plunder orphans.

3 Yet what shall you do in the day of visitation, And in the ruination which shall come from afar? To whom shall you flee for help, And whither shall you entrust your glory,

4 Unless one crouches under a prisoner, Or they should fall beneath those killed? And in all this His anger does not reverse, And His hand is outstretched still.

5 Woe, Assyria! club of My anger! And a rod is he in the day of My indignation!

6 Against a polluted nation shall I send him, And against a people of My rage shall I commission him, To loot loot and to plunder plunder, And to make it a tramping ground like the clay of the streets.

7 Yet he is not planning so, And his heart is not devising so, For it is in his heart to exterminate, And to cut off nations, not a few.

8 For he is saying: Are not my chiefs altogether kings?

9 Is not Calno like Carchemish? Or is not Hamath like Arpad? Or is not Samaria like Damascus?

10 Just as my hand came upon the kingdoms of forbidden idols, Whose carvings are greater than Jerusalem’s and Samaria’s,

11 Shall I not, just as I did to Samaria and to her forbidden idols, Also do to Jerusalem and to her fetishes?

12 So it will be that Yahweh shall carry through all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Then I shall visit evil on the fruit of the insolent heart of the king of Assyria And on the vaunting haughtiness of his eyes.

13 For he has said: By the vigor of my hand I did it, And by my wisdom, for I have understanding; So I am taking away the boundaries of peoples, And their equippings have I robbed, And I am bringing down those who sit like a sturdy one.

14 My hand is finding the estate of the peoples, as in a nest, And as one gathers forsaken eggs, So do I gather the entire earth, And there is no wing ruffling, Or mouth opening wide and chirping.

15 Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one hewing with it? Should the mace magnify itself over the one swinging it? As if a club should swing the one raising it up! As if a rod should raise him up who is not wood!

16 Therefore the Lord Yahweh of hosts shall send leanness upon his stout warriors, And instead of his glory shall glow a glowing like the glowing of fire.

17 And the Light of Israel will become a fire, And his Holy One a blaze, And it will consume and devour his spines and his buckthorn in one day;

18 Also the glory of his wildwood and his crop land, Both soul and flesh shall it consume, And he who is fleeing will be like one fleeing from a blaze,

19 And the remainder of the trees of his wildwood, they shall become so few in number That a youth can list them.

20 And it will come to be in that day, Not again any longer shall the remnant of Israel or the delivered of the house of Jacob lean on his smiter, Yet he will lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

21 A remnant, it shall return, A remnant of Jacob, to the Masterful El.

22 Even if the people of Israel should become as the sand of the sea, A remnant, it shall be saved in it. Failure was decided, but justice will be overflowing;

23 For a conclusive and decisive accounting, My Lord, Yahweh of hosts shall make within the entire land.

24 Therefore, thus says my Lord, Yahweh of hosts: O do not fear, My people, dwellers of Zion, Because of Assyria who smites you with a club And lifts over you his rod in the manner of Egypt.

25 For it is only a little bit When indignation will be concluded, And My anger over their strategy.

26 Yahweh of hosts will brandish a whip over him Like the smiting of Midian at the rock of Oreb, Or when His rod was upon the sea, And He will lift it up in the manner of Egypt.

27 And it will come to be in that day, His burden shall withdraw from your back, And his yoke from your neck; The yoke will be broken apart because of stoutness.

28 He comes upon Aiath! He passes in Migron! At Michmash he is checking over his supplies.

29 They pass into the passage, saying, Geba shall be our lodging for the night! Ramah trembles! Gibeah of Saul, it flees!

30 Shrill your voice, daughter of Gallim! Attend, Laish! Respond to her, Anathoth!

31 Madmenah bolts away! Dwellers of Gebim, they take to strong shelter!

32 While it is still day, he stands in Nob! He is waving his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, The hill of Jerusalem!

33 Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts shall lop off the foliage with terror, And those high of stature shall be hacked down, And the haughty, they shall be abased.

34 He will fell the thickets of the wildwood with iron, And Lebanon shall fall before the Noble One.

Chapter 11

1   Then a Twig will come forth from the set slip of Jesse, And a Scion, it shall be fruitful from his roots.

2 And the spirit of Yahweh will rest upon Him, A spirit of wisdom and understanding, A spirit of counsel and mastery, A spirit of knowledge and fear of Yahweh.

3 His scent will be in the fear of Yahweh, And not by the sight of His eyes shall He judge, Nor by the hearing of His ears shall He arbitrate.

4 He will judge the poor with righteousness And arbitrate for the humble of the land with equity; He will smite the earth with the club of His mouth, And with the spirit of His lips shall He put the wicked to death.

5 Righteousness will be the belt of His waist, And faithfulness the belt of His loins.

6 Then the wolf will sojourn with the lamb, And the leopard, it shall recline with the kid, And the calf and the sheltered lion, they shall graze together, And a small lad shall lead among them.

7 Then the young cow and the bear, they shall graze together, And together they shall recline their young, And the lion, it shall eat crushed straw like the ox.

8 Then the suckling will revel over the hole of a cobra, And on the light-shaft of a viper the weaned child will obtrude his hand.

9 They shall not do evil, Nor shall they bring ruin in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh As waters are covering the sea.

10 And there will come to be in that day the Root of Jesse, Who shall stand as a Banner of the peoples: Of Him the nations shall inquire, And His rest will come to be glorious.

11 And it will come to be in that day, Yahweh shall again lift up His hand, To be zealous for the remnant of His people Which shall remain from Assyria and from Egypt, From Pathros and from Cush, From Elam and from Shinar, From Hamath and from the coastlands of the sea.

12 He will lift up a banner for the nations And gather the expelled of Israel, And He shall convene the scattered of Judah From the four wings of the earth.

13 Then the jealousy of Ephraim will go away, And the distressings of Judah, they shall be cut off; Ephraim, he shall not be jealous of Judah, And Judah, he shall not distress Ephraim.

14 And they will fly on the shoulder of the Philistines, westward; Together they shall plunder the sons of the east. On Edom and Moab will be the first sending of their hand, Yet the sons of Ammon will be the first to hearken to them.

15 Then Yahweh will drain the tongue of the sea of Egypt And wave His hand over the Stream with the vehemence of His wind, And He will smite it into seven wadis, And one will tread it in sandals.

16 And it will become a highway for the remnant of His people, which shall remain from Assyria, Just as it was for Israel in the day it came up from the land of Egypt.

Chapter 12

1   And you will say in that day, I am acclaiming You, O Yahweh; Indeed You have been angry with me; May Your anger reverse that You may comfort me.

2 Behold, El is my Salvation; I shall trust in Him and not be afraid, For my Strength and my Melody is Yah, Yahweh, And He became mine for salvation.

3 Then you will draw forth water with elation From the springs of salvation.

4 And you will say in that day, Acclaim Yahweh! Call on His Name! Make known His actions among the peoples! Mention that His Name is impregnable.

5 Make melody to Yahweh, For He has done august things, Making this known in the entire earth.

6 Make a noise and be jubilant, dweller of Zion, For great among you is the Holy One of Israel.

Chapter 13

1 LOAD OF BABYLON which Isaiah son of Amoz perceived:

2 On a mountain ridge, lift up a banner! Raise high the voice to them! Wave a hand, That they may enter the portals of the princely ones.

3 I Myself have instructed My hallowed ones, Moreover, I have called My masters of war, To execute My anger, Those who are joyous in My augustness.

4 A sound of a throng on the mountains, like many people; A sound of tumult of kingdoms, of nations being gathered: Yahweh of hosts, He is mustering a host for battle;

5 They are coming from a far off land, From the end of the heavens, Yahweh and the instruments of His indignation, To harm the entire earth.

6 Howl! For near is the day of Yahweh! As devastation from Him Who-suffices shall it come.

7 Therefore, all hands, they shall fall slack, And every mortal’s heart, it shall melt,

8 And they will be filled with panic. Throes and cramps, they shall take hold of them; They shall travail like a woman giving birth. A man shall be stunned at his associate; Their faces are faces of blazing fire.

9 Behold, the day of Yahweh, it comes, cruel, with rage and hot anger, To make the entire earth a desolation, And He shall exterminate its sinners from it.

10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations, they shall not irradiate their light; The sun will be darkened in its coming forth, And the moon shall not brighten with its light.

11 I will visit evil on all the habitance, And their depravity on the wicked; I will eradicate the pomp of the arrogant, And the pride of the terrifiers shall I abase.

12 I shall make the remaining mortal rarer than glittering gold, And a human than certified gold of Ophir.

13 Therefore, I shall disturb the heavens, And the earth shall quake from its place In the furious rage of Yahweh of hosts And in the day of His hot anger.

14 And those remaining will come to be like a gazelle hurtling away, And like a flock when there is no one to get it together. Each one, he shall turn around to his people, And each, he shall flee to his own land.

15 Everyone found, he shall be stabbed, And everyone gathered up, he shall fall by the sword.

16 Their babes, they shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; Their houses shall be rifled, And their wives, they shall be ravished.

17 Behold Me rousing against them the Medes who are not accounting silver, And gold they are not delighting in it.

18 Yet their bows shall dash the youths to pieces, And on the fruit of the belly they shall not have compassion, And over sons their eye shall not commiserate.

19 And Babylon, stateliest of kingdoms, beauty of Chaldean pride, Will become like Elohim’s overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah.

20 It shall not be indwelt permanently Nor tabernacled in for generation after generation; The Arab shall not tent there Nor shepherds recline their flock there.

21 Yet desert-beasts will recline there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches will tabernacle there, And hairy goats, they shall dance there.

22 Desert-howlers will answer back in its citadels And wild jackals in its palaces of rich delight. Her era is near to come, And her days, they shall not be protracted further.

Chapter 14

1   For Yahweh shall have compassion on Jacob And will still choose in Israel, And He will give them rest on their own ground; Sojourners will join them as proselytes, And they will be adherents to the house of Jacob.

2 And many peoples will take them and bring them to their ground and to their place, And the house of Israel will allot them among themselves on Yahweh’s ground for manservants and for maidservants, So that they become captors of their captors, And hold sway over their taskmasters.

3 It will come to be in the day When Yahweh gives you rest from your grief And from your disturbance And from the hard service that was forced on you to serve,

4 Then you will lift up this proverb against the king of Babylon, And you will say in that day: How the taskmaster has ceased, The place of our pining-away has ceased!

5 Yahweh has broken the rod of the wicked, The scepter of rulers,

6 Which smote peoples in rage, A smiting without withdrawal, Holding sway over nations in anger, Persecuting without keeping back.

7 The entire earth is at rest; it is quiet; They burst forth into jubilant song.

8 Even the firs, they rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon: Since you have lain down, the cutter does not come up against us.

9 The unseen beneath, it is disturbed for you to meet you at your coming; It rouses the Rephaim for you, all the he-goats of the earth; It raises from their thrones all the kings of the nations.

10 All of them, they shall respond and say to you: You too have become ill like us; You have become comparable to us.

11 Your pomp is brought down to the unseen, The clamor of your decadence; Under you the maggot shall berth, And the worm become your cover.

12 How have you fallen from the heavens! Howl, son of the dawn! You have been hacked down to the earth, Defeater over all nations!

13 Yet you, you said in your heart: To the heavens shall I ascend; Above the stars of El shall I exalt my throne, And I shall sit on the mount of appointment, On the remote parts of the north!

14 I shall ascend onto the high-places of the thick clouds; I shall be like the Supreme!

15 Nevertheless, to the unseen shall you be brought down, To the remote parts of the crypt!

16 Those who see you, they shall peer at you; They shall examine you closely: Is this the man who was disturbing the earth, Making the kingdoms quake?

17 He made the habitance like a wilderness And demolished its cities; He would not open a homeward way for his prisoners.

18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, they lie in state, Each man in his own house.

19 Yet you were flung from your tomb like an abhorrent abortion, Like clothing of those who are killed, Who are pierced through with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the crypt like a trampled corpse;

20 You shall not unite with them in the tomb, For you ruined My land. You killed My people. Let it not be proclaimed for the eon, This seed of evildoers;

21 Prepare a slaughter for his sons Because of the depravity of their fathers; May they by no means rise and take over the earth So that they fill the face of the habitance with cities.

22 I will rise against them, averring is Yahweh of hosts, And I will cut off from Babylon, name and remnant And progeny and posterity, averring is Yahweh.

23 I will make it desolate, A tenancy of the hedgehog and watery marshes, And I will mop it with the mop of extermination, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

24 Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying: Assuredly, just as I have meant, so will it come to be, And just as I have counseled, that shall be confirmed:

25 To break Assyria in My land, And on My mountains I shall trample him; His yoke will withdraw from them, And his burden, it shall withdraw from their back.

26 This is the counsel that is counseled over the entire earth, And this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27 For Yahweh of hosts, He has counseled, and who shall annul it? And it is His hand that is stretched out, and who shall reverse it?

28 LOAD OF PHILISTIA In the year of the death of king Ahaz came this load:

29 Do not rejoice, Philistia, all of you, Because the club of your smiter is broken, For from the root of the serpent a viper shall come forth, And its fruit will be a flying, burning serpent.

30 The firstborn of the poor will graze, And the needy, they shall recline in serenity, Yet I will put your root to death with famine, And I shall kill your remnant.

31 Howl, gate; cry out, city! Be dissolved, Philistia, all of you! For a smoke comes from the north, And there is no solitary straggler in its appointed ranks.

32 What shall they answer the messengers of this nation? That Yahweh, He has founded Zion, And in it the humble of His people shall find refuge.

Chapter 15

1 LOAD OF MOAB Indeed, in a night Ar is devastated; Moab, it is stilled! Indeed, in a night Kir is devastated; Moab, it is stilled!

2 He ascends to the house, Even Dibon to the high-places, for lamentation; Over Nebo and over Medeba, Moab, it is howling; On all its heads is baldness, And every beard is hacked off.

3 In its streets they gird on sackcloth; On its housetops and in its squares, everyone is howling, Descending with lamentation.

4 Heshbon is crying out, and Elealeh; Their voice is heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore, those of Moab outfitted for war, they are shouting; Its soul, it is smashed within it.

5 My heart, it is crying out for Moab, Its fugitives as far as Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah; For at the ascent of Luhith, one is ascending on it with lamentation, For on the way of Horonaim, they are rousing up an outcry of brokenness.

6 For the waters of Nimrim, they become desolations, For the grass dries up; The vegetation vanishes, No green thing remains.

7 Therefore, the surplus one has made and their noted stores, They shall bear them over the wadi of the oleanders.

8 For the outcry circles around the boundary of Moab, As far as Eglaim her howling, Even to Beer-elim her howling.

9 For the waters of Dibon are full of blood, Indeed I shall set on Dibon still more: For the delivered of Moab, a lion, And for the remnant, dread.

Chapter 16

1   Send as a stallion to the land from the crag toward the wilderness To the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2 And it will come to be like a flyer bolting away, Being cast out from the nest, So the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

3 Bring counsel; make mediation; Set your shadow like night in the midst of high noon; Conceal the outcasts; Do not expose one who bolted away.

4 Let them sojourn among you, the outcasts from Moab; Be a concealment for them from the face of the devastator. For the squeezer will reach his limit, The devastator will be finished, The one tramping down will come to end from the land,

5 And a throne will be established in benignity, And a judge will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, Seeking after right judgment, and swift with justice.

6 We hear of the pomp of Moab; Very proud is his pride And his pomp and his overbearing, His pretenses, which are not so.

7 Therefore, Moab shall howl for Moab; All of it shall howl; Over the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth shall you mumble, yea be despondent.

8 For with the terraces of Heshbon, the vine of Sibmah wastes away. The headmen of the nations have beat down its yellow muscat vines, Which touched as far as Jazer, Which strayed into the wilderness; Its runners were spread abroad; They passed over to the sea.

9 Therefore I shall lament with the lamentation of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I shall water you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, For upon your summer fruit and upon your harvest devastation has fallen.

10 Rejoicing and exultation are swept up from the crop land, And in the vineyards no one is jubilant, no one is shouting; The treader is not treading wine in the winevats; I have caused the vintage-shout to cease.

11 Therefore My internal writhings keen like a harp for Moab, And My inmost being like a new lyre for Kir-hareseth.

12 And it will be, though being fearful, Though Moab tires himself on the fane-height, When he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he shall not be able.

13 This is the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab hitherto.

14 Yet now Yahweh speaks, saying: In three years, like the years of a hireling, The glory of Moab will be brought to dishonor with all the vast throng, And the remnant will be a little bit, and not abundant.

Chapter 17

1 LOAD OF DAMASCUS Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city; It becomes a fallen rubbish heap,

2 Its cities forsaken unto the future; They shall become a place for droves, And they will recline with no one making them tremble.

3 The fortress will be eradicated from Ephraim, And kingship from Damascus, And the dignity of Syria shall perish. They shall become like the glory of the sons of Israel, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

4 And it will come to be in that day That the glory of Jacob shall be impoverished, And the stoutness of his flesh, it shall be made lean.

5 And it will come to be like gathering the harvest, the raised grain, When one is reaping the ears of grain with his arm; It will come to be like one gleaning ears of grain in the vale of Rephaim,

6 When some clean-gleanings remain in it, Like the after-gleaning of an olive tree When two, three fixed fast berries are in the tip top, Four, five in its fruitful, leafy boughs, averring is Yahweh, Elohim of Israel.

7 In that day the human shall give heed to his Maker, And his eyes, they shall give regard to the Holy One of Israel.

8 He shall not give heed to the altars, the work of his hands, And what his fingers have made, he shall not regard, Even the Asherah-poles, And the incense stands.

9 In that day his stronghold cities shall become like the forsaken places of the Hivite and the Amorite Which they forsook because of the sons of Israel, And it will become desolation.

10 For you have forgotten the Elohim of your salvation, And the Rock, your Stronghold, you have not remembered. Therefore, you shall plant pleasant plants, And the pruned slip of the alien, you shall sow it;

11 In the day of your planting you shall get great growth, And in the morning of your sowing you shall find buds, But the harvest shall be an evanescence in a day of travail and mortal pain.

12 Woe, the clamor of many peoples! Like the clamor of the seas are they clamoring; And the tumult of the folk! Like the tumult of abundant waters are they tumulting.

13 The folk, like the tumult of many waters are they tumulting, Yet He will rebuke him, and he will flee far off; He will be pursued like trash before the wind in the hills, Like a tumbleweed before the sweeping whirlwind.

14 At eventide, behold, mourning; Ere morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who rob us, And the lot of those who plunder us.

Chapter 18

1   Woe, land of the winged boat, Which is across the streams of Cush,

2 Which is sending its agents by sea, In papyrus vessels over the surface of the waters. Go, fleet messengers, to a nation long-limbed and sleek-skinned, To a people being feared from its boundary and beyond, A nation at the confluences of waters, and eroding, Whose land the streams plunder.

3 All dwellers of the habitance, And tabernaclers of the earth: Like a banner lifted on the mountains, you shall see it, And like a trumpet blowing, you shall hear it.

4 For thus says Yahweh to me: I shall be quiet and look in on My site Like shimmering warmth over the light, Like a dense haze of night mist in the day of harvest.

5 For before the harvest, as the bud is finished, When the flower becomes an enlarging, unripe grape, Then one cuts off the shoots with pruners, And takes away the vine-branches that he lopped.

6 They shall be forsaken together to the bird of prey of the mountains And to the beast of the earth, And the bird of prey will summer on him, And every beast of the earth shall winter on him.

7 In that era an indemnity shall be fetched to Yahweh of hosts From a people long-limbed and sleek-skinned, And from a people being feared from its boundary and beyond, A nation at the confluences of waters, and eroding, Whose land the streams plunder, To the place of the Name of Yahweh of hosts, Mount Zion.

Chapter 19

1 LOAD OF EGYPT Behold, Yahweh is riding on a fleet, thick cloud, And He comes to Egypt; The forbidden idols of Egypt sway before Him, And the heart of Egypt, it is melted within it.

2 I tangle Egypt with Egypt, And they will fight, each against his brother, And each against his associate, City against city, kingdom against kingdom.

3 The spirit of Egypt will be made void within it, And I shall swallow up its counsel, And they will inquire of the forbidden idols and of the sorcerers, And of the mediums and of the wizards.

4 I will hold Egypt in check in the hand of a harsh lord, And a strong king, he shall rule over them, averring is the Lord Yahweh of hosts.

5 The waters from the sea will be absorbed, And the stream, it shall become drained and be dry.

6 The streams will evaporate; The waterways of lower Egypt will be impoverished and become drained; Reed and weed, they will wither.

7 Naked places will show on the waterway at the mouth of the waterway, And everything sown along the waterway, it shall dry up; It will be whisked away and be no more.

8 The fishermen will be plaintive, And all will mourn who fling fishhooks into the waterway, And those who spread a dragnet on the surface of the waters, they will waste away.

9 Ashamed will be those who serve in carded flax And the weavers of pale cotton.

10 Its settled ones will become crushed, All the workers for hire sorry of soul.

11 Yea, the chiefs of Zoan are fools; The wise of Pharaoh’s counselors give irrational counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh: I am a son of the wise, A son of former kings?

12 Where are they indeed, your wise? Pray, let them tell you, And let them make known what Yahweh of hosts has counseled concerning Egypt.

13 The chiefs of Zoan are foolish; The chiefs of Noph are lured away; They lead Egypt astray, the cornerstone of its tribes.

14 Yahweh, He blends within it a depraved spirit, And they lead Egypt astray in all its doings, Like a drunkard straying in his vomit.

15 There shall not be for Egypt any work That head or tail, frond or rush can do.

16 In that day Egypt shall become like the women, so that it will tremble and be afraid, In view of the waving hand of Yahweh of hosts, which He is waving over it.

17 And the ground of Judah will become a cause for giddiness to Egypt; Anyone to whom one mentions it, he shall be afraid, In view of the counsel of Yahweh of hosts, which He counsels against it.

18 In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt, Speaking the language of Canaan And swearing fealty to Yahweh of hosts; City of demolishing of idols shall be said of one.

19 In that day there shall be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt, And a monument beside its boundary to Yahweh.

20 And it will be for a sign for the eon, And for a testimony to Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to Yahweh in view of their oppressors, Then He shall send to them a Saviour, And He will descend, and He will rescue them.

21 Then Yahweh will become known to Egypt, And Egypt will know Yahweh in that day; They will serve with sacrifice and approach present, And they will vow a vow to Yahweh and pay it.

22 Yahweh will strike Egypt, striking but to heal, And they will return unto Yahweh, And He will be entreated for them and heal them.

23 In that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, And Assyria will come into Egypt, And Egypt into Assyria, And Egypt will serve with Assyria.

24 In that day Israel shall become a third with Egypt and with Assyria, A blessing within the earth,

25 With which Yahweh of hosts will bless them, saying: Blessed be My people, Egypt, And the work of My hands, Assyria, And My allotment, Israel.

Chapter 20

1 In the year the tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon king of Assyria sent him, he fought against Ashdod and seized it.

2 In that era, Yahweh spoke by means of Isaiah son of Amoz, having said: Go and unloose the sackcloth off your waist, And pull off your sandals from your feet. Hence he did so, going about naked and barefoot.

3 Then Yahweh said: Just as My servant Isaiah has gone about naked and barefoot, a three year sign and portent against Egypt and Cush,

4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captive of Egypt and the deportee of Cush, youths and elders, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks, the nakedness of Egypt.

5 And they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush, their fond hope, and because of Egypt, their beauty.

6 And the dweller of this coastland will say in that day: Behold, thus is our fond hope, where we fled for help, to be rescued from the face of the king of Assyria. How then shall we ourselves escape?

Chapter 21

1 LOAD OF THE SWAMPLAND Like sweeping whirlwinds in the Negeb that pass on, It comes from the wilderness, from a fear inspiring land

2 A severe vision is told to me: The treacherous one is being treacherous! And the devastator is devastating! Go up, Elam! Besiege, Media! I will cause all her sighing to cease.

3 Therefore my waist is filled with sore travail; Throes hold me like the throes of a woman giving birth; I am wretched from hearing; I am flustered from seeing.

4 My heart fluctuates; Shuddering, it frightens me; The twilight I wished for has put me to trembling.

5 Arrange the table! Keep watch through the watch! Eat! Drink! Rise, chief officials! Anoint the shield!

6 For thus says Yahweh to me: Go, have the watchman stand guard; What he sees, he shall tell.

7 When he sees riders, a pair of horsemen, Riders on donkeys, riders on camels, Then he will attend attentively, with great attention.

8 And the vigilant one is calling: On watch, O Yahweh, I am standing continually by day, And on my charge, I am stationed every night.

9 Behold this! Coming is a chariotry of man! A pair of horsemen! And he is responding and saying: She has fallen! Babylon has fallen! And all the carvings of her elohim are broken to the earth!

10 My threshed people, And son of my threshing site, What I have heard from Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, I have told to you.

11 LOAD OF DUMAH Someone is calling to me from Seir: Guard, what is left of the night? Guard, what is left of the night?

12 The guard replies: Morning has arrived, But again night. If you would petition, petition; Turn about; come hither!

13 LOAD IN ARABIA In the wilds, in Arabia, you shall lodge all night, Caravans of Dedanites.

14 Come hither with water to meet the thirsty one, Dwellers of the land of Tema; Succor the wanderer with bread for him.

15 For they have bolted away from the presence of swords, From the presence of a deployed sword, From the presence of the positioned bow, And from the presence of the heaviness of war.

16 For thus says Yahweh to me: In yet three years, like the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar will vanish.

17 And the remnant of the number of bowmen, the masters of the sons of Kedar, shall be few, for Yahweh Elohim of Israel, He has spoken.

Chapter 22

1 LOAD OF THE RAVINE OF ZION What happened to you, indeed, That you go up, all of you, to the housetops?

2 A city full of tumults! Clamoring is the joyous town! Your slain are not slain by the sword, Nor are your dead, the dead of battle.

3 All your captains, they had bolted away together; Without a bow they are taken prisoner; All your resolute, they are taken prisoner together; Though they had run far away.

4 Therefore I said: Be heedless of me; I am bitter with lamentation; Do not rush to comfort me over the devastation of the daughter of my people.

5 For a day of discomfiture and destruction And trampling and perplexity is my Lord’s, Yahweh of hosts; In the ravine of Zion is a scooping through the sidewall And a straying to the hill country.

6 Elam lifts up the quiver with manned chariot and horsemen, And Kir unveils the shield.

7 So it comes to be that the choicest of your vales are full of chariots, And the horsemen are set, yea set at the gate.

8 So they shall expose the portiere of Judah; Then you shall look in that day to the armory of the wildwood house;

9 As for the rents of the city of David, you will see that they are numerous, And you shall bring together the water of the lower reservoir to the city;

10 The houses of Jerusalem you will count off, And you shall tear down the houses to defend the wall.

11 And you will make a moat between the two walls For the water of the ancient reservoir, Yet you will not look to its Maker from the beginning, And its Former from of old you will not see.

12 My Lord Yahweh of hosts shall call for lamentation in that day, And for wailing and for baldness and for girding on sackcloth.

13 Yet behold: elation and rejoicing, Killing from the herd and slaying from the flock, Eating flesh and drinking wine, Saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die.

14 Yet it is revealed in my ears by Yahweh of hosts: Assuredly no propitiatory shelter can be made for this depravity of yours before you die, says my Lord, Yahweh of hosts.

15 Thus says my Lord, Yahweh of hosts: Go, enter unto this royal steward, before Shebna, who is over the household, and you will say to him,

16 What have you here? And whom have you here, that you hewed out a tomb for yourself here? (He is hewing out his tomb on the height, delineating a tabernacle for himself in a crag!)

17 Behold, Yahweh of hosts shall hurl you as one casts forth a cloak, and He shall muffle you, yea muffle.

18 He shall twirl you, yea twirl with a twirling, like a ball, into a land wide on all sides. There you shall die, and there will be your chariots of glory, dishonor of the house of your lord.

19 I will thrust you from your station, And from your standing shall I pull you down.

20 And it will come to be in that day, I will call to My servant, to Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21 I will clothe him with your tunic, and your sash shall I fasten on him, and your rule shall I give into his hand. He will become a father to the dweller of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

22 And I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; he will open and none shall lock, and he will lock and none shall open.

23 I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.

24 They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all the small vessels, from the vessels of goblets unto all the vessels of crocks.

25 In that day, averring is Yahweh of hosts, The peg that was fastened in a sure place shall be removed, And it will be hacked down and fall, And the load that was on it will be cut off, For Yahweh, He has spoken.

Chapter 23

1 LOAD OF TYRE Howl, ships of Tarshish! For it is devastated without a home, without an entrance; From the land of Kittim it is revealed to them.

2 Be still, dwellers of the coastland, Merchants of Sidon, those crossing the sea, they filled you;

3 And through many waters came seed of Shihor; The harvest of the Nile was her income, And she became the mart of nations.

4 Be ashamed, Sidon! For the sea speaks, The stronghold of the sea, saying: I have not travailed, Nor have I given birth; I have not brought up choice young men, Nor raised up virgins.

5 As soon as the report comes to Egypt, They shall travail as to the report of Tyre.

6 Pass on to Tarshish; Howl, dwellers of the coastland!

7 Was this the joyous town for you, Whose antiquity is from days of long ago, Whose feet fetched her to sojourn afar?

8 Who counseled this against Tyre, the crown giver, Whose merchants were chiefs, Whose traffickers were the illustrious of the earth?

9 Yahweh of hosts, He counseled it To profane the pomp of all stateliness, To dishonor all the illustrious of the earth.

10 Serve your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish; Ships have no wharf any longer.

11 His hand, He stretched out over the sea; He caused the kingdoms to be disturbed; Yahweh of hosts, He enjoined as to Canaan to exterminate its strongholds.

12 And He said: No longer shall you continue to be joyous, Throttled, virgin daughter of Sidon; Arise, pass over to Kittim; Even there you shall not find rest for yourself.

13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans; this people became nothing; Assyria devastated it to be for desert-beasts; They raised up its siege-towers; They denuded its citadels; He made it a fallen heap.

14 Howl, ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is devastated.

15 It will come to be in that day, Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, as the days of one king. After the end of seventy years, it shall be to Tyre like the song of the prostitute:

16 Take a harp; Go around the city, forgotten prostitute; Be skillful in playing, Multiply songs that you may be remembered.

17 And it will come to be after the end of seventy years, Yahweh shall visit Tyre, and she will return to her fee. And she will prostitute herself with all kingdoms of the earth on the surface of the ground.

18 It will come to be that her merchandise and her fee will be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be treasured nor safeguarded, for her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before Yahweh, for eating to satisfaction and for well-made attire.

Chapter 24

1   Behold Yahweh making the land void And evacuating it! He will contort its surface And scatter its dwellers.

2 It will be like people, like priest; Like servant, like his lord; Like handmaid, like her mistress; Like buyer, like seller; Like lender, like borrower; Like creditor, like him over whom he is creditor,

3 The land shall be voided, yea voided, And plundered, yea plundered, For Yahweh, He has spoken this word.

4 The land is mournful, it decays; The habitance is wasted away, it decays; The highest of the people of the land are wasted away,

5 And the land, it is polluted under its dwellers. For they trespass the laws; They change the statute; They annul the eonian covenant.

6 Therefore an imprecation, it devours the land, And the dwellers in it are held guilty. Therefore the dwellers of the land grow pale, And of the people only a bit remains.

7 The grape juice is mournful; The vine is wasted away; All the people rejoicing of heart sigh.

8 The elation of tambourines ceases; The tumult of the joyous is halted; The elation of the harp ceases.

9 They no longer drink wine with song, And intoxicant is bitter to those who drink it.

10 The town of chaos is broken down; Every house is locked against entry.

11 Yelling over wine is in the streets! All rejoicing is in its evening; The elation of the land is deported.

12 There remains for the city, desolation, And the gate shall be pounded to decimation.

13 All shall become thus within the land, In the midst of the peoples, like the after-gleaning of an olive tree, Like clean-gleanings when the vintage is finished.

14 They shall lift up their voice; They shall be jubilant at the augustness of Yahweh; They will make a noise from the sea;

15 Therefore, in the coastlands they will glorify Yahweh, In the coastlands of the sea the Name of Yahweh, Elohim of Israel.

16 From the wings of the land we hear psalms: Stately honor to the Righteous One. Yet I am saying: Leanness is mine! Leanness is mine! Woe unto me! The treacherous deal treacherously; Yea with treachery the treacherous deal treacherously.

17 Alarm and dark hole and snare Upon you are they, dweller of the land.

18 And it will be that the one who flees from the sound of the alarm, he shall fall into the dark hole; And the one who ascends from the midst of the dark hole, he shall be seized by the snare. For the crevices of the height, they will be opened, And the foundations of the earth shall quake.

19 The earth will be smashed, yea smashed, The earth will be quashed, yea quashed, The earth will be made to slide, yea slide.

20 The earth shall sway, yea sway like a drunkard, And it will be shaken like a hut; Its transgression will be heavy upon it, And it will fall and not rise again.

21 It will come to be in that day, Yahweh shall call to account the host of the heights in the height, And the kings of the ground on the ground.

22 They will be gathered, a gathering imprisoned in a crypt And enclosed in an enclosure, And for many days they shall be called to account.

23 The moonbeams will be abashed, And the sunshine will be ashamed, For Yahweh of hosts will reign in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, And in front of His elders shall He be glorified.

Chapter 25

1   O Yahweh, my Elohim are You! I shall exalt You; I shall acclaim Your Name! For You perform a marvel, Counsels from of old that are faithful. Amen!

2 For You make a city into a mound, A fortressed town into a fallen heap, A citadel of the arrogant from being a city; It shall not be rebuilt for an eon.

3 Therefore a humble people shall glorify You; A town of terrifying nations shall fear You.

4 For You are a Stronghold for the poor one, A Stronghold for the needy one in his distress, A Refuge from the storm, A Shade from the scorching heat; For the spirit of the terrifiers is like a storm against the sidewall.

5 Like scorching heat in an arid place, You shall allay the tumult of the arrogant; Like scorching heat in the shadow of a thick cloud, the triumph psalm of terrifiers, it shall be humbled.

6 Yahweh of hosts will make for all the peoples, on this mountain, A feast of rich foods, a feast of lees, Rich foods of marrow, wine of filtered lees.

7 And He will swallow up on this mountain The presence of the wrap which is wrapped over all the peoples, And the blanket which is blanketing over all the nations.

8 He will swallow up death permanently, And my Lord Yahweh will wipe away every tear from all faces, And the reproach of His people He shall take away from the entire earth, For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

9 And one will say in that day: Behold, this is Yahweh our Elohim; We are expectant in Him, and He shall save us; This is Yahweh; We are expectant in Him; let us exult, And let us rejoice in His salvation.

10 For the hand of Yahweh shall rest on this mountain, Yet Moab will be stomped on under Him, As crushed straw is stomped on in a manure pit;

11 And within it he will spread out his hands, Just as the swimmer spreads them to swim; Yet He will abase his pride, Along with the lairs made by his hands;

12 And the impregnable fortress of your walls He will prostrate, He will abase, He will bring in contact with the earth, unto the dust.

Chapter 26

1 In that day, this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: Behold, we have a strong city; And our salvation shall He set for walls and rampart.

2 Open the gates, and a righteous nation shall enter, One that is keeping truths.

3 A stabilized bent You shall preserve in peace, In peace because it trusts in You.

4 Trust in Yahweh into the futures of the future, Indeed in Yah, Yahweh, the Rock for the eons.

5 For He prostrates the dwellers of the height; The impregnable town, He shall abase it; He shall abase it unto the earth; He shall bring it in contact with the dust.

6 The foot shall tramp it down, Feet of the humble, Footsteps of the poor.

7 The path for the righteous is straight; O Straight One, You shall balance the route of the righteous.

8 Indeed in the path of Your judgments, O Yahweh, we are expectant in You; For Your Name and for Your law is the yearning of our soul.

9 With my soul I yearn for You in the night; Indeed with my spirit within me I seek You early; For as a light Your judgments will be to the earth; The dwellers of the habitance will learn righteousness.

10 If the wicked is shown grace he will fail to learn righteousness; In a land of correct ways, he will commit iniquity, And he will fail to see the augustness of Yahweh.

11 O Yahweh, they shall fail to perceive Your hand exalted; Yet they shall perceive and be ashamed by the zeal of the people; Indeed, the fire prepared for Your foes, it shall devour them.

12 O Yahweh our Elohim, You shall set peace on the hearthstones for us, For indeed, all our doings You have made for us.

13 O Yahweh our Elohim, other lords besides You have possessed us; In You alone shall we commemorate Your Name.

14 The dead shall fail to live, And Rephaim shall fail to rise; Therefore You will call to account, and You shall exterminate them, And You shall destroy every remembrance of them.

15 You will add to the nation, O Yahweh, You will add to the nation; You will be glorified; You will extend all the ends of the land afar.

16 O Yahweh, in distress they note You; They pour out a whispered prayer in Your discipline for them.

17 Like a pregnant woman who is coming near to bear, Who is travailing, Who is crying out in her cramps, So have we become because of You, O Yahweh.

18 We have become pregnant, we travail, Yet it is as though we bear wind. We fail to execute Your salvation on the earth, That the dwellers of the habitance may fall no more.

19 Your dead shall live! Their carcasses shall rise! Awake and be jubilant, tabernaclers of the soil! For the dew of light is your dew, And the land shall keep the Rephaim felled.

20 Go, my people, enter your chambers, And close your double doors about you; Hide but a little moment until the menace shall pass.

21 For behold, Yahweh is coming forth from His holy place To visit the depravity of the earth’s dwellers upon it; The earth will expose its bloodshed, And no longer shall it cover over its killed.

Chapter 27

1   In that day, Yahweh shall visit with His sword, Hard, great and steadfast, Upon the dragon, the fugitive serpent, Even upon the dragon, the tortuous serpent, And He will kill the monster which is in the sea.

2 In that day, there will be a coveted vineyard; Sing in response to it.

3 I, Yahweh, am its Preserver; Moment by moment I shall irrigate it lest anyone visit harm upon it; Night and day I shall preserve it.

4 Fury I will have none; If anyone should set against Me buckthorn and spines, In battle I certainly would stride against them; I would ravage them altogether;

5 But when one should hold fast in My strength, He shall make peace with Me. He shall make peace with Me.

6 In the coming days Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and bud, And they will fill the face of the habitance with produce.

7 Has He smitten him like the smiting of those smiting him? Or has he suffered killing like the killing of those killing him?

8 In moderation You are contending with her when sending her away. He removes her away with His stiff wind in the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore in this shall a propitiatory shelter be made for the depravity of Jacob, And this is My propitiatory shelter to take away his sin. When he makes all the altar stones like shattered chalk stones, The Asherah poles and incense stands shall not rise.

10 For the fortressed city will be solitary; The homestead will be left alone and forsaken like a wilderness; There a calf shall graze and there recline, And it will consume its leafy boughs;

11 When its harvest branches dry up, they shall be broken; Women shall come, lighting fires with them. For this is not a people of understanding; Therefore its Maker shall not show it compassion, And its Former shall not be gracious to it.

12 It will come to be in that day, Yahweh shall beat gleanings from the trail of the Stream unto the Wadi of Egypt, And you yourselves shall be gleaned one by one, sons of Israel.

13 It will also come to be in that day, a great trumpet shall be blown, And those perishing in the land of Assyria will come, And the outcasts in the land of Egypt, And they will worship Yahweh in the holy Mount in Jerusalem.

Chapter 28

1   Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim, And to the decaying blossom of his stately beauty, Which lies at the head of the fertile ravine of those battered by wine.

2 Behold, Yahweh has one who is steadfast and resolute Like a hail storm, like a stinging hurricane, Like a storm of waters, abundant, overflowing, That He will hurl down to the earth by His hand.

3 It shall be tramped down by feet, The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

4 And it will become The decaying blossom of his stately beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile ravine It will become like the firstfruit ere the summer, Which, when the vigilant one is seeing it, While it is still in his palm, he is swallowing it up.

5 In that day, Yahweh of hosts shall become a stately crown And a chaplet of beauty for the remnant of His people,

6 And a spirit of right judgment for him who sits in judgment, And mastery for those who turn back the battle at the gate.

7 Yet these also err by wine, And they stray by intoxicant: Priest and prophet, they err by intoxicant; They are swallowed up because of the wine; They stray because of the intoxicant; They err in sight; They quaver in discernment.

8 Indeed all the tables, they are full of vomit, Filth, without a place left.

9 Whom shall He direct in knowledge, And whom shall He cause to understand a report? Those weaned from milk, just taken from breasts?

10 For instruction is added to instruction, Instruction to instruction, principle to principle, Principle to principle, a bit here, a bit there.

11 Indeed with deridings of lip, And in another tongue, He shall speak to this people,

12 He Who has said to them: This is the resting place; Give rest to the faint; This is the respite. Yet they would not hearken.

13 Hence the word of Yahweh comes to them: Instruction is added to instruction, Instruction to instruction, principle to principle, Principle to principle, a bit here, a bit there, That they may walk and stumble back, And be broken and trapped and seized.

14 Wherefore, hear the word of Yahweh, you mocking men, Proverb-quoters of this people who are in Jerusalem.

15 For you say: We have contracted a covenant with death, And with the unseen we have made a treaty; The overflowing scourge, when it passes, it shall not come on us, For we have made a lie our refuge, And in falsehood we are concealed.

16 Wherefore, thus says my Lord, Yahweh: Behold, I am laying a foundation stone in Zion, A choice stone, a precious corner, a well-founded foundation; The one believing, he shall not be put to shame.

17 And I will make right judgment the measuring tape, And righteousness the plummet; Then hail will scoop away the refuge of the lie, And waters shall overflow the place of concealment.

18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, And your treaty with the unseen, it shall not stand firm; The overflowing scourge, when it shall pass, You will be the one tramped down by it.

19 As often as it passes it shall take you; Indeed morning by morning it shall pass, By day and by night, And it will be sheer stirring horror to comprehend the report.

20 For the berth is too short to stretch forth oneself, And the blanket is too narrow to wrap up oneself,

21 For as at Mount Perazim, Yahweh shall rise; As at the vale in Gibeon, He shall rage up To do His work; alien is His work! And to serve His service; foreign is His service!

22 So now, do not mock lest your bonds should hold fast; For of a decisive conclusion have I heard from my Lord, Yahweh of hosts, On the entire land.

23 Give ear and hear My voice; Attend and hear My word.

24 Is the plowman plowing the entire day to sow, Is he continually opening and harrowing his ground?

25 Does he not, when he has leveled out its surface, Scatter dill and sprinkle cumin, And place wheat in its setting, And barley as marked off, And spelt along its boundary?

26 He disciplines him as to right judgment; His Elohim, He is directing him.

27 For not with spikes is dill threshed, Nor is the cart wheel turned around over cumin; But with a rod is dill flailed, And cumin with a club.

28 Bread grain, it must be pulverized; For not permanently is one threshing it, yea threshing; Even if the rolling wheel of his cart rumbles over it With his steeds, he is not pulverizing it.

29 This too from Yahweh of hosts, it has come forth, Who is marvelous in counsel, And He is great in sagacity.

Chapter 29

1   Woe! Ariel, Ariel, town where David camped, Add year to year, while festivals, they run their cycle.

2 Yet I will constrain Ariel, And there will come to be complaint and complaining, And it will come to be to Me like an ariel.

3 I will encamp against you like David, And I will besiege you from a garrison And raise siege works against you.

4 Abased, you shall speak from the earth, And from the soil your speech shall be bowed down; Your voice will be like a medium from the earth, And from the soil your speech shall chirp.

5 And the throng of your arrogant ones will become like pulverized dust, And the throng of the terrifiers like passing trash; It will come in an instant, suddenly:

6 You shall be visited by Yahweh of hosts, With thunder and with earthquake and a great sound, With sweeping whirlwind and tempest and blaze of devouring fire.

7 And it will come to be like a dream, a night vision, The throng of all the nations, those enlisted against Ariel, And all the hosts against her and the fastness against her, And those constraining her.

8 It will come to be as when a famishing man is dreaming, And behold, he is eating, Yet he awakes, and his soul remains empty, Or as when a thirsty man is dreaming, And behold, he is drinking, Yet he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and his soul is unappeased; So shall be the throng of all the nations, those enlisted against Mount Zion.

9 Dally and be amazed! Entertain yourselves and revel! Be drunk, yet not from wine! Sway, yet not from intoxicant!

10 For Yahweh has libated on you a spirit of stupor, And He has sealed down your eyes the prophets, And has covered your heads the visionaries.

11 So the entire vision shall become to you like the words of a sealed scroll, Which, when they give it to one acquainted with script, Saying: Please read this, he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.

12 And if the scroll is given to one who is not acquainted with script, Saying: Please read this, he says, I am not acquainted with script.

13 And Yahweh is saying: Because this people comes close to Me with its mouth, And with its lips they glorify Me, Yet its heart, it is far from Me, And their fear of Me is becoming an instruction of mortals that is learned,

14 Therefore, behold, I am continuing to distribute this people, And I shall distribute them, And the wisdom of its wise will perish, And the understanding of its understanding ones shall conceal itself.

15 Woe to those digging deep to conceal their counsel from Yahweh, So that it comes to be that in darkness are their deeds, And they say, Who is seeing us, And who is knowing about us?

16 O your waywardness! As the clay should the Potter be accounted? Indeed shall what is made say of its Maker, He did not make me? Or does what is formed say of its Former, He does not understand?

17 Is it not only a little bit now when Lebanon will turn about into crop land And the crop land be accounted as wildwood?

18 The deaf will hear in that day the words of a scroll, And from gloom and darkness, blind eyes, they shall see.

19 Then the humble shall add to their rejoicing in Yahweh, And the needy of humanity shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For the terrifier will reach his limit, And the mocker will be finished, And all who are alert for lawlessness will be cut off,

21 Those who make a person a sinner with a word, And for the arbitrator in the gateway they lay a trap And are turning aside the righteous into a chaos.

22 Therefore, thus says Yahweh to the house of Jacob, He Who parted Abraham: Not now shall Jacob be ashamed, And not now shall Israel’s face grow pale.

23 For when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They shall hallow My Name, And they shall hallow the Holy One of Jacob, And before Elohim of Israel they shall be awestricken.

24 Those who stray in spirit will know understanding, And murmurers, they shall learn from monition.

Chapter 30

1   Woe to stubborn sons! averring is Yahweh. In making counsel, yet not from Me, And in libating a libation, yet not of My spirit, That they may add sin upon sin,

2 Who go descending to Egypt, yet did not ask at My mouth, To seek strength in Pharaoh’s stronghold, And to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt.

3 Yet Pharaoh’s stronghold will become your shame, And the refuge in the shadow of Egypt, mortification.

4 Though his chiefs come to be in Zoan, And his messengers, they attain to Hanes,

5 All are put to shame on account of a people who are not benefitting them, Not for help nor for benefit, But for shame and even for reproach.

6 The load of the beasts of the Negeb: In a land of distress and aridity and constraint, Of lioness and long-maned lion, yet there is no water, Of puff-adder and burning flying serpent, They carry their estate on the shoulders of colts, And their treasures on the humps of camels, On behalf of a people who shall not benefit them.

7 Egypt is vanity, and they shall help with nought; Therefore I call this one: An audacity are they that shall cease.

8 Now come; write it on a tablet before them, And delineate it on a scroll, That it may come to be for a later day, For the future, unto the eon.

9 For it is a rebellious people, sons of dissimulations, Sons who would not hearken to the law of Yahweh,

10 Who say to the seers, You shall not direct us, And to the visionaries, You shall not envision correctives for us. Speak slick words to us; Envision trifles.

11 Withdraw from the way; Turn aside from the path; Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease before us.

12 Therefore, thus says the Holy One of Israel: Because you have rejected this word And are trusting in extortion and deviousness, and are leaning on it,

13 Therefore, this depravity shall become to you like a breach falling in, A bulging in an impregnable wall, Of which, suddenly, in an instant, its breaking is coming.

14 Its breaking is like the breaking of a potter’s crock, Pounded to pieces unsparingly, And no shard shall be found among its fragments To rake fire from a glowing hearth Or to skim water from a pool.

15 For thus says my Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel: In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and in trust shall your mastery come; Yet you are not willing to hear.

16 And you are saying, No! for we shall flee on a horse; Therefore you shall flee; And we shall ride on a fleet beast; Therefore your pursuers shall also be fleet.

17 One thousand before the threat of one, Before the threat of five, you shall flee, Until you would be left like a mast on a mountain top Or like a banner on a hill.

18 Yet wherefore, Yahweh is tarrying to show you grace, And wherefore, He is raising up to show you compassion, For Yahweh is the Elohim of right judgment; Happy are all tarrying for Him.

19 For a holy people shall dwell in Zion; In Jerusalem you shall not lament, nay lament; He shall show you grace, yea grace at the sound of your outcry; As soon as He hears He will answer you.

20 Though Yahweh will give you the bread of distress And the water of oppression, Yet your Director no longer shall hem Himself in, And your eyes will come to see your Director,

21 And your ears, they shall hear a word behind you, saying: This is the way; walk in it, In case you turn right or in case you turn left.

22 You will defile your silver-overlaid carvings, And your gold-invested molten image; You shall toss them away like a menstrual cloth; Filth, shall you say to it.

23 Then He will give rain for your seed with which you shall sow the ground, And bread, the yield of the ground, And it will be full of richness and nutritious; Your cattle shall graze in that day in a broad meadow,

24 And the domestic animals and the donkey colts that serve the ground, they shall eat sour fodder, Which is winnowed with winnowing shovel and with winnowing fork.

25 And there will come to be on every lofty mountain And on every uplifted hill, rillets, runnels of water, In that day of great killing, When the towers fall.

26 Then the light of the moonbeam will be like the light of the sunshine, And the light of the sunshine, it shall be sevenfold like the light of seven days, In the day when Yahweh binds up the brokenness of His people, And the lesion of His smiting He shall heal.

27 Behold, the Name of Yahweh comes from afar, His anger consuming, With a heavy load; His lips, they are full of indignation, And His tongue like devouring fire,

28 And His spirit like an overflowing wadi, which is dividing at the neck, To wave the nations with a wave of ruination, And a bridle on the cheeks of the peoples, leading astray.

29 There shall be a song for you as on a night when a festival is sanctified, And rejoicing of heart as when one is going with a flute, To come unto the Mount of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.

30 Then Yahweh will make the splendor of His voice heard, And He shall show the settling down of His arm, With turbulent anger and blaze of devouring fire, A shattering blast and a storm and hail stones.

31 For at the voice of Yahweh, Assyria shall be undone; With a club shall He smite them.

32 And it will be that every passing of His disciplinary rod, Which Yahweh shall settle on him, Will be with tambourines and harps, And with waving battles He shall battle against them.

33 For a pyre is arranged from past days; Even it, for the king is it prepared; He has deepened, has widened its stack for fire and much wood; Yahweh’s breath, like a wadi of sulphur, shall be consuming it.

Chapter 31

1   Woe to those going down to Egypt for help! On horses are they leaning, And they are trusting in chariots because they are many, And on horsemen because they are very plentiful; They do not heed the Holy One of Israel, And of Yahweh they do not inquire.

2 Yet indeed He is wise, and He shall bring evil, And His words He does not withdraw; He rises against the house of evildoers And against the help of those contriving lawlessness.

3 Yet the Egyptians are human and not El, And their horses are flesh and not spirit. When Yahweh, He is stretching out His hand, Then the one helping will stumble, And the one helped will fall, And together all of them shall be finished.

4 For thus says Yahweh to me: Just as the lion snarls, or the sheltered lion, over its prey When a full force of shepherds is called against it, By their voice it is not dismayed, Nor by their clamor is it humbled, So Yahweh of hosts shall descend to rally His host on Mount Zion and on its hill.

5 Like birds flying, so Yahweh of hosts shall protect Jerusalem; Protecting, He will rescue, And passing over, He will make a way of escape.

6 Return to Him from Whom they have deepened defection, sons of Israel!

7 For in that day each one shall reject his forbidden idols of silver And his forbidden idols of gold, which your hands have made for yourselves in sin.

8 Then the Assyrian will fall by a sword, not of a man, And a sword, not of a human, it shall devour him; And he will flee for himself from the presence of the sword, Yet his choice young men shall be for tributary service;

9 His crag, it shall pass away because of shrinking fear, And his chiefs will be dismayed because of the banner, Averring is Yahweh, Whose firelight is in Zion And Whose stove is in Jerusalem.

Chapter 32

1   Behold, according to righteousness a King shall reign, As for chiefs, according to right judgment shall they control.

2 A Man will be like a hiding place from the wind And a place of concealment from the storm, Like rillets of water in an arid place, Like the shadow of a massive crag in a fainting land.

3 The eyes of those who see shall not squint, And the ears of those who hear shall be attentive;

4 The heart of those who are hasty shall understand knowledge, And the tongue of the stammerers shall hasten to speak fluently.

5 No longer shall the decadent one be called princely, Nor shall it be said of the miser: saviour.

6 For the decadent one speaks decadence, And his heart works lawlessness, To practice pollution And to speak confusion about Yahweh, To make the soul of the famished empty, And he abates the drink of the thirsty.

7 As for the miser, his instruments are evil; He himself counsels schemes to harm the humble with false words, And when the needy one speaks, he shatters right judgment.

8 Yet the princely one counsels willingness, And he himself is standing firm on willingness.

9 Self-satisfied women, rise up and hear My voice; Complacent daughters, give ear to My word.

10 In days over a year, you shall be disturbed, complacent ones, For the vintage will fail; The gathering shall come as nothing at all.

11 Tremble, self-satisfied ones; Be disturbed, complacent ones; Strip and denude yourselves, with but a girdle skirt on the loins,

12 On the wailing breasts. Over the coveted field, Over the fruitful vine,

13 Over My people’s ground, thorn and buckthorn shall grow up, Indeed over all the houses of elation, the joyous town.

14 For the citadel, it will be abandoned, The clamorous city, it will be forsaken; Fort and lookout, such will become caves into the future, unto the eon, An elation of onagers, Pasture for droves,

15 Until the spirit from the height shall be emptied out upon us; Then the wilderness will become crop land, And crop land shall be accounted as wildwood.

16 Then right judgment will tabernacle in the wilderness, And righteousness, it shall dwell in the crop land.

17 Then the work of righteousness will be peace, And the service of righteousness, quietness and trust unto the eon.

18 Then My people will dwell in a homestead of peace, And in serene tabernacles, And in tranquil resting places.

19 Though it will hail when the wildwood descends, When the city shall be brought low in a low place,

20 Happy are you, those who sow by all the water, Who send forth the foot of the bull and the donkey.

Chapter 33

1   Woe, devastator, you who have not been devastated, And treacherous one, yet they have not dealt treacherously with you; When you come to end devastation, you shall be devastated! When you have culminated dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with you.

2 O Yahweh, be gracious to us; Toward You are we expectant; Become our arm in the mornings, Indeed, our salvation in the time of distress.

3 Because of the sound of clamor the peoples wander; Because of Your thunder the nations are scattered.

4 And your loot is gathered as the gathering of the beetle; As the onrushing of hoppers shall one rush upon it.

5 Impregnable is Yahweh, For He is tabernacling in the height; He fills Zion with judgment and righteousness,

6 And He becomes the faithfulness of your times; The safeguard of salvation, wisdom and knowledge is the fear of Yahweh; This is its treasure.

7 Behold, the Arielites cry outside! The messengers of peace, they are lamenting bitterly.

8 The highways are desolated; He who passes along the path has ceased. One has annulled a covenant, has rejected witnesses, Has accounted mortal man as nothing.

9 It is mournful; The land is wasted away; Lebanon is abashed; It withers; Sharon has become like the Arabah, And Bashan and Carmel are shaking off their leaves.

10 Now I shall arise, Yahweh is saying; Now I shall be exalted; Now I shall be lifted up.

11 You shall become pregnant with chaff; You shall generate stubble; Your spirit is a fire that shall devour you.

12 The peoples will become burnings of lime; Like thorns obliterated, they shall be ravaged by fire.

13 Hear, you who are afar, what I have done, And know, you who are near, My mastery.

14 Sinners in Zion are afraid; Quivering holds the polluted. Who among us shall sojourn through devouring fire? Who among us shall sojourn through eonian glowings?

15 He who walks in righteousness, And speaks upright words, Who rejects gain from extortions, Who shakes his palms from upholding a bribe, Who closes up his ears from hearkening to blood plans, And who seals down his eyes from seeing evil,

16 He shall tabernacle on the heights; Fastnesses in crags will be his impregnable retreat; His bread shall be provided, His water assured.

17 The King in His loveliness shall your eyes perceive; They shall see a land of far distances.

18 Your heart shall soliloquize concerning the past dread: Where is the scribe? Where is the weigher? Where is he who counted off the towers?

19 The impudent people you shall see no more, The people too deep of lip to make out, A stammering tongue which is without understanding.

20 Perceive Zion, town of our appointments; Your eyes shall see Jerusalem as a tranquil homestead, A tent one shall no more pack up; Its pegs one shall never uproot again, permanently, And all its rope lines shall be pulled away no more.

21 But rather there Yahweh will be for us in nobility, A place of streams, waterways broad in expanse, On which no galley fleet shall ever go, And no noble boats shall ever cross them.

22 For Yahweh is our Judge; Yahweh is our Statute-Maker; Yahweh is our King; He Himself shall save us.

23 Your rope lines are abandoned; They shall no more hold fast your mast in its socket; They will no more spread out the banner. Then loot in increase shall be apportioned unto the blind; The lame, they will plunder the plunder.

24 And by no means shall the tabernacler say: I am ill; For the people who dwell in it, depravity will be lifted.

Chapter 34

1   Draw near, nations, to hear, And folk, attend! Let the earth hear, and its fullness, The habitance and all its offsprings.

2 For wrath has Yahweh against all the nations, And fury against all their host; He will doom them; He will give them up to slaughter.

3 Their slain, they shall be flung away, And from their corpses their stink shall ascend; The mountains will be melted from their blood,

4 And the vales shall be putrefied; All the host of the heavens shall decay, And the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall decay as a leaf decays from the vine, And like a decaying leaf from a fig tree.

5 When My sword has been satiated in the heavens, Behold, on Edom it shall descend, And on the people I have doomed for judgment.

6 A sword has Yahweh; it is full of blood; It lubricates itself with fat, With the blood of butting lambs and he-goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams; For a sacrifice has Yahweh in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 Wild bulls will go down with them, And young bulls with the sturdy beasts; Their earth will be soaked with blood, And their soil shall be greased with fat.

8 For a day of vengeance has Yahweh, A year of repayments for Zion’s cause.

9 Its wadis will be turned to pitch, And its soil to sulphur, And its earth will become pitch blazing forth;

10 By night and by day it shall not be quenched; For the eon its smoke shall ascend; From generation to generation it shall be deserted; For a permanency of permanencies there shall be no one passing in it.

11 The pelican and the hedgehog will take it over, And the eagle owl and the raven, they shall roost in it; One will stretch out over it the measuring tape of chaos And the plumb stones of vacancy.

12 Its notables no kingdom shall be there that they can proclaim; And all its chiefs, they shall come to be nil.

13 Briars will come up in its citadels, The stinging nettle and thistle in its fortresses, And it will become a homestead of wild jackals, A court for ostriches.

14 Desert-beasts will encounter desert-howlers, And the wild hairy goat shall call to his mate; Yea, there the hoot owl will lull And find a resting place for itself.

15 There the scops owl will nest; It shall lay eggs and hatch them, And it will brood over them in its shadow; Yea, there the black kites will be convened, each with her mate.

16 Inquire from the scroll of Yahweh, and read: None of these will be missing; Not one will miss her mate, For His mouth, it will instruct them, And His spirit, it will convene them.

17 He Himself will cast the lot for them, And His hand, it will apportion it to them by measuring tape; Until the eon they shall take it over; For generation after generation they shall roost in it.

Chapter 35

1   The wilderness and the arid place shall be elated in them. Let the Arabah exult; It shall bud like a narcissus;

2 It shall bud, yea bud; Let it exult, indeed, with exultation and jubilant song; The glory of the Lebanon will be given to it, The honor of Carmel and Sharon; My people, they shall see the glory of Yahweh, The honor of our Elohim.

3 Make steadfast the hands of the slack, And the faltering knees make resolute;

4 Say to those with hastening hearts, Be steadfast, do not fear; Behold, your Elohim, with vengeance He shall come! With the requital of Elohim! He Himself shall come and save you!

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be unclosed, And the ears of the deaf, they shall be opened;

6 Then the lame one shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the mute person shall be jubilant. For waters will break forth in the wilderness, And watercourses shall flow in the Arabah;

7 The parched sink will become a pond, And the thirsty ground founts of water, In the homestead of wild jackals, a morass, A court for reed and papyrus.

8 A highway, a clean one, will be there, And it shall be called the holy way; The unclean one shall not pass over it, Since it is for His people, in walking the way, Yet fools, they shall not stray therein.

9 No lion shall come there, Nor shall any ferocious animal ascend it; It shall not be found there. Yet the redeemed will walk in it,

10 And the ransomed of Yahweh, they shall return; They will enter Zion with jubilant song And with eonian rejoicing on their heads; Elation and rejoicing shall overtake them, And affliction and sighing will flee.

Chapter 36

1 It came to be in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched up against all the fortressed cities of Judah and took possession of them.

2 And the king of Assyria sent the rab-shakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a massive army. So he stood by the trench of the uppermost reservoir at the highway of the field of the launderer.

3 Then there came forth to him Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.

4 The rab-shakeh said to them, Now you tell Hezekiah, Thus speaks the great king, the king of Assyria: What is this trust in which you have trusted?

5 You claim to have counsel and mastery for the war, yet this is only a word of lips. Now on whom have you trusted that you revolted against me?

6 Behold, you have trusted on the support-staff of this fractured reed, on Egypt, which if a man should support himself on it, would enter into his palm and pierce it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all those trusting on him.

7 And in case you should say to me, On Yahweh our Elohim we trust, is He not the One Whose high-places and Whose altars Hezekiah took away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Before this altar shall you worship?

8 Now then, negotiate with my lord the king of Assyria. Let me give you two thousand horses, if you are able for your part to put any riders on them.

9 Then how could you reverse the face of one viceroy of my lord’s least significant officials when you, for your part, trusted on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

10 And now, is it apart from Yahweh that I have come up against this land to ruin it? Yahweh Himself said to me, March up against this land and ruin it.

11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah replied to the rab-shakeh: Speak, we pray, to your servants in Syrian, for we can make it out. Do not speak to us in Judean in the ears of the people who are on the wall.

12 Yet the rab-shakeh said: Was it to your lord and to you that my lord has sent me to speak these words? Was it not rather to the men sitting on the wall, who shall eat their own excrement and drink their urine with you?

13 Then the rab-shakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in Judean. He said, Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria.

14 Thus speaks the king: Let not Hezekiah lure you, for he is not able to rescue you.

15 Let not Hezekiah make you trust in Yahweh, saying, Yahweh shall rescue, yea rescue us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

16 Do not hearken to Hezekiah. For thus speaks the king of Assyria: Make of me a blessing, and come forth to me, and eat each man of his vine and each man of his fig tree, and drink each man the water of his cistern,

17 until I come and take you to a land like your land, a land of grain and grape juice, a land of bread and vineyards.

18 Beware lest Hezekiah should allure you, saying, Yahweh Himself shall rescue us. Did the elohim of the nations rescue any man’s land from the hand of the king of Assyria?

19 Where are the elohim of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the elohim of Sepharvaim? When have they rescued Samaria from my hand?

20 Which among all the elohim of these lands rescued their land from my hand, assuring you that Yahweh shall rescue Jerusalem from my hand?

21 Yet they kept silence and did not answer him a word; for this had been the king’s instruction, saying, You shall not answer him.

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah, with their garments torn, and they told him the words of the rab-shakeh.

Chapter 37

1 It came to be when king Hezekiah heard it that he tore his garments, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of Yahweh.

2 He also sent Eliakim who was over the household and Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3 They said to him, Thus speaks Hezekiah: A day of distress, reproof and indignity is this day, as when sons have come to the point of breaking forth, yet there is no vigor to give birth.

4 Perhaps Yahweh your Elohim shall hearken to the words of the rab-shakeh, whom the king of Assyria his lord has sent to reproach the living Elohim, and He will reprove him for the words that Yahweh your Elohim has heard. Now lift up a prayer in behalf of the remnant that is found in this city.

5 When the officials of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah,

6 Isaiah said to them, Thus you shall say to your lord, Thus speaks Yahweh: Do not stand in fear because of the words that you have heard with which the retainers of the king of Assyria taunted Me.

7 Behold, I am putting a spirit in him; he will hear a report and return to his land; and I will fell him by the sword in his own land.

8 Now the rab-shakeh had turned back and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah; for he had heard that he had decamped from Lachish.

9 Yet the king of Assyria heard a report about Tirhakah king of Cush, saying, He has marched forth to fight against you. When he heard, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying,

10 Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying: Let not your Elohim, in Whom you are trusting, lure you into thinking that Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.

11 Behold, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands to doom them; and shall you be rescued?

12 Have the elohim of the nations rescued them, those which my fathers ruined, Gozan and Charan, Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Tel-assar?

13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah and Samaria?

14 Hezekiah took the scrolls from the hand of the messengers and read it and went up to the house of Yahweh. Then Hezekiah spread it out before Yahweh,

15 and Hezekiah prayed to Yahweh, saying:

16 O Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, dwelling over the cherubim, You by Yourself alone are He, Who is the One Elohim over all the kingdoms of the earth. You Yourself have made the heavens and the earth.

17 Stretch out Your ear, O Yahweh and hear! Unclose Your eyes, O Yahweh, and see! And hear all the words of Sennacherib that he has sent to reproach the living Elohim.

18 It is true, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria did drain all the lands and their land,

19 and put their elohim into the fire and destroyed them; for they were no elohim, but rather the work of human hands, wood and stone.

20 And now, O Yahweh our Elohim, save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You, Yahweh, by Yourself alone are Elohim.

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh Elohim of Israel: What you prayed to Me as to Sennacherib king of Assyria have I heard.

22 This is the word that Yahweh has spoken against him: She despises you! She derides you! The virgin daughter of Zion. Behind you, she wags her head! The daughter of Jerusalem.

23 Whom have you reproached and taunted? And against Whom have you raised high your voice And lifted up your eyes to the height? Against the Holy One of Israel!

24 By means of your servants, you have reproached Yahweh. And you said, With the multitude of my chariots I myself have ascended the height of mountains, The flanks of Lebanon, And I have cut down its tall stand of cedars, Its choicest firs. I have entered its outmost height, Its Carmel wildwood.

25 I myself scooped and drank alien waters, And I have drained with the sole of my feet all the waterways of lower Egypt.

26 Have you not heard? From of old I purposed it; From days aforetime also I formed it. Now I have brought it to pass that you have come into being To decimate fortressed cities into crumbled mounds.

27 Their dwellers are shorthanded, Are dismayed and ashamed; They have become like herbage of the field And green vegetation, Grass of the housetops, Blasted before the east wind;

28 Your rising and your sitting down, Your going forth and your coming in, I know, And your ranting against Me.

29 Because your ranting against Me And your self-satisfaction have ascended into My ears, So I will place My gaff in your nose, And My bit in your lips, And I will reverse you in the way by which you came.

30 Now this is the sign for you: Eat this year the self-sown and in the second year spontaneous growth. Yet in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

31 The salvage that remains of the house of Judah will proceed to take root downward and will yield fruit upward.

32 For from Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, And a salvage from Mount Zion. The zeal of Yahweh of hosts, it shall achieve this.

33 Wherefore thus speaks Yahweh as to the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow there, Nor confront it with a shield, Nor pour out earthwork against it.

34 By the way which he came, by it he shall return, Yet into this city he shall not enter. This is the averring of Yahweh.

35 I will protect this city to save it on My own account and on account of My servant David.

36 Then a messenger of Yahweh went forth and smote 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When the king’s men rose early in the morning, behold, there were all their dead corpses.

37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria decamped, went away and returned home, and he dwelt in Nineveh.

38 Then it came to pass while he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his elohim that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword. As for them, they escaped to the land of Ararat; and his son Esarhaddon reigned in his stead.

Chapter 38

1 In those days Hezekiah was ill to death. So Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him and said to him, Thus speaks Yahweh: Give instruction to your household, for you are going to die; you shall not remain alive.

2 Hezekiah turned his face around to the sidewall and prayed to Yahweh,

3 saying, Oh, Yahweh! Remember, I pray, how I have walked before You in faithfulness and wholeheartedly, and I have done what is good in Your eyes. Then Hezekiah lamented with great lamentation.

4 After this Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying,

5 Go, and you will say to Hezekiah, Thus speaks Yahweh, the Elohim of your father David: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add to your days fifteen years;

6 and from the palm of the king of Assyria I shall rescue you and this city. I will protect this city on My own account and on account of My servant David.

7 And this is the sign for you from Yahweh that Yahweh shall perform this word that He has spoken:

8 Behold, I shall reverse the shadow on the steps (that had descended on the stairs of the upper chamber of Ahaz), by the sun, back again ten steps. And the sun turned back ten steps on the stairs which it had descended.

9 A written psalm by Hezekiah king of Judah when he was ill and revived from his illness:

10 I myself said, In the height of my days I must go into the gates of the unseen; I am made to miss the rest of my years.

11 I said, I shall not see Yah, Yah in the land of the living, And I shall not look on humanity further Or the dwellers of transience.

12 My lifespan is uprooted And is deported from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He is clipping me from the thrum. From day unto night, You are finishing me up.

13 I composed myself until the morning; Like a lion, so He is breaking all my bones; From day unto night, You are finishing me up.

14 Like a swift, a thrush, so am I chirping; I am cooing like a dove. My eyes are weakened in looking to the height; O Yahweh, threatening is for me; Be surety for me!

15 What shall I speak? He speaks to me, And He Himself does it. I shall pilgrimage all my years on account of the bitterness of my soul.

16 O Yahweh, on account of them they shall be lived, And for all in them, my spirit will have life; You console me and preserve me alive.

17 Behold, it was for well-being that it was very bitter for me, Yet You Yourself kept back my soul from the pit of decay, For You have flung all my sins behind Your back.

18 Indeed the unseen cannot acclaim You, Nor can death praise You; And those who descend into a crypt cannot look forward to Your faithfulness.

19 The living! the living one! he is acclaiming You as I do today; The father makes known to his sons Your faithfulness.

20 Yahweh is to save me, And we shall play my accompaniments all the days of our lives at the house of Yahweh.

21 (Now Isaiah had said, Let them take up pressed dried figs and put a poultice on the boil that he may revive.

22 Yet Hezekiah had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?)

Chapter 39

1 In that era, Merodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent scrolls and a present to Hezekiah when he heard that he had been ill yet was mending.

2 Hezekiah rejoiced over them and showed them all his treasure house, the silver and the gold, the aromatics and the good oil, his whole house of weapons and all that was to be found in his treasuries. There was not a thing that Hezekiah did not show them in his house and in all his realm.

3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah and demanded of him, What did these men say? And from where did they come to you? Hezekiah replied, They came from a far land to me, from Babylon.

4 Isaiah asked, What did they see in your house? Hezekiah said, They saw everything that is in my house. There is not a thing that I did not show them in my treasuries.

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Yahweh of hosts:

6 Behold, days are coming when all that is in your house and that your fathers treasured until this day will be carried off to Babylon. Not a thing shall be left, says Yahweh.

7 And some of your sons, who shall come forth from you, whom you shall beget, they shall be taken away. And they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

8 Hezekiah replied to Isaiah, Good is the word of Yahweh that you have spoken. For he thought, Indeed peace and faithfulness shall come to be in my days.

Chapter 40

1   Comfort, oh comfort My people! saying is your Elohim.

2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and proclaim to her That her enlistment is fulfilled, That her depravity is dealt with benevolently, That she has taken from the hand of Yahweh shelters from all her sins.

3 A voice of one proclaiming: In the wilderness surface the way of Yahweh, And make straight in the Arabah a highway for our Elohim!

4 Every ravine, it shall be lifted up, And every mountain and hill, they shall be brought low; The crooked will become straight, And the knobby terrain a level valley.

5 The glory of Yahweh will be revealed, And all flesh will see the salvation of Elohim. For the very mouth of Yahweh, it has spoken.

6 A voice saying: Proclaim! And I said, What shall I proclaim? All flesh is grass, And all its glory is as the blossom of the field.

7 Grass dries up, Blossom decays, For the spirit of Yahweh, it turns about against it. Surely the people are grass.

8 Grass dries up, Blossom decays, Yet the word of our Elohim, it shall stand firm for the eon.

9 On a lofty mountain get you up, tidings-bearer, to Zion! Raise high your voice with vigor, tidings-bearer, to Jerusalem! Raise it high! Do not fear! Say to the cities of Judah: Behold your Elohim!

10 Behold, my Lord Yahweh, He shall come with steadfastness, And His arm ruling for Him; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His wage is before Him.

11 Like a shepherd He shall graze His drove; In His arm He shall gather the lambkins together, And in His bosom He shall carry them; He shall conduct those recently freshened.

12 Who measures the waters in the hollow of His hand, Gauges the heavens with a span, Contains the soil of the earth in a peck measure, And weighs with a balance the mountains And the hills with scales?

13 Who gauges the spirit of Yahweh And is informing Him as a man of His counsel?

14 With whom does He take counsel? And who is giving Him understanding, Is teaching Him in judgment’s path, Is teaching Him knowledge And is informing Him the way of understanding? Or who gives to Him first, And it shall be repaid to him?

15 Behold, all nations are as a drop from a bucket, And as dust on the scales are they accounted; Behold, like thinnest gauze He lifts up the coastlands.

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient for consuming, And all its animals are not sufficient for an ascent offering.

17 And all the nations are as nothing in front of Him; Less than nil and a chaos are they accounted by Him.

18 To whom then shall you liken El, And what likeness shall you arrange for Him?

19 A carving? A craftsman makes a molten image, And a goldsmith, he stamps it with gold, Refining chains of silver.

20 The careful one, as a heave offering, chooses wood that shall not rot; He seeks for himself a wise craftsman to prepare a carving that shall be immovable.

21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning? Have you not gained understanding from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is He Who sits over the circle of the earth, So that its dwellers are like grasshoppers, Who is stretching out the heavens like thinnest gauze And is billowing them out like a tent to dwell in.

23 It is He Who is bringing chancellors to nothing; Judges of the earth He makes to be like chaos.

24 Hardly are they planted, Hardly are they sown, Hardly is their set slip rooted in the earth, When also He sends a breeze against them, and they dry up, And a tempest, it bears them away like stubble.

25 To whom then shall you liken Me, And to whom shall I be equal? the Holy One is saying.

26 Lift your eyes to the height and see; Who created all these? He Who is bringing forth their host by number, He is calling to them all by name; Because of the greatness of His virility and His resolute vigor not one is missing.

27 Why, Jacob, are you saying, And, Israel, are you speaking: My way is concealed from Yahweh, And my judgment is passed over by my Elohim?

28 Do you not know? Or do you not hear? The Elohim eonian is Yahweh, Creator of the ends of the earth; He does not faint Nor is He wearied; There is no fathoming of His understanding.

29 He is giving vigor to the faint, And to one who is without virility He is increasing staunchness.

30 Youths may faint and be wearied, And choice young men may stumble, yea stumble,

31 Yet those who are expectant in Yahweh, they shall rejuvenate with vigor; They shall ascend on pinions like vultures; They shall run and not be wearied; They shall walk and not faint.

Chapter 41

1   Be renewed before Me, coastlands, And let the folk be rejuvenated with vigor; Let them come close, then let them speak; Let us come near together for judgment.

2 Who rouses one from the east? In righteousness He is calling him to His feet; He is setting the nations before him, And over kings is he holding sway; And He is giving them like dust to his sword, Like stubble, whisked away to his bow.

3 He is pursuing them; He is passing on in peace, a path he has not entered before with his feet.

4 Who effects and does these things, Calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the First, And with the last generations I am He!

5 The coastlands see and are fearful; The ends of the earth are trembling. They draw near and are arriving;

6 Each is helping his associate, And to his brother he is saying, Be steadfast.

7 So the craftsman is encouraging the goldsmith, He who smooths with the forge hammer, him who hammers on the anvil, Saying of the soldering, It is good. And one is making it fast with nails that it shall be immovable.

8 Now you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, The seed of Abraham, who loved Me,

9 Whom I have encouraged from the ends of the earth, And from its distant parts I have called you; I say to you: My servant are you; I have chosen you, And I have not rejected you!

10 Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not gaze wonderingly, for I am your Elohim; I make you resolute; Indeed I help you; Indeed I uphold you with the right hand of My righteousness!

11 Behold, they shall be ashamed and mortified, all who were heated against you; They shall become as nothing; And the men in contention against you shall perish.

12 You shall seek them yet not find them; The men in a strife against you, they shall become as nothing, And as nil, the men at war upon you.

13 For I am Yahweh, your Elohim, Who holds fast your right hand, Who says to you: Do not fear; I Myself help you.

14 Do not fear, worm Jacob, Dying ones of Israel; I Myself help you, averring is Yahweh, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

15 Behold, I have constituted you a threshing sledge, Spiked, new, possessing serrated edges; You shall thresh mountains and pulverize them, And you shall make hills like trash.

16 You shall winnow them, And the wind, it shall carry them away, And the tempest, it shall scatter them; Yet you shall exult in Yahweh, And in the Holy One of Israel you shall boast.

17 The humble and the needy are seeking water, yet there is none; Their tongue, it is parched with thirst. I Yahweh, I shall respond to them, The Elohim of Israel, I shall not forsake them.

18 I shall open streams on the ridges, And springs in the midst of the valleys; I shall convert the wilderness into a pond of water And the arid land into flowing wells of water.

19 I shall bestow the cedar in the wilderness, The acacia and the myrtle and the oleaster tree; I shall place the fir in the Arabah, The elm and the box tree together,

20 That they may see and know, And they may consider and contemplate together, For the hand of Yahweh, it did all this, Yea the Holy One of Israel, He created it.

21 Bring your cause near, saying is Yahweh Elohim; Bring close your staunch arguments, saying is the King of Jacob.

22 Let them come close and tell Us what shall happen. The former things, tell what they were, And We shall indeed set Our heart on it; And let Us indeed know their hereafter, Or announce to Us the things to come.

23 Tell what will arrive hereafter, And We shall certainly know that you are elohim. Indeed, you shall do good and do evil, And let Us certainly gaze wonderingly and stare together.

24 Behold, you are from nothing, And your contrivance is from nullity; One who is choosing you is an abhorrence.

25 I rouse one from the north, and he shall arrive, From the sunrise, and he shall proclaim in My Name; He shall trample prefects as clay, And as a potter is tramping mud.

26 Who has told from the beginning so We would certainly know? And from beforetime so We would say, It is right? Indeed, there was none telling; Indeed, none announcing; Indeed, there was no one having heard your sayings.

27 First to Zion, behold, behold them; And to Jerusalem I shall give a tidings-bearer.

28 Yet should I examine, there is no man, And of these, there is no counselor, That I should ask them, And they should reply with a word.

29 Behold, all of them are nothing, And their deeds are nil; Wind and chaos are their molten images.

Chapter 42

1   Behold, My Servant! I am upholding Him; My Chosen One Whom My soul holds dear! I have bestowed My spirit upon Him, And He shall bring forth right judgment to the nations.

2 He shall not cry out nor lift His voice, Nor shall He make His voice heard in the street.

3 A reed that is bruised, He shall not break, And a flaxen wick that is dim, He shall not quench it; Unto truth He shall bring forth right judgment,

4 And He shall not be dimmed nor bruised Until He should place right judgment in the earth And the coastlands wait for His law.

5 Thus says the One, El, Yahweh, Creator of the heavens, Who stretched them out, Who stamped out the earth and its output, Who gives breath to the people on it And spirit to those walking in it.

6 I, Yahweh, I call You in righteousness, And I shall hold fast to Your hand; I shall preserve You And give You for a covenant of the people, For a light of the nations,

7 To unclose the eyes that are blind, To bring forth the prisoner from the enclosure, And those dwelling in darkness from the house of detention.

8 I am Yahweh; that is My Name, And My glory I shall not give to another, Or My praise to carvings.

9 The former things, behold, they came; Now I will tell the new; Ere they are sprouting I shall announce them to you.

10 Sing to Yahweh a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, You who go down to the sea, and its fullness, The coastlands, and their dwellers.

11 The wilderness and its cities shall be elated, The hamlets where somberness is dwelling, And the dwellers of the crag shall be jubilant; From the summit of the mountains they shall yell.

12 They shall attribute glory to Yahweh And tell forth His praise among the coastlands.

13 Yahweh Himself shall go forth like a master, Like a man of wars, He shall rouse up zeal; He shall shout; indeed He shall loudly roar; He shall have mastery over His enemies.

14 Yea, I have hushed from the eon, saying, I shall be silent; I shall check Myself. Like one giving birth, I shall shout out; I shall breathe and gasp together.

15 I shall drain mountains and hills, And all their herbage shall I dry up; I shall convert streams into sandbars, And the ponds shall I dry up.

16 I will conduct the blind in a way they do not know, And in tracks they do not know I shall cause them to tread; I shall convert darkness before them to light, And rough places to level ground; These are the things that I do, And I do not forsake them.

17 They are turned away backward; They shall be ashamed, yea ashamed, who trust in a carving, Who say to a molten image, You are our elohim.

18 You deaf ones, hear! And blind ones, look to see!

19 Who is blind save My servant? And so deaf as My messenger whom I am sending? Who is so blind as My confidant? And so deaf as the servant of Yahweh?

20 You see much, yet you are not observing; Ears unclosed, yet you are not hearkening.

21 Yahweh, He has delight for the sake of His righteousness, And He may magnify the law and ennoble it.

22 Yet this is a people plundered and robbed, Snared in holes, all of them, And in houses of detention are they hidden; They have come to be for plunder, and there is no rescuer, For robbery, and no one says, Restore.

23 Who among you shall give ear to this, Shall attend and hearken for the hereafter?

24 Who has given Jacob to the robber, And Israel to the plunderers? Is it not Yahweh, against Whom they have sinned? For they have not been willing to walk in His ways, And they have not hearkened to His law.

25 So He shall pour out the fury of His anger on him, And the strength of the battle, And it shall set him aflame round about, Yet he will not know, and it shall consume within him, Yet he shall not set it to heart.

Chapter 43

1   And now, thus says Yahweh, your Creator, Jacob, And your Former, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name. You are Mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you, And through the streams, they shall not overflow you; When you go through the fire, you shall not be scorched, And the blaze, it shall not consume you.

3 For I, Yahweh, am your Elohim, The Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer, I give Egypt as your shelter, Cush and Seba in your stead.

4 Because you are precious in My eyes, You are glorified, and I Myself love you, I shall give humanity in your stead, And the folk instead of your soul.

5 Do not fear, for I am with you! From the east I shall bring your seed, And from the west I shall convene you.

6 I shall say to the north, Give, And to the south, Do not close off; Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth,

7 Everyone who is being called by My Name; And for My glory I created him; I formed him; indeed I made him.

8 Bring forth that people, blind, yet there are eyes, And deaf, yet they have ears.

9 All the nations are convened together, And the folk are being gathered. Who among them shall tell this And announce to Us the former things? Let them give their testimonies and show themselves righteous, And let others hear and say, That is the truth.

10 You are My witnesses, averring is Yahweh, And My servant whom I have chosen, That you may know and believe Me, And you may understand that I am He: Before Me no el was formed, And after Me none shall come to be.

11 I, I am Yahweh, And there is no Saviour apart from Me.

12 I Myself tell and save and announce, And there is no alien god among you; And you are My witnesses, averring is Yahweh, And I am El.

13 Ever since day was, I am He, And there is no rescuing from My hand; I shall effect it, and who shall reverse it?

14 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: On your account I send to Babylon, And I bring down the bars, all of them, And the Chaldeans in the ships of their jubilant song.

15 I am Yahweh, your Holy One, Creator of Israel, your King.

16 Thus says Yahweh, Who is making a way in the sea, And in the strong waters, a track,

17 Who is bringing forth chariot and horse, And army and the strong: Together they shall lie down; They shall rise no more; They are extinguished; Like a flaxen wick they are quenched.

18 Do not be mindful of the former things, And do not consider those preceding.

19 Behold, I am doing a new thing; Now it is sprouting; Do you not know it? Indeed, I am placing a way in the wilderness, Tracks in the desolation.

20 The animals of the field shall glorify Me, Wild jackals and ostriches; For I provide water in the wilderness, Streams in the desolation; To give drink to My people, My chosen.

21 This people I have formed for Myself, And they shall recount My praise.

22 Yet you have not called to Me, Jacob, For you have been wearied of Me, Israel.

23 You have not brought Me the flockling of your ascent offerings, And with your sacrifices you have not glorified Me. I have not burdened you with an approach present, Nor have I wearied you with frankincense.

24 You have not bought aromatic reed for Me with silver, And with the fat of your sacrifices, you have not satiated Me. Rather you have burdened Me with your sins; You have wearied Me with your depravities.

25 I! I am He Who wipes out your transgressions on My own account, And your sins I shall not remember further.

26 Remind Me, and let us seek judgment together; Recount your case that you may show yourself righteous.

27 Your first father, he sinned, And your intermediaries, they transgressed against Me.

28 So I shall profane the holy chief officials, And I shall give Jacob to doom, And Israel to taunts.

Chapter 44

1   And now hear, Jacob My servant, And Israel whom I have chosen.

2 Thus says Yahweh, your Maker, And your Former from the belly, your Helper, Do not fear, My servant Jacob, And Yeshurun whom I have chosen.

3 For I shall pour water on the thirsty, And floods on the dry ground; I shall pour My spirit on your seed, And My blessing on your offsprings.

4 And they will sprout like grass between waters, Like oleanders by runnels of water.

5 This one shall say, I belong to Yahweh, And this one shall call in the name of Jacob; And this one shall write on his hand: Belongs to Yahweh, And by the name of Israel he shall entitle himself.

6 Thus says Yahweh, King of Israel, And his Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, And apart from Me there is no Elohim.

7 Who is like Me? Let him stand and call out and tell it! And let him arrange it for Me, From the time of My appointing the eonian people; Both the things arriving and the things that shall come, Let them tell those to you !

8 Do not be afraid, and do not fear! Have I not from of yore announced to you and foretold? You are My witnesses; Is there an Eloah apart from Me? There is no other Rock; I know none.

9 The formers of a carving, all of them are ineffectual, And their coveted idols bring no benefit; They are their own witnesses; They neither see nor know, So that they may be ashamed.

10 Who would form an el, And fabricate a carving to no benefit?

11 Behold, all his partners, they shall be ashamed; And the craftsmen, they turn red; Let them convene, all of them; Let them stand up; they shall be afraid; They shall be ashamed together.

12 The craftsman in iron, he incises with an adz, And he contrives in the coals; With hammers he shall form it And contrive it with his vigorous arm; Yet when famished, there is no vigor; When he does not drink water, he grows faint.

13 The craftsman in wood, he stretches out a measuring tape; He shall draw it with red ocher; He shall work it with gouges, And with a compass he shall draw it And make it like a model of a man, Like the beauty of a human, to dwell in a house.

14 He will cut cedars for himself, And he shall take a juniper or an oak, Made firm for him among the trees of the wildwood, Which the Lord planted, And the downpour, it made it grow great.

15 It becomes fuel for a human to consume, And he shall take from them and warm himself; Indeed he shall ignite it and bake bread; Indeed he shall make an el and worship; He makes it a carving and shall fall down to it.

16 Half of it he burns in the fire, And on this half, he shall eat flesh; He shall roast a roast and be satisfied; Indeed he shall warm himself and say: Aha, I am warm; I see the firelight.

17 And the remainder of it he makes into an el; His own carving! To it he shall fall down, And he shall worship and pray to it, and say: Rescue me, for you are my el.

18 They do not know, And they are not understanding, For He has plastered their eyes from seeing, Their hearts from intelligence.

19 One is not recalling it to his heart, And there is neither knowledge nor understanding enough to say: Half of it I burned in the fire, And indeed I baked bread over its embers; Should I roast flesh and eat and make the rest of it an abhorrence? Should I fall down to a decaying block of wood?

20 Grazing on ashes, his heart, it is deluded; It has turned him aside, And he cannot rescue his soul, And he is not saying: Is this not a falsehood in my right hand?

21 Remember these things, Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I formed you; a servant unto Me are you; Israel, you shall not be consigned to oblivion by Me.

22 For behold, I have wiped out your transgressions like a dense haze, And your sins like a cloud; Do return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

23 Be jubilant, heavens, for Yahweh has done it! Raise a joyful shout, nether parts of the earth! Burst forth with jubilant song, mountains, Wildwood, and every tree in it! For Yahweh has redeemed Jacob, And in Israel He shall show His beauty.

24 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, And your Former from the belly: I am Yahweh, Maker of all, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, Stamping out the earth, and who was with Me?

25 Annulling the signs of deceiving inventors, He is making diviners rave; Causing the wise to turn about backward, He is making their knowledge look silly;

26 Confirming the word of His servant, He is performing the counsel of His messengers, Who is saying as to Jerusalem: It shall be indwelt, And as to the cities of Judah: They shall be rebuilt, And its deserted places, I shall raise them up;

27 Who is saying to the shadowy deep: Be drained; I shall dry up your streams;

28 Who is saying as to Cyrus: He is My shepherd, And all My desire he shall perform, So as to say of Jerusalem: It shall be rebuilt, And the temple: It shall be founded.

Chapter 45

1   Thus says Yahweh to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I hold fast, To hold sway over nations before him, I shall ungird the waists of kings, To open before him double doors, And gates, they shall not be closed:

2 I Myself shall go before you, And I shall level mountains; I shall break down doors of bronze And hack down bars of iron;

3 I give you treasures of darkness And buried goods of concealment, That you may know that I, Yahweh, Calling you by your name, am the Elohim of Israel.

4 On account of My servant Jacob, And Israel My chosen, I am calling you by your name; I am entitling you, yet you do not know Me.

5 I am Yahweh, and there is no other; Except for Me, there is no Elohim; I am forearming you, yet you do not know Me,

6 That they may know, From the rising of the sun and from the west, That there is no one apart from Me; I am Yahweh, and there is no other.

7 Former of light and Creator of darkness, Maker of good and Creator of evil, I, Yahweh, make all these things.

8 Drip down from above, heavens, And let the skies distil righteousness; Let the earth open up, Let salvation bud, And let righteousness sprout together with it; I, Yahweh, I create it.

9 Would anyone contend with his Former? Earthenware of the ground with its artificer? Shall the clay say to its potter, What are you making? Or your contrivance say, It has no hands?

10 Would anyone say to a father, What are you begetting? Or to a woman, With what are you in travail?

11 Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and its Former, Of the things arriving, ask Me; Yet concerning My children and concerning the deeds of My hands, shall you instruct Me?

12 I Myself made the earth, And I created humanity on it; I, My hands, they stretched out the heavens, And all their hosts have I instructed.

13 I Myself rouse him in righteousness, And all his ways I shall make straight. He shall rebuild My city, And My deportees he shall let go, Not for a price, And not for a bribe, Says Yahweh of hosts.

14 Thus says Yahweh: The labor of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush And the Sabeans, men of measure, They shall pass over to you, And they shall become yours; They shall walk behind you; They shall pass in manacles; And to you shall they bow down, And to you they shall reverently avow: Only among you is El, And there is no other, no other Elohim.

15 Surely You are El, concealing Yourself, O Elohim of Israel, Saviour.

16 They are ashamed and also mortified, all of them together, And they walk in mortification, these craftsmen of forms.

17 Israel, he is saved by Yahweh with an eonian salvation; You shall not be ashamed nor mortified for future eons.

18 For thus says Yahweh, Creator of the heavens; He is the One, Elohim, the Former of the earth and its Maker, He Himself established it; He did not create it a chaos; He formed it to be indwelt: I am Yahweh, and there is no other;

19 Not in concealment have I spoken, In a dark place of the earth; I did not say to the seed of Jacob: Seek Me in a chaos! I am Yahweh, speaking righteousness, telling that which is upright.

20 Convene yourselves and come; Come close together, delivered ones of the nations; They do not know, those who carry their wooden carving And who pray to an el who cannot save.

21 Tell and come close; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from aforetime, Has told it hitherto? Was it not I, Yahweh? And there is no other Elohim apart from Me; A righteous El and a Saviour, there is none except Me.

22 Turn toward Me and be saved, all the limits of the earth, For I am El, and there is no other.

23 By Myself have I sworn; From My mouth has gone forth righteousness, A word, and it shall not turn back; For to Me shall bow every knee, And every tongue shall swear fealty.

24 Only in Yahweh one will say to Me are righteousness and strength. Unto Him shall each one come, And all who were heated against Him shall be ashamed.

25 In Yahweh shall they be found righteous, And shall all the seed of Israel boast.

Chapter 46

1   Bel bows down; Nebo stoops! Their fetishes are for animals and for beasts, Things for you to carry, things to be ladened, A load for the faint.

2 They stoop; They bow together; They cannot escape the load, And their soul, it goes away into captivity.

3 Hearken to Me, house of Jacob, And all the remnant of the house of Israel, Who have been ladened on Me from the belly, And who have been carried from the womb:

4 Even unto old age I am the Same, And unto your greyhaired age, I Myself shall bear the burden; I Myself have made, and I Myself shall bear; I Myself shall bear the burden, and I shall give you escape.

5 To whom shall you liken Me or make Me equal Or compare Me that we should be alike?

6 Those who squander gold from the purse And are weighing out silver on the reed scales, They are hiring a goldsmith that he may make it into an el, And they fall down; Indeed they worship.

7 They lift it on their shoulders, They bear its burden, And they settle it in its spot. Then it stands there; It shall not remove itself from its place. Indeed, one shall cry out to it, and it shall not answer; From his distress it shall not save him.

8 Remember this, and be ashamed; Recall it to heart, transgressors.

9 Remember the former things from the eon, For I am El, and there is no other! Elohim! and no other like Me!

10 Telling from the beginning, the hereafter, And from aforetime what has not yet been done, Saying, All My counsel, it shall be confirmed, And all My desire shall I do;

11 Calling from the sunrise, a bird of prey, From a land afar, a man of My counsel, Indeed I have spoken; Indeed I shall bring it to pass! I have formed the plan; Indeed I shall do it!

12 Hearken to Me, sturdy of heart, who are far from righteousness:

13 I bring near My righteousness; It shall not be far off, And My salvation, it shall not delay; And I will bestow salvation in Zion, for Israel, My beauty.

Chapter 47

1   Go down, and sit on the soil, virgin daughter of Babylon! Sit on the earth, without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans! For never again shall they call you tender and delicate.

2 Take millstones, and grind meal; Roll back your face veil; Strip off your skirts; Expose the leg; Wade across streams.

3 Exposed shall be your nakedness; Even your reproach shall be seen! I shall take vengeance And shall not intercede for any human,

4 Says our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His Name, the Holy One of Israel.

5 Sit still, and enter into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans, For never again shall they call you Mistress of the kingdoms.

6 I was wrathful over My people, And I profaned My allotment; So I gave them into your hand; You did not show them compassions; On the old one you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

7 Yet you are saying, For the eon I shall be the mistress still; You have not taken these things to heart; You are not mindful of its hereafter.

8 And now hear this, luxuriant one, the one dwelling in serenity, Saying in her heart, I, and no one else! I shall not sit as a widow, Nor shall I know bereavement.

9 Yet these two shall come to you in a moment, in one day: Bereavement and widowhood; Suddenly they come on you with your many enchantments, With the plentifulness of your charms exceedingly.

10 You are trusting in your knowledge; You have said, There is no one seeing me; Your wisdom and your knowledge, this has turned you back, And you are saying in your heart, I, and no one else!

11 Yet evil will come on you, And you shall not know its dawn; And woe shall fall on you; You shall not be able to find shelter from it; Ruination shall come on you suddenly, And you shall not foreknow it.

12 Stand now among your charms And among your many enchantments, With which you have labored from your youth; Perhaps you shall be able to benefit; Perhaps you shall terrify.

13 You have tired yourself with your many counsels; Let them stand now and save you, The astrologers and the stargazers, those who inform by the new moons, From the things that are coming on you.

14 Behold, they become like stubble; Fire, it burns them up; They cannot rescue their soul from the hand of the blaze; This is no ember for warming them, or firelight to sit in front of it.

15 Thus have they become to you, those with whom you have labored; Your merchants from your youth, each has strayed to his own passage; There is no one saving you.

Chapter 48

1   Hear this, house of Jacob, Who are called by the name of Israel, And who came forth from the waters of Judah, Who swear by the Name of Yahweh, And who make mention of the Elohim of Israel, Not in truth, And not in righteousness.

2 For from the holy city are they called, And by the Elohim of Israel are they supported; Yahweh of hosts is His Name.

3 The former things hitherto I foretold, And from My mouth they came forth, And I announced them; Suddenly I did them, And they came to pass.

4 Due to My knowledge that you are obstinate, That an iron sinew is the nape of your neck And your forehead is bronze,

5 I was also foretelling to you hitherto; Ere it was coming to pass I announced it to you, Lest you should say, My fetish, it did them, And my carving and my molten image determined them.

6 You have heard! Perceive it all! Yet you, are you not telling? I announce to you new things henceforth, Unsearchable things, and you have not known them.

7 Now are they created, yet not hitherto; Before their day, you had not heard them, Lest you should say, Behold! I knew them.

8 Indeed you had not heard; Indeed, you had not known; Indeed, hitherto I did not open your ear. For I knew you are treacherous, yea treacherous, And a transgressor from the belly are you called.

9 On account of My Name I shall be long suffering in My anger, And for My praise I shall repress it toward you, so as not to cut you off.

10 Behold, I refined you, yet not as silver; I tested you in the crucible of humiliation.

11 On My account, on My account shall I do it, For how should My Name be profaned? And My glory I shall not give to another.

12 Hearken to Me, Jacob, And Israel, My called one; I am He, I am the First; Indeed I am the Last.

13 Indeed My hand, it founded the earth, And My right hand, it measured out the heavens. I am calling to them; they shall stand together.

14 Be gathered together, all of you, and hearken; Who among you has foretold these things? Yahweh, He loves him, he who shall do His desire in Babylon, When His arm is on the Chaldeans.

15 I, yea I Myself speak; Indeed I call him; I bring him, and I prosper his way.

16 Come near to Me! Hear this! From the beginning I did not speak in concealment; From the time it happened, I was there. (And now my Lord Yahweh, He sends me and His spirit.)

17 Thus says Yahweh your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your Elohim, Who is teaching you to benefit, Positioning you in the way you shall go.

18 O That you attended to My instructions! Then your peace should become like a stream, And your righteousness like billows of the sea.

19 Then your seed should become like the sand, And the offsprings of your bowels like its particles; Not cut off nor exterminated should be their name from before Me.

20 Come forth from Babylon! Hasten away from the Chaldeans! With voice of jubilant song, tell it; Let this be heard; Send it forth unto the ends of the earth; Say: Yahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob!

21 And they were not thirsty in the deserts where He conducted them; He caused water to flow from a rock for them; When He split the rock water gushed out.

22 There is no peace, says Yahweh, for the wicked.

Chapter 49

1   Hearken to Me, coastlands, And attend, folk from afar! Yahweh called Me from the belly; From the bowels of My mother He recorded My name.

2 He made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand, He hid Me; He made Me an ideal arrow; In His quiver He concealed Me.

3 And He said to Me, My Servant are You, Israel, in Whom I shall show My beauty.

4 And I Myself said, I have labored for nought; I have exhausted My vigor for chaos and for vanity; Surely My judgment is with Yahweh, And My wage is with My Elohim.

5 And now, thus says Yahweh, Who formed Me from the belly to be His Servant, To restore Jacob to Him, And that Israel should be gathered back to Him; I shall be glorified in the eyes of Yahweh, And My Elohim, He will become My strength.

6 And He is saying to Me: It is a slight thing for You to be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob And to restore the dispersed of Israel; I give You also for a light of the nations, To become My Salvation unto the ends of the earth.

7 Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, To the One despised of soul, To the One abhorred by a nation, To the Servant of rulers: Kings, they shall see, and they will rise, And chiefs, and they shall worship, On account of Yahweh, Who is faithful, The Holy One of Israel, Who is choosing You.

8 Thus says Yahweh: In a season acceptable I answer You, And in a day of salvation I help You; I shall preserve You And give You for a covenant of the people, To set up the land, To allot the desolated allotments,

9 To say to the prisoners, Go forth, And to those in darkness, Be revealed; On all the mountains shall they graze, And on all the ridges shall be their pasture.

10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, And the parching wind or sun shall not smite them; For He Who shows them compassion, He shall lead them. And to founts of water shall He conduct them.

11 I will make all My mountains a way, And My highways, they shall be raised up.

12 Behold, these from afar, they shall come, And behold, these from the north and from the sea, And these from the land of the Sinim.

13 Be jubilant, heavens! And exult, earth! Let jubilant song burst forth, mountains, For Yahweh comforts His people, And He is having compassion on His humble ones.

14 Yet Zion is saying, Yahweh has forsaken me, And Yahweh Himself has forgotten me.

15 Shall a woman forget her infant, Or to have compassion on the son of her belly? Even if these should forget, Yet I Myself shall not forget you!

16 Behold, I have delineated you on My palms, And your walls are in front of Me continually.

17 Your builders will hasten more than those demolishing you, And those who made you a desert shall go forth from you.

18 Lift up your eyes round about and see! All of them, they are convened; they come to you! As I live, averring is Yahweh: Indeed with them all you shall clothe yourself as an ornament, And you shall tie them on as a bride does.

19 As for your deserts and your desolate places, And your demolished land, Indeed now you shall be constricted with dwellers, Yet those who swallowed you up will be far away.

20 Furthermore the sons of your bereavements shall say in your ears: The place is too constricted for me; Make space for me that I may dwell.

21 And you will say in your heart, Who begot these for me? While I was bereaved and left stark, Deported and kept away, Who brought these up for me? Behold, I remained by myself, Yet these, where then were they?

22 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall lift up My hand to the nations, And to the peoples I shall raise high My banner, And they will bring your sons in their bosom pouch, And your daughters shall be borne on their shoulder.

23 Kings will be your foster fathers, And their chief princesses your wetnurses; Nostrils to the earth, they shall bow down to you, And the dust of your feet they shall lick up; Then you will know that I am Yahweh; Those who are expectant in Me shall not be ashamed.

24 Can booty be taken away from a master of war? Or would the captive of a terrifier be given escape?

25 For thus says Yahweh: Even the captive of a master of war shall be taken away, And the booty of a terrifier shall be given escape; With your contender I Myself shall contend, And your sons I Myself shall save.

26 I will feed those who are tyrannizing you with their own flesh, And they shall be drunk with their own blood as with new wine; Then all flesh will know that I Yahweh am your Saviour And your Redeemer, the Sturdy One of Jacob.

Chapter 50

1   Thus says Yahweh: Where is this scroll of your mother’s divorce, with which I sent her away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I sold you? Behold, for your depravities you were sold, And for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

2 For what reason, when I came, was no one there? Why when I called was no one answering? Is My hand too short to ransom? Or is there no vigor in Me to rescue? Behold, by My rebuke I shall drain the sea; I shall make streams a wilderness; Their fish shall stink because there is no water, And shall die from thirst.

3 I shall clothe the heavens with somberness, And make sackcloth their covering.

4 My Lord Yahweh, He gives Me the tongue of the taught, To know to be timely in word to the faint; He shall arouse morning by morning; He shall arouse My ear to hear like the taught.

5 My Lord Yahweh, He opens My ear; As for Me, I do not rebel; I am not turned away backward.

6 My back I give over to smiters, And My cheeks to those who tear at My beard; My face I do not conceal from mortification and spitting.

7 My Lord Yahweh, He shall help Me; Therefore I am not mortified; Therefore I set My face like flint, And I know that I shall not be ashamed.

8 Near is My Justifier; Who shall contend against Me? Let us stand together; Who is the head man of My judgment? Let him come close to Me.

9 Behold, My Lord Yahweh, He shall help Me; Who is he who shall condemn Me? Behold, all of them shall wear out like a cloak; The moth shall devour them.

10 Who among you has fear of Yahweh, Hearkening to the voice of His Servant? He who walks in darkness, And there is no brightness for him, Let him trust in the Name of Yahweh And lean on his Elohim.

11 Behold, all of you are kindlers of fire, Lighters of firebrands; Walk in the light of your fire, And by the firebrands you have blazed up. From My hand this has come on you; You shall lie down to grief.

Chapter 51

1   Hearken to Me, pursuers of righteousness, Seekers of Yahweh! Look to the rock from which you were hewn, And to the quarry-pit out of which you were picked.

2 Look to Abraham your father, And to Sarah who travailed with you; For he was but one when I called him, Yet I blessed him and increased him.

3 For Yahweh comforts Zion; He comforts all her deserted places, And He shall make her wilderness like Eden, And her gorge like the garden of Yahweh; Elation and rejoicing shall be found in her, Acclamation and the sound of melody.

4 Attend to Me, My people, And, My folk, give ear to Me! For a law shall go forth from Me, And My judgment for a light of the peoples.

5 In a moment shall I bring My righteousness near; My salvation comes forth like light, And My arms, they shall judge the peoples; For Me the coastlands shall be expectant, And for My arm they shall wait.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, And look to the earth beneath, For the heavens, like smoke, they shall be dissolved away, And the earth, like a cloak, it shall wear out, And its dwellers, they shall die like a gnat; Yet My salvation, it shall remain for the eon, And My righteousness, it shall not be undone.

7 Hearken to Me, knowers of righteousness, A people with My law in their heart; Do not fear the reproach of mortals, And by their taunts, do not be dismayed.

8 For the moth shall eat them like a cloak, And the roach shall eat them like wool; Yet My righteousness, it shall remain for the eon, And My salvation for the generation of generations.

9 Rouse! Rouse! Clothe yourself with strength, Arm of Yahweh! Rouse as in former days, in past generations of the eons! Are You not It, The Hewer of Rahab, The Wounder of the monster?

10 Are You not It, The Drainer of the sea, the waters of the vast abyss, The Placer in the depths of the sea of a way for the redeemed to pass?

11 And the ransomed of Yahweh, they shall return; They will enter Zion with jubilant song And with eonian rejoicing on their heads; Elation and rejoicing, they shall overtake them, And affliction and sighing will flee.

12 I, I am He Who is comforting you; Who are you that you are fearing A mortal who is dying, And a son of humanity who is made like grass?

13 You are forgetting Yahweh, your Maker, Who is stretching out the heavens And founding the earth; You are afraid continually, the entire day, Before the fury of the constrainer, as he prepares to ruin, Yet where is the fury of the constrainer?

14 The constricted one will hastily be unloosed, And he shall not die in the pit, Nor shall he lack his bread.

15 For I am Yahweh, your Elohim, Who splits apart the sea So that its billows clamor; Yahweh of hosts is My Name.

16 I shall place My words in your mouth, And in the shadow of My hand I will cover you, Planting the heavens and founding the earth And saying to Zion, My people are you.

17 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Arise, Jerusalem! You who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of His fury; The goblet-cup of tremoring you have drunk; you have wrung out.

18 There is no one conducting her of all the sons she has borne, And there is no one holding fast to her hand of all the sons she has brought up.

19 These pairs are happening to you: Who shall condole with you? Devastation and brokenness, And famine and sword, Who shall comfort you?

20 Your sons, they have swooned; They lie at the head of all the streets like an antelope in a noose, Those are full of Yahweh’s fury, The rebuke of your Elohim.

21 Therefore hear this now, humbled one, Drunken, yet not from wine:

22 Thus says your Lord Yahweh, And your Elohim Who is contending for His people: Behold, I take from your hand the cup of tremoring, The goblet-cup of My fury; You shall not continue to drink it any longer.

23 And I place it in the hand of your afflictors And your humblers who say to your soul, Bow down that we may pass over; So you were making your body like the earth, And like a street for those passing over.

Chapter 52

1   Rouse! Rouse! Put on your strength, Zion! Put on your beautiful clothes, Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and unclean shall not again come into you any longer.

2 Shake yourself from the dust, And arise, captive Jerusalem! Unloose the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!

3 For thus says Yahweh: Gratuitously were you sold, And not with silver shall you be redeemed.

4 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: To Egypt My people descended at first to sojourn there, And Assyria worked them harm for nothing.

5 And now, what is for Me here, averring is Yahweh, That My people were taken gratuitously? Their rulers, they are howling, averring is Yahweh, And continually the entire day My Name suffers indignity.

6 Therefore My people shall know My Name; Therefore in that day they will know that I am He Who is speaking; Behold Me!

7 How comely on the mountains are the feet of the tidings bearer, Who is announcing peace, Bearing tidings of good, Announcing salvation, Saying to Zion, Your Elohim reigns!

8 The voice of your watchmen, They lift up their voice; Together they are jubilant, For they shall see eye to eye when Yahweh returns to Zion with compassions.

9 Burst forth! Be jubilant together, deserted places of Jerusalem! For Yahweh comforts His people, And He redeems Jerusalem.

10 Yahweh bares His holy arm to the eyes of all the nations, And all the limits of the earth see the salvation of our Elohim.

11 Withdraw! Withdraw! Go forth from there! Do not touch the unclean! Go forth from her midst! Be pure, you bearers of the vessels of Yahweh!

12 For not in urgent haste shall you go forth, And in flight you shall not go out, For Yahweh is going before you, And the Elohim of Israel is your rear guard.

13 Behold, My Servant shall proceed effectively; He shall be exalted and lifted up and very lofty.

14 Just as many were appalled over Him, So ruined was His appearance more than any man, And His shape more than sons of Adam,

15 So shall He startle many nations; Over Him kings shall shut their mouths; For that which had not been related to them they see, And of that which they had not heard they gain understanding.

Chapter 53

1   Who believes our report? And the arm of Yahweh, to whom is it revealed?

2 He is growing up like a young shoot before Him, And like a root sprout out from arid earth; He has no shapeliness nor honor that we should observe Him, And no such appearance that we should covet Him.

3 He is despised and shunned of men, A Man of pains and knowing illness, And, as a concealing of faces from Him, He is despised, and we judge Him of no account.

4 Surely He Himself bears our illnesses, And our pains, He is burdened with them; As for us, we account Him assaulted, Smitten of Elohim and humbled.

5 Yet He is wounded because of our transgressions, And crushed because of our depravities. The discipline of our well-being is on Him, And with His welts comes healing for us.

6 All of us, like a flock, we stray; Each to his own way, we turn around, Yet Yahweh Himself causes to come upon Him. the depravity of us all.

7 Hard pressed is He, and He is humbled, Yet He is not opening His mouth; Like a flockling to slaughter is He fetched, And as a ewe before her shearers is mute, He is not opening His mouth.

8 From restraint and from judgment He is taken, And on His generation, who is meditating? For He is severed from the land of the living; Because of the transgression of My people, He is led to death.

9 And they appoint His tomb with the wicked, With the rich His sepulcher, Although He does no wrong, And no deceit is in His mouth.

10 Yet Yahweh, He desires to crush Him, And He causes Him to be wounded. Should His soul place a guilt offering, He shall see a seed, He shall lengthen days, And the desire of Yahweh, it shall prosper in His hand.

11 From the toil of His soul He shall see light, And He shall be satisfied by His knowledge; My righteous Servant shall justify many, And with their depravities He Himself shall be burdened.

12 Therefore I shall apportion to Him among the many, And with the staunch shall He apportion the spoils, Inasmuch as He empties out His soul to death, And with transgressors is He counted; Yet He Himself bears the sin of many, And for transgressors shall He make intercession.

Chapter 54

1   Be jubilant, barren one, who has not borne! Burst forth into jubilant song! And make a noise, you who have not been in travail! For more are the sons of the desolate Than the sons of her who has the spouse, says Yahweh.

2 Widen the place of your tent, And the sheets of your tabernacle, let them stretch out! Do not keep back! Lengthen your cords, And make fast your pegs!

3 For you shall breach forth to the right and the left, And your seed shall dispossess nations, And they shall settle the desolated cities.

4 Do not fear, for you shall not be shamed! And do not be mortified, for you shall not be abashed! For the shame of your adolescence you shall forget, And the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no longer.

5 For your Possessor is your Maker, Yahweh of hosts is His Name, And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, The Elohim of the entire earth shall He be called.

6 For like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, Yahweh called you, And a wife of youth when she is rejected, says Yahweh your Elohim.

7 For a small moment I forsook you, Yet with great compassions I shall convene you.

8 In effervescent wrath I concealed My face momentarily from you, Yet with eonian benignity I have compassion on you, says your Redeemer, Yahweh.

9 Like the waters of Noah is this to Me, In that I swore the waters of Noah would be kept from passing over the earth again; So I swear not to bring wrath on you further, And not to rebuke you.

10 For the mountains, they shall be removed, And the hills, they shall slip away, Yet My benignity, it shall not be removed from you, And the covenant of My peace, it shall not slip away, Says He Who has compassion on you, Yahweh.

11 Humbled one, tempest tossed, without comfort, Behold, I am embedding your stones in antimony, And I lay your foundations with sapphires;

12 I make your tower-crests of brilliant gems, And your gates of fiery-red stones, And all your boundary to be with stones of delight.

13 All your sons are taught of Yahweh, And abundant is the well-being of your sons.

14 In righteousness shall you be established; Be far from threatening, for you shall not fear, And from dismay, for it shall not come near to you.

15 Behold, nobody shall stir up, yea stir up, apart from Me; Whoever stirs up against you shall fall because of you.

16 Behold, I Myself created the craftsman, Who blows into the fire of coals And brings forth an implement for his work; And I Myself created the ruiner to harm.

17 Any implement that is formed against you shall not prosper, And any tongue that rises for judgment against you, you shall condemn; This is the allotment of the servants of Yahweh, And their vindication is from Me, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 55

1   Ho, all who are thirsty, go to the water! And he who has no money, go, purchase and eat! Go, purchase food without money and without price, Wine and milk!

2 Why should you weigh out money for what is not bread, And give your labor for what gives no satisfaction? Hearken, hearken to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul find pleasure in richness.

3 Stretch out your ear, and come to Me; Hear, and your soul shall live, And I shall indeed contract with you a covenant eonian, The faithful benignities of David.

4 Behold, I make Him a Witness to the folk, A Governor and Instructor of the folk.

5 Behold, a nation you do not know you shall call, And a nation where they have not known you, they shall run to you, On account of Yahweh your Elohim And the Holy One of Israel, For He endows you with beauty.

6 Seek after Yahweh while He is to be found; Call Him while He comes to be near.

7 Let the wicked one forsake his way, And the lawless man his devisings, And let him return to Yahweh, And He shall have compassion on him, And to our Elohim, For He shall multiply pardon.

8 For My designs are not your designs, And your ways are not My ways, averring is Yahweh.

9 For as the heavens are loftier than the earth, So are My ways loftier than your ways, And My designs than your designs.

10 For just as the downpour descends and the snow from the heavens, Yet it does not return there, But rather it soaks the earth And causes it to bear and sprout, And it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 So shall My word be that shall go forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, But rather it does what I desire And prospers in that for which I sent it.

12 For with rejoicing shall you go forth, And in peace shall you be escorted. The mountains and the hills, they shall burst forth into jubilant song before you, And all the trees of the field, they shall clap their palms.

13 Instead of the thorn tree shall come up the fir; And instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle; And it will come to be to Yahweh for a name, For a sign eonian that shall not be cut off.

Chapter 56

1   Thus says Yahweh: Keep right judgment, and do righteousness! For near is My salvation to come And My righteousness to be revealed.

2 Happy is the mortal who is doing this, And the son of humanity who is holding fast in it, Keeping the sabbath without profaning it, And keeping his hand from doing any evil.

3 Let not the son of the foreigner say, The proselyte who has joined himself to Yahweh, saying: Yahweh shall separate, yea separate me from His people; And let not the eunuch say: Behold, I am a dry tree.

4 For thus says Yahweh: To the eunuchs who are keeping My sabbaths, And who choose that in which I delight, And are holding fast to My covenant,

5 I will give to them, in My house and within My walls, hand and name; Better than sons and daughters, I shall give to them a name eonian which shall not be cut off.

6 As for the sons of the foreigner The proselyte who has joined himself to Yahweh to minister to Him, And to love the Name of Yahweh, to become His servants, Everyone keeping the sabbath, from profaning it, And holding fast to My covenant,

7 I will bring them also to My holy mountain And make them rejoice in My house of prayer; Their ascent offerings and their sacrifices They shall offer up for acceptance on My altar, For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

8 Averring is my Lord Yahweh, Convener of the expelled of Israel: I shall convene more to him besides those being convened to him.

9 Every wild animal of the field, arrive to devour! Every wild animal in the wildwood!

10 His watchmen are blind, all of them; They do not know; All of them are mute curs that cannot bark, Dozing, lying down, loving to slumber.

11 And the curs are voracious of soul; they do not know satisfaction; As for these who are shepherds, they do not know understanding; All of them, they face their own way, Each for his own gain from its outmost part:

12 Come hither! let me take wine, And let us carouse with intoxicant! And tomorrow will be like this day! Greater! excelling exceedingly!

Chapter 57

1   The righteous one, he perishes, And there is no man laying it on his heart; And men of benignity are being swept up, While there is no considering That because of the evil the righteous one is swept up.

2 Yet he shall enter into peace, And they shall rest on their beds, Each one walking in the correct way before him.

3 As for you, come near hither, sons of depravity, Seed of an adulterer and a prostitute.

4 Against whom are you making pleasure? At whom are you widening the mouth, sticking out the tongue? Are you not children of transgression, seed of falsehood?

5 You who are warmed among the oaks, under every flourishing tree, Slayers of children in the wadis, under the overhangs of the crags.

6 Among the smooth stones of the wadi is your portion; They, they are your lot; Also to them you pour out libations; You offer up an approach present. Should I be consoled over these?

7 On a mountain lofty and lifted up you place your bed; There also you ascend to sacrifice a sacrifice.

8 And behind the door and the jamb you place your memorial; Then you part yourself from Me and are ascending; You widen your bed, And you are making your contract with them; You love their bed; A hand you perceive.

9 You are conveying oil to the king, And are increasing your compounds; You are sending your agents far off, And are making them condescend unto the unseen.

10 By the greatness of your way you are wearied, Yet you do not say, I despair; You find a revival of your hand; Therefore you do not beseech Me.

11 Of whom are you anxious and are fearing, that you should lie to Me, And do not remember Me, and do not lay it on your heart? Have I not hushed even from the eon? Yet you are not fearing Me!

12 I Myself shall tell of your kind of righteousness and your deeds, Yet they shall not benefit you.

13 When you cry out, let your cumulation of idols rescue you; The wind shall carry them all away; A transitory breath shall take them. Yet he who takes refuge in Me, he shall be allotted land, And he shall enjoy tenancy in My holy mountain.

14 And He says: Heap up! Heap up the highway! Surface the way! Heave the stumbling block from the way of My people!

15 For thus says the One high and lifted up, Who tabernacles the future, and holy is His Name: In the high and holy place am I tabernacling, And also with one crushed and lowly of spirit, To revive the spirit of the lowly, And to revive the heart of the crushed.

16 Indeed I shall not contend for the eon, Nor shall I be permanently wrathful, For the spirit, it would droop before Me, And the breaths that I Myself have made.

17 Because of the depravity, for a moment I was wrathful, And I was smiting him, Concealing My face when I was wrathful, And he was going on backsliding in the way of his heart.

18 I have seen his ways, yet I shall heal him and guide him, And I shall dispense comforts to him and to his mourners,

19 Creating the produce of the lips: Peace, peace to the far and to the near, says Yahweh, And I will heal him.

20 Yet the wicked are like the disgorging sea, when it cannot be quiet, And its waters are disgorging foulness and mud.

21 There is no peace, says my Elohim, for the wicked.

Chapter 58

1   Call out with full throat! Do not keep back! Like a trumpet raise high your voice, And tell to My people their transgression, And to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet day by day they are inquiring for Me And are delighting in the knowledge of My ways; Like a nation that does righteousness And forsakes not the judgment of its Elohim, They are asking Me for righteous judgments; They are delighting in the nearness of their Elohim.

3 Why do we fast, yet You do not see? Why do we humble our souls, yet You are not knowing? Behold, in the day of your fast you are finding delight, And all your grievous labors you are exacting on others.

4 Behold, for contention and strife are you fasting, And to smite with the fist of wickedness; You shall not fast as today To make your voice heard in the height.

5 Is it like this, the fast that I am choosing, A day for a man to humble his soul, To bend his head like a rush, And when he shall make sackcloth and ashes his berth? Is this what you are calling a fast And a day acceptable to Yahweh?

6 Is not this the fast that I am choosing: To unloose the hindrances of wickedness, To let loose the harnessings of the yoke-bar, And to let the maltreated go free? You shall pull away every yoke-bar!

7 Is it not to break your bread unto the famishing, And that the humble, the homeless, you shall bring home? When you see the naked, that you cover him with a cloak, And you do not obscure yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, And your wholeness, it shall sprout quickly, And your righteousness will go before you, And the glory of Yahweh shall be your rear guard.

9 Then you shall call, and Yahweh, He shall answer; You shall implore, and He shall say: Behold Me! If you should take away the yoke-bar from your midst, The pointing of the finger and the speaking of lawlessness,

10 And you should issue the bread of your soul to the famishing, And should satisfy the soul of the humbled one, Then your light will be radiant in the darkness, And your gloom shall be as the noonday sun.

11 Yahweh will guide you continually, And He will satisfy your soul in sun-glaring places; He shall invigorate your bones, And you will become like a well-watered garden, And like a flowing well of water whose waters are not defaulting.

12 And the places deserted for the eon will be rebuilt by you; The foundations of generation after generation you shall raise again; And you will be called, wall-builder of the breach, Restorer of access-ways for dwelling.

13 If you turn back your foot from travel on the sabbath, From doing your own desires on My holy day, And you call the sabbath a rich delight, The holy day of Yahweh, glorious, And you glorify it rather than doing your own ways, Rather than finding your own desire or speaking your own word,

14 Then you shall find pleasure in Yahweh, And I will cause you to ride on the high-places of the land, And feed you from the allotment of Jacob, your father, For the mouth of Yahweh, it has spoken.

Chapter 59

1   Behold, the hand of Yahweh is not too short to save, And His ear is not too heavy to hear,

2 But rather your depravities, they have become separators between you and your Elohim, And your sins, they conceal His face from you, from hearing you.

3 For your palms, they are sullied with blood, And your fingers with depravity; Your lips speak falsehood; Your tongue, it is mumbling iniquity.

4 There is no one calling for righteousness, And there is no one seeking judgment with faithfulness; Trusting in chaos And speaking futility, Engendering misery And begetting lawlessness,

5 They hatch viper’s eggs, And they are weaving spider webs; Whoever eats of their eggs shall die, And that pressed down on shall hatch into a puff-adder.

6 Their webs shall not become a cloak, And they shall not cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of lawlessness, And the contriving of violence is in their palms.

7 Their feet are running to evil, And they are hastening to shed innocent blood; Their devisings are devisings of lawlessness; Devastation and brokenness are in their highways.

8 The way of peace they do not know, And there is no right judgment in their rounds; They have made their tracks perverted for themselves; Anyone treading in them knows no peace.

9 Therefore right judgment is far from us, And justice is not overtaking us; We are expecting light, and behold, darkness! Brightness, yet we are walking in gloom!

10 We are fumbling like the blind along a sidewall, And like those without eyes, we are fumbling; We stumble at noon as in the twilight; Among the stout, we are like the dead.

11 We are clamoring like bears all of us, And like doves we are mumbling, yea mumbling; We are expecting right judgment, and there is none, Salvation, yet it is far from us.

12 For our transgressions are multitudinous in front of You, And our sins answer against us; For our transgressions are with us; And our depravities, we know them:

13 Transgression and dissimulation against Yahweh, And turning away from following our Elohim, Speaking perversity and defection, Engendering and mumbling words of falsehood from the heart.

14 So right judgment is turned away backward, And justice is standing far off; For truth stumbles in the square, And what is correct cannot enter.

15 So it is that truth is lacking, And he who withdraws from evil gets himself looted. Yet Yahweh is seeing, and it is evil in His eyes, For there is no right judgment.

16 And He is seeing that there is no man, Indeed He is appalled that there is no intercessor; Yet His own arm shall save for Him, And His own righteousness, it will support Him.

17 He shall put on righteousness as a body-armor, And the helmet of salvation on His head; He shall put on garments of vengeance for clothing And shall muffle Himself with jealousy as a robe.

18 According to their dealings, so shall He repay: Fury to His foes, requital to His enemies; He shall repay to the coastlands their requital.

19 And they from the west shall fear the Name of Yahweh, And from the rising of the sun, His glory; For the foe shall come like a stream; The spirit of Yahweh, it will make him flee.

20 Then there will come to Zion the Redeemer, And He shall turn back transgression from Jacob, averring is Yahweh;

21 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says Yahweh: My spirit which is on you And My words which I place in your mouth They shall not be removed from your mouth, Or from the mouth of your seed, Or from the mouth of your seed’s seed, says Yahweh, Henceforth and for the eon.

Chapter 60

1   Arise! Become resplendent! For your light has come, And the glory of Yahweh, it is radiant upon you.

2 For behold, the darkness, it shall cover the earth, And murkiness the folk, Yet Yahweh shall be radiant upon you, And His glory, it shall be seen over you.

3 And nations will go to your light, And kings to the brightness of your radiance.

4 Lift up your eyes round about, and see; They all are convened; They come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be faithfully carried upon the side.

5 Then you shall see and will beam, And your heart will be in awe and will broaden, For the superabundance of the sea shall be turned to you; The estate of the nations shall come to you.

6 A great concourse of camels shall cover you; Young camels of Midian and Ephah, All of them shall come from Sheba; They shall carry gold and frankincense, And shall gladly declare the praises of Yahweh.

7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be convened to you; The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you; They shall ascend with acceptance on My altar, When I shall beautify My house of prayer.

8 Who are these who are flying like a thick cloud, And like doves to their crevices?

9 For the coastlands wait in expectation for Me, And the ships of Tarshish among the first, To bring your sons from afar, Their silver and their gold with them, For the Name of Yahweh your Elohim, And for the Holy One of Israel because He beautifies you.

10 Sons of foreigners will rebuild your walls, And their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath, I smote you, Yet in My benevolence I have compassion on you.

11 Your gates will be open continually; Daytime and night they shall not be closed, To bring to you the estate of the nations, With their kings leading them.

12 For the nation and the kingdom that shall not serve you shall perish, And those nations shall be wasted, yea wasted.

13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, The fir, elm and box tree together, To beautify the place of My sanctuary, When I shall glorify the place of My feet.

14 So they come to you bowing down, all the sons of those who humiliated you, And they bow down at the soles of your feet, all those who spurned you; And they call you, City of Yahweh, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

15 Where you had become forsaken and hated, And there was no one helping, I will make you a pride eonian, An elation of generation after generation.

16 When you will suckle the milk of nations, And shall suckle the breast of kingdoms, Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Saviour, And your Redeemer is the Sturdy One of Jacob.

17 Instead of the copper, I shall bring gold, And instead of the iron, I shall bring silver, Instead of the wood, copper, And instead of the stones, iron; And I will establish Peace as your supervisor And Righteousness as your taskmasters.

18 No longer shall violence be heard in your land, Devastation and brokenness within your boundaries; But you will call your walls, Salvation, And your gates, Praise.

19 No longer shall the sun be your light by day, Nor shall the moon give light for brightness for you by night, But Yahweh will become your light eonian, And your Elohim your beauty.

20 No longer shall your sun set, Nor your moon be gathered in, For Yahweh, He shall become your light eonian, And your days of mourning will be finished up.

21 And your people, all of them, shall be righteous; For the eon they shall tenant the land, The scion of Yahweh’s planting, The work of His hands to show His beauty.

22 The smallest shall become a thousand, And the inferior a staunch nation; I, Yahweh, I shall hurry it forth in its era.

Chapter 61

1   The spirit of My Lord Yahweh is on Me Because Yahweh anoints Me to bear tidings to the humble; He sends Me to bind up the broken of heart, To herald to captives, liberty, And to the sightless, unclosed eyes, And to the bound, emancipation,

2 To herald an acceptable year for Yahweh, And a day of vengeance for our Elohim; To comfort all mourners,

3 To establish rejoicing for Zion’s mourners, To give them beauty instead of ashes, The oil of elation instead of mourning, The muffler of praise instead of a spirit of languor; And they will be called arbiters of righteousness, The planting of Yahweh to show His beauty.

4 And they will rebuild the places deserted for an eon; The desolations of former times they shall raise up; And they will renew the wasted cities, The desolations of generation after generation.

5 Aliens will stand and graze your flocks, And sons of foreigners will be your farmworkers and your vineyardists.

6 Yet you shall be called priests of Yahweh; Ministers of our Elohim, it shall be said of you; The estate of nations you shall eat, And in their glory you shall vaunt.

7 Instead of your shame, a double portion, And for mortification, they shall be jubilant in their portion; Therefore they shall tenant a double portion in their land, And rejoicing eonian shall become theirs.

8 For I, Yahweh, am loving right judgment And am hating pillage by iniquity; So I will give their wage in truth, And I shall contract a covenant eonian with them.

9 Their seed will be known among the nations, And their offspring in the midst of the peoples; All who see them shall recognize them, That they are the seed whom Yahweh has blessed.

10 I shall be elated, yea elated in Yahweh; My soul shall exult in My Elohim; For He clothes Me with garments of salvation; In a robe of righteousness, He muffles Me, Like a bridegroom who adorns with priestly beauty, And like a bride who ornaments herself with her jewels.

11 For as the earth is bringing forth her sprouts, And as the garden is making its sowings sprout, So My Lord Yahweh shall make righteousness sprout, And praise in front of all the nations.

Chapter 62

1   On Zion’s account, I shall not hush, And on Jerusalem’s account, I shall not be quiet, Until its righteousness shall come forth like a bright light, And its salvation shall blaze forth like a torch.

2 Nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name, Which the mouth of Yahweh shall specify.

3 You will become a crown of beauty in the hand of Yahweh, And a turban of royalty in the palm of your Elohim.

4 It shall no longer be said of you, Forsaken, And of your land it shall no longer be said, Desolation; For you shall be called Hephzi-bah, And your land, Beulah, For Yahweh delights in you, And your land shall be espoused.

5 For as a choice youth espouses a virgin, Your sons shall espouse you; And with the elation of a bridegroom over the bride, Your Elohim shall be elated over you.

6 On your walls, Jerusalem, I appoint those keeping watch; All the day and all the night, Continually they shall not be inactive; You who remind Yahweh, there must not be stillness for you.

7 Do not give Him stillness until He makes ready, And until He establishes, And until He constitutes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

8 Yahweh has sworn with His right hand, And with the arm of His strength: I shall assuredly not give your grain again as food for your enemies, And sons of foreigners shall assuredly not drink your grape juice for which you have labored.

9 For those who gather it shall eat it and shall praise the Name of Yahweh, And those who gather it together shall drink it in the courts of My holiness.

10 Pass, Pass through the gates! Surface the way of the people! Heap up, heap up the highway! Clear away the stones! Raise high the banner over the peoples!

11 Behold, Yahweh announces it to the outmost part of the earth: Say to the daughter of Zion: Behold, your Saviour is coming! Behold, His reward is with Him, And His wage is before Him!

12 And they will call them, The people of holiness, The redeemed of Yahweh; And you shall be called, Sought After, City Not Forsaken.

Chapter 63

1   Who is this coming from humanity, With wine-dyed garments from the vintage? This is One effulgent in His clothing, Marching in His great vigor: It is I, speaking in righteousness, abundant to save!

2 For what reason is there red on Your clothing? And Your garments are like those of one treading in a winetrough?

3 The winepress I have trod by Myself, And from the peoples there was no man with Me; I tread them in My anger And tramp them down in My fury, And their lifeblood spatters on My garments, And all My clothing I have sullied.

4 For the day of vengeance came on them, And the year of My redeemed has come.

5 When I look, there is no helper; When I am appalled, there is no supporter, Yet My own arm is saving for Me, And My own fury, it supports Me!

6 And I trample peoples in My anger And make them drunk in My fury, And I bring down to the earth their lifeblood.

7 The benignities of Yahweh I shall bring to remembrance, The praises of Yahweh, According to all that Yahweh has dealt out to us, And the vast good to the house of Israel that He has dealt out to them, According to His compassions, And according to His many benignities.

8 Then He is saying: Surely they are My people, Sons who are not dealing falsely. So He becomes their Saviour;

9 In all their distress it was not an agent or a messenger, But His presence saved them. In His love and in His sparing He Himself redeems them, And He lifts them up and carries them all the days of the eon.

10 Yet they rebelled and grieved His holy spirit, So that He was turned to be their Enemy. And He Himself fought against them.

11 Yet He remembers the days of the eon, of Moses and His people. Where is He Who brought them up from the sea with the shepherd of His flock? Where is He Who placed among them His holy spirit,

12 Who conducted them by the right hand of Moses, His beauteous arm rending the water before them, To make for Him a Name eonian,

13 Who conducted them in the abyss That like a horse in the wilderness, they should not stumble,

14 That like a domestic beast which is descending into a valley, The spirit of Yahweh should give them rest? Thus You led Your people to make for Yourself a Name of beauty.

15 Look from the heavens And see from Your holy and Your beauteous residence; Where is Your zeal and Your grand mastery? Where is the consonance of Your internal yearning and Your compassions Which have checked themselves toward me?

16 For You are our Father, For Abraham, he did not know us, And Israel, he does not recognize us; You are Yahweh our Father, Our Redeemer; from the eon is Your Name.

17 Why, O Yahweh, are You leading us astray from Your ways, And are making our heart indurate to the fear of You? Turn back on account of Your servants, the tribes of Your allotment.

18 Why do the wicked march in Your holy place, Our foes trample Your sanctuary?

19 We become like those from the eon; You did not rule among them, Neither was Your Name called over them;

Chapter 64

1   O that You would tear the heavens, that You would descend! The mountains would flow because of Your presence,

2 Like ice that fire makes into meltings, Like water that fire is boiling up, To make known Your Name to Your foes; The nations shall be disturbed because of Your presence.

3 When You did fearful things that we were not expecting, You descended! The mountains flowed because of Your presence.

4 From the eon, they have not heard; They have not given ear; Eye has not seen any Elohim except You, He Who is doing deeds for him who is tarrying for Him.

5 O that You would come upon one who is elated, and one doing righteousness, Those who are remembering You in Your ways! Behold, You Yourself are wrathful, and we are sinning; Against You from the eon, we are transgressing.

6 We are becoming like the unclean, all of us, And all our righteousness like an ornamented cloak; We are decaying like a leaf, all of us, And our depravities, like the wind, are carrying us away.

7 There is no one calling on Your Name, Rousing himself to hold fast to You; For You conceal Your face from us, And You are giving us up into the hand of our depravities.

8 Yet now, O Yahweh, You are our Father; We are the clay, And You are our Former, And the work of Your hand are we all.

9 Do not be wrathful, O Yahweh, to excess, And do not remember depravity for the future; Behold, look, we pray, Your people are we all.

10 The cities of Your holiness come to be a wilderness; Zion comes to be a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

11 The house of our holiness and our beauty, Where our fathers praised You, comes to be burned with fire, And all our coveted places come to be a waste.

12 Concerning these shall You check Yourself, O Yahweh? Shall You hush and humble us to excess?

Chapter 65

1 I let Myself be inquired of by those who did not ask for Me, I am found by those who did not seek Me; I say, Behold Me! Behold Me! to a nation that has not called on My Name;

2 I spread out My hands the whole day to a stubborn and rebellious people, Who are walking in the way that is not good, after their own devisings,

3 The people who are provoking Me to vexation to My face continually, Who are sacrificing in the gardens And fuming incense on the bricks,

4 Who are sitting among the tombs, And among the rocks are they lodging all night, Who are eating the flesh of swine, And the broth of vile things is in their vessels,

5 Who are saying, Keep near to yourself! You must not come close to me, for I am holy to you! These are a smoke in My nostrils, A fire that is glowing all the day.

6 Behold, it is written before Me; I shall not hush, save I repay; And I will repay into their bosom

7 your depravities And the depravities of your fathers together, says Yahweh, Because they fume incense on the mountains, And on the hills they reproach Me; And I will measure their wage in full value into their bosom.

8 Thus says Yahweh: As when grape juice is found in the cluster, And one says, Do not ruin it, for a blessing is in it, So shall I do on account of My servants So as not to ruin the whole.

9 I will bring forth from Jacob a seed, And from Judah one who tenants My mountains, And My chosen will enjoy its tenancy, And My servants shall tabernacle there.

10 Sharon will become a homestead for flocks, And the Vale of Achor a reclining place for herds, For My people who have sought after Me.

11 As for you who are forsaking Yahweh, Who are forgetting My holy mountain, Who are arranging a table for Gad, And who are filling a blending bowl for Meni,

12 I assign you to the sword, And all of you shall bow down for the slaughter, Because I called, yet you did not answer, I spoke, yet you did not hearken, And you are doing evil in My eyes, And you choose that in which I take no delight.

13 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, My servants, they shall eat, yet you shall famish! Behold, My servants, they shall drink, yet you shall thirst! Behold, My servants, they shall rejoice, yet you shall be ashamed!

14 Behold, My servants, they shall be jubilant from a good heart, yet you shall cry from pain of heart, And from brokenness of spirit shall you howl!

15 And you will leave your name for an oath to My chosen, And my Lord Yahweh will put you to death, Yet His servants He shall call by another name.

16 He who is blessing himself in the land, he shall bless himself by the Elohim of truth, And he who is swearing in the land, he shall swear by the Elohim of truth; For the former distresses are forgotten, And indeed they are concealed from My eyes.

17 For behold Me creating new heavens and a new earth, And the former shall not be remembered, Nor shall they come up on the heart.

18 But rather be elated and exult in the futures of the future which I shall be creating, For behold Me creating Jerusalem an exultation, And her people an elation.

19 I exult in Jerusalem, And I am elated in My people; And the sound of lamentation shall not be heard in her any longer, Or the sound of outcry.

20 No longer shall there be thence an infant of few days, Or an old man who shall not fill his days; For a youth shall die at a hundred years old, And he who misses a hundred years old shall be lightly esteemed.

21 They will build houses and dwell in them, And they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit;

22 They shall not build, and another dwell there; They shall not plant, and another eat, For like the days of the tree of life will be the days of My people, And the work of their hands shall My chosen use to the full.

23 They shall not labor for nought, Nor shall they give birth in vain, For the seed of Yahweh’s blessed are they, And their offspring with them.

24 And it will be that ere they are calling, I Myself shall answer; While they are still speaking, I Myself shall hearken.

25 The wolf and the lambkin shall graze alike, And the lion shall eat crushed straw like the ox, And the serpent shall have soil as its bread. They shall not do evil, Nor shall they bring ruin in all My holy mountain, says Yahweh.

Chapter 66

1   Thus says Yahweh: The heavens are My throne, And the earth My footstool; Where then is the house that you shall build for Me? And where then is the place of My rest?

2 Yet all of these My hand has made, And all these are Mine, averring is Yahweh. Yet to this one I shall look: to the humble and smitten spirit, And one trembling at My word.

3 Yet the corrupter Who is slaying a bull is like one smiting a man, Who is sacrificing a flockling is like one breaking the neck of a cur, Who is bringing up an approach present it is like swine’s blood, Who is making a memorial of frankincense is like one blessing lawlessness; Even as they choose their own ways, And in their abominations their soul delights,

4 So I shall choose their wanton practices against them, And I shall bring to them their shrinking fears, Because I called, yet there was no one answering; I spoke, yet they did not hearken; And they are doing evil in My eyes, And that in which I take no delight they choose.

5 Hear the word of Yahweh, you who are trembling at His word! They say (your brothers who are hating you, Those who are isolating you on account of My Name): May Yahweh be glorified, And may He be seen in your rejoicing! Yet they themselves shall be ashamed!

6 A sound of tumult from the city! A sound from the temple! A sound of Yahweh paying requital to His enemies!

7 Ere she is travailing, she gives birth; Ere a cramp is coming upon her, she delivers forth a male.

8 Who has heard such a thing as this? And who has seen such things as these? Shall a land be in travail in one day only? Should a nation be born at one time? When she travails, already Zion gives birth to her sons.

9 Shall I bring the breaking and not bring the birth? saying is Yahweh; If I am the One bringing the birth, would I restrain it? says your Elohim.

10 Rejoice with Jerusalem, and exult in her, all who love her! Be elated with her with elation, all who mourn over her!

11 That you may suckle and be satisfied from the breast of her consolations, That you may drink deeply and find pleasure from the rich bosom of her glory.

12 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall stretch out peace over her like a stream, And the glory of the nations like a watercourse overflowing; And you will suckle; You shall be carried on her side, And shall be dandled on her knees.

13 Like one whom his mother is comforting, So I Myself shall comfort you, And in Jerusalem you shall be comforted.

14 You will see, and your heart will be elated, And your bones, like verdure shall they bud, And the hand of Yahweh for His servants will be known, Yet it will menace His enemies.

15 For behold, Yahweh, with fire shall He come, And His chariots like a sweeping whirlwind, To bring back His anger with fury, And His rebuke with blazes of fire.

16 For with fire Yahweh shall come to judge, And with His sword upon all flesh; And Yahweh’s slain will be multitudinous.

17 Those who sanctify themselves And who cleansed themselves for the gardens, going after one in their midst, Eating the flesh of swine and the abominable thing and the rodent, They shall be swept up together, averring is Yahweh;

18 I know their deeds and their devisings; I shall come to convene all nations and tongues, And they will come and see My glory.

19 I will place a sign among them, And I will send some of their delivered ones to the nations, To Tarshish, Pul and Lud, Meshech, Quesheth, Tubal and Javan, the coastlands afar, Who have not heard of My fame, and have not seen My glory, And they will tell of My glory, among the nations.

20 And they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as an approach present to Yahweh, On horses, in chariots and in coaches, On mules and on dromedaries, To My holy mountain, Jerusalem, says Yahweh, Just as the sons of Israel bring the approach present In a clean vessel to the house of Yahweh.

21 And also I shall take some from them for priests and for Levites, says Yahweh;

22 For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I shall make shall stand before Me, averring is Yahweh, So your seed and your name shall stand.

23 And it will come to be, as often as the new moon comes in its monthly time, And as often as the sabbath comes in its sabbath cycle, All flesh shall come to worship before Me, says Yahweh.

24 And they will go forth and see the corpses of the mortals who transgressed against Me, For their worm shall not die, And their fire shall not be quenched, And they will become a repulsion to all flesh.

The Book of Jeremiah

Chapter 1

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin,

2 to whom the word of Yahweh came in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign;

3 it came through the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the finishing of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, that is, until the deportation of Jerusalem in the fifth month:

4 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

5 Ere I formed you in the belly, I knew you, And ere you came forth from the womb, I hallowed you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

6 Then I answered, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth.

7 Yet Yahweh said to me, Do not say, I am a youth, For to all to whom I shall send you, you shall go, And all that I shall instruct you, you shall speak.

8 Do not fear their presence, For I am with you to rescue you, averring is Yahweh.

9 Then Yahweh put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and Yahweh said to me, Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

10 See, this day I have given you supervision over nations and over kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to demolish, To build and to plant.

11 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I answered, I see an almond tree-branch.

12 Yahweh said to me, You have done well in seeing, for I am alert over My word, to perform it.

13 Then the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? And I answered, I see a steaming pot and its face tipped away from the face of the north.

14 Then Yahweh said to me, From the north an evil shall be unloosed on all the dwellers of the land;

15 For behold, I am calling to all the families of the northward kingdoms, averring is Yahweh, And they will come and set up, each one its throne at the portal of Jerusalem’s gates, Against all her walls round about, And against all the cities of Judah.

16 I will pronounce My judgments on them for all their evil In that they have forsaken Me And have fumed incense to other elohim And have bowed down to works of their hands.

17 As for you, you shall belt your waist; You will arise and speak to them all that I instruct you. Do not be dismayed because of their presence, Lest I make you dismayed before them.

18 As for Me, behold, I have made you today into a fortress city, Into an iron column and a strong bronze wall Against the entire land, Against the kings of Judah, against its chief officials, Against its priests and against the people of the land.

19 They will fight against you, Yet they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you, averring is Yahweh, to rescue you.

Chapter 2

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2 Go and call in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh: I remember concerning you, the benignity of your youth, The love of your bridal days, when you followed after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown.

3 Holy was Israel to Yahweh, The firstfruits of His harvest yield; All who devour him, they shall be held guilty; Evil, it shall come upon them, averring is Yahweh.

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, house of Jacob, And all the families of the house of Israel.

5 Thus says Yahweh, What iniquity did your fathers find in Me, That they have wandered far from Me And have gone after vanity and become vain?

6 They did not ask, Where is Yahweh, Who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us in the wilderness, In a land of gorge and pit, In a land of aridity and blackest shadow, In a land in which no man passes, And no human dwells there?

7 I have brought you to this productive land, To eat its fruit and its goodness, Yet you have entered and defiled My land, And My allotment you have made into an abhorrence.

8 The priests, they did not ask, Where is Yahweh? Those who handle the law, they did not know Me, The shepherds, they transgressed against Me, And the prophets, they prophesied by Baal And went after things that do not benefit.

9 Therefore, I shall contend with you again, averring is Yahweh; Even with the sons of your sons shall I contend.

10 Indeed cross to the coasts of Kittim and see, And send to Kedar, and intensely consider and see; Behold, has it ever happened like this?

11 Has any nation changed its elohim (even though they are not elohim)? Yet My people, they have changed My glory for what does not benefit.

12 Be appalled over this, you heavens, And be horrified, be utterly drained, averring is Yahweh;

13 For My people have committed two evils: Me they have forsaken, the Fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot contain water.

14 Is Israel a servant, Or is he a house-born slave? For what reason has he become plunder?

15 Over him sheltered lions are roaring; They lift up their voice, And they are making his land into a desolation; His cities, they are ravaged, without a dweller.

16 Even the sons of Noph and Tahpanhes, They smash you on the crown of your head.

17 Did you not do this to yourself When you forsook Yahweh your Elohim In the era when He led you in the way?

18 And now, why should you go on the way to Egypt to drink the waters of Shihor? And why should you go on the way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Stream?

19 Let your evil discipline you, And your backslidings, let them reprove you; Know then and see how evil and bitter it is when you forsake Yahweh your Elohim And you have no awe of Me, averring is my Lord Yahweh of hosts.

20 Indeed from the eon you have broken your yoke, You have pulled away your bonds, And you say, I shall not serve. Indeed on every lofty hill And under every flourishing tree, you are sprawling, prostituting.

21 Yet I Myself planted you a yellow muscat vine, all of it reliable seed; Then how have you turned into a degenerate, foreign vine unto Me?

22 Though you should launder yourself with soda And increase soap on yourself, Your depravity would remain inscribed before Me, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

23 How can you say, I am not unclean; After the Baalim I have not followed? See your way in the ravine; Know what you have done! You are a fleet young camel, winding about in her pathways,

24 An onager, taught by the wilderness; In the yearning of her soul she gulps the wind; In her estrus who can turn her back? Anyone seeking her need not faint; In her month they shall find her.

25 Save back your foot from barefoot sores And your throat from thirst. Yet you say, No cause for despair, For I love alien gods, and I shall follow after them.

26 As a thief is ashamed when he is found out, So will the house of Israel be ashamed, They, their kings, their chiefs, And their priests and their prophets,

27 Who say to a tree, My father are you, And to a stone, You yourself gave me birth. For they have turned around the nape of their neck to Me, and not their face; Yet in the era of their evil they say, Do arise and save us!

28 Yet where are your elohim that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in your era of evil; For your elohim, Judah, have become as the number of your cities.

29 Why do you contend against Me? All of you have transgressed against Me, averring is Yahweh.

30 Futilely have I smitten your sons; They have not taken admonition; Your sword has devoured your prophets like a lion bringing ruin.

31 (Generation, all of you, discern the word of Yahweh.) Have I become a wilderness to Israel Or a land of the gloom of Yah? For what reason do My people say, We hold sway; We shall not come again to You?

32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments or a bride her ribbons? Yet My people, they have forgotten Me days that are without number.

33 How good you make your way to seek love; Wherefore, you even teach the evil women your ways.

34 Moreover, on your hems is found the blood of the souls of needy innocents; You did not come upon them burrowing, for it is on all these.

35 You say, I am innocent; yea, His anger has turned away from me. Behold, I am judging you because you say, I have not sinned.

36 How very often you go about altering your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt also Just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

37 Moreover, from this place you shall go forth with your hands on your head; For Yahweh has rejected those in whom you placed trust (and you shall not prosper by them),

Chapter 3

1 Saying, If a man should dismiss his wife, And she goes away from him and becomes another man’s, Should he return to her again? Would not that land be polluted, yea polluted? Yet you have committed prostitution with many associates, And would you return to Me? averring is Yahweh.

2 Lift your eyes to the ridges and see; Where have you not been ravished? On the pathways you have sat waiting for them like an Arabian in the wilderness, And you pollute the land with your prostitutions and your evil.

3 Hence the showers were withheld, And the latter rain, it did not come; Yet yours has been the forehead of a prostituting woman; You have refused to be put to blush.

4 Did you not call to Me henceforth: My Father, You the Mentor of my youth,

5 Shall He hold resentment for the eon Or keep on permanently? This is the way you have spoken, Yet you do all the evil you can.

6 Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king: Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She went on every lofty mountain and under every flourishing tree and committed prostitution there.

7 Yet I said: After she has done all these things she shall return to Me, but she has not returned. And her treacherous sister Judah has seen this.

8 She has seen also that due to all these causes, when backsliding Israel committed adultery, I sent her off and gave her the scroll of her divorce. Yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear, and she also went forth and committed prostitution.

9 And it came to be, because her prostitutions seemed so slight that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.

10 Yet even in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather with falsity, averring is Yahweh.

11 So Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown her soul more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12 Go and proclaim these words to the north and say: Return, backsliding Israel, averring is Yahweh; I shall not cast My face down upon you, for I am benign, averring is Yahweh; I shall not hold resentment for the eon.

13 Only acknowledge your depravity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your Elohim and have dispersed your efforts among aliens, under every flourishing tree, and you have not hearkened to My voice, averring is Yahweh.

14 Return, backsliding sons, averring is Yahweh, for I Myself possess you; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

15 Then I will give you shepherds according to My own heart, and they will graze you with knowledge and intelligence.

16 When it comes to be that you increase and are fruitful in the land, in those days, averring is Yahweh, they shall no longer say, The coffer of the covenant of Yahweh; it shall not ascend on their heart, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it, nor shall another one be made again.

17 In that era they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh, and all the nations will be expectant toward her, for the Name of Yahweh at Jerusalem, and they shall no longer walk after the obduracy of their evil heart.

18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall enter together from the land of the north to the land which I allotted to your fathers.

19 I Myself said, Oh how I would set you firmly as sons and give you the coveted land, the stateliest allotment of the nations; and I said, You shall call Me: My Father, and you shall not turn away from following Me.

20 However, like a woman who is treacherous with her associate, so you have been treacherous with Me, house of Israel, averring is Yahweh.

21 A sound is heard on the ridges, Supplicating lamentations of the sons of Israel, For they have made their way depraved; They have forgotten Yahweh their Elohim.

22 Return, backsliding sons; I shall heal your backslidings! Behold us; we will arrive before You, For You are Yahweh our Elohim!

23 Surely falsehood comes from the hills, Clamor from the mountains; Surely in Yahweh our Elohim is Israel’s salvation.

24 Yet the shameful thing, it has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, Their flocks and their herds, Their sons and their daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame, And let our mortification cover us, For against Yahweh our Elohim have we sinned, We and our fathers, from our youth until this day, And we have not hearkened to the voice of Yahweh our Elohim.

Chapter 4

1 If you return, Israel, averring is Yahweh, return to Me, And if you take away your abominations from My presence And do not wander away,

2 And you swear, As Yahweh lives, in truth, in right judgment and in righteousness, Then nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him shall they boast.

3 For thus says Yahweh to the man of Judah And to the dwellers of Jerusalem: Till for yourselves fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns.

4 Be circumcised to Yahweh, And take away the foreskin of your heart, Man of Judah and dwellers of Jerusalem, Lest My fury should go forth like fire And consume, with none to quench it, because of your evil actions.

5 Tell it in Judah, And in Jerusalem announce it and say, Blow the trumpet in the land, Proclaim; do it fully and say: Gather yourselves, and let us come to the fortress cities.

6 Lift up a banner: To Zion; Take to strong shelter; do not stand still, For evil I am bringing from the north, and a great breaking.

7 A lion has come up from his thicket, And a ruiner of nations, he has decamped, Has gone forth from his place to make your land a desolation; Your cities, they shall crumble because there will be no dweller.

8 On this account gird yourselves with sackcloth; Wail and howl; For the heat of Yahweh’s anger has not turned away from us.

9 And it will come to be in that day, averring is Yahweh, The heart of the king shall perish, And the heart of the chief officials, And the priests will be appalled, And the prophets, they shall be stunned.

10 Then I said, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, Surely You have lured, yea lured this people and Jerusalem, saying, Peace, it shall come to you, yet a sword has touched unto the very soul.

11 In that era it shall be said concerning this people and concerning Jerusalem: A glazing wind from the ridges in the wilderness is the way of the daughter of My people, Not serving to winnow nor to purify;

12 A fuller wind than this shall come for Me; Now even I Myself shall pronounce judgments against them.

13 Behold, like clouds he shall ascend, And like a sweeping whirlwind are his chariots; Fleeter than vultures are his horses. Woe to us, for we are devastated!

14 Launder your heart from evil, Jerusalem, that you may be saved! How long shall your lawless devisings lodge within you?

15 Indeed a voice is telling it from Dan, And is announcing sorrow from the hill country of Ephraim.

16 Remind the nations: Come this way! Announce it over Jerusalem: Besiegers are coming from the far off land, And they shall lift up their voice against the cities of Judah;

17 Like those guarding a field, they stay around her, round about, For against Me has she rebelled, averring is Yahweh.

18 Your way of life and your actions, they have brought these things on you; This evil of yours, indeed the consequences are bitter, Indeed it touches unto your very heart!

19 O my internal, my internal writhing! I cannot help churning! O the sidewalls of my heart! My heart is clamoring within me! I cannot be silent, For my soul hears the sound of the trumpet, the shout of war.

20 Breaking on top of breaking is heralded; Indeed the entire land is devastated! Suddenly my tents are devastated, In a moment, my tent-sheets!

21 How long must I see the banner, Must I hear the sound of the trumpet?

22 Indeed foolish are My people; Me, they do not know; Frivolous sons are they, And they have no understanding; Wise are they in doing evil, Yet how to do good they do not know.

23 I saw the earth, and behold, it was a chaos and vacant, And the heavens, and they had no light.

24 I saw the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, And all the hills, they rocked.

25 I saw, and behold, there was no humanity, And every flier of the heavens, they had bolted away.

26 I saw, and behold, the crop land was a wilderness And all its cities, they were broken down because of Yahweh’s presence, Because of the heat of His anger.

27 For thus says Yahweh: A desolation shall the entire earth become, (Though I shall not make a full end to it).

28 On this account the earth shall mourn, And the heavens be somber above; For I have spoken, I have resolved, And I will neither regret nor turn back from it.

29 From the sound of the horseman and the archer, the entire countryside is running away; They enter into caves, And they hide in thickets, And they ascend into caverns; Every city is forsaken, And there is no one dwelling in them.

30 And you, who will be devastated, what are you doing That you clothe yourself in scarlet, That you ornament yourself with ornaments of gold, That you amplify your eyes with pigment? It is for futility that you make yourself lovely; Paramours reject you; They seek your soul.

31 A sound like one in travail I hear, Distress like a woman bearing her firstborn, The sound of the daughter of Zion, Who is gasping for breath, while spreading out her palms: Woe to me, for my soul is faint before the killers!

Chapter 5

1 Go to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, And see, I pray, and know, And seek in her squares; If you find a man, If there is one executing right judgment, one seeking faithfulness, Then I shall pardon her.

2 Even though they say, As Yahweh lives, They surely swear falsely.

3 O Yahweh, Your eyes, do they not look for faithfulness? You smote them, yet they did not travail; You finished them; They refused to take admonition; They made their faces more unyielding than a crag; They refused to return.

4 Yet I myself said, Yea, they are poor people; They are foolish, For they do not know the way of Yahweh, The right judgment of their Elohim.

5 Let me go myself to the great men, And let me speak to them; For they should know the way of Yahweh, The right judgment of their Elohim. Nevertheless they alike had broken the yoke; They too had pulled away the bonds.

6 Therefore a lion from the wildwood smites them; A wolf of the plains, it devastates them; A leopard is alert over their cities: Anyone going forth from them, he shall be torn to pieces. For multitudinous are their transgressions! Plentiful are their backslidings!

7 Wherein can I pardon you for this? Your sons, they have forsaken Me, And they swear by non-elohim; Though I am surfeiting them, Yet they still commit adultery, And in a house of prostitutes they slash themselves.

8 They are rutting horses, wandering early; They are neighing, each one after his associate’s wife.

9 On account of these things should I not check them? averring is Yahweh, And should My soul not avenge itself on a nation such as this?

10 Go up on her leveled terraces and bring ruin, Yet do not make a full end; Take away her vine-branches, for they are not Yahweh’s.

11 For they have been treacherous, yea treacherous to Me, The house of Israel and the house of Judah, averring is Yahweh.

12 They have disavowed Yahweh, And they say, Not He! Evil shall not come upon us, And, We shall not see sword and famine;

13 And, The prophets, they shall become wind, And, The word is not in them; Let thus and thus be done to them.

14 Wherefore, thus says Yahweh, Elohim of hosts: Because you report this word, Behold, I will make My words in your mouth into fire, And this people into wood, and it will devour them.

15 Behold, I will bring upon you a nation from afar, house of Israel, averring is Yahweh; It is a perennial nation; It is a nation from the eon, A nation whose tongue you do not know, And what it speaks, you cannot make out.

16 Its quiver is like an open tomb. They are all masters.

17 It will devour your harvest and your bread; It shall devour your sons and your daughters; It shall devour your flock and your herd; It shall devour your vine and your fig tree; It shall make destitute your fortress cities In which you are trusting with the sword.

18 Yet even in those days, averring is Yahweh, I shall not make a full end of you.

19 And it will come to pass, that they shall say, For what reason has Yahweh our Elohim done all these things to us? Then you will say to them, Just as you forsook Me and served foreign elohim in your land, so shall you serve aliens in a land not yours.

20 Tell this in the house of Jacob, And announce it in Judah, saying:

21 Hear this, now, you people, frivolous and mindless, Who have eyes yet are not seeing, Who have ears yet are not hearing!

22 Are you not fearing Me? averring is Yahweh; Should you not travail in My presence, I, Who placed the sand as the boundary for the sea, An eonian statute, and it shall not pass beyond it? Though its waters reel, yet they shall not prevail, And its billows clamor, yet they shall not pass over it.

23 Yet for this people there is a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have defected and continue to go away.

24 And they do not say in their heart: Now let us fear Yahweh our Elohim, Who gives the downpour, the former rain and the latter rain in its season; The weeks, these of the statutes for harvest, He safeguards for us.

25 Your depravities, they have turned these things aside, And your sins, they have withheld the good from you.

26 Indeed wicked ones are found among My people; Each one lies in wait like camouflaged trappers; They set ruinous snares; they seize men.

27 Like a crate full of fowl, so their houses are full of deceit; Therefore they have grown great and are enriched.

28 They are stout; they are glossy; Moreover, they surpass in matters of evil; They do not adjudicate rightful adjudication, The rightful adjudication of the orphan, that they may prosper, And they do not judge the right judgment of the needy.

29 On account of these things should I not check them? averring is Yahweh; Should My soul not avenge itself on a nation such as this?

30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:

31 The prophets, they prophesy falsehood, And the priests, they hold sway by their own means, And My people, they love it so; Yet what shall you do at its end?

Chapter 6

1 Take yourselves to strong shelter, sons of Benjamin; Flee from within Jerusalem, And in Tekoa blow the trumpet, And on Beth-haccherem lift up the beacon, For evil, it gazes from the north, and a great breaking.

2 I will still the homestead, the delicate one, The daughter of Zion.

3 Against her come shepherds and their droves; They pitch tents around about her; They graze, each one at his hand.

4 Hallow a battle against her! Arise and let us go up at noon! Woe to us, for the day fades, For the shadows of evening are stretched out.

5 Arise and let us go up at night! And let us wreck her citadels!

6 For thus says Yahweh of hosts: Cut down trees, And construct an earthwork against Jerusalem; She is the city of falsehood; All within her is extortion.

7 As a cistern keeps cool its waters, so she keeps cooly fresh her evil; Violence and devastation are heard in her; Before My face continually are illness and smiting.

8 Be admonished, Jerusalem, Lest My soul should be strained from you, Lest I should make you a desolation, a land that is not indwelt.

9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Clean glean, yea clean glean, as you would a vine, the remnant of Israel; Bring your hand back like a grape picker over the tendrils.

10 Against whom must I speak and testify that they may hearken? Behold, uncircumcised is their ear, and they cannot pay attention; Behold, the word of Yahweh, it has become for them a reproach, And they do not delight in it.

11 Yet of the fury of Yahweh I am full; I am tired with containing it. Pour it out on the infant in the street, And on the intimate group of choice youths alike; Indeed both husband with wife shall be seized, The elder with the one full of days.

12 Their houses will be turned about to others, Fields and wives alike, For I shall stretch out My hand against the dwellers of the land, averring is Yahweh;

13 For from their smallest unto their greatest, everyone is greedy with greed, And from prophet unto priest, everyone is practicing falsehood;

14 They heal the brokenness of My people in an offhand way, Saying: Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

15 They have acted shamefully, For they have committed an abhorrence; However they are not ashamed, nay ashamed; They do not even know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; In the era when I check them, they shall stumble, Yahweh has said.

16 Thus says Yahweh: Stand on the roads and see; Ask about the eonian tracks, where this way to good is, And go in it, and find respite for your soul. Yet they say, We shall not go.

17 Also I set up watchmen over you: Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet! Yet they say, We shall not pay attention.

18 Therefore hear, nations, And know, crowd, what is coming against them.

19 Hear, earth! Behold, I am bringing evil on this people, The fruit of their own devisings; For they do not pay attention to My words, And My law, they reject it.

20 Why is this, that frankincense from Sheba is coming to Me, And the goodly aromatic reed from a land afar? Your ascent offerings are not acceptable, And your sacrifices are not congenial to Me.

21 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall put stumbling blocks before this people, And they will stumble on them; Fathers and sons alike, Neighbor and his associate, they shall perish.

22 Thus says Yahweh: Behold, a people is coming from the north land, And a great nation is roused from the remote parts of the earth.

23 Bow and scimitar they hold fast; They are cruel and show no compassion; Their voice clamors like the sea, And on horses they ride, Arrayed like a man for battle, against you, daughter of Zion.

24 We have heard a report of it; Our hands fall slack; Distress holds us fast, Travail as a woman giving birth.

25 Do not go forth to the field, And in the road do not walk, For the enemy has a sword; Shrinking fear is round about.

26 Daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, And wallow in ashes; The mourning for an only son make for yourself, The wailing of bitterness; For suddenly the devastator shall come upon us.

27 I have made you an assayer of My people a fortress So that you may know and assay their way.

28 They all are the stubborn of the stubborn, Going about defaming, Bronze and iron, all of them; Ruiners are they.

29 The bellows have become red hot from the fire; The lead is completely removed; Futilely has the refiner refined, And the evildoers have not been drawn off.

30 Call them rejected silver, For Yahweh has rejected them.

Chapter 7

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

2 Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah who enter through these gates to worship Yahweh.

3 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Amend your ways and your actions, and I will cause you to tabernacle in this place.

4 Do not put your trust in false words, saying, These buildings are the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.

5 For if you amend, yea amend your ways and your actions, if you execute, yea execute right judgment between a man and his associate,

6 and you do not exploit the sojourner, the orphan or the widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not go after other elohim to your evil,

7 then I will cause you to tabernacle in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from the eon and unto the eon.

8 Behold, you are putting your trust in false words to no benefit.

9 Do you think to steal, murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and fume incense to Baal and go after other elohim whom you have not known,

10 then you come and stand before Me in this house, over which My Name is called, and you say, We have been rescued in order to commit all these abhorrences?

11 Has this house over which My Name is called become a burglars’ cave in your eyes? Behold, I Myself also see it, averring is Yahweh.

12 Indeed go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I caused My Name to tabernacle formerly, and see what I did to it in view of the evil of My people Israel.

13 And now, because you have done all these deeds, averring is Yahweh, though I have been speaking to you, rising early and speaking persistently, yet you do not hearken, and though I call you, yet you do not answer,

14 I will do to the house over which My Name is called, in which you are trusting, and to the place which I have given to you and to your fathers, just as I did to Shiloh.

15 I will fling you from My presence, just as I have flung all your brothers, all the seed of Ephraim.

16 As for you, do not pray in behalf of this people, and do not lift up in their behalf appeal or prayer, and do not intercede with Me, for I will not hear you.

17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

18 The sons are picking up sticks, the fathers are blazing up the fire, and the wives are kneading dough to make biscuits for the queen of the heavens, and to libate libations to other elohim in order to provoke Me to vexation.

19 Is it I they provoke to vexation? averring is Yahweh. Is it not themselves that their own faces may know shame?

20 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured forth against this place, on the human and on the beast, on the tree of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will blaze up and shall not be quenched.

21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel: Add your ascent offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh!

22 For in the day I brought them forth from the land of Egypt I did not speak to your fathers and did not instruct them concerning matters of ascent offerings and sacrifices;

23 but rather this was the matter I instructed them, saying, Hearken to My voice, and I will be your Elohim, and you, you shall be My people. Walk in all the way that I instruct you, that it may be well for you.

24 Yet they would not hearken nor stretch out their ear; they have been walking in their own counsels, in the obduracy of their evil heart, and they have become backward rather than forward.

25 From the day that your fathers went forth from the land of Egypt until this day, I have been sending to you all My servants, the prophets, day by day, rising early, and sending persistently.

26 Yet they would not hearken to Me nor stretch out their ear; they keep stiffening the nape of their neck; they do more evil than their fathers.

27 When you speak to them all these words, they shall not hearken to you. When you call to them, they shall not answer you.

28 Then you will say to them: This is the nation that would not hearken to the voice of Yahweh its Elohim and would not take admonition. Faithfulness has perished, And it has been cut off from their mouth.

29 Shear off the hair of your sequestration and fling it away; Lift up a dirge on the ridges, For Yahweh has rejected And shall abandon the generation of His rage.

30 For the sons of Judah have done what is evil in My eyes, averring is Yahweh. They have placed their abominations in the house over which My Name is called, to defile it.

31 They have built the high-place of Topheth which is in the ravine of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in fire such as I did not instruct, nor did it come up on My heart.

32 Wherefore, behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when it shall no longer be called Topheth or the ravine of the son of Hinnom, but rather the ravine of killing, for they will entomb in Topheth because there is no other place.

33 Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the flyer of the heavens and for the beast of the earth, and there will be no one causing them to tremble.

34 And I will eradicate from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the sound of elation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.

Chapter 8

1 In that era, averring is Yahweh, they shall bring forth the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its chief officials and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bones of the dwellers of Jerusalem, from their tombs.

2 They will spread them out to the sun and to the moon and to all the host of the heavens which they loved and which they served and which they went after and of which they inquired and to which they bowed down; they shall not be gathered nor entombed; they shall be for manure on the surface of the ground.

3 And death will be chosen over life by all the remnant that remains from this evil family in all the remaining places where I have driven them away, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

4 You will say to them, Thus says Yahweh: Shall people fall and not rise again? If one turns away, shall he not turn back?

5 For what reason does this people, Jerusalem, turn away with a permanent backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; They refuse to turn back.

6 I have attended, and I hear; No such word do they speak. There is no man regretting his evil, Saying, What have I done? Everyone has turned about to their running Like a horse charging into the battle.

7 Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed seasons, And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush keep the time of their coming, Yet My people do not know the ordinance of Yahweh.

8 How can you say, We are wise, And the law of Yahweh is with us? Surely, behold, the false pen of the scribes has made a falsehood.

9 The wise will be put to shame; They will be dismayed and seized; Behold, the word of Yahweh have they rejected, So what wisdom do they have?

10 Therefore I shall give their wives to others, Their fields to new tenants; For from the smallest unto the greatest, everyone is greedy with greed; From prophet unto priest, everyone is practicing falsehood.

11 They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people in an offhand way, Saying: Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

12 They have acted shamefully, For they have committed an abhorrence; However, they are not ashamed, nay ashamed; They do not even know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among the fallen; In the era of their visitation, they shall stumble, Yahweh has said.

13 I shall gather them for termination, averring is Yahweh; There will be no grapes on the vine, And there will be no figs on the fig tree, And the leaf, it will decay; I shall also give to them those who shall overcome them.

14 Why are we sitting by? Be gathered; And let us come to the fortress cities, And let us be stilled there; For Yahweh our Elohim, He has set us to be stilled, And has given us poisoned water to drink, For we have sinned against Yahweh.

15 We expected peace, yet no good has come, A time of healing, yet behold, fright!

16 From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; From the sound of the neighing of his sturdy beasts the entire land quakes; They come and devour the land and its fullness, The city and those dwelling in it.

17 For behold, I will send serpents among you, Vipers for which there is no snake-charm, And they will bite you, averring is Yahweh.

18 Incurable affliction is on me; My heart is sick within me.

19 Behold, the voice of the imploring of the daughter of my people from a land afar: Is Yahweh not in Zion? Or is her King no longer in her? For what reason have they provoked Me to vexation with their carvings, With foreign vanities?

20 The harvest has passed; The summer has ended; Yet we have not been saved.

21 By the brokenness of the daughter of my people, I am broken; I am somber; Desolation, it holds me fast.

22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Or is there no healer there? For what reason has wholeness not ascended on the daughter of my people?

Chapter 9

1 O that my head were water And my eye a fountain of tears! Then I would lament by day and night over the slain of the daughter of my people.

2 O that I had in the wilderness a lodging for a traveler! Then I would forsake my people and go away from them. For they all are adulterers, A mob of treacherous men.

3 And they have positioned their tongue, their bow of falsehood, And not for faithfulness are they masterful in the land; For from evil to evil they go forth, And they do not know Me, averring is Yahweh.

4 Each man, beware of his associate, And do not put trust in any brother, For every brother circumvents, yea circumvents, And every associate goes about as a defamer.

5 Each deludes his associate, And they do not speak the truth; They teach their tongue to speak falsehood; While doing depravity they are too tired to turn about.

6 Adding fraud to fraud, deceit to deceit, They refuse to know Me, averring is Yahweh.

7 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, I shall refine them and test them, For how else should I act in view of the daughter of My people?

8 A lethal arrow is their tongue; Each speaks deceit in his mouth. One may speak peace to his associate, Yet within his heart he is setting an ambush for him.

9 On account of these things, shall I not check them? averring is Yahweh; Or against a nation like this, shall not My soul be avenged?

10 Over the hillside pastures I shall lift up lamentation and plaint, And over the oases of the wilderness, a dirge; For they have been ravaged, without a man passing, And they have not heard the sound of cattle; From the flyer of the heavens unto the beast, they have bolted away; They have gone.

11 I will make Jerusalem into rubble mounds, the habitation of wild jackals, And the cities of Judah shall I make a desolation, without a dweller.

12 Who is the wise man who can understand this, And to whom has the mouth of Yahweh spoken, that he may tell it, On what account the land perishes And is ravaged like a wilderness without anyone passing?

13 And Yahweh said: Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, And have not hearkened to My voice nor walked in it,

14 Yet are walking after the obduracy of their heart And after the Baalim of which their fathers had taught them,

15 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold I shall feed them, this people, absinth, And I will give them poisoned water to drink.

16 I will scatter them among nations Which neither they themselves nor their fathers have known, And I will send the sword after them until I have finished them.

17 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Consider and call the dirge-women, and let them come, And send for the wise women, and let them come;

18 Let them hasten and lift up a plaint over us, That our eyes may descend with tears And our eyelids may flow with water.

19 For the sound of a plaint is heard from Zion: How devastated we are! We are utterly ashamed! For we must forsake the land because they have flung down our tabernacles.

20 Hear, women, the word of Yahweh, And let your ear take in the word of His mouth; Teach to your daughters a plaint, And each woman to her associate a dirge.

21 For death has ascended through our windows; It has entered our citadels, To cut off the infant from the streets, The choice youths from the squares.

22 Speak! Thus is the averring of Yahweh: The carcass of each person will fall like manure on the face of the field, And like a sheaf left after the reaper when there is no one to gather it.

23 Thus says Yahweh: Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, And let not the masterful man boast in his mastery; Let not the rich man boast in his riches,

24 But rather let the boaster boast in this: To act intelligently and to know Me, That I am Yahweh, working benignity, Right judgment and justice on the earth, For in these I delight, averring is Yahweh.

25 Behold, days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when I will take note of everyone who is circumcised only as to the foreskin:

26 of Egypt and of Judah and of Edom and of the sons of Ammon and of Moab, and of all dwellers in the wilderness who cut away the edge of their hair. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

Chapter 10

1 Hear the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning you, house of Israel!

2 Thus says Yahweh: The way of the nations, do not learn, And by the signs of the heavens, do not be dismayed, Though the nations are being dismayed by them.

3 Indeed concerning the statutes of the peoples, it all is vanity, For one cuts it down, a tree from the wildwood, The work of an artificer’s hands with an adz;

4 With silver and with gold he makes it lovely; With nails and with hammers they fasten it, so that it cannot quaver.

5 They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber patch, and they cannot speak; They must be borne, yea borne, for they cannot march; Do not fear them, for they cannot do evil, And also to do good is not in them.

6 There is no one like You, O Yahweh; Great are You, And great is Your Name in mastery.

7 Who would not fear You, O King of the nations? For it befits You; Indeed among all the wise of the nations And among all their kings, there is none like You.

8 At the same time they are irrational and stupid; The idol’s admonition is but vanities; It is wood,

9 Stamped silver that is brought from Tarshish, And gold from Uphaz, The work of an artificer and the hands of a goldsmith; Blue wool and purple is their clothing; The work of the shrewd are they all.

10 Yet Yahweh is Elohim in truth; He is the living Elohim and the eonian King; At His wrath the earth quakes, And the nations cannot endure His indignation.

11 You shall say this to them: The elohim that did not make the heavens and the earth, These shall perish from the earth and from under the heavens.

12 Yahweh is the Maker of the earth by His vigor, The Establisher of the habitance by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

13 When He sounds forth His voice, there is a rumble of waters in the heavens, And He brings up vapors from the end of the earth; He makes lightening bolts for the rain And brings forth wind from His treasuries.

14 Every human is proved irrational, without knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carving, For his molten image is falsehood, And there is no spirit in them.

15 Vanity are they, a work of aberrations; In the era of their visitation they shall perish.

16 Not like these is the Portion of Jacob, For the Former of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His allotment; Yahweh of hosts is His Name.

17 Gather up your baggage from the land, You who are dwelling under siege!

18 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall sling out the dwellers of the land at this time, And I will constrict them so that they may be wrung out.

19 Woe unto me for my brokenness; My smiting is most ill, Yet I myself say: Yea, this is my illness, And I must bear it.

20 My tent, it is devastated, And all my tent cords, they are pulled away; My sons, they have gone forth from me and are no more; There is no one any more stretching out my tent Or setting up my tent sheets.

21 For the shepherds are proved irrational, And of Yahweh they have not inquired; Therefore they do not proceed effectively, And all their pasturage is scattered.

22 The sound of a report! Behold, it comes! And a great quaking from the north land! To make the cities of Judah a desolation, A habitation of wild jackals.

23 I know, O Yahweh, that it is not for a human to choose his way; It is not for a man to walk and to establish his step.

24 Discipline me, O Yahweh, though with judgment; Let it not be in Your anger lest You should decrease me to nothing.

25 Pour out Your fury on the nations that do not know You, And on the families that do not call in Your Name. For they have devoured Jacob; They have devoured him and consumed him, And they have desolated his homestead.

Chapter 11

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

2 Hear the words of this covenant, and speak them to the men of Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem.

3 Now you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel: Cursed is the man who is not hearkening to the words of this covenant,

4 which I instructed your fathers in the day I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, from the iron crucible, saying: Hearken to My voice and keep these words according to all that I shall instruct you. Then you will be My people, and I shall be your Elohim,

5 in order to carry out the oath which I Myself swore to your fathers, to give them a land gushing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered and said, Amen, Yahweh.

6 Yahweh also said to me: Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and do them,

7 for I have testified, yea testified to your fathers from the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt until this day, rising early and testifying persistently, saying, Hearken to My voice.

8 Yet they have not hearkened nor stretched out their ear, and they are walking, each one, in the obduracy of their evil heart. So I am bringing upon them all the words of this covenant which I instructed them to do, yet they have not done.

9 Then Yahweh said to me: A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah and among the dwellers of Jerusalem.

10 They have returned to the depravities of their first fathers who refused to hearken to My words. They themselves also have gone after other elohim to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have annulled My covenant which I contracted with their fathers.

11 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall bring on them evil from which they shall not be able to go forth. They will cry out to Me, yet I shall not hearken to them.

12 And the cities of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the elohim to whom they have been fuming incense, yet they shall not save, nay save them in the era of their evil.

13 Indeed as the number of your cities so have your elohim become, Judah; and as the number of streets in Jerusalem, so have you established altars to the shameful thing, altars to fume incense to Baal.

14 As for you, do not pray in behalf of this people, and do not lift up in their behalf appeal or prayer; for I will not hearken at the time when they call to Me about their evil.

15 What right has My beloved in My house, when she is executing her evil scheme? The benefit of plump animals and the flesh of the sanctuary has passed away from you; When you engage in evil, then you are joyous.

16 A flourishing olive tree, lovely with shapely fruit, Yahweh had called your name; But with the sound of a great din, He will ravage its leaves with fire, And its branches will be smashed.

17 Yahweh of hosts Who planted you has decreed evil against you owing to the evil of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, which they have done for themselves to provoke Me to vexation by fuming incense to Baal.

18 Yahweh has informed me, and I know it; Then You showed me their actions:

19 I was like a domestic he-lamb that is fetched to slaughter; I did not know that against me they had devised evil devisings: Let us ruin the tree with its sap, And let us cut him off from the land of the living So that his name shall not be remembered any more.

20 Now, O Yahweh of hosts, righteous Judge, Tester of the innermost being and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance upon them, For to You have I confided my cause.

21 Therefore, thus has Yahweh said concerning the men of Anathoth who are seeking your soul, saying, If you do not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, then you shall not die at our hand.

22 Therefore, thus has Yahweh of hosts said: Behold, I shall check them; The choice youths, they shall die by the sword; Their sons and their daughters, they shall die by famine.

23 And no remnant shall remain for them; For I shall bring evil to the men of Anathoth, The year of their visitation.

Chapter 12

1 You are righteous, O Yahweh, when I contend with You; Nevertheless I shall speak of judgments with You. For what reason does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those who are treacherous with treachery at ease?

2 You have planted them; Moreover, they take root; They advance; Moreover, they yield fruit. You are near in their mouth, Yet far from their innermost being.

3 But You, O Yahweh, You know me; You examine me and have tested how my heart is toward You; Pull them away like a flockling to slaughter, And sanctify them for the day of killing.

4 How long shall the land mourn, And the herbage of every field dry up? Because of the evil of those who dwell in it, Both beasts and flyer are swept off, For they say, He cannot see our hereafter.

5 When you have run with footmen, and they tire you, how shall you compete with horses? And as you are trusting in a land of peace, how shall you do in the jungle of the Jordan?

6 For even your brothers and your father’s house, Even they themselves are treacherous with you; Even they themselves call after you fulsomely; Do not put faith in them when they speak goodly words to you.

7 I have forsaken My house; I have abandoned My allotment; I have given the beloved of My soul into the palm of her enemies.

8 My allotment has become to Me like a lion in the wildwood; She has lifted up her voice against Me; Therefore I hate her.

9 Does the hyena pounce on My allotment for Me? Are birds of prey around her? Go! gather, all you wild animals of the field! Come hither to eat!

10 Many shepherds have ruined My vineyard; They have trampled My portion; They have made My coveted portion into a wilderness of desolation;

11 They have turned her into a desolation; She mourns before Me, a desolation; All the land is desolate, But there is no one taking it to heart.

12 On all the ridges in the wilderness devastators have come, For the sword of Yahweh devours from one end of the land unto the other end of the land; There will be no peace for all flesh.

13 They have sown wheat and reaped thorns; They have travailed but have not benefitted, And they are ashamed of their harvest yields, because of the hot anger of Yahweh.

14 Thus says Yahweh: Concerning all My evil neighbors who encroach on the allotment which I allotted to My people Israel, behold, I shall pluck them up off their ground, and I shall pluck up the house of Judah from their midst.

15 Then it will come to pass after I have plucked them up that I will again show compassion to them and will restore them, each one to his allotment, and each one to his land.

16 And if it comes to pass that they learn, yea learn the ways of My people, to swear by My Name: As Yahweh lives, just as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they will be built in the midst of My people.

17 Yet if they do not hearken, then I will pluck up that nation, pluck up and destroy, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 13

1 Thus says Yahweh to me: Go and buy for yourself a flaxen belt, and place it around your waist, but do not insert it in water.

2 So I bought the belt according to the word of Yahweh, and I placed it around my waist.

3 Then the word of Yahweh came to me a second time, saying:

4 Take the belt that you bought, that is around your waist, and rise, go to the Euphrates, and bury it there in a rift of a crag.

5 So I went and buried it at the Euphrates just as Yahweh had instructed me.

6 Then it came to be at the end of many days that Yahweh said to me: Rise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the belt that I instructed you to bury it there.

7 So I went to the Euphrates and delved, and I took the belt from the place where I had buried it. Yet behold, the belt was ruined; it was not fit for anything.

8 The word of Yahweh came to me saying:

9 Thus says Yahweh: Even thus shall I ruin the pride of Judah and the vast pride of Jerusalem.

10 This evil people, these refusers to hearken to My words, who walk in the obduracy of their heart and go after other elohim to serve them and to bow down to them, they shall become like this belt that is not fit for anything.

11 For just as the belt clings to a man’s waist, so I have caused all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah to cling to Me, averring is Yahweh, to become Mine, for a people and for a name, and for praise and for beauty, yet they would not hearken.

12 Now you will say to them this word: Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel: Every crock shall be filled with wine. And when they say to you, Do we not know, yea know, that every crock shall be filled with wine?

13 then you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall fill all the dwellers of this land and the kings who sit for David on his throne and the priests and the prophets and all the dwellers of Jerusalem with drunkenness.

14 And I will shatter them each one against his brother, the fathers and the sons alike, averring is Yahweh. I shall not take pity nor commiserate nor show compassion to keep from ruining them.

15 Hearken and give ear; Do not be haughty, for Yahweh has spoken.

16 Give glory to Yahweh your Elohim, ere He brings darkness, And ere your feet trip on the mountains in the twilight, When you expect light, yet He makes it blackest shadow and sets down murkiness.

17 But if you do not hearken to it, My soul shall lament in concealment because of your pride; And my eye shall be tearful, yea tearful, Yea it shall descend with tears, For the drove of Yahweh is captured.

18 Say to the king and to the queen-mother: Abase yourselves! be seated low! For your beautiful crown has descended from your heads.

19 The cities of the Negeb, they are closed off, and there is no one to open them; Judah is deported, all of her; She is deported in totality.

20 Lift up your eyes, Jerusalem, and see those who are coming from the north; Where is the drove which was given to you, your beautiful flock?

21 What shall you say when He visits you, And you yourselves had taught them as mentors to be head over you? Shall not cramps take hold of you like a woman giving birth?

22 And when you say in your heart: For what reason have these things befallen me? It is because of your great depravity that your skirts are exposed, your heels violated.

23 Shall a Cushite transform his skin, or a leopard its spots? Then you yourselves also shall be able to do good, who are taught to do evil.

24 I shall scatter them like straw, passed along by the wilderness wind.

25 This is your lot, your measured assignment from Me, averring is Yahweh, You who forgot Me and trusted in falsehood.

26 So I Myself also have stripped off your skirts over your face, That your dishonor may be seen.

27 Your adulteries and your neighings, The lewdness of your prostitutions, on the hills and in the field, I have seen your abominations! Woe to you, Jerusalem! you are not clean! How long will it yet go on?

Chapter 14

1 The word of Yahweh which came to Jeremiah concerning the matter of the dearths:

2 Judah mourns, and her gateways waste away; They are somber down to the earth, And the hue of Jerusalem ascends.

3 Their nobles, they send their menials for water; They come to the pools yet find no water; Their vessels return empty; They are ashamed and mortified, And they hood their heads.

4 In her yield, the ground is dismayed, For the downpour has not come on the earth; The farmworkers are ashamed and hood their heads.

5 Indeed even the hind bears in the field Only to forsake its fawn because there is no vegetation,

6 And the onagers, they stand on the ridges; They snuff up the wind like wild jackals; Their eyes fail, for there is no herbage.

7 As for our depravities, even though they assert against us, O Yahweh, act on account of Your Name; For our backslidings are many; It is against You that we have sinned.

8 O Expectation of Israel, O Yahweh, Its Saviour in the era of distress, Why are You like a sojourner in the land, And like a traveler who turns aside to lodge but a night?

9 Why have You become like a man in a stupor, Like a master who is not able to save? Yet You are in our midst, O Yahweh, And Your Name is called over us; O do not leave us!

10 Thus Yahweh said concerning this people: So they have loved to rove; They have not kept back their feet; Hence Yahweh, He does not accept them; Now He shall remember their depravity, And He shall check their sins.

11 And Yahweh said to me: Do not pray for any good in behalf of this people.

12 Though they fast, I will not hearken to their appeal, and though they offer up ascent offering and approach present, I will not accept them. For by sword and by famine and by plague I will finish them.

13 Then I said, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, behold, the prophets are saying to them: You shall not see the sword, And famine shall not come upon you, For I shall give you true peace in this place.

14 Yet Yahweh said to me, It is falsehood that the prophets are prophesying in My Name. I did not send them nor instruct them, and I did not speak to them. It is a false vision and a useless divination and the deceit of their heart that they are prophesying to you.

15 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My Name though I Myself did not send them, and who are saying, Sword and famine shall not come on this land, by the sword and by famine shall these prophets be finished.

16 And the people to whom they are prophesying, they shall be flung into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and there will be no one to entomb them them, their wives, their sons and their daughters and I will pour out upon them their evil.

17 You will say to them this word: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day; Let them not be stilled, For with a great brokenness is broken the virgin daughter of my people, With a very ill smiting.

18 If I go forth to the field, then behold, those slain by the sword! And if I enter the city, then behold, those ailing from the famine! Indeed both prophet and priest go as merchants to a land they have not known.

19 Have You rejected, yea rejected Judah? Does Your soul loathe Zion? For what reason have You smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We expected peace, yet no good has come, And a time of healing, yet behold, fright!

20 We acknowledge, O Yahweh, our wickedness, The depravity of our fathers; Indeed we have sinned against You!

21 O do not spurn, on account of Your Name; O do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; Remember; do not annul Your covenant with us.

22 Are there any among the vain idols of the nations bringing downpours? Or can the heavens themselves give showers? Is it not You, O Yahweh our Elohim? So we are expectant in You, For You Yourself have made all these.

Chapter 15

1 Then Yahweh said to me, Even if Moses or Samuel should stand before Me, My soul would not go out to this people. Dismiss them from My presence, and let them go forth.

2 And it will occur that they ask you, Whither shall we go forth? Then you will answer them, Thus says Yahweh: Those who are for death, to death, And who are for the sword, to the sword, And who are for famine, to famine, And who are for captivity, to captivity.

3 So I will visit on them four families of doom, averring is Yahweh: the sword to kill, the dogs for pulling in pieces, fowls of the heavens and beasts of the earth to devour and to massacre.

4 I will make them a stirring horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, owing to Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah, because of what he did in Jerusalem.

5 Indeed who shall take pity on you, Jerusalem? And who shall bemoan over you? And who shall withdraw to ask for your well-being?

6 It is you yourself who abandoned Me, averring is Yahweh; You are going backward; So I shall stretch out My hand against you and lay you in ruins; I am tired of regretting.

7 I shall winnow them with a winnowing-fork in the gateways of the land; I will bereave; I will destroy My people; They have not returned from their ways.

8 Their widows will be more plentiful to Me than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, upon each mother of a choice youth, a devastator at noon; I will cast down suddenly upon her rousing agitation and panics.

9 She who gave birth to seven sons wastes away; Her soul expires; Her sun has set while it was still day; She is ashamed and abashed; I shall give their remnant to the sword before their enemies, averring is Yahweh.

10 Woe to me, my mother, that you ever bore me, A man of disputing and a man of quarreling for the entire land; I have not lent, and they have not lent to me; All of them are maledicting me.

11 Yahweh answered: Assuredly I will make you upright for good; Assuredly I will intercede for you in an era of evil and in an era of distress because of the enemy.

12 Shall iron smash iron from the north, or copper?

13 Your estate and your treasures shall I give as plunder (Not for a price or because of all your sins in all your boundaries).

14 And I will expel your enemies to a land you do not know, For fire will be kindled in My anger; Over all of you shall it be kept aglow.

15 You Yourself know, O Yahweh; Remember me and look after me, And avenge me on my persecutors; O do not, even in the slowness of Your anger, take me away; Know that I bear reproach on Your account.

16 Your words were found, and I have been devouring them; Thus Your word becomes to me the elation and the rejoicing of my heart; For Your Name is called over me, O Yahweh, Elohim of hosts. _2291

17 I have not sat down in the intimate group of sportmakers that I be joyous. Because of Your hand I have sat down alone, For You have filled me with menace.

18 Why has my pain become permanent, And my smiting mortal, so that it refuses to be healed? Why have You become, yea become to me like a failing spring, Like waters that cannot be relied on?

19 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: If you turn back, I shall restore you; You shall stand before Me; And if you bring forth what is precious rather than prodigal, You shall become as My mouth. It is they who must return to you, And not you who must return to them.

20 And I will make you to this people into a fortressed bronze wall; Though they fight against you, they shall not prevail over you, For I am with you, to save you and to rescue you, averring is Yahweh.

21 I will rescue you from the hand of evil ones And ransom you from the palm of terrifiers.

Chapter 16

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 You shall not take a wife for yourself, And there shall not be sons and daughters for you in this place.

3 For thus says Yahweh: Concerning the sons, And concerning the daughters born in this place, And concerning their mothers who bore them, And concerning their fathers who begot them in this land,

4 They shall die deaths of great travail; They shall not be bewailed, Nor shall they be entombed; They shall become manure on the surface of the ground, They shall be consumed by sword and by famine, And their carcasses will become food for the flyer of the heavens And for the beast of the earth.

5 For thus says Yahweh: Do not enter a house of communal rites; Do not go to wail, and do not bemoan over them; For I have gathered back My peace from this people (averring is Yahweh), The benignity and the compassions.

6 And they will die, the great and the small, in this land; They shall not be entombed, And men shall not wail for them; No one shall slash himself nor tonsure himself for them.

7 Men shall not break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead; And they shall not give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or for his mother.

8 You shall not enter the house of feasting To sit with them to eat and to drink.

9 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall eradicate from this place Before your eyes and in your days, The sound of elation and the sound of rejoicing, The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

10 When it comes to be that you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, On what grounds has Yahweh spoken against us all this great evil? What is our depravity? And what is our sin that we have sinned against Yahweh our Elohim?

11 then you will say to them: Because your fathers forsook Me, averring is Yahweh, and they walked after other elohim and served them and worshipped them. They forsook Me and did not keep My law.

12 As for you, you have done more evil in your deeds than your fathers. Behold, you are walking, each one after the obduracy of his evil heart, so as not to hearken to Me.

13 So I will cast you forth from this land onto a land which you have not known, either you or your fathers; and you will serve other elohim there, by day and night, where I shall not grant grace to you.

14 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when it shall not be said any longer, As Yahweh lives, Who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,

15 but rather, As Yahweh lives, Who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them away. For I will restore them onto their ground which I gave to their fathers.

16 Behold I shall send for many fishermen, averring is Yahweh, And they will fish for them; Then afterward I shall send for many hunters, And they will hunt them out From every mountain and from every hill, And from the rifts of the crags.

17 For My eyes are on all their ways; They are not concealed from before Me, And their depravity is not secluded from in front of My eyes.

18 I will first repay double for their depravity and their sin Because they have profaned My land with the carcasses of their abominations; And with their abhorrences they have filled My allotment.

19 O Yahweh, my Strength and my Stronghold, My Haven in the day of distress, To You the nations shall come from the limits of the earth, And they shall say: Yea, our fathers allotted falsehood, Vanity and things that were without benefit in them.

20 Can a human make for himself, elohim ? They are not elohim!

21 Therefore, behold, I shall inform them, This once I shall inform them of My hand and My mastery, And they will know that My Name is Yahweh.

Chapter 17

1 The sin of Judah is written with an iron pen, Incised with a corundum nib On the tablet of their heart, And about the horns of their altars;

2 As a memorial against them are their altars and their Asherah poles, By the flourishing tree, upon the lofty hills,

3 The mountain ranges and in the field. Your estate and all your treasures, as plunder shall I give away, Your high-places, because of sin, in all your boundaries.

4 So you will release your grip from your allotment which I have given to you, And I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you have not known; For you have kindled a fire in My anger; It shall be kept aglow until the eon.

5 Thus says Yahweh: Cursed is the master who trusts in humanity, And who makes flesh his arm, And whose heart withdraws from Yahweh;

6 He will become like a dwarf juniper in the Arabah And shall not see it when goodness comes; So he will tabernacle in the hot places of the wilderness, A land of salty waste that is not indwelt.

7 Blessed is the master who trusts in Yahweh So that Yahweh comes to be his trust.

8 He will become like a tree transplanted by the water, That sends forth its roots by a canal; It shall not fear when the bright warmth comes; Its leaf remains flourishing; And it shall not be anxious in a year of dearth, Nor suspend from yielding fruit.

9 The heart is crooked above all things, And it is mortally ill; Who can know it?

10 I am Yahweh Who investigates the heart, Who tests the innermost being, So as to give to each one according to his ways, According to the fruit of his actions.

11 Like a partridge that broods over chicks it has not begotten, So is one making riches with injustice; In the middle of his days it shall forsake him, And at his end he shall be proved a failure.

12 A glorious throne, exalted from the first, is the place of our sanctuary.

13 O Expectation of Israel, O Yahweh, May all who forsake You be ashamed. May those who withdraw from Me be written in the earth; For they have forsaken the Fountain of living waters, even Yahweh.

14 Heal me, O Yahweh, that I may be healed; Save me, that I may be saved; For You are my Praise.

15 Behold, they are saying to me: Where is the word of Yahweh? Let it now come to pass.

16 As for me, I have not rushed from being a shepherd in Your service, And I have not yearned for the fatal day; You Yourself know the utterance of my lips; It has been before Your presence.

17 Do not become a cause of dismay to me; You are my Refuge in the day of evil.

18 Let my persecutors be ashamed; Let me not be ashamed, not I; Let them be dismayed; Let me not be dismayed, not I. Bring on them the day of evil, And break them with double breaking.

19 Thus says Yahweh to me: Go and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter, and through which they go forth, and in all the gates of Jerusalem,

20 and say to them, Hear the word of Yahweh, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all dwellers of Jerusalem, who enter through these gates.

21 Thus says Yahweh: Beware, in view of your souls; you must not bear any load on the sabbath day, or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.

22 You must not bring forth any load from your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, for you will hallow the sabbath day just as I instructed your fathers.

23 Yet they would not hearken nor stretch out their ear; they kept stiffening the nape of their neck so as not to hearken and so as not to take admonition.

24 Now it will come to be if you hearken, yea hearken to Me, averring is Yahweh, so as not to bring a load through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, and you hallow the sabbath day so as not to do any work in it,

25 then kings who sit on David’s throne will enter through the gates of this city with their chief officials, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their chiefs, each man of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem, and this city will be indwelt for the eon.

26 They will come from the cities of Judah, from round about Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the low foothills, from the hill country and from the Negeb, bringing ascent offering and sacrifice, approach present and frankincense, and bringing acclamation to the house of Yahweh.

27 Yet if you do not hearken to Me to hallow the sabbath day so as not to bear a load or come with it through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will ravage its gates with fire, and it will devour the citadels of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.

Chapter 18

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

2 Rise and go down to the house of the potter, and there I shall announce to you My words.

3 So I went down to the house of the potter, and behold, he was making a work on the wheel stones.

4 Yet the vessel which he was making with clay was ruined in the hand of the potter, and he turned back and made it into another vessel, just as it seemed upright in the eyes of the potter to make.

5 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

6 Can I not do to you, house of Israel, as this potter? averring is Yahweh; behold, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, house of Israel.

7 The moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy,

8 and that nation concerning which I have spoken turns back from its evil, then I will regret the evil that I had designed to do against it.

9 And the moment I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom, to build it up and to plant it,

10 and it does evil in My eyes so as not to hearken to My voice, then I will regret the good of which I had spoken, to do good to it.

11 And now, speak to each man of Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am forming evil against you And designing against you a design. Turn back, now, each man from his evil way, And amend your ways and your actions.

12 Yet they say, A cause for despair, for we shall go after our devices; each man in the obduracy of his evil heart, so shall we act.

13 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Ask now among the nations, Who has heard things like these? A very horrible thing has she done, the virgin Israel.

14 Is a field forsaken by the chert stone, Lebanon by snow? Or can the cool, flowing waters of alien places be absorbed?

15 But My people have forgotten Me; They fume incense to a mere idol, And they stumble in their ways, the eonian trails, To walk the tracks of a way not heaped up,

16 To make their land a desolation, an eonian hissing; Everyone passing by it is appalled and shakes his head.

17 Like the east wind, I shall scatter them before the enemy; The nape of the neck and not the face shall I show them in the day of their calamity.

18 Yet they say: Come and let us devise devisings against Jeremiah, for the law shall never perish from the priest, or counsel from the wise, or the word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.

19 O Yahweh, do attend to me, And hear the voice of my antagonists.

20 Should evil be repayment for good? Yet they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember my standing before You To speak good concerning them, To turn back Your fury from them.

21 Therefore, give their sons to famine, And topple them into the hands of the sword; Let their wives be bereaved and widowed, And let their men be killed by the death plague, Their choice youths smitten by the sword in battle.

22 Let an outcry be heard from their houses, When You bring a raiding party suddenly on them; For they have dug a pit to seize me, And have buried snares for my feet.

23 Yet You, O Yahweh, You know all their intrigue against me for death; O do not shelter over their depravity, And their sin, O do not wipe it out from before You; Let them be stumbled before You; In the era of Your anger, deal with them.

Chapter 19

1 Thus says Yahweh: Go and buy a potter’s earthenware bottle, and take some of the elders of the people and of the elders of the priests.

2 Go forth to the ravine of the son of Hinnom, which is at the portal of the Artisan’s Gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall speak to you.

3 You will say, Hear the word of Yahweh, kings of Judah, and dwellers of Jerusalem. Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall bring such evil on this place that anyone hearing about it, his ears shall tingle.

4 Because they have forsaken Me and are making this place foreign and are fuming incense in it to other elohim that they have not known, they or their fathers or the kings of Judah, and they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,

5 and because they have built the high-places of Baal to burn their sons with fire as ascent offerings to Baal, which I did not instruct nor even speak of, nor did it come up on My heart,

6 therefore, behold the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when this place shall no longer be called Topheth or the ravine of the son of Hinnom, but rather the ravine of killing.

7 I will void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those seeking their soul; and I will give their carcasses as food for the flyer of the heavens and for the beast of the earth.

8 I will make this city an object of astonishment and a hissing; everyone passing by it shall be appalled and shall hiss at all its smitings.

9 I will feed them the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and each one shall eat the flesh of his associate, in the siege and in the constraint which their enemies and those seeking their soul shall inflict upon them.

10 And you will break the bottle before the eyes of the men who are walking with you,

11 and say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: In this way I shall break this people and this city just as one breaks a potter’s vessel which cannot be mended again. And they shall entomb in Topheth until there is no place to entomb.

12 So shall I do to this place, averring is Yahweh, and to its dwellers, so as to make this city like Topheth.

13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will become unclean like the place Topheth, even all the houses upon whose housetops they have fumed incense to all the host of the heavens, and libated libations to other elohim.

14 Then Jeremiah came back from Topheth where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the house of Yahweh and said to all the people,

15 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall bring on this city and on all its daughter cities all the evil that I have spoken against it, for they have stiffened the nape of their neck so as not to hear My words.

Chapter 20

1 When Pashhur son of Immer, the priest, he who was main supervisor in the house of Yahweh, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

2 then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks which were in the Upper Benjamin Gate in the house of Yahweh.

3 Yet it came to pass on the morrow when Pashhur brought Jeremiah forth from the stocks that Jeremiah said to him, Yahweh has called your name not Pashhur, but rather Magor-missabib.

4 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall make you a shrinking fear to yourself and to all in friendship with you, And they will fall by the sword of their enemies, while your eyes are seeing it; I shall give all Judah into the king of Babylon’s hand, And he will deport them to Babylon or smite them with the sword.

5 I will give away all the assets of this city, And all the fruit of its labor, And all its precious possessions, And all the treasures of the kings of Judah; I shall give them into the hand of their enemies, And they will plunder them; They will take them and bring them to Babylon.

6 As for you, Pashhur and all the dwellers of your house, You shall go away into captivity; Into Babylon shall you enter, and there shall you die; There shall you be entombed, you and all in friendship with you, To whom you prophesied with falsehood.

7 You have enticed me, O Yahweh, and I have been enticed; You have held me fast and are prevailing; I have become an object of sport the entire day; Everyone is deriding me.

8 For as often as I am speaking I am crying out; Violence and devastation, am I calling! Indeed the word of Yahweh becomes for me a source of reproach and of scoffing the entire day.

9 When I say, I shall not be mindful of Him, And I shall not speak any more in His Name, Then it is in my heart like a consuming fire, Restrained in my bones; I am tired containing it, Indeed I cannot.

10 I have heard the muttering of the many: Magor-missabib! Denounce! Let us denounce him! Every mortal who should seek my peace is keeping watch for me to make a false step: Perhaps he can be enticed, and we shall prevail over him; Then we shall take our vengeance upon him!

11 Yet Yahweh is with me like a terrifying master of war; Therefore, my persecutors, they shall stumble; They shall not prevail; They will be utterly ashamed that they cannot proceed effectively, With an eonian mortification that shall not be forgotten.

12 O Yahweh of hosts, Tester of the righteous, Examiner of the innermost being and heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You have I confided my cause.

13 Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh! For He rescues the soul of the needy one from the hand of evildoers.

14 Cursed be the day in which I was born; The day on which my mother bore me, let it never become blessed.

15 Cursed be the man who bore tidings to my father, Saying: A son is born to you! A male rejoiced, yea rejoiced him.

16 May that man become like the cities which Yahweh overturned and regretted not; May he hear the outcry in the morning and the shouting at noontide,

17 Because he did not put me to death in the womb, So that my mother might become for me my tomb, And her womb remain pregnant for the eon.

18 Why this, that from the womb I came forth to see misery and affliction, And that my days should end in shame?

Chapter 21

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying:

2 Inquire, now, of Yahweh on our behalf, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is fighting against us. Perhaps Yahweh shall deal with us according to all His marvelous works, so that he shall go up from us.

3 Yet Jeremiah said to them, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah,

4 Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall turn around the weapons of war that are in your hand, with which you are fighting the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.

5 And I Myself shall fight against you with an outstretched hand and a steadfast arm, in anger, in fury and in great wrath.

6 I will smite the dwellers of this city, both human and beast; with a great plague shall they die.

7 And afterward, averring is Yahweh, I shall give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his officials, and the people who remain in this city from the plague, from the sword and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their soul. He will smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not commiserate over them nor take pity nor show compassion.

8 And you shall say to this people, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death:

9 Whoever stays a dweller in this city, he shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the plague, yet whoever goes forth and casts his lot with the Chaldeans, who are besieging you, he shall live; his soul will remain for him as loot.

10 For I have set My face against this city for evil and not for good, averring is Yahweh. Into the hand of the king of Babylon shall it be given, and he will burn it with fire.

11 And to the royal house of Judah: Hear the word of Yahweh;

12 House of David, thus says Yahweh: Adjudicate right judgment each morning, And rescue the pillaged one from the hand of the exploiter, Lest My fury should go forth like fire And consume, with none to quench it, In view of your evil actions.

13 Behold, I am against you, Dweller over the vale, Rock over the tableland, averring is Yahweh, You who say: Who can settle down upon us? And who can come into our habitations?

14 I will check you according to the fruit of your actions, averring is Yahweh; I will ravage her wildwood with fire, And it will devour all her surroundings.

Chapter 22

1 Thus says Yahweh: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word.

2 You will say, Hear the word of Yahweh, king of Judah, sitting on the throne of David, you and your officials and your people who enter through these gates.

3 Thus says Yahweh: Execute right judgment and justice, and rescue the pillaged one from the hand of the exploiter. The sojourner, the orphan and the widow, do not tyrannize, and do not treat violently; do not shed innocent blood in this place.

4 For if you do, yea do this word, then kings who sit for David on his throne will enter through the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, he and his officials and his people.

5 Yet if you do not hearken to these words, by Myself have I sworn, averring is Yahweh, that this house shall become a waste.

6 For thus says Yahweh concerning the house of the king of Judah: Though you are Gilead to Me, the summit of Lebanon, Assuredly I shall make you a wilderness, cities that are not indwelt.

7 I will hallow ruiners against you, each with his implements, And they will cut down your choice cedars and cast them on the fire.

8 When many nations pass by this city, and they say each one to his associate, On what grounds has Yahweh done thus to this great city?

9 then they will reply, Because they forsook the covenant of Yahweh their Elohim, and they worshiped other elohim and served them.

10 Do not lament for the dead one, And do not bemoan him; Lament, yea lament for him who has gone away, For he shall not return again Or again see the land of his kindred.

11 For thus says Yahweh concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who was made king in place of his father Josiah, but who went forth from this place: He shall not return there again.

12 For in the place where they deported him, there shall he die, and he shall not see this land again.

13 Woe to him who builds his house without justice, And his upper chambers without right judgment, Who forces service on his associate gratuitously, And does not give him his wages,

14 Who is saying, I shall build a spacious house for myself, With ventilated upper chambers; And who amplifies his windows for himself, Ceiled with cedar and painted with ocher.

15 Are you made king because you compete in cedar? Your father, did he not eat and drink, Yet also execute right judgment and justice? Then it was well for him.

16 He adjudicated the rightful adjudication of the humble one and the needy one; Then it was well. Did that not show knowledge of Me? averring is Yahweh.

17 But your eyes and your heart are set on nothing save on your own gain, On shedding the blood of the innocent, On extortion and on committing incursion.

18 Therefore, thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They shall not wail for him, Woe, my brother, and woe, sister! They shall not wail for him, Woe, lord, and woe, his splendor!

19 He shall be entombed with a donkey’s entombment, Pulled in pieces And flung beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

20 Go up to the Lebanon and cry, In Bashan lift up your voice, And cry from Abarim; For all your lovers have been broken.

21 I spoke to you in your ease; You said, I shall not hearken; This is your way from your youth, For you have not hearkened to My voice.

22 The wind shall graze all your shepherds, And your lovers, they shall go into captivity; Indeed, then you shall be ashamed And mortified because of all your evil.

23 Dweller in Lebanon, Nester in the cedars, How much grace will you be shown when cramps come upon you, Travail like that of a woman giving birth?

24 As I live, averring is Yahweh, indeed Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, shall assuredly not become the signet ring on My right hand. Indeed I shall draw you off from there, Coniah.

25 I will give you into the hand of those who seek your soul, and into the hand of those from whose face you shrink, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.

26 I will cast you forth, and your mother who bore you, to another land where you were not born, and you shall die there.

27 And to the land where they lift their souls to return, there they shall not return.

28 Is this man Coniah a fetish, despised and shattered, Or a vessel in which there is no delight? For what reason are he and his seed cast forth And flung to a land which they do not know?

29 Land! land! land! Hear the word of Yahweh!

30 Thus says Yahweh: Write this man heirless, A master who shall not prosper in his days, For no man from his seed shall prosper So as to sit on the throne of David Or rule again in Judah.

Chapter 23

1 Woe to the shepherds who destroy, And who scatter the flock of My pasture, averring is Yahweh.

2 Therefore, thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: You yourselves have scattered My flock And driven them away, And you have not looked after them; Behold, I shall visit you with your evil actions, averring is Yahweh.

3 And I Myself shall convene the remnant of My flock From all the lands where I have driven them away; I will restore them to their homestead, And they will be fruitful and increase.

4 I will set up shepherds over them, And they will shepherd them; They shall not fear any longer nor be dismayed, And none shall be missing, averring is Yahweh.

5 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, When I will set up for David a Righteous Sprout, A King Who will reign and proceed effectively, Who will establish right judgment and justice in the land.

6 In His days Judah shall be saved, And Israel, it shall tabernacle in serenity, And this is His Name by which one shall call Him: Yahweh, our Righteousness.

7 Therefore, behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when they shall not say any longer, As Yahweh lives, Who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,

8 but rather, As Yahweh lives, Who brought up and Who brought out the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them away; and they will dwell on their own ground.

9 As to the prophets: My heart is broken within me; All my bones are tremulous; I have become like a drunken man And like a master when wine overcomes him, In view of Yahweh, And in view of His holy words.

10 For the land is full of adulterers; Indeed in view of the imprecation, the land mourns; The oases of the wilderness have dried up. Their running has become evil, And their mastery not proper:

11 Indeed both prophet and priest, they are polluted; Even in My house I find their evil, averring is Yahweh.

12 Therefore their way shall become to them like slick spots; They shall be tripped up in the gloom, And they will fall in it; For I shall bring evil upon them, the year of their visitation, averring is Yahweh.

13 Among the prophets of Samaria I see impropriety; They prophesy by Baal, And they lead My people Israel astray.

14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem I see a horrible thing: Adultery and walking in falsehood. They reinforce the hands of evildoers So that no one turns back from his evil; To Me they have become like Sodom, all of them, And its dwellers like Gomorrah.

15 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I shall feed them absinth, And I will give them poisoned water to drink, For from the prophets of Jerusalem pollution has gone forth to the entire land.

16 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Do not hearken to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you; They place vain hopes in you; A vision of their own heart are they speaking, Not from the mouth of Yahweh,

17 Who say, yea say to those who spurn Me: Yahweh says, Peace shall come to you! And to everyone walking in the obduracy of his own heart they say: Evil shall not come upon you!

18 For who has stood in the deliberation of Yahweh And has seen and hearkened to His word? Who has attended to His word and has hearkened?

19 Behold, the tempest of Yahweh, His fury has gone forth, Even a whirling tempest; It shall whirl down upon the heads of the wicked.

20 The anger of Yahweh shall not turn back until He executes And until He carries out the plans of His heart; In the days hereafter you shall comprehend it with understanding.

21 I did not send these prophets, yet they ran! I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied!

22 If they had stood in My deliberation, Then they would be announcing My words to My people, And they would be turning them back from their evil way, And from their evil actions.

23 Am I Elohim nearby, averring is Yahweh, And not Elohim afar?

24 Can a man be concealed in places of concealment and I not see him? averring is Yahweh; Do I not fill the heavens and the earth? averring is Yahweh.

25 I have heard what the prophets say, who prophesy falsehood in My Name, saying: I have dreamed! I have dreamed!

26 How long? Can the heart of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even the prophets with deceit in their heart, turn back,

27 who design to make My people forget My Name by their dreams which they recount, each one to his associate, just as their fathers forgot My Name for Baal?

28 The prophet to whom there comes a dream, let him recount a dream, Yet one to whom there comes My word, let him speak My word of truth; What has crushed straw to do with cereal grain? averring is Yahweh.

29 Is not My word a scorching like fire, averring is Yahweh, And like a sledgehammer which shatters a crag?

30 Therefore behold, I am against the prophets, averring is Yahweh, who steal My words, each one from his associate.

31 Behold, I am against the prophets, averring is Yahweh, who take up their own tongue and aver a watchword.

32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy dreams of falsehood, averring is Yahweh, and who recount them and lead My people astray with their falsehoods and with their reckless talk. I Myself did not send them nor instruct them, and they do not benefit, nay benefit this people, averring is Yahweh.

33 And when this people or a prophet or a priest asks you, saying: What is the load of Yahweh? you will say to them, You are the load. I will abandon you, averring is Yahweh.

34 As for the prophet or the priest or one of the people who is saying: The load of Yahweh, I will check that man and his household.

35 Thus shall you say, each one to his associate and each to his brother: What has Yahweh answered? or, What has Yahweh spoken?

36 You shall not mention the load of Yahweh again, for that load is for the man entrusted with His word; you have overturned the words of the living Elohim, Yahweh of hosts, our Elohim.

37 Thus shall you say to the prophet, What has Yahweh answered you? or, What has Yahweh spoken?

38 Yet if you should say: The load of Yahweh, therefore thus says Yahweh, Because you said this word: The load of Yahweh, when I sent word to you saying: You shall not say: The load of Yahweh,

39 therefore behold Me, I will lift you up, yea lift up and abandon you and the city which I gave to you and to your fathers, from My presence.

40 And I will bestow upon you an eonian reproach and an eonian mortification which shall not be forgotten.

Chapter 24

1 Yahweh showed me, and behold, two panniers of figs set before the temple of Yahweh after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, the chief officials of Judah, the craftsmen and the metalworkers from Jerusalem, and he had brought them to Babylon.

2 One pannier had very good figs like first-ripe figs, yet the other pannier had very bad figs which could not be eaten for badness.

3 Yahweh said to me, What are you seeing, Jeremiah? And I replied, Figs! The good figs are very good, and the bad are very bad so that they cannot be eaten for badness.

4 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

5 Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, Like these good figs, so shall I recognize for their good the deportees of Judah, whom I have sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

6 I will set My eye on them for their good and restore them to this land and build them up, and I shall not pull down; I will plant them, and I shall not pluck up.

7 I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Yahweh, and they will be My people, and I Myself shall be their Elohim, for they shall return to Me with all their heart.

8 Yet like the bad figs which could not be eaten for badness, (for thus says Yahweh:) so shall I treat Zedekiah king of Judah and his chief officials and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and who dwell in the land of Egypt.

9 I will make them an evil, stirring horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a proverb, a byword and a malediction in all the places where I shall drive them away.

10 And I will send against them the sword, the famine and the plague until they are finished off the ground which I gave to them and to their fathers.

Chapter 25

1 The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah (it was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon),

2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the dwellers of Jerusalem, saying:

3 From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, until this day, this twenty-third year, the word of Yahweh has come to me, and I have spoken it to you, rising early and speaking, yet you would not hearken.

4 And though Yahweh has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending, yet you would not hearken, and you would not stretch out your ear to hearken

5 when they said: Turn back, now, each one from his evil way, and from your evil actions, and dwell on the ground that Yahweh has given to you and to your fathers from the eon and unto the eon.

6 Do not walk after other elohim to serve them and to bow down to them; do not provoke Me to vexation with the work of your hands, and I shall not bring evil upon you.

7 Yet you would not hearken to Me, averring is Yahweh, so that you might provoke Me to vexation with the work of your hands, to your own evil.

8 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts: Because you do not hearken to My words,

9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, averring is Yahweh, and Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I will bring them against this land, against its dwellers and against all these nations round about. I will doom them and make them a desolation and a hissing and an eonian waste.

10 I will destroy from them the sound of elation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 All this land will become a waste, a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 Then when the seventy years are fulfilled, I shall check the king of Babylon and that nation, averring is Yahweh, and the land of the Chaldeans for their depravity, and I will change it into eonian desolations.

13 I will bring upon that land all My words which I have spoken against it, all that is written in this scroll which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.

14 For many nations and great kings, even they will force service on them, and so I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.

15 For thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel to me: Take this cup of wine (that of fury) from My hand, and give it to all the nations to drink, to whom I am sending you.

16 When they drink, then they will reel and rave because of the sword that I am sending among them.

17 So I took the cup from the hand of Yahweh, and I gave it to all the nations to drink, to whom Yahweh had sent me:

18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and her kings and her chief officials, to make them a waste, a desolation, a hissing and a malediction, as at this day,

19 Pharaoh king of Egypt and his courtiers, his chief officials and all his people,

20 all the mixed multitude and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, Ashkelon, Gaza and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

21 Edom and Moab and the sons of Ammon,

22 all the kings of Tyre and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland which is across the sea,

23 Dedan, Tema and Buz, and all who cut away the edge of their hair,

24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed multitude who tabernacle in the wilderness,

25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of the Medes,

26 all the kings of the north, the near and the far, each after his brother, and all the kingdoms of the earth that are on the surface of the ground, and the king of Sheshak, he shall drink after them.

27 You will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Drink and be drunk and vomit, and fall so that you cannot rise, because of the sword that I am sending among you.

28 And it will come to be when they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: You shall drink, yea drink;

29 for behold, in the city over which My Name is called, I am starting to bring evil, and you, shall you be exempted, yea exempted? You shall not be exempted! For I am calling a sword on all the dwellers of the earth, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

30 As for you, you shall prophesy to them all these words, and you will say to them: Yahweh shall roar from the height, And from His holy habitation He shall give forth His voice; He shall roar, yea roar over His homestead; He shall answer with a vintage-shout like the grape treaders to all the dwellers of the earth.

31 The tumult will come unto the end of the earth, For Yahweh has an indictment against the nations; He shall enter judgment upon all flesh; The wicked, He will deliver them to the sword, averring is Yahweh.

32 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, evil is going forth from nation to nation, And a great tempest is being roused from the remote parts of the earth.

33 Those slain by Yahweh will be in that day from one end of the earth unto the other end of the earth; They shall not be bewailed nor gathered nor entombed; They shall become manure on the surface of the ground.

34 Howl, you shepherds, and cry out; Grovel, you nobles of the flock; For your days are fulfilled for slaughter and for your scattering, And you will fall like coveted rams.

35 Flight will perish from the shepherds And deliverance from the nobles of the flock.

36 Hear the sound of the shepherds’ cry, And the howling of the nobles of the flock; For Yahweh is devastating their pasture,

37 And the peaceful oases are stilled In view of the heat of Yahweh’s anger.

38 He has left His covert like a sheltered lion, For their land has become a desolation In view of the tyrannizing sword And in view of the heat of His anger.

Chapter 26

1 In the beginning of the kingship of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from Yahweh, saying,

2 Thus says Yahweh: Stand in the court of the house of Yahweh and speak to all those of the cities of Judah, who are coming to worship in the house of Yahweh, all the words that I instruct you to speak to them. Do not subtract a word.

3 Perhaps they shall hearken and turn back, each one from his evil way. Then I will regret the evil that I had designed to do against them in view of their evil actions.

4 And you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh: If you shall not hearken to Me to walk in My law which I set before you,

5 to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets whom I am sending to you, rising early and sending, yet you will not hearken,

6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I shall make this city a malediction to all the nations of the earth.

7 Now the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.

8 Yet it came to be as soon as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had instructed him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people grasped him, saying: You shall die, yea die.

9 For what reason do you prophesy in the Name of Yahweh, saying: This house shall become like Shiloh, and this city shall be deserted without a dweller? Then all the people assembled around Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.

10 When the chief officials of Judah heard these words they went up from the king’s house to the house of Yahweh and sat at the portal of the new gate of the house of Yahweh.

11 And the priests and the prophets spoke to the chief officials and to all the people, saying: The judgment of death for this man! For he prophesied against this city just as you have heard with your own ears.

12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the chief officials and to all the people, saying: Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words which you have heard.

13 So now amend your ways and your actions, and hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim so that Yahweh may regret the evil that He has spoken against you.

14 As for me, behold, I am in your hand; do to me as seems good and upright in your eyes.

15 However, you shall know, yea know that if you put me to death you are bringing innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its dwellers, for in truth, Yahweh has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

16 Then the chief officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, There will be no judgment of death for this man, for in the Name of Yahweh our Elohim he has spoken to us.

17 Also some men from the elders of the land arose and they spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:

18 There was Micah of Moresheth who prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Zion shall be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem shall become rubbish heaps, And the mountain of the house for high-places of a grove.

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone of Judah put him to death, yea death? Did he not fear Yahweh and beseech the face of Yahweh, so that Yahweh regretted the evil that He had spoken against them? Now we would be doing great evil against our souls.

20 But again there was a man who prophesied in the Name of Yahweh, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land in terms like all the words of Jeremiah.

21 When king Jehoiakim and all his masterful men and all the chief officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. Yet Uriah heard and was fearful, and he fled away and entered Egypt.

22 But king Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt, Elnathan son of Achbor and men with him to Egypt,

23 and they brought forth Uriah from Egypt and brought him to king Jehoiakim. And he smote him with the sword and flung his carcass into the burying ground of the sons of the people.

24 However, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan came to be with Jeremiah so that he not be given up into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Chapter 27

1 In the beginning of the kingship of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying

2 (thus says Yahweh to me): Make for yourself bonds and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck.

3 Then send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the sons of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of their messengers coming to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

4 Instruct them for their lords, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel; thus shall you say to your lords:

5 I Myself made the earth, humanity and beast that is on the surface of the earth, by My great vigor and by My outstretched arm, and I give it to whom it seems upright in My eyes.

6 And now I Myself give all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and even the animal of the field I give to him to serve him.

7 All nations will serve him and his son and his son’s son, until the era of his own land comes, even it, when many nations and great kings will force service by it.

8 Yet it will be that the nation and the kingdom that is not serving him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that is not putting its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I shall visit that nation with sword and with famine and with plague, averring is Yahweh, until I am finished with them by his hand.

9 As for you, do not hearken to your prophets, to your diviners or to your dream interpreters, to your cloud consulters or to your enchanters, who are those speaking to you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon.

10 For they are prophesying a falsehood to you with the result that you will be removed far from your ground; for I will drive you away, and you will perish.

11 Yet the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave it on its own ground, averring is Yahweh, to serve it and dwell on it.

12 To Zedekiah king of Judah I also spoke according to all these words saying: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and so live.

13 Why should you die, you and your people, by sword, by famine and by plague, just as Yahweh speaks to the nation that is not serving the king of Babylon?

14 Do not hearken to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, saying: You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for it is a falsehood they are prophesying to you.

15 For I did not send them, averring is Yahweh, yet they are prophesying falsely in My Name, with the result that I will drive you away, and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.

16 Also to the priests and to all this people I spoke saying, Thus says Yahweh: Do not hearken to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, Behold, the furnishings of the house of Yahweh will be restored from Babylon quickly now. Indeed they are prophesying a falsehood to you.

17 Do not hearken to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a waste?

18 If they are prophets, and if the word of Yahweh is with them, let them intercede now with Yahweh of hosts, so that none of the furnishing left in the house of Yahweh and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem will be brought to Babylon.

19 For thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the columns and the sea and the bases and the rest of the furnishings left in this city,

20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon with all the notables of Judah and Jerusalem,

21 indeed thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, concerning the furnishings left in the house of Yahweh and the house of the king of Judah and Jerusalem:

22 To Babylon shall they be brought, and they shall remain there until the day I visit them, averring is Yahweh. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.

Chapter 28

1 And it came to be in that year in the beginning of the kingship of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah son of Azzur, the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Yahweh before the eyes of the priests and all the people, saying,

2 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, saying: I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

3 In another two full years I shall restore to this place all the furnishings of the house of Yahweh which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and brought to Babylon.

4 And Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the deportees of Judah being brought to Babylon I shall restore to this place, averring is Yahweh. For I shall break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

5 Then Jeremiah the prophet replied to Hananiah the prophet before the eyes of the priests, and before the eyes of all the people who were standing in the house of Yahweh,

6 and Jeremiah the prophet said, Amen! May Yahweh do so! May Yahweh confirm your words that you have prophesied, to restore the furnishings of the house of Yahweh and all the deportation from Babylon to this place.

7 Nevertheless hear now this word that I am speaking in your ears and in the ears of all the people:

8 The prophets who were before me and before you from the eon prophesied against many lands and great kingdoms, war and evil and plague.

9 The prophet who is prophesying peace when the prophet’s word comes to pass, the prophet shall be known as one whom Yahweh has sent in truth.

10 Yet Hananiah the prophet took the yoke-bar off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

11 And Hananiah spoke before the eyes of all the people, saying, Thus says Yahweh: In this way shall I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, in another two full years, off the neck of all the nations. Then Jeremiah the prophet went on his way.

12 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet broke the yoke-bar off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

13 Go and speak to Hananiah, saying, Thus says Yahweh: You have broken yoke-bars of wood, yet I shall make yoke-bars of iron in their stead.

14 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: I put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him, and even the animal of the field I give to him.

15 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah, Yahweh did not send you, and you lead this people to trust in a falsehood.

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall send you off the surface of the ground! You shall die this year, for you have preached stubbornness against Yahweh!

17 And Hananiah the prophet died that year in the seventh month.

Chapter 29

1 These are the words of the scroll which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the deportation, to the priests and the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had deported from Jerusalem to Babylon

2 (after Jeconiah the king, the queen-mother, the court officials, the chief officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the metalworkers had gone forth from Jerusalem)

3 by the hand of Elasah son of Shaphan, and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; it said:

4 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, to all the deportation which I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5 Build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens and eat their fruit.

6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters. Increase there, and do not decrease.

7 Seek after the well-being of the city where I have deported you, and pray to Yahweh in its behalf, for in its well-being shall be well-being for you.

8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Let them not lure you, your prophets who are among you, and your diviners. And do not hearken to your dream interpreters whom you direct to interpret dreams.

9 For with falsity they are prophesying to you in My Name; I have not sent them, averring is Yahweh.

10 For thus says Yahweh: When at My bidding, seventy years are fulfilled for Babylon, I shall visit you and will carry out My good word for you, to restore you to this place.

11 For I Myself know the designs that I am designing for you, averring is Yahweh, designs for your well-being and not for evil, to give you a hereafter and an expectation.

12 When you call Me and you come and pray to Me, I will hearken to you.

13 When you seek Me, you will find Me, for you shall seek after Me with all your heart,

14 and I will be found by you, averring is Yahweh. And I will reverse your captivity, and will convene you from all the nations and from all the places where I drove you away, averring is Yahweh, and I will restore you to the place from which I deported you.

15 Because you say, Yahweh raises up for us prophets in Babylon

16 Indeed thus says Yahweh concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who did not go forth with you in the deportation,

17 thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, I am sending among them the sword, the famine and the plague, and I will make them like loathsome figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.

18 I will pursue after them with sword, with famine and with plague, and I will make them a stirring horror to all kingdoms of the earth, an execration and an appalling object and a hissing and a reproach among all the nations where I drive them away,

19 inasmuch as they have not hearkened to My words, averring is Yahweh, which I sent to them by My servants the prophets, rising early and sending. You also have not hearkened, averring is Yahweh.

20 Now you, hear the word of Yahweh, all you of the deportation whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon.

21 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah who are prophesying to you a falsehood in My Name: Behold, I am giving them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will smite them before your eyes.

22 And a malediction shall be derived from them for all the deportees of Judah who are in Babylon, saying: Yahweh shall make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab whom the king of Babylon burned up in fire!

23 It is because they committed decadence in Israel; they committed adultery with the wives of their associates and spoke the word of falsehood in My Name, which I did not instruct them, and I am the One knowing and am witness, averring is Yahweh.

24 And concerning Shemaiah the dreamer you shall speak, saying,

25 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, saying: Because you have sent scrolls in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying:

26 Yahweh has appointed you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to become supervisors in the house of Yahweh over any man who is mad and feigns himself a prophet that you might give him over to the stocks and to the pillory.

27 Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is prophesying to you?

28 Indeed on this account he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, It shall be a long while! Build houses and dwell in them, and plant gardens and eat their fruit!

29 And Zephaniah the priest read this scroll in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet.

30 So the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying:

31 Send to all the deportation, saying, Thus says Yahweh concerning Shemaiah the dreamer: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you though I did not send him, and he caused you to trust in a falsehood,

32 therefore thus says Yahweh, Behold, I shall call Shemaiah the dreamer to account, and his seed. Not a man shall remain for him dwelling in the midst of this people; not one shall see the good I shall do for My people, averring is Yahweh, for he has preached stubbornness against Yahweh.

Chapter 30

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

2 Thus speaks Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, saying, Write for yourself on a scroll all the words that I speak to you.

3 For behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when I will reverse the captivity of My people Israel and Judah, says Yahweh, and I will restore them to the land that I gave to their fathers; and they will tenant it.

4 These are the words that Yahweh spoke concerning Israel and Judah:

5 For thus says Yahweh: We hear a voice of trembling, of alarm without peace.

6 Ask now and see: Can a male give birth? For what reason do I see every master with his hands on his loins like a woman giving birth, And every face is turned to a deathly pallor?

7 Woe, for that day is great! There is none like it! It is a season of distress for Jacob, Yet he shall be saved out of it.

8 It will come to be in that day, averring is Yahweh of hosts, I shall break his yoke off your neck, And I shall pull away your bonds; Aliens shall no longer force service on him,

9 And they will serve Yahweh their Elohim And David their king, whom I shall raise up for them.

10 And you, do not fear, My servant Jacob, averring is Yahweh, And do not be dismayed, Israel, For behold, I shall save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity, And Jacob will return and be given quietness And be tranquil with no one making him tremble.

11 For I am with you, averring is Yahweh, to save you; Indeed I shall make an end of all the nations where I have scattered you; Nevertheless I shall not make an end of you, Though I discipline you for judgment And am not holding you innocent, nay innocent.

12 For thus says Yahweh: Mortal for you is your brokenness; Most ill is your smiting;

13 There is no one to advocate adjudication for your malady; Remedies for recovery, there are none for you.

14 All your lovers have forgotten you; They are not seeking after you; For I have smitten you with the smiting of an enemy, With the discipline of a cruel one, on account of your great depravity, For your sins are plentiful.

15 Why are you crying out over your brokenness, your mortal pain? On account of your great depravity, for your sins are plentiful, I do these things to you.

16 Yet all who devour you shall be devoured, And all your foes, all of them, shall go into captivity; Those who rob you will become robbed, And all who plunder you, I shall give for plunder.

17 But I shall cause wholeness to ascend for you, And I shall heal you from your smitings, averring is Yahweh; For they call you an outcast, saying, Zion is she; no one seeks after her!

18 Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall reverse the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And on his tabernacles I shall have compassion; The city will be rebuilt on its ruin-mound, And the citadel shall sit on its customary place.

19 From them will come forth acclamation and the sound of mirth; I will increase them, and they shall not decrease; I will glorify them, and they shall not be discredited.

20 His sons will become as in former days, And his congregation shall be established before Me, And I will call all his oppressors to account.

21 His noble one will be from him, And his ruler shall come forth from among his own, And I will bring him near that he may come close to Me, For who is he who would give his heart as surety to come close to Me? averring is Yahweh.

22 You will become My people, And I Myself shall become your Elohim.

23 Behold, the tempest of Yahweh, His fury has gone forth, a swirling tempest; It shall whirl down upon the heads of the wicked.

24 The hot anger of Yahweh shall not turn back until He executes And until He carries out the plans of His heart; In the days hereafter you shall comprehend it.

Chapter 31

1 In that era, averring is Yahweh, I shall become Elohim to all the families of Israel, And they shall become My people.

2 Thus says Yahweh: The people, survivors of the sword, found grace in the wilderness; When Israel journeyed to find his respite.

3 From afar, Yahweh appeared to him. I love you with an eonian love; Therefore I draw you with benignity.

4 I shall build you again, And you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel; Again you shall ornament your tambourines, And you will go forth in the chorus of merrymakers;

5 Again you shall plant vineyards on the hillsides of Samaria; Those who plant will plant and bring them to general use.

6 For there will be a day when the field-keepers will call on Mount Ephraim: Rise, and let us go up to Zion, to Yahweh our Elohim.

7 For thus says Yahweh: Be jubilant with rejoicing for Jacob, And make a noise over the head of the nations; Announce, praise and say, Yahweh has saved His people, the remnant of Israel.

8 Behold, I shall bring them from the land of the north, And will convene them from the remote parts of the earth; Among them the blind and the lame, The pregnant and one in childbirth together, A great assembled force, they shall return here.

9 They shall come with lamentation, Yet I shall escort them with consolations; I shall conduct them to wadis of water By a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim, he is My firstborn.

10 Hear the word of Yahweh, nations, And tell it in the coastlands afar, and say: He who winnowed Israel shall convene him, And He will guard him as a shepherd his drove.

11 For Yahweh ransoms Jacob, And He redeems him from the hand of one too unyielding for him.

12 They will come and be jubilant on Zion’s heights, And they will beam over the bounty of Yahweh, Over the grain and over grape juice and over clarified oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd; Their soul will become like a well-watered garden, And they shall not continue to pine any longer.

13 Then the virgin shall rejoice in the chorus, And the choice young men and elders shall be exhilarated; I will turn their mourning into elation, And comfort them and make them rejoice from their affliction.

14 I will satiate the soul of the priests with richness, And My people shall be satisfied with My bounty, averring is Yahweh.

15 Thus says Yahweh: A sound in Ramah is heard, A plaint and bitter lamentation, Rachel lamenting over her sons; She refuses to be comforted over her sons, for they are not.

16 Thus says Yahweh: Withhold your voice from lamentation, And your eyes from tears, For there is a reward for your effort, averring is Yahweh, When they will return from the land of the enemy;

17 And there is expectation for your posterity, averring is Yahweh, When your sons will return to their territory.

18 I have heard, yea heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: You have disciplined me, and I am disciplined like a calf not yet taught; Restore me, and let me return, For You are Yahweh, my Elohim.

19 Indeed after my captivity, I repented, And after I was informed, I slapped my thigh in grief; I am ashamed and mortified indeed, For I bear the reproach of my youth.

20 Is Ephraim My precious son? Is he a child of bliss? For as often as I speak against him, I remember, yea remember him still; Therefore My internal parts clamor for him; I have compassion, yea compassion on him, averring is Yahweh.

21 Set up for yourself cairns; Make for yourself signposts; Set your heart on the highway, the way you went along; Return, virgin of Israel; Return to these cities of yours.

22 How long will you make yourself elusive, backsliding daughter? For Yahweh has created a new thing on the earth: A female shall surround a master.

23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Again they shall say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I reverse their captivity, May Yahweh bless you, homestead of righteousness, The holy mountain.

24 And they will dwell in it, Judah and all its cities together, Farmworkers and they who journey with the drove.

25 For I will satiate the faint soul, And every soul that pines I will fill.

26 At this I awoke and observed, And my sleep had been congenial to me.

27 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of mankind and the seed of beasts.

28 And it will come to be just as I was alert over them to pluck up and to break down, to demolish and to destroy and to smash, so I shall be alert over them to build and to plant, averring is Yahweh.

29 In those days they shall no longer say, The fathers ate unripe grapes, and the children’s teeth become blunted.

30 But rather each man shall die in his own depravity; every man who is eating unripe grapes, his own teeth shall become blunted.

31 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when I will contract a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.

32 Not like the covenant which I contracted with their fathers in the day I held fast onto their hand to bring them forth from the land of Egypt, which covenant of Mine they themselves annulled while I was Possessor over them, averring is Yahweh.

33 For this is the covenant which I shall contract with the house of Israel after those days, averring is Yahweh: I will put My law within them, And I shall write it on their heart; I will become their Elohim, And they shall become My people.

34 No longer shall they teach, each man his associate, And each man his brother, saying: Know Yahweh! For they all shall know Me, From the smallest of them to the greatest of them, averring is Yahweh; For I shall pardon their depravity, And I shall not remember their sin any longer.

35 Thus says Yahweh, Who provides the sun for light by day, the statutes of the moon and stars for light by night, Who splits apart the sea so that its billows clamor, Yahweh of hosts is His Name:

36 If these statutes should be removed from before Me, averring is Yahweh, then the seed of Israel shall cease to be a nation before Me for all the days.

37 Thus says Yahweh: If the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth below could be investigated, then I Myself shall reject all the seed of Israel on account of all that they do, averring is Yahweh.

38 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when the city will be rebuilt for Yahweh, from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate,

39 and the measuring tape will go forth further in front of it to the hill of Gareb and go around toward Goath.

40 And the entire vale of the corpses and greasy ash and all the terraces above Wadi Kidron unto the corner of the Horse Gate eastward shall be holy to Yahweh; it shall not be plucked up nor demolished again for the eon.

Chapter 32

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah; it was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar.

2 Then the army of the king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem. And Jeremiah the prophet was detained in the jail court that was in the house of the king of Judah

3 where Zedekiah king of Judah had detained him, saying, For what reason have you prophesied, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will seize it;

4 and Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, for he shall be given, yea given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and his own mouth will speak to the mouth of that one, and his own eyes shall see the eyes of that one;

5 he shall conduct Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, averring is Yahweh; though you are fighting the Chaldeans, you shall not prosper?

6 Then Jeremiah said, The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

7 Behold, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle shall come to you, saying, Buy for yourself my field which is in Anathoth, for you have the customary right of redemption to buy it.

8 Now Hanamel son of my uncle came to me, just as Yahweh had given word, to the jail court, and he said to me, Buy, pray, my field which is in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you have the customary right of tenancy, and the redemption is yours; buy it for yourself. Then I knew that it was Yahweh’s word.

9 So I bought the field which was in Anathoth from Hanamel son of my uncle, and I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver.

10 I wrote it up in a scroll, sealed it and had it witnessed by witnesses, and I weighed out the silver on scales.

11 Then I took the scroll of acquisition, the sealed one according to the instruction and the statutes, and the revealed one,

12 and I gave the acquisition scroll to Baruch son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, before the eyes of Hanamel son of my uncle, and before the eyes of the witnesses who had subscribed to the scroll of acquisition, and before the eyes of all the Jews who were sitting in the jail court.

13 Then I instructed Baruch before their eyes, saying,

14 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Take these scrolls, this scroll of acquisition, the sealed one, and this revealed scroll, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last many days.

15 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Houses, fields and vineyards shall again be acquired in this land.

16 After I had given the scroll of acquisition to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to Yahweh, saying,

17 Alas, my Lord Yahweh! Behold, You Yourself made the heavens and the earth by Your great vigor and by Your outstretched arm; Nothing at all is too marvelous for You,

18 showing benignity to thousands, yet repaying the depravity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, the El, the Great, the Masterful (Yahweh of hosts is His Name),

19 great in counsel and grand in action, You Whose eyes are unclosed before all the ways of the sons of humanity, to give to each according to his ways and according to the fruit of his actions,

20 You Who have set signs and miracles in the land of Egypt, until this day, both in Israel and among mankind, so that You are making a Name for Yourself as at this day.

21 You brought forth Your people, Israel, from the land of Egypt with signs and miracles and with a steadfast hand, with an outstretched arm and with great fear-inspiring deeds.

22 You gave them this land which You swore to their fathers to give them, a land gushing with milk and honey,

23 and they entered and tenanted it. Yet they did not hearken to Your voice, and in Your law they did not walk; all that You instructed them to do, they did not do. And so You caused all this evil to befall them.

24 Behold, the earthworks have come to the city to seize it. And because of sword and famine and plague the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What You have spoken has come to be, as behold, You are seeing!

25 Yet You Yourself have said to me, O my Lord Yahweh: Buy for yourself the field with silver, and have it witnessed by witnesses, though the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans!

26 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying:

27 Behold, I am Yahweh, Elohim of all flesh. Is anything too marvelous for Me?

28 Therefore, thus says Yahweh, Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he will seize it.

29 The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city will enter and ravage this city with fire; they will burn it and the houses on whose housetops they fumed incense to Baal and libated libations to other elohim that they might provoke Me to vexation.

30 For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been only doing evil in My eyes from their youth; indeed the sons of Israel have been only provoking Me to vexation with the deeds of their hands, averring is Yahweh.

31 For this city has roused in Me My anger and My fury from the day on which they built it until this day to put it away from My presence,

32 because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah that they have done to provoke Me to vexation, they, their kings, their chief officials, their priests and their prophets, even the men of Judah and the dwellers of Jerusalem.

33 They are turning around the nape of their neck to Me and not their face, though I taught them, rising early and taught them again, yet there are none of them hearkening to take admonition.

34 They placed their abominations in the house over which My Name is called, to defile it.

35 And they built the high-places of Baal which are in the ravine of the son of Hinnom, to have their sons and their daughters pass through fire for Molech (which I did not instruct them, nor did it come up on My heart), to do this abhorrence that it may cause Judah to sin.

36 Now therefore thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, as to this city of which you are saying, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword and by famine and by plague:

37 Behold, I shall convene them from all the lands where I have driven them away in My anger and in My fury and in great wrath, and I will restore them to this place and make them to dwell in serenity.

38 They will become My people, and I shall become their Elohim.

39 I will give them one heart and one way to fear Me all their days, for good to them and to their sons after them.

40 I will contract with them an eonian covenant, from whom I shall not turn back; I will do good to them. And I shall bestow the fear of Me in their heart so as not to go away from Me.

41 I will be elated over them to do good to them, and I will plant them in this land in truth with all My heart and with all My soul.

42 For thus says Yahweh: Just as I brought on this people all this great evil, so I shall bring on them all the good which I am speaking concerning them.

43 So the field shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, It is a desolation without human or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.

44 They shall buy fields with silver and will write it up in a scroll and seal it and have it witnessed by witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in that round about Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the low foothills and in the cities of the Negeb. For I shall reverse their captivity, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 33

1 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah a second time, when he was still retained in the jail court, saying,

2 Thus says Yahweh Who is making it, Yahweh Who is forming it to establish it, Yahweh is His Name:

3 Call to Me, and I shall answer you, And I shall tell you of great things, And of unsearchable things which you have not known.

4 For thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which were broken down for the earthworks and the ramparts,

5 while men came to fight against the Chaldeans, and to fill them with human corpses (whom I smote in My anger and in My fury and from whom I concealed My face, from this city, because of all their evil):

6 Behold, I shall bring up wholeness and health for it, and I will heal them and reveal to them the sweet-smell of peace and truth.

7 And I will reverse the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel and rebuild them as they were at first.

8 I will cleanse them from all their depravity in which they sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their depravities by which they sinned against Me and by which they transgressed against Me.

9 And it will become for Me a name of elation, for praise and for beauty to all the nations of the earth, who shall hear of all the good that I am doing for them, and they will be in awe and be astounded over all the good and over all the peace that I am giving to it.

10 Thus says Yahweh: Again shall be heard in this place (of which you are saying, It is deserted, without human and without beast, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate without human and without dwellers and without beast)

11 the sound of elation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those saying: Acclaim Yahweh of hosts, For Yahweh is good, For His benignity is for the eon! as they bring acclamation offerings to the house of Yahweh. For I shall reverse the captivity of the land as they were at first, says Yahweh.

12 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Again there shall come to be in this place that is deserted without human or even beast, and in all its cities, a homestead for shepherds reclining their flock.

13 In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the low foothills, in the cities of the Negeb, in the land of Benjamin, in that round about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flock again shall pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says Yahweh.

14 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, when I will carry out the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah:

15 In those days and in that era I shall make sprout for David a Sprout of righteousness, Who will establish right judgment and justice in the land.

16 In those days shall Judah be saved, And Jerusalem shall tabernacle in serenity, And this is what one shall call it: Yahweh, our Righteousness.

17 For thus says Yahweh: There shall not be cut off a man of David’s line from sitting on the throne of the house of Israel.

18 As for the Levitical priests there shall not be cut off a man from before Me who offers up the ascent offering and fumes the approach present and offers sacrifices for all the days.

19 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

20 Thus says Yahweh: If you could annul My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night so that daytime and night fail to come about in their proper time,

21 then also My covenant could be annulled with David My servant, so that he should not come to have a son reigning on his throne, and that with the Levites, the priests, My ministers.

22 As the host of the heavens cannot be numbered, and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I shall increase the seed of David My servant, and the Levites who minister to Me.

23 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying:

24 Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, The two families whom Yahweh has chosen, He is rejecting them? They are spurning My people so they no longer are a nation before them.

25 Thus says Yahweh: If My covenant with day and night does not stand, if I did not set the statutes of the heavens and the earth,

26 then shall I also reject the seed of Jacob and David My servant from taking of his seed rulers for the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Indeed I shall reverse their captivity; I will have compassion on them.

Chapter 34

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under the rule of his hand with all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its daughter cities, saying,

2 Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and you will say to him, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

3 As for you, you shall not escape from his hand, for you shall be apprehended, yea apprehended and shall be given into his hand, and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth shall speak with your mouth; and you shall be brought to Babylon.

4 However, hear the word of Yahweh, Zedekiah king of Judah; thus says Yahweh concerning you: You shall not die by the sword;

5 in peace you shall die; and as funeral burnings were made for your fathers the former kings who were before you, so shall they burn for you, and they shall bewail you, Woe, lord! For I Myself speak this word, averring is Yahweh.

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Zedekiah the king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem,

7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah which were left, Lachish and Azekah, for they were the fortress cities that remained among the cities of Judah.

8 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after king Zedekiah contracted a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim to them liberty,

9 that each man send his servant and each man his maidservant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, free so as not to force service on them, any man on his Jewish brother.

10 So they hearkened, all the chief officials and all the people who had entered in the covenant that each send his servant and each his maidservant free so as not to force service on them any longer; they hearkened and dismissed them.

11 Yet afterward they turned about, and they caused the servants and the maidservants to return whom they had sent free, and they brought them into bondage as servants and as maidservants.

12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

13 Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: I Myself contracted a covenant with your fathers in the day I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants, saying,

14 At the end of seven years you shall dismiss each man his brother Hebrew who has sold himself to you and has served you six years, and you shall dismiss him from you free. Yet your fathers did not hearken to Me, nor did they stretch out their ear.

15 And you for your part turned about for awhile, and you were doing what is upright in My eyes by proclaiming liberty, each man to his associate, and you contracted a covenant before Me in the house over which My Name is called.

16 Yet now you are turning about and are profaning My Name and are causing to return, each man his servant and each man his maidservant whose souls you had dismissed free, and you are bringing them into bondage to become your servants and maidservants.

17 Therefore thus says Yahweh: You yourselves have not hearkened to Me by proclaiming liberty, each man to his brother and each man to his associate. Behold, I shall proclaim to you liberty, averring is Yahweh, to the sword, to the plague and to the famine. And I will make you a stirring horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 I will make the men, the trespassers of My covenant, who do not carry out the words of the covenant which they contracted before Me, like the calf which they cut in two and passed between its sundered parts,

19 the chief officials of Judah and the chief officials of Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the sundered parts of the calf.

20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcasses will be food for the flyer of the heavens and for the beast of the earth.

21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his chief officials I shall give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their soul and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has moved away from you.

22 Behold, I shall give instruction, averring is Yahweh, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it and seize it and burn it with fire, and the cities of Judah I shall make a desolation without dweller.

Chapter 35

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying:

2 Go to the house of the Rechabites, and you will speak to them and bring them to the house of Yahweh to one of the rooms, and give them wine to drink.

3 So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons, all the house of the Rechabites,

4 and I brought them to the house of Yahweh, to the room of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of Elohim, which was beside the room of the chief officials above the room of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.

5 Then I placed before the sons of the house of the Rechabites beakers full of wine and cups, and I said to them, Drink some wine.

6 Yet they said, We do not drink wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab our father instructed us, saying, You shall not drink wine, you or your sons, until the eon.

7 You shall not build houses, nor shall you sow seed, nor shall you plant vineyards, nor shall one belong to you; for you shall dwell in tents all your days that you may live many days on the surface of the ground where you are sojourners.

8 And we have hearkened to the voice of Jonadab son of Rechab our father as to all that he instructed us, by no means to drink wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons and our daughters,

9 and by no means to build houses for us to dwell in, and vineyard and field and seed have not belonged to us.

10 But we have dwelt in tents and have hearkened and done according to all that Jonadab our father instructed us.

11 Yet it came to be when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up to the land, we said, Come, we shall enter Jerusalem away from the presence of the army of the Chaldeans and from the presence of the army of the Syrian, and we shall dwell in Jerusalem.

12 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah, saying,

13 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Go, and you will say to each one of Judah and to the dwellers of Jerusalem, Shall you not take admonition to hearken to My words? averring is Yahweh.

14 It has been carried out, the words of Jonadab son of Rechab who instructed his sons by no means to drink wine; they have not drunk it unto this day, for they have hearkened to their father’s instruction. Yet I Myself have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, yet you would not hearken to Me.

15 I sent to you all My servants the prophets, rising early and sending, saying: Turn back now, each man from his evil way, and amend your actions, and do not go after other elohim to serve them, and dwell on the ground which I gave to you and to your fathers. Yet you have not stretched out your ear, and you have not hearkened to Me.

16 Indeed the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried out the instructions of their father which he instructed them, yet this people have not hearkened to Me!

17 Therefore, thus says Yahweh Elohim of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall bring on Judah and on all the dwellers of Jerusalem all the evil that I have spoken concerning them because I have spoken to them, and they have not hearkened; and I called to them, and they did not answer.

18 Yet to the house of the Rechabites, Jeremiah said, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Because you have hearkened to the instruction of Jonadab your father, and you are observing all his instructions and are doing according to all that he instructed you,

19 therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: There shall not be cut off from Jonadab son of Rechab a man standing before Me all the days.

Chapter 36

1 It occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

2 Take for yourself the roll of a scroll, and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you concerning Israel, concerning Judah and concerning all the nations from the day I spoke to you in the days of Josiah until this day.

3 Perhaps the house of Judah shall hear of all the evil that I am designing to do to them, so that they may turn back, each from his evil way, and I will pardon their depravity and their sin.

4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote at the bidding of Jeremiah all the words of Yahweh which He had spoken to him, on the roll of a scroll.

5 Then Jeremiah instructed Baruch, saying, I am under restraint; I cannot enter the house of Yahweh.

6 So you must enter and read from the scroll which you have written at my bidding, the words of Yahweh, in the ears of the people in the house of Yahweh on a day of fasting. And also you shall read them in the ears of all of Judah who come from their cities.

7 Perhaps their supplication shall fall before Yahweh, and they shall turn back, each from his evil way, for great is the anger and the fury which Yahweh has spoken as to this people.

8 And Baruch son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet had instructed him, to read from the scroll the words of Yahweh in the house of Yahweh.

9 So it came to be in the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before Yahweh.

10 And Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh, in the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court at the portal of the new gate of the house of Yahweh, in the ears of all the people.

11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the scroll,

12 he went down to the house of the king, to the room of the scribe, and behold, there all the chief officials were seated, Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah and all the other chief officials.

13 And Micaiah told them all the words which he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the ears of the people.

14 Then all the chief officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, The scroll from which you read in the ears of the people, take it in your hand and come. So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.

15 They said to him, Be seated, please, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.

16 And it came to be when they heard all the words they were afraid, each before his associate, and they said to Baruch, We must tell, yea tell the king all these words.

17 They also asked Baruch, saying, Please tell us; how did you write all these words? At his bidding?

18 And Baruch said to them, At his bidding; he dictated to me all these words, and I wrote on the scroll with ink.

19 Then the chief officials said to Baruch, Go, be concealed, you and Jeremiah. Let not anyone know where you are!

20 Then they entered before the king in the court, yet they committed the scroll to the room of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king.

21 So the king sent Jehudi to procure the scroll; and he took it from the room of Elishama the scribe, and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the chief officials who were standing beyond the king.

22 Since it was the ninth month, the king was seated in the winter house, and a fire was blazing up on the brazier before him.

23 And it came to be as Jehudi read three or four scroll columns he would tear it with the scribe’s razor and fling it into the fire which was on the brazier until the entire scroll had come to end in the fire which was on the brazier.

24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, neither the king nor all his officials who were hearing all these words.

25 Moreover Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah interceded with the king that he not burn the scroll, yet he did not hearken to them.

26 Then the king instructed Jerahmeel the king’s son, Saraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to take hold of Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But Yahweh had concealed them.

27 The word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll, the words which Baruch had written at the bidding of Jeremiah, saying:

28 Do it again; take another scroll for yourself, and write on it all the former words which were on the first scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.

29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, Thus says Yahweh: You yourself burned this scroll, asking, For what reason have you written on it saying the king of Babylon shall come, yea come, and he will lay this land in ruins and eradicate from it human and beast?

30 Therefore thus says Yahweh concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall not come to have one staying on the throne of David, and his carcass shall be flung to the scorching heat of day and to the ice of night.

31 I will visit him and his seed and his officials for their depravity, and I will bring on them and on the dwellers of Jerusalem and on the men of Judah all the evil of which I have spoken to them, yet they did not hearken.

32 So Jeremiah took another scroll, and he gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe. And at the bidding of Jeremiah he wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And further there were added to them many words like them.

Chapter 37

1 Now king Zedekiah son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah son of Jehoiakim.

2 Neither he nor his officials nor the people of the land hearkened to the words of Yahweh which He spoke by means of Jeremiah the prophet.

3 Yet king Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Please pray in behalf of us to Yahweh our Elohim. (

4 Jeremiah was still entering and going forth in the midst of the people, for they had not yet put him in the house of detention.

5 Meanwhile the army of Pharaoh had gone forth from Egypt, and the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report of them, and they went up from Jerusalem.)

6 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

7 Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who has sent you to Me to inquire of Me, Behold, the army of Pharaoh which is marching forth to help you will return to its own land, Egypt.

8 And the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city; they will seize it and burn it with fire.

9 Thus says Yahweh: Do not lure your souls, saying, The Chaldeans shall go, yea go from us; for they shall not go.

10 Indeed if you smote the whole army of the Chaldeans which is fighting against you, and only men who have been stabbed remained of them, each in his tent, they would rise and burn this city with fire.

11 Now it came to be when the army of the Chaldeans went up from Jerusalem because of the army of Pharaoh

12 that Jeremiah was going forth from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to obtain his portion there in the midst of the people.

13 Yet when he was at the Gate of Benjamin, the headman of the checkpoint was there ( his name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah), and he apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling in with the Chaldeans.

14 Jeremiah replied, That is false! I am not falling in with the Chaldeans! Yet he did not hearken to him, and Irijah apprehended Jeremiah and brought him to the chief officials.

15 And the chief officials were wrathful over Jeremiah, and they smote him and put him in a prison house, the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made it into a house of detention.

16 Thus Jeremiah came into the house of the cistern and into the cells, and Jeremiah remained there many days.

17 Then king Zedekiah sent and took him aside, and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said: Is there a word from Yahweh? Jeremiah answered, There is; and he said, You shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.

18 Jeremiah also said to king Zedekiah, How have I sinned against you or your officials or this people that you have put me into a house of detention?

19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you and against this land?

20 And now please hear, my lord the king; please let my supplication fall before you, and do not return me to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I might not die there.

21 So king Zedekiah gave instruction, and they committed Jeremiah to the jail court and gave him a loaf of bread each day from the street of the bakers until all the bread of the city came to end. And Jeremiah remained there in the jail court.

Chapter 38

1 Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying,

2 Thus says Yahweh: He who stays in this city shall die by sword, by famine and by plague. Yet he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and he will have his soul which remains as loot, and he will live.

3 Thus says Yahweh: This city shall be given, yea given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, and he will seize it.

4 Then the chief officials said to the king, Now let this man be put to death, for the reason that he has slackened the hands of the men of war who remain in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking to them such words as these; indeed as for this man, he is not seeking after well-being for this people, but rather evil.

5 And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand, for the king will not prevail over you in the matter.

6 So they took Jeremiah and flung him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the jail court, and they sent Jeremiah down with rope lines. Now there was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah was sinking into the mud.

7 Yet Ebed-melech the Cushite, a man who was a eunuch, heard (for he was in the king’s house) that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin,

8 and Ebed-melech went forth from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying,

9 My lord the king, these men do evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have flung into the cistern that he might die because of it in view of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.

10 Then the king instructed Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, Take under your hand from this place three men, and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern ere he dies.

11 So Ebed-melech took the men under his hand, entered the king’s house and went to a place beneath the storehouse; and he took from there worn-out rags and worn-out scraps and sent them down to Jeremiah in the cistern by rope lines.

12 Then Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, Please place these worn-out rags and scraps under your armpits, under the rope lines. Jeremiah did so,

13 and they drew Jeremiah forth with the rope lines and brought him up from the cistern; and Jeremiah dwelt in the jail court.

14 Then king Zedekiah sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself at the third entry of the house of Yahweh. And the king said to Jeremiah, I am asking you something; do not suppress anything from me.

15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, In case I tell you, you would put me to death, yea to death, would you not? And in case I counsel you, you would not hearken to me.

16 Yet king Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying: As Yahweh lives, Who gives this soul to us, I shall assuredly not put you to death, and I shall assuredly not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your soul.

17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Yahweh Elohim of hosts, Elohim of Israel: If you shall go forth, yea go forth to the chief officials of the king of Babylon, your soul will live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you will live, you and your household.

18 Yet if you do not go forth to the chief officials of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and as for you, you shall not escape from their hand.

19 Yet king Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, I am anxious about the Jews who have fallen in with the Chaldeans lest they should give me into their hand and they abuse me.

20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not give you up. Hearken now to the voice of Yahweh, to what I am speaking to you, and it shall be well for you, and your soul shall live.

21 Yet if you remain a refuser to go forth, this is the word which Yahweh has shown me:

22 Behold, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah shall be brought forth to the chief officials of the king of Babylon, and they shall say: They allured you and prevailed over you, These men speaking of your well-being; Your foot now is sunk in the morass; They are turned away back from you.

23 And all your wives and your sons shall be brought forth to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, for you shall be apprehended by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.

24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Do not let anyone know about these words, and you shall not die.

25 Yet in case the chief officials hear that I spoke with you, and they come to you and say to you: Now do tell us what you spoke to the king; do not suppress it from us, and we shall not put you to death; and what did the king speak to you?

26 then you will say to them: I was casting my supplication before the king by no means to turn me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.

27 And all the chief officials did come to Jeremiah and questioned him; and he told them all these words that the king had instructed. So they turned in silence from him, for the conversation had not been heard.

28 And Jeremiah dwelt in the jail court until the day that Jerusalem was seized. Now it came to be as follows that Jerusalem was seized:

Chapter 39

1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the city was broken into.

3 And all the chief officials of the king of Babylon came and took their seat in the middle gateway: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the remainder of the chief officials of the king of Babylon.

4 It came to be when Zedekiah king of Judah and all the men of war saw them that they fled away and went forth by night from the city by way of the king’s garden through the gateway between the two walls, and they went forth by way of the Arabah.

5 Yet the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho where they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgments on him.

6 Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also slew all the notables of Judah.

7 Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with two bronze fetters to bring him to Babylon.

8 Also the Chaldeans burned the house of the king and the houses of the people with fire, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

9 As for the rest of the people who were remaining in the city and those who had fallen away, who fell to him, and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard deported them to Babylon.

10 Yet some of the poorest people, who had nothing for themselves whatsoever, Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard let remain in the land of Judah, and he assigned to them vineyards and farmland in that day.

11 Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had given instruction concerning Jeremiah into the hand of Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard, saying,

12 Take him and keep your eyes on him, and do not do anything evil to him, but rather in accord with what he speaks to you, so do for him.

13 Hence Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard sent, also Nebushasban the Rab-saris and Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag and all the grandees of the king of Babylon,

14 and they sent and took Jeremiah from the jail court, and they gave him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan to bring him forth to the house where he could dwell in the midst of the people.

15 The word of Yahweh had come to Jeremiah while he was still under restraint in the jail court, saying:

16 Go and you will say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall bring to pass My words concerning this city for evil and not for good; and they will come to pass before you in that day.

17 Yet I will rescue you in that day, averring is Yahweh, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men before whom you shrink.

18 For I shall give you escape, yea escape, and you shall not fall by the sword, and your soul will come to be as loot for you, for you have trusted in Me, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 40

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard let him go at Ramah: When he took him up he was bound with manacles in the midst of all the deportees of Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported to Babylon.

2 The grandee of the imperial guard took Jeremiah and said to him, Yahweh your Elohim pronounced this evil against this place,

3 and He brought it to pass. Yahweh did it just as He said; for you sinned against Yahweh and did not hearken to His voice, and so this thing has happened to you.

4 Now behold, I unloose you today from the manacles that are on your hands. If it is good in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, come, and I shall keep my eye on you, yet if it is evil in your eyes to come with me to Babylon, then forbear. See, all the land is before you. Wherever seems good and upright in your eyes to go, then go there,

5 yet he still did not turn back or turn back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan whom the king of Babylon has given supervision in the land of Judah, and dwell with him in the midst of the people, or wherever seems upright in your eyes to go, then go. And the grandee of the imperial guard gave him rations and carried-goods and sent him away.

6 So Jeremiah came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and dwelt with him in the midst of the people who remained in the land.

7 When all the chief officials of the armed units that were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had given supervision in the land to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, and that he had given him supervision over the men and women and little ones of the poor in the land who were not deported to Babylon,

8 they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.

9 Then Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan adjured them and their men, saying, Do not fear to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

10 As for me, behold, I am staying in Mizpah to stand before the Chaldeans who are coming to us. Now you, gather wine, summer fruit and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities which you have taken possession of.

11 Also all the Jews who were in Moab, among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah and that he had given supervision over them to Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan.

12 So all these Jews returned from all the places where they were driven away, and they came to the land of Judah to Gedaliah at Mizpah and gathered very much wine and summer fruit.

13 Now Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah

14 and said to him: Do you know, yea know, that Baalis king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to smite your soul? Yet Gedaliah son of Ahikam would not believe them.

15 Then Johanan son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in secret at Mizpah, saying, Now let me go and smite Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one shall know. Why should he smite your soul so that all Judah which is convened to you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?

16 Yet Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah: Do not do this thing, for you are speaking falsehood concerning Ishmael.

Chapter 41

1 It occurred in the seventh month that Ishmael son of Nethaniah son of Elishama who was of royal seed and one of the king’s grandees, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. And they ate bread there together at Mizpah.

2 Yet Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him rose and smote Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with a sword and put him to death whom the king of Babylon had given supervision in the land.

3 Then Ishmael smote all the Jews who were with him, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

4 Now it came to be on the second day after Gedaliah was put to death while no one knew,

5 that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh and from Samaria, eighty men with shaven beards and torn garments, and slashing themselves, with approach presents and frankincense in their hands to bring to the house of Yahweh.

6 And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, going along walking and lamenting, and it came to be when he encountered them he said to them, Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.

7 Then it came about as they entered into the midst of the city that Ishmael son of Nethaniah slew them and threw them into the midst of the cistern, he and the men who were with him.

8 Yet ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, Do not put us to death, for we have buried goods in the fields, wheat, barley, oil and honey. So he desisted and did not put them to death in the midst of their brothers.

9 The cistern where Ishmael flung all the corpses of the men whom he smote was a great cistern; it was that which king Asa had made because of Baasha king of Israel; it was the one Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled with the slain.

10 Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who remained in Mizpah over whom Nebuzaradan grandee of the imperial guard had given supervision to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and went to pass over to the sons of Ammon.

11 When Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units who were with him heard of all the evil which Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done,

12 they took all their men and went to fight against Ishmael son of Nethaniah; and they found him by the great water pool at Gibeon.

13 And it came to be when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units who were with him, they rejoiced.

14 So all the people whom Ishmael had captured from Mizpah turned around, and they returned and went about to Johanan son of Kareah.

15 Yet Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped with eight men from the face of Johanan, and he went to the sons of Ammon.

16 Then Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units who were with him took all the remnant of the people whom Ishmael son of Nethaniah had taken captive from Mizpah after he had smitten Gedaliah son of Ahikam, masters, the men of war, women, little ones and eunuchs, whom he had restored from Gibeon.

17 They went about and stayed at Geruth Chimham which was beside Bethlehem so as to go and enter Egypt

18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were fearful because of them, since Ishmael son of Nethaniah had smitten Gedaliah son of Ahikam whom the king of Babylon had given supervision in the land.

Chapter 42

1 Now all the chief officials of the armed units, Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah and all the people from the smallest unto the greatest came close

2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Please let our supplication fall before you, and pray on our behalf to Yahweh your Elohim on behalf of all this remnant, for we are left as a little remnant out of many, just as your eyes are seeing concerning us.

3 And let Yahweh your Elohim tell us the way in which we should go and the thing which we should do.

4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them: I have heard; behold, I shall pray to Yahweh your Elohim according to your words, and it will be that every word that Yahweh shall answer you I shall tell you. I shall not withhold a word from you.

5 They then said to Jeremiah, May Yahweh be a true and faithful witness against us if we should not do according to all the word that Yahweh your Elohim sends you for us.

6 Whether good or evil, we shall hearken to the voice of Yahweh our Elohim to Whom we are sending you, so that it may be well with us. Indeed we shall hearken to the voice of Yahweh our Elohim.

7 It came to be at the end of ten days that the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah.

8 So he called to Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units who were with him and all the people from the smallest unto the greatest,

9 and he said to them, Thus says Yahweh Elohim of Israel to Whom you sent me to cast your supplication before Him:

10 If you shall dwell, yea dwell in this land, then I will build you up and shall not pull down, and I will plant you and shall not pluck up, for I regret the evil which I have done to you.

11 Do not be fearful because of the king of Babylon, of whom you are in fear. Because of him do not be fearful of him, averring is Yahweh, for I am with you to save you, and to rescue you from his hand.

12 I shall grant you compassions that he may have compassion on you and restore you to your ground.

13 Yet if you are saying, We shall not dwell in this land, so that you not hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim,

14 saying, No, for we shall enter the land of Egypt, where we shall not see war or hear the sound of the trumpet, where we shall not famish for bread; and there we shall dwell,

15 then now hear, therefore, the word of Yahweh, remnant of Judah; thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: If you shall set, yea set your faces to enter Egypt, and you enter to sojourn there,

16 the sword of which you are fearful will come, and it shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine of which you are anxious shall follow hard after you there in Egypt, and there you shall die.

17 It shall be that all the men who set their faces to enter Egypt to sojourn there shall die by sword, by famine and by plague, and not one of them shall be a survivor or a delivered one from the presence of the evil which I shall bring upon them.

18 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Just as My anger and My fury have been poured out on the dwellers of Jerusalem, so shall My fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt; you will become an execration and an appalling object and a malediction and a reproach, and you shall not see this place again.

19 Yahweh has spoken concerning you. Remnant of Judah, do not enter Egypt. You do know, yea know, for I testify among you today

20 that you stray with your souls, for you yourselves sent me to Yahweh your Elohim, saying, Pray on our behalf to Yahweh our Elohim, and according to all that Yahweh our Elohim shall say, so tell us, and we will do it!

21 Hence I am telling you today, yet you do not hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim and to all that He sends me to tell you.

22 So now you know, yea know that you shall die by sword, by famine and by plague in that place where you desire to enter to sojourn.

Chapter 43

1 Yet it came to be when Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their Elohim which Yahweh their Elohim had sent him for them, all these words,

2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the other arrogant and rebellious men said to Jeremiah: You are speaking falsehood! Yahweh our Elohim did not send you, saying, You shall not enter Egypt to sojourn there.

3 Indeed Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us in order to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to put us to death or to deport us to Babylon.

4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units and all the people did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh to stay in the land of Judah.

5 Instead Johanan son of Kareah and all the chief officials of the armed units took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven away, to sojourn in the land of Egypt,

6 the masters, the women, the little ones, the daughters of the king and every soul whom Nebuzaradan grandee of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, as well as Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.

7 And they entered the land of Egypt, for they did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh, and they came as far as Tahpanhes.

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying:

9 Take in your hand large stones, and you will bury them in the clay-flooring, in the brick-terrace which is at the portal of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes before the eyes of Jewish men,

10 and you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I am sending, and I will take Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and I will set his throne above these stones which I have buried; he will stretch out his state tapestry over them.

11 He will come and smite the land of Egypt: Those who are for death, to death; And who are for captivity, to captivity, And who are for the sword, to the sword.

12 Then he will ravage with fire the houses of the elohim of Egypt, and he will burn them or capture them, and he will muffle himself with the land of Egypt just as a shepherd muffles himself with his cloak, and he will go forth from there in peace.

13 He will break down the monuments of the house of the sun which is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the elohim of Egypt he shall burn with fire.

Chapter 44

1 The word which came to Jeremiah for all the Jews who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt in Migdol and in Tahpanhes and in Noph and in the land of Pathros, saying:

2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: You yourselves have seen all the evil which I brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. Behold them this day deserted; there is not a dweller in them

3 because of their evil which they have done to provoke Me to vexation, going to fume incense to serve other elohim whom they had not known, they, you or your fathers.

4 Yet I have been sending to you all My servants, the prophets, rising early and sending, saying, Oh do not do this abhorrent thing which I hate.

5 But they did not hearken nor stretch out their ear to turn back from their evil, by no means to fume incense to other elohim.

6 So My fury and My anger were poured forth and consumed in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem so that they became a waste and a desolation as at this day.

7 And now, thus says Yahweh Elohim of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Why are you doing this great evil to your souls, to cut off for yourselves man and woman, infant and suckling from the midst of Judah, so as not to leave a remnant for yourselves,

8 to provoke Me to vexation by the works of your hands, to fume incense to other elohim in the land of Egypt where you have come to sojourn in order to cut yourselves off and in order that you become a malediction and a reproach among all the lands of the earth?

9 Have you forgotten the evils of your fathers and the evils of the kings of Judah and the evils of their wives and your own evils and the evils of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

10 They are not contrite to this day, nor do they fear, nor do they go in My law and in My statutes which I have given before you and before your fathers.

11 Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall set My face against you for evil, to cut off all Judah.

12 I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their face to enter the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they all will be finished in the land of Egypt. They shall fall by sword; by famine they shall be finished from the smallest unto the greatest; by sword and by famine they shall die, and they will become an execration and an appalling object and a malediction and a reproach.

13 And I will call to account those dwelling in the land of Egypt just as I called Jerusalem to account, with sword, with famine and with plague.

14 There shall not be a delivered one or a survivor of the remnant of Judah who entered to sojourn there in the land of Egypt, nor one to return to the land of Judah where they lift up their soul to return and to dwell, yet they shall not return, save a few delivered ones.

15 Then they answered Jeremiah, all the men who knew that their wives were fuming incense to other elohim, and all the women who stood there, a great assembly, and all the people who were dwelling in the land of Egypt in Pathros, saying:

16 This word which you have spoken to us in the name of Yahweh none of us shall hearken to you.

17 For we shall do, yea do every thing that has come forth from our mouth: to fume incense to the queen of the heavens, and to libate libations to her just as we did, we and our fathers, our kings and our chief officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Then we were surfeited with bread, and we were well off, and we did not see evil.

18 Yet since we halted fuming incense to the queen of the heavens and libating libations to her we have lacked everything, and we have been finished by sword and by famine.

19 And when we were fuming incense to the queen of the heavens and libated libations to her, was it apart from our men’s approval that we made biscuits for her depicting her and libated libations to her?

20 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people concerning the masters and the women and all the people who were answering back to him this way, saying:

21 As to the incense which you fumed in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your chief officials and the people of the land does not Yahweh remember them? It ascended on His heart,

22 and Yahweh could not bear it any longer because of the evil of your actions. Because of the abhorrences which you have done, your land became a waste and a desolation and a malediction without a dweller as at this day.

23 Because of the fact you fumed incense and you sinned against Yahweh and would not hearken to the voice of Yahweh, and in His law, in His statutes and in His testimonies you would not go, therefore this evil has befallen you as at this day.

24 Jeremiah further said to all the people and to all the women: Hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt.

25 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, saying: You and your wives, you have spoken with your mouth, and with your hands you have fulfilled it, saying, We shall perform, yea perform our vows which we have vowed, to fume incense to the queen of the heavens and to libate libations to her. You shall carry out, yea carry out your vows, and you shall perform, yea perform your vows!

26 Therefore hear the word of Yahweh, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold Me! I have sworn by My great Name, says Yahweh, that My Name shall assuredly not be called upon any longer by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As my Lord Yahweh lives!

27 Behold, I am alert over them for evil and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will be spent by sword and by famine until they are finished.

28 And any delivered from the sword who return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah will be men few in number, and all the remnant of Judah who entered the land of Egypt to sojourn there will know Whose word shall be confirmed, Mine or theirs.

29 This is the sign to you, averring is Yahweh, that I will call you to account in this place that you may know that My words shall be confirmed, yea confirmed against you for evil.

30 Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, into the hand of those seeking his soul, just as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon his enemy who was seeking his soul.

Chapter 45

1 The word which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words in a scroll at the bidding of Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, saying:

2 Thus says Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, concerning you, Baruch:

3 You say, Woe to me, for Yahweh has added affliction to my pain. I am wearied with my sighing, and I do not find rest.

4 Thus you shall say to him, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, that which I have built I shall demolish, and that which I have planted I shall pluck up, that is, the entire land.

5 Yet you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For behold, I shall bring evil upon all flesh, averring is Yahweh, yet I will grant you your soul as spoils in all the places where you go.

Chapter 46

1 That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:

2 Concerning Egypt, about the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt which was at the stream Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

3 Array with buckler and large shield, And come close for battle!

4 Harness up the horses, and mount up, you horsemen! Stand by with helmets on! Unsheathe the lances! Put on the coats-of-armor!

5 For what reason do I see them in dismay, turned away back? Their masterful men are pounded; In flight they flee, and they do not turn around! Shrinking fear is round about! averring is Yahweh.

6 Let not the fleet flee away, And let not the masterful man escape! Northward, by the side of the stream Euphrates, they stumble and fall.

7 Who is this who ascends like the Nile, Like streams whose waters reel?

8 It is Egypt who ascends like the Nile, And like streams whose waters reel. He said, Let me ascend; Let me cover the earth; Let me destroy both city and those dwelling in it!

9 On, you horses, And rave, you charioteers! Let the masterful men go forth, Cush and Put, who grasp the buckler, And the Ludim who grasp and position the bow!

10 Yet that day is for my Lord Yahweh of hosts, A day of vengeance to be avenged of His foes. The sword will devour and be surfeited And be soaked with their blood, For a sacrifice belongs to my Lord Yahweh of hosts In the land of the north by the stream Euphrates.

11 Ascend to Gilead and take balm, virgin daughter of Egypt; With futility do you multiply remedies; There is no recovery for you.

12 Nations have heard your dishonor, And your yelling fills the earth; For masterful man stumbles against masterful man; The two of them fall down together.

13 The word which Yahweh spoke to Jeremiah the prophet about the coming of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt:

14 Tell it in Egypt, and announce it in Migdol; Announce it in Noph and in Tahpanhes. Say: Stand by and prepare yourselves, For the sword has devoured round about you.

15 For what reason is he flattened? Your sturdy one does not stand, For Yahweh thrusts him down.

16 Your multitude stumbles; Also each man falls over his associate; They are saying: Rise, and let us return to our people, And to the land of our birth, in view of the tyrannizing sword.

17 Call the name of Pharaoh king of Egypt: The tumult who let the appointed time pass by.

18 As I live, averring is the King, Yahweh of hosts is His Name: Like Tabor among the mountains, And like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

19 Prepare for yourself gear for deportation, Dweller, daughter of Egypt, For Noph shall become a desolation, And it will be ravaged without a dweller.

20 A most lovely heifer is Egypt; A horsefly from the north has come upon her.

21 Moreover, her hirelings among her who were like stall-fed calves, They too turn around; They flee together; They do not stand; For the day of their calamity has come on them, The era of their visitation.

22 She makes a sound like a serpent as it goes away, For they are marching with potent power, And with hatchets they come against her like men chopping trees.

23 They cut down her wildwood, averring is Yahweh, Since it cannot be searched out; Indeed they are more numerous than the locust, And there is no numbering of them.

24 Shamed is the daughter of Egypt; She is given into the hand of the people of the north.

25 Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel, has said: Behold, I shall call to account Amon of No and Pharaoh, even Egypt and her elohim and her kings and Pharaoh with those who trust in him.

26 I will give them into the hand of those seeking their soul, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of his officials, and afterward she shall tabernacle as in former days, averring is Yahweh.

27 And you, do not fear, My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, Israel; For behold, I shall save you from afar And your seed from the land of their captivity; And Jacob will return and be given quietness And be tranquil with no one making him tremble.

28 You, do not fear, My servant Jacob, averring is Yahweh, For I am with you; Indeed I shall make an end of all the nations where I have driven you away; Yet I shall not make an end of you, Though I discipline you for judgment And am not holding you innocent, nay innocent.

Chapter 47

1 That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines ere Pharaoh smote Gaza:

2 Thus says Yahweh: Behold, waters are ascending from the north, And they become an overflowing torrent; They shall overflow the land and its fullness, Both city and the dwellers in it; Humanity will cry out, And all who dwell in the land will howl.

3 At the sound of the thudding of hooves of his sturdy beasts, At the quaking of his chariots, The clamor of his rolling wheels, Fathers will not turn around to their children due to slackness of hands

4 Because of the day that is coming to devastate all the Philistines, To cut off from Tyre and Sidon every surviving helper, For Yahweh is devastating the Philistines, the remnant of the island of Caphtor.

5 Baldness comes to Gaza; Ashkelon is stilled, the remnant of their vale. How long shall you slash yourself?

6 Woe! Sword of Yahweh, how long shall you be unquiet? Be gathered back into your scabbard; Be lulled and still.

7 How can it be quiet when Yahweh has instructed it? Against Ashkelon and against the shore of the sea, there has He appointed it.

Chapter 48

1 Concerning Moab: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Woe to Nebo, for she is devastated! Shamed! seized is Kiriathaim! The impregnable retreat is shamed and dismayed!

2 The praise of Moab is no more; In Heshbon they devise evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation! Madmen, too, you shall be stilled; The sword shall follow after you!

3 The sound of a cry from Horonaim: Devastation and great brokenness!

4 Moab is broken! The outcry is made heard to Zoar.

5 For at the ascent of Luhith, one is ascending on it with lamentation; For at the descent of Horonaim, they hear the distresses of a cry of brokenness:

6 Flee! Escape with your souls! And you shall become like a dwarf juniper in the wilderness.

7 For because you trust in your deeds and in your treasures, you too shall be seized, And Chemosh will go forth into deportation, its priests and its chief officials together.

8 The devastator shall come to every city, And no city shall escape; The vale will perish, And the tableland will be exterminated, as Yahweh has said.

9 Set up a cairn for Moab, for she shall go forth, yea forth, And her cities shall become a desolation without a dweller in them.

10 (Cursed is one doing the work of Yahweh indolently, And cursed is one withholding his sword from bloodshed.)

11 Moab has been tranquil from his youth, And he has been quietly resting on his lees; He has not been emptied out from vessel to vessel And has not gone into deportation. Therefore his fine taste has lasted in him, And his bouquet is not changed.

12 Therefore behold, days are coming, averring is Yahweh, When I will send tilters to him, who will tilt him, And they shall empty his vessels and shatter his crocks.

13 Then Moab will be ashamed because of Chemosh, Just as the house of Israel was ashamed because of Bethel, their trust.

14 How can you say: We are masters of war And men of valor in battle?

15 The devastator of Moab and her cities ascends, And the choicest of his choice young men descend to the slaughter, Averring is the King, Yahweh of hosts is His Name.

16 The calamity of Moab is near to come, And evil on him hastens exceedingly.

17 Condole with him, all who are round about him, And all who know his name; Say: How the strong rod is broken, The beautiful stave!

18 Descend from glory; Sit in thirst, dweller of the daughter of Dibon, For the devastator of Moab has ascended upon you; He has ruined your fortresses.

19 On the road, stand and watch, dweller of Aroer; Ask him who flees and her who escapes; Say: What has happened?

20 Moab is put to shame, for it is undone; Howl and cry out! Tell at the Arnon that Moab is devastated!

21 Judgment has come on the level land, On Holon, on Jahzah and on Mephaath,

22 On Dibon, on Nebo and on Beth-diblathaim,

23 On Kiriathaim, on Beth-gamul and on Beth-meon,

24 On Kerioth and on Bozrah, And on all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.

25 The horn of Moab is hacked off, And his arm is broken, averring is Yahweh.

26 Make him drunk, For he has magnified himself against Yahweh; Moab will slump into his vomit, And he too will become an object of sport.

27 Assuredly Israel became the object of sport to you; as if he was found among thieves, Indeed as often as your words were about him you shook your head.

28 Forsake the cities, And tabernacle among the crags, dwellers of Moab! Become like a dove that is making her nest in the sides of the inlet to a dark hole.

29 We hear of the pomp of Moab, very proud, His haughtiness and his pomp and his pride, And the highness of his heart.

30 I Myself know his overbearing, averring is Yahweh, And his pretenses, which are not so, Not so in what they do.

31 Therefore I shall howl over Moab, And I shall cry out for Moab, all of it; For the men of Kir-hareseth I shall soliloquize.

32 More than the lamentation of Jazer I shall lament for you, vine of Sibmah; Your vine-branches passed over to the sea; They touched as far as the sea of Jazer; Upon your summer fruit and upon your vintage the devastator has fallen.

33 Rejoicing and exultation have been swept up from the cropland, From the land of Moab, And I have caused the wine from the winevats to cease; The treader is not treading; The vintage-shout is not a vintage-shout.

34 From the outcry of Heshbon unto Elealeh, They raise their voice unto Jahaz, From Zoar unto Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah; Indeed even the waters of Nimrim shall become desolations.

35 I will eradicate from Moab, averring is Yahweh, Him who offers up on a high-place and fumes incense to his elohim.

36 Therefore, My heart keens like flutes for Moab; My heart keens like flutes for the men of Kir-hareseth; Therefore, the surplus one has made they will lose.

37 For on every head is baldness, And every beard is hacked off; On all hands are slashes, And on all waists sackcloth.

38 On all the housetops of Moab and in its squares, all of it is wailing; For I have broken Moab like a vessel in which there is no delight, averring is Yahweh.

39 How it is undone! Howl! How Moab has turned around the nape of his neck! He is shamed! Moab becomes an object of sport And a cause of dismay to all around about him!

40 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, like a vulture he swoops down And spreads his wings against Moab.

41 The towns are seized, And the fastnesses are taken possession of; The heart of Moab’s masterful men will become in that day Like the heart of a woman in her throes.

42 Moab will be exterminated from being a people, For he magnified himself against Yahweh.

43 Alarm and dark hole and snare are upon you, dweller of Moab, averring is Yahweh.

44 The one who flees because of the alarm, he shall fall into the dark hole; And the one who ascends from the dark hole, he shall be seized by the snare. For I shall bring upon it, upon Moab, the year of their visitation, averring is Yahweh.

45 In the shadow of Heshbon those who flee stand without vigor; For fire has gone forth from Heshbon, And a blaze from the house of Sihon, And it devours the edge of Moab And the crown of the head of the sons of tumult.

46 Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished! For your sons are taken captive, And your daughters into captivity.

47 Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days, averring is Yahweh. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Chapter 49

1 Concerning the sons of Ammon: Thus says Yahweh: Are there no sons for Israel? Or is there no one to enjoy the tenancy for him? For what reason does Milcom enjoy the tenancy of Gad, And do his people dwell in its cities?

2 Therefore behold, days are coming, averring is Yahweh, When I will make heard, against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, the shout of war; It will become a ruin-mound of desolation, And her outskirts shall be ravaged with fire, And Israel will dispossess his dispossessors, declares Yahweh.

3 Howl, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated! Cry, daughters of Rabbah! Gird on sackcloth; wail! Go to and fro among the stone dikes, For Milcom is going into deportation, His priests and his chief officials together.

4 Why are you boasting about the vales, Your prolific vales, backsliding daughter, You who are trusting in its treasures, Who are saying: Who shall come against me?

5 Behold, I shall bring upon you alarm, averring is my Lord, Yahweh of hosts, From all round about you, And you will be driven away, each one straight before himself, And there will be no one gathering together the wanderer.

6 Yet afterward I shall reverse the captivity of the sons of Ammon, averring is Yahweh.

7 Concerning Edom: Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Is wisdom no longer in Teman? Has counsel perished from the astute? Has their wisdom gone stale?

8 Flee! Be turned around! Find depths in which to dwell, dwellers of Dedan! For I will bring on him the calamity of Esau, The era when I call him to account.

9 If grape pickers came to you would they not let some clean-gleanings remain? If thieves in the night, they would ruin no more than their quota.

10 But I Myself have bared Esau; I have exposed his places of concealment, So he is not able to hide; Devastated are his seed, his kinsmen and his neighbors, And there is no one to say:

11 Leave your orphans; I myself shall keep them alive; And let your widows trust in me.

12 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, if they who are not duly bound to drink the cup still must drink, yea drink, shall you be one exempted, yea exempted? You shall not be exempted, for you shall drink, yea drink!

13 For by Myself I have sworn, averring is Yahweh, that Bozrah shall become an appalling thing, a reproach, a wasted place and a malediction, and all her cities shall become eonian wastes!

14 I hear a report from Yahweh; An agent is sent among the nations: Gather together and come against her, And rise for battle!

15 For behold, I have made you small among the nations, Despised among humanity.

16 Your obscene idol lures you, The arrogance of your heart, You who are tabernacling in the clefts of the crag, Who are grasping the height of the hill; Though you make your nest as lofty as the vulture, From there I shall bring you down, averring is Yahweh.

17 Edom will become an object of astonishment; Everyone passing by her shall be appalled And shall hiss at all her smitings.

18 Like the overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah And its neighbors, says Yahweh, No man shall dwell there, And no son of humanity shall sojourn in her.

19 Behold, like a lion that comes up from the jungle of the Jordan to the perennial homestead, Indeed in a moment I shall make him run from her; I shall note the choicest of her rams; For who is like Me? And who can summon Me? And what is this shepherd who can stand before Me?

20 Therefore, hear the counsel of Yahweh which He counsels against Edom, And His designs which He designs against the dwellers of Teman: Assuredly the farm-menials shall pull away their pieces! Assuredly their homestead shall be appalled over them!

21 At the sound of their fall, the earth quakes; The cry its voice is heard at the Sea of Weeds.

22 Behold, like a vulture he ascends and swoops down, And he spreads his wings against Bozrah, And the heart of Edom’s masterful men will become in that day Like the heart of a woman in her throes.

23 Concerning Damascus: Ashamed are Hamath and Arpad, For they have heard a report of evil; They are dissolved in anxiety like the sea that is not able to be quiet.

24 Damascus has grown slack; She turns around to flee, Yet trepidation holds her fast; Distress and cramps hold her as a woman giving birth.

25 How is it that the boasted city is not forsaken, The town of elation?

26 Therefore, her choice young men shall fall in her squares, And all the men of war shall be stilled in that day, averring is Yahweh of hosts;

27 I will ravage with fire at the wall of Damascus, And it will devour the citadels of Ben-hadad.

28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor Which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote: Thus says Yahweh: Rise, go up against Kedar, And devastate the sons of the east!

29 They shall take away their tents and their flocks, Their tent sheets and all their gear, And they shall carry off their camels for themselves; They will call out against them: Shrinking fear is round about.

30 Flee! Wander away very far! Dig deep to dwell, dwellers of Hazor, averring is Yahweh, For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has counseled a counsel against you, And he has designed a design against you!

31 Rise! Ascend upon a nation at ease, Dwelling in serenity, averring is Yahweh; It has neither double doors nor bar; They are tabernacling alone.

32 Their camels shall become plunder, And their cattle throng loot; I will toss them away to every wind, those who cut away the edge of their hair, And from all its sides I shall bring their calamity, averring is Yahweh.

33 Hazor will become the habitation of wild jackals, A desolation for the eon; No man shall dwell there, And no son of humanity shall sojourn in it.

34 That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

35 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold, I shall break the bow of Elam, The beginning of their mastery.

36 I will bring upon Elam four winds from the four ends of the heavens, And I will toss them away to all these winds; There shall not be a nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

37 I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, And before those who seek their soul; I will bring evil upon them, the heat of My anger, averring is Yahweh, And I will send the sword after them until I have finished them.

38 I will place My throne in Elam, And I will destroy from there both king and chief officials, averring is Yahweh.

39 Yet it will come in the days hereafter, I shall reverse the captivity of Elam, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 50

1 The word which Yahweh spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by means of Jeremiah the prophet:

2 Tell among the nations and announce it! Lift up a banner; Announce it! Do not suppress it! Say: Babylon is seized; Bel is put to shame; Morodach is dismayed; Her fetishes are put to shame; Her idol clods are dismayed.

3 For a nation from the north has come up against her; It shall make her land a desolation, And there shall not be a dweller in her; From human unto beast they will wander away; They will go.

4 In those days and in that era, averring is Yahweh, The sons of Israel shall come, They and the sons of Judah together; Walking and lamenting, they shall go, And they shall seek Yahweh their Elohim.

5 They shall ask the way to Zion, Their faces turned thither; Come, and let us reattach ourselves to Yahweh By a covenant eonian that shall not be forgotten.

6 My people became a lost flock; Their shepherds led them astray; They turned them away on the mountains; They roved from mountain to hill; They forgot their reclining place.

7 All who found them devoured them, And their foes said, We are not guilty Because they sinned against Yahweh, The Homestead of Righteousness And the Expectation of their fathers, Yahweh.

8 Wander away from the midst of Babylon, And from the land of the Chaldeans, go forth, And become like the he-goats before the flock.

9 For behold, I shall rouse and bring up against Babylon An assembled force of great nations from the north land, And they will array themselves against her, And she shall be seized from there; Their arrows are like a master of war who causes bereavement; He shall not return empty handed.

10 So the Chaldeans will become loot; All who loot her shall be surfeited, averring is Yahweh.

11 Though you were rejoicing, Though you were joyous, robbers of My allotment, Though you were frolicking like calves in verdure, And you were neighing like sturdy beasts,

12 Your mother is shamed exceedingly; She who bore you is abashed; Behold the hindmost of the nations, A wilderness, arid and a steppe.

13 Because of the wrath of Yahweh she shall not be indwelt, And she will become a desolation, all of her; Whoever passes by Babylon shall be appalled And shall hiss at all her smitings.

14 Array yourselves against Babylon round about, All who position the bow; Shoot at her; Do not spare the arrow, For she has sinned against Yahweh.

15 Shout over her round about; She has given up her hand; Her bastions have fallen; Her walls are demolished; Indeed this is the vengeance of Yahweh; Avenge yourselves upon her; Just as she has done, do to her.

16 Cut off the sower from Babylon, And him who handles the sickle at harvest season; From the presence of the tyrannizing sword, Each man shall face to his own people, And each shall flee to his own land.

17 A dispersed flockling is Israel; Lions have driven him away; First the king of Assyria devoured him, And after this Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon picked his bones.

18 Therefore, thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: Behold, I shall call to account the king of Babylon and his land, just as I called to account the king of Assyria.

19 I will bring Israel back to his homestead, And he will graze in Carmel and Bashan, And in mount Ephraim and Gilead his soul shall be surfeited.

20 In those days and in that era, averring is Yahweh, The depravity of Israel shall be sought, yet there will be none, And the sins of Judah, yet they shall not be found, For I shall pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.

21 Against the land of Merathaim, go up against her, And against the dwellers of Pekod; put to the sword and doom them, averring is Yahweh, And do according to all that I instruct you.

22 The sound of battle in the land, And a great breaking!

23 How it is hacked down and broken, the sledgehammer of the entire earth! How Babylon has become an object of astonishment among the nations!

24 I set a trap for you, And you were seized, Babylon, yet you yourself did not know; You were found and also apprehended, for you were stirred up against Yahweh.

25 Yahweh has opened His storehouse, And He is bringing forth the weapons of His indignation, For that is the work my Lord Yahweh of hosts has in the land of the Chaldeans.

26 Come against her from the outmost part; Open her storage bins; Heap her up like grain-piles, and doom her; Let not a remnant remain for her.

27 Put all her young bulls to the sword; Let them go down to the slaughter; Woe to them, for their day has come, The era of their visitation!

28 The sound of those who flee, Delivered ones from the land of Babylon, To tell in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our Elohim, Vengeance for His temple!

29 Summon the multitudes against Babylon, all who position the bow; Encamp against her round about; Let there not be any deliverance for her; Repay her according to her deed; According to all that she has done, do to her, For she has been arrogant against Yahweh, Against the Holy One of Israel.

30 Therefore her choice young men shall fall in her squares, And all her men of war shall be stilled in that day, averring is Yahweh.

31 Behold, I am against you, arrogant one! averring is my Lord Yahweh of hosts, For your day shall come, the era I call you to account!

32 Then the arrogant one will stumble and fall, And no one shall raise him up; I will ravage with fire in his cities, And it will devour all his surroundings.

33 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Weighted down are the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah together, And all their captors hold them fast; They refuse to let them go.

34 Yet their Redeemer is steadfast, Yahweh of hosts is His Name; He shall contend for, yea contend for their cause That He may give respite to the land yet disturb the dwellers of Babylon.

35 A sword against the Chaldeans, averring is Yahweh, And against the dwellers of Babylon, And against her chief officials and her wise!

36 A sword against the deceiving inventors that they may be made foolish! A sword against her masterful men that they may be dismayed!

37 A sword against her horses and her chariots And against all the mixed multitude who are in her midst, that they may become like women! A sword against her treasuries that they may be plundered!

38 Scorching heat against her waters that they may dry up! For she is a land of carvings, And they rave among the dreaded idols.

39 Therefore the desert-beasts shall dwell with the desert-howlers, And ostriches will dwell in her; She shall not be indwelt again permanently Nor be tabernacled in for generation after generation,

40 Like Elohim’s overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors, averring is Yahweh; No man shall dwell there, And no son of humanity shall sojourn in her.

41 Behold, a people coming from the north, a great nation, And many kings are roused from the remote parts of the earth.

42 Bow and scimitar they hold fast; They are cruel and show no compassion; Their voice clamors like the sea, And on horses they ride, Arrayed like a man for battle against you, daughter of Babylon.

43 The king of Babylon has heard a report of them; And his hands fall slack; Distress holds him fast, Travail as a woman giving birth.

44 Behold, like a lion that comes up from the jungle of the Jordan to the perennial homestead, Indeed in a moment I shall make them run from her; I shall note the choicest of her rams; For who is like Me? And who can summon Me? And what is this shepherd who can stand before Me?

45 Therefore, hear the counsel of Yahweh which He counsels against Babylon, And His designs which He designs against the land of the Chaldeans: Assuredly the farm-menials shall pull away their pieces! Assuredly their homestead shall be appalled over them!

46 At the sound when Babylon is grasped, the earth is quaked, And the outcry is heard among the nations.

Chapter 51

1 Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am rousing against Babylon And against the dwellers of Leb Kamai a ruinous wind.

2 I send winnowers to Babylon, and they will winnow her, And they shall make her land void, For they will come against her from round about on the day of evil.

3 Against him who positions let the bowman position his bow, And against him who mounts himself up in his coat-of-armor; Do not spare her choice young men! Doom all her military host!

4 The slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, And those who are stabbed, in her streets.

5 For Israel and Judah have not been widowed by Elohim, by Yahweh of hosts, But their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel.

6 Flee from the midst of Babylon, And escape, each one with his soul; Do not be stilled in her depravity, For it is an era of vengeance for Yahweh; He shall pay the requital to her.

7 Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand, making the entire earth drunk; The nations drank of her wine; therefore the nations are raving.

8 Suddenly Babylon fell and was broken; Howl over her! Take balm for her pain; Perhaps she shall be healed.

9 We would have healed Babylon, Yet she would not be healed; Forsake her! And let us go, each one to his land, For her judgment touches the heavens, And it is lifted unto the skies.

10 Yahweh has brought forth our righteousness; Come, and let us relate in Zion the deed of Yahweh our Elohim.

11 Furbish the arrows! Fill the arrow-cases! Yahweh has roused the spirit of the kings of the Medes, For His plan is against Babylon, to ruin it, For it is the vengeance of Yahweh, The vengeance for His temple.

12 Lift up a banner against the walls of Babylon; Make steadfast the guard; Set up sentinels; Prepare the ambushers; For Yahweh has both planned and done what He spoke against the dwellers of Babylon.

13 You who tabernacle by great waters, great in treasures, Your end has come, the full cubit length of your gain.

14 Yahweh of hosts has sworn by His soul: Indeed, assuredly I will fill you with humanity like young-locusts, And they will respond against you with a vintage-shout.

15 Yahweh is the Maker of the earth by His vigor, The Establisher of the habitance by His wisdom, And by His understanding He stretched out the heavens.

16 When He sounds forth His voice, there is a rumble of water in the heavens, And He brings up vapors from the end of the earth; He makes lightening bolts for the rain And brings forth wind from His treasuries.

17 Every human is proved irrational, without knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carving, For his molten image is falsehood, And there is no spirit in them.

18 Vanity are they, a work of aberrations; In the era of their visitation they shall perish.

19 Not like these is the Portion of Jacob, For the Former of all is He, And Israel is the tribe of His allotment; Yahweh of hosts is His Name.

20 You are a maul for Me, My implement of war; With you I will shatter nations, And with you I will ruin kingdoms.

21 With you I will shatter the horse and its rider, And with you I will shatter the chariot and its charioteer.

22 With you I will shatter man and woman, And with you I will shatter elder and youth, And with you I will shatter choice young man and virgin.

23 With you I will shatter shepherd and his drove, And with you I will shatter farmworker and his team, And with you I will shatter viceroys and prefects.

24 And I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all their evil which they have done to Zion before your eyes, averring is Yahweh.

25 Behold, I am against you, Ruinous Mountain, averring is Yahweh, The ruiner of the entire earth; I will stretch out My hand against you And roll you down from the crags And make you a mountain of burnt waste.

26 They shall not take from you a stone for a corner Or a stone for foundations, For you shall become an eonian desolation, averring is Yahweh.

27 Lift up a banner on earth! Blow a trumpet among the nations! Hallow nations against her! Summon kingdoms against her, Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz! Appoint against her a marshal! Bring up horses like the bristling young-locust!

28 Hallow nations against her, the kings of the Medes, its viceroys and all its prefects and every land of his rule.

29 The earth shall quake and travail, for the designs of Yahweh have arisen against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without a dweller.

30 The masterful men of Babylon shun fighting; They sit in the fastnesses; Their mastery is parched; They have become like women; Her tabernacles are ravaged; Her bars are broken.

31 Runner is running to meet runner, And message-bearer to meet message-bearer, To tell the king of Babylon that his city is seized from end to end,

32 And the fords are taken possession of, And they have burned the marsh-reeds with fire, And the men of war are panicked.

33 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Elohim of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing site at the time of its treading; in a little while the time of harvest will come to her.

34 He devoured me, discomfited me, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; He put me down an empty vessel; He swallowed me down like a monster; He filled his paunch with my luxuries; He rinsed me out.

35 The violence to me and the devastation to me be on Babylon, saying is the dweller of Zion, And my blood be upon the dwellers of Chaldea, saying is Jerusalem.

36 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Behold, I shall contend your cause, And I will avenge with vengeance for you; I will drain her sea and dry up her fountain.

37 Babylon will become rubble mounds, a habitation of wild jackals, An object of astonishment and hissing, without a dweller.

38 They roar together like sheltered lions; They shake like whelps of lions.

39 In their warmth I shall set out their feast, And I will make them drunk that they may be joyous; Then they will sleep an eonian sleep, And they shall not awake, averring is Yahweh.

40 I shall bring them down like butting lambs to slaughter, Like rams and he-goats.

41 How Sheshak is seized, And the praise of the entire earth is taken possession of! How Babylon has become an object of astonishment among the nations!

42 The sea has come up over Babylon; She is covered with its clamorous billows.

43 Her cities have become a desolation, An arid land and a steppe, A land where no one at all shall dwell in them, Nor shall a son of humanity pass through them.

44 I will call Bel to account in Babylon And bring forth from his mouth what he has swallowed; No longer shall nations stream to him; Even the wall of Babylon will fall.

45 Come forth from her midst, My people, And escape, each with his soul, from the heat of Yahweh’s anger!

46 Now lest your heart should become timorous, And you are fearful over a report that is heard in the land, For a report will come one year, And another report after it in the next year: Violence in the land! Ruler against ruler!

47 Therefore behold, days are coming, When I will call to account the carvings of Babylon, And all her land shall be ashamed, And all her slain shall fall in her midst.

48 The heavens and the earth and all that is in them shall be jubilant over Babylon, For from the north the devastators shall come against her, averring is Yahweh.

49 Indeed Babylon is to fall for the slain of Israel, Even as the slain of all the earth have fallen for Babylon.

50 You who are delivered from the sword, Go! Do not stay! Remember Yahweh from afar, And let Jerusalem come up on your heart.

51 We are shamed, for we have heard reproach; Mortification has covered our faces, For aliens have entered the grand sanctuary of the house of Yahweh.

52 Therefore behold, days are coming, averring is Yahweh, When I will call to account her carvings, And in all her land the mortally wounded shall groan.

53 Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, And though she should fortress her stronghold to the height, From Me devastators shall come against her, averring is Yahweh.

54 The sound of an outcry from Babylon, And a great breaking from the land of Chaldea!

55 For Yahweh is devastating Babylon, And He destroys her loud voice; Their billows clamor like many waters; The tumult of their voice is raised.

56 For a devastator comes against her, against Babylon, And her masterful men are seized; Their bow is snapped, For Yahweh is an El of Requitals; He shall repay, yea repay.

57 I will make drunk her chief officials and her wise, Her viceroys, her prefects and her masterful men; They will sleep an eonian sleep, And they shall not awake, averring is the King, Yahweh of hosts is His Name.

58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The broad wall of Babylon shall be razed, yea razed, And her lofty gates shall be ravaged with fire; Peoples shall labor only for nought, And the folk shall be faint only for fire.

59 The word which Yahweh instructed Jeremiah the prophet to say to Seraiah son of Neriah son of Mahseiah when he went from Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign ( Seraiah was chief over tributary presents).

60 Jeremiah wrote all the evil that would come to Babylon in one scroll, all these words which were written concerning Babylon.

61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah: When you come to Babylon, then you will see and read all these words,

62 and you will say, O Yahweh, You Yourself have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that there not remain in it a dweller from human unto beast, for it shall become eonian desolations.

63 Then it will come to be when you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it, and you will fling it into the midst of the Euphrates,

64 and you will say, Thus Babylon shall drown, and she shall not rise, because of the evil which I am bringing upon her. [And they will be faint. Thus far the words of Jeremiah.]

Chapter 52

1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for eleven years; his mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah from Libnah.

2 He did what was evil in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

3 For it was on account of Yahweh’s anger that this occurred in Jerusalem and Judah, until He had flung them away from His presence. Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon.

4 It came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month on the tenth day of the month that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, he and his whole army, came up against Jerusalem. They encamped outside it and built siege work against it all around.

5 Thus the city came under siege until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

6 In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was unyielding in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

7 When the city was broken into, all the men trained for war fled away; they went forth from the city at night by way of the gate between the two walls that were at the king’s garden, while the Chaldeans were all around against the city. When they advanced by way of the Arabah,

8 the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered away from him.

9 Then they apprehended the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon by Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgments on him.

10 The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also slew all the chief officials of Judah in Riblah.

11 Then he blinded the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with two bronze fetters; and the king of Babylon brought him to Babylon where he put him in the house of supervision until the day of his death.

12 In the fifth month on the tenth day of the month, that is, the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, the grandee of the imperial guard, Nebuzaradan, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem.

13 He burned the house of Yahweh and the king’s house and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down every house of a great man with fire.

14 All the army of the Chaldeans that was with the grandee of the imperial guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem.

15 As for some from the poor of the people and the rest of the people who were remaining in the city, and those who had fallen away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the throng, Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard deported them.

16 Yet the grandee of the imperial guard, Nebuzaradan, let some of the poorest people of the land remain as vinedressers and as field hands.

17 As for the columns of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, and the bases and the sea of bronze that were in the house of Yahweh, the Chaldeans broke them up and carried all their bronze to Babylon;

18 they also took away the pots and the shovels, the snippers, the sprinkling bowls, the spoons and all the articles of bronze with which they had been ministering.

19 The basins, the firepans, the sprinkling bowls the pots, the lampstands, the spoons and the sacrificial-bowls whatever were of gold, the grandee of the imperial guard took away as gold, and whatever of silver, as silver.

20 The two columns, the one sea and the twelve bronze oxen that were under the sea, and the bases that king Solomon had made for the house of Yahweh, the weight of their bronze of all these articles was not estimated.

21 As for the columns, eighteen cubits in rise was one column, and a thread of twelve cubits went around it, and its thickness was four fingers; it was hollow.

22 The capital on it was of bronze; the rise of one capital was five cubits, and the meshing and the pomegranates all around on the capital, the whole of it was of bronze. And the second column was like these, also the pomegranates.

23 There were ninety-six pomegranates with those for each direction; all the pomegranates were a hundred on the meshing round about.

24 The grandee of the imperial guard took Seraiah the principal priest and Zephaniah the second priest and three of the keepers of the threshold.

25 From the city he took one eunuch who had been supervisor over the men of war, and seven men of those appearing in the king’s presence who were found in the city, and the chief scribe of the military host who had been mustering the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found inside the city.

26 The grandee of the imperial guard Nebuzaradan took them captive and made them go to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

27 The king of Babylon smote them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was deported, away from its ground.

28 This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadrezzar deported in the seventh year: 3,023 Jews;

29 in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar 832 souls from Jerusalem;

30 in the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar, Nebuzaradan the grandee of the imperial guard deported of Jews, 745 souls; all the souls were 4,600.

31 It came to be in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of king Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month that Evil-morodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him forth out of the house of detention.

32 He spoke good things to him and put his covered seat above the covered seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

33 He made him exchange the clothes of his detention, and he ate bread before him continually, all the days of his life.

34 As for his ration, a continual ration was given to him by the king of Babylon, the menu of a day in its day until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

The Book of Lamentations

Chapter 1

1 How solitary sits the city once of many people! She has become like a widow who was great among nations; The chief princess among the provinces, she has become a payer of tribute.

2 She is lamenting, yea lamenting in the night, her tears on her cheeks; There is no one to comfort her of all her lovers; All her associates have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

3 Deported is Judah after humiliation and much servitude; She dwells among the nations but finds no rest; All her pursuers have overtaken her in the narrow places.

4 The roads to Zion are mournful without anyone coming to the appointed festivals; All her gateways are desolate; her priests are sighing; Her virgins are afflicted, and to herself it has brought bitterness.

5 Her foes have become the head; her enemies are at ease; For Yahweh Himself has afflicted her because of her many transgressions; Her infants have gone into captivity before the foe.

6 Gone forth from the daughter of Zion is all her effulgence; Her chiefs have become like stags that find no pasture; They go without vigor before the pursuer.

7 Jerusalem remembers in the days of her humiliation and her homelessness, all her coveted things that were from days of long ago, When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was no help for her. The foes saw her; they made sport of her dissolution.

8 A sin has Jerusalem sinned; therefore she has become an isolated woman; All who glorified her count her abject, for they have seen her nakedness; Indeed she herself sighs and turns away back.

9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts, she was not mindful of her future; So she has come down most marvelously; there was no one to comfort her. See, O Yahweh, my humiliation, for the enemy magnified himself.

10 The foe has spread out his hand over all her coveted things; Indeed she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, Concerning whom You had instructed that they should not enter Your assembly.

11 All her people are sighing, seeking bread; They have given their coveted things for food to restore the soul; See, O Yahweh, and look on me, for I have become abject.

12 Is it nothing to you, all who pass along the way? Look about and see if there is any pain like my pain which is brought on me, With which Yahweh afflicts in the day of His hot anger.

13 From on high He sends fire; into my bones He makes it descend; He spreads a net for my feet; He turns me back ; He makes me desolate, languishing all the day.

14 The yoke of my transgressions is bound on; In His hand they intertwine themselves; They ascend upon my neck; it has caused my vigor to falter. Yahweh has given me over into the hands of those I cannot rise against.

15 Yahweh has cast aside all my sturdy ones in my midst; He has called an appointed assembly against me to break apart my choice young men; Yahweh has trod the winetrough of the virgin daughter of Judah.

16 Over these I am lamenting; my eye, my eye runs down with water; For far from me is any comforter, any restorer of my soul; My sons are desolate, for the enemy has mastery.

17 Zion spreads out her hands; there is no one to comfort her; Yahweh has commissioned His foes round about him against Jacob; Jerusalem has become an isolated woman among them.

18 Yahweh, He is righteous, for I have rebelled against His bidding; Hearken now all you peoples, and see my pain; My virgins and my choice young men, they have gone into captivity.

19 I called to my lovers; they deceived me; My priests and my elders deceased in the city While they sought food for themselves that they might restore their soul.

20 See O Yahweh, that distress is mine; my bowels, they are in turmoil; My heart is overturned within me, for I have rebelled, yea rebelled; Outside the sword bereaves; in the house it is like death.

21 They hear that I am sighing; there is no one to comfort me; All my enemies hear of my evil lot; they are elated that You Yourself have done it. May You bring the day You proclaimed so they shall become like me!

22 May all their evil come before You, And bring on them just what You brought on me because of all my transgressions; For my sighings are many, and my heart is sick.

Chapter 2

1 How in His anger Yahweh has covered the daughter of Zion with a thick cloud! He flung from the heavens to earth the beauty of Israel; He did not remember His footstool in the day of His anger.

2 Yahweh has swallowed up and has not spared all the oases of Jacob; He has demolished, in His rage, the fortresses of the daughter of Judah; He made them touch the earth; He has profaned the kingdom and its chiefs.

3 He hacked down all the horn of Israel in the heat of anger; He has turned back His right hand in the presence of the enemy; And He is consuming in Jacob like a blazing fire that devours all around.

4 He has positioned His bow like an enemy, setting His right hand like a foe; And He is killing all that is coveted by the eye in the tent of the daughter of Zion; He has poured out His fury like fire.

5 Yahweh has become like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel; He has swallowed up all her citadels; He has ruined its fortresses; And He is multiplying, in the daughter of Judah, complaint and complaining.

6 He is casting down His booth as in a garden; He has ruined His appointed festival; Yahweh has made appointed festival and sabbath forgotten in Zion, And in the indignation of His anger He is spurning king and priest.

7 Yahweh has cast off His altar; He has disowned His sanctuary; He has surrendered the walls of her citadels into the hand of the enemy. They have raised their voice in the house of Yahweh as on the day of an appointed festival.

8 Yahweh has designed to ruin the wall of the daughter of Zion; He has stretched out the measuring tape; He has not turned back His hand from swallowing up; So He makes the rampart and wall mourn; together they are enfeebled.

9 Her gates have sunk into the earth; He destroyed and broke her bars; Her king and her chiefs are among the nations; there is no law. Also her prophets find no vision from Yahweh.

10 They sit on the earth; the elders of the daughter of Zion are still; They cast up dust on their head; they gird themselves in sackcloth; The virgins of Jerusalem bow down their head to the earth.

11 My eyes are exhausted with tears; my bowels are in turmoil; My liver is poured out on the earth over the brokenness of the daughter of my people, While the infant and suckling droop in the town squares;

12 They are saying to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? While they droop like the mortally wounded in the city squares, While their soul is poured out on their mothers’ bosom.

13 What shall I testify to you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equate to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your brokenness is great as the sea; who shall heal you?

14 Your prophets envision for you futility and trumpery, And they do not expose your depravity to reverse your captivity, But they are envisioning for you loads of futility and false inducements.

15 They slap their palms at you, all who pass your way; They hiss and jerk their head to and fro at the daughter of Jerusalem: Is this the city which they call the consummation of loveliness, the elation of the entire earth?

16 They open their mouth wide at you, all your enemies; They hiss and gnash their teeth; they say, We have swallowed them up! Yea, this is the day that we expected; we have come upon it and have seen it!

17 Yahweh has done what He had planned; He has carried through His saying, What He determined from days long ago; He has demolished and has not spared; And He is making the enemy rejoice over you; He exalts the horn of your foes.

18 Their heart cries out to Yahweh, the Wall of the daughter of Zion; Let tears descend like a torrent by day and night; Do not give yourself intermission; do not let your eye be still.

19 Arise, make appeal in the night at the beginning of the vigils; Pour out your heart like water before the presence of Yahweh; Lift your palms to Him for the soul of your infants who droop in famine at the head of every street.

20 See, O Yahweh, and look at those with whom You have dealt severely thus; Should women be eating their own fruit, their infants cradled in arms? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of Yahweh?

21 They lie on the earth of the streets, youth and elder; My virgins and my choice young men, they have fallen by the sword; You have killed in the day of Your anger; You have slaughtered and have not spared;

22 You have called as on a day of appointment my sojourners from round about, So that in a day of Yahweh’s anger there was no delivered one or survivor; Those whom I cradled in arms and made to increase, my enemy has consumed them.

Chapter 3

1 I am the master who has seen humiliation under the club of His rage;

2 He leads me and makes me walk in darkness and not light;

3 Surely against me again and again He is turning His hand all the day.

4 He wears out my flesh and my skin; He breaks my bones;

5 He builds against me and encompasses me with destitution and stress;

6 He makes me dwell in utter darkness like the eonian dead.

7 He dikes me about so that I cannot go forth; He makes my copper fetters heavy;

8 Even when I cry out and implore, He shuts out my prayer;

9 He dikes my ways with trimmed stone; He contorts my tracks.

10 A bear lying in ambush is He to me, a lion in concealments;

11 He withdraws me from my ways and tears me apart; He makes me desolate.

12 He positions His bow and is setting me as a target for the arrow;

13 He pierces my innermost being with the sons of His quiver.

14 I have become the sport of all peoples, their jest all the day;

15 He surfeits me with bitter herbs; He satiates me with absinth.

16 He is breaking up my teeth on gravel; He makes me fare on ashes;

17 My soul is cast off from peace; I am oblivious of good;

18 And I think my endurance has perished, and my hope from Yahweh.

19 Remember my humiliation and my homelessness, the absinth and poison;

20 My soul is remembering, yea remembering and is prostrate within me.

21 This I recall to my heart, and therefore I have hope:

22 It is by Yahweh’s benignities that we have not come to end, that His compassions are not finished;

23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness;

24 Yahweh is my portion, my soul declares; therefore I shall hope for Him.

25 Yahweh is good to those who are expectant, to the soul that seeks after Him;

26 It is good that one should wait in stillness for the salvation of Yahweh;

27 It is good for a master that he should bear the yoke in his youth;

28 Let him sit alone and be still when He lifts it up on him;

29 Let him put his mouth to the soil; perhaps there will be expectation;

30 Let him give his cheek to his smiter; let him be surfeited with reproach.

31 For Yahweh is not casting off for the eon;

32 Indeed though He afflicts, yet He has compassion according to the abundance of His benignities;

33 For He does not humiliate from His heart or so afflict the sons of man.

34 To crush beneath His feet all the prisoners of the earth,

35 To turn aside right judgment for a master in front of the face of the Supreme,

36 To overturn a human in his cause, does not Yahweh see?

37 Who is this who speaks and it comes about if Yahweh does not determine it?

38 Do not both the evil and the good come forth from the mouth of the Supreme?

39 Of what shall a living man complain, a master concerning his sins?

40 Let us search and investigate our ways and return unto Yahweh;

41 Let us lift up our heart with our palms to the El in the heavens:

42 We have transgressed and rebelled; You have not pardoned;

43 You have blanketed us with anger and pursued us; You have killed and have not spared;

44 You have blanketed Yourself with a cloud to keep prayer from passing through.

45 You have made us offscouring and rejection among the peoples;

46 They open their mouth wide at us, all our enemies;

47 Alarm and pitfall come upon us, tumult and brokenness;

48 My eye runs down with rillets of water at the brokenness of the daughter of my people.

49 My eye will spill forth and not be stilled, without intermission,

50 Until Yahweh gazes down and sees from the heavens;

51 My eye deals severely with my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

52 My enemies hunt, yea hunt me like a bird, gratuitously;

53 They efface my life in a dungeon, which they block up over me with a stone;

54 Waters float over my head; I say: I am severed;

55 I call on Your Name, O Yahweh, from the nether parts of the dungeon;

56 Hear my voice; Do not obstruct Your ear to my imploring for my mitigation.

57 Come near in the day I am calling You; say: Do not be fearful;

58 Contend, O Yahweh, the cause of my soul; redeem my life;

59 See, O Yahweh, the mistreatment of me; do judge right judgment for me;

60 See all their vengeance, all their devisings against me;

61 Hear their reproach, O Yahweh, all their devisings against me;

62 The lips of those rising against me and their chant are against me all the day;

63 Do look at their sitting and their rising; I am their jest.

64 Turn back upon them a requital, O Yahweh, according to the deeds of their hands;

65 Give them petrifaction of heart; Your execration be on them;

66 Pursue in anger and exterminate them from under the heavens of Yahweh.

Chapter 4

1 How the gold is tarnished! the good certified gold is altered; The holy stones are strewn about at the head of all the streets.

2 The precious sons of Zion, those classed with glittering gold, How they are accounted as earthenware crocks, the work of the hands of a potter!

3 Even wild-jackals offer forth the breast; they suckle their whelps; But the daughter of my people is cruel like ostriches in the wilderness;

4 The tongue of the suckling clings to its palate from thirst; Infants beg for bread; there is no one spreading it out to them.

5 Those who ate dainties are desolated in the streets; Those who were fostered in crimson embrace ash heaps.

6 Indeed the depravity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, Which was overturned as in a moment though no hands travailed against it!

7 Her Nazirites were purged more than snow; they were more shimmering than milk; In bodily staunchness they were more ruddy than rubies, their long-beard like sapphire.

8 Now their visage is darker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; Their skin is shrunken over their bones, is dried up; it has become like wood.

9 Better off were they who were slain by the sword than those slain by famine, Those who are succumbing, stabbed from lack of produce of the field.

10 The hands of compassionate women cook their children; They become a repast for them in the brokenness of the daughter of my people.

11 Yahweh has made His fury whole; He has poured out His hot anger; And He is ravaging with fire in Zion which is devouring its foundations.

12 The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the dwellers of the habitance, That foe and enemy could enter into the gateways of Jerusalem.

13 Because of the sins of her prophets, the depravities of her priests, Who were pouring out within her the blood of the righteous,

14 They rove about blind in the streets; they are sullied with blood, So that no one dare touch their clothing;

15 Go away! unclean! they call out to them; go away! go away! do not touch! Because they wander forth and rove about, men say among the nations: They shall not continue to sojourn here.

16 The face of Yahweh has made them split up; He shall not continue to look upon them; They have not respected the priests; they have not favored the elders.

17 Furthermore for us our eyes are exhausted looking for our help in vain; From our watchtower we watched for a nation which could not save us.

18 They hunt our steps, keeping us from walking in our squares; Our end draws near; our days reach their fill; indeed our end has come.

19 Our pursuers have become fleeter than the vultures of the heavens; They dash after us upon the mountains; they lie in ambush for us in the wilderness.

20 The spirit of our nostrils, the anointed of Yahweh, he is seized in their pits, Of whom we said: In his shadow we shall live among the nations.

21 Be elated and rejoice, daughter of Edom, you who are dwelling in the land of Uz; To you also shall pass the cup of Yahweh; you shall become drunk and denude yourself.

22 Your wretchedness will come to end, daughter of Zion; He shall not continue to carry you away into exile; He will note your depravity, daughter of Edom; He will expose your sins.

Chapter 5

1 Remember, O Yahweh, what has happened to us; look, and see our reproach.

2 Our allotment is turned over to aliens, our houses to foreigners.

3 We have become orphans without a father; our mothers are like widows.

4 Our own water we drink for money; our wood comes with a price.

5 With a yoke on our neck, we are pursued; we are weary, and there is no rest for us.

6 We give the hand to Egypt and Assyria in order to be satisfied with bread.

7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, and we ourselves are burdened with their depravities.

8 Slaves rule over us; there is no one to tear us off from their hand.

9 At the risk of our soul we bring in our bread in view of the sword of the wilderness.

10 Our skin is fervid like a stove in view of the simoons of famine.

11 They humiliate women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.

12 Chiefs are hung by their hands; the face of the old is not honored.

13 Choice young men must bear the grinding, and youths falter under loads of wood.

14 Elders have ceased from the gateway, choice youth from their accompaniment of song.

15 The elation of our heart has ceased; our fluting is turned to mourning.

16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us that we have sinned!

17 At this our heart is languishing; because of these things our eyes are darkened.

18 Because of Mount Zion which is desolate, foxes prowl about it.

19 Yet You, O Yahweh, are dwelling for the eon; Your throne endures for generation after generation.

20 Why are You forgetting us so permanently, forsaking us for length of days?

21 Restore us to Yourself, O Yahweh, and we shall return; renew our days as of long ago,

22 Unless You have rejected us, yea utterly rejected, and are wrathful against us exceedingly.

The Book of Ezekiel

Chapter 1

1 It came to be in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth of the month, while I was in the midst of the exiles, by the stream Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw appearances of Elohim.

2 On the fifth of the month, it being the fifth year of the exile of king Jehoiachin,

3 the word of Yahweh came, yea came to Ezekiel son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, by the stream Chebar, and the hand of Yahweh came on me there.

4 I looked, and behold, a tempestuous wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire taking hold of itself, and a bright light to it round about, and from its midst was what was like the sparkle of amber from the midst of the fire.

5 Out of its midst loomed the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance: They had the likeness of a human.

6 Yet each had four faces, and there were four wings to each of them.

7 Their feet were upright , and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s foot; and they coruscated like the sparkle of scintillating copper.

8 They had human hands under their wings; it was on their four sides that the four of them had their faces and their wings.

9 Their wings were joined each to its fellow. They would not turn about when they went; each went straight forward.

10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had the face of a human, and the four of them had the face of a lion to the right, and the four of them had the face of a bull on the left, and the four of them had the face of a vulture.

11 Such were their faces. And their wings were parted upward; each had two joining each other, and two covering their bodies.

12 And each went straight forward; where the spirit urged them to go, they would go; they would not turn about when they went.

13 And in the midst of the living creatures was an appearance like consuming embers of fire; like the appearance of torches, it went about between the living creatures. There was a bright light to the fire, and from the fire came forth lightning.

14 The living creatures, ran and returned like the appearance of a streak of lightning.

15 As I was observing the living creatures, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside each of the four-faced living creatures.

16 The appearance of the wheels and their work was like the sparkle of topaz, and the four of them had one likeness, their appearance and their work being just like a wheel in the midst of a wheel.

17 When they went they would go toward one of their four directions; they would not turn about when they went.

18 As for their rims they had loftiness, and they had fearfulness, for their rims were full of eyes round about for the four of them.

19 When the living creatures went, the wheels would go beside them, and when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels would be lifted up also.

20 Where the spirit urged them to go they would go, there as the spirit urged them to go, and the wheels were lifted up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

21 When they went these would go, and when they stood still these would stand still, and when they were lifted up from the earth the wheels would be lifted up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.

22 The likeness over the heads of the living creatures was an atmosphere like sparkling ice, fear inspiring, stretched out over their heads upward.

23 And beneath the atmosphere their wings were upright, each to its fellow; each also had two covering them, that is, each had two covering them about their bodies.

24 And I heard the sound of their wings when they went, like the sound of many waters, like the voice of Him Who-Suffices, the sound of a din like the sound of an army camp. When they stood still, they would relax their wings.

25 Then there came a voice above the atmosphere that was over their head. When they stood still they would relax their wings.

26 Above the atmosphere that was over their head, like the appearance of sapphire stone, was the likeness of a throne. And on this likeness of a throne was a likeness like the appearance of a human on it, upward.

27 And I saw what was like the sparkle of amber, like the appearance of fire enclosed round about it, from the appearance of His waist and upward; and from the appearance of His waist and downward I saw what was like the appearance of fire; and there was a bright light round about Him.

28 Like the appearance of the bow which comes in the clouds in the day of downpour, so was the appearance of the bright light round about. It was the appearance of the likeness of Yahweh’s glory. When I saw it I fell on my face. Then I heard the voice of One speaking.

Chapter 2

1 And He said to me: Son of humanity, stand on your feet, and I shall speak with you.

2 Then the spirit came into me, just as He spoke to me, and it stood me on my feet, and I heard Him speaking to me.

3 And He said to me: Son of humanity, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to nations, the revolters who have revolted against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me until this very day.

4 The sons with obstinate faces and unyielding heart, I am sending you to them, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh.

5 And they, whether they hearken or forbear, for they are a rebellious house, they will know that a prophet is in their midst.

6 And you, son of humanity, do not fear because of them, and do not fear because of their words, though they are inflaming-nettles and palm-thorns to you, and you are dwelling with scorpions; do not fear because of their words, and do not be dismayed because of their faces, for they are a rebellious house.

7 But you will speak My words to them whether they hearken or forbear, for they are a rebellious house.

8 Now you, son of humanity, hear what I am speaking to you. Do not become rebellious like the rebellious house. Open wide your mouth, and eat what I am giving to you.

9 And I saw, and behold, a hand was put forth toward me, and behold, in it was the roll of a scroll.

10 Then He spread it before me, and it was written on both the face and the back; on it were written dirges, sad words and woe.

Chapter 3

1 And He said to me: Son of humanity, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.

2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me with this scroll

3 and said to me, Son of humanity, you shall feed your belly, and you shall fill your bowels with this scroll that I am giving to you. So I ate it, and it was in my mouth like honey for sweetness.

4 Then He said to me, Son of humanity, go, enter unto the house of Israel, and you will speak with My words to them;

5 for not to a people deep of lip and heavy of tongue are you sent, but to the house of Israel,

6 not to many peoples, deep of lip and heavy of tongue, whose words you cannot make out. Assuredly if I sent you to them, they would hearken to you.

7 Yet the house of Israel are not willing to hearken to you, for they are not willing to hearken to Me. Indeed the whole house of Israel unyielding of forehead and obstinate of heart are they.

8 Behold, I will make your face steadfast to match their faces, and your forehead unyielding to match their forehead.

9 Like corundum more unyielding than rock, so I will make your forehead. You shall not fear them nor be dismayed by their faces, for they are a rebellious house.

10 And He said to me, Son of humanity, all My words which I am speaking to you, take into your heart, and hear with your ears.

11 Go, enter unto the exiles, unto the sons of your people, and you will speak to them and say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh, whether they hearken or they forbear.

12 Then the spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the sound of a great quaking at the raising up of the glory of Yahweh from its place,

13 and the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against each other, and the sound of the wheels with them, and the sound of a great quaking.

14 The spirit lifted me up and took me, and I went, bitter in the fury of my spirit, while the hand of Yahweh was unyielding upon me.

15 And I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, the dwellers at the stream Chebar; and where they were dwelling, there I also dwelt seven days, desolate in their midst.

16 And it came to be at the end of seven days that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

17 Son of humanity, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear the word from My mouth, then you will give warning to them from Me.

18 When I say to the wicked one, You shall die, yea die, yet you do not warn him, you do not even speak to warn the wicked one of his wicked way, to preserve his life, that wicked one shall die in his depravity, but his blood I shall seek to exact from your hand.

19 Yet you, if you do warn the wicked one, and he does not turn back from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his depravity, but you will have rescued your soul.

20 Again, when a righteous one turns back from his righteousness and does iniquity when I put a stumbling block before him, he shall die. If you do not warn him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous acts which he had done shall not be remembered, but his blood I shall seek to exact from your hand.

21 Yet you, if you do warn him, this righteous one, by no means to sin, and he, the righteous one, does not sin, he shall live, yea live for taking warning, and you will have rescued your soul.

22 Then the hand of Yahweh came on me there, and He said to me: Rise, go forth to the valley, and there I shall speak with you.

23 Hence I rose and went forth to the valley; and behold, the glory of Yahweh was there, standing like the appearance of glory which I had seen by the stream Chebar; and I fell on my face.

24 Then the spirit came into me, and it stood me on my feet. And He spoke with me and said to me: Come, lock yourself inside your house.

25 As for you, son of humanity, behold, they will put ropes on you and bind you with them, and you shall not go forth in their midst.

26 I shall cause your tongue to cling to your palate, and you will be mute, so that you shall not continue as a man reproving them, for they are a rebellious house.

27 Yet when I speak with you again I shall open your mouth, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: The one who hears shall hear, and the one who forbears shall forbear, for they are a rebellious house.

Chapter 4

1 Now you, son of humanity, take for yourself a brick and put it before you, and delineate on it the city, Jerusalem.

2 Then place a siege against it, and build siege work against it, and construct an earthwork against it, and set camps against it, and place battering rams against it round about.

3 Then you, take for yourself an iron flat pan, and place it as a sidewall of iron between you and the city, and set your face against it that it may come under siege, and besiege it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.

4 And you, lie on your left side, and place the depravity of the house of Israel on it; as the number of days that you lie on it, so shall you bear their depravity.

5 For I assign upon you the years of their depravity to match the number of days, 390 days when you will bear the depravity of the house of Israel.

6 After you finish these days, lie on your right side for the second period when you will bear the depravity of the house of Judah forty days: a day for a year, a day for a year, I set it upon you.

7 Then toward the siege of Jerusalem you shall set your face with your arm bared, and you will prophesy against it.

8 And behold, I will put ropes on you, and you shall not turn from side to side until you finish your days of siege.

9 As for you, take for yourself some wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, and put them into one vessel, and make of them bread for yourself; for the number of days that you are lying on your side, 390 days, you shall eat of it.

10 Your food which you shall eat shall be by weight twenty shekels each day; you shall eat of it from set time to set time.

11 And you shall drink water by quantity one sixth of a hin; you shall drink from set time to set time.

12 You shall eat it as an ember cake of barley; as for it, on ordures of human excrement shall you bake it on embers before their eyes.

13 And Yahweh said: Thus shall the sons of Israel eat their bread, unclean, among the nations where I shall expel them.

14 Yet I answered, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, behold, my soul has never been so defiled! even anything having died of itself or torn to pieces by beasts I have not eaten from my youth until now, nor has vile flesh come into my mouth!

15 So He said to me, See, I allow you cow chips instead of human ordure, and you may prepare your bread on them.

16 And He said to me: Son of humanity, behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and in anxiety, and they shall drink water by quantity and in desolation,

17 so that they may lack bread and water and may be appalled, each one and his brother, and they are putrefied in their depravity.

Chapter 5

1 As for you, son of humanity, take to yourself a sharp blade, a barbers’ razor; you shall take it to yourself and pass it over your head and over your beard. Then you will take for yourself scales for weighing the hairs, and apportion them.

2 A third you shall consume with luminous fire in the midst of the city as the days of siege are fulfilled; you will take another third which you shall smite with a sword round about it; and a third shall you toss to the wind; and I shall unsheathe a sword after them.

3 Then you will take from there a few hairs in number, and bundle them in your hems.

4 Then you shall take some more of them and fling them into the midst of the fire and so burn them in the fire; from it fire shall go forth to the whole house of Israel.

5 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: This Jerusalem, in the midst of the nations I placed her, And round about her are the lands.

6 Yet she rebelled against My ordinances with wickedness more than the nations, And against My statutes more than the lands that are round about her; Indeed they rejected My ordinances, And My statutes, they did not walk according to them.

7 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you have clamored more than the nations that are round about you and have not walked according to My statutes nor done My ordinances, and you have not even acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you,

8 therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, even I, and I will execute judgments in your midst before the eyes of the nations.

9 I will do among you what I have never done and the like of which I shall never do again, because of all your abhorrences.

10 Therefore, fathers shall eat their sons in your midst, and sons shall eat their fathers when I execute judgments among you, and I will toss away all your remnant to every wind.

11 Therefore, as I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, assuredly, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your abominations and all your abhorrences, I Myself also shall hack down, And My eye shall not commiserate, Nor shall even I Myself take pity.

12 A third of you shall die by plague And shall be consumed by famine in your midst; Another third shall fall by the sword round about you; And a third shall I toss away to every wind; And I shall unsheathe a sword after them.

13 Then My anger will be finished, And I will give rest to My fury against them, And I will console Myself; Then they will know that I, Yahweh, I have spoken in My jealousy When I finish My fury among them.

14 I shall give you over to desertion And to reproach among the nations round about you Before the eyes of everyone passing by.

15 And you will become a reproach and a taunt, An admonition and an appalling object to the nations that are round about you, When I execute judgments among you in anger And in fury and with furious correctives, (I, Yahweh, have spoken)

16 When I send the evil arrows of famine among them, Which come to be for ruin, When I send them to ruin you And I add more famine upon you, And I break your staff of bread.

17 I will send upon you famine and wild animal, And they will bereave you, And plague and bloodshed shall pass among you, And I shall bring the sword upon you; I, Yahweh, I have spoken.

Chapter 6

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy to them,

3 and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of my Lord Yahweh: Thus says my Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, To the channels and to the ravines: Behold Me, I will bring upon you a sword, And I will destroy your high-places.

4 Your altars will be desolated, And your incense stands will be broken; I will cast down your slain before your idol clods,

5 I will lay the corpses of the sons of Israel before their idol clods, And I will toss away your bones around your altars.

6 In all your dwelling places the cities shall be deserted, And the high-places shall be desolated, That your altars may be deserted and be desolated, And your idol clods will be broken and eradicated, And your incense stands will be hacked down, And your works will be wiped out,

7 And the slain will fall in your midst; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

8 Yet I will reserve a remnant in that there will be for you some delivered from the sword among the nations, when I toss you away among the lands.

9 Then your delivered ones will remember Me among the nations where they are taken captive, when I break their prostituting heart which has withdrawn from Me, and their eyes which prostituted after their idol clods, and they will be disgusted in view of themselves at the evils they have done in all their abhorrences.

10 Then they will know that I, Yahweh, have not spoken gratuitously to do this evil to them.

11 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Smite your palm, and stamp your foot, And cry, Ah! over all the evil abhorrences of the house of Israel, Who shall fall by sword, by famine and by plague.

12 The far off one shall die by plague, And the near one shall fall by sword, And he who remains and is preserved from these shall die by famine, When I finish My fury among them.

13 Then you will know that I am Yahweh when your slain lie in the presence of your idol clods round about your altars on every high hill, on all the summits of the mountains and under every flourishing tree and under every leafy terebinth, any place where they lifted up a fragrant odor to all their idol clods.

14 I will stretch out My hand against them and give the land over to desolation after desolation in all their dwelling places from the wilderness to Riblah; then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 7

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 As for you, son of humanity, thus says my Lord Yahweh to the ground of Israel: The end comes! Comes the end upon the four wings of the land!

3 Now is the end upon you, When I will send My anger against you, And I will judge you according to your ways And turn upon you all your abhorrences.

4 My eye shall not commiserate over you, Nor shall I take pity; But I shall bring upon you your ways, And your own abhorrences shall occur in your midst; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

5 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Evil! one evil! Behold, it is coming!

6 The end comes! Comes the end! It awakes against you; Behold it is coming!

7 The full circle comes to you, dweller of the land; The era comes; The day is near, One of discomfiture and not of vintage-shouting on the mountains.

8 Now it is near when I shall pour out My fury upon you, And I will finish My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways And turn upon you all your abhorrences.

9 My eye shall not commiserate, Nor shall I take pity, But I shall bring upon you your ways, And your own abhorrences shall occur in your midst; Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am smiting.

10 Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! The full circle has come forth. Prevarication blossoms; Arrogance buds;

11 Violence has risen into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, None of their throng, And none of their superabundance, Nor any pretext among them.

12 The era comes! The day touches close! Let not the buyer rejoice, And let not the seller mourn, For My hot anger is against all its throng.

13 Indeed the sellers shall not return to the sale, Though their life is still among the living, For the vision is for all its throng; it shall not turn back; Each man, because of his depravity, he shall not hold fast to his life.

14 They blow the trumpet and prepare everything, Yet there is no one going to the battle, For My hot anger is against all its throng.

15 The battle with the sword is outside, And the plague and the famine are inside; Whoever is in the field shall die by the sword, And whoever is in the city, famine and plague shall devour him.

16 Yet if their delivered ones are delivered, And they come to the mountains like doves of the ravines, All of them shall be discomfited, each in his depravity.

17 All hands shall slacken, And all knees shall flow with water.

18 They will gird on sackcloth, And shuddering will cover them; Shame will be on all faces And baldness on all their heads.

19 Their silver they shall fling into the streets, And their gold shall become like an impurity; Their silver or their gold cannot rescue them in the day of Yahweh’s rage; They shall not satisfy their soul, And their bowels they shall not fill with it, For it becomes the stumbling block of their depravity.

20 Its stately ornament they used for pride, And they made from it their abhorrent images, their abominations. Therefore I make it an impurity to them.

21 I give it into the hand of aliens as plunder, And to the wicked of the earth as loot, And they will profane it.

22 I will turn about My face from them That they may profane My sanctum, That burglars may enter it and profane it.

23 Prepare the chain! For the land itself is full of judgment bloodsheddings, And the city itself is full of violence.

24 I will bring evil ones of the nations, And they will take over their houses; I will eradicate their proud strongholds, And their grand sanctuary will be profaned.

25 The mortal horror comes! And they seek peace, yet there will be none.

26 Woe on woe is coming, And report after report is arising; They seek a vision from prophet, Yet law shall perish from priest and counsel from elders.

27 The king shall mourn, And the prince shall be clothed with desolation, And the hands of the people of the land shall be flustered; After their way shall I do to them, And by their judgments shall I judge them; Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 8

1 It came to be in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, and there the hand of my Lord Yahweh fell on me.

2 When I observed, behold, there was a likeness with the appearance of a human; from the appearance of his waist and downward was fire, and from his waist and upward like the appearance of a stormwarning, like the sparkle of amber.

3 He stretched out the model of a hand and took me by the tufts of my head, and the spirit lifted me between the earth and the heavens and brought me to Jerusalem in appearances of Elohim to the portal of the inner gateway which faces northward, where was the seat of the figure of jealousy which produces jealousy.

4 And behold, there was the glory of Yahweh Elohim of Israel like the appearance which I had seen in the valley.

5 And He said to me: Son of humanity, now lift your eyes toward the north. So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and behold, in the north of the gateway of the altar was that figure of jealousy in the entry.

6 And He said to me: Son of humanity, do you see what they are doing, the great abhorrences that the house of Israel is committing here to keep Me far from My sanctuary? Yet you shall see again still greater abhorrences.

7 Then He brought me to the portal of the court, and I saw that behold, there was one hole in the sidewall.

8 He said to me, Son of humanity, burrow now into the sidewall; so I burrowed into the sidewall, and behold, there was one opening.

9 And He said to me, Enter and see the evil abhorrences that they are doing here.

10 So I entered and saw, and behold, every style of reptile and abominable beast, and all the idol clods of the house of Israel were delineated on the sidewall all around.

11 And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst, were standing before them, and each man had his censer in his hand, and a sweet-smelling cloud of incense was ascending.

12 Then He said to me: Do you see, son of humanity, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in darkness, each man in the chambers of his fancy? For they are saying, Yahweh is not seeing us; Yahweh has forsaken the land.

13 And He said to me: You shall see again still greater abhorrences that they are committing.

14 Next He brought me to the portal of the gateway of the house of Yahweh which is toward the north, and behold, women were sitting there, lamenting for Tammuz.

15 And He said to me, Do you see, son of humanity? You shall see again still greater abhorrences than these.

16 Then He brought me to the inner court of the house of Yahweh, and behold, at the portal of the temple of Yahweh between the portico and the altar were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of Yahweh and their faces eastward, and they were prostrating themselves eastward to the sun.

17 And He said to me: Do you see, son of humanity? Is it a slight thing for the house of Judah to commit the abhorrences which they commit here? For they fill the land with violence, and they again and again provoke Me to vexation, and behold, they are putting forth the pruned slip to their nose.

18 So indeed I Myself shall deal with them in fury; My eye shall not commiserate, nor shall I take pity. When they call in My ears with a loud voice, I shall not hear them.

Chapter 9

1 Then He called in my ears with a loud voice, saying: Draw near, you supervisors of the city, each with his ruinous weapon in his hand.

2 And behold, six men came from the direction of the upper gate which faces northward, each with his shattering weapon in his hand. And another man was in their midst, clothed in linen with the writing kit of a scribe at his waist. They came and stood beside the copper altar.

3 Now the glory of the Elohim of Israel was taken up from the cherub, on which it had been, to the sill of the house. He called to the man clothed in linen who had the writing kit of a scribe at his waist.

4 And Yahweh said to him: Pass through in the midst of the city, in the midst of Jerusalem, and you will mark a mark on the foreheads of the men who are sighing and groaning over all the abhorrences being committed in her midst.

5 And to these six He said in my ears: Pass through in the city after him and smite. Your eye must not commiserate, and you must not take pity.

6 Old and choice young men and virgin and little one and women you shall kill in massacre, but do not come close to any one who has the mark on him; now you shall start from My sanctuary. So they started with the men, the elders, who were before the house.

7 And He said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain; go forth! So they went forth and smote in the city.

8 And it came to be while they smote and I remained alone, I fell on my face and cried out and said, Alas my Lord Yahweh, will You massacre all the remnant of Israel when You pour out Your fury upon Jerusalem?

9 Yet He said to me: The depravity of the house of Israel and Judah is most exceedingly great. The land is filled with blood, and the city is full of prevarication, for they say, Yahweh has forsaken the land, and Yahweh is not seeing!

10 So I as well, My eye shall not commiserate, nor shall I take pity; I will bring their way upon their own head.

11 Then behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the writing kit at his waist, brought back word, saying, I have done just as You instructed me.

Chapter 10

1 I looked, and behold, on the atmosphere which was over the head of the cherubim there was something like a sapphire stone; an appearance like a throne appeared over them.

2 And He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said: Enter to the place between the rolling wheels beneath the cherubim, and fill both your hands with embers of fire from among the cherubim, and sprinkle them over the city. So he entered before my eyes.

3 Now the cherubim were standing on the right side of the house when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court.

4 Then the glory of Yahweh rose high from the cherubim to the sill of the house, and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the bright light of the glory of Yahweh.

5 And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard as far as the outside court, like the sound of El Who-Suffices when He speaks.

6 It came to be when He instructed the man clothed in linen, saying: Take fire from between the rolling wheels from among the cherubim, he entered and stood beside a wheel.

7 Then a cherub put forth his hand from among the cherubim to the fire which was among the cherubim, and he lifted it and gave it into both hands of the one clothed in linen. So he took it and went forth.

8 It appeared that the cherubim had the model of a human hand under their wings.

9 Also I looked, and behold, there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and one wheel beside each other cherub, and the appearance of the wheels was like the sparkle of topaz stone.

10 As for their appearance, the four of them had one likeness, as though there was a wheel in the midst of a wheel.

11 When they went they would go toward one of their four directions; they would not turn about when they went, for the place toward which the head wheel faced, the others would go after it; they would not turn about when they went.

12 Their entire flesh, their rims, their hands, their wings and the wheels were full of eyes round about for the four of them and their wheels.

13 These wheels were called: The Rolling Wheels, in my ears.

14 Each had four faces: one face was the face of a cherub, and the second face was the face of a human, and the third was the face of a lion, and the fourth was the face of a vulture.

15 Then the cherubim were raised high. This was the living creature that I saw by the stream Chebar.

16 When the cherubim went, the wheels would go beside them, and when the cherubim lifted up their wings to rise high from the earth, the wheels would not turn about, even they, from beside them.

17 When they stood still, these would stand still; and when they rose high, these would be raised high with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in these.

18 Then the glory of Yahweh went forth from the sill of the house and stood over the cherubim.

19 And the cherubim lifted up their wings and were raised high from the earth before my eyes as they went forth, and the wheels were with them. It stood at the portal of the eastern gateway of the house of Yahweh with the glory of the Elohim of Israel over them upward.

20 It was the living creature which I saw beneath the Elohim of Israel at the stream Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubim.

21 The four each had four faces, and each had four wings; and the likeness of human hands was under their wings.

22 As for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I had seen by the stream Chebar, their appearance and themselves; they went, each one straight forward.

Chapter 11

1 Then the spirit lifted me up and brought me to the eastern gateway of the house of Yahweh, which faces eastward. And behold, in the portal of the gateway were twenty-five men; and I saw in their midst Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, chiefs of the people.

2 Yahweh said to me: Son of humanity, these are the men who devise lawlessness and counsel evil counsel in this city,

3 who say, Is it not near for building houses? It is the pot, and we are the flesh.

4 Therefore, prophesy against them; prophesy, son of humanity.

5 Then the spirit of Yahweh fell on me; and He said to me: Say, Thus says Yahweh: So you say, house of Israel; what is coming up in your spirit I Myself know it.

6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain.

7 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have placed in its midst, they are the flesh, and it is the pot. Yet I will bring you forth from its midst.

8 You have feared the sword, and I shall bring the sword upon you, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

9 I will bring you forth from its midst and give you into the hand of aliens, and I will execute judgments upon you.

10 By the sword you shall fall. At the boundary of Israel I shall judge you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

11 It shall not be a pot for you, nor shall you be flesh in its midst. At the boundary of Israel I shall judge you,

12 and you will know that I am Yahweh, since you have not walked in My statutes and have not executed My ordinances; instead you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you.

13 Now it came to be as I prophesied that Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I fell on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, are You making a full end of the remnant of Israel?

14 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

15 Son of humanity, your brothers, your brothers, the men of your deportation, and all the house of Israel, all of it, are those of whom the dwellers of Jerusalem say: Go far from Yahweh! To us it is given: the land for a tenancy!

16 Therefore say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Though I have removed them far among the nations, and though I have scattered them among the lands, yet I shall become a sanctuary to them a little while in the lands where they have come.

17 Therefore say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will convene you from the peoples and gather you from the lands in which you have been scattered, and give you the ground of Israel.

18 And they will come back there and take away all its abominations and all its abhorrences from it.

19 Then I will give them another heart, And a new spirit shall I bestow within them; I will take away the heart of stone from their flesh, And I will give them a heart of flesh,

20 That they may walk in My statutes, And they may observe My ordinances and obey them; So they will become My people, And I Myself shall become their Elohim, says Yahweh.

21 Yet as for those whose heart is going after their abominations and their abhorrences, I will bring their way on their head, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

22 Then the cherubim lifted up their wings with the wheels beside them while the glory of the Elohim of Israel was over them upward.

23 And the glory of Yahweh ascended from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain which is east of the city.

24 Yet the spirit lifted me up and brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles, in an appearance, by the spirit of Elohim. Then the appearance which I had seen ascended from me,

25 and I spoke to the exiles all the words of Yahweh which He had shown me.

Chapter 12

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, you are dwelling in the midst of the rebellious house, those who have eyes to see yet do not see, those who have ears to hear yet do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

3 As for you, son of humanity, prepare for yourself gear for exile, and emigrate by day before their eyes; you will emigrate from your place to another place before their eyes. Perhaps they shall see that they are a rebellious house.

4 Bring forth your gear as gear for exile by day before their eyes; then you yourself shall go forth in the evening before their eyes like those going forth into exile.

5 Before their eyes burrow for yourself through the sidewall, and bring forth the gear through it.

6 Before their eyes you shall carry it on your shoulder; in the darkening you shall bring it forth; your face you shall cover that you not see the earth, for I make you a portent to the house of Israel.

7 I did so, just as I was instructed; I brought forth my gear as gear for exile, by day, and in the evening I burrowed for myself through the sidewall with my hand; in the darkening I brought the gear forth; on my shoulder I carried it before their eyes.

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to me in the morning, saying:

9 Son of humanity, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, What are you doing?

10 Say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: The prince is this load in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel, they who are in its midst.

11 Say: I am a portent to you; just as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity.

12 And the prince who is in their midst shall carry his gear on his shoulder; in the darkening he shall go forth; they shall burrow into the sidewall to bring forth the gear through it; he shall cover his face because he shall not see the earth with his eyes.

13 I will spread My net over him, And he will be grasped in My weir trap; I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, Yet he shall not see it and shall die there.

14 All who are round about him to help him with all his combatants, I shall toss away to every wind, and a sword shall I unsheathe after them.

15 Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I scatter them among the nations and toss them away among the lands.

16 Yet from them I will reserve a few men in number from sword, from famine and from plague, that they may relate all their abhorrences among the nations where they come; then they will know that I am Yahweh.

17 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

18 Son of humanity, you shall eat your bread in quaking, And you shall drink your water in disturbance and anxiety.

19 Then say to the people of the land, Thus says my Lord Yahweh to the dwellers of Jerusalem upon the ground of Israel: They shall eat their bread in anxiety, And they shall drink their water in desolation, That their land may be desolated of its fullness Because of the violence of all the dwellers in it;

20 The cities that are indwelt shall be deserted, And the land shall become a desolation; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

21 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

22 Son of humanity, what is this proverb you have concerning the ground of Israel, saying: The days prolong, and every vision perishes?

23 Therefore, say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will eradicate this proverb, and they shall not quote it any longer in the house of Israel. But rather speak to them: The days come near, and the fulfillment of every vision.

24 For there shall no longer be any futile vision or slick divination in the midst of the sons of Israel.

25 For I am Yahweh; I shall speak whatever word I shall speak, and it shall be done; it shall not be protracted any longer, but in your days, rebellious house, I shall speak the word, and I will do it, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

26 Again the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

27 Son of humanity, behold, the house of Israel is saying, The vision which he is perceiving is for many days ahead, and he is prophesying of far off eras.

28 Therefore, say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: No longer shall any of My words be protracted; when I am speaking a word it shall be done, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 13

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying, and say to the prophets who speak out of their own heart: Hear the word of Yahweh;

3 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Woe to the decadent prophets Who are following after their own spirit And according to what they have not seen.

4 Like foxes in deserted places are your prophets, Israel.

5 You have not ascended into the breaches, Or diked the stone dike for the house of Israel, To stand in the battle in the day of Yahweh.

6 They envision futility and divine a lie, who are saying, Averring is Yahweh! when Yahweh did not send them, yet they wait for their word to be confirmed.

7 Have you not perceived a futile vision, And spoken a lying divination, When you say, Averring is Yahweh, Yet I have not spoken?

8 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you speak futility and envision a lie, therefore behold, I am against you, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

9 My hand will come upon the prophets who are perceiving futility and divining a lie; They shall not come into the council of My people, Nor shall they be written in the registration of the house of Israel, Nor shall they enter on the ground of Israel; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

10 It is because, yes because they have beguiled My people, Saying: Peace, when there is no peace! While one is building a flimsy wall, Behold, they plaster it with lime-wash.

11 Say to the plasterers of lime-wash, It shall fall; There will come an overwhelming downpour, And I shall make hailstones that shall fall, And a tempestuous wind shall rend it.

12 When, behold, the sidewall falls, shall it not be said to you, Where is the plaster which you plastered?

13 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will rend with a tempestuous wind in My fury, And an overwhelming downpour shall come in My anger, And hailstones in fury to a finish.

14 I will demolish the sidewall which you plastered with lime-wash And bring it in contact with the earth, So that its foundation is exposed. When it falls, you will be consumed in its midst; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

15 I will finish My fury against the sidewall And against those who plaster it with lime-wash; And I shall say to you: The sidewall is no more, And those who plastered it are no more,

16 Israel’s prophets who prophesied to Jerusalem, And perceived for her a vision of peace When there was no peace, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

17 As for you, son of humanity, set your face toward the daughters of your people, who prophesy of themselves from their own heart; prophesy against them

18 and say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Woe to those who sew armbands on all upper arms and make kerchiefs for the head of all who rise up to hunt souls. Shall you hunt the souls of My people, while your own souls you keep alive?

19 You are profaning Me to My people for handfuls of barley and morsels of bread, putting to death souls who should not die and keeping alive souls who should not live, when you lie to My people who hearken to the lie.

20 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against your armbands wherewith you are hunting souls like birds; I will tear them off your arms and send free the souls whom you were hunting, freeing the souls like birds.

21 I will tear off your kerchiefs and rescue My people from your hand, and they shall no longer be in your hand like game; then you will know that I am Yahweh.

22 Because you make sore the heart of the righteous with falsehood, when I Myself would not cause him pain, and you reinforce the hands of the wicked so that he does not turn back from his evil way, to preserve his life,

23 therefore you shall no more envision futility, and you shall not divine by divination any longer; so I will rescue My people from your hand, and you will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 14

1 Some men of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.

2 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

3 Son of humanity, these men have set up their idol clods in their heart, and they have put their stumbling block of depravity before their faces. Shall I let Myself be inquired of, yea be inquired of by them?

4 Therefore speak to them, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Each man of the house of Israel who is setting up his idol clods in his heart and is placing his stumbling block of depravity before his face, yet comes to the prophet, I, Yahweh, I will answer him in regard to it because of his many idol clods,

5 that I may grasp the house of Israel through their hearts which are alienated from Me, all of them, by their idol clods.

6 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Turn about and turn back from your idol clods, And from all your abhorrences turn back your faces.

7 For each man of the house of Israel and of the sojourner who is sojourning in Israel, who is sequestering himself from following Me, and is setting up his idol clods in his heart, and is placing his stumbling block of depravity before his face, yet comes to the prophet to inquire of Me through him, I, Yahweh, I will answer him by Myself.

8 I will set My face against that man and place him for a sign and for proverbs, and cut him off from the midst of My people; then you will know that I am Yahweh.

9 As for the prophet, if he is enticed, and he speaks a word, I, Yahweh, I enticed that prophet. I will stretch out My hand against him and exterminate him from the midst of My people Israel.

10 They will bear their depravity; as the depravity of the inquirer, so shall the depravity of the prophet be treated,

11 that the house of Israel may not stray any longer from following Me nor defile themselves further with all their transgressions, but they may become My people, and I shall become their Elohim, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

12 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

13 Son of humanity, the land, when it is sinning against Me by offending with offense, then I will stretch out My hand against it and break its staff of bread, and send famine upon it and cut off from it human and beast.

14 And if those three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in its midst, they themselves by their righteousness would rescue only their own soul, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

15 Suppose also I cause wild animals to pass through the land, and they bereave it so that it becomes a desolation without anyone passing through because of the presence of the animals,

16 and were these three men in its midst, as I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, neither sons nor daughters would they rescue; they themselves alone would be rescued, and the land would become a desolation.

17 Or if I should bring a sword on that land, and I said: Let the sword pass through the land that I may cut off from it human and beast,

18 and were these three men in its midst, as I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, they would rescue neither sons nor daughters, for they themselves alone would be rescued.

19 Or if I should send a plague upon that land, and I poured out My fury against it in blood, to cut off from it human and beast,

20 and were Noah, Daniel and Job in its midst, as I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, neither son nor daughter would they rescue; they themselves by their righteousness would rescue only their own soul.

21 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: Indeed then, My four evil judgments, sword and famine and wild animal and plague I send against Jerusalem, to cut off from it human and beast.

22 Yet behold, a salvage is left in it, who are brought forth, sons and daughters; behold, they are coming forth to you. When you see their way and their practices, you will be consoled over the evil that I bring upon Jerusalem, all that I bring upon it.

23 They will make you consoled when you see their way and their practices, and you will know that not gratuitously have I done all that I have done in it, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 15

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, how is the wood of the vine different from any other wood, the pruned slip which has come to be among the trees of the wildwood?

3 Shall wood be taken from it to use for work? Or shall men take a peg from it to hang any implement on it?

4 Behold, to the fire is it given for fuel; the fire devours both its ends, and its middle is charred; is it fit for work?

5 Behold, even when it is flawless, it cannot be used for work; how much less when fire devours it, and it is charred! Then can it still be used for work?

6 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the wildwood which I give to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the dwellers of Jerusalem.

7 And I will set My face against them. Though they escape forth from the fire, yet the fire shall devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set My face against them

8 and give the land over to desolation because they have offended with an offense, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 16

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, make known to Jerusalem her abhorrences;

3 and say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was the Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.

4 As for your birth, on the day you were born, your navel cord was not cut, you were not washed in water for safety, you were not even rubbed with salt, and you were not even swaddled.

5 No eye commiserated over you, to do one of these for you, to take pity on you. But you were flung onto the open field, with loathing for your soul on the day you were born.

6 Then I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood; and I said to you in your blood, Live! Yes I said to you in your blood, Live!

7 I will make you a myriad like the sprouting of the field. Thus you increased and grew great; you became an ornament of ornaments; your breasts were readied, and your hair sprouted; yet you were naked and denuded.

8 Again I passed by you and saw you, and behold, your time was the time of affection; so I spread My hem over you and covered your nakedness; I swore an oath to you and entered into covenant with you, averring is my Lord Yahweh, and you became Mine.

9 Then I washed you with water, I laved your blood off you, And I rubbed you with oil.

10 I clothed you with brocade, And I sandaled you with azure; I bound you up in cambric, And I covered you with gossamer.

11 I ornamented you with ornaments, And I indeed put bracelets on your wrists And a decorative chain about your throat.

12 I placed a pendant on your nose And earrings on your ears And a beautiful crown on your head.

13 So you ornamented yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing was cambric and gossamer and brocade; you ate flour and honey and oil; you were very exceedingly lovely and were fit for royalty.

14 Your renown went forth among the nations for your loveliness, for it was consummate through My honor which I placed on you, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

15 Yet you trusted in your loveliness and prostituted your renown, and you poured out your prostitutions on everyone passing by; it became his.

16 You took some of your garments, and you made yourself flecked high-places-mats, and you committed prostitution on them. (You should not enter, nor should it be.)

17 You also took your beautiful jewels made from My gold and My silver which I had given to you, and you made yourself male images and committed prostitution with them.

18 You even took your garments of brocade with which you covered them, and My oil and My incense you set before them.

19 My bread which I had given to you, the flour and oil and honey which I fed you, you set it before them for a fragrant odor. And so it happened, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

20 Then you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for Me, and you sacrificed them to these images to be devoured. Was your prostitution too little

21 that you slew My children and gave them in passing them through fire to these images?

22 And with all your abhorrences and your prostitutions you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and denuded, weltering in your blood, as you were.

23 Then it came to be after all your evil (woe, woe to you!), averring is my Lord Yahweh,

24 that you built yourself an eminence, and you made yourself a high shrine in every square.

25 At every crossroad you built your high shrine, and you made your loveliness abhorrent; you distended your feet to everyone passing by, while you increased your prostitutions.

26 You committed prostitution with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, great of flesh, and you increased your prostitutions to provoke Me to vexation.

27 Yet behold, I stretched out My hand against you, and I diminished your dole; I gave you over to the greedy soul of those hating you, the daughters of the Philistines who were mortified by your lewd conduct.

28 Also you committed prostitution with the sons of Assyria in your insatiable lust; yea you committed prostitution with them, yet even then you were not satisfied.

29 So you increased your prostitution with that land of the trafficker, toward Chaldea, yet even in this you were not satisfied.

30 How feeble was your heart, averring is my Lord Yahweh, when you did all these things, the acts of an insistent, prostituting woman,

31 when you built your eminence at every crossroad, and you made your high shrine in every square, yet you were not like a prostitute, since you scoffed at a fee.

32 The adulterous wife is taking fees in place of her husband;

33 to all prostitutes men are giving payment, yet you gave your payments to all your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around, in your prostitutions.

34 With you there was an overturning in your prostitutions from the way of such women, for no one solicited prostitution from you, and you gave a fee when a fee was not given to you; thus you were an overturning.

35 Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh.

36 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because your brazenness was poured out and your nakedness was revealed by your prostitutions with your lovers, and because of all your abhorrent idol clods and the blood of your children which you gave to them,

37 therefore behold, I am convening all your lovers with whom you have been congenial, and all whom you have loved with all whom you have hated; I will convene them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness.

38 I will judge you with the judgments of adulteresses and shedders of blood, and I will give you over to the blood of fury and jealousy.

39 I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your eminence and break down your high shrines. They will strip you of your garments and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and denuded.

40 Then they will bring up an assembled force against you, and they will pelt you with stones. They will run you through with their swords

41 and burn your houses with fire. Thus they will deal out judgments upon you before the eyes of many women, and I will cause you to cease from prostituting, and moreover you shall not give a fee any longer.

42 Then I will give rest to My fury against you, and My jealousy will withdraw from you, and I will be quiet and shall not be vexed any longer.

43 Because you did not remember the days of your youth and disturbed Me with all these things, so I also, lo! I will bring your way on your head, averring is my Lord Yahweh. Have you not committed lewdness over and above all your abhorrences?

44 Behold, everyone who quotes a proverb concerning you is saying: Like mother, so her daughter.

45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; you are sister to your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46 Your elder sister was Samaria, she and her daughters, dwelling at your left; and your sister, younger than you, dwelling at your right, was Sodom and her daughters.

47 Did you not walk in their ways and commit their abhorrences? In a small, little while, you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

48 As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, your sister Sodom, she and her daughters, has assuredly not done as you have done, you and your daughters.

49 Behold, this was the depravity of Sodom, your sister: For herself and her daughters there was pomp, surfeiting with bread and quiet ease, yet she did not hold fast the hand of the humble and needy.

50 They were haughty and committed abhorrences before Me; so I put them away just as you see.

51 Even Samaria did not sin half of your sins, but you have increased your abhorrences more than they and have made your sisters look righteous by all your abhorrences which you have committed.

52 Indeed you, bear your mortification seeing that you have mediated for your sisters by your sins which you have made more abhorrent than theirs. They are more righteous than you. So indeed you, be ashamed and bear your mortification in that you have made your sisters look righteous.

53 Yet I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and I will reverse your captivity in their midst,

54 that you may bear your mortification and be mortified by all that you have done in which you brought comfort to them.

55 Then your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, they shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters, they shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters, you shall return to your former state.

56 Sodom your sister was not a name reported by your mouth in the day of your pride,

57 ere your evil was exposed. Likewise there is reproach now from the daughters of Edom and all around her, the daughters of the Philistines who disdain you from round about.

58 Your lewdness and your abhorrences, you yourself will bear them, averring is Yahweh.

59 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will do to you just as you have done who have despised the oath of imprecation by annulling the covenant.

60 Yet I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will set up for you an eonian covenant.

61 Then you will remember your ways and be mortified, when you take your sisters who are older than you with those who are younger than you, and I give them to you as daughters, yet not by your covenant.

62 I will set up My covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh,

63 that you may remember, and you will be so ashamed that your mouth shall not be opening any longer because of your mortification, when I make a propitiatory shelter for you for all that you have done, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 17

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, propound an enigma, and indite an allegory to the house of Israel;

3 and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: The greatest vulture with the greatest wings, the longest of pinion, the fullest of feather, which had variegated colors, came to Lebanon and took hold of the wooly foliage of the cedar.

4 He plucked off its top young shoot and brought it to the land of the trafficker; he placed it in a city of traders.

5 Then he took of the seed of the land and put it in a seedbed. He took it by much water; he placed it like a willow,

6 that it should sprout and become a vine, extending, low of stature, and should turn around its branches toward him, and its roots should remain under him. It became a vine and produced branch-shoots and put forth foliage.

7 There was also another great vulture with great wings and many feathers, and behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and it sent its branches toward him that he might irrigate it away from the beds of its planting.

8 To a good field by much water it was transplanted that it might produce boughs and bear fruit, to become a noble vine.

9 Say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Shall it prosper? Shall he not pull away its roots so that its fruit be blighted and dry up? All its unprotected sprouts shall dry up, yet not with a great arm or many people to take it up from its roots.

10 Behold, transplanted, shall it prosper? When the east wind assaults it, shall it not dry up, yea dry up? On the beds of its sprouting it shall dry up.

11 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

12 Son of humanity, say now to the rebellious house, Do you not know what these things mean? Say: Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and he took its king and its chief officials, and he brought them with him to Babylon.

13 Then he took one of the royal seed and contracted a covenant with him and brought him under an oath of imprecation, and he took the subjectors of the land,

14 that the kingdom would become low, so as not to lift itself up, but by keeping the covenant with him it might stand.

15 Yet he revolted against him by sending his messengers to Egypt that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? Shall he escape who does these things? Can he annul the covenant and escape?

16 As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, assuredly in the place ruled by the king who made him king, whose oath of imprecation he despised, and whose covenant with him he annulled, in the midst of Babylon he shall die.

17 Nor with his great army and vast assembled force shall Pharaoh do anything for him in battle when earthwork is constructed and siege work is built up to cut off many souls.

18 He despised the oath of imprecation by annulling the covenant. Behold, he put out his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape.

19 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: As I live, assuredly My oath of imprecation which he despised, and My covenant which he annulled, I will bring it on his head.

20 I will spread My net over him, and he will be grasped in My weir trap; I will bring him to Babylon, and I will enter into judgment with him there for his offense with which he offended against Me.

21 And all his choice men among all his combatants, they shall fall by the sword, and the remainder shall be spread to every wind; then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken.

22 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Then I Myself will take of the wooly foliage of the high cedar, and I will set it; From its topmost young shoots I shall pluck off a tender one, And I Myself will transplant it on a lofty and eminent mountain.

23 On the high mountain of Israel I shall transplant it, And it will bear boughs and yield fruit, And it will become a noble cedar; Under it every animal will tabernacle, And every bird of every wing; In the shadow of its branches shall they tabernacle.

24 Then all the trees of the field will know that I am Yahweh; I lay low the lofty tree, I elevate the low tree, I dry up the sappy tree, And I cause the tree that is dry to bud. I Yahweh have spoken, and I will do it.

Chapter 18

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, what do you people mean? You are quoting this proverb on the ground of Israel, saying: The fathers ate unripe grapes, And the children’s teeth become blunted.

3 As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, the quoting of this proverb shall assuredly not apply to you in Israel any longer.

4 Behold, all souls, they are Mine! The soul of the father even as the soul of the son, they are Mine! The soul that is sinning, it shall die.

5 For a man shall be righteous when he executes right judgment and justice;

6 he does not eat on the mountains, nor lift his eyes to the idol clods of the house of Israel; he does not defile the wife of his associate, nor approach his wife in her impurity.

7 He does not tyrannize another man, restores his pledge to the debtor, does not snatch goods by pillaging, gives his bread to the famishing and covers the naked with a garment.

8 He does not lend at advance interest nor takes any accrued interest. He reverses his hand from iniquity and executes true judgment between man and man.

9 He walks in My statutes and observes My ordinances, to do truth; he is righteous; he shall live, yea live, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

10 Yet if he begets a son who is a burglar, who sheds blood or commits   only one of these sins,

11 and who does not do all these duties, but rather eats on the mountains and defiles the wife of his associate,

12 who tyrannizes the humble and needy one, snatches goods by pillaging, does not restore the pledge and lifts his eyes to the idol clods, who commits abhorrences,

13 who lends at advance interest and takes accrued interest, will he live? He shall not live! For all these abhorrences which he commits he shall die, yea die; his blood shall come upon him.

14 And behold, if one begets a son who sees all the sins of his father which he has committed, and who fears and does not commit sins like these,

15 who does not eat on the mountains and does not lift his eyes to the idol clods of the house of Israel, who does not defile the wife of his associate,

16 who does not tyrannize another man, does not even stipulate a pledge, and does not snatch goods by pillaging, who gives his bread to the famishing and covers the naked with a garment,

17 who reverses his hand from depravity, does not take advance interest or accrued interest, who executes My ordinances and walks in My statutes, he shall not die for the depravity of his father; he shall live, yea live.

18 As for his father, seeing that he exploits by extortion, he snatches goods by pillaging a brother and does what is not good in the midst of his people, behold, he will die in his depravity.

19 Now you say, For what reason does the son not bear the depravity of the father? When the son himself executes right judgment and justice, observes all My statutes and is doing them, he shall live, yea live.

20 The soul that is sinning, it shall die; the son shall not bear the depravity of the father, and the father shall not bear the depravity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous one shall be reckoned to him, and the wickedness of the wicked one shall be reckoned to him.

21 Yet if the wicked one should turn back from all his sins which he had committed, and he observes all My statutes and executes right judgment and justice, he shall live, yea live; he shall not die.

22 Any of his transgressions which he had committed shall not be remembered against him. In his righteousness which he does shall he live.

23 Am I delighting, yea delighting in the death of the wicked, averring is my Lord Yahweh, and not rather in his turning back from his ways that he may live?

24 Yet when the righteous one turns back from his righteousness and commits iniquity like all the abhorrences which the wicked one commits, shall he do so and live? All his righteous acts which he did shall not be remembered; in his offense with which he offended and in his sin with which he sinned, in them shall he die.

25 Still you say, The way of my Lord is irregular! Hear now, house of Israel! Is My way irregular? Are not rather your ways irregular?

26 When the righteous one turns back from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die for it; in his iniquity which he commits he shall die.

27 And when the wicked one turns back from his wickedness which he committed and is executing right judgment and justice, he shall keep alive his soul.

28 When he sees and turns back from all his transgressions which he committed, he shall live, yea live; he shall not die.

29 Yet the house of Israel says, The way of my Lord is irregular! Are My ways irregular, house of Israel? Are not rather your ways irregular?

30 Therefore, I shall judge you, each according to his ways, house of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh. Turn about and turn back from all your transgressions so that they shall not become a stumbling block of depravity for you.

31 Fling away from you all your transgressions by which you transgressed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit; why should you die, house of Israel?

32 For I am not delighting in the death of him who dies, averring is my Lord Yahweh. Now turn back and live!

Chapter 19

1 As for you, lift up a dirge for the princes of Israel,

2 and say: What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She reclined in the midst of the sheltered lions; She made her whelps to increase.

3 She elevated one of her whelps; He became a sheltered lion, And he learned to tear the prey to pieces; He devoured man.

4 Then the nations summoned against him; He was grasped in their pit, And they brought him with gaffs to the land of Egypt.

5 When she saw that she had waited And her expectation had perished, She took another one of her whelps, And set him up as a sheltered lion.

6 And he walked in the midst of the lions; He became a sheltered lion, And he learned to tear the prey to pieces; He devoured man.

7 He smashed their citadels, And he caused their cities to be deserted, So that the earth and its fullness were desolated at the sound of his roaring.

8 Then nations set upon him round about from the provinces, And they spread their net over him; He was grasped in their pit.

9 They put him in a cage with gaffs, And they brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him into fastnesses That his voice might not be heard again on Israel’s hills.

10 Your mother was like a vine of your vineyard, transplanted by waters; It became fruitful and full of boughs because of abundant water.

11 It had strong mainstems which were fit for scepters of rulers; It soared aloft in its stature among the leafy trees, And it was made apparent by its loftiness, by the abundance of its branches.

12 Yet it was plucked up in fury; It was flung down to the earth; And the east wind dried up its branch-shoots; They broke off and dried up; Its strong mainstem, fire devoured it.

13 And now it is transplanted into the wilderness, Into an arid and thirsty land.

14 Fire went forth from the mainstem of its branch-shoots; It devoured its fruit, And no strong mainstem remained on it for a scepter, to rule. This is a dirge, and it has become a dirge.

Chapter 20

1 It came to be in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, that some men of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh. And they sat down before me.

2 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

3 Son of humanity, speak to the elders of Israel, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live, should I let Myself be inquired of by you? averring is my Lord Yahweh.

4 Shall you judge them; shall you judge, son of humanity? Inform them of the abhorrences of their fathers,

5 and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: On the day I chose Israel, I lifted My hand in swearing to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt; I lifted My hand in swearing to them, saying: I am Yahweh your Elohim.

6 On that day I lifted My hand in swearing to them to bring them forth from the land of Egypt to a land which I had explored for them, gushing with milk and honey. Stateliest is it of all the lands.

7 And I said to them: Fling away, each of you, the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idol clods of Egypt; I am Yahweh your Elohim.

8 Yet they defied Me, and they would not hearken to Me; each of them, they did not fling away the abominations of their eyes, and they did not forsake the idol clods of Egypt. Hence I resolved to pour out My fury on them, to vent My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

9 Yet I acted on account of My Name so that it not be profaned before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were, before whose eyes I was made known by bringing them forth from the land of Egypt.

10 So I did bring them forth from the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.

11 Then I gave them My statutes, and I made known to them My ordinances, for the human who does them will also live by them.

12 And I also gave My sabbaths to them to become a sign between Me and them, to make known that it is I, Yahweh, Who hallows them.

13 But the house of Israel defied Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes and rejected My ordinances, though the human who does them will also live by them. And they profaned My sabbaths exceedingly; hence I resolved to pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to finish them.

14 Yet I acted on account of My Name so that it not be profaned before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I brought them forth.

15 However, I did lift My hand in swearing to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given to them, gushing with milk and honey; stateliest is it of all the lands.

16 This was because they rejected My ordinances, and they did not walk in My statutes, and they profaned My sabbaths, for their heart went after their idol clods.

17 Yet My eye commiserated over them to keep from ruining them, and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

18 Then I said to their children in the wilderness: Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, and do not observe their ordinances, and do not defile yourselves with their idol clods.

19 I am Yahweh your Elohim; walk in My statutes, and observe My ordinances, and do them.

20 Hallow My sabbaths that they become a sign between Me and you, to make known that I am Yahweh your Elohim.

21 But the children defied Me. They did not walk in My statutes, and they did not observe My ordinances, to do them, though the human who does them also will live by them, and they profaned My sabbaths. Hence I resolved to pour out My fury on them, to vent My anger against them in the wilderness.

22 Yet I reversed My hand. I acted on account of My Name so that it not be profaned before the eyes of the nations, before whose eyes I brought them forth.

23 However, I did lift My hand in swearing to them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and to toss them away throughout the lands,

24 because My ordinances they did not do, and My statutes they rejected, and My sabbaths they profaned, and their eyes continued following the idol clods of their fathers.

25 I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances in which they could not live.

26 I was defiling them in their gifts when they made all opening up the womb pass through fire, that I might make them desolate, in order that they may know that I am Yahweh.

27 Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of humanity, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: By this further way your fathers taunted Me when they offended Me with an offense:

28 When I brought them into the land concerning which I had lifted My hand in swearing to give it to them, and they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, then they sacrificed their sacrifices there, and they brought their vexatious offering there, and they placed their fragrant odor offerings there, and they libated their libations there.

29 Hence I said to them, What is this high-place where you are coming? So its name is called Bamah until this day.

30 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Are you defiling yourselves in the way of your fathers, and are you committing prostitution in following their abominations?

31 When you bear your gifts when you pass your children through the fire, you are defiling yourselves by all your idol clods until this day. And should I let Myself be inquired of by you, house of Israel? As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, should I let Myself be inquired of by you?

32 What has ascended upon your spirit, it shall not occur, nay occur, that which you are saying: We shall become like the nations, like the families of foreign lands, ministering to wood and stone.

33 As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, assuredly with a steadfast hand and an outstretched arm and with fury poured out I shall reign over you!

34 I will bring you forth from the peoples and convene you from the lands in which you are scattered, with a steadfast hand and an outstretched arm and with fury poured out.

35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples and enter into judgment with you there, face to face.

36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

37 I will make you pass under the club and bring you into the bond of the covenant.

38 I will purify you of the revolters and those who transgress against Me. From the land of their sojournings I shall bring them forth, yet they shall not come to the ground of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

39 As for you, house of Israel, thus says my Lord Yahweh, each of you go on and serve his idol clods, yet afterward if you are not hearkening to Me, then you shall not profane My holy Name any longer with your gifts and your idol clods.

40 For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh, there all the house of Israel, all of it, shall serve Me in the land. There I shall accept them, and there I shall require your heave offerings and your presentations of firstfruits with all your holy donations.

41 With a fragrant odor I shall accept you when I bring you forth from the peoples and I convene you from the lands into which you are scattered; and I will be hallowed in you before the eyes of the nations.

42 Then you will know that I am Yahweh when I bring you to the ground of Israel, to the land concerning which I lifted My hand in swearing to give it to your fathers.

43 There you will remember your ways and all your practices by which you were defiled, and you will be disgusted in view of yourselves at all your evil deeds which you have done.

44 Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I deal with you on account of My Name, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt practices, house of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

45 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

46 Son of humanity, set your face toward the southerly way, and preach against the south, and prophesy against the wildwood of the fields in the Negeb.

47 You will say to the wildwood of the Negeb, Hear the word of Yahweh; thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall ravage in you with fire, and it will devour in you every sappy tree and every dry tree. The blazing blaze shall not be quenched, and every face from the Negeb to the north will be seared by it.

48 Then all flesh will see that I, Yahweh, have made it blaze up. It shall not be quenched.

49 Yet I said, Alas, my Lord Yahweh, they are saying of me, Is he not one who keeps inditing allegories?

Chapter 21

1 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, set your face toward Jerusalem, and preach against their sanctuary, and prophesy against the ground of Israel.

3 You will say to the ground of Israel, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, and I will bring forth My sword from its scabbard and cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

4 Because I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore My sword shall come forth from its scabbard against all flesh from the Negeb to the north.

5 Then all flesh will know that I, Yahweh, have brought forth My sword from its scabbard; it shall not return again.

6 As for you, son of humanity, sigh with breaking waist, and with bitterness you shall sigh before their eyes.

7 And it will come when they say to you, Why are you sighing? you will say, Because of the report, for it is coming: Every heart will be melted, And all hands will fall slack; Every spirit will be dimmed, And all knees shall turn to water; Behold, it is coming, And it shall happen, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

9 Son of humanity, prophesy, and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: A sword, a sword is sharpened! And it is burnished too!

10 That it may slaughter a slaughter, it is sharpened! That it may become like lightning, it is burnished! (Or should we be elated? My son, you have rejected the club and every counsel.)

11 One is giving it to be burnished, To be grasped in the palm. It, the sword, is sharpened, And it is burnished, To place it in the hand of a killer.

12 Cry out and howl, son of humanity, For it comes to be among My people; It is among all the princes of Israel; They are toppled to the sword with My people; Therefore, slap your thigh in grief.

13 (For it is tested. Yet what if this club also is rejected? Shall it not come? averring is my Lord Yahweh.)

14 Now you, son of humanity, prophesy, And smite palm against palm; Let the sword strike twice, even a third time; It is a sword for those to be slain, The great sword for those to be slain, The one trembling over them,

15 So that the heart may dissolve And many be stumbled at all their gateways, I have appointed slaughter by sword; Ah! it is made to flash! It is burnished for slaughter!

16 Show yourself sharp! go right! Set yourself! go left! Whither your face is set.

17 I Myself also shall smite My palm against My palm, And I will give rest to My fury. I, Yahweh, have spoken

18 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

19 And you, son of humanity, mark out for yourself two ways on which the sword of the king of Babylon may come. The two of them should come forth from the same land. And put up a signpost at the head of the way to the city; at the head of

20 the way you shall place it for the sword to come against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon and against Judah in fortressed Jerusalem.

21 For the king of Babylon will stand at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to divine by divination. He will shake out arrows, consult household idols and examine the liver.

22 Into his right hand will come the divination against Jerusalem, to place battering rams, to open the mouth with battlecry, to raise high the voice with shouting, to place battering rams against the gates, to construct an earthwork, and to build siege work.

23 Yet in their eyes it will seem to them like a futile divination, these oaths that were sworn to them, but this will cause their depravity to be remembered, that they be apprehended.

24 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you cause your depravity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are exposed, so that your sins are made apparent in all your practices because you are thus remembered you shall be apprehended by the palm.

25 As for you, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come in an era of depravity’s climax,

26 thus says my Lord Yahweh: Take off the turban, and heave away the crown. This shall not remain like this! Elevate the low, and abase the lofty!

27 Depraved, depraved, depraved shall I constitute it! Moreover, this will not be restored until He comes to Whom judgment belongs, And I give it to Him.

28 As for you, son of humanity, prophesy, and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh as to the sons of Ammon and their reproaching; you will say: Sword, sword, unloosed for slaughter, Burnished to devour, that it may flash!

29 (It is because they envisioned futility about you, because they divined lies about you.) You will be applied to the necks of profane, wicked people, Whose day has come in an era of depravity’s climax.

30 Return it to its scabbard. In the place where you were created, In the land of your origin, I shall judge you;

31 I will pour out My indignation against you; In the fire of My rage I shall blow out upon you, And I will give you into the hand of brutish men, craftsmen of ruin.

32 You shall become fuel for the fire; Your blood shall be in the midst of the countryside; You shall not be remembered, for I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Chapter 22

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Now you, son of humanity, shall you judge, shall you judge the city of bloodshed? You will make known to it all its abhorrences.

3 You will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: City, which sheds blood in its midst, so that its era may come, And which makes for itself idol clods to be defiled with,

4 You have incurred guilt with your blood which you have shed, And you are defiled with your idol clods which you have made; You are bringing near your days, And are coming to the era of your years; Therefore, I give you over to the reproach of the nations And the scoffing of all the lands.

5 Those near to you and those far from you shall scoff at you, Unclean of name, great of discomfiture.

6 Behold, the princes of Israel among you, Each has his arm of power which they use in order to shed blood.

7 Men among you maledict father and mother; Toward the sojourner they deal with extortion in your midst; The orphan and widow they tyrannize among you.

8 You despise My holy things, And you profane My sabbaths.

9 Defaming men are among you in order to shed blood, And people among you eat on the mountains; They commit lewdness in your midst.

10 One exposes the nakedness of his father among you; They humiliate among you the isolated woman in her uncleanness.

11 A man commits abhorrence with the wife of his associate, Another man defiles his daughter-in-law with lewdness, And another man humiliates among you his sister, the daughter of his father.

12 They take a bribe among you in order to shed blood; You take advance interest and accrued interest, And you are making dishonest gain from your associates by extortion; You have forgotten Me, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

13 Behold, I will smite My palms at your dishonest gain which you have made and over your bloodguilt which has occurred in your midst.

14 Shall your heart stand firm or your hands be steadfast in the days when I deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I will act.

15 I will scatter you among the nations And toss you away among the lands, And I will completely remove your uncleanness from you.

16 You will be profaned within yourself before the eyes of the nations; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

17 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

18 Son of humanity, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they all are copper and tin and iron and lead in the midst of a crucible; they have become dross of silver.

19 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because all of you have become dross, therefore behold, I shall gather you together into the midst of Jerusalem.

20 Like the gathering together of silver and copper and iron and lead and tin into the midst of a crucible, to blow on it with fire to melt it down, so I shall gather you together in My anger and in My fury, and I will blow, and I will melt you down.

21 I will collect you together and blow upon you with the fire of My rage, and you will be melted down in its midst.

22 Like the melting down of silver in the midst of a crucible, so shall you be melted down in its midst; then you will know that I, Yahweh, I have poured out My fury on you.

23 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

24 Son of humanity, say to it, You are a land which has not been rained upon; It has not received its downpour in the day of indignation;

25 A conspiracy of its princes is in its midst, Like a roaring lion, tearing the prey to pieces; They devour one’s soul; They are taking his assets and precious things; They increase its widows in its midst.

26 Its priests do violence to My law, And they are profaning My holy things; Between holy and profane they do not differentiate, And the difference between the unclean and clean they do not make known; They obscure their eyes from My sabbaths, And I am being profaned in their midst.

27 Its chief officials in its midst are like wolves tearing the prey to pieces, To shed blood, to destroy souls in order to gain dishonest gain.

28 Its prophets plaster them with lime-wash, Envisioning futility and divining lies about them, Saying: Thus says my Lord Yahweh, when Yahweh has not spoken.

29 The people of the land exploit by extortion And snatch goods by pillaging; They tyrannize the humble and needy one, And they exploit the sojourner without redress.

30 I sought a man from them who would dike a stone dike, And who would stand in the breach before Me in behalf of the land so that it not be ruined, Yet not one did I find.

31 So I shall pour out My indignation on them; In the fire of My rage I will finish them; I will bring their way on their head, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 23

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, there were two women, daughters of one mother,

3 and they committed prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they committed prostitution. There their breasts were squashed, and there the nipples of their virginity were handled.

4 Their names were Aholah, the elder, and Aholibah, her sister; they came to be Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names: Aholah is Samaria, and Aholibah is Jerusalem.

5 Yet Aholah committed prostitution while under My authority, and she doted on her lovers, on Assyria, those near by,

6 clothed in blue, viceroys and prefects, choice young men, coveted, all of them, horsemen, riding horses.

7 She bestowed her prostitutions on them, choice sons of Assyria, all of them; and with all on whom she doted, with all their idol clods she was defiled.

8 She did not forsake her prostitutions begun in Egypt, for they had lain with her in her youth, and they had handled the nipples of her virginity and poured out their prostitutions on her.

9 Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria on whom she doted.

10 They exposed her nakedness; they took away her sons and her daughters and killed her with the sword, so that she became a byword among women after judgment had been executed upon her.

11 Her sister Aholibah saw this, yet she became corrupted in her doting more than her sister, and her prostitutions were worse than the prostitutions of her sister.

12 She doted on the sons of Assyria, viceroys and prefects, those near by, clothed in panoply, horsemen, riding horses, choice young men, coveted, all of them.

13 And I saw that she was defiled. Both of them went the same way,

14 yet she continued her prostitutions further. When she saw mortals delineated on the sidewall, images of Chaldeans delineated with ocher,

15 girded with belts about their waists, extended gorgeous turbans on their heads, all of them in appearance like high officers, a likeness of the sons of Babylon whose land of birth is Chaldea,

16 then she doted on them by the sight of her eyes, and she sent messengers to them to Chaldea.

17 So the sons of Babylon came to her, to the bed of endearments, and they defiled her with their prostitution; and she was defiled by them until her soul was disaffected from them.

18 She exposed her prostitutions and exposed her nakedness, and My soul was disaffected from her just as My soul had been disaffected from her sister.

19 Yet she increased her prostitutions, remembering the days of her youth when she committed prostitution in the land of Egypt.

20 She doted on concubinage with them, whose flesh was like the flesh of donkeys, and the effusion of horses was like their effusion.

21 So you revisited the lewdness of your youth when those of Egypt handled your nipples, squashing the breasts of your youth.

22 Therefore, Aholibah (thus says my Lord Yahweh), behold, I will rouse your lovers against you, from whom your soul is disaffected, and I will bring them against you from round about,

23 the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the sons of Assyria with them, choice young men, coveted, viceroys and prefects, all of them, high officers and heralded men, riding horses, all of them.

24 They will come against you from the north with chariot and rolling wheel and with an assembled force of peoples. Large shield and buckler and helmet shall they place against you round about. I will set judgment before them, and they will judge you by their own customs.

25 I will turn My zeal against you, and they will deal with you in fury; they shall take away your nose and your ears, and the last of you shall fall by the sword. They themselves shall take away your sons and your daughters, and the last of you shall be devoured by fire.

26 They will strip you of your garments and take away your beautiful jewels.

27 I will eradicate your lewdness from you and your prostitution begun in the land of Egypt; you shall not lift your eyes to them, and you shall not remember Egypt any longer.

28 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold I am giving you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul is disaffected.

29 They will deal with you in hatred and take away all the result of your labor; they will leave you naked and denuded, and the nakedness of your prostitutions will be exposed; your lewdness and your prostitutions

30 will bring these things on you because you prostituted after the nations, by which you are defiled with their idol clods.

31 You walked in the way of your sister, and so I will put her cup into your hand.

32 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: You shall drink the cup of your sister, The cup deep and wide; It shall become an object of laughter and derision, It contains so much.

33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and affliction, The cup of desolation, yea desolation, The cup of your sister, Samaria.

34 You will drink it and drain it dry, And you shall pick clean its shards; And you shall pull away your breasts, For I Myself have spoken, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

35 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you have forgotten Me and flung Me behind your back, so also you have to bear your lewdness and your prostitutions.

36 Then Yahweh said to me: Son of humanity, shall you judge Aholah and Aholibah? Tell them their abhorrences.

37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; they have committed adultery with their idol clods, and they have even passed their sons whom they bore for Me through fire to them for food.

38 This furthermore they have done to Me: They defiled My sanctuary on that day and profaned My sabbaths.

39 When they slew their sons for their idol clods, they came into My sanctuary on that day to profane it. And behold, they did thus in the midst of My house.

40 Also they sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent, and behold, they came. For them you bathed, you penciled your eyes and ornamented yourself with ornaments.

41 Then you were seated on a glorious couch with a table arrayed before it, and My incense and My oil you placed upon it.

42 The sound of a carefree throng was about it, and of men from a multitude of humanity who were brought carousing from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands and a beautiful crown on their heads.

43 Then I said about her who was worn out with adulteries, Now let them prostitute her prostitution with her!

44 So they would come to her; as one comes to a prostituting woman, so they came to Aholah and Aholibah, the lewd women.

45 Yet righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment for adulteresses, and the judgment for those who shed blood, for they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.

46 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: Bring up an assembled force against them, and give them over to commotion and to plunder.

47 The assembled force will pelt them with stones and clear them off with their swords; they shall kill their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire.

48 So I will eradicate lewdness from the land, and all the women will be admonished so that they not act according to your lewdness.

49 They will bring your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the sins of your idol clods. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 24

1 The word of Yahweh came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying:

2 Son of humanity, write for yourself the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon has borne down upon Jerusalem on this very day.

3 Now indite an allegory against the rebellious house, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Set the pot on the hearthstones; Set it on the hearthstones, And then pour water into it;

4 Gather into it pieces of meat, Every good piece, thigh and shoulder; Fill it with choice bones.

5 Take the choice of the flock, And also stack the wood under it; Boil its pieces of meat, And cook its bones in its midst.

6 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Woe to the city of bloodshed! To the pot whose corrosion is in it, And its corrosion does not go forth from it! Piece by piece, bring it forth; The lot must not fall on it.

7 For the blood shed by her remains in her midst; On the weathered crag she has placed it; She has not poured it out on the earth to cover it with soil.

8 To bring up fury, to avenge with vengeance I have left the blood shed by her on the weathered crag that it not be covered.

9 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I Myself shall even make the stack greater.

10 Increase the wood! Make the fire flare up! Cook well the flesh, And empty out the broth, And let the bones be charred!

11 Then let it stay empty on its burning embers That it may be well-heated And its copper become red-hot, So that its uncleanness will be melted down in its midst, And its corrosion may be completely removed.

12 She has tired of sorrows, Yet her great corrosion is not coming forth from her; Into the fire with her corrosion!

13 In view of your lewd uncleanness, and because I sought to cleanse you, yet you would not be cleansed from your uncleanness, you shall not be cleansed further until I give rest to My fury against you.

14 I, Yahweh, have spoken: It is coming, and I will do it; I shall not renounce it, Nor shall I commiserate, Nor shall I regret. According to your ways and according to your practices I will judge you, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

15 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

16 Son of humanity, behold, I am taking away from you by a stroke what is coveted in your eyes. Yet you shall not wail nor lament, Nor shall your tears come.

17 As for groaning, be still; For the dying you shall not make mourning; Bind up your beautiful turban upon you, And place your sandals on your feet. Do not muffle your upper lip Nor eat the bread of grieving men.

18 So I spoke to the people in the morning. In the evening my wife died, yet I did just as I was instructed on the next morning.

19 Then the people said to me, Will you not tell us what these things that you are doing mean for us?

20 So I replied to them: The word of Yahweh, it came to me, saying:

21 Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall profane My sanctuary, your proud strength, coveted in your eyes and venerated by your soul. As for your sons and your daughters whom you left, they shall fall by the sword.

22 Yet you will do just as I have done; You shall not muffle your upper lip Nor eat the bread of grieving men.

23 Put your beautiful turbans on your heads And your sandals on your feet; You shall not wail nor lament. Yet you will be putrefied in your depravities, And you will growl, each to his brother.

24 Thus Ezekiel will be a portent to you. According to all that he has done, you shall do; when it comes, then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

25 As for you, son of humanity, in that day shall I not take away from them their strength, the elation of their vaunting, what is coveted in their eyes, and the uplifting of their soul, their sons and their daughters?

26 In that day the delivered one shall come to you with the report for your ears.

27 In that day your mouth shall be opened toward the delivered one, and you shall speak and not be mute any longer. And you will be a portent to them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 25

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, set your face toward the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them.

3 And you will say to the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of my Lord Yahweh. Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you say Aha! over My sanctuary, since it is profaned, and over the ground of Israel, since it is desolated, and over the house of Judah, since they have gone into exile,

4 therefore behold, I am giving you to the sons of the east for a tenancy, and they will settle their domiciles among you and place among you their tabernacles. They shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.

5 I will make Rabbah a homestead for camels, and the settlements of the sons of Ammon a reclining place for the flock. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

6 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you clap your hand and you stamp your foot, and you are rejoicing with all your disdain from the soul over the ground of Israel,

7 therefore, behold Me! I will stretch out My hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples and destroy you from the lands; I shall exterminate you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

8 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations,

9 therefore behold, I shall open up the flank of Moab, depriving it of the cities, all its cities unto its end, the stately honor of the land: Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon and Kiriathaim.

10 To the sons of the east I will give it along with the sons of Ammon for a tenancy, that with the sons of Ammon, it may not be remembered among the nations,

11 and in Moab I shall execute judgments. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

12 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because Edom has acted against the house of Judah with avenging vengeance, and they incurred guilt, yea guilt when they avenged themselves upon them,

13 therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will stretch out My hand against Edom; I will cut off from it human and beast and give it over to desertion. From Teman to Dedan they shall fall by the sword.

14 I will bring My vengeance upon Edom by the hand of My people Israel, and they will deal with Edom according to My anger and according to My fury. Then they will know My vengeance, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

15 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, and they avenged vengeance with disdain of soul to ruin with eonian enmity,

16 therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall stretch out My hand against the Philistines; I will cut off the Kerethites and destroy the remnant along the sea shore.

17 I will deal out among them great vengeance with furious correctives. Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I bring My vengeance among them.

Chapter 26

1 It came to be in the eleventh year, on day one of the month that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, because of what Tyre says against Jerusalem, Aha! the doorway of the peoples is broken! It will be turned around to me! I shall be filled, now that she is laid waste!

3 therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Tyre! I will cast up many nations against you, as the sea casts up its billows.

4 They will ruin the walls of Tyre And demolish her towers; Thus I will scrape away her soil from her And make her a weathered crag.

5 She shall become a place for spreading out seine nets in the midst of the sea; For I Myself have spoken, averring is my Lord Yahweh; She will become plunder for the nations,

6 And her daughter towns in the field shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

7 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall bring against Tyre from the north, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, with horse and with chariot and with horsemen, and an assembled force with many people.

8 Your daughter towns in the field, he shall kill with the sword; He will set up siege work against you And construct an earthwork against you, And he will raise the large shield against you.

9 He shall bring the impact of his battering ram upon your walls, And your towers he shall break down with his iron-bars.

10 Because of the accumulation of his horses their dust shall cover you; Because of the sound of horseman, rolling wheel and chariot, your walls shall quake, When he enters your gates like those who enter a city rent by breaches.

11 With the hooves of his horses he shall tramp down all your streets, Your people he shall kill with the sword, And the monuments of your strength shall come down to the earth.

12 They will loot your estate And plunder the gains of your trade; They will demolish your walls And shall break down your coveted houses; Your stones and your timber and your soil they shall cast in the midst of the water.

13 Then I will cause the clamor of your songs to cease; And the sound of your harps shall not be heard any longer.

14 I will make you a weathered crag; You shall become a place for spreading out seine nets; You shall not be rebuilt again, For I, Yahweh, have spoken, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

15 Thus says my Lord Yahweh to Tyre: Shall not the coastlands quake at the sound of your downfall, when the wounded groan, when the sword kills in your midst?

16 Then all the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, and they will take off their outer robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They shall be clothed with tremblings. They shall sit on the earth, and they will tremble every moment and be appalled over you.

17 So they will lift up a dirge over you and say to you: How you have perished, You have been eradicated from the seas, The city that was praised, that was steadfast on the sea, She and her dwellers who cast dismay of them on all its dwellers!

18 Now the coastlands are trembling on the day of your downfall, And the coastlands by the sea are flustered at your going forth.

19 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: When I make you a wasted city like cities that are not indwelt, when I bring up the abyss over you, and the many waters cover you,

20 then I will bring you down with descenders to the crypt, to people of the eon, and I will cause you to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in places deserted from the eon, with descenders to the crypt, that you may not be indwelt; yet I will give stately honor in the land of the living.

21 I shall make you a decadent thing, and you will be no more; you shall be sought, yet you shall not be found again for the eon, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 27

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Now you, son of humanity, lift up a dirge over Tyre,

3 and you will say to Tyre who dwells at the entrance of the sea, trader for the peoples to many coastlands: Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Tyre, you said, I am of consummate loveliness.

4 In the heart of the seas were your boundaries; Your builders completed your loveliness:

5 Of firs from Senir they built for you all your planks; They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you;

6 Of oaks from Bashan they made your oars; They made your prow of ivory set in box tree wood from the coasts of Kittim;

7 Embroidered cambric from Egypt served as your sail, to serve as your banner; Of blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah was your awning.

8 Dwellers of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; Your wise, Tyre, were within you; they were your pilots;

9 Elders of Gebal and her wise were within you, your gap repairers; All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to negotiate for your market wares;

10 Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war; Shield and helmet they hung up in you; They brought honor to you;

11 Sons of Arvad and your army manned your walls round about, And Gammadites were on your towers; They hung up their cuirasses on your walls round about; They completed your loveliness.

12 Tarshish was your merchant because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth; for silver, iron, tin and lead they sold your commodities.

13 Javan, Tubal and Meshech, they were your traders; for human souls and copper utensils they sold your market wares.

14 From Beth-togarmah, for horses and steeds and mules they sold your commodities.

15 Sons of Dedan were your traders; many coastlands were agents of merchandise at your side; they recompensed with horns of ivory and with ebony as levy for you.

16 Syria was your merchant because of your many products; for carbuncles, purple, embroidery and fine linen, corals and brilliant gems they sold your commodities.

17 Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traders; for wheat of Minnith, green figs, honey, oil and balm they sold your market wares.

18 Damascus was your merchant for your many products because of the abundance of all kinds of wealth, trading for wine of Helbon and wool of Zahar.

19 Vedan and Javan from Uzal sold your commodities; wrought iron, cassia and aromatic reed were exchanged for your market wares.

20 Dedan was your trader for free flowing cloaks for riding.

21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar, they were merchants at your side; for butting lambs and rams and he-goats, for them they were your merchants.

22 The traders of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traders; for every principal aromatic and for every precious stone and gold they sold your commodities.

23 Charan and Canneh and Eden, the traders of Sheba, Assyria and Chilmad were your traders.

24 They were your traders for things consummate, folds of blue cloth and embroidery, and carpets of rich fabric bound up with cord lines and long lasting, your traders for these.

25 Ships of Tarshish were your conveyers for your market wares. So you were filled and very heavily stocked in the heart of the seas.

26 Into many waters your rowers brought you; The east wind broke you apart in the heart of the seas.

27 Your wealth, your commodities, your market wares, Your mariners and your pilots, Your gap repairers and negotiators of your market wares, And all your men of war who were in you, And all your assembled force which was in your midst, They shall fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.

28 At the sound of your pilots’ outcry the common lands shall quake.

29 From their ships will descend all the handlers of the oar, the mariners; All the pilots of the sea shall stand upon the earth.

30 They will make their voice heard over you, And they shall cry out bitterly, And they shall cast up dust on their heads; They shall wallow in ashes.

31 They will make themselves bald with baldness for you, And gird themselves with sackcloth; They will lament for you in bitterness of soul with bitter wailing.

32 They will lift up a dirge for you in their sorrow, And they will intone over you: Who was like Tyre, Like the still one in the midst of the sea?

33 When your commodities went forth from the seas you satisfied many peoples; With your vast wealth and your market wares you enriched the kings of the earth.

34 Now you are broken by the seas in the depths of the waters; Your market wares and all your assembled force in your midst have fallen.

35 All the dwellers of the coastlands are appalled over you, And their kings are horrified with horror; Their faces are disheartened.

36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; You have become a decadent thing, And you will be no more until the eon.

Chapter 28

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, say to the governor of Tyre, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because your heart is haughty, and you are saying, I am an el! I sit on the seat of the elohim in the heart of the seas! yet you are human and not an el, though you are deeming your heart like the heart of the elohim

3 Behold, you are wiser than Daniel! All obstructed matters, they do not mystify you!

4 By your wisdom and by your understanding you have made an estate for yourself! And you are getting gold and silver into your treasuries!

5 By your vast wisdom in your trading you have increased your estate, And your heart has become haughty by your estate.

6 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because you have deemed your heart like the heart of the elohim,

7 therefore behold, I shall bring against you aliens, the most terrifying of the nations, and they will unsheathe their swords against you and the loveliness made by your wisdom, and they will profane your shining splendor.

8 They shall bring you down to the pit, and you will die the deaths of the slain in the heart of the seas.

9 Shall you then say, yea say, I am elohim, before your killers, when you are shown to be human and not an el in the hand of those who wound you?

10 You shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of aliens, for I Myself have spoken, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

11 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

12 Son of humanity, lift up a dirge over the king of Tyre, and you will say to him: Thus says my Lord Yahweh: You were a seal-imprint of a model, Full of wisdom and consummate in loveliness.

13 You were in the luxury of the garden of Elohim; Of every precious stone was your boothlike pavilion, Carnelian, peridot and diamond, Topaz, onyx and jasper, Sapphire, carbuncle and emerald; And with gold have you filled your flanks And your alcoves which are in you. In the day of your creation they established

14 the anointed cherub’s booth. And I bestowed you in the holy mountain of Elohim; You were in the midst of the fiery stones.

15 You walked flawless in your ways from the day of your creation, Until iniquity was found in you

16 in the increase of your trading. They filled your midst with violence, and you sinned; So I shall put you as profane out of the mountain of Elohim, And the cherub of the booth will destroy you out of the midst of the fiery stones.

17 Your heart was haughty because of your loveliness; You made your wisdom a ruin because of your shining splendor; I will fling you down on the earth; I will set you before kings to make a spectacle of you.

18 Because of your many depravities, In the iniquity of your trading, you profaned your sanctuary; So I shall bring forth fire from your midst; It will devour you; And I shall turn you to ashes on the earth before the eyes of all who see you.

19 All who know you among the peoples will be appalled over you; You will become a decadent thing, And you will be no more until the eon.

20 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

21 Son of humanity, set your face toward Sidon and prophesy against her,

22 and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Sidon, And I will be glorified in your midst; Then they will know that I am Yahweh When I execute judgments in her, And I am hallowed in her.

23 I will send plague into her And bloodshed in her streets, And the slain will fall in her midst When the sword comes upon her from round about. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

24 No longer shall there be a festering palm-thorn for the house of Israel, Or a painful thorn from all round about them who disdain them. Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

25 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: When I convene the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and I am hallowed among them before the eyes of the nations, they will dwell on their ground which I gave to My servant, to Jacob,

26 and they will dwell on it in trust. They will build houses and plant vineyards, and they will dwell in trust, when I execute judgments on all who disdain them, from round about them. Then they will know that I am Yahweh their Elohim.

Chapter 29

1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against Egypt, all of it.

3 Speak and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, The great monster, reclining in the midst of its waterways, Which says, Mine is my waterway, And I made it for myself.

4 I will put gaffs in your cheeks, And I will cause the fish of your waterways to cling to your scales. I will bring you up from the midst of your waterways, And all the fish of your waterways which cling to your scales.

5 And I will abandon you to the wilderness, You and all the fish of your waterways; You shall lie fallen on the open field; You shall not be gathered nor brought together; I will give you as food to the land animal and the flyer of the heavens.

6 Then all the dwellers of Egypt will know that I am Yahweh. Because you were a support-staff of reed to the house of Israel

7 When they grasped you by the palm you would splinter, And you would rend open all their shoulders; When they leaned on you you would break, And you would make all their waists totter

8 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall bring a sword against you, and I will cut off from you human and beast,

9 so that the land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am Yahweh. Because you say, The waterway is mine, and I made it,

10 therefore behold, I am against you and against your waterways; and I will give over the land of Egypt to waste, sword and desolation from Migdol to Syene and as far as the boundary of Cush.

11 No foot of a human shall pass through it, and no foot of a beast shall pass through it, and it shall not be indwelt for forty years.

12 I will give over the land of Egypt to desolation in the midst of desolated lands, and her cities shall become a desolation in the midst of deserted cities forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and toss them away among the lands.

13 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: At the end of forty years I shall convene the Egyptians from the peoples where they are scattered.

14 I will reverse the captivity of Egypt, and I will restore them to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.

15 Of all the kingdoms it shall be lowest, and it shall not lift itself over the nations any longer. I will decrease them so that they will not hold sway among the nations.

16 No longer shall it be the trust to the house of Israel, reminding them of their depravity when they turned around after them. Then they will know that I am the Lord Yahweh.

17 It came to be in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on day one of the month that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

18 Son of humanity, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has made his army serve with great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder burnished, yet no reward has come to him or to his army from Tyre for the service which he served against it.

19 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall give to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon the land of Egypt; and he will carry away her superabundance and loot her loot and plunder her plunder, and it will be the reward for his army;

20 as his wage for which he served I give him the land of Egypt for what they did for Me, averring is My Lord Yahweh.

21 In that day I shall make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I shall give you an opening of the mouth in their midst. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 30

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, prophesy, and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Howl! Woe for the day!

3 For a day is near; Yahweh’s day is near; It shall be a cloudy day, an era of the nations.

4 A sword will come upon Egypt, And sore travail will come upon Cush, When the slain one falls in Egypt, And they take away her superabundance; And her foundations are demolished.

5 Cush and Put and Lud And all the mixed multitude and Cub, And the sons of the land of the covenant, They shall fall by the sword with them.

6 Thus says Yahweh: The supporters of Egypt will fall, And her proud strength will come down; From Migdol to Syene they shall fall in her by the sword, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

7 They will be desolated in the midst of desolate lands, And their cities shall lie in the midst of wasted cities.

8 Then they will know that I am Yahweh When I set fire in Egypt, And all her helpers are broken apart.

9 In that day messengers shall go forth from before Me in boats to make unsuspecting Cush tremble, and sore travail will come among them in Egypt’s day, for behold, it is coming.

10 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will eradicate the superabundance of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

11 He and his people with him, the terrifiers of the nations, will be brought to ruin the land. They will unsheathe their swords against Egypt, And they will fill the land with the slain.

12 I will make the waterways drained And sell the land into the hand of evildoers; I will desolate the land and its fullness by the hand of aliens; I, Yahweh, have spoken.

13 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will destroy the idol clods And eradicate the forbidden idols from Noph; A prince shall not arise from the land of Egypt any longer, And I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

14 I will desolate Pathros And set fire in Zoan And execute judgments in No.

15 I will pour out My fury on Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, And cut off the superabundance of No.

16 I will set fire in Egypt; Sin shall travail, yea travail, And No shall be rent by breaches, While Noph will have distresses even by day.

17 As for the choice young men of Aven and Pi-beseth, by the sword shall they fall; And the cities themselves shall go into captivity.

18 In Tehaphnehes the day will become dark When I break there the yoke-bars of Egypt; And her proud strength will be eradicated in her; As for her, a cloud shall cover her, And her daughters, they shall go into captivity.

19 Thus I will execute judgments in Egypt; Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

20 It came to be in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

21 Son of humanity, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and behold, it is not bound up to allow healing by placing a bandage, to bind it up so as to make it steadfast in grasping a sword.

22 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break both his arms, the steadfast one and the broken one, and I will make the sword fall from his hand.

23 I will scatter Egypt among the nations and toss them away among the lands.

24 I will make steadfast the arms of the king of Babylon and give My sword into his hands; I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will moan before him with moanings like one mortally wounded.

25 I will make steadfast the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I give My sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt.

26 I will scatter Egypt among the nations and toss them away among the lands. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 31

1 It came to be in the eleventh year, in the third month, on day one of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his throng: To whom are you like in your greatness?

3 Behold, there was a box tree, a cedar in Lebanon, With lovely boughs and in shady woodland, And of lofty stature, And among the leafy trees arose its wooly foliage.

4 The waters made it great; The abyss made it rise high; Its place of planting had its streams flowing round about, And it sent its trenches to all the trees of the field.

5 Therefore, its stature was loftier than all the trees of the field, And its forking branches increased, And its foliage grew long from the abundant water, in its sending forth.

6 In its forked branches nested every flyer of the heavens, And every animal of the field gave birth under its foliage, While all the great nations dwelt in its shade.

7 It was lovely in its greatness, In the length of its branches, For its roots reached to many waters.

8 Even the cedars in the garden of Elohim, they could not match it, Firs were not like it in its forked branches, And plane trees were not like it in foliage; Of all the trees in the garden of Elohim none was like it in its loveliness.

9 I made it lovely with the multitude of its branches. And all the trees of Eden were jealous of it in the garden of Elohim.

10 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because it became lofty in stature, and is lifting up its wooly foliage among the leafy trees, and its heart is raised high in its loftiness,

11 I shall give it into the hand of the subjector of nations to do what he shall do with it; according to its wickedness I will drive it out.

12 Aliens, the terrifying nations, shall cut it down, and they shall abandon it on the mountains. Its branches will fall into every ravine, and its foliage shall be broken in all the channels of the earth. Then all the peoples of the earth shall go down from its shade and abandon it.

13 On its fallen trunk every flyer of the heavens shall roost, and every animal of the field will stay upon its foliage,

14 that none of all the trees by the waters may be lofty in their stature, nor lift up their wooly foliage among the leafy trees, nor shall all that drink of the waters stand up by them in their loftiness. For all of them will be given up to death, to the nether parts of the earth in the midst of sons of humanity, to descenders to the crypt.

15 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: In the day it descends to the unseen I will inflict mourning: On its account I will cover the abyss, and I shall withhold its streams, and the vast waters shall be shut up; on its account I shall make Lebanon somber, and on its account all the trees of the field will swoon.

16 At the sound of its fall I will make the nations quake when I bring it down to the unseen with descenders to the crypt; and in the nether parts of the earth all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all that drink of the waters shall be comforted.

17 They also will descend with it to the unseen, to those slain by the sword and its armed force; they will dwell in its shade in the midst of the nations.

18 To whom are you like, thus in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the nether parts of the earth; In the midst of the uncircumcised shall you lie with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his throng, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 32

1 It came to be in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month on day one of the month that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, lift up a dirge over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and you will say to him: To a sheltered lion of the nations are you likened, And you are like a monster in the seas; You are rushing forth in your streams And roiling the waters with your feet And fouling their streams.

3 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: I will spread My net over you with an assembled force of many peoples, And I will bring you up in My seine net.

4 Then I will abandon you in the countryside; On the open field I shall cast you forth; I will cause every flyer of the heavens to roost on you And have all the land animals surfeit themselves upon you.

5 I will put your flesh on the mountains And fill the ravines with your maggots.

6 I will irrigate the countryside with your fluid, With your blood up to the mountains, And the channels themselves shall be filled from you.

7 When you are quenched out, I will cover the heavens And make their stars somber; The sun, I shall cover it with a cloud, And the moon shall not illumine with its light.

8 All the luminaries of light in the heavens, I shall make them somber over you, And I will bring darkness over your land, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

9 I will provoke the heart of many peoples to vexation When I bring your broken parts among the nations, To lands that you have not known.

10 On your account I will desolate many peoples, And on your account their kings shall be horrified with horror When I brandish My sword in their faces, And they will tremble every moment, Each for his soul in the day of your downfall.

11 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come on you.

12 By the swords of masters of war I shall cast down your throng; Terrifiers of the nations are they all. They will devastate the pomp of Egypt, And all its throng will be exterminated.

13 I will destroy all its beasts from beside many waters, And no human foot shall roil them any longer, Nor shall the hooves of beasts roil them.

14 Then I shall cause their waters to sink down And their streams to flow like oil, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

15 When I give over the land of Egypt to desolation, And the land is desolated of its fullness, When I smite all who dwell in it, Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

16 This is a dirge, and they will intone it; The daughters of the nations shall intone it; Over Egypt and over all its throng they shall intone it, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

17 It came to be in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the fifteenth of the month, that the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

18 Son of humanity, make a plaint over the throng of Egypt, you and the daughters of the noble nations, and bid it descend to the nether parts of the earth with descenders to the crypt.

19 Are you more pleasant than others? Descend and be laid with the uncircumcised.

20 They shall fall in the midst of those slain by the sword; it is given to the sword; draw it down with all its throngs.

21 The masterful subjectors shall speak to him from the midst of the unseen; they will descend with his helpers; they will lie with the uncircumcised, those slain by the sword.

22 Assyria is there and all its assembled force; round about him are his tombs, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,

23 whose tombs are put in the recesses of the crypt. Its assembled force shall be round about its tomb, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who had spread dismay in the land of the living.

24 Elam is there and all its throng round about its tomb, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who descended uncircumcised to the nether parts of the earth, who spread dismay before them in the land of the living, and who bear their mortification with descenders to the crypt.

25 They make a bed for it in the midst of the slain, with all its throng; its tombs are round about him, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for dismay of them had been spread in the land of the living, yet they bear their mortification with descenders to the crypt. In the midst of the slain is he placed.

26 Meshech-Tubal is there and all its throng; round about him are its tombs, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; for they spread dismay before them in the land of the living.

27 Yet they are not lying with the fallen masters of war of the uncircumcised, who descended to the unseen with their weapons of war, and who put their swords under their heads, and their large shields rest on their bones; for there was dismay of the masters in the land of the living.

28 You also shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and you shall lie with those slain by the sword.

29 Edom is there, its kings and all its princes, who, for all their mastery, are put with those slain by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and with descenders to the crypt.

30 The overlords of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians who descended with the slain, who, for the dismay they caused by their mastery, are put to shame, and they lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and they bear their mortification with descenders to the crypt.

31 Pharaoh shall see them, and he will comfort himself concerning all his throng slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

32 For I have spread dismay before him in the land of the living, and he will be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his throng, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 33

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, speak to the sons of your people, and you will say to them, The land, suppose I bring a sword over it, and the people of the land take aside one man from their whole number and set him as their watchman.

3 When he sees the sword coming over the land, he blows the trumpet and warns the people.

4 If any hearer hears the sound of the trumpet, but does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his head.

5 He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be on him. Yet had he taken warning he would have delivered forth his soul.

6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes a soul from them, that one is taken in his depravity, yet I shall require his blood from the hand of the watchman.

7 Now you, son of humanity, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear the word from My mouth, then you will give warning to them from Me.

8 When I say to the wicked one, Wicked one, you shall die, yea die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked one of his way, that wicked one shall die in his depravity, but his blood I shall seek to exact from your hand.

9 Yet you, if you do warn the wicked one of his way, to turn back from it, and he does not turn back from his way, he shall die in his depravity, but you will have rescued your soul.

10 Now you, son of humanity, say to the house of Israel: Thus have you spoken, saying, Seeing that our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and in them we are being putrefied, how can we then live?

11 Say to them: As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, I assuredly am not delighting in the death of the wicked one, but rather that the wicked one may turn back from his way and live. Turn back! Turn back from your evil ways! Why should you die, house of Israel?

12 Yet you, son of humanity, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of the righteous one shall not rescue him in the day of his transgression; as for the wickedness of the wicked one, he shall not be caused to stumble by it in the day he turns back from his wickedness, and the righteous one cannot live by it in the day he sins.

13 When I say of the righteous one, He shall live, yea live, yet he trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, all his righteous acts shall not be remembered; in his iniquity which he committed, in it shall he die.

14 Also when I say to the wicked one, You shall die, yea die, and he turns back from his sins and executes right judgment and justice,

15 yea the wicked one restores the pledge, he repays the pillage, he walks in the statutes of life without doing iniquity, he shall live, yea live and not die.

16 All his sins which he has sinned shall not be remembered against him; he has executed right judgment and justice; he shall live, yea live.

17 Yet the sons of your people say, The way of my Lord is irregular! But they, their way is irregular.

18 When the righteous one turns back from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he will die in them.

19 And when the wicked one turns back from his wickedness and executes right judgment and justice, he shall live by them.

20 Yet you say, The way of my Lord is irregular! I shall judge you, house of Israel, each according to his ways.

21 It came to be in the twelfth year, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month of our exile, a delivered one from Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city has been smitten.

22 Now the hand of Yahweh had come on me the evening before the delivered one had come. And He opened my mouth before the man came to me in the morning; thus my mouth was opened, and I was not mute any longer.

23 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

24 Son of humanity, the dwellers of these deserted places on the ground of Israel are speaking, saying, Abraham was one, and he tenanted the land, yet we are many; to us the land is given for a tenancy.

25 Therefore say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: You are eating meat with the blood, and you are lifting up your eyes to your idol clods, and you are shedding blood, and shall you tenant the land?

26 You men stand reliant upon your sword, you women commit an abhorrence, and each man defiles the wife of his associate, and shall you tenant the land?

27 Thus shall you say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: As I live, assuredly those who are in the deserted places shall fall by the sword, and whoever is in the open field I will give him to the wild animal for food, and those who are in the fastnesses and in caves shall die by the plague.

28 I will give up the land to desolation after desolation, and its proud strength will be eradicated, and the mountains of Israel will be desolate because there will be no one passing through.

29 Then they will know that I am Yahweh when I give up the land to desolation after desolation on account of all their abhorrences which they have done.

30 But you, son of humanity, the sons of your people are speaking about you beside the sidewalls and in the portals of the houses, and one speaks to the other, each to his brother, saying: Come now and hear what the word is that is going forth from Yahweh.

31 They shall come to you as a large entrance of people and shall sit before you as My people should, and will hear your words, yet they shall not do them. Indeed they only produce dotings with their mouths, and their heart goes after their own gain.

32 Behold, to them you are like a song of dotings, lovely of voice and skillful in playing, and they will hear your words, yet they will not be doing them.

33 But when it comes (behold, it shall come!), they will know that a prophet is in their midst.

Chapter 34

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and you will say to them, to the shepherds, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been grazing themselves! Should the shepherds not graze the flock?

3 The curds you eat, and with the wool you clothe yourselves; the plump you slaughter, but the flock you do not graze.

4 The ailing you do not make steadfast, and the ill you do not heal, and the broken you do not bind up; the outcast you do not bring back, and the lost you do not seek, but with brunt force you hold sway over them, and with rigor.

5 Hence the sheep of My flock are scattered without a shepherd; they become food for all the wild animals of the field as they are scattered.

6 The sheep of My flock stray aimlessly in all the mountains and on every high hill, and over the surface of the entire earth the sheep of My flock are scattered with no one inquiring for them and no one seeking them.

7 Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

8 As I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, assuredly, because My flock became plunder, and My flock became food for all the wild animals of the field because there is no shepherd, and the shepherds do not inquire for My flock, and the shepherds graze themselves, and they do not graze My flock,

9 therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh,

10 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds; I will inquire after My flock at their hand and cause them to cease grazing My flock, nor shall the shepherds graze themselves any longer; I will rescue the sheep of My flock from their mouths so that they shall not continue as food for them.

11 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I Myself will inquire after the sheep of My flock and make a quest for them.

12 Like the quest of a shepherd for his drove in the day of cloud and murkiness when he is in the midst of his flock that is spreading out, so I shall make a quest for the sheep of My flock, and I will rescue them from all the places where they are scattered in the day of cloud and murkiness.

13 I will bring them forth from the peoples and convene them from the lands, and I will bring them to their own ground and graze them on the mountains of Israel, by the channels and in all the dwelling places of the land.

14 I shall graze them in good pasture, and on the high hills of Israel shall be their homestead. There they shall recline in a good homestead, and they shall graze in fertile pasture on the mountains of Israel.

15 I Myself shall graze the sheep of My flock, and I Myself shall cause them to recline, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

16 The lost I shall seek, and the outcast I shall restore, and the broken I shall bind up, and the ailing I shall make steadfast. Yet the stout and the unyielding one I shall exterminate; I shall graze them with judgment.

17 As for you, My flock, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall judge between one flockling and another flockling. To the rams and he-goats:

18 Is it too little for you to graze on the good pasture, that you must also tramp down the rest of your pastures with your feet, and to drink the clear-settled water, that you must also foul the rest with your feet?

19 My flock must graze on that tramped down by your feet and drink what is fouled with your feet.

20 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh to them: Behold Me, I will judge between the plump flockling and the lean flockling.

21 Because you thrust with side and shoulder, and with your horns you gore all the ailing until you have scattered them about the open places,

22 therefore I will save My flock, and they shall not be plunder any longer. I will judge between flockling and flockling.

23 Then I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will graze them My servant David. He shall graze them, and he shall be their shepherd.

24 I, Yahweh, shall be their Elohim, and My servant David will be prince in their midst; I, Yahweh, have spoken.

25 I will contract with them a covenant of peace, and I will eradicate the wild animal from the land; they will dwell in the wilderness in trust and sleep in the wildwoods.

26 I will make these places and those around My hill a blessing: I will cause the downpour to descend in its season; downpours of blessing shall come.

27 The tree of the field will give its fruit, and the land shall give its crop; they will stay on their ground in trust and know that I am Yahweh when I break the slider bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who force service on them.

28 They shall not be plunder for the nations any longer, and the wild animal of the earth shall not devour them. They will dwell in trust, and no one shall make them tremble.

29 I will set up for them a planting of well-being, and no longer shall they be gathered in by famine in the land, nor shall they bear mortifying from the nations any longer.

30 Then they will know that I, Yahweh their Elohim, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are My people, averring is My Lord Yahweh.

31 And you, My flock, you are the human flock of My pasture; I am Yahweh your Elohim, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 35

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, Set your face toward Mount Seir, and prophesy against it.

3 You will say to it, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir! I will stretch out My hand against you And give you over to desolation after desolation.

4 I shall make your cities a waste, And you shall become a desolation; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

5 Because you held eonian enmity and turned against the sons of Israel by means of the sword in the era of their calamity, in the era of depravity’s end,

6 therefore, as I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, indeed I shall give you over to bloodshed, and bloodshed shall pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, bloodshed shall pursue you.

7 I will give Mount Seir over to desolation after desolation, and cut off from it all who pass through and return.

8 I will fill its mountains with its slain; your hills and your ravines and all your channels, those slain by the sword shall fall in them.

9 I shall make you eonian desolations, and your cities shall not be indwelt; then you will know that I am Yahweh.

10 Because you say, These two nations and these two lands shall become mine, and we will take it over, though Yahweh is there,

11 therefore, as I live, averring is my Lord Yahweh, I will deal according to your anger and according to your jealousy which you have shown in your hatred of them, and I will become known among them when I judge you.

12 Then you will know that I, Yahweh, I have heard all your indignities which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are desolate; they are given to us as food.

13 You magnify yourselves against Me with your mouth, and you make your words impertinent against Me; I have heard it.

14 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: When the entire earth rejoices, I shall make you a desolation.

15 As you express rejoicing at the allotment of the house of Israel because it is desolate, so I shall do to you; you shall become a desolation, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it! Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 36

1 Yet you, son of humanity, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and you will say, Mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh:

2 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because the enemy says of you, Aha! The eonian high-places are ours for a tenancy!

3 therefore, prophesy, and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because, indeed because desolation and gasping are with you from round about, so that you become the tenancy of the remainder of the nations, and you are taken up on the lip of slander and the gossip of the people,

4 therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of my Lord Yahweh: Thus says my Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the channels and to the ravines, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities, which have become plunder and derision for the remainder of the nations which are round about,

5 therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Assuredly with the fire of My jealousy I speak against the remainder of the nations, and against Edom, all of it, which has made My land a tenancy for themselves with rejoicing of every heart, with disdain of soul, that its common land may become plunder.

6 Therefore, prophesy over the ground of Israel, and you will say to the mountains and to the hills, to the channels and to the ravines, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, in My jealousy and in My fury I speak because you bear the mortifying of the nations.

7 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: I lift My hand in swearing: Assuredly, the nations that are around you, they shall bear their mortification.

8 Yet you, mountains of Israel, shall produce your boughs and bear your fruit for My people Israel, for they draw near in coming back.

9 For behold, I am for you, And I will turn around to you, And you will be served and sown.

10 I will increase humanity on you, all the house of Israel, all of it, And the cities will be indwelt, And the deserted places shall be rebuilt.

11 I will increase on you human and beast, And they will be abundant and fruitful; I will make you indwelt as you were formerly, And I will bring more good than in your beginnings. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

12 I will lead humanity, My people Israel, to you, And they will tenant you, And you will become their allotment, And you will never again make them bereaved.

13 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Because they are saying to you, You are a land that devours humans, and you have become a bereaver of your two nations,

14 therefore, you shall not devour humans any longer, and you shall not bereave your two nations any longer, averring is My Lord Yahweh.

15 I shall not let the mortifying of the nations against you be heard any longer, and the reproach of the peoples you shall not bear any longer, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

16 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

17 Son of humanity, the house of Israel when dwelling on their ground defiled it by their conduct and by their practices; their conduct seemed before Me like the uncleanness of an isolated woman.

18 So I poured out My fury on them because of the blood which they poured out on the land and because of their idol clods by which they defiled it.

19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were tossed away among the lands; according to their conduct and according to their practices I judged them.

20 When they came to the nations, wherever they came, they got My holy Name profaned when it was said of them, These are the people of Yahweh, and they have gone forth from His land.

21 Yet I shall take pity for My holy Name which the house of Israel got profaned among the nations where they came.

22 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Not on your account shall I act, house of Israel, but rather for My holy Name which you got profaned among the nations where you have come.

23 I will hallow My great Name which has been profaned among the nations, which you got profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, averring is my Lord Yahweh, when I am hallowed among you before their eyes.

24 Then I will take you from the nations And gather you together from all the lands, And I will bring you to your own ground.

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, And you will be clean from all your uncleannesses, And from all your idol clods I shall cleanse you.

26 I will give you a new heart, And a new spirit will I bestow within you, And I will take away the heart of stone from your flesh, And I will give you a heart of flesh.

27 My spirit shall I bestow within you, And I will make it that you shall walk in My statutes and observe My ordinances, And you will obey them.

28 Then you will dwell in the land which I gave to your fathers, And you will become My people, And I shall become your Elohim.

29 When I save you from all your uncleannesses I will call to the grain and increase it, and I shall not lay famine on you.

30 I will increase the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you may no longer suffer the reproach of famine among the nations.

31 Then you will remember your evil ways and your actions which were not good, and you will be disgusted in view of yourselves on account of your depravities and your abhorrences.

32 Not on your account will I be doing this, averring is my Lord Yahweh, let it be known to you. Be ashamed and be mortified for your ways, house of Israel.

33 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: In the day I cleanse you from all your depravities, then I will cause the cities to be indwelt, and the deserted places will be rebuilt;

34 and the desolate land shall be served, whereas it had become a desolation to the eyes of everyone passing by.

35 Hence people will say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the cities that were deserted and desolate and demolished are indwelt and fortressed.

36 Then the nations which remain around you will know that I, Yahweh, have rebuilt what was demolished; I have replanted what was desolate; I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I will do it.

37 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: This also I shall let Myself be inquired of by the house of Israel to do for them: I shall increase them with humanity like a flock of sheep.

38 Like a flock for holy offerings, like a flock of sheep in Jerusalem in her appointed festivals, so shall the deserted cities become filled with flocks of humanity. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 37

1 The hand of Yahweh came on me. He brought me forth by the spirit of Yahweh and stopped me in the midst of a valley. It was full of bones.

2 He made me pass through them all around, and behold, there were exceedingly many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.

3 He said to me: Son of humanity, shall these bones live? And I answered, My Lord Yahweh, You know.

4 Then He said to me: Prophesy over these bones, and you will say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of Yahweh.

5 Thus says my Lord Yahweh to these bones: Behold, I will bring spirit into you, and you will live.

6 I will bestow sinews on you and bring up flesh upon you and encase you with skin. I will bestow spirit in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

7 So I prophesied just as I was instructed, and as I prophesied there was a sound, and behold, a quaking! And the bones drew near, each bone to its next bone.

8 As I watched, behold, sinews appeared on them, and flesh came up, and skin encased them overall; yet there was no spirit in them.

9 Then He said to me: Prophesy to the spirit; prophesy, son of humanity, and you will say to the spirit, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, O spirit, and blow into these who were killed, so that they may live.

10 When I prophesied as He had instructed me, the spirit came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a most exceedingly great assembly.

11 Then He said to me: Son of humanity, these bones are the whole house of Israel, who hitherto have been saying, Our bones are dry, and our expectation has perished. We have gotten ourselves severed.

12 Therefore, prophesy, and you will say to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will open your tombs, and I will bring you up from your tombs, My people, and bring you to the ground of Israel.

13 Then you will know that I am Yahweh when I open your tombs and when I bring you up from your tombs, My people.

14 I will bestow My spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you on your own ground. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I will do it, averring is Yahweh.

15 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

16 As for you, son of humanity, take for yourself one stick, and write on it: For Judah and for the sons of Israel joined with him; then take another stick, and write on it: For Joseph (Ephraim’s stick) and all the house of Israel joined with him.

17 Bring them near, one to the other, into one stick for yourself that they may become one in your hand.

18 Yet whenever the sons of your people should ask you, saying, Will you not tell us what you mean by these?

19 speak to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph which is in Ephraim’s hand, and of the tribes of Israel joined with him, and I will put, with them, the stick of Judah on it; I will make them one stick, and they will become one in My hand.

20 With the sticks on which you wrote held in your hand before their eyes,

21 speak to them, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I shall take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will convene them from all around and bring them to their own ground.

22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king for them all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any longer.

23 They shall not defile themselves any longer with their idol clods, with their abominations and with all their transgressions. I will save them from all their backslidings in which they have sinned and will cleanse them. They will become My people, and I Myself shall become their Elohim.

24 My servant David will be king over them, and there shall come to be one shepherd for them all. They shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes, and they will do them.

25 Thus they will dwell on the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, in which your fathers dwelt; they will dwell on it, they and their sons and their sons’ sons throughout the eon, and David My servant will be their prince for the eon.

26 I will contract with them a covenant of peace; It shall come to be an eonian covenant with them; I will establish them and increase them; I will put My sanctuary in their midst for the eon,

27 And My tabernacle will be over them. Thus I will become their Elohim, And they shall become My people.

28 Then the nations will know that I, Yahweh, am hallowing Israel When My sanctuary comes to be in their midst for the eon.

Chapter 38

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

2 Son of humanity, set your face toward Gog of the land of Magog, head prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.

3 And you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you Gog, head prince of Meshech and Tubal.

4 I will turn you about and put gaffs in your cheeks, and I will bring you forth with all your army, horses and horsemen, clothed in panoply, all of them, a vast assembled force, with large shield and buckler, grasping swords, all of them.

5 Persia, Cush and Put are with them, all of them with buckler and helmet.

6 Gomer and all its combatants, Beth-togarmah from remote parts of the north and all its combatants, many peoples are with you.

7 Be ready and prepare yourself, you and all your assembled force which are assembled about you, and you will be in My charge.

8 After many days you shall be mustered; in the latter years you shall come to the land restored from the sword, convened from many peoples on the mountains of Israel, which had become a continual waste, which was brought forth from the peoples, and now they dwell in trust, all of them.

9 You will ascend; like a thunderstorm you shall come; like a cloud covering the earth you shall become, you and all your combatants and many peoples with you.

10 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: It will come to be in that day that plans shall ascend on your heart, and you will devise an evil devising.

11 You will say, I shall ascend against a land of unwalled villages; I shall come on quiet people who are dwelling in trust (all of them dwelling without walls, and there are no bars or double doors for them),

12 to loot loot and to plunder plunder, to reverse your hand against the deserted places now indwelt, and against the people gathered from the nations, who have gotten cattle and acquisitions, who dwell at the center of the earth.

13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its traders shall say to you: Do you come to loot loot? Do you assemble your assembled force to plunder plunder, to carry off silver and gold, to take away cattle and acquisitions, to loot great loot?

14 Therefore, prophesy, son of humanity, and you will say to Gog, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: In that day when My people Israel dwell in trust, shall you not rouse up?

15 You will come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, riding horses, all of them, a great assembled force and a vast army.

16 Then you will ascend against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. In the latter days it shall be; and I will bring you against My land that all the nations may know Me when I am hallowed through you before their eyes, Gog.

17 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Is it you of whom I spoke in former days by means of My servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years, to bring you against them?

18 It will come in that day, in the day Gog comes against the ground of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh, that My fury shall ascend in My anger

19 and in My jealousy. I speak in the fire of My rage: Assuredly, in that day a great earthquake shall come upon the ground of Israel.

20 The fish of the sea, the flyer of the heavens, the wild animal of the field, every creeping thing that moves about on the ground and every human who is on the surface of the ground will quake before Me; the mountains will be demolished, the cliffs will fall, and every wall shall fall to the earth.

21 I will call a sword against him on all My mountains, averring is my Lord Yahweh; each man’s sword shall be against his brother.

22 I will enter into judgment upon him with plague and with bloodshed, and I shall rain an overflowing downpour and hailstones, fire and sulfur upon him, upon his combatants and upon the many peoples who are with him.

23 Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will become known in the eyes of many nations. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

Chapter 39

1 Now you, son of humanity, prophesy against Gog, and you will say, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you Gog, head prince of Meshech and Tubal.

2 I will turn you about and drive you along and bring you up from the remote parts of the north, and I will bring you to the mountains of Israel.

3 I will smite your bow from your left hand, and I shall make your arrows fall from your right hand.

4 You shall fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your combatants and the peoples who are with you. To the bird of prey, the bird of every wing and the wild animal of the field I will give you as food.

5 On the open field you shall fall, for I have spoken, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

6 I will send fire on Magog and among those dwelling on the coastlands in trust. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.

7 I shall make known My holy Name in the midst of My people Israel, and I shall not let My holy Name be profaned any longer. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.

8 Behold, it is coming, and it will happen, averring is my Lord Yahweh. That is the day of which I spoke.

9 Then the dwellers of the cities of Israel will go forth to consume, and they will ignite the weapons, buckler and large shield, bow and arrows and hand stave and lance; and they will consume them with fire seven years.

10 They need not carry wood from the field nor chop down any from the wildwoods, for they shall consume the weapons with fire. Thus they will loot those who looted them, and plunder those who plundered them, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

11 It will come in that day that I shall give to Gog a place for a burying ground there in Israel: the Ravine of the Trespassers, east of the Sea; it will be blocked with the trespassers, for there they will entomb Gog and all his throng, and they will call it, Ravine of Hamon-gog.

12 The house of Israel will entomb them for seven months in order to cleanse the land.

13 All the people of the land will entomb them, and it will be to their renown in the day I am glorified, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

14 And they shall set apart men for continual employment to pass through the land to entomb any trespassers who are left on the surface of the land, so as to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they shall begin investigating.

15 When the searchers pass through the land, and one sees a human bone, he will build a cairn beside it to serve until those who entomb can entomb it in the Ravine of Hamon-gog.

16 ( Also the name of a city there is Hamonah.) Thus they will cleanse the land.

17 Now you, son of humanity (thus says my Lord Yahweh), say to the bird of every wing and to all the wild animals of the field: Convene and come! Gather from round about to My sacrifice which I am offering for you, a great sacrifice, on the mountains of Israel, and you will eat flesh and drink blood.

18 You shall eat the flesh of masters of war, and you shall drink the blood of earth’s princes: rams, butting lambs, he-goats, young bulls, fatlings of Bashan, all of them.

19 You will eat fat until surfeited and drink blood until drunk from My sacrifices which I have slaughtered for you.

20 You will be surfeited at My table with horse and chariot steed, with master and every man of war, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

21 I will bestow My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see My judgment which I execute and My hand which I lay on them.

22 Then the house of Israel will know that I am Yahweh their Elohim, from that day and beyond.

23 And the nations will know that those of the house of Israel were deported for their depravity, because they offended Me, so that I concealed My face from them and gave them into the hand of their foes, and they fell by the sword, all of them.

24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and according to their transgression when I concealed My face from them.

25 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: Now I shall reverse the captivity of Jacob, and I will have compassion on the whole house of Israel and will be jealous for My holy Name.

26 They will bear their mortification and all their offense, by which they offended Me, when they dwell on their ground in trust, and there is no one to make them tremble,

27 when I bring them back from the peoples and convene them from the lands of their enemies and am hallowed in them before the eyes of many nations.

28 Then they will know that I am Yahweh their Elohim when, after I had deported them among the nations, I collect them together on their ground and leave none of them behind there any longer.

29 I shall not conceal My face from them any longer when I pour out My spirit on the house of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 40

1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, on this very day the hand of Yahweh came on me, and He brought me there.

2 In appearances of Elohim He brought me to the land of Israel, and He rested me on a very lofty mountain, and on it was a citylike-building in the south.

3 He brought me there, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of copper. In his hand was a twined cord of flax and a measuring reed, and he was standing in the gateway.

4 The man spoke to me: Son of humanity, see with your eyes and hear with your ears, and set your heart on all that I shall show you, for you are brought hither that you might be shown; tell all that you see to the house of Israel.

5 Behold, there was a wall outside the house all around; the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six cubits (of a cubit and a handbreadth), and he measured the width of the structure: one reed; and the rise: one reed.

6 Then he entered the gateway which faced eastward, and ascended its steps; and he measured the threshold of the gateway: one reed wide (and another threshold: one reed wide),

7 then the anteroom: one reed long and one reed wide, and the space between the anterooms: five cubits, then the threshold of the gateway beside the portico of the gateway on the inside: one reed.

8 Then he measured the portico of the gateway:

9 eight cubits, and its pillars: two cubits; the portico of the gateway was on the inside.

10 There were anterooms of the gateway on the east side, three hence and three thence; each three of them had the same measure; also the pillars had the same measure hence and thence.

11 Then he measured the width of the portal of the gateway: ten cubits; the length of the gateway: thirteen cubits.

12 The boundary rail before the anterooms was one cubit hence, and one cubit for the boundary rail thence. The anteroom was six cubits hence and six cubits thence.

13 He also measured the gateway from the roof-level of one anteroom to its opposite roof-level, a width of twenty-five cubits, with one portal in front of the other portal. [

14 And he measured the facade of the portico: twenty cubits, and adjoining the portico was the court of the gateway, all around.]

15 From the facade of the gateway of arrival to the facade of the inner portico of the gateway was fifty cubits.

16 There were embrasured windows for the anterooms and for their portico on the inside of the gateway, all around; and thus for the portico there were windows all around on the inside; and on the pillars there were palms.

17 Then he brought me to the outside court, and behold, there were rooms and a pavement made about the court all around; thirty rooms were on the pavement.

18 The pavement ran along the flank of the gateways to correspond with the length of the gateways (this was the lower level pavement).

19 He measured the width of the court from the inward facade of the lower level gateway to the outside facade of the inner gateway, a hundred cubits, for the east. As for the north:

20 The gateway for the outside court which faced north, he measured its length and its width.

21 Its anterooms, three hence and three thence, and its pillars and its portico were as the measure of the first gateway; fifty cubits was its length, and the width was twenty-five cubits.

22 Its windows of its portico and its palms were as the measure of the gateway which faced east. They ascended to it by seven steps, and its portico was before them.

23 There was a gateway to the inner court in front of the north gateway, just as for the east, and he measured from gateway to gateway: a hundred cubits.

24 Then he conducted me the way to the south, and behold, there was a gateway on the south side; he measured its pillars and its portico, according to those previous measures.

25 It and its portico had windows all around, like the windows of those others. Its length was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits.

26 Also there were seven steps for its ascent, and its portico was before them; it had palms, one hence and one thence, on its pillars.

27 There was a gateway to the inner court on the south side, and he measured from gateway to gateway toward the south side, a hundred cubits.

28 After this he brought me to the inner court by the south gateway, and he measured the south gateway according to those previous measures.

29 Its anterooms and its pillars and its portico were according to those previous measures; it and its portico had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits and its width twenty-five cubits. [

30 There was a portico all around, twenty-five cubits in length and five cubits in width.]

31 Its portico was for the outside court, and there were palms on its pillars, and eight steps for its ascent.

32 He then brought me to the east side of the inner court, and he measured the gateway according to those previous measures.

33 Its anterooms and its pillars and its portico were also according to those previous measures; it and its portico had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and its width twenty-five cubits.

34 Its portico was for the outside court; there were palms on its pillars hence and thence, and eight steps for its ascent.

35 Then he brought me to the north gateway, and he measured according to those previous measures,

36 its anterooms, its pillars and its portico; it had windows all around. Its length was fifty cubits, and width twenty-five cubits.

37 Its portico was for the outside court; there were palms on its pillars hence and thence, and eight steps for its ascent.

38 There was a room with its opening into the portico of the gateway; there they rinsed out the ascent offering.

39 And in the portico of the gateway were two tables hence, and two tables thence, for slaying on them the ascent offering and the sin offering and the guilt offering.

40 Also at the shoulder outside, as one ascends to the portal of the north gateway were two tables, and at the other shoulder which was by the portico of the gateway were two tables.

41 So there were four tables hence, and four tables thence at the shoulder of the gateway, eight tables in all; on them they slew the sacrifices.

42 As for the four tables for the ascent offering, they were of trimmed stones, in length one and a half cubits, in width one and a half cubits, and in elevation one cubit; on them also they left the instruments with which they slew the ascent offering and the sacrifice.

43 There was a ridge of one handbreadth prepared on the inside all around; and on the tables was the flesh of the approach present.

44 There were two rooms outside the inner gateway in the inner court, one at the shoulder of the north gateway, facing south, and one at the shoulder of the south gateway facing north.

45 The man spoke to me: This room which has its face toward the south is for the priests who are keeping charge of the house;

46 and the room which has its face toward the north is for the priests who are keeping charge of the altar; they are the sons of Zadok who, of the sons of Levi, come near to Yahweh to minister to Him.

47 Then he measured the court, in length a hundred cubits, and in width a hundred cubits, square, with the altar before the house.

48 He then brought me to the portico of the house, and he measured each pillar of the portico, five cubits hence, and five cubits thence. The width of the gate entrance was fourteen cubits, and the shoulders of the gate entrance three cubits hence, and three cubits thence.

49 The length of the portico was twenty cubits, and the width twelve cubits; they ascended into it by ten steps, and there were columns by the pillars, one hence, and one thence.

Chapter 41

1 Then he brought me to the temple and measured the pillars. Six cubits in width hence, and six cubits in width thence was the width of the pillars.

2 The width of the portal was ten cubits, and the shoulders of the portal were five cubits hence, and five cubits thence. He measured the length of the temple, forty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits.

3 Next he entered inside and measured each pillar of the portal, two cubits, and the portal, six cubits, and the shoulders of the portal, seven cubits hence, and seven cubits thence.

4 He measured its length, twenty cubits, and its width, twenty cubits corresponding to the face of the temple. And he said to me, This is the holy of holies.

5 Then he measured the sidewall of the house, six cubits thick, and the width of the angle cell, four cubits all around the house round about.

6 The angle cells were on three levels, angle cell over angle cell, thirty times. There were support ledges along the sidewall of the house for the angle cells all around, to serve as holders, so that the rafters should not be held in the sidewall of the house.

7 The surrounding ramp for the angle cells widened upward and upward, for the structure surrounding the house led upward and upward all around the house; therefore the house had extra width upward. Thus one may ascend from the lower level to the uppermost by the middle.

8 I also saw that the house had an elevation all around, foundations for the angle cells, a full reed of six armlength cubits.

9 The width of the sidewall of the angle cell on the outside was five cubits, and the space left open between the angle cells of the house

10 and the rooms was twenty cubits in width round about the house all around.

11 The angle cell had portals to the space left open, one portal to the north side, and another portal to the south. The width of the barrier-wall all around the space left open was five cubits.

12 The building which stood at the edge of the west side overlooking the severance area was seventy cubits in width, and the sidewall of the building was five cubits in width all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

13 He then measured the house, a hundred cubits in length, and the severance area and the building and its sidewalls, a hundred cubits in length.

14 The width of the facade of the house and the severance area to the east was a hundred cubits.

15 He also measured the length of the building overlooking the severance area at its back with its ledgework, hence and thence, a hundred cubits. The temple inside and the portico of the court

16 were ceiled, and the embrasured windows and the ledgework round about had in their three parts in front of the threshold a wainscoting of wood all around, even from the earth unto the windows and the window coverings.

17 On the area above the portal and about the inner house and the outside and for all the sidewall all around both on the inner and the outside was a measured pattern.

18 It was made of cherubim and palms with a palm between cherub and cherub. Each cherub had two faces;

19 the face of a human turned toward the palm hence, and the face of a sheltered lion turned toward the palm thence; this was done for the entire house all around.

20 From the earth unto above the portal cherubim and palms were made, also on the sidewall of the temple.

21 The temple jamb was rectangular. Before the holy place was something in appearance like the appearance of

22 an altar of wood, three cubits in elevation, and its length was two cubits, and its width two cubits. It had cutout corners, and its socketed base and its sidewalls were of wood. And he spoke to me: This is the table which stands before Yahweh.

23 The temple had two doors, as also the holy place.

24 The two doors were double doors that turned about, double doors for the one door, and double doors for the other.

25 On them, on the doors of the temple were made cherubim and palms just as they were made on the sidewalls. Thick timber was on the facade of the portico outside.

26 There were embrasured windows and palms hence and thence on the shoulders of the portico and the angle cells of the house and the thick timbers.

Chapter 42

1 Then he brought me forth by way of the northern gate, into the outside court, and he brought me to the complex of rooms that was in front of the severance area and in front of the building to the north.

2 As for the facade, its length was a hundred cubits on the north edge, and the width was fifty cubits.

3 In front of the twenty cubits of the inner court and in front of the pavement of the outside court, it arose ledgework adjoining ledgework in three levels.

4 Before the rooms there was a walk of ten cubits’ width to the inner area; the length was a hundred cubits; Their portals were to the north.

5 The upper rooms were shortened, for the ledgework took away more space from them than from the lower and from the middle levels of the building.

6 For they were on three levels, and there were no columns for them like the columns of the courts. Therefore it was terraced from the earth as it rose from the lower and from the middle levels.

7 There was a barrier-wall that was outside to correspond with the rooms, going the way to the outside court before the rooms; its length was fifty cubits;

8 since the length of the rooms of the outside court was fifty cubits, hence adjoining the temple the total length was a hundred cubits.

9 The portals of these rooms were entries from the east for one who enters them from the outside court.

10 Along the width of the barrier-wall of the court on the south side before the severance area and before the building were other rooms,

11 with a pathway before them. They were in appearance like the rooms that were on the north side as to their length and their width, and in all their exits, and according to their layout, and according to their portals.

12 As for the portals of the rooms on the south side, there was a portal at the head of the rooms on the south side, there was a portal at the head of the pathway, the pathway along the face of the protective barrier-wall, for them to enter on the east side.

13 Then he said to me: The north rooms and the south rooms which are before the severance area, they are the holy rooms where the priests who come near to Yahweh shall eat the holiest of holy offerings; there they shall keep laid up the holiest of holy offerings: the approach present and the sin offering and the guilt offering, for the place is holy.

14 When the priests enter they shall not go forth from the holy place to the outside court until they shall keep laid up there their garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They shall clothe themselves with other garments before they come near to the place of the people.

15 When he had finished the measuring of the inner house, he brought me forth by way of the gateway that faced the east side, and he measured it all around.

16 He measured the side of the east wind with the measuring reed, five hundred reed cubits by the reed measure. Turning about,

17 he measured the side of the north wind, five hundred reed cubits by the reed measure. Turning about

18 to the side of the south wind, he measured five hundred reed cubits by the reed measure.

19 Then he turned about to the side of the west wind and measured five hundred reed cubits by the reed measure.

20 He measured it on the sides of all four winds. It had a wall all around, five hundred cubits in length and five hundred cubits in width, to separate the holy from the profane.

Chapter 43

1 Then he conducted me to a gate, the gate facing east.

2 And behold, the glory of the Elohim of Israel came from the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth was enlightened by His glory.

3 The appearance was like the appearance which I saw, like the very appearance I saw when He came to ruin the city, and the appearances were like the appearance which I saw by the stream Chebar. And I fell on my face.

4 The glory of Yahweh entered the house by way of the gate which faced east.

5 Then the spirit lifted me and brought me to the inner court. And behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house.

6 And I heard one speaking to me from the house while the man was standing beside me.

7 He said to me: Son of humanity, see the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I shall tabernacle in the midst of the sons of Israel for the eon. No longer shall the house of Israel defile My holy Name, they and their kings with their prostitutions and with the corpses of their kings in their sepulchers.

8 When they put their threshold by My threshold and their doorjamb beside My doorjamb with only a sidewall between Me and them, they defiled My holy Name with their abhorrences which they did, and I consumed them in My anger.

9 Now let them put their prostitutions and the corpses of their kings far from Me, and I will tabernacle in their midst for the eon.

10 You, son of humanity, tell the house of Israel of the house so that they may be mortified over their depravities when they measure its outline.

11 When they are mortified over all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house and its established arrangements, its exits and its entrances, all its forms and all its statutes, all its forms and all its laws, and write it down before their eyes that they may observe all its forms and all its statutes and do them.

12 This is the law of the house: On the summit of the mountain, all its territory all around is a holy of holies. Behold, this is the law of the house.

13 Now these are the measures of the altar, in cubits where a cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth: The collecting-trench is one cubit deep and a cubit wide, with its boundary rim of one span around its lip. And this is the elevation of the altar:

14 From the collecting-trench on the earth unto the lower ledge is two cubits, and the width one cubit; and from the small ledge unto the great ledge is four cubits, and the width one cubit.

15 The altar-hearth-of El is four cubits high, and from the altar-hearth-of-El upward are four horns.

16 The altar-hearth-of-El is twelve cubits long by twelve cubits wide, a square with its four sides.

17 The ledge is fourteen cubits long by fourteen cubits wide on its four sides, and the boundary rim around it is half a cubit, and its collecting-trench round about is a cubit; its steps face east.

18 Then he said to me, Son of humanity, thus says my Lord Yahweh: These are the statutes of the altar in the day it is made to offer up the ascent offering on it and to sprinkle blood on it.

19 You will give to the priests, the Levites, they who are of the seed of Zadok, who come near to Me, averring is My Lord Yahweh, to minister to Me, a bull calf of the herd for a sin offering.

20 You will take of its blood and put it on its four horns and on the four corners of the ledge and on the boundary rim round about; thus you will make a sin offering for it and a propitiatory shelter for it.

21 Then you will take the young bull of the sin offering, and one must burn it in an appointed place of the house outside the sanctuary.

22 On the second day you shall bring near a flawless hairy goat for a sin offering, and they will purify the altar from sin just as they purified it from sin with the young bull.

23 When you finish with purifying it from sin, you shall bring near a flawless bull calf of the herd and a flawless ram of the flock.

24 You will bring them near before Yahweh, and the priests will fling salt on them and offer them up for an ascent offering to Yahweh.

25 Seven days shall you daily prepare a hairy goat as a sin offering; they also shall prepare a bull calf of the herd, and a ram of the flock, flawless ones.

26 Seven days shall they make a propitiatory shelter for the altar, and cleanse it; thus they will consecrate it.

27 When they conclude the days it will come on the eighth day and beyond that the priests shall offer your ascent offerings and your peace offerings on the altar, and I will accept you, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 44

1 Then he brought me back the way of the outside gate of the sanctuary which faced east, yet it was locked.

2 And Yahweh said to me: This gate shall remain locked. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter by it, for Yahweh Elohim of Israel entered by it; so it will remain locked.

3 It is for the prince; the prince, he shall sit in it to eat bread before Yahweh. He shall enter by way of the portico of the gateway, and by that way he shall go forth.

4 Then he brought me by way of the north gateway before the house. I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh, and I fell on my face.

5 Yahweh said to me: Son of humanity, set your heart, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I am speaking to you about all the statutes of the house of Yahweh, and about all its laws; set your heart upon the entry of the house with all the exits of the sanctuary.

6 You will say to the rebellious house, to the house of Israel, Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Enough of you! with all your abhorrences, house of Israel,

7 when you bring sons of foreigners, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, to come into My sanctuary to profane it, My house, when you bring near My bread, the fat and the blood; thus you annul My covenant by all your abhorrences.

8 You have not kept the charge of My holy things but place foreigners as the keepers of My charge in My sanctuary for you.

9 Thus says My Lord Yahweh: Any son of a foreigner, uncircumcised of heart and uncircumcised of flesh, shall not enter My sanctuary, indeed any son of a foreigner who is in the midst of the sons of Israel;

10 but rather the Levites who wandered far from Me when Israel strayed, they who strayed from Me after their idol clods, they will bear their depravity.

11 They will be ministers in My sanctuary, with the supervision for the gateways of the house, and ministers for the house. They shall slay the ascent offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

12 Because they ministered to them before their idol clods and they became a stumbling block of depravity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted My hand against them, averring is my Lord Yahweh, and they will bear their depravity.

13 They shall not come close to Me to serve Me as priests or to come close to any of My holy things, to the holies of holies. They will bear their mortification and their abhorrences which they have done.

14 I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all its service and everything which must be done in it.

15 Yet the Levitical priests, sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel strayed from Me, they shall come near to Me to minister to Me, and they will stand before Me to offer to Me the fat and the blood, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

16 They shall come into My sanctuary, and they shall come near to My table, to minister to Me, and they will keep My charge.

17 It will be when they come to the gateways of the inner court, they shall be clothed with flaxen garments, and no wool shall be on them when they minister in the gateways of the inner court and within the house.

18 Beautiful flaxen turbans shall be on their heads, and flaxen breeches shall be on their waists; they shall not be girded so as to sweat.

19 Yet when they go forth into the outside court, to the outside court to the people, they shall strip off their garments in which they were ministering, and they will leave them in the holy rooms and clothe themselves with other garments so that they do not make the people holy with their garments.

20 They shall not shave their heads nor let their locks go; they shall poll, yea poll their heads.

21 For every priest: They shall not drink wine when they come into the inner court.

22 Also they shall not take a widow or one driven out to themselves as wives, but rather virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; yet they may take the widow who had become a widow of a priest.

23 They shall direct My people to distinguish between the holy and the profane, and they shall inform them the difference between the unclean and the clean.

24 In a controversy it is they who shall officiate in judgment; in accord with My ordinances, thus they will judge it; My laws and My statutes shall they observe at all My appointed times, and My sabbaths shall they hallow.

25 A priest shall not come where there is a dead person, defiling himself; only for father or for mother, for son or for daughter, for brother or for a sister who has no husband shall they defile themselves.

26 After his cleansing they shall number seven days for him;

27 and in the day he enters the holy place, into the inner court to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his sin offering, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

28 This will become theirs for an allotment, for I am their Allotment; you shall not give them a holding in Israel, for I am their Holding.

29 The approach present, the sin offering and the guilt offering, they shall eat them, and every devoted thing in Israel shall become theirs.

30 The first of all the firstfruits of all, and every heave offering of all, from all your heave offerings, it shall become the priests’. And the first of your coarse meal you shall give to the priest that a blessing may rest on your house.

31 The priests shall not eat anything having died of itself or torn to pieces, of fowl or of beast.

Chapter 45

1 When you cast lots for the land as an allotment, you shall set aside as a heave offering to Yahweh a holy portion of the land, in length 25,000 cubits long, and 10,000 in width. It shall be holy in all its boundary round about.

2 From this shall be reserved for the sanctuary a portion 500 cubits by 500 cubits square, round about, with 50 cubits for its common, round about.

3 From this measured section you shall measure off a portion 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width, and within it shall be the sanctuary, a holy of holies.

4 It is a holy portion of the land for the priests who minister in the sanctuary; it shall be for those who come near to minister to Yahweh. For them it shall be a place for houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 A portion 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width shall be for the Levites who minister in the house, for them as a holding, for cities to dwell in.

6 As a holding of the city you shall assign a portion 5,000 cubits in width and 25,000 in length to correspond with the holy heave offering portion; it shall be for all the house of Israel.

7 The prince shall have a portion on this and on that side of the holy heave offering portion and of the holding of the city, adjoining the holy heave offering portion and adjoining the holding of the city on the west edge westward and on the east edge eastward, and in length to correspond with one of the tribal portions from the west boundary to the east boundary

8 of the land. It shall be his as a holding in Israel; hence My princes shall not tyrannize My people any more, and they shall leave the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: Enough of you, princes of Israel! Put away violence and devastation, and execute right judgment and justice. Heave away your oustings of My people, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

10 You shall use just scales and a just ephah and a just bath measure.

11 The ephah and the bath shall hold one regular measurement, so that the bath carries one tenth of a homer, and the ephah one tenth of a homer. Its regular measurement shall be based on the homer.

12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs, five shekels shall be five, and ten shekels shall be ten, and fifty shekels shall be a mina for you.

13 This is the heave offering which you shall raise up: one sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and you will give one sixth of an ephah from a homer of barley;

14 and the statutory allowance of oil, the oil measured by the bath: one tenth of a bath from the cor (as ten baths are a homer, so ten baths are a cor).

15 Also one flockling from a flock of two hundred, from the families of Israel shall be due for an approach present and for an ascent offering and for peace offerings to make a propitiatory shelter over them, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

16 All the people of the land shall be obliged to provide this heave offering for the prince in Israel.

17 Yet on the prince’s part, he shall be obliged for the ascent offerings and the approach present and the libation on the festivals and new moons and sabbaths and on all the appointed assemblies of the house of Israel. He shall provide the sin offering, the approach present, the ascent offering and the peace offerings to make a propitiatory shelter on behalf of the house of Israel.

18 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: In the first month, on day one of the month, you shall take a flawless bull calf of the herd and purify the sanctuary from sin.

19 The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorjambs of the house and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the jambs of the gateway of the inner court.

20 So also shall you do on the seventh of the month for anyone who has erred and for the simple. Thus you will make a propitiatory shelter for the house.

21 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month you shall hold the passover festival; for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22 On that day the prince will provide on behalf of himself and on behalf of all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering.

23 Through the seven days of the festival he shall provide daily for seven days an ascent offering to Yahweh, seven young bulls and seven rams, flawless, and a hairy goat daily for a sin offering;

24 and he shall provide as an approach present an ephah of flour for each young bull, and an ephah of flour for each ram, with a hin of oil for each ephah.

25 In the seventh month from the fifteenth day of the month, in the festival of the seven days, he shall provide these same as the sin offering, as the ascent offering, as the approach present and oil.

Chapter 46

1 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: The gate of the inner court facing east shall be locked on the six days of work, yet on the day of the sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened.

2 Then the prince will enter by way of the portico of the gateway outside and stand at the doorjamb of the gate while the priests present his ascent offering and his peace offerings, and he will worship at the sill of the gate and then go forth. Yet the gate shall not be locked until the evening.

3 Also the people of the land will worship before Yahweh at the portal of that gateway on sabbaths and new moons.

4 The ascent offering which the prince shall offer to Yahweh on the sabbath day will be six flawless he-lambs and a flawless ram,

5 with an approach present of an ephah of flour for the ram, and for the he-lambs the approach present will be the gift of his hand and a hin of oil for each ephah.

6 On the day of the new moon it will be a flawless bull calf of the herd and six he-lambs and a ram; they shall be flawless.

7 And he shall provide an approach present of an ephah of flour for the young bull and an ephah for the ram, and for the he-lambs he will give whatever his hand can afford and a hin of oil for each ephah.

8 When the prince enters, he shall come by way of the portico of the gateway, and by the same way he shall go forth.

9 Yet when the people of the land enter before Yahweh at the appointed times, whoever enters by way of the north gateway to worship shall go forth by way of the south gateway, and whoever enters by way of the south gateway shall go forth by way of the north gateway. He shall not return by way of the gateway through which he entered but shall go forth straight ahead of him.

10 Yet when they enter the prince shall enter in their midst, and when they go forth he shall go forth.

11 On the festivals and the appointed assemblies, the approach present shall be an ephah of flour for the young bull and an ephah of flour for the ram, and for the he-lambs a gift of his hand, and a hin of oil for each ephah.

12 When the prince shall present a voluntary ascent offering or voluntary peace offerings to Yahweh, then the gate facing the east will be opened for him, and he will present his ascent offering and his peace offerings just as he shall do on the sabbath day. Then he will go forth, and after he goes forth the gate will be locked.

13 You shall present daily a year-old, flawless he-lamb, an ascent offering to Yahweh; morning by morning shall you present it.

14 And you shall present an approach present with it, morning by morning, a sixth of an ephah of flour and a third of a hin of oil to moisten the flour, an approach present to Yahweh, a statute of eonian continuance.

15 They will present the he-lamb and the approach present and the oil morning by morning, a continual ascent offering.

16 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: If the prince gives a gift out of his allotment to any of his sons, it shall pass to his sons; it is their holding by allotment.

17 Yet if he gives a gift out of his allotment to one of his servants, then it will belong to him until the year of liberty when it will return to the prince. His allotment is for his sons only; it shall become theirs.

18 The prince shall not take from the allotment of the people, tyrannizing them out of their holding; out of his own holding shall he give allotments to his sons so that My people may not be scattered, each from his holding.

19 Then he brought me through the entry which was on the shoulder of the gateway to the holy rooms for the priests which face northward, and behold, there was a place in the flanks westward.

20 And he said to me, This is the place where the priests shall cook the guilt and the sin offerings, and where they shall bake the approach present so as not to bring them forth into the outside court and so hallow the people.

21 Then he brought me forth to the outside court and led me to the four cutout corners of the court, and behold, there was a court in each cutout corner of the court, a court in each cutout corner of the court.

22 In the four cutout corners of the court were small courts forty cubits in length and thirty in width; these four cutout corners were of one measure.

23 There was a row of stone round about in them, round about for these four, and there were cooking places made below the rows round about.

24 And he said to me, These are areas for cooking where the ministers of the house shall cook the sacrifices of the people.

Chapter 47

1 He brought me back to the portal of the house. And behold, there was water coming forth from under the sill of the house eastward, for the facade of the house faced east; the water descended from underneath along the right shoulder of the house, south of the altar.

2 Then he brought me forth by way of the north gateway and led me around on the outside to the outside gateway that faced the direction of the east, and behold, water was spouting from the right shoulder.

3 As the man went forth to the east with a measuring tape in his hand he measured 1,000 cubits and had me pass through the water; the water came to the ankles.

4 He measured another 1,000 cubits and had me pass through the water; the water came to the knees. He measured a further 1,000 cubits and had me pass through water to the waist.

5 When he measured another 1,000 cubits it was a torrent which I was not able to cross, for the waters had grown to become waters for swimming, a torrent which could not be crossed.

6 He said to me, Do you see, son of humanity? And he conducted me and brought me back to the ridge of the watercourse.

7 When I got back, behold, there were very many trees on the ridge of the watercourse, on this side and on that side.

8 And he said to me: These waters go forth toward the eastern circuit and descend to the Arabah where they enter the sea; these being brought forth into the sea, the waters there are healed.

9 It will come to be that every living soul that swarms wherever the watercourse is coming shall live, and there will be very many fish, for these waters will come there; the waters shall be healed, and everything will live wherever the watercourse shall come.

10 It will come to be that fishermen shall stand beside it; from En-gedi unto En-eglaim there shall be places for spreading out seine nets; according to its many kinds its fish shall be like the fish of the Great Sea, very many.

11 Its marshes and its pools, however, shall not be healed; they will be left for salt.

12 By the watercourse along its ridge on this side and on that side shall grow up every food tree. Its leaf shall not decay, nor shall its fruit come to end; for each of its months it shall yield firstfruit, for its waters are they which go forth from the sanctuary; its fruit will be for food and its leaf for healing.

13 Thus says my Lord Yahweh: This is the boundary in which you shall allot the land for the twelve tribes of Israel (Joseph having two districts).

14 You will allot it to each as to his brother. As I lifted My hand in swearing to give it to your fathers so will this land fall to you by allotment.

15 This is the boundary of the land: On the northward edge: From the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to Lebo-hamath, Zedad,

16 Berothah and Sibraim which is between the boundary of Damascus and the boundary of Hamath, to Hazar-hatticon which is on the boundary of Hauran.

17 So the boundary comes from the Sea to Hazar-enan, to the north of the boundary of Damascus, with the boundary of Hamath to the north of it. This is the north edge.

18 And the east edge: From between Hauran and Damascus and between Gilead and the land of Israel with the Jordan as the boundary you shall measure to the eastern sea. This is the eastward edge.

19 And the south edge southward: From Tamar unto the waters of Meribah at Kadesh, to the Wadi and on to the Great Sea. This is the southward edge, to the south.

20 And the west edge: The Great Sea is the boundary unto a point over against Lebo-hamath. This is the west edge.

21 You will apportion this land for yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.

22 So it will be that you shall allocate it as an allotment for yourselves and for the sojourners who are sojourning in your midst, who beget sons in your midst. They will be to you as natives among the sons of Israel; with you they shall be allocated an allotment in the midst of the tribes of Israel.

23 It will be that the tribe in which the sojourner sojourns, there shall you give him his allotment, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

Chapter 48

1 These are the names of the tribes: At the northward end along the Hethlon road from Lebo-hamath to Hazar-enan, and the boundary of Damascus northward by the Hamath side, these areas shall be his from the east edge unto the west: Dan, one.

2 Adjoining the boundary of Dan, from the east edge unto the westward edge: Asher, one.

3 Adjoining the boundary of Asher, from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Naphtali, one.

4 Adjoining the boundary of Naphtali from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Manasseh, one.

5 Adjoining the boundary of Manasseh from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Ephraim, one.

6 Adjoining the boundary of Ephraim from the east edge unto the westward edge: Reuben, one.

7 Adjoining the boundary of Reuben from the east edge unto the westward edge: Judah, one.

8 Adjoining the boundary of Judah from the east edge unto the westward edge shall be the heave offering portion which you shall raise up 25,000 cubits in width, and in length as one of the tribal portions, from the eastward edge unto the westward edge, and the sanctuary will lie in its midst.

9 The heave offering which you shall raise up to Yahweh shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width.

10 The holy heave offering shall be assigned to these: For the priests, a portion northward of 25,000 cubits long, and westward of 10,000 in width, and eastward of 10,000 in width, and southward of 25,000 in length, and Yahweh’s sanctuary will lie in its midst.

11 This hallowed area shall be for the priests of the sons of Zadok, who kept My charge, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray, even as the Levites went astray.

12 It will be a special heave offering for them out of the heave offering of the land, a holy of holies adjoining the boundary of the Levites.

13 For the Levites: A portion abreast of the boundary of the priests, 25,000 cubits in length, and 10,000 in width. The whole length shall be 25,000 cubits, and the width 10,000 cubits.

14 They shall not sell any of it, nor exchange it, nor transfer this principal piece of the land, for it is holy to Yahweh.

15 As for the rest, 5,000 cubits in width by 25,000 in length, it is profane, for the city, for dwellings and for common pasture land. The city shall be in its midst,

16 and these are its measurements: The north edge shall be 4,500 cubits, and the south edge 4,500 cubits, and the east edge 4,500 cubits, and the west edge 4,500 cubits.

17 The common pasture land for the city will spread northward 250 cubits, and southward 250 cubits, and eastward 250 cubits, and westward 250 cubits.

18 The rest will lie in length abreast the holy heave offering 10,000 cubits eastward and 10,000 cubits westward; it will lie abreast the holy heave offering, and its harvest yield will be for bread for those who serve the city,

19 and the force that serves the city from all the tribes of Israel shall cultivate it.

20 The entire heave offering will be 25,000 by 25,000 cubits; you shall set aside the holy heave offering as a square along with the holding of the city.

21 The rest is for the prince, on this and on that side of the holy heave offering and of the holding of the city adjoining the 25,000 cubits of the heave offering unto the boundary eastward, and westward adjoining the 25,000 cubits unto the boundary westward, corresponding to the tribal portions; this is for the prince. The holy heave offering and the sanctuary of the house will lie in its midst,

22 also the holding of the Levites as well as the holding of the city, in the midst of what belongs to the prince; the rest that shall lie between the boundary of Judah and the boundary of Benjamin, it shall belong to the prince.

23 As for the rest of the tribes: From the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Benjamin, one.

24 Adjoining the boundary of Benjamin from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Simeon, one.

25 Adjoining the boundary of Simeon from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Issachar, one.

26 Adjoining the boundary of Issachar from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Zebulun, one.

27 Adjoining the boundary of Zebulun from the eastward edge unto the westward edge: Gad, one.

28 Adjoining the boundary of Gad on the south edge southward will run the boundary from Tamar unto the waters of Meribah at Kadesh to the Wadi on to the Great Sea.

29 That is the land which you shall allocate as an allotment for the tribes of Israel, and those are their portions, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

30 These are the exits of the city: On the north edge, 4,500 cubits in measurement,

31 the gates of the city (with the names of the tribes of Israel) will be three gates facing northward: The gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.

32 On the eastward edge of 4,500 cubits will be three gates: The gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.

33 The southward edge of 4,500 cubits in measurement will have three gates: The gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.

34 The westward edge of 4,500 cubits will have three gates: The gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.

35 Round about it will be 18,000 cubits. And the name of the city from that day on will be: Yahweh-is-there.

The Book of Daniel

Chapter 1

1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebucadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

2 Yet Yahweh gave into his hand Jehoiakim king of Judah and some of the furnishings of the house of Elohim. Then he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his elohim; he brought the furnishings to the treasure house of his elohim.

3 The king said to Ashpenaz the grandee of his eunuchs to bring some of the sons of the grandees of Israel, of the seed royal and of the highborn,

4 boys in whom there was no blemish at all, who were of good appearance, intelligent in all wisdom, acquainted with knowledge and giving consideration to what is known, who had vigor in them to stand in the palace before the king, and to teach them the script and language of the Chaldeans.

5 The king assigned to them the day’s menu in its day, from the dainties of the king and from the wine of his drink. They were to grow up three years that at their end they might stand before the king.

6 Now there were among them some of the sons of Judah, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

7 When the chief of the eunuchs assigned names to them, he assigned to Daniel the name of Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abed-nego.

8 Yet Daniel determined in his heart that he should not sully himself with the dainties of the king and with the wine of his drink. So he sought permission from the chief of the eunuchs that he might not sully himself.

9 The One, Elohim, granted Daniel kindness and compassion before the chief of the eunuchs.

10 Yet the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I am in fear of my lord the king, who assigned your food and your drink. Why should he see your faces more languid and feeble than the other boys who are of your deportation? You shall put my head in jeopardy with the king.

11 So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had assigned over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,

12 I pray, try out your servants for ten days. Let them give us of the seed-foods of the land that we may eat, and water that we may drink.

13 Let our appearance be seen before you, and the appearance of the boys who are eating the king’s dainties. According to what you shall see, do with your servants.

14 Now he hearkened to them in this matter and tried them out for ten days.

15 And at the end of the ten days their appearance was seen to be better and plumper in flesh than any of the boys who were eating the king’s dainties.

16 So the steward kept on carrying their dainties away and the wine of their drink, and was giving them seed-foods.

17 As for these boys, the four of them, the One, Elohim, gave them knowledge and intelligence in every script, as well as wisdom; and Daniel himself had understanding in every vision and in dreams.

18 Then at the end of the days when the king had said to bring them in, the chief of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.

19 The king spoke with them, and of them all, none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Therefore they were standing before the king.

20 For in every matter of wisdom and understanding which the king sought of them, he found them tenfold superior to all the sacred scribes and magi that were in all his kingdom. Hence the king honored them and constituted them chiefs.

21 Thus Daniel continued on until year one of Cyrus king of Persia.

Chapter 2

1 In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; his spirit was agitated, and his sleep was taken from him.

2 So the king said to call the sacred scribes and the magi, the enchanters and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. When they came and stood before the king,

3 then the king said to them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is agitated to know the dream.

4 The Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: O king, live for eons! Tell your servants the dream, and we shall disclose the interpretation.

5 The king was answering and saying to the Chaldeans: The matter has departed from me. Should you not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be dismembered, and the confiscation of your houses shall be promulgated.

6 Yet should you disclose the dream and its interpretation to me, you shall receive gifts and a reward and great esteem before me. Only disclose the dream and its interpretation.

7 They answered a second time and were saying, Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we shall disclose the interpretation.

8 The king was answering and saying: I know for certain that you would gain time, forasmuch as you have perceived that the matter has departed from me.

9 For should you not make the dream known to me, there is but one edict for you. You have agreed together to say before me a lying and corrupt matter, until the time shall alter itself. Only tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can disclose its interpretation to me.

10 The Chaldeans answered before the king and were saying: There is no mortal on earth who is able to disclose the king’s matter, forasmuch as any other king, grandee or authority has never asked a matter such as this of any sacred scribe or magus or Chaldean.

11 The matter that the king is asking is heavy and extraordinary. There is no other who shall disclose it before the king, only the elohim whose abode actually is not with any flesh.

12 Wherefore the king was angry and had great wrath, and he said to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

13 Then the edict came forth to despatch all the wise men; and they sought Daniel and all his partners to be despatched.

14 Then Daniel replied with counsel and tact to Arioch the grandee of the king’s bodyguards who had come forth to despatch the wise men of Babylon.

15 He was responding and saying to Arioch who had the king’s authority, Why is the edict before the king so urgent? Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.

16 So Daniel himself went in and petitioned the king that he should give him a stated time to disclose all the interpretation to the king.

17 Then Daniel departed to his house and made all the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, his partners.

18 And he charged them to petition for compassions before the Eloah of the heavens concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his partners should not perish with the remaining wise men of Babylon.

19 Then the secret of the king was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the Eloah of the heavens.

20 Daniel was responding and saying: Blessed be the Name of Him Who is the Eloah, from the eon and unto the eon, for the wisdom and the mastery that are His.

21 He is altering the eras and the stated times, causing kings to pass away and causing kings to rise, granting wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those knowing understanding.

22 He is revealing the deep and the concealed things, knowing what is in the darkness, and the stream of light with Him unties knots.

23 To You, O Eloah of my fathers, I am acclaiming and lauding, for wisdom and mastery have You granted to me. And now You have made known to me what we petitioned of You, for the king’s matter have You made known to us.

24 Wherefore Daniel himself went in to Arioch, whom the king had assigned to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. He departed and said this to him: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I shall disclose the interpretation to the king.

25 Then Arioch, in a fluster, brought Daniel in before the king and said this to him, I have found a wise master of the sons of the deportation of Judah who shall make known the interpretation to the king.

26 The king was responding and saying to Daniel, whose Chaldaic name was Belteshazzar: Are you able to make known to me the dream that I perceived, and its interpretation?

27 Daniel was answering before the king and saying: The secret that the king is asking no wise men, magi, sacred scribes or hieromancers are able to disclose it to the king.

28 But there is Eloah in the heavens Who reveals secrets; and He makes known to king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head on your bed it is this:

29 As for you O king, your ruminations on your bed came up regarding what shall occur after this; and the Revealer of secrets makes known to you what shall occur.

30 As for me, this secret was revealed to me not by wisdom that is in me more than in any other of the living. It was only to the intent that the interpretation be made known to the king, and that you should know the ruminations of your heart.

31 You, O king, you were perceiving, and lo, one great image. This image was grand, its aspect excelling, set up in your view, and its appearance was terrifying.

32 This image, its head was of good gold, its chest and its arms were of silver, its belly and its thighs of copper,

33 its legs of iron, its feet, part of them of iron and part of them of clay.

34 You were perceiving until a stone was severed from a mountain, not by hands, and it collided with the image at its feet of iron and clay and pulverized them.

35 Then, all at once, the iron, the clay, the copper, the silver and the gold were pulverized and became as chaff from summer threshing sites; and the wind lifted them up, and no trace at all was found of them. And the stone that collided with the image became a vast mountain range and filled the whole earth.

36 This is the dream, and its interpretation shall we state before the king.

37 You, O king, are the king of kings, you to whom the Eloah of the heavens has granted a safeguarded kingdom, and might and honor and esteem.

38 Wherever they are abiding, the sons of mortals, the animal of the field, the flyer of the heavens and the fish of the sea, He has granted them into your hand and has given you authority over them all. You yourself are the head of gold.

39 In your place another kingdom shall arise, inferior to you, that is silver; and another kingdom, the third, that is copper, which shall have authority in all the earth.

40 The fourth kingdom shall be mighty as iron; forasmuch as iron is pulverizing and overcoming everything, so, like iron that smashes, it shall pulverize and smash all these.

41 As you perceived the feet and toes, part of them of potter’s clay, and part of them of iron, so shall the kingdom be composite. Some of the stability of iron shall be in it, forasmuch as you perceived the iron mixed with the muddy clay.

42 As for the toes of the feet, part of them of iron and part of them of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly mighty, yet part of it shall be frail.

43 As you perceived the iron mixed with the muddy clay, so they shall be mixed together, wealth with the armed force of the mortal. Yet to wealth they shall not be clinging, this one with that one, even as iron does not mix with clay.

44 In their days, that is, of these kings, the Eloah of the heavens shall set up a kingdom that for the eons shall not come to harm, nor shall His kingdom be left to another people. It shall pulverize and terminate all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for the eons.

45 Forasmuch as you perceived that a stone was severed from the mountain range, that is, not by hands, and it pulverized the iron, the copper, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great Eloah Himself has made known to the king what shall occur after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation faithful.

46 Then king Nebuchadnezzar himself fell on his face and bowed down to Daniel, and he ordered that an approach present and fragrant incense be offered up to him.

47 The king was responding to Daniel and saying, In verity, your Eloah, He is the Eloah of elohim, the Lord of kings, and the only Revealer of hidden secrets, for you were able to reveal this secret.

48 Then the king elevated Daniel and granted to him immense, huge gifts; he gave him authority over the entire province of Babylon and made him grandee of the prefects who were over all the wise men of Babylon.

49 As for Daniel, he petitioned the king, and he assigned Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego over the administration of the province of Babylon. Yet Daniel was in the gateway of the king.

Chapter 3

1 In the eighteenth year king Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold; its height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up in the Dura valley in the province of Babylon.

2 Then king Nebuchadnezzar sent to assemble all the nations and leagues and language-groups: the satraps, the prefects and the viceroys, the noble hieromancers, the governors, the magistrates, the jurists and all the authorities of the provinces, to arrive for the dedication of the image that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

3 Then the satraps, the prefects and the viceroys, the noble hieromancers, the governors, the magistrates, the jurists and all the authorities of the provinces were assembling themselves for the dedication of the image that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up. And those registered were standing, viewing the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

4 Then the herald was calling with potency to the throng: You are ordered, nations, peoples, leagues and language-groups!

5 As soon as you shall hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the psalteries in concert all sorts of music you shall fall down and worship the golden image that king Nebuchadnezzar has set up.

6 Whoever does not fall down and worship, shall in the same hour be heaved into the midst of the glowing, flaming furnace.

7 Wherefore, at the same stated time as all the peoples were hearing the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the psalteries in concert all sorts of music all the peoples, leagues and language-groups were falling down and worshiping the golden image that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

8 Wherefore, at that same stated time, certain Chaldean masters drew near and maliciously accused the Jews.

9 They responded and were saying to king Nebuchadnezzar: O lord king, live for the eons!

10 You yourself, O king, have promulgated a decree that every mortal that shall hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the psalteries in concert all sorts of music shall fall down and worship the golden image.

11 And whoever should not fall down and worship the golden image shall be heaved into the midst of the glowing, flaming furnace.

12 There are the Judean masters, they whom you assigned over the administration of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. These masters did not act on your decree, O king; they are not serving your elohim and are not worshiping the golden image that you set up.

13 Then Nebuchadnezzar, in anger and fury, ordered to bring hither Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. Then these Judean masters were brought hither before the king.

14 Nebuchadnezzar was responding and saying to them: Is it intentional, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that you are not serving my elohim and are not worshiping the golden image that I had set up?

15 Now if you are ready, then, as soon as you hear the sound of the horn, the pipe, the lyre, the trigon, the psaltries in concert all sorts of music you shall fall down and worship the golden image that I made. And if you should not worship, in the same hour you shall be heaved into the midst of the glowing, flaming furnace. And who is that eloah that shall deliver you from my hands?

16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego answered and said to the king: O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to reply to you concerning this rescript.

17 If it is to be, our Eloah in the heavens Whom we are serving, He is able to deliver us from a glowing, flaming furnace; and from your hand, O king, shall He deliver us.

18 But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that your elohim are not those we are serving, and the golden image that you have set up we shall not worship.

19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was so filled with fury that the mien of his visage was altered against Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. He was responding and ordered to heat the furnace seven units over its customary heat.

20 And to some strong masters of valor that were in his army, he said to truss up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and to heave them into the glowing, flaming furnace.

21 Then they trussed up these three Judean masters in their mantles, their turbans on their heads, their garb and their other clothing, and they were heaved into the midst of the glowing, flaming furnace.

22 Wherefore, because the king’s matter was urgent and the furnace was heated exceedingly, these masters who hoisted Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, they were the ones whom the flare of the flame despatched.

23 But these other masters, the three of them, Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, fell trussed up into the midst of the glowing, flaming furnace.

24 Yet they were walking in the midst of the flame, singing hymns to Eloah and blessing Yahweh. Then king Nebuchadnezzar was alarmed, and he arose in a fluster. He was responding and saying to his retinue, Did we not heave three masters trussed up into the midst of the flame? They were answering and saying to the king, Certainly, O king.

25 He was responding and saying, Aha! I am perceiving four masters, untied, walking about in the midst of the flame, and there they are, unharmed! And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the elohim.

26 Then king Nebuchadnezzar drew near to the door of the glowing, flaming furnace, responding and saying: Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, servants of Him Who is the Supreme Eloah, step out and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego were stepping out from the midst of the flame.

27 Now the satraps, prefects and viceroys and the king’s retinue were assembling themselves and perceiving these masters, that the flame had had no authority over their frames: The hair of their head was not singed, even their mantles were not altered, and the smell of flame had not come on them.

28 King Nebuchadnezzar was responding and saying: Blessed be their Eloah, the One of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, Who sent His messenger and delivered His servants who were relying on Him when they altered the king’s declaration. They granted their frames to the flame since they would neither serve nor worship any other eloah, only their Eloah.

29 Now a decree shall be promulgated from me that anyone of any people, league or language-group who speaks carelessly against their Eloah, the One of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, shall be dismembered, and his house shall be reduced to ruins, forasmuch as there is not another Eloah Who is able to rescue as this One.

30 Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego to prosper in the province of Babylon. And he promoted them and deemed them worthy to govern all the Jews who were in his kingdom.

Chapter 4

1 King Nebuchadnezzar to all peoples, leagues and language-groups that are abiding in the entire earth: Your well-being be growing great!

2 The signs and the amazing deeds that the Supreme Eloah had done for me, it is seemly before me to disclose them to you.

3 How immense are His signs, and how mighty His amazing deeds! His kingdom is an eonian kingdom, and His jurisdiction is with generation after generation.

4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.

5 There was a dream that I perceived, and it was terrifying me; there were portents on my bed and visions of my head that were flustering me.

6 So a decree was promulgated from me to bring in before me all the wise men of Babylon that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.

7 Then the sacred scribes, the magi, the Chaldeans and the hieromancers came in; and I was stating the dream before them, yet they could not make known to me its interpretation.

8 Then last of all, Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar, after the name of my eloah, and in whom is the spirit of the holy elohim; and I stated the dream before him, saying:

9 Belteshazzar, grandee of the sacred scribes, since I myself know that the spirit of the holy elohim is in you, and no secret at all bothers you, hear the visions of my dream that I perceived, and state its interpretation to me.

10 Now the visions of my head on my bed were these: I was perceiving, and lo, an oak in the midst of the earth, and its height was enormous.

11 The oak grew and became mighty; its height reached to the heavens, and it was perceptible to the extremity of the entire earth.

12 Its foliage was seemly, its pollinated fruit was abundant, and there was sustenance for all in it. Under it the animals of the field found shade, in its boughs the birds of the heavens were abiding, and from it all flesh had sustenance for itself.

13 I was perceiving in the visions of my head on my bed, and lo, a holy rouser was alighting from the heavens.

14 He was calling with potency, and this is what he was saying: Slash down the oak, and cut away its boughs; shake off its foliage and scatter its pollinated fruit. Let the animals flee from under it and the birds from its boughs.

15 But the stump with its roots leave in the earth, clamped with a bond of iron and copper in the verdure of the field. Let him be wet with the night mist of the heavens, and let his portion be with the animals in the herbage of the earth.

16 Let his heart be altered from that of a mortal’s, and let the heart of an animal be granted to him. Thus let seven seasons pass on over him.

17 By the severance decree of the rousers is the rescript, and by the statement of the saints is the request, to the intent that the living may know that the Supreme is in authority in the kingdom of mortals, and He gives it to whomsoever He will, and He sets up over it a lowly one of mortals.

18 This was the dream that I, king Nebuchadnezzar, perceived. Now you, Belteshazzar, state the interpretation forasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make the interpretation known to me. Yet you are able, since the spirit of the holy elohim is in you.

19 Then Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar, was perplexed for awhile, and his ruminations flustered him. The king was responding and saying, Belteshazzar, the dream and the interpretation must not fluster you. Belteshazzar answered and said: My lord, may the dream apply to those hating you, and its interpretation to your foes!

20 The oak that you perceived, that grew and became mighty, and its height reached to the heavens, and it was perceptible to the entire earth,

21 and its foliage was seemly, and its pollinated fruit was abundant, and there was sustenance for all in it, under it the animals of the field were abiding and in its boughs the birds of the heavens were roosting

22 it is you, O king! You have grown great and have become mighty; your grandeur has grown and reaches to the heavens, and your authority to the extremity of the earth.

23 And in that the king perceived a holy rouser alighting from the heavens and saying, Slash down the oak and harm it, but the stump with its roots leave in the earth, clamped with a bond of iron and copper in the verdure of the field; and let him be wet with the night mist of the heavens, and let his portion be with the animals of the field until seven seasons pass on over him

24 this is the interpretation, O king: It is the severance decree of the Supreme that comes upon my lord the king;

25 they shall shove you away from mortals, and your abode shall be with the animals of the field; they shall feed herbage to you, like oxen, and you shall be wet from the night mist of the heavens; thus seven seasons shall pass on over you until you know that the Supreme is in authority in the kingdom of mortals, and He gives it to whomsoever He will.

26 And since they said to leave the stump with its roots of the oak, your kingdom will be lasting for you from the time when you realize that all jurisdiction is of the heavens.

27 Hence, O king, may my advice be seemly to you: Break off your sins by being righteous, and your depravities by being gracious to the humble, if there should be a lengthening of your days of ease.

28 All this came upon king Nebuchadnezzar

29 when at the end of twelve months he was walking about on the housetop of the royal palace of Babylon.

30 The king was responding to all this by saying, Is not this Babylon the Great that I myself have built for the royal house with the might of my safeguarding walls and for the esteem of my honor!

31 While the declaration was still in the mouth of the king, there was a voice that fell from the heavens: This has been decreed for you, king Nebuchadnezzar, that the kingdom has passed away from you.

32 From mortals are they shoving you away, and with the animals of the field is your abode. They shall feed herbage to you, like oxen. Thus seven seasons shall pass on over you until you know that the Supreme is in authority in the kingdom of mortals, and He gives it to whomsoever He will.

33 In the same hour the declaration gathered on Nebuchadnezzar; he was shoved away from mortals, he was eating herbage, like oxen, and his frame was wet from the night mist of the heavens until his hair grew like vultures’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.

34 At the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to the heavens, and my knowledge was returning to me. Then I blessed the Supreme, and I lauded and honored Him Who is living for the eon, since His jurisdiction is an eonian jurisdiction, and His kingdom is with generation after generation.

35 All those abiding on the earth are reckoned as naught; according to His will He is doing with the army of the heavens and with those abiding on the earth. And there is no one who shall stay His hand and say to Him, What have You done?

36 At the stated time my knowledge was returning to me; for the esteem of my kingdom, also my honor and my former aspect returned to me. My retinue and my grandees sought me out, I was re-established over my kingdom, and excelling grandeur was added to me.

37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, am lauding and exalting and honoring the King of the heavens, since all His deeds are verity and His paths are adjudication, and He is able to abase all those walking in pride.

Chapter 5

1 King Belshazzar made a great banquet for a thousand of his grandees and was drinking turbid wine in view of the thousand.

2 While tasting the turbid wine, Belshazzar ordered to bring hither the gold and silver vessels which his grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that they might drink from them the king and his grandees, his consorts and his concubines.

3 Then they brought hither the gold and silver vessels which they had taken from the temple, the house of Eloah in Jerusalem. And they drank from them the king and his grandees, his consorts and his concubines.

4 They drank the turbid wine and lauded the elohim of gold and silver, copper, iron, wood and stone.

5 In the same hour the fingers of a human hand came forth and were writing in view of the lampstand on the stucco of the sidewall of the royal palace, so that the king was perceiving the tip of the hand that was writing.

6 Then, as for the king, his mien was altered on him, for his ruminations flustered him; the ligaments of his loins were loosened, and his knees were knocking one against the other.

7 The king was calling out with potency to bring in the magi, the sacred scribes, the Chaldeans and the hieromancers. The king was responding and saying to the wise men of Babylon that: Any man who can read this writing and disclose its interpretation to me shall be clothed in purple, with a circlet of gold about his neck, and as the third one in the kingdom shall he have authority.

8 Then all the king’s wise men were coming in; yet none of them was able to read the writing or to make its interpretation known to the king.

9 Then king Belshazzar was greatly flustered and his mien was altering on him, while his grandees were baffled.

10 Now the queen mother, in view of the declarations of the king and his grandees, went in to the house of feasting. The queen responded and said: O king, live for the eons! Let not your ruminations fluster you; let not your mien be altered.

11 There is a master in your kingdom in whom there is the spirit of the holy elohim; and in the days of your grandfather a stream of light and intelligence and wisdom, like the wisdom of the elohim, was found in him. King Nebuchadnezzar your grandfather set him up as grandee of the sacred scribes, the magi, the Chaldeans and the hieromancers; so did your grandfather, O king,

12 forasmuch as an excelling spirit, knowledge and intelligence in the interpreting of dreams, the disclosure of problems and the untying of knots was found in him, that is in Daniel to whom the king assigned his name Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be called that he may disclose the interpretation.

13 Then Daniel was brought in before the king. In responding the king said to Daniel: Are you that Daniel of the sons of the deportation from Judah, whom my grandfather the king brought hither from Judah?

14 I have also heard about you that the spirit of the holy elohim is in you, and a stream of light and intelligence and excelling wisdom is found in you.

15 Now there have been brought in before me the wise men, the magi and the hieromancers that they may read this writing and make its interpretation known to me; but they have not been able to disclose the interpretation of the matter.

16 Yet I myself have heard about you that you are able to interpret interpretations and to untie knots. Now if you are able to read the writing and to make its interpretation known to me, you shall be clothed in purple, with a circlet of gold about your neck, and as the third one in the kingdom shall you have authority.

17 Then, in responding, Daniel said before the king: Let your gifts remain with you, and grant your rewards to another. But I shall read the writing to the king, and I shall make the interpretation known to him.

18 As for you, O king, Eloah the Supreme Himself granted the kingdom and majesty and esteem and honor to your grandfather Nebuchadnezzar.

19 And because of the majesty that He granted to him, all peoples, leagues and language-groups were stirred and terrified before him. Whom he wanted to, he was despatching, and whom he wanted to, he was preserving alive; whom he wanted to, he was exalting, and whom he wanted to, he was abasing.

20 Yet when his heart was exalted and his spirit became overpowered with arrogance, he was deposed from the throne of his kingdom, and they caused his esteem to pass away from him.

21 From the sons of mortals was he shoved away, and his heart was reduced to be like that of an animal, and with the wild donkeys was his abode. They fed him herbage, as oxen, and his frame was wet from the night mist of the heavens until he realized that Eloah the Supreme is in authority in the kingdom of mortals, and He sets up over it whom He wants to.

22 But you, Belshazzar, his grandson, you have not abased your heart before the Eloah, forasmuch as you knew all this.

23 Against the Lord, the Eloah of the heavens, you have exalted yourself. They have brought hither before you even the vessels of His house; you and your grandees, your consorts and your concubines have been drinking turbid wine from them. Also you have lauded the elohim of silver and gold, copper, iron, wood and stone, that are not perceiving and not hearing and not knowing. Yet the Eloah in Whose hand is your breath and to Whom are all your paths, Him you have not honored.

24 From before Him then the tip of that hand was sent, and this writing inscribed.

25 Now this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE MENE TEKEL U PHARSIN

26 and this is the interpretation of the matter: MENE: The Eloah has called your kingdom to account, and He has balanced it.

27 TEKEL: You have been weighed on the scales and have been found lacking.

28 PERES: Your kingdom is bisected and it will be granted to the Medes and Persians.

29 Then Belshazzar ordered, and they clothed Daniel in purple, with a circlet of gold about his neck; and they proclaimed concerning him that he should be the third authority in the kingdom.

30 In the same night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was despatched;

31 and Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

Chapter 6

1 It was seemly before Darius to set up over the kingdom a hundred and twenty-seven satraps who should be over the entire kingdom,

2 and over them three chancellors, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should be forwarding their report, so that the king might suffer no damage.

3 Then this Daniel was distinguishing himself over the chancellors and satraps, forasmuch as an excelling spirit was in him; moreover the king reflected to set him up over the entire kingdom.

4 Then the chancellors and satraps, were seeking to find a pretext against Daniel in regard to the administration of the kingdom. Yet they were not able to find any pretext or corruption at all, forasmuch as he was faithful; and no carelessness or corruption at all was found in him.

5 Then these masters were saying, We shall not find any pretext against this Daniel, unless we find it against him in the edict of his Eloah.

6 Then these chancellors and satraps came thronging to the king, saying this to him: O king Darius, live for the eons!

7 All the chancellors of the kingdom, the prefects and satraps, the retinue and the viceroys have taken counsel together to set up a royal statute and to enforce an interdict that anyone who shall utter a petition to any eloah or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be heaved into the den of the lions.

8 Now, O king, may you set up the interdict and sign the writing so that it is not to be altered, as an edict of the Medes and Persians that can not be abrogated.

9 Wherefore king Darius signed the writing and the interdict.

10 As soon as Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house. Now the windows were opened for him in his upper chamber toward Jerusalem. Thus at three stated times in the day, he was kneeling on his knees and praying and acclaiming before his Eloah, forasmuch as he had been doing it before this.

11 Then these masters came thronging in and found Daniel petitioning and supplicating before his Eloah.

12 Then they drew near before the king and spoke to him concerning the royal interdict: Is there not an interdict which you have signed that any man who is petitioning to any eloah or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be heaved into the den of the lions? The king was answering and saying: The matter is certain as an edict of the Medes and Persians that can not be abrogated.

13 Then they responded and said before the king: That Daniel, who is of the sons of the deportation from Judah, does not act, O king, on your decree and on the interdict that you have signed; at three stated times in the day, he is uttering his petition before his eloah.

14 Then, when the king heard the matter, it was greatly displeasing to him. So toward Daniel he set his heart to deliver him; and until sunset he was exerting himself to rescue him.

15 Then these masters came thronging to the king and said to the king: Know, O king, that it is an edict of the Medes and Persians that any interdict or statute which the king should set up, is not to be altered.

16 Then the king said the word, and they brought Daniel hither and heaved him into the den of the lions. The king was responding and saying to Daniel: Your Eloah, Whom you are serving in abidance, may He Himself deliver you!

17 A stone was brought hither, and it was placed on the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his signet ring and with the signet rings of his grandees, so that the purpose should not be altered in regard to Daniel.

18 Then the king departed to his palace and passed the night fasting. Diversions were not brought before him, even though his sleep fled from him. Yet Eloah closed the mouths of the lions that they could not harm Daniel.

19 Then at dawn, the king himself arose with the daylight and departed in a fluster to the den of the lions.

20 As he drew near to the den, he cried out to Daniel in an anguished voice. The king was speaking up to Daniel and saying, Daniel, servant of the living Eloah, your Eloah, Whom you are serving in abidance, was He able to deliver you from the mouths of the lions?

21 Then Daniel talked with the king: O king, live for the eons!

22 My Eloah sent His messenger, and he closed the mouths of the lions that they could not harm me, forasmuch as before Him guiltlessness was found in me; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.

23 Then the king felt greatly relieved over him and commanded to hoist Daniel from the den. When Daniel was hoisted from the den, no harm at all was found in him; for he had believed in his Eloah.

24 Then the king ordered, and they brought hither these masters who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they heaved them, their sons and their wives into the den of the lions. And they had not reached the floor of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.

25 Then king Darius wrote to all peoples, leagues, and language-groups that are abiding in all the earth: May your well-being be growing great!

26 From before me there has been promulgated this decree that, in all the domain of my kingdom, they should be stirred and terrified before Daniel’s Eloah, for He is the living Eloah and is lasting for the eons; His kingdom shall not come to harm, and His jurisdiction is until the terminus.

27 He is delivering and rescuing; He is doing signs and amazing things in the heavens and on the earth, for He delivered Daniel from the paws of the lions.

28 So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Chapter 7

1 In year one of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel himself perceived a dream and visions of his head on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream stating the beginning of the matters.

2 Daniel was speaking up and saying: I was perceiving in my vision during the night, and behold, the four winds of the heavens were rushing forth to the vast sea,

3 and four monstrous animals were coming up from the sea, diverse one from another.

4 The eastern animal was like a lioness, and she had the wings of a vulture. I was perceiving until her wings were scraped smooth, and she was lifted up from the earth and was made to stand on two feet like a mortal, and the heart of a mortal was granted to her.

5 And behold, another animal, a second one like a she-bear; one part was set up, and three ribs were in her mouth between her teeth. Thus they were saying to her, Rise! Devour huge amounts of flesh.

6 In place of this I was perceiving, and behold, another animal, like a leopardess; she had four wings of a flyer on her arched back. The animal had four heads, and jurisdiction was granted to her.

7 In place of this I was perceiving in the visions of the night, and behold, a fourth animal, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly mighty; she had monstrous iron teeth, and she was devouring and crushing and stamping upon the remainder with her feet. She was diverse from all the animals that were east of her, and she had ten horns.

8 I was contemplating on the horns, and lo, another bit of a horn came up among them, and three of the eastern horns were uprooted before it. And lo, there were eyes like the eyes of a mortal in this horn, and there was a mouth declaring monstrous things, and it was making war with the saints.

9 I was perceiving until thrones were situated, and the Transferrer of Days sat down. His clothing was pale as snow, and the hair of His head was like immaculate wool; His throne was flares of flame and its rolling wheels a flashing flame.

10 A stream of flame was flowing and issuing from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand ten thousands stood before Him. Adjudication was seated, and the scrolls were opened.

11 I was perceiving then because of the sound of the monstrous matters that the horn was declaring; I was perceiving until the animal was despatched, her frame was destroyed, and it was granted to the glowing fire.

12 As for the remainder of the animals, their authority was caused to pass away; yet a lengthening of life was granted to them until the stated time and season.

13 I was perceiving in the visions of the night, and behold, with the clouds of the heavens One like a son of a mortal was arriving; He came unto the Transferrer of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.

14 To Him was granted jurisdiction and esteem and a kingdom, that all the peoples and leagues and language-groups shall serve Him; His jurisdiction is an eonian jurisdiction that shall not pass away, and His kingdom shall not be confined.

15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was perturbed within its sheath, and the visions of my head were flustering me.

16 I drew near to one of those standing by, and I petitioned him for the true meaning of all this. Then he spoke to me and made the interpretation of the matters known to me:

17 These monstrous animals, the four of them, are four kingdoms that shall arise from the earth.

18 Yet the saints of the supremacies shall receive the kingdom, and they shall safeguard the kingdom unto the eon, even unto the eon of the eons.

19 Then I wanted to know the true meaning concerning the fourth animal that was diverse from them all and exceedingly terrifying. Her teeth were of iron, her claws of copper; she was devouring and crushing and stamping upon the remainder with her feet;

20 also concerning the ten horns that were on her head; and concerning another horn that came up, and before it the three fell. As for this horn, it had eyes also, and a mouth declaring monstrous things; and the sight of it was larger than its fellows.

21 I was perceiving that the same horn was making an attack on the saints and was prevailing against them,

22 until the Transferrer of Days arrived, and adjudication was granted to the saints of the supremacies, and the stated time came when the saints safeguarded the kingdom.

23 So he spoke again to me: As for the fourth animal, there shall come to be a fourth kingdom on the earth, that is diverse from all the other kingdoms. She shall devour the entire earth and thresh it and crush it.

24 As for the ten horns from her, from this kingdom shall ten kings arise; and another one shall arise after them; he is diverse from the eastern ones, and he shall abase three kings.

25 Declarations against the Supreme shall he declare; to the saints of the supremacies shall he bring decay; he shall intend to alter stated times and an edict, and they shall be granted into his hand for a season and two seasons and half a season.

26 Then adjudication shall be seated, and they shall cause his authority to pass away, so as to exterminate and to destroy him until the terminus.

27 And the kingdom and the jurisdiction and the majesty of the kingdom under the entire heavens will be granted to the people of the saints of the supremacies. Their kingdom is an eonian kingdom, and all other authorities shall serve and hearken to them.

28 Here is the termination of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my ruminations were flustering me a great deal, and my mien was altering on me; but I preserved the matter in my heart.

Chapter 8

1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar, a vision appeared to me to me, Daniel after the one that had appeared to me at the start.

2 I saw in the vision it seemed in my seeing that I was in the castle of Shushan in the province of Elam I saw in the vision that I myself had come to be beside the Ulai canal.

3 Then I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, behold, a single ram standing before the canal, and it had two horns. Both horns were lofty, yet the one was loftier than the other, and the loftier one was coming up last.

4 I saw the ram rushing forth westward, northward and southward. No animals at all could stand before him, and there was no rescuing from his hand. He acted as was acceptable to himself and magnified himself.

5 As for me, when I was considering this, behold, a he-goat of the goats was coming from the west over the surface of the entire earth, without touching the earth. The he-goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes,

6 and he came unto the ram, having the two horns (which I had seen standing before the canal). He ran at him in the fury of his vigor,

7 and I saw him assaulting beside the ram. He was bitterly enraged against him and smote the ram and broke his two horns. No vigor remained in the ram to stand before him. So he flung him to the earth and tramped him down, and no one came to rescue the ram from his hand.

8 Then the he-goat of the goats grew exceedingly great. But as soon as he became staunch, the great horn was broken, and in its stead there came up four other conspicuous horns toward the four winds of the heavens.

9 Then from the one of them a single inferior horn came forth, and he grew excelling great to the southland and to the sunrise and to the stately land;

10 he grew great unto the host of the heavens, and there was cast to the earth some from the host, and one from the stars, who tramped them down.

11 Even unto the chief of the host he arrogated greatness to himself. Because of him the continuous ritual was disturbed, and the established furnishing of His sanctuary was flung down,

12 and the horn was given a host for transgression against the continuous ritual; he flung down the truth to the earth. Thus he acted and prospered.

13 Then I heard a holy one speaking. And another holy one said to so-and-so, the one speaking, For how long is the vision of the continuous ritual the cessation of the sacrifice and the desolating transgression which gives over even the holy place and the host to be tramped down?

14 He answered him, Unto two thousand three hundred evenings-mornings. Then the holy place will come into its right.

15 Now it came to be when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and sought for understanding, behold, standing in front of me was one like the appearance of a master.

16 I heard a human voice between the banks of the Ulai, and it called and said, Gabriel, make this one understand the sight.

17 Then he came beside my position. As he came I was frightened and fell on my face. And he said to me, Understand, son of humanity, that the vision is for the era of the end.

18 As he spoke with me, I fell into a stupor with my face to the earth. So he touched me, made me stand in my upright position,

19 and he said, Behold, I am acquainting you with what is coming in the last of the menace to the sons of your people, seeing that it is for the appointed time of the end.

20 The ram which you saw having the two horns is the kingdom of Media and Persia.

21 The hairy he-goat is the kingdom of Greece. The great horn which is between its eyes, it is the first king.

22 When it is broken, four shall stand up in its stead: Four kingdoms from his nation shall stand up, yet not with his vigor.

23 And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors come to end, there shall stand up a king of strong presence and understanding problems.

24 His vigor will be staunch, yet not by his own vigor. Marvelously shall he ruin, and he will prosper and deal. Thus he ruins the staunch and the people of the saints.

25 By his intelligence he causes deceit to prosper in his hand. In his heart he shall arrogate greatness to himself, and while they are at ease, he shall ruin many. Against the Chief of chiefs shall he stand, yet at the limit of his hand he shall be broken.

26 And the sight, the evening and morning, of which this is said, truth is it. Yet you, stop up the vision, for it is for many days.

27 When I, Daniel, came to, I was ailing for many days. Then I arose and did my work for the king. I am still desolated by the sight, and there is no one who understands.

Chapter 9

1 In year one of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,

2 in year one of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the scrolls the number of years which came by the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet, to fulfill for deserted Jerusalem, seventy years.

3 I set my face to Yahweh the One, Elohim, to seek Him by prayer and supplications in fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

4 I prayed indeed to Yahweh my Eloah. I confessed and said intensely, Oh, Yahweh, the great and fear inspiring El, Keeper of the covenant and the benignity for those loving Him and keeping His instructions:

5 We have sinned, and we have been depraved; we have acted wickedly and have revolted; we have withdrawn from Your instructions and from Your ordinances,

6 and we have not hearkened to Your servants the prophets, who have spoken in Your Name to our kings, our chiefs, our fathers and to all the people of the land.

7 With You, O Yahweh, is righteousness, yet with us is shame of face as at this day: with each man of Judah, with the dwellers of Jerusalem, with all the people of Israel, the near and the far, in all the lands where You have expelled them for their offense with which they offended You.

8 With You, O Yahweh, is righteousness, yet with us is shame of face: with our kings, with our chiefs, with our fathers, since we have sinned against You.

9 With Yahweh our Elohim are compassions and pardons; for we have revolted against Him.

10 We did not hearken to the voice of Yahweh our Elohim, to walk in His laws which He set before us by means of His servants the prophets.

11 All of Israel, they have trespassed against Your law and have withdrawn so as not to hearken to Your voice. So there poured forth on us the imprecation and the oath which is written in the law of Moses, the servant of Elohim; for we have sinned against Him.

12 And He confirmed His word, which He had spoken against us and against our judges who judged us by bringing on us this great evil which was never done under the entire heavens as it was done in Jerusalem.

13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us; yet we did not beseech the face of Yahweh our Elohim, so as to turn back from our depravities and to gain insight into all Your truth.

14 Yahweh was alert over the evil, and He brought it on us; for Yahweh our Elohim is righteous in all His doings which He does; yet we have not hearkened to His voice.

15 And now, O Yahweh our Elohim, Who brought Your people forth from the land of Egypt with a steadfast hand and have been making for Yourself a Name as at this day, we have sinned; we have been wicked.

16 O Yahweh, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain. Because of our sins and depravities ours and our fathers Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all around us.

17 And now hearken, O our Elohim, to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications. Light up Your face over Your desolated sanctuary on Your account, O Yahweh.

18 Stretch out, O my Eloah, Your ear and hear me; do unclose Your eyes and see our desolations and the city over which Your Name is called; for it is not on account of our righteousness that we are casting our supplications before You, but on account of the multitude of Your compassions.

19 O Yahweh, do hear! O Yahweh, do pardon! O Yahweh, do attend and act! You must not delay on Your own account, my Eloah, for Your Name has been called over Your city and over Your people, Israel.

20 While I was speaking praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and casting my supplication before Yahweh my Eloah on behalf of the holy mountain of my Eloah

21 even while I was speaking in my prayer, behold, the man Gabriel, whom I, fainting with faintness, had seen in the vision at the start, was touching me at the time of the evening approach present.

22 He made me understand by speaking to me and saying, Daniel, I have come forth now to give you insight and understanding.

23 At the start of your supplications a word from Yahweh went forth, and I have come to tell you, for a man of coveted qualities are you. Then understand what is in the word, and understand what is in the sight.

24 Seventy sevens are segregated for your people and for your holy city: to detain transgression, to make sin come to end, to make a propitiatory shelter for depravity; to bring the righteousness of the eons, to seal the vision and the prophetic word, to anoint the holy of holies.

25 Now you should know and be intelligent: From the going forth of the word to cause a return and to rebuild Jerusalem from then until Messiah the Governor is seven sevens, and sixty-two sevens. It shall return and will be rebuilt, square and salient, even in the constraint of the times.

26 After the sixty-two sevens, Messiah shall be cut off, and there will be no adjudication for Him. The city and the holy place shall be laid in ruins with the other governor’s coming; then its end is by an overflowing, and until the end of the war, desolations will be decided.

27 Then he will be master of a covenant with many for one seven; at half of the seven, he shall cause to cease the sacrifice and the approach present; on a wing of the sanctuary shall be desolating abominations. Until the conclusion of the era the decided conclusion shall be poured forth on the desolation.

Chapter 10

1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a matter was revealed to Daniel whose name is called Belteshazzar; the matter was true, and the host was great; he understood the matter, and understanding came to him through the sight.

2 In those days I, Daniel, came to be mourning three periods of seven days:

3 I ate no nourishment of coveted qualities; flesh and wine did not come into my mouth; I did not rub with lotion until the three periods of seven days were fulfilled.

4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, I came to be on the side of the great stream; that is Hiddekel.

5 I lifted my eyes and stared, and behold, there was one man clothed in linen. His waist was girded with certified gold of Uphaz,

6 his body was like topaz, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and his feet like the sparkle of scintillating copper, and the sound of his words like the sound of a throng.

7 Yet I Daniel, I alone, saw this great sight, yet the men who came to be with me did not see the sight; nevertheless a great trembling fell on them, and they ran away hiding.

8 So I remained, I alone, and I saw this great sight. No vigor remained in me, my own splendor was transformed on me to corruption, and I retained no vigor.

9 Then I heard the sound of his words, and when I heard the sound of his words, then I came to be in a stupor on my face, with my face to the earth.

10 And behold, a hand touched me; it swayed me to my knees and the palms of my hands.

11 Then he said to me, Daniel, man of coveted qualities, understand the words that I am speaking to you, and stand in upright position, for now I have been sent to you. While he was speaking this word to me, I stood quivering.

12 Then he said to me, You must not fear, Daniel, for from the first day when you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before Yahweh your Elohim, your words were heard, and I came because of your words;

13 yet the chief of the kingdom of Persia was standing to confront me twenty-one days. Yet behold, Michael, one of the first chiefs, came to help me. And I left him there beside the chief of the kings of Persia.

14 Then he said to me, I have come to make you understand what shall befall your people in the latter days; for the vision is for future days.

15 While he was speaking these words to me, I put my face to the earth and was mute.

16 And behold, one as the likeness of the sons of humanity was touching my lips. I opened my mouth to speak and said to the one who was standing in front of me, My lord, by the sight of you my throes were turned on me, and I have retained no vigor.

17 How can the servant of this my lord speak with this my lord? As for me, henceforth no vigor stays in me, and no breath remains in me.

18 Then the one with the appearance of a human touched me again and encouraged me.

19 He said, You must not fear, man of coveted qualities! Peace be yours! Be steadfast! Now be steadfast! As he spoke with me, I was encouraged and said, Let my lord speak, for you encouraged me.

20 Then he said to me, Do you know why I have come to you? Now I shall return to fight with the chief of the kingdom of Persia. While I am going forth, behold, the chief of Greece will come!

21 (Nevertheless I shall tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth.) No one will be steadfast with me against these save Michael your chief.

Chapter 11

1 As for me, in year one of Darius the Mede, my position was to make him steadfast and to be a stronghold for him.

2 Now what is in the writing of truth I shall tell you. Behold, three kings will yet stand up in Persia; the fourth shall be enriched with riches greater than all; as he is steadfast in his riches he shall rouse the whole kingdom of Greece.

3 Then stands up a master king; he rules a vast realm and does as is acceptable to himself.

4 While he stands, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided to the four winds of the heavens, yet not to his posterity. It will not be as his rule with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up and given to others aside from these.

5 Steadfast shall be a king of the southland. Due to his chiefs he shall be steadfast over it, and he will rule a vast realm as his realm.

6 Now at the end of these years they shall join: The daughter of the king of the southland shall come to the king of the north to make equitable settlements with him. Yet she shall not retain the vigor of the seed, nor shall he stand or his seed. She will be given up she and those bringing her, also the lady-in-waiting and he who made her steadfast in these eras.

7 Yet one stands from the scion of her roots, in his post, and he shall come to lead the army. He shall enter into the stronghold of the king of the north. He will deal with them and be steadfast.

8 And even their elohim does he overturn with their molten images; and their throngs with their coveted furnishings of silver and gold shall he bring to Egypt in captivity. Thus for some years he shall stand over the king of the north;

9 when he comes into the kingdom of the king of the southland he will return to his ground.

10 Yet his sons shall be stirred up, and they will gather a throng of many armies which will come to enter the southland, overwhelm it and pass on. Yet it shall return and be stirred up unto its strength.

11 Then the king of the southland shall be bitterly enraged and will march forth, and he will fight with him, that is, with the king of the north. He also will recruit a vast throng, and the throng will be given into his hand.

12 Then the throng will be borne away. His heart shall be high when he casts down tens of thousands, yet he shall not be strengthened.

13 Then the king of the north will return and recruit a throng vaster than the former. Thus at the end of the eras of years he shall come to enter with a great army and much materiel.

14 In those eras many hearts shall stand against the king of the southland; the sons of breaching'' of your people shall lift themselves up to cause the vision to stand, yet they will stumble. 15 Then the king of the north shall come and construct an earthwork, and he will seize city fortresses. Yet the armed forces of the king of the southland shall not stand nor his chosen people,‘’ for there will be no vigor to stand.

16 He who is coming against it shall do as is acceptable to himself, and there will be no one standing before him. Thus he shall stand in the stately land which will be entirely in his hand.

17 Then he shall set his face to come with the might of all his kingdom, and equitable settlements with him so he will make. Even a wives’ daughter shall he give to him to corrupt her, yet she shall not stand, nor for him shall she be.

18 Then he shall turn back his face to the coastline, and he will seize many places. Thus a captain will eradicate his reproach for him, so as not to turn back his reproach to him.

19 Then he shall turn back his face to the strongholds of his own land. Yet he will stumble and fall and shall not be found.

20 Then there will stand in his post out of his root a royal sprout who will have an exactor to pass among the honorable of the kingdom. Yet in some days he shall be broken, not in anger and not in battle.

21 Then there will stand in his post a despised person; hence they do not bestow on him the splendor of the kingdom. Yet he will enter with ease and make steadfast the kingdom by slick dealings.

22 Now the armed forces of the overwhelmer shall be overwhelmed from before him and shall be broken, even the governor of the covenant.

23 Due to people joining themselves with him, he shall practice deceit and come up and be staunch with a little nation.

24 With ease then among the stout ones of the province, he shall come and do what his fathers had never done, nor his fathers’ fathers: Plunder and loot and goods he shall lavish on them, and against Egypt he shall devise his devices, yet only for a season.

25 He shall rouse his vigor and his heart against the king of the southland with his great army. And the king of the southland shall be stirred up for the battle with his great and exceedingly staunch army, yet he shall not stand; for they shall devise devices against him,

26 the eaters of his dainties shall break him, his army shall be overwhelmed and many fall slain.

27 Then the two kings, with evil in their hearts, will sit at one table. The lie they are speaking shall not prosper, for it is yet further to the end, to the appointed time.

28 When he returns to his land with a great amount of goods, his heart will be on the holy covenant, and he will make it effective before he returns to his land.

29 At the appointed time he shall return and come into the southland, yet at the latter occasion it shall not be the same as at the former.

30 For boats of Kittim will come against him. Hence he will be sore when he returns. He will menace the holy covenant and make this effective. While he returns, he shall have an understanding with those who forsake the holy covenant:

31 Armed forces from him shall stand about; they will profane the sanctuary, the stronghold, take away the continuous ritual, and set up the abomination of desolation.

32 And those who condemn the covenant he shall pollute with slickness. Yet the people knowing their Elohim shall be steadfast and act accordingly.

33 The intelligent of the people shall cause many to understand, yet they are caused to stumble by the sword and the blaze, by captivity and plunder for days.

34 Even in their stumbling they shall be helped with a little help, yet many are allied with them by means of slick words.

35 Some of the intelligent shall stumble, to refine and to purify and to whiten them until the era of the end; for it is yet further to the appointed time.

36 Yet the king does as is acceptable to himself; he shall exalt and magnify himself over every el, against the El of elim he shall speak extraordinary impieties, and he will prosper until the menace is concluded; for that which is decided will be done.

37 Concerning the Elohim of his fathers he shall not understand, nor concerning the treasures of wives, nor concerning any eloah shall he understand; for he shall magnify himself over all.

38 In His stead he shall glorify the eloah of the strong; an eloah whom his fathers did not know, he shall glorify with gold, silver, precious stones and treasures.

39 He will deal for fortresses of the strong with a foreign eloah whom he will recognize with increasing glory; he will cause them to rule over many, and he will apportion the ground for a price.

40 Then, in the era of the end, the king of the southland shall gore him. And the king of the north shall come against him like a hurricane, with chariot and cavalry and many ships. Thus he will come into the lands and overwhelm and pass through.

41 When he comes into the stately land, many shall stumble. Yet these shall escape from his hand: Edom and Moab and the principal area of the sons of Ammon.

42 He shall send his hand into the lands, and the land of Egypt shall not continue to have deliverance.

43 He will rule by reserves of gold and silver and by all the treasures from Egypt, the Libyans and the Cushites reserves which are in his fastnesses.

44 Yet reports shall fluster him, from the sunrise and from the north, and he will march forth with great fury to exterminate and to doom many.

45 He will plant the tents of his regalia between the seas in the stately, holy mountain. When he comes unto his end, there will be no help for him.

Chapter 12

1 In that era Michael shall stand up, the great chief who is standing over the sons of your people. Then an era of distress will come to pass such as has not occurred since there was a nation on the earth, until that era. Now in that era your people shall escape all those found written in the scroll.

2 From those sleeping in the soil of the ground many shall awake, these to eonian life and these to reproach for eonian repulsion.

3 The intelligent shall warn as the warning of the atmosphere, and those turning many to righteousness will be as the stars for the eon and further.

4 Now you, Daniel, stop up the words and seal the scroll until the era of the end, when many shall swerve as evil shall increase.

5 I, Daniel I see, and behold, two others are standing, one on the near ridge of the waterway and one on the far ridge of the waterway.

6 I said to the man clothed in linen who is above the waters of the waterway: Until when is the end of the marvels?

7 And I heard the man clothed in linen who is above the waters of the waterway: Until the era of the end. Then he raised up his right hand and his left hand to the heavens and swore by Him Who is living for the eon, that it is for an appointed time, two appointed times and half an appointed time. And when the shattering of the hand of the holy people is concluded, then all these things shall have their conclusion.

8 As for me, I heard, yet I did not understand. So I said, My lord, what will be after these things?

9 And he replied, Go, Daniel, for the words are stopped up and sealed until the era of the end.

10 Many shall purify and whiten themselves and be refined; yet the wicked will act wickedly. None of all the wicked shall understand; yet the intelligent are understanding.

11 From the era when the continuous ritual is taken away, and to the setting of the abomination of desolation, is a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

12 Happy is he who will tarry and attain to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days!

13 Now you, go on to the end, and you shall rest and stand up for your lot at the end of the days.

The Book of Hosea

Chapter 1

1 The word of Yahweh which came to Hosea, son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel.

2 The starting point of the word of Yahweh by Hosea: Yahweh said to Hosea: Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitutions and children of prostitutions, for the land has been committing prostitution, yea prostitution, away from Yahweh.

3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim; and she became pregnant and bore for him a son.

4 Yahweh said to him: Call his name Jezreel, for in a little while I will visit the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and I will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

5 It will be in that day that I will break the bow of Israel in the Vale of Jezreel.

6 Then she became pregnant again and bore a daughter. And He said to him: Call her name Lo-ruhamah, for I shall not continue further to have compassion on the house of Israel or bear, yea bear with them.

7 Yet on the house of Judah I shall have compassion, and I will save them by Yahweh their Elohim. Yet I shall not save them by bow or by sword or by battle, by horses or by horsemen.

8 She weaned Lo-ruhamah. And she became pregnant again and bore a son.

9 Then He said, Call his name Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not your I-Am-Becoming.

10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel will become as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. It will be in the place where it was being said to them, Not My people are you, it shall be said to them, Sons of the living El.

11 The sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be convened together. They will place one head over them, and they will go up from the land, for great is the day of Jezreel.

Chapter 2

1 Say to your brothers, Ammi, And to your sisters, Ruhamah!

2 Contend with your mother, contend For she is not My wife, And I am not her husband That she shall take away the signs of her prostitutions from her face, And of her adulteries from between her breasts,

3 Lest I should strip her naked And put her forth as on the day of her birth And make her like a wilderness And set her like an arid land And put her to death with thirst.

4 On her sons I shall not have compassion, For sons of prostitutions are they.

5 For their mother committed prostitution; She who was pregnant with them caused shame. For she had said, Let me go after my lovers, The providers of my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drinks.

6 Therefore, behold Me hedging her way with briars, And I will dike up a stone dike against her So that she cannot find her access-ways.

7 Then she will pursue her lovers yet shall not overtake them, And she will seek them yet shall not find them; Then she will say, Let me go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.

8 Yet she knew not that I gave her the grain and the grape juice and the clarified oil. And I increased silver and gold for her, which they made into a Baal.

9 Therefore, I shall return, And I will take My grain in its season And My grape juice in its appointed time. And I will reclaim My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.

10 And now I shall expose her decadence to the eyes of her lovers, And no man shall rescue her from My hand.

11 And I will cause all her elation to cease, Her festival, her new moon, Her sabbath and her every appointed feast.

12 And I will desolate her vine and her fig tree, of which she says, They are a fee for me which my lovers gave to me. And I will make them a wildwood, And the wild animal of the field will devour them, And the fowl of the heavens And the reptile of the ground.

13 I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, In which she was fuming incense to them And ornamenting herself with her pendant and her eardrop, When she was going after her lovers, And she forgot Me, averring is Yahweh.

14 Therefore, behold, I will entice her, And I will conduct her to the wilderness, And I will speak to her heart;

15 I will give her vineyards to her from there, And the Vale of Achor for a portal of expectation. And she will respond there as in the days of her youth, And as the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

16 It will be in that day, averring is Yahweh, She shall call Me, My-Husband, And no longer shall she call Me, My-Possessor.

17 I will take away the names of the Baalim from her mouth, And no longer shall they be remembered by their name.

18 I will contract for them a covenant in that day with the animal of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the reptile of the ground. I shall also banish bow and sword and battle weapon from the earth, And I will cause them to lie down in serenity.

19 I will betroth you to Me for the eon, And I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, And in right judgment and in benignity and in compassions.

20 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness; Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

21 And it will be in that day that I shall respond, averring is Yahweh; I shall respond to the heavens, And they shall respond to the earth,

22 And the earth shall respond to the grain And the grape juice and the clarified oil, And they shall respond to Jezreel.

23 Then I will sow her for Myself in the land, And I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah. And I will say to Lo-ammi, My people are you! And he shall say, Yahweh, my Elohim are You!

Chapter 3

1 Then Yahweh said to me, Again go, love a woman, who is loving an associate and is an adulteress, according to the love of Yahweh for the sons of Israel, though they are turning around to other elohim, and are lovers of raisin-cakes.

2 So I bargained for her for myself for fifteen silver pieces and a homer of barley and a lethech of barley.

3 I said to her, Many days shall you dwell as mine; you shall not commit prostitution, and you shall not become another man’s. And also I shall not go unto you.

4 For many days shall the sons of Israel dwell without king and without chief official, And without sacrifice and without altar, And without ephod or Urim and Thummim.

5 Afterward the sons of Israel shall return, And they will seek Yahweh their Elohim, and David their king; They will come in awe to Yahweh and to His goodness in the latter days.

Chapter 4

1 Hear the word of Yahweh, sons of Israel! For Yahweh has a contention against the dwellers of the land; For there is no faithfulness and there is no kindness And there is no knowledge of Elohim in the land.

2 Imprecation and dissimulation and murder and stealing and adultery, they breach forth in the land, And bloodsheddings, they touch off bloodsheddings.

3 Therefore the land shall mourn, And every dweller in it shall be wasted away with the animal of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens; And even the fish of the sea, they shall be gathered away.

4 Yea, a man, he must not be contending, And a man must not be reproving another. Yet My people are like those who contend against the priest.

5 You stumble in the day, And also the prophet stumbles with you at night. I will still your mother;

6 My people will be stilled because of lack of knowledge; Seeing that you reject knowledge, I shall reject you from serving as priest for Me; And since you are forgetting the law of your Elohim, I also shall forget your sons.

7 According to their multitude, so they sin against Me; They change My glory into dishonor.

8 They feed off the sin of My people, And they lift up their soul to their depravity.

9 Then it will be like people, like priest: I will visit on him his ways, And his actions shall I reverse upon him.

10 They will eat, Yet they shall not be satisfied; They will commit prostitution, Yet they shall not be breaching forth,  For they forsake Yahweh, to observe

11 prostitution. Wine and grape juice, they shall captivate  the heart of

12 My people. It consults its wood, And its stave foretells for it; For the spirit of prostitution, it leads them astray, So that they are committing prostitution away from their Elohim.

13 On the summits of the mountains they are sacrificing, And on the hills they are fuming incense, Under the oak and the white poplar And the terebinth, for good is their shade. Therefore your daughters are committing prostitution, And your daughters-in-law are committing adultery.

14 I shall not visit punishment on your daughters because they are committing prostitution, Or on your daughters-in-law because they are committing adultery, For they, the men, are going apart with the prostitutes, And with the cult-prostitutes they are sacrificing. And the people who are not understanding shall flounder.

15 Though you, Israel, are committing prostitution, Let not Judah be guilty; You must not be entering Gilgal, And you must not be going up to Beth-aven, And you must not be swearing: As Yahweh lives.

16 For as a young cow is stubborn, so is Israel stubborn. Shall Yahweh now graze them like a he-lamb in a wide place?

17 Ephraim is joined to fetishes. Leave him alone!

18 When their grog is withdrawn, They commit prostitution, yea prostitution; Her shielders love, yea they love dishonor.

19 The wind has bundled her up in its wings, And they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

Chapter 5

1 Hear this, priests! And attend, house of Israel! And, house of the king, give ear, Because, for you is the judgment; For you became a snare for Mizpah, And a net spread over Tabor.

2 The swervers deepen the pit, Yet I am the Discipliner for them all.

3 I know Ephraim, And Israel, he is not suppressed from Me, For now, Ephraim, you cause prostitution; Israel is defiled.

4 Their actions do not allow them to return to their Elohim, For the spirit of prostitution is in their midst, So that they do not know Yahweh.

5 Israel’s pride answers against his face, And Israel and Ephraim are being stumbled in their depravity; Judah, too, stumbles with them.

6 With their flock and with their herd they shall go to seek Yahweh, Yet they shall not find Him; He has extricated Himself from them.

7 They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh, for they have begotten alien sons. Now the beetle shall devour them with their portions.

8 Blow a trumpet in Gibeah! A bugle in Ramah! Raise a shout of alarm in Beth-aven: Look behind you, Benjamin!

9 Ephraim, it shall become a desolation in the day of reproof; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is faithful.

10 The chief officials of Judah become like those who move away boundary markers; On them I shall pour out My rage like water.

11 Ephraim shall be exploited, bruised in judgment, For he is disposed to go after futility.

12 And I will be like the moth to Ephraim, And like rottenness to the house of Judah.

13 When Ephraim saw his illness, And Judah his malady, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, And he sent messengers to the great king, Yet he was not able to heal you, Nor cure you of your malady;

14 For I will be like a black lion to Ephraim, And like a sheltered lion to the house of Judah. I, even I shall tear to pieces and go away; I shall carry off, and there will be no rescuing.

15 I shall go again to My place Until they are pleading guilty, And they seek My face. In their distress they shall seek Me early, saying:

Chapter 6

1 Come, let us return to Yahweh our Elohim, For He tore to pieces, and He shall heal us; He smote, and He shall bind us up.

2 He shall make us alive after two days; On the third day He shall raise us up, That we may live before Him.

3 Let us know let us pursue to know Yahweh; As the dawn is certain, so is His coming forth; He shall come to us like the downpour, Like the latter rain that soaks the land.

4 What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? When your kindness is like morning clouds, And like early dew that goes away.

5 Therefore I hew by the prophets; I kill them by the sayings of My mouth, When My judgment comes forth like light.

6 For I desire kindness and not sacrifice, And knowledge of Elohim rather than ascent offerings.

7 Yet they, like a human, trespass against the covenant; There they are treacherous against Me.

8 Gilead is a town of contrivers of lawlessness whose heel prints are bloody.

9 Like the tarrying of a bandit, the priests are hiding in the way. They are murdering toward Shechem, For they commit crime

10 in the homeland of Israel. I see a horrible thing there: The prostitution of Ephraim; Israel is defiled.

11 Moreover, Judah, a harvest is set for you. When I would reverse the captivity of My people,

Chapter 7

1 Whenever I would heal Israel, Then the depravity of Ephraim was revealed And the evils of Samaria. Indeed they contrive falsehood: The thief is breaking in, And the raiding party merges into the street.

2 They do not at all think in their heart That I remember all their evil. Now their own actions surround them; They are in front of My face.

3 With their evil they are rejoicing the king, And with their sham, the chief officials.

4 All of them are adulterers, Like a stove blazed up by a baker, Who can cease stoking from the kneading of the dough until it is leavened.

5 On the day of our king, the chief officials are ill with the fury of wine; He draws forth his hand to the mockers.

6 Indeed they are kindled like a stove; Their heart, it consumes within them; All the night their anger is asleep; In the morning it is consuming like a blazing fire.

7 All of them, they are well heated like a stove, And they devour their judges. All their kings, they fall; There is no one among them calling to Me.

8 Ephraim among the peoples is he mingling himself. Ephraim, he is an ember cake, unturned.

9 Aliens devour his vigor, Yet he does not know it. Moreover, grey hair, it sneaks in on him, Yet he does not know it.

10 Israel’s pride answers against his face, Yet they do not return to Yahweh their Elohim, Nor do they seek Him despite all this.

11 And Ephraim is like a dove, easily duped and mindless. On Egypt they call; To Assyria they go.

12 Just as they are going I shall spread My net over them; Like the fowl of the heavens I shall bring them down. I shall discipline them according to the report of their evil.

13 Woe to them! for they wander from Me. Devastation to them! for they transgress against Me. When I am ransoming them, Then they speak lies against Me.

14 And they do not cry out to Me with their heart, For they are howling on their beds; Over grain and grape juice they are stirring themselves up; They are withdrawing from Me.

15 And I disciplined; I made their arms steadfast, Yet against Me are they devising evil.

16 They are not returning to the Supreme; They become like a deceptive bow. Their chief officials shall fall by the sword Because of the menace of their tongue; This shall bring derision on them in the land of Egypt.

Chapter 8

1 To your mouth with the trumpet! One like a vulture is over the house of Yahweh Because they trespass against My covenant, And against My law they transgress.

2 To Me shall they cry out, My Elohim, we, Israel, know You.

3 Israel casts off the good. An enemy shall pursue him.

4 They made kings, yet not from Me; They made chief officials, yet I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and their gold they make fetishes for themselves, So that they may be cut off.

5 Cast off your calf, Samaria! Hot is My anger against them. How long shall they be incapable of innocency?

6 For even this is from Israel; An artificer, he made it, and no Elohim is it, For the calf of Samaria shall be turned to flares.

7 Indeed they are sowing the wind, And they shall reap the sweeping whirlwind. There is no raised grain for him; The sprout, it shall fail to yield meal; If perhaps it should yield, aliens would swallow it up.

8 Israel is swallowed up. Now they come to be among the nations As an instrument in which there is no delight.

9 For they ascend to Assyria, An onager, solitary; By himself is Ephraim. They dispense to lovers;

10 Moreover seeing that they are dispensing among the nations, I shall now convene them; They shall travail in a little while Under the load of the king and chief officials.

11 For Ephraim increases altars for sinning; They have become to him altars for sinning.

12 I wrote for him the many things of My law; They are reckoned as though alien.

13 As for the sacrifices of grantings to Me, They are sacrificing the flesh, and they are eating it; Yahweh does not accept them. Now He is remembering their depravity And is noting their sins; They shall return to Egypt.

14 Israel is forgetting his Maker, And he is building palaces; And Judah increases fortressed cities. Yet I will send fire into his cities, And it will devour their citadels.

Chapter 9

1 Do not rejoice, Israel! Do not exult like the peoples! For you commit prostitution away from your Elohim; You love a fee on all the threshing floors of grain;

2 The threshing floor and the winevat shall not know them, And the grape juice shall disavow them.

3 They shall not dwell in the land of Yahweh; Ephraim will return to Egypt, And in Assyria they shall eat unclean food.

4 They shall not libate wine to Yahweh, And they shall not be congenial to Him. Their sacrifices will be like bread of sorrow to them. All who are eating it, they are defiling themselves. For their bread is for their own soul; It shall not enter the house of Yahweh.

5 What shall you do on the day of appointment, And on the day of the festival of Yahweh?

6 For if they should go away from devastation, Egypt, it shall convene them; Memphis, it shall entomb them. Their coveted things of silver The stinging nettle shall tenant them; The thistle shall be in their tents.

7 The days of visitation will come; The days of repayment will come. Let Israel know. The prophet is considered foolish, The man of the spirit mad Because of the multitude of your depravity, And the vast animosity.

8 The watchman of Ephraim is with my Elohim; As for the prophet, a trapper’s snare lies upon all his pathways, Animosity in the house of his Elohim.

9 Deeply they corrupt themselves as in the days of Gibeah. He shall remember their depravity; He shall call their sins to account.

10 Like grapes in a wilderness I found Israel; Like the firstfruit on the fig tree, in its first season, I saw your fathers. But when they came to Baal-peor, They sequestered themselves to the shameful thing, And they became abominations, like that which they loved.

11 Ephraim is like the fowl; Their glory shall fly away, Without birth, without fruitful womb, without pregnancy.

12 For, if they are bringing up their sons, then will I bereave them of every human, Indeed woe also to them when I withdraw from them!

13 Ephraim, just as I have seen, like Tyre, is transplanted into a homestead, Yet Ephraim must bring forth his sons to the killer.

14 Give to them, O Yahweh What shall You give? Give to them a miscarrying womb And shriveled breasts.

15 All their evil is seen in Gilgal; Indeed there I have hated them. On account of the evil of their actions, I shall drive them out from My house. I shall not continue to love them. All their chief officials are stubborn.

16 Smitten is Ephraim; Their root is dried up; They shall no longer yield fruit. Even if they give birth, I will put to death the coveted ones of their belly.

17 My Elohim shall reject them, For they did not hearken to Him. And they shall become wanderers among the nations.

Chapter 10

1 Israel is a regressing vine; His fruit is equal to him. According to the abundance of his fruit, he increases the altars. According to the goodness of his land, they make skillful monuments.

2 Their heart deals slickly; Now they shall be held guilty. He shall break the necks of their altars; He shall devastate their monuments.

3 Indeed now they shall say, We have no king, for we do not fear Yahweh. And the king what can he do for us?

4 They speak words, invoking futility, contracting a covenant. And judgment will bud like a poisonous plant on the furrows of the field.

5 The tabernaclers of Samaria shall be stirred up for the grand heifer of Beth-aven, For its people mourn over it, As well as its idolatrous priests who were exulting over it, over its glory, For it departs from it.

6 It too shall be fetched to Assyria, A present to the great king. Ephraim shall take shame, And Israel shall be ashamed because of his counsel.

7 Samaria will be stilled; Its king will be like froth on the surface of water.

8 The high-places of Aven will be exterminated, the sin of Israel. The thorn and the weed shall grow up on their altars. And they will say to the mountains, Cover us! And to the hills, Fall on us!

9 Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel; There they have stayed! Did not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?

10 When I come, then I shall discipline them, And peoples will be gathered against them, When they are disciplined for their double depravities.

11 Yet Ephraim is a heifer being taught, Loving to thresh; I will pass the yoke over her good neck; I shall cause Ephraim to be ridden. Judah shall plow; Jacob shall harrow for him.

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap the fruit of kindness; Till for yourselves the fallow ground. Then is the time to seek after Yahweh, Until He shall come and direct righteousness to you.

13 You plow wickedness; Iniquity you reap. You eat the fruit of dissimulation, For you trust in your chariots, In the multitude of your masters of war.

14 Yet a tumult will rise among your people, And all your fortresses shall be devastated, Like Shalman’s devastation of Beth-arbel in the day of battle, When the mother was dashed to pieces on the sons.

15 Thus will He do to you, house of Israel, in view of the evil of your evil. In the dawn, the king of Israel will be stilled, yea stilled.

Chapter 11

1 When Israel was a youth, then I loved him, And from Egypt I called My son.

2 As I called to them, so they went from My presence. To the Baalim they are sacrificing, And to carvings they are fuming incense.

3 I taught the feet of Ephraim, Taking him by his arms; Yet they did not know that I healed them.

4 With the cord lines of a human am I drawing them, With the ropes of love. And I am becoming to them as those raising up the yoke from their cheeks. And I am stretching out to him, And I am feeding

5 him. He shall return to the land of Egypt, And the Assyrian, he shall be his king, Seeing that they refuse to turn back.

6 The sword will whirl in his cities And will destroy his pretenses, And it will devour them because of their own counsels.

7 My people are hung up on backsliding from Me; Though they are proclaiming Him as the Supreme, Not one is exalting Him.

8 How can I surrender you, Ephraim? Shall I give you up, Israel? How can I surrender you like Admah? Shall I make you like Zeboim? My heart is turned in Me; My comfortings are altogether fervid.

9 I shall not execute the heat of My anger; I shall not return to ruin Ephraim, For I am El, and not a man, The Holy One in your midst, And I shall not come against any city.

10 They shall follow after Yahweh. He shall roar like a lion; Indeed He shall roar! And the sons shall tremble from the sea;

11 They shall tremble like a bird from Egypt, And like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will cause them to dwell in their houses, averring is Yahweh.

12 Ephraim surrounds Me with dissimulation, And the house of Israel with deceit. Yet Judah, he still goes on with El. And remains faithful with the holy places.

Chapter 12

1 Ephraim is grazing on wind And is pursuing the east wind. The entire day he is increasing lying and hypocrisy, And they are contracting a covenant with Assyria, And oil is being fetched to Egypt.

2 Yet Yahweh has a contention with Judah, And will call Jacob to account according to his ways, And according to his actions He shall recompense him.

3 In the belly he took his brother by the heel, Yet in his virility he was upright with Elohim.

4 And he is setting to work with the Messenger, and is prevailing; He laments and is supplicating to Him. In Bethel He is finding him, And there He is speaking with him.

5 Yahweh is the Elohim of hosts; Yahweh is His Name.

6 And you, to your Elohim shall you return; Keep kindness and right judgment, And be expectant toward your Elohim continually.

7 A trafficker in his hand are scales of deceit; He loves to exploit:

8 Hence Ephraim is saying, Yea, I am rich; I find virility for myself; In all my labor, They shall not find with me depravity which is sin.

9 Yet I, Yahweh, am your Elohim; I brought you up from the land of Egypt. Again I shall cause you to dwell in tents, As in the days of the appointed assembly;

10 I spoke by the prophets, And I increased the vision, And by the hand of the prophets I used likenesses.

11 If Gilead was lawless, Yea, they have become futility. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; Moreover, their altars are like mounds on the furrows of a field.

12 Jacob fled away to the field of Syria, And Israel served for a wife, And for a wife he kept cattle.

13 Yet by a prophet Yahweh brought up Israel from Egypt, And by a prophet was he kept guarded.

14 Ephraim provoked Him most bitterly to vexation, And He shall leave his bloodguilt on him, And his reproach his Lord shall recompense to him.

Chapter 13

1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trepidation; He lifted himself up in Israel. Yet he incurred guilt with the Baal and died.

2 And now they are continuing to sin. And they are making a molten image for themselves from their silver, According to their model of fetishes, The work of artificers, all of them. To them, they are saying, shall be the sacrifices of a human; They shall kiss the calves.

3 Therefore they shall become like morning clouds, And like early dew that goes away, Like trash that is being tossed by a tempest, And like smoke from a crevice.

4 Yet I am Yahweh, your Elohim, Who established the heavens and created the earth, Whose hands created all the host of the heavens. Yet I did not show them to you that you should go after them, When I brought you up from the land of Egypt. You shall not know an elohim except Me, And there is no Saviour, unless it is I.

5 I grazed you in the wilderness, In a land of searing drought.

6 In accord with their pasture, they were satisfied; They were satisfied, and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me.

7 So I shall become to them like a black lion; Like a leopard I shall lie in wait along the way.

8 I shall encounter them like a bereaved bear, And I shall tear the enclosure of their heart And devour them there like a parent lion; The wild animal of the field, it shall rend them.

9 It ruins you, Israel! For in Me is your help.

10 Where is your king, indeed, That he may save you in all your cities? And your judges of whom you said, Do give me a king and chief officials?

11 I am giving you a king in My anger, And I am taking him away in My rage.

12 The depravity of Ephraim is bundled up; His sin is stored up;

13 The cramps of childbirth, they shall come for him; He is an unwise son, For at the proper time he shall not stand ready at the breaking forth of sons.

14 (From the grip of the unseen I shall ransom them; From death I shall redeem them. Where are your plagues, Death? Where is your sting, Unseen?) Regret, it shall be concealed from My eyes

15 Seeing that he is parting between his brothers. An east wind shall come; The wind of Yahweh shall come up from the wilderness, And it shall dry up his fountain, And it shall drain his spring. He shall rob the treasure of every coveted article.

16 Samaria shall be held guilty, For she rebels against her Elohim. By the sword they shall fall, And their infants, they shall be dashed to pieces, And their pregnant women, they shall be rent.

Chapter 14

1 Do return, Israel, unto Yahweh your Elohim, For you stumble in your depravity.

2 Take words with you And return to Yahweh; Say to Him: Bear away all the depravity; Take the good, And we shall repay with the fruit of our lips.

3 Assyria, it cannot save us; We shall not ride on the horse, Nor shall we again say, Our elohim, to the work of our hands. For in You, the orphan is being shown compassion.

4 I shall heal their backsliding; I shall love them willingly, For My anger will turn back from him.

5 I shall become as the dew to Israel. He shall bud as the anemone And thrust out his roots like Lebanon.

6 His young shoots shall go forth, And his splendor shall become like the olive tree And his scent like Lebanon.

7 The dwellers in his shade shall return; They shall revive the grain, And they shall bud like the vine; The remembrance of Him will be like the wine of Lebanon.

8 Ephraim what are fetishes to him any longer? I humble him and am regarding him. I am like a flourishing fir. Your fruit is found to be from Me.

9 Who is wise shall also understand these things. These being understood, he shall also acknowledge them. For upright are the ways of Yahweh, And the righteous, they shall walk in them. Yet the transgressors, they shall be stumbled in them.

The Book of Joel

Chapter 1

1 The word of Yahweh, which came to Joel son of Pethuel:

2 Hear this, elders! And give ear, all dwellers of the land! Has this come in your days? Or in the days of your fathers?

3 Concerning it relate to your sons, And your sons to their sons, And their sons to an after generation!

4 The leavings of the larva, the locust eats, And the leavings of the locust, the young-locust eats, And the leavings of the young-locust, the beetle eats.

5 Awake, drunkards, and lament! And howl, all drinkers of wine, over the new wine! For it is cut off from your mouth.

6 For a nation, it comes up against My land, staunch and numberless; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has fangs of a parent lion.

7 It brings My vine to desolation And My fig tree to a stripped stump. It bares, yea bares it and flings it away; Its intertwining branches are whitened.

8 Sob like a virgin girded with sackcloth, Grieving over the plighted one of her youth.

9 The approach present and the libation are cut off from the house of Yahweh; The priests, ministers of Yahweh’s altar, mourn.

10 The field is devastated; The ground mourns. Indeed the grain, it is devastated; The grape juice is dried up; The clarified oil is wasted away.

11 Be ashamed, farmworkers! Howl, vineyardists! Over the wheat and over the barley, For the harvest of the field perishes.

12 The vine, it is dried up, And the fig tree, it is wasted away. The pomegranate as well as the palm tree and the apricot All the trees of the field, they are dried up; Indeed elation is dried up from the sons of humanity.

13 Gird sackcloth, and wail, priests! Howl, ministers of the altar! Come! Lodge in sackcloth, ministers of my Elohim; For the approach present and the libation are withheld from the house of your Elohim.

14 Hallow a fast! Proclaim a day of restraint! Gather, elders, all the dwellers of the land, to the house of Yahweh your Elohim, And cry out to Yahweh.

15 Alas! Alas! Alas for the day! For near is the day of Yahweh. And as devastation from Him Who-Suffices is it coming.

16 Is not the food cut off in front of our eyes, Rejoicing and exultation from the house of our Elohim?

17 The parted seeds wizen beneath their lumps of dirt; The storehouses, they are made desolate; The underground hoards are demolished, For the grain is dried up.

18 How the beast sighs! The droves of oxen are doleful, For there is no pasture for them. Even the droves of small cattle are exterminated.

19 To You, O Yahweh, am I calling, For fire, it devours the oases of the wilderness, And a blaze, it sets aflame all the trees of the field.

20 Even the beasts of the field are panting for You, For the channels of water are dried up, And fire, it devours the oases of the wilderness.

Chapter 2

1 Blow the trumpet in Zion! And raise a shout of alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the dwellers of the land be disturbed, For coming is the day of Yahweh! For it is near!

2 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of cloud and murkiness! Like the dawn spreading across the mountains, A people numerous and staunch comes; Nothing like it has occurred from the eon, And after it, it shall not be again, unto years of generation after generation.

3 Before it a fire devours, And behind it is a blaze flaming. Like a garden of Eden is the land before it, Yet behind it is a wilderness of desolation. And, moreover, deliverance comes not to it.

4 Like the appearance of horses is its appearance, And like cavalry, so are they running.

5 Like the sound of chariots on the mountain tops are they bounding along. Like the sound of a blazing fire devouring stubble, Like a people numerous and staunch, arrayed for battle.

6 Before its face are the peoples travailing; All faces draw together in ashy paleness.

7 Like masters of war are they running. Like men of warfare are they ascending a wall. And they are marching, each man on his own way, And their paths are not crossing.

8 They are not jostling, each man his brother; They are marching, each master of war in his file; They are dodging the javelin; They are not breaking rank.

9 They are rushing upon the city; They are running on the wall; They are ascending into the houses; They are entering through the windows like a thief.

10 Before it the earth is disturbed; The heavens quake, The sun and the moon, they are somber, And the stars, they gather back their brightness.

11 Yahweh lifts up His voice before His army, For exceedingly great is His camp, For staunch is the doer of His word. For great is the day of Yahweh and exceedingly fearful; Who shall endure it?

12 Yet even now, averring is Yahweh, Return unto Me with all your heart And with fasting and with lamenting and with wailing;

13 Tear your heart and not your garments, And return to Yahweh your Elohim. For gracious and compassionate is He, Slow to anger and with much benignity, And regretting over the evil.

14 Who knows? He may turn back and regret, And let a blessing remain behind Him, An approach present and a libation for Yahweh your Elohim.

15 Blow the trumpet in Zion! Hallow a fast! Proclaim a day of restraint!

16 Gather the people! Hallow the assembly! Convene the elders! Gather the infants and the sucklings at the breasts! The bridegroom shall go forth from his chamber, And the bride from her canopy!

17 Between the portico and the altar the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, shall lament; They shall say, Do commiserate, O Yahweh, over Your people; Do not make Your allotment a reproach, The nations ruling over them. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their Elohim?

18 Then Yahweh shall be jealous for His land, And He shall spare His people.

19 And Yahweh shall respond and say to His people, Behold Me sending to you grain and grape juice and clarified oil, And you will be satisfied with it. And I shall not make you a reproach among the nations any more.

20 The northerner I shall put far off from you, And I will expel him to an arid country and a desolation, With his vanguard to the eastern sea, And his rear guard to the western sea. His stink will ascend, And his stench shall go up, For he has magnified his deeds.

21 Do not fear, ground! Exult and rejoice, for Yahweh magnifies His deeds.

22 Do not fear, beasts of the field, For the oases of the wilderness will become verdant. For the tree will bear its fruit; The fig tree and the vine, they will give their potency.

23 Exult, sons of Zion! And rejoice in Yahweh your Elohim! For He will give to you the former rain in just measure, And He shall bring down for you the downpour, The former rain and the latter rain as formerly.

24 The threshing sites will be full of cereal, And the winevats will run over with grape juice and clarified oil.

25 I will repay to you for the years which the locust devoured, The young-locust and the beetle and the larva, My great army which I sent among you.

26 Then you will eat, yea eat and be satisfied, And you will praise the Name of Yahweh your Elohim, Who deals with you marvelously; And My people shall not be ashamed for the eon.

27 You will know that within Israel am I, And I am Yahweh your Elohim, And there is none else beside Me; My people shall not be ashamed for the eon.

28 And it will be afterward, I shall pour out My spirit on all flesh; And your sons and your daughters will prophesy, Your elders shall dream dreams, Your choice youth shall see visions.

29 And surely on the menservants and on the maidservants In those days shall I pour out My spirit.

30 And I will give miracles in the heavens and on the earth, Blood and fire and pillars of smoke;

31 The sun shall be turned to darkness, And the moon to blood, Before the coming of the day of Yahweh, The great and advent day.

32 And it will be that everyone who shall call on the Name of Yahweh shall escape, For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, deliverance shall come, Just as Yahweh says, Among the survivors, whom Yahweh is calling.

Chapter 3

1 For, behold, in those days, And in that time, When I shall reverse the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,

2 I will also convene all the nations And bring them down to the Vale of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there concerning My people, And My allotment, Israel, whom they disperse among the nations, And My land which they apportion.

3 For My people, they cast the lot. They are giving a boy for a prostitute, And a girl they sell for wine, that they may drink.

4 Now what are you to Me, Tyre and Sidon, and all the circuits of Philistia? Are you repaying Me a requital? If you are requiting Me, fleetly, quickly I shall reverse your requital on your head,

5 you who have taken My silver and My gold, and have brought My good treasures to your temples.

6 You sell the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their own territory.

7 Behold, I shall rouse them from the place where you sell them, and I will reverse your requital on your head.

8 I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them into captivity, to a nation afar, for Yahweh has spoken.

9 Proclaim this among the nations! Hallow a war! Rouse the masters of war! Let all the men of warfare come close and ascend.

10 Pound your mattocks into swords And your pruners into lances! Let even the defeatist say, A master of war am I!

11 Mobilize and come, all nations from round about! Convene there! Settle there Your masters of war, O Yahweh!

12 Let all the nations be roused and ascend to the Vale of Jehoshaphat. For there I shall sit to judge all the nations from round about.

13 Send forth the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winetrough is full; The winevats run over, for great is their evil.

14 Throngs, throngs in the vale of decision! For near is the day of Yahweh in the vale of decision!

15 The sun and the moon, they are somber, And the stars, they gather back their brightness.

16 Yahweh, from Zion He shall roar And from Jerusalem He shall lift up His voice, The heavens and the earth will quake. Yet Yahweh is a Refuge for His people, And a Stronghold for the sons of Israel.

17 And you will know that I am Yahweh your Elohim, Tabernacling in Zion, My holy mountain; Jerusalem will come to be a holy place, And aliens, they shall not pass in her any longer.

18 It will come in that day, The mountains shall drip with new wine, And the hills shall flow with milk. All the channels of Judah, they shall flow with water, And a spring from the house of Yahweh, it shall go forth, And it will irrigate the wadi Shittim.

19 Egypt, it shall become a desolation, And Edom, it shall become a desolate wilderness Because of wrong done to the sons of Judah, When they shed innocent blood in their land.

20 Judah, it shall be indwelt for the eon, And Jerusalem for generation after generation.

21 I will avenge their bloodshed; I will not hold it innocent, For Yahweh shall tabernacle in Zion.

The Book of Amos

Chapter 1

1 The words of Amos, who came to be among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he perceived concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam, son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2 And he is saying: Yahweh, He shall roar from Zion, And from Jerusalem He shall lift up His voice! The oases of the shepherds will mourn, And the summit of Carmel will dry up.

3 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Damascus, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they threshed the pregnant women of Gilead with iron spikes;

4 I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, And it will devour the citadels of Ben-hadad.

5 And I will break the bar of Damascus, And cut off the dweller from the valley of Aven, And the upholder of the scepter from Beth-eden, And the people of Syria will be carried away to Kir, says Yahweh.

6 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Gaza, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they carried away into exile a total deportation, to surrender it to Edom;

7 I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, And it will devour her citadels.

8 And I will cut off the dweller from Ashdod, And the upholder of the scepter from Ashkelon, And I will reverse My hand on Ekron, And the remnant of the Philistines will perish, Says my Lord Yahweh.

9 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Tyre, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they surrendered a total deportation to Edom And did not remember the covenant of brotherhood;

10 I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, And it will devour her citadels.

11 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Edom, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because he pursued his brother with the sword And corrupted his own compassions, And his anger is ravenous continually, And his rage, he keeps it permanently;

12 I will send fire upon Teman, And it will devour the citadels of Bozrah.

13 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they rent the pregnant women of Gilead, That they may widen their territory;

14 I will ravage with fire upon the wall of Rabbah, And it will devour her citadels, With shouting in the day of battle, With a tempest in the day of a sweeping whirlwind,

15 And Milcom will go into deportation, His priests and his chief officials together, Says Yahweh.

Chapter 2

1 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Moab, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime;

2 I will send fire upon Moab, And it will devour the citadels of Kerioth, And Moab will die with a tumult, With shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.

3 I will cut off the judge from within her, And all her chief officials shall I kill with him, Says Yahweh.

4 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Judah, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they rejected the law of Yahweh, And His statutes they do not keep, And their lies are leading them astray, After which their fathers walked;

5 I will send fire upon Judah, And it will devour the citadels of Jerusalem.

6 Thus says Yahweh: Due to three transgressions of Israel, And due to four, I shall not turn it back, Because they sold the righteous for silver, And the needy for the sake of a pair of sandals;

7 They are snuffing down the head of the poor into the soil of the earth, And the way of the humble are they turning aside; A man and his father are going to the same maiden, That they may profane My holy Name;

8 On pledged garments are they stretching out beside every altar, And the wine of those fined are they drinking in the house of their elohim.

9 Yet I exterminated the Amorite before you, Whose loftiness was like the loftiness of the cedars, And safeguarded was he as the oaks. I exterminated his fruit from above, And his roots from beneath.

10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt, And I conducted you in the wilderness forty years, To tenant the land of the Amorite.

11 And I raised up some of your sons to be prophets, And some of your choice young men to be Nazirites. Indeed, is not this so, sons of Israel? averring is Yahweh.

12 Yet you are giving the Nazirites wine to drink, And the prophets you enjoin, saying, You shall not prophesy.

13 Behold, I will press you down Just as the cart is pressed down when it is full of sheaves.

14 Yet the hope of fleeing will perish from the fleet one, And the steadfast one, he shall not make his vigor resolute, And the master, he shall not escape with his soul,

15 And the one handling the bow, he shall not stand, And the one fleet on his feet, he shall not escape, And the rider of the horse, he shall not escape with his soul,

16 And the one resolute in his heart among the masters shall flee naked in that day, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 3

1 Hear this word which Yahweh speaks against you, house of Israel, Against the entire family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:

2 Only you do I know of all the families of the ground; Therefore I shall visit on you all your depravities.

3 Shall two walk together unless they make an appointment?

4 Does a lion roar in the wildwood when there is no prey for him? Does a sheltered lion give forth his voice from his habitation unless he has seized something?

5 Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth when there is no trap set for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground when it is not seizing, yea seizing anything?

6 Would a trumpet be blown in a city and the people not tremble? Would there come to be evil in a city and Yahweh not have done it?

7 For my Lord Yahweh is not doing a thing Without revealing His deliberation to His servants, the prophets.

8 The lion, it roars Who will not fear? My Lord Yahweh, He speaks Who will not prophesy?

9 Announce it on the citadels in Ashdod, And on the citadels in the land of Egypt. And say, Gather together on the mountains of Samaria, And see the great discomfitures in her midst, And the exploitings within her.

10 They do not know how to do what is correct, averring is Yahweh, Who are treasuring violence and devastation in their citadels.

11 Therefore, thus says my Lord Yahweh: A foe, all around the land! He will bring down your strongholds from you, And your citadels will be plundered.

12 Thus says Yahweh: Just as the shepherd is rescuing from the mouth of the lion two shanks or a separated ear, So shall the sons of Israel be rescued, Those dwelling in Samaria on the edge of a couch, And in Damascus on a divan.

13 Hear and testify in the house of Jacob, averring is my Lord Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts,

14 That in the day I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, Then will I visit punishment on the altars of Bethel, And the horns of the altar will be hacked down, And they will fall to the earth.

15 And I will smite the winter house along with the summer house, And the houses of ivory will perish, And the great houses will be swept away, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 4

1 Hear this word, young cows of Bashan, Who are in the mountain of Samaria, Who are exploiting the poor, Who are bruising the needy, Who are saying to their lords, Do bring, and let us drink.

2 My Lord Yahweh swears by His holiness, that, Behold, days shall come on you, When they will assist you away with pricks, And the hindmost of you with briars of fishing.

3 And at the breaches shall you go forth, Each woman straight in front of her, And you will be flung toward the highland, averring is Yahweh.

4 Go to Bethel and transgress! At Gilgal increase the transgression! And bring your sacrifices every morning, And your tithes every three days!

5 Fume incense with leaven as acclamation, And proclaim the voluntary vows! Announce it, for so you love, sons of Israel, averring is my Lord Yahweh.

6 Even I, I give you teeth innocent of food in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.

7 I, I also withhold from you the downpour, While still three months to harvest, And I bring rain on one city, And on another city I am not bringing rain; One portion, it was rained upon, And the portion upon which I am not bringing rain, it is drying up.

8 Two or three cities stagger to one city to drink water, Yet they are not satisfied. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.

9 I smite you with blast and with mildew. The increase of your gardens and your vineyards And your fig trees and your olive trees, the larva of the locust is devouring. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.

10 I send among you a plague in the manner of Egypt. I kill your choice young men by the sword, With the capture of your horses, And I am making the stink of your camp ascend even in your nose. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.

11 I overturn among you like Elohim’s overturning of Sodom and Gomorrah, And you are becoming like a wooden poker rescued from the burning. Yet you do not return unto Me, averring is Yahweh.

12 Therefore, thus shall I do to you, Israel! Inasmuch that this I shall do to you, Prepare to meet your Elohim, Israel!

13 For behold the One forming the mountains, And creating the wind, And telling to humanity of His Anointed One, Making the dawn and murkiness, And treading on the high-places of the land Yahweh Elohim of hosts is His Name!

Chapter 5

1 Hear this word of Yahweh, which I am lifting over you as a dirge, house of Israel:

2 The virgin of Israel falls, not again to rise; She is abandoned on her ground; There is no one raising her up.

3 For thus says my Lord Yahweh: The city from which is going forth a thousand, It shall have a hundred remain, And that from which is going forth a hundred, It shall have ten remain, for the house of Israel.

4 For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: Seek after Me and live.

5 Yet you must not seek after Bethel, And to Gilgal you shall not come, And to Beer-sheba you shall not pass, For Gilgal, it shall be carried away, yea carried away into exile, And Bethel, it shall come to lawlessness.

6 Seek after Yahweh and live, Lest He should prosper like a fire in the house of Joseph, And it devours, And there is no one to quench it for the house of Israel.

7 You who are turning right judgment to absinth, And who hurl down righteousness to the earth

8 The Maker of the Pleiades and Orion, And He Who is turning the blackest shadow to morning, And darkens day to night, He Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And is pouring them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh Elohim of hosts is His Name!

9 He is distributing devastation over the stronghold, And devastation is coming on the fortressed city

10 You are they who hate the corrector in the gateway, And are abhorring the one who speaks with integrity.

11 Therefore, because of your trampling on the poor person, And his helping of cereal you are taking from him, Though you build houses of trimmed stone, Yet you shall not dwell in them; Though you plant coveted vineyards, Yet you shall not drink their wine.

12 For I know that your transgressions are many And your sins are plentiful; You are distressers of the righteous one, Takers of a sheltering bribe, Who turn aside the needy in the gateway.

13 Therefore, the intelligent one shall keep still at such a time, For it will be an evil time.

14 Seek after good, and evil not at all, that you may live, And so Yahweh Elohim of hosts shall come to be with you, just as you say.

15 Hate evil and love good, And put right judgment in the gateway; Perhaps Yahweh Elohim of hosts shall be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

16 Therefore, thus says Yahweh Elohim of hosts, my Lord: In all the squares shall be wailing, And in all the streets they shall say, Woe! Woe! And they will call the farmworker to mourning, And there will be wailing for those who are skilled at plaint making.

17 In all vineyards there will be wailing, For I shall pass in your midst, says Yahweh.

18 Woe to those yearning for the day of Yahweh! Why would you have this, the day of Yahweh? It will be darkness, and not light,

19 As if a man is fleeing from the face of the lion, And the bear comes on him, And he enters the house and supports his hand on the sidewall, And the serpent bites him.

20 Shall not the day of Yahweh be darkness, and not light? And gloom, and no brightness to it?

21 I hate, I reject your festivals, And I shall not smell the approach presents in your days of restraint.

22 For if you bring up to Me ascent offerings or approach presents, I shall not accept them. And on the peace offerings of your fatlings I shall not look.

23 Take away from Me the clamor of your songs, And the melody of your zithers I shall not hear.

24 Judgment shall roll like water, And righteousness like a perennial watercourse.

25 Have you not brought close to Me sacrifices and approach presents In the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?

26 And now you have borne the booth of Moloch And the star of your elohim Kewan, The images which you made for yourselves.

27 Yet I will carry you away into exile beyond Damascus, Says Yahweh, Elohim of hosts is His Name.

Chapter 6

1 Woe to the self-satisfied in Zion And those trusting in the mountain of Samaria! The specified men of the first of the nations, And to them to whom the house of Israel comes.

2 Pass over to Calneh and see, And go from there to Hamath the great, And go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory?

3 You are those isolating the day of evil, Yet you are bringing the seat of violence closer,

4 Those lying on couches of ivory, And who are sprawled out on their divans, And are eating the butting lambs from the flock, And the calves from the midst of the stall;

5 Those twanging at the bidding of the zither like David, Who devise for themselves instruments of song;

6 Those drinking in sprinkling bowls of wine, And who are anointing with first quality oils, Yet do not travail over the breaking of Joseph.

7 Therefore now, they shall be carried away into exile at the head of those carried away. And the communal rites of those who are sprawled out will be taken away.

8 My Lord Yahweh swears by His soul, averring is Yahweh Elohim of hosts: I am abhorring the pride of Jacob, And his citadels I hate, And I will surrender over the city and its fullness.

9 And it will come, if ten men are left in one house, yet they will die.

10 When a man’s friend takes him up, even he who is burning him up, to bring forth his bones from the house, and he asks him who is in the recesses of the house, Are any still with you? and he will say, Nobody, then he will say, Be quelled! for one is not to mention Yahweh by name.

11 For, behold! Yahweh is instructing, And He will smite the great house with demolition And the small house with rents.

12 Do horses run on a crag? Or does one plow it with oxen? For you turn right judgment into poison And the fruit of righteousness into absinth.

13 You are those rejoicing about Lo-debar, who are saying, Did we not by our own steadfastness take Karnaim to ourselves?

14 For, behold Me raising against you, house of Israel (averring is Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts), a nation; And they will oppress you, From Lebo-hamath unto the Arabah wadi.

Chapter 7

1 Thus my Lord Yahweh shows me: And behold, He is forming the hoppers at the start of the coming up of the aftergrowth. And behold, the aftergrowth is after the mowings of the king.

2 And it comes, when they finish devouring the herbage of the land, then I am saying, O my Lord Yahweh, pardon, I pray: Who shall raise Jacob, for he is small?

3 Yahweh regrets over this. It shall not come to be, says Yahweh.

4 Thus my Lord Yahweh shows me: And behold, my Lord Yahweh is calling to contend by fire. And it is devouring the vast abyss, and it devours the land portion.

5 And I am saying, My Lord Yahweh, forbear, I pray: Who shall raise Jacob, for he is small?

6 Yahweh regrets over this as well; it shall not come to be, says my Lord Yahweh.

7 Thus Yahweh shows me: And behold, my Lord is stationed on a plumblined wall. And in His hand is a plumbline.

8 And Yahweh is saying to me, What are you seeing, Amos? and I am saying, A plumbline. And my Lord is saying, Behold Me placing a plumbline in the midst of My people Israel; I shall not continue to pass by them any longer.

9 The high-places of Isaac will be made desolate, And the grand sanctuary of Israel shall be deserted. And I rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

10 Amaziah, priest of Bethel, is sending to Jeroboam, king of Israel, saying: Amos conspires against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to contain all his words.

11 For thus says Amos, By the sword shall Jeroboam die. And Israel shall be carried away, yea carried away into exile off his ground.

12 And Amaziah is saying to Amos, Vision seer, go! Run your way to the land of Judah, and there eat your bread, and there you shall prophesy.

13 Yet at Bethel you shall not continue to prophesy further, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the royal palace.

14 Yet Amos is answering and saying to Amaziah, I am not a prophet, nor am I a son of a prophet. For I am a herder and a puncturer of sycamore figs.

15 And Yahweh is taking me from following the flock, and Yahweh is saying to me, Go, prophesy to My people Israel.

16 And now, hear the word of Yahweh: You are saying, You shall not prophesy against Israel, nor shall you preach against the house of Isaac.

17 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Your wife, she shall commit prostitution in the city, Your sons and your daughters, they shall fall by the sword, And your ground, it shall be split up by the line, And you shall die on unclean ground; For Israel, he shall be carried away, yea carried away into exile off his ground.

Chapter 8

1 Thus my Lord Yahweh shows me: Behold, a crate of summer fruit.

2 And He is saying, What are you seeing, Amos? And I am saying, A crate of summer fruit. Then Yahweh is saying to me: The end comes for My people Israel. I shall not continue still to pass by them,

3 And the songs of the temple will howl in that day, averring is my Lord Yahweh. Many are the corpses; They will be flung in every place! Be quelled!

4 Hear this, you who are snuffing down the needy and who eradicate the humble of the land,

5 saying, When shall the new moon pass that we may retail food-grain, and the sabbath that we may open out the cereal, making the ephah measure small and the shekel weight great, and distorting the scales by deceit,

6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for the sake of a pair of sandals? Even the tailings of the cereal we shall retail!

7 Yahweh swears by the pride of Jacob, I shall assuredly not forget permanently any of their deeds!

8 Over this, shall not the land be disturbed? And everyone dwelling in it mourn? And it will ascend like the Nile, all of it, And it will be disgorged and sunk down like the Nile of Egypt.

9 And it comes in that day, averring is my Lord Yahweh, That I will bring in the sun at noon, And I will darken the land in broad daylight;

10 I will turn your festivals to mourning, And all your songs to a dirge; I will bring up sackcloth on all waists, And on every head baldness; I will make it like the mourning for an only child, And the end of it like a bitter day.

11 Behold, the days are coming, averring is my Lord Yahweh, That I will send a famine into the land, Not a famine for bread, nor a thirsting for water, But rather for hearing the words of Yahweh.

12 They will rove from sea unto sea And from the north unto the sunrise; They shall go to and fro to seek the word of Yahweh And shall not find it.

13 In that day the lovely virgins shall swoon, And also the choice men, in thirst,

14 Who swear by the guilt of Samaria And say, As your elohim lives, Dan! And, As the way of Beer-sheba lives! Yet they will fall and shall not rise again.

Chapter 9

1 I see Yahweh stationed over the altar, And He is saying, Smite the sphere-like capital, And the thresholds shall quake; Clip them off at the head, all of them, And I shall kill the hindmost of them with the sword. Not one taking to flight shall flee away among them, And not one seeking deliverance shall escape among them.

2 If they are burrowing into the unseen, From there My hand, it shall take them; And if they are ascending to the heavens, From there I shall bring them down.

3 And if they are hiding in the summit of Carmel, There I shall search and take them; And if they are concealed from in front of My eyes on the floor of the sea, There I shall instruct the serpent, and it will bite them.

4 And if they are going into captivity before their enemies, There I shall instruct the sword, and it will kill them. I will place My eye on them for evil, and not for good.

5 My Lord Yahweh, the Elohim of hosts is He Who is touching the land so that it is dissolving, And all dwelling in it mourn. And it ascends like the Nile, all of it, And it sinks down like the Nile of Egypt.

6 He Who is building His ascents in the heavens, And His harnessing over the earth He founds it, He Who is calling to the waters of the sea, And is pouring them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh, Elohim of hosts, is His Name!

7 Are you not like the sons of the Cushites to Me, sons of Israel? averring is Yahweh; Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt? And the Philistines from Caphtor? And Syria from Kir?

8 Behold, the eyes of my Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, And I will exterminate it off the surface of the ground, Only that I shall not exterminate the house of Jacob to extermination, averring is Yahweh.

9 For behold, I am instructing, And I will jerk the house of Israel to and fro among all the nations, Just as if jerked to and fro in a sieve, Yet not a pebble shall fall to the earth.

10 By the sword shall die all the sinners of My people, Those saying, The evil shall not come close, or confront about us.

11 In that day shall I raise up the fallen booth of David, And I will dike up its breaches with stones, And its demolished places shall I raise, And I will rebuild it as in the days of the eon,

12 That the remnant of humanity may seek after the Lord, And all the nations over whom My Name is called, averring is Yahweh, Who does this.

13 Behold, the days are coming, averring is Yahweh, When the plowman will draw close to the reaper, And the treader of grapes to the one drawing forth the seed from the sack. And the mountains will drip with new wine, And all the hills shall ripple with grain.

14 And I will reverse the captivity of My people Israel, And they will rebuild the desolated cities and dwell in them. And they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, And they will make gardens and eat their fruit.

15 And I will plant them on their ground, And not again shall they be plucked up off their ground which I give to them, Says Yahweh your Elohim.

The Book of Obadiah

Chapter 1

1 The vision of Obadiah: Thus says my Lord Yahweh concerning Edom: We hear a report from Yahweh, And an agent, he is sent among the nations. Rise! And let us rise against her for battle!

2 Behold, I have made you small among the nations. Despised are you exceedingly.

3 The arrogance of your heart, it lures you, You who are tabernacling in the clefts of the crag. A height is his dwelling; He is saying in his heart, Who shall bring me down to earth?

4 If you soar aloft like the vulture, And if your nest is set among the stars, From there I shall bring you down, averring is Yahweh.

5 If thieves come to you, If devastators of the night, How you would be stilled! Would they not steal their quota? If grape pickers, they come to you, Would they not let only clean-gleanings remain?

6 How the things of Esau will be searched! His secluded stores will be ferreted out!

7 They will send you back unto the boundary; All the men of the covenant with you, they will lure you away; The men bidding you peace will prevail against you; Those sharing your bread, they shall set an ensnarement under you without your detection of it.

8 Will it not be in that day, averring is Yahweh, That I will destroy the wise from Edom, And understanding from Mount Esau?

9 Your masters, will be dismayed, Teman, That each man may be cut off from Mount Esau by being despatched.

10 Because of wrong done to your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, And you will be cut off for the eon.

11 In the day that you stood aloof, In that day aliens captured his estate, And foreigners, they entered his gateways, And over Jerusalem they cast the lot. Moreover, you were as one of them!

12 Yet you must not stare in the day of your brother, in the day of his disaster. And you must not rejoice over the sons of Judah, in the day of their destruction. And you must not magnify your mouth, in the day of distress.

13 You must not enter into the gateway of My people, in the day of their calamity. Moreover, you must not stare at his evil suffering, in the day of his calamity. And you must not stretch forth upon his estate, in the day of his calamity.

14 And you must not stand at the crossway, to cut off his delivered ones. And you must not enclose his survivors, in the day of distress.

15 For near is the day of Yahweh over all the nations. Just as you do, it shall be done to you; Your dealing, it shall return on your own head.

16 For just as you drink on My holy mountain, So shall all the nations drink turbid wine, And they will drink and swallow absinth, And they will become as if not having become.

17 Yet in Mount Zion there shall come to be deliverance, And it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will tenant their own tenancies.

18 And the house of Jacob will become a fire, And the house of Joseph a blaze, And the house of Esau will be straw; They will flare up among them and devour them. And there shall not be a survivor for the house of Esau, For Yahweh, He speaks.

19 And they of the Negeb will tenant Mount Esau, And they of the low foothills the area of the Philistines; They will tenant the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria, And Benjamin will tenant Gilead.

20 And the deportation, this army of the sons of Israel, will tenant the Canaanites’ territory unto Zarephath. And the deportation of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, shall tenant the cities of the Negeb.

21 Saviours will come up in Mount Zion to judge Mount Esau, And the kingdom will become Yahweh’s.

The Book of Jonah

Chapter 1

1 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying:

2 Rise! Go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil ascends before Me.

3 Yet Jonah rose to run away to Tarshish from before Yahweh, and went down to Joppa. And he found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid its fare, and descended into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from before Yahweh.

4 As for Yahweh, He cast forth a great wind to the sea, and a great tempest came on the sea so that the ship was reckoned about to be broken.

5 And the mariners were fearful and cried out, each man to his elohim. And they cast forth the gear, which was in the ship, into the sea, to make it lightened for them. Yet Jonah had descended into the recesses of the lower deck, and he was lying down, and had fallen into a stupor.

6 Yet the navigator came near to him, and said to him, What is it to you, stupefied one! Rise! Call to your Elohim! Perhaps the Elohim shall reconsider as to us, and we shall not perish.

7 And they were saying, each man to his associate, Come, and let us cast lots that we may know on whose account this evil is with us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8 Then they said to him, Do tell us, pray, on whose account this evil is with us? What is your work, and from where are you coming? What is your country, and where, from which people are you?

9 And he said to them, A Hebrew am I, and I fear Yahweh the Elohim of the heavens, Who made the sea and the dry ground.

10 Then the men feared with great fear, and they said to him, What is this you have done? For the men knew that from before Yahweh was he running away, for he had told them.

11 And they said to him, What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us? For the sea was becoming even more tempestuous.

12 And he said to them, Lift me up and cast me forth into the sea, and the sea shall be calm for you, for I am knowing that it is on my account that this great tempest is coming on you.

13 Yet the men tugged hard to turn back to the dry ground, yet they could not, for the sea became more tempestuous against them.

14 Then they called to Yahweh and said, Oh Yahweh, we pray, do not let us perish for the soul of this man. And may You not lay on us innocent blood, for You, O Yahweh, just as You are inclined, You do.

15 Then they lifted Jonah and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea stood still from its turbulence.

16 Hence the men feared Yahweh with great fear, and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and were vowing vows.

17 Yet Yahweh assigned a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah came to be in the bowels of the fish three days and three nights.

Chapter 2

1 Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh, his Elohim, from the bowels of the fish.

2 And he said, I call, because of my distress, to Yahweh, And He is answering me. Out of the belly of the unseen I implore; You hear my voice.

3 You are flinging me into the shadowy depth, Into the heart of the seas, And the stream, it is surrounding me; All Your breakers and Your billows, they pass over me.

4 And I say, I am driven out from in front of Your eyes. But I shall continue to look to Your holy temple.

5 The waters envelope me unto the soul; The abyss, it is surrounding me; Sedge is bound up about my head.

6 I go down to the fashioning points of the mountains; The earth, its bars are about me for the eon, Yet You shall bring up my life from ruin, O Yahweh, my Elohim.

7 As my soul droops within me, I remember Yahweh, And my prayer is coming to You, to Your holy temple.

8 Those keeping to the vanities of futility, they are forsaking their loyalty.

9 Yet let me, with the voice of acclamation, sacrifice to You; Let me pay that which I vowed. Salvation belongs to Yahweh!

10 Then Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry ground.

Chapter 3

1 The word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time saying,

2 Rise! Go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out to it the message which I am speaking to you.

3 So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh. Now Nineveh had become a great city to Elohim, of three days journey.

4 And Jonah started to go into the city, a journey of one day. And he called out and said, Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overturned.

5 Then the men of Nineveh believed in Elohim. And they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from their greatest unto their smallest.

6 Also the word touched the king of Nineveh. He rose from his throne and removed his fur robe from him, and he covered himself with sackcloth and sat on ashes.

7 He called for an outcry to be proclaimed in Nineveh: By the decree of the king and his great ones, saying, Human and beast, herd and flock, Let them not be tasting anything. Let them not be grazing, And let them not be drinking water.

8 Let the human and the beast cover themselves with sackcloth. And let them call with steadfastness to Elohim. Let them turn back, each man, from his evil way And from the wrong which is in their palms.

9 Who is knowing, the Elohim may reverse and regret; He may turn back from His hot anger, And we shall not perish?

10 And the One, Elohim, saw their acts, that they turned back from their evil way. And the One, Elohim, regretted of the evil which He had spoken to do to them, and He did it not.

Chapter 4

1 Yet it was displeasing to Jonah, a great evil, and it was hot with him.

2 He prayed to Yahweh and said, Oh Yahweh, was not this my word while still I came to be on my own ground? Therefore I forestalled by running away toward Tarshish, for I know that You are a gracious El, and compassionate, slow to anger and of much benignity, and regretting of the evil.

3 And now, O Yahweh, take, I pray, my soul from me, for better is my death than my life.

4 Then Yahweh said, Is it good for you to be hot?

5 And Jonah went forth from the city and sat east of the city. He made for himself there a booth and sat under it in the shade until he saw what should come to be in the city.

6 Then Yahweh Elohim assigned a gourd, and it came up over Jonah, to be a shade over his head, to rescue him from his evil. And Jonah rejoiced over the gourd with great rejoicing.

7 Yet the One, Elohim, assigned a worm at the ascending of the dawn of the morrow, and it smote the gourd so that it dried up.

8 And it came as the sun rose, that Elohim assigned a sultry east wind, and the sun smote on the head of Jonah, and he swooned. And he asked for his soul to die and said, Better is my death than my life.

9 Then Elohim said to Jonah, Is it good for you to be hot over the gourd? Yet he said, It is good for me to be hot unto death.

10 And Yahweh said, You commiserate over the gourd, for which you toiled not, neither did you make it grow up. It came to be one night old, and it perished one night old.

11 And I, should I not commiserate over Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 human beings who do not know their right from their left, and many beasts?

The Book of Micah

Chapter 1

1 The word of Yahweh which came to Micah the Morashite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he perceived concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:

2 Hear, ye peoples, all of them! Attend, earth and its fullness! My Lord Yahweh is coming among you as a Witness My Lord, from His holy temple.

3 For behold, Yahweh will go forth from His place, And He will descend and tread on the high-places of the land.

4 The mountains will be melted under Him, And the vales, they shall be rent Like wax from the presence of fire, Like water being spilled down a descent.

5 All this comes for the transgression of Jacob, And for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

6 I will make Samaria a rubbish heap, A field for the plantings of a vineyard; I will spill her stones down the ravine, And her foundations will I expose.

7 All her carvings, they shall be pounded to pieces, And all her fees, they shall be burned with fire. All her fetishes shall I make a desolation; For from the fee of a prostitute she got them together, And unto the fee of a prostitute shall they return.

8 On this account let me wail and howl; Let me go looted and naked. I shall make a wailing like the wild-jackals, And a mourning like the ostrich.

9 For her smiting is mortal, for it comes unto Judah. It touches unto the gateway of my people, unto Jerusalem.

10 In Gath you must not magnify it; You must not lament, nay lament. In Beth-leaphrah, wallow in the soil.

11 Pass away! To you, dweller of Shaphir, is naked shame! The dweller of Zaanan will not go forth. Wailing is in Beth-ezel; Its protective position shall be taken away from you.

12 Though the dweller of Maroth waits for good, Yet evil descends from Yahweh to the gateway of Jerusalem.

13 Harness the chariot to the stallion, dweller of Lachish. She is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, For in you are found the transgressions of Israel.

14 Therefore you shall give dismissal gifts to Moresheth-gath; The houses of Achzib are like a failing spring to the kings of Israel.

15 Still I shall bring a tenant to you, dweller of Mareshah. Unto Adullam shall come the glory of Israel.

16 Make yourself bald, And shear yourself over your delicate sons. Widen your baldness like the vulture, For they are carried away from you into exile.

Chapter 2

1 Woe to devisers of lawlessness And contrivers of evil on their beds! In the light of the morning are they executing it, For it is at the disposal of their hand.

2 And they covet fields and snatch them, And houses, and bear them away, And they extort the master and his house, The man and his allotment.

3 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Behold Me devising evil against this family, From which you shall not remove your necks. Nor shall you walk haughtily, For it shall be an era of evil.

4 In that day one shall take up a proverb concerning you, And he will make a plaint, a plaintive plaint, saying: We are devastated, yea devastated. He is changing the portion of my people. How is He removing what is for me? He is apportioning our fields to the backslider.

5 Therefore there is not coming to be for you One flinging the line by lot, in the assembly of Yahweh.

6 You must not preach, is what they are preaching. They shall not preach about these matters. It shall not turn away mortifications.

7 Is this said, house of Jacob: Is the spirit of Yahweh shortened if these be His actions? Are not My words doing good with the one walking uprightly?

8 Even yesterday, My people, they are rising as an enemy; You are stripping the fur robe from off the peaceful, From those passing in serenity, turning away from battle.

9 The wives of My people are you driving out, each from her cozy home; From her infants you are taking My honor for the eon.

10 Rise and go, for this is not your rest, On account of your uncleanness that shall bring harm and painful cramp.

11 Suppose a man, going by a spirit of falsehood, lies, saying: I shall preach to you in favor of wine and intoxicant; Then he would become the preacher of this people!

12 I shall gather, yea gather Jacob all of you; I shall convene, yea convene the remnant of Israel. Together I shall place them like a flock in a sheepfold, Like a drove in the midst of the pen; And they shall clamor because of humanity.

13 The One Who breaches forth ascends before them; They breach forth and shall pass to the gateway and go forth by it. And their King shall pass before them, Yahweh at their head.

Chapter 3

1 And He is saying, Oh hear this, heads of the house of Jacob, And captains of the house of Israel! Is it not yours to know right judgment?

2 You who are hating good and loving evil, Snatching their skin off them, And their brawn off their bones,

3 And who devour the brawn of My people, And their skin they strip off them, And their bones they crunch And spread them like meat in the pot, And like flesh in the midst of the caldron.

4 Then they shall cry out to Yahweh, And He shall not answer them, And He shall conceal His face from them in that era, According as they do evil in their actions.

5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who are leading My people astray, Who are biting with their teeth, yet they call, Peace, And whoever is giving nothing into their mouths, then they hallow a war against him:

6 Wherefore night shall be for you, without a vision, And it will be dark for you, without divination; The sun will set on the prophets, And the day will be somber over them.

7 The vision seers will be ashamed, And the diviners will be abashed, And all of them will muffle over the upper lip, For there is no answer from Elohim.

8 Nevertheless, I am full of vigor of the spirit of Yahweh, And of right judgment and of mastery, To tell to Jacob his transgression, And to Israel his sin.

9 Oh hear this, heads of the house of Jacob, And captains of the house of Israel, Who are abhorring right judgment And are perverting all uprightness,

10 Building Zion with bloodguilt, And Jerusalem with iniquity;

11 Her heads, they are judging for a bribe, And her priests, they are directing for a price, And her prophets, they are divining for money; Yet on Yahweh they are leaning, saying: Is not Yahweh in our midst? Evil shall not come upon us.

12 Therefore, owing to you, Zion, it shall be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem, it shall become rubbish heaps, And the mountain of the house for high-places of a grove.

Chapter 4

1 And it will come to pass in the latter days, The Mount of the House of Yahweh shall be established on the summit of the mountains, And it shall be lifted up above the hills. And all the peoples will stream unto it.

2 Many nations will come and say: Come, and let us ascend to the Mount of Yahweh, And to the house of the Elohim of Jacob, And He shall direct us out of His ways, So that we may indeed walk in His paths. For from Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

3 He will judge between many peoples, And arbitrate for staunch nations afar off. They will pound their swords into mattocks, And their spears into pruners; Nation shall not lift the sword against nation, Nor shall they learn war any more.

4 Each man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And there will be nothing causing them to tremble. For the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.

5 Though all the peoples, they shall walk, each man in the name of his elohim, Yet we shall walk in the Name of Yahweh our Elohim, for the eon and further.

6 In that day, averring is Yahweh, I shall gather her who is limping, And she who is expelled, I shall convene her, And her to whom I have brought evil.

7 Then I will make her who is limping a remnant, And her who is beyond the border a staunch nation. And Yahweh will reign over them in Mount Zion, henceforth and unto the eon.

8 And you, tower of the drove, Fort of the daughter of Zion, Unto you shall it arrive, Even the former rule will come, The kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.

9 Now why are you shouting a shout? Is there no king among you? Or has your counselor perished? For travail held you fast, like a woman giving birth.

10 Travail, and rush forth, daughter of Zion, as if bearing. For now you shall go forth from the town, And you will tabernacle in the field; Then you will come unto Babylon. There you shall be rescued; There Yahweh shall redeem you from the clutch of your enemies.

11 And now many nations are gathered against you, saying: She shall be polluted, and our eyes shall perceive it in Zion.

12 Yet they do not know the designs of Yahweh, Nor have they understood His counsel. For He convenes them like a sheaf to the threshing site.

13 Rise and thresh, daughter of Zion, For I shall make your horn iron, And I shall make your hoofs bronze, So that you will pulverize many peoples. You will devote to Yahweh their gain, And their estate to the Lord of all the earth.

Chapter 5

1 Now you shall slash yourself, daughter of troops; He will place a siege work against us. With a club they shall smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.

2 Yet you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Inferior to be among the mentors of Judah, From you shall One come forth for Me to become the Ruler in Israel; Yet His goings forth are from aforetime, from days eonian.

3 Therefore He shall give them up until the time when she who is to bear will bear, And the rest of His brothers shall return to the sons of Israel.

4 And He will stand and shepherd them in the strength of Yahweh, In the augustness of the Name of Yahweh, His Elohim. And they will dwell securely, For now shall He be great unto the limits of the land.

5 And this One will be Peace. As for Assyria, when he is entering into our land, And when he is treading upon our ground, Then we will raise against him seven shepherds, And eight overlords of humanity.

6 And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, And the land of Nimrod with unloosed swords; And He will rescue from Assyria, When he is entering into our land, And when he is treading upon our territory.

7 Then the remnant of Jacob will come to be among the nations, In the midst of many peoples, like the night mist from Yahweh, Like showers on the herbage, Which is not expectant toward man, Nor is it waiting for the sons of humanity.

8 Then the remnant of Jacob will come to be among the nations, In the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the wildwood, Like a sheltered lion among the droves of the flock, Which, if it passes through, then it tramps down, and it tears to pieces, And there is no rescue.

9 Your hand shall be raised high over your foes, And all your enemies, they shall be cut off.

10 It will come to be in that day, averring is Yahweh, That I will cut off your horses from your midst, And I will destroy your chariots.

11 I will cut off the cities of your land And demolish all your fortresses.

12 I will cut off enchantments from your hand, And cloud consulters, they shall not be among you.

13 I will cut off your carvings, And your monuments from your midst, And no longer shall you worship the work of your hands.

14 I will pluck up your Ashera poles from your midst, And I will exterminate your forms,

15 I will execute in anger and in fury Vengeance to the nations which do not hearken!

Chapter 6

1 Hear now what Yahweh is saying: Rise, contend before the mountains, And let the hills hear your voice.

2 Hear, mountains, the contention of Yahweh, And perennial foundations of the earth; For a contention has Yahweh with His people, And with Israel shall He plead.

3 My people! what have I done to you? And how have I tired you? Answer against Me!

4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, And from the house of servants I ransomed you. And I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam.

5 My people, remember, indeed, what Balak, king of Moab, counseled, And what Balaam, son of Beor, answered him, From Shittim unto Gilgal, That you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.

6 With what shall I go before Yahweh, And be bending down to Elohim of the height? Shall I go before Him with ascent offerings, With calves a year old?

7 Shall Yahweh accept thousands of rams, With myriads of watercourses of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my belly for the sin of my soul?

8 He has told you, humanity, what is good; What is Yahweh requiring from you Save to do right judgment and love kindness, And to walk meekly with your Elohim?

9 The voice of Yahweh, it is calling to the city, And sagacity, it shall fear His Name. Hear the rod and the One Who appointed it.

10 Are there yet, in the house of the wicked one, treasures of wickedness And the lean ephah calling for indignation?

11 Shall I clear the one with wicked scales, And with a purse of deceitful standard weights?

12 Its rich men, they are full of wrong, And its dwellers, they speak falsehood, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 Moreover, I will start to smite you, To desolate you on account of your sins.

14 You shall eat yet not be satisfied, And darkness shall be within you; You shall overtake, yet you shall not deliver away, And that which you do deliver away, I shall give to the sword.

15 You shall sow, yet you shall not reap. You shall tread olives, yet you shall not rub with oil, And grape juice, yet you shall not drink wine.

16 For the statutes of Omri are being kept, And every act of the house of Ahab; And you are going in their counsels, That I may give you up to desolation, And its dwellers to hissing, And you shall bear the reproach of My people.

Chapter 7

1 Woe to me! for I become like the gatherings of summer fruit, Like the clean-gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat; My soul yearns for the firstfruit.

2 The kindly one has perished from the earth, And there is none upright among humanity. All of them, they are ambushing for blood; Each man, he is hunting his brother with a seine net.

3 Both palms are set upon the evil to do it thoroughly: The chief official is asking, also the judge, for a payment, And the great one, he is speaking the avarice of his soul. And so they entwine it.

4 The best of them is like prickly nightshade; Their most upright one is a hedge. The day of your watchmen, your visitation, it comes; Now shall be their perplexity.

5 You must not believe in an associate; You must not trust in a mentor. From her who is lying in your bosom, keep the portals of your mouth,

6 For the son is disgracing the father; The daughter is rising against her mother; The daughter-in-law against her husband’s mother; The enemies of a man are the men of his house.

7 Yet I shall keep watch for Yahweh; I shall wait for the Elohim of my salvation; My Elohim shall hear me.

8 You must not rejoice against me, my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise; Though I am sitting in darkness, Yahweh shall be light for me.

9 The ire of Yahweh I shall bear For I have sinned against Him Until He is contending my cause, And will execute my judgment. He shall bring me forth to the light; I shall look upon His righteousness.

10 Then my enemy shall see, and shame shall cover her, the one saying to me: Where is He, Yahweh your Elohim? My eyes shall look upon her. Now shall she come to be for tramping down, like the mud of the streets.

11 A day to build your stone dikes! In that day the marked out boundary shall be extended afar.

12 In that day also, unto you shall one come from Assyria And the cities of lower Egypt, And from lower Egypt unto the Stream, And sea to sea, And mountain to mountain.

13 Yet the earth will become a desolation, On account of its dwellers, because of the fruit of their actions.

14 Shepherd Your people with Your club, The flock of Your allotment, Tabernacling alone in the wildwood in the midst of crop land. They shall graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of the eon.

15 As in the days of your going forth from the land of Egypt, Shall I show him marvelous works.

16 The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their mastery; They shall place a hand on their mouth; Their ears shall be deaf.

17 They shall lick up soil like a serpent; Like skulkers of the earth they shall be disturbed from their enclosures; Of Yahweh, our Elohim shall they be afraid, And they shall fear because of You.

18 Who is an El like You, bearing with depravity, And passing over transgression, for the remnant of His allotment? He does not hold fast His anger for the future, For He delights in benignity.

19 He shall have compassion on us again; He shall subdue our depravities. And You shall fling into the shadowy depths of the sea all our sins.

20 You shall render truth to Jacob, Benignity to Abraham, Which You swore to our fathers from days aforetime.

The Book of Nahum

Chapter 1

1 The load of Nineveh; the scroll of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

2 An El, jealous and avenging, is Yahweh; An avenger is Yahweh, and possessor of fury; An avenger is Yahweh against His foes, And a transporter is He of His enemies.

3 Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in vigor, And He shall not hold innocent, nay hold innocent. Yahweh has His way in the sweeping whirlwind and in the hurricane. And clouds are the dust of His feet.

4 He is rebuking the sea and drying it up, And all the streams He drains. Wasted away is Bashan and Carmel, And the bud of Lebanon,it is wasted away.

5 The mountains, they quake because of Him, And the hills, they dissolve, The earth is decimated because of His presence, And the habitance and all dwelling in it.

6 Before His indignation, who shall stand? And who shall rise in the heat of His anger? His fury, it is poured forth like fire, And the rocks, they are broken down because of Him.

7 Yahweh is good to those who are stretching out toward Him, A Stronghold in the day of distress, And He is knowing those taking refuge in Him.

8 And with a surpassing overflow He shall make a finish of her place, And His enemies shall He pursue into darkness.

9 What are you devising against Yahweh? He will make a finish; Distress shall not rise a second time.

10 Though they are as entangled briars, And as those groggy with their strong wine, They will be devoured like stubble fully dry.

11 From you has gone forth one devising evil against Yahweh, A decadent counselor.

12 Thus says Yahweh: Though they are faring well and thus are numerous, Even so, they will be shorn, and he will pass away. Though I humbled you, I shall not humble you further.

13 And now I shall break his yoke-bar off you, And your bonds shall I pull away.

14 And Yahweh enjoins concerning you: No longer shall your name be perpetuated. From the house of your elohim shall I cut off carving and molten image. I shall set up your tomb, for you are slight.

15 Behold on the mountains, the feet of a tidings-bearer announcing peace! Celebrate, Judah, your festivals! Pay your vows! For the decadent one shall not continue further to pass through you; He will be altogether cut off.

Chapter 2

1 The scatterer comes up against your face; Preserve the siege work; Watch the way. Make your waist steadfast; Make your vigor exceedingly resolute.

2 For Yahweh will restore the augustness of Jacob, As the augustness of Israel, Though the voiders have voided them, And ruined their pruned slips.

3 The shield of his masters of war are reddened; The men of valor are clad in crimson. With the fiery flash of hub-blades is the chariot, in the day of its preparation, And the steeds are made to shiver.

4 In the streets the chariots are raving; They are prowling in the squares. Their appearance is like flaming torches; Like lightning are they running.

5 He is remembering his nobles; They are stumbling in their going; They are hastening to her wall, And the mantelet is prepared.

6 The sluicegates of the streams, they are opened, And the palace, it is dissolved;

7 It is set that she will be deported; She will be taken away, Her maidservants moaning Like the sound of doves, Tambourining on their heart.

8 Nineveh was like a reservoir of water from her days of old; Now they are fleeing. Stand! Stand! Yet there is no one turning around.

9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! There is no end to her established treasures, The glory of all her coveted vessels.

10 Void and voided and evacuated, And the heart, it is melted, And a quavering of the knees, And a sore travail in all waists, And the faces of them all draw together in ashy paleness!

11 Where is the habitation of the lions, And the feeding place, that of the sheltered lions, Where the lion goes, the parent lion, And the whelp of the lioness, And nothing causes them to tremble?

12 The lion is tearing to pieces sufficient for his whelps, And is strangling for his lionesses. He is filling his holes with prey, And his habitations with flesh torn to pieces.

13 Behold Me against you, averring is Yahweh of hosts; I consume her chariots in smoke, And your sheltered lions, the sword shall devour. I cut off your prey from the earth, And the voice of your messengers is no longer heard.

Chapter 3

1 Woe, city of bloodsheds! All of it is dissimulation! Full of marauding! Preying never is suspended!

2 The sound of a whip, And the sound of the quaking wheel, And the horse galloping, And the chariot bounding along!

3 The horseman mounting up with blazing sword and flashing spear! And the many slain, and the mass of corpses, And there is no end to the dead bodies, So that they stumble over their bodies,

4 All because of the many prostitutions of the prostitute, Well favored and possessor of enchantments, Who is selling nations by her prostitutions, And families by her enchantments.

5 Behold Me against you, averring is Yahweh of hosts. I will roll your skirts over your face, And I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your dishonor.

6 I will fling upon you abominable things, And I will disgrace you, And I will place you as a spectacle.

7 And it will come to be that all seeing you, they shall bolt away from you And say, Devastated is Nineveh! Who shall condole with her? From where shall I seek comforters for you?

8 Are you better than No-Amon, the dweller among the waterways, Water round about her, whose rampart was the sea and water was her wall?

9 Cush was her staunchness, Also Egypt, and there was no end; Put and Libyans, they became her help.

10 Moreover, she became an exile; She went into captivity. Also her infants, they were dashed to pieces at the head of all the streets; Over her glorious ones, they cast the lot, And all her great ones, they were chained with manacles.

11 You too shall be drunk; you shall become obscured. Even you shall seek a stronghold because of the enemy.

12 All your fortresses are fig trees with firstfruits: If they are swayed to and fro, then they will fall into the mouth of the eater.

13 Behold, your people are women in your midst; The gates of your land are opened, yea opened to your enemies. Fire devours your bars.

14 Bail for yourself water for the siege! Repair your fortresses! Go into the mud, and tramp on the clay! Repair the brickwork!

15 There the fire shall devour you; The sword shall cut you off. It shall devour you like the young-locust; Make yourself teeming as the young-locust; Make yourself teeming as the locust!

16 You increase your traders more than the stars of the heavens. The young-locust strips itself and is flying away.

17 Your men with insignias are like the locust, And your marshals like hoppers upon hoppers Which are camping on the stone dikes on a cold day. The sun rises, and they flit away, And their place is not known, where they are.

18 Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria! Your nobles are tabernacling in serenity. Your people are diffused on the mountains, And there is no one gathering them together.

19 There is no dimming to your brokenness; Your smiting is ill. All hearing the report of you, they will applaud, with their palms over you, For over whom did not your evil pass continually?

The Book of Habakkuk

Chapter 1

1 The load which Habakkuk the prophet perceived:

2 How long O Yahweh, must I implore, and You are not hearkening? I am crying out to You of violence, and You are not saving!

3 Why are You showing me lawlessness, And at misery are You looking? Devastation and violence are in front of me, And there is contention, And quarreling, it is being sustained.

4 Therefore the law is torpid, And right judgment is not going forth permanently, For the wicked one is compassing about the righteous one; Therefore tortuous judgment is going forth.

5 See, treacherous ones, and look, And be amazed, be stunned, For I effect a deed in your days You would not believe though it were being related.

6 For, behold Me raising the Chaldeans, That bitter and hasty nation, Going the widths of the earth to tenant tabernacles not his own.

7 Dreadful and fearful is he! His judgment and his dignity go forth from him.

8 His horses are fleeter than leopards And are sharper than evening wolves; His horsemen rush about; His horsemen are coming from afar; They are flying like a vulture that hurries to devour.

9 All of them are coming for violence; In unison, their faces turn forward, And he is gathering up captives like sand.

10 He is scoffing at kings, And chancellors are objects of sport to him; He is making sport of every fortress And heaps up soil and seizes it.

11 Then he passes on like the wind, And he is trespassing and becomes guilty, This one whose vigor is his eloah.

12 Are You not from aforetime, O Yahweh? My Eloah, my Holy One, You shall not die. O Yahweh, You have placed him for judgment, And, O Rock, You have founded him for correction.

13 You are of cleaner eyes than to see evil, And to look at misery You are not able. Why are You looking at the treacherous, Are silent when the wicked person is swallowing up one more righteous than he?

14 You are making humanity like the fish of the sea, Like the moving creature with no ruler over it.

15 All of them he brings up with a fishhook; He is impounding them in his seine net And is gathering them in his dragnet; Therefore he is rejoicing and exulting.

16 Therefore he is sacrificing to his seine net And is fuming incense to his dragnet, For his portion is stout by them, and his food is plump.

17 Will he therefore keep on emptying his seine net, And not be sparing in killing the nations continually?

Chapter 2

1 I am standing on my guard, And I am stationing myself on the siege work; I am watching to see what He shall speak to me, And what I shall reply concerning His correcting of me.

2 Then Yahweh is answering me and saying, Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, That he may run who is reading it.

3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; And it shall bud at the end, and it shall not prove a lie; If it be dallying, tarry for it, For it shall come, yea come, and it shall not be late.

4 Behold, it is made presumptuous: his soul is not upright in him. Yet the just one by his faith shall live.

5 And, indeed, seeing that the wine is treacherous; The master is ostentatious, and he does not lie still, Who widens his soul’s desire like the unseen, And he is like death and is not satisfied. He is gathering to himself all the nations, And he is convening to himself all the peoples.

6 Shall not these, all of them, take up a proverb against him, And mocking enigmas for him? And they shall say: Woe to the one increasing what is not his! How long? And making himself heavy with security!

7 Shall not those paying you interest rise in an instant, And those stirring about for you awake? Then you will become robbed goods for them.

8 Seeing that you loot many nations, All the rest of the peoples shall loot you Because of human bloodshed and violence to the land, To the town and all dwelling in it.

9 Woe to him gaining an evil gain for his house In order to place his nest in the height, To be rescued from the clutch of evil!

10 You counsel shame for your house By cutting away many peoples, And by sinning against your soul,

11 For the stone from the sidewall, it shall cry out, And the knot from the timber, it shall answer it.

12 Woe to him who is building a city by bloodshed, And establishes a town by iniquity!

13 Behold, is it not from Yahweh of hosts That peoples shall labor only for fire, And folk shall faint only for nought?

14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, As the waters are covering the sea.

15 Woe to him giving his associate to drink, from the basin of your fury, And, indeed, making them drunk in order to look on their nakedness.

16 You are surfeited with dishonor rather than glory; You, moreover, drink and be shown uncircumcised. The cup of Yahweh’s right hand shall come around to you, And ignominy cover over your glory.

17 For the violence to Lebanon, it shall cover you, And the devastation of beasts, it shall dismay you, Because of human bloodshed and violence to the land, To the town and all dwelling in it.

18 What does a carving benefit, that its former has carved it, A molten image and a false apparition, That the former of its form trusts in it, When he makes mute, useless idols?

19 Woe to him saying to the wood, Awake! To the still stone, Rouse! It is an apparition; Behold it is superimposed with gold and silver, Yet there is no spirit at all within it.

20 Yet Yahweh is in His holy temple! Be quelled, all the earth, before Him!

Chapter 3

1 A Prayer of Habakkuk, the Prophet Concerning Overtakings

2 O Yahweh, I hear the report of You; I fear, O Yahweh, Your deeds; Within the years revive them; Within the years make them known; In disturbance remember compassion.

3 Eloah, He is coming from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Interlude His splendor covers the heavens, And His praise, it fills the earth.

4 The brightness is arising like the lightning; He has gleams shining from His hand, Where is the hiding of His strength.

5 Before Him the plague is going, And the sirocco is going forth at His feet.

6 He stands and is measuring the earth; He looks and is making the nations leap up. And the mountain ranges of long ago are scattered; The eonian hills bow down; His goings are eonian.

7 I saw the tents of Cushan under lawlessness; The tent sheets of the land of Midian were disturbed.

8 Was Yahweh hot against the streams? Or was Your anger against the streams? Or was Your rage against the sea, That You were riding on Your horses, Your chariots of salvation?

9 Your bow was made naked, yea naked; Oaths of rods were the words. Interlude You were rending the earth with streams;

10 The mountains saw You and were travailing; The storm of waters, it overflowed; The abyss sounded forth its voice; It lifted its hands on high.

11 Sun and moon stood still in their residence, At the light of Your arrows as they flew, At the brightness of the flashing of Your spear.

12 With indignation You are marching through the earth; In anger You are threshing the nations.

13 You go forth for the salvation of Your people, For the salvation of Your anointed ones. You transfix the head of the house of the wicked one, Making him naked from the foundation unto the neck. Interlude

14 You pierce the head of his hordes with his own rods; They were tempestuous, seeking to scatter me; Their gladness was as though to devour the humble in concealment.

15 You tread in the sea with Your horses, The turbid mass of vast waters.

16 I heard, and my belly was disturbed; At the sound my lips quivered; Rottenness entered into my bones, And under me I was disturbed in my progress. I shall wait for the day of distress To come up upon the people who are raiding us.

17 Though the fig tree, it is not budding, And there is no crop on the vines, Though the yield of the olive is emaciated, And the plantations yield no food, Though the flock is severed from the fold, And there is no herd in the paddocks,

18 Yet I shall be joyous in Yahweh; I shall exult in the Elohim of my salvation.

19 Yahweh, my Lord, is my valor, And He will make my feet like hinds’; And on my high-places He is causing me to tread. Permanent, With Accompaniments

The Book of Zephaniah

Chapter 1

1 The word of Yahweh which came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.

2 I shall terminate, yea terminate everything off the surface of the ground, averring is Yahweh.

3 I shall terminate human and beast. I shall terminate the flyer of the heavens And the fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks with the wicked. And I will cut humanity off the surface of the ground, averring is Yahweh.

4 I will stretch out My hand over Judah, And over all dwellers of Jerusalem; And I will cut off the name of Baal from this place, And the name of the idolatrous priests with the priests,

5 And those worshipping on the housetops to the host of the heavens, And those worshipping swearing to Yahweh and swearing by Milcom,

6 And those turned away from following Yahweh, who do not seek Yahweh, nor inquire of Him.

7 Be quelled at the presence of my Lord Yahweh, For near is the day of Yahweh! For Yahweh prepares a sacrifice; He sanctifies His called ones.

8 It will be in the day of Yahweh’s sacrifice That I visit evil on the chiefs and on the king’s sons, And on all those clothed in foreign clothing.

9 And I will visit evil on everyone leaping over the threshold in that day, Those filling the house of their lords with violence and deceit.

10 There will come in that day, averring is Yahweh, The sound of a cry from the Fish Gate, And a howling from the Second Quarter, And a great breaking from the hills:

11 Howl, dwellers of the Mortar, For all the trafficker people will be stilled; All transporters of silver will be cut off.

12 It will be at that season I shall search Jerusalem with lamps, And I will visit evil on the men who are curdled on their lees, Those saying in their heart, Yahweh shall not do good, Nor shall He do evil.

13 Their estate will be robbed, And their houses a desolation; Though they build houses, yet they shall not dwell in them; Though they plant vineyards, yet they shall not drink their wine.

14 Near is the great day of Yahweh! Near and exceedingly swift! The sound of the day of Yahweh will be bitter! There the master shall raise the battlecry!

15 A day of rage will be that day, A day of distress and constraint, A day of thunderstorm and ruination, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of cloud and murkiness,

16 A day of trumpet and shout of alarm against the fortressed cities, And against the lofty corner towers.

17 I will bring distress on humanity, and they will walk like the blind, For against Yahweh they sin; Their blood will be poured out like soil, And their intestines like ordure.

18 Moreover, their silver and their gold, it shall not be able to rescue them In the day of the rage of Yahweh; By the fire of His jealousy the entire land shall be devoured; For a finish, yea, one speeded up, shall He make of all dwelling in the land.

Chapter 2

1 Gather yourselves together! Yea gather together, nation not longed for!

2 Ere the statute is generated and the day passes by like trash, Ere, behold, the hot anger of Yahweh be coming on you, Ere, behold, the day of the anger of Yahweh be coming on you,

3 Seek Yahweh, all you humble of the land, Who have executed His ordinance; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you shall be concealed in the day of Yahweh’s anger.

4 For Gaza, it shall become forsaken, And Ashkelon a desolation. Ashdod they shall drive her out at noon, And Ekron, it shall be chopped down.

5 Woe to the dwellers of the seaboard, the nation of the Kerethites! The word of Yahweh is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines! And I will destroy you, until there be no dweller.

6 And the seaboard will come to be a homestead, Meadows of shepherds And stone dike sheepfolds for flocks.

7 And the seaboard will come to be for the remnant of the house of Judah; On which they shall graze; In the houses of Ashkelon shall they recline in the evening, For Yahweh their Elohim shall visit them, and will reverse their captivity.

8 I hear the reproach of Moab, And the taunts of the sons of Ammon, Who reproach My people, And are magnifying themselves against their boundary.

9 Therefore, as I live, averring is Yahweh of hosts, the Elohim of Israel, Indeed, Moab, it shall become like Sodom, And the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah: A washed out place of prickly acanthus and salt diggings, And a desolation until the eon. The remnant of My people, they shall plunder them, And those left of My nation, they shall take their allotment.

10 This will be theirs in place of their pomp, seeing that they reproach, And they are magnifying themselves against the people of Yahweh of hosts.

11 Yahweh will be fearful against them, For He will make all the elohim of the earth lean; And all the coastlands of the nations, each man from his place, shall worship Him.

12 Moreover, you, Cushites By My sword they will be slain!

13 He shall stretch out His hand against the north, And He shall destroy Assyria, And He shall make Nineveh a desolation, An arid place like the wilderness.

14 And droves will recline in its midst, every wild animal of the ravine; Moreover, the pelican, and the hedgehog, they shall lodge in its shelters. A voice shall sing in the window, A raven in the threshold, for the cedar work, it will be denuded.

15 This is the joyous city dwelling in serenity, Saying in her heart, I, and no one else! How she has become a desolation, a reclining place for the wild animal! Every one passing by her shall hiss and shall wag his hand.

Chapter 3

1 Woe to her that is rebellious and sullied, the tyrannizing city!

2 She hearkens not to a voice; She takes no discipline; In Yahweh she does not trust; To her Elohim she does not draw near.

3 Her chief officials within her are roaring lions; Her judges are evening wolves; They pick clean, leaving nothing for the morning.

4 Her prophets are reckless, men of treachery; Her priests, they profane the holy place; They do violence to the law.

5 Yahweh is righteous in her midst; He does no iniquity; Morning by morning He is giving out His right judgment; With each first light He does not fail; Yet the iniquitous one is not knowing shame.

6 I cut off the proud; Their corner towers are desolated. I make their streets deserted, without a passerby. Their cities are vandalized, without a man, without a dweller.

7 I said, Surely you shall fear Me; You shall take discipline, So that her habitation shall not be cut off, All that I have appointed for her. Nevertheless, they rose early; They made all their practices corrupt.

8 Therefore, tarry for Me, averring is Yahweh, For the day when I rise to testify, Seeing that My judgment is to gather the nations, To convene the kingdoms, To pour out My indignation upon them, All the heat of My anger, For, by the fire of My jealousy, the entire earth shall be devoured.

9 For then I shall transform the peoples to a pure lip, For them all to call on the Name of Yahweh, To serve Him with one shoulder.

10 From across the streams of Cush, My entreaters, The daughter of My scattered ones, they shall fetch My approach present.

11 In that day you shall not be put to shame because of all your practices, In which you transgressed against Me, For then I shall take away from your midst the revelers of your pride, And you shall not continue further to be haughty in My holy mountain.

12 Yet I will cause a people, humble and poor, to remain in your midst, And they will take refuge in the Name of Yahweh.

13 The remnant of Israel, they shall not do iniquity nor speak a lie, Nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth. For they shall graze, and recline, And no one is causing them to tremble.

14 Be jubilant, daughter of Zion! Raise a joyful shout, Israel! Rejoice and be joyous with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!

15 Yahweh takes away your judgments; He turns your enemies around. The King of Israel, Yahweh, is in your midst; You shall not see evil any more.

16 In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Do not fear! Zion, let not your hands slacken!

17 Yahweh, your Elohim, is in your midst; The Masterful One, He shall save. He shall be elated over you with rejoicing; He shall renew you in His love; He shall exult over you with jubilant song.

18 Those afflicted away from the appointed assembly, I will gather; They are away from you; It is a load upon her, a reproach.

19 Behold, I shall deal with all those humbling you, at that season. And I will save her who is limping, And I shall convene her who is expelled, And I will make them a praise and a name In the entire earth of their shame.

20 At that season I shall bring you in, Even at the season when I convene you, For I shall give you a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, When I reverse your captivities before your eyes, says Yahweh.

The Book of Haggai

Chapter 1

1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on day one of the month, the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, viceroy of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest, saying:

2 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, saying: This people says, The season has not come, the season for Yahweh’s house to be built.

3 And the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

4 Is it the season for you yourselves to dwell in your ceiled houses while this house is deserted?

5 And now, thus says Yahweh of hosts: Set your heart on your ways.

6 You have sown for increase, yet it brings in little. You eat, yet without satisfaction; yea drink, yet without gratification; you are clothed, yet without warmth to it. And the hireling’s hire goes into a pierced pouch.

7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Set your heart on your ways.

8 Ascend the mountain, and bring wood and build the house that I may be pleased with it and be glorified, says Yahweh.

9 You face about for increase, and behold it is little! Yet you bring it home, and I blow on it. Because of what? averring is Yahweh of hosts. Because of My house! It is deserted, yet you are running, each man to his own house!

10 Therefore, over you the heavens close off the night mist, and the earth closes off its crop.

11 And I am calling for a scorching heat on the land and on the mountains and on the grain and on the grape juice and on the clarified oil and on allthat the ground is bringing forth, and on human and on beast and on all the labor of their palms.

12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and all the remnant of the people, hearkened to the voice of Yahweh their Elohim, and to the words of Haggai the prophet when Yahweh their Elohim sent him to them, and the people feared before the face of Yahweh.

13 Then Haggai the messenger of Yahweh spoke in Yahweh’s message to the people, saying: I am with you, averring is Yahweh.

14 And Yahweh roused up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, viceroy of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work on the house of Yahweh of hosts, their Elohim,

15 in the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in year two of Darius the king.

Chapter 2

1 In the seventh month, in day twenty-one of the month, the word of Yahweh came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying:

2 Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, viceroy of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and to all the remnant of the people, saying:

3 Do any remain among you who saw this house in its former glory? And what are you seeing it to be now? Is it not like nothing in your eyes?

4 Yet now be steadfast, Zerubbabel, averring is Yahweh, and be steadfast, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the great priest, and be steadfast, all you people of the land, averring is Yahweh, and do it, for I am with you, averring is Yahweh of hosts:

5 the word which I contracted with you when you came forth from Egypt; and My spirit is standing in your midst: Do not fear.

6 For thus says Yahweh of hosts: Still once more, it is a little while, and I shall make the heavens and the earth and the sea and the drained land quake;

7 and I will make all the nations quake; and the coveted of all the nations shall come. And I will fill this house with glory, says Yahweh of hosts.

8 Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

9 Greater shall become the glory of this latter house than the former, says Yahweh of hosts. And in this place shall I give peace, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

10 On the twenty-fourth of the ninth month, in year two of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Haggai the prophet, saying,

11 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Ask now the priests about the law, saying,

12 Behold, a man is carrying holy flesh in the hem of his garment, and with his hem he touches bread or stew or wine or oil or any food. Is it holy? And the priests answered and said, No.

13 Then Haggai said, If an unclean soul should touch any of these, is it unclean? And the priests answered and said, It is unclean.

14 Then Haggai answered and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before Me, averring is Yahweh. And so is every work of their hands, and what they are bringing near there; it is unclean.

15 And now, set indeed your heart from this day and onward. Ere a stone was placed on a stone in the temple of Yahweh,

16 how was it with you? When one came to a grain pile of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to a winevat to skim off fifty winepress measures, there were only twenty.

17 I smote you with blast and with mildew and with hail in all the work of your hands, yet you were not coming to Me, averring is Yahweh.

18 Set indeed your heart from this day and onward: From the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day on which the temple of Yahweh is founded, set your heart:

19 Is the seed still in the underground hoard? And have the vine and the fig tree and the pomegranate and the olive tree still not borne? From this day I shall bless.

20 The word of Yahweh came a second time to Haggai on the twenty-fourth of the month, saying:

21 Speak to Zerubbabel, viceroy of Judah, saying: I shall make the heavens and the earth quake.

22 And I will overturn the thrones of kingdoms, and I will exterminate the steadfastness of the kingdoms of the nations, and overturn the chariot and its riders, and the horses and their riders will go down, each man by the sword of his brother.

23 In that day, averring is Yahweh of hosts, I shall take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, My servant, averring is Yahweh, and I will place you as a signet ring, for I have chosen you, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

The Book of Zechariah

Chapter 1

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:

2 Yahweh was wroth over your fathers with great wrath.

3 Now you will say to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Return to Me, averring is Yahweh of hosts, and I shall return to you, says Yahweh of hosts.

4 You must not become like your fathers, to whom the former prophets called saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Do return from your evil ways, and from your evil actions. Yet they hearkened not, and they attended not to Me, averring is Yahweh.

5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, are they living for the eon?

6 Yea, My words and My statutes, which I instructed My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? Then they turned back and said: Just as Yahweh of hosts has planned to do to us, as fits our ways and our actions, so He does with us.

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (it is the month Shebat), in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:

8 I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing between two myrtles which were in the shadowy deep, and behind him were horses, red, sorrel and white.

9 Then I said, What are these, my lord? And the messenger who was speaking with me said to me, I shall show you what these are.

10 And the man standing between the myrtles answered, saying, These are those whom Yahweh sends to walk in the earth.

11 Thus they responded to the messenger of Yahweh standing between the myrtles, saying, We have walked through the earth, and behold, all the earth is sitting and is quiet.

12 Then the messenger of Yahweh answered, saying, Yahweh of hosts, How long shall You not have compassion on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which You have menaced these seventy years?

13 So Yahweh answered the messenger who was speaking with me, with good words, comforting words.

14 And the messenger who was speaking with me said to me, Call out, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion with a great jealousy,

15 and with great wrath am I wroth over the nations that are self-satisfied. When I was a little wroth, then they helped forward the evil.

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh: I return to Jerusalem with compassions; My house shall be built in it, averring is Yahweh of hosts, and a measuring tape shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.

17 Again, call out, saying, Thus says Yahweh of hosts: My cities shall again spread over with good, and Yahweh will comfort Zion further, and He will still choose Jerusalem.

18 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns.

19 And I said to the messenger who was speaking with me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which winnowed Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.

20 Then Yahweh showed me four artificers.

21 And I said, What are these coming to do? And He answered, saying: These are the horns which winnowed Judah to the extent that a man does not lift up his head. Yet these are coming to cause them to tremble, to throw off the horns of the nations which are lifting up a horn against the land of Judah to winnow it.

Chapter 2

1 Then I lifted my eyes, and I saw, behold, a man, and in his hand a measuring line.

2 And I said, Whither are you going? And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is her width and what is her length.

3 And behold, the messenger who is speaking with me came forth, and another messenger came forth to meet him.

4 And he said to him, Run, speak to this youth, saying: Like unwalled villages shall Jerusalem dwell, because of the multitude of humans and beasts in her midst.

5 And I shall become for her, averring is Yahweh, a wall of fire round about. And I shall become for glory in her midst.

6 Woe! Woe! Flee also from the land of the north, averring is Yahweh. For as the four winds of the heavens have I spread you, averring is Yahweh.

7 Woe, Zion! Escape, you dwellers with the daughter of Babylon.

8 For thus says Yahweh of hosts, Who sends me after the glory, to the nations who were looting you: For he who is touching you is touching the apple of My eye.

9 For behold Me waving My hand over them, and they will become loot for their servants. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts, He sent me.

10 Be jubilant and rejoice, daughter of Zion! For behold Me coming! And I will tabernacle in your midst, averring is Yahweh.

11 And many nations will be allied to Yahweh in that day, and they become My people. When I tabernacle in your midst, then you will know that Yahweh of hosts, He sent me to you.

12 And Yahweh has allotted to Judah his portion on the holy ground. And He still chooses Jerusalem.

13 Be quelled, all flesh, in view of Yahweh, For He is roused from His holy habitation.

Chapter 3

1 Then He showed me Joshua, the great priest, standing before the messenger of Yahweh, and Satan, standing at his right, to be his adversary.

2 And Yahweh said to Satan, Yahweh is rebuking you, Satan; Yahweh Who is choosing Jerusalem is rebuking you. Is not this wooden poker being rescued from the fire?

3 Yet Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and was standing before the messenger.

4 And He answered and spoke to those standing before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to him, See, I cause your depravity to pass from you, and will clothe you with fine outfits.

5 And I said, Let them place a clean turban on his head. So they placed the clean turban on his head and clothed him in garments. And the messenger of Yahweh was standing by.

6 Then the messenger of Yahweh testified to Joshua, saying,

7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Should you be going in My ways and should you be keeping My charge, then indeed you shall adjudicate over My house and, moreover, you shall keep My courts, and I will give to you access among those who are standing by.

8 Hear now, Joshua, the great priest, you and your associates who are sitting before you, for men of a miracle are they, for behold Me bringing My servant, the Sprout.

9 For behold the stone which I bestow before Joshua; on one stone are seven facets. Behold Me engraving its engraving, averring is Yahweh of hosts, and I will remove the depravity of that land in one day.

10 In that day, averring is Yahweh of hosts, you shall invite each man his associate to come under the vine and under the fig tree.

Chapter 4

1 Then the messenger who was speaking with me returned, and he roused me as a man who is being roused from his sleep.

2 And he said to me, What are you seeing? And I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand, all of it of gold, and a globe on its top, and seven lamps on it and seven pipes for the seven lamps which are on its top.

3 And two olive trees are over it, one on the right of the globe, and one on its left.

4 And I answered, and said to the messenger who was speaking with me, saying, What are these my lord?

5 And the messenger who was speaking with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are?

6 And I said, No, my lord. And he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by valor, nor by vigor, but rather by My spirit, says Yahweh of hosts.

7 What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are to be a level plain. And he will bring forth the headstone amid thunderous tumults: Grace, grace to it!

8 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:

9 The hands of Zerubbabel, they laid the foundation of this house, and his hands, they shall complete it. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts, He sent me to you.

10 For who despises the day of small things? And they will rejoice and see the stone plumb in the hand of Zerubbabel. These seven are the eyes of Yahweh; they are going to and fro in the entire land.

11 Then I answered and said to him, What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?

12 And I answered a second time and said to him, What are the two olive limbs which by means of the two golden conduits are emptying the golden oil from above them?

13 And he spoke to me, saying, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.

14 And he said, These are the two sons of clarified oil who are standing by the Lord of the entire earth.

Chapter 5

1 Then I turned about, and I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll.

2 And he said to me, What are you seeing? And I said, I am seeing a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width is ten cubits.

3 And he said to me, This is the execration which is going forth over the surface of the entire land, for every thief, according to it on this side, will be avenged, and everyone who swears falsely, according to it on that side will be avenged.

4 I will bring it forth, averring is Yahweh of hosts, and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears in My Name falsely, and it will lodge in the midst of his house, and consume it, both its timbers and its stones.

5 Then the messenger who was speaking with me came forth and said to me, Lift your eyes up, I pray, and see what this is that is going forth.

6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that is going forth. And he said, This is their depravity in the entire earth.

7 And behold, the covering disk of lead was lifted up, and there was this woman, one sitting in the midst of the ephah!

8 And he said, This woman is wickedness. And he flung her back into the midst of the ephah. And he flung the stone of lead down on its mouth.

9 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, two women went forth; and the wind was in their wings. And they had wings like the wings of a stork. And they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.

10 And I said to the messenger who was speaking with me, Whither are they causing the ephah to go?

11 And he said to me, To build a house for it in the land of Shinar. And it will be set and left there on its base.

Chapter 6

1 Then I turned about, and I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots going forth from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of copper.

2 For the first chariot were red horses, and for the second chariot were dusky horses,

3 and for the third chariot were white horses, and for the fourth chariot were dappled, resolute horses.

4 And I answered and said to the messenger who was speaking with me, What are these, my lord?

5 And the messenger answered and said to me, These are the four spirits of the heavens going forth from stationing themselves before the Lord of the entire earth.

6 The dusky horses which are in it are going forth to the land of the north, and the white go forth after them, and the dappled go forth to the land of the south.

7 And the resolute went forth, and they were seeking to go, to walk about the earth. And he said, Go, walk about the earth. So they walked about the earth.

8 And he cried out to me, and spoke to me, saying: See, those going forth to the land of the north cause my spirit to rest in the land of the north.

9 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying:

10 Take from the deportation, from Heldai, and from Tobijah and from Jedaiah, who came from Babylon. And you will come on that day and enter the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah.

11 And you will take silver and gold and make tiered crowns and place them on the head of Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the great priest.

12 And you will speak to him, saying, Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, saying: Behold the Man! Sprout is His name. And from His place He shall sprout, And He will build the temple of Yahweh,

13 Even He shall build the temple of Yahweh, And He shall bear the splendor. And He will sit and rule on His throne, And He will come to be Priest on His throne, And the counsel of peace, it shall come to be between the two of them.

14 And the tiered crowns shall come to be for Heldai, And for Tobijah, and for Jedaiah, And for Hen, the son of Zephaniah, For a memorial in the temple of Yahweh.

15 And those afar, they shall come, and they will help build the temple of Yahweh. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts, He sent me to you. And it will come to be, if you hearken, yea hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim.

Chapter 7

1 And it came in the fourth year of Darius the king that the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah in the fourth of the ninth month, in Kislev.

2 And Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and his men to beseech the face of Yahweh,

3 to say to the priests who were in the house of Yahweh of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Shall I lament in the fifth month, and sequester myself, just as I have done this how many years?

4 Then the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying:

5 Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When you fasted and bewailed in the fifth and in the seventh months, even this seventy years did you fast, yea fast to Me, indeed to Me?

6 And when you were eating, and when you were drinking, were you not the eaters, and you the drinkers?

7 Are these not the words which Yahweh proclaimed by means of the former prophets, when Jerusalem came to be indwelt and at ease, and her cities round about her, and the Negeb and the lowland were indwelt?

8 Then the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah, saying,

9 Thus speaks Yahweh of hosts, saying: Judge with true judgment, and show kindness and compassion, each man with his brother,

10 and do not exploit the widow or the orphan, the sojourner or the humbled one. And do not devise evil, each man against his brother, in your heart.

11 Yet they refused to attend, and they turned a stubborn shoulder, and they made their ears heavy against hearing,

12 and they made their hearts like corundum against hearing the law and the words which Yahweh of hosts sent by His spirit, by means of the former prophets. So great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.

13 And it came to be, just as He called and they would not hear, so let them call, and I shall not hear, says Yahweh of hosts.

14 And I tossed them with a tempest among all the nations whom they did not know. And the land, it was made desolate after them, free from anyone passing or returning, for they made the coveted land a desolation.

Chapter 8

1 And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me, saying,

2 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, And with great fury am I jealous for her.

3 Thus says Yahweh: I will return to Zion, And I will tabernacle in the midst of Jerusalem, And Jerusalem will be called the city of truth, And the mountain of Yahweh of hosts, the holy mountain.

4 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Old men and old women shall yet sit in the squares of Jerusalem, And each man with his support-staff in his hand because of many days;

5 And the squares of the city, they shall be filled with boys and girls sporting in its squares.

6 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, Shall it also be marvelous, in My eyes? averring is Yahweh of hosts.

7 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Behold Me saving My people from the east country, And from the land of the setting of the sun.

8 And I will bring them, And they will tabernacle in the midst of Jerusalem, And they will become Mine for a people, And I shall become theirs for an Elohim in truth and in righteousness.

9 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Your hands shall be steadfast, You who have been hearing these words in these days from the mouth of the prophets Who were in the day the house of Yahweh of hosts was founded, When the temple was to be built.

10 For before those days When there was no hire for the human, And there was no hire for the beast, Nor for the one going forth Nor for the one entering; There was no peace from the foe, And I was sending off every human, each against his associate.

11 Yet now, I will be to the remnant of this people, not as in the former days, averring is Yahweh of hosts.

12 For this is the sowing of peace; The vine, it shall give its fruit, And the land, it shall give its crop, And the heavens, they shall give their night mist, And I will allot to the remnant of this people all these.

13 And it will come to be, just as you were a malediction among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I shall save you, and you will become a blessing. Do not fear! Let your hands be steadfast!

14 For thus says Yahweh of hosts: Just as I planned to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked Me to wrath, says Yahweh of hosts, and I did not regret,

15 so I reverse what I planned, in these days to do good to Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!

16 These are the things which you shall do: Speak truth each man with his associate. Truth and the judgment of peace, judge in your gateways.

17 And each man: do not devise evil to your associate in your heart, and a false oath do not love. For all these I hate, averring is Yahweh,

18 And the word of Yahweh of hosts came to me saying,

19 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month and the fast of the seventh month and the fast of the tenth month shall become to the house of Judah elation and rejoicing and cheerful appointed festivals. Hence love truth and peace!

20 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: Still it shall be that many peoples shall come, and the dwellers of many cities.

21 And the dwellers of one city will go to another, saying, Let us go, yea go to beseech the face of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of hosts; I am going, even I.

22 And many peoples and staunch nations will come to seek Yahweh of hosts in Jerusalem, and to beseech the face of Yahweh.

23 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: In those days ten men from all the languages of the nations shall take fast hold, and they will take fast hold of the hem of a man, a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we hear that Elohim is with you.

Chapter 9

1 The load of the word of Yahweh: In the land of Hadrach and Damascus is its resting place, for toward Yahweh is the eye of humanity, and of all the tribes of Israel,

2 and Hamath also which is bounded along it, Tyre and Sidon, though they are exceedingly wise.

3 Tyre is building a siege defense for herself, And is heaping up silver like soil, And fine gold like the mud of the streets.

4 Behold, my Lord, He shall evict her, And He will smite her estate in the sea, And she shall be devoured with fire.

5 Ashkelon shall see it and fear, And Gaza, it also shall travail exceedingly, And Ekron for her fond hope will be put to shame, And the king will perish from Gaza, And Ashkelon, it shall not be indwelt.

6 A bastard people will dwell in Ashdod. And I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

7 And I will take away his blood from his mouth, And his abominations from between his teeth. Yet he that remains, moreover, shall be for our Elohim; And he will come to be like a mentor in Judah, And Ekron like a Jebusite.

8 And I will encamp at My house as a detachment against those passing and returning. The taskmaster shall never pass upon them again, For now I keep watch with My own eyes.

9 Exult exceedingly, daughter of Zion! Raise a joyful shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King, He shall come to you! Righteous and bringing salvation is He. Humble and riding on a donkey, And on a colt, the foal of a jenny.

10 He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem. And the battle bow will be cut off; And He will speak peace to the nations. And His rule will be from sea unto sea And from the Stream unto the limits of the earth.

11 Moreover, you, by the blood of your covenant, I send your prisoners away from a cistern without water in it.

12 Return to the fortress, prisoners of expectation. Moreover, today, I am telling: I shall restore double to you.

13 For I bend Judah for Myself; I fill the bow with Ephraim. And I will brandish your sons, Zion, Over your sons, Javan, And make you as the sword of a master of war.

14 Then Yahweh, He shall appear over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning; And my Lord Yahweh, He shall blow the trumpet, And He will march in the tempests of the south.

15 Yahweh of hosts, He shall protect them, And they will devour, And they will subdue the slinger of stones; And they will drink; They will clamor as from wine; And they will be full like a sprinkling bowl Like the cornerposts of the altar.

16 And Yahweh their Elohim will save them in that day, As the flock of His people; For they shall be the stones of an insignia, Waved as a banner over His ground.

17 For how good is He! And how lovely is He! Grain for the choice young men, And grape juice shall He produce for the virgins.

Chapter 10

1 Ask from Yahweh rain in the season of the former rain and the latter rain; Yahweh is making the storm-clouds, And a downpour of rain shall He give to them, To each man herbage in the field.

2 Because the household idols, they speak lawlessness, And the diviners, they perceive a falsehood, And dreams of futility are they speaking; With vanity they are comforting, Therefore they journey about like a flock; They are humbled, for there is no shepherd.

3 Against the shepherds My anger is hot, And on the he-goats I shall visit punishment, For Yahweh of hosts will note His drove, the house of Judah, And He will make them like His splendid horse in the battle.

4 From Him is the cornerstone, From Him is the peg, From Him is the battle bow, From Him shall every taskmaster go forth together.

5 And they will become like masters of war, Trampling in the mud of the streets, in the battle, And they will fight, for Yahweh is with them, And the riders of horses will be put to shame.

6 And I will give mastery to the house of Judah, And the house of Joseph shall I save. And I will make them dwell securely, For I have compassion on them, And they will come to be as if I had not cast them off; For I am Yahweh their Elohim, and I shall respond to them.

7 Then Ephraim will become as a master, And their heart will rejoice as with wine, And their sons, they shall see, and they will rejoice; Their heart shall exult in Yahweh.

8 I shall hiss for them and convene them, For I ransom them, and they will be many just as they were many.

9 And I shall sow them among the peoples, Yet in the far places they shall remember Me. And they will revive with their sons and return.

10 I will restore them from the land of Egypt, And from Assyria I shall convene them. And to the land of Gilead and Lebanon I shall bring them, Yet not enough room shall be found for them.

11 He passes in the sea of distress, And He smites the billows in the sea, And all the shadowy depths of the waterway will be dried up; The pride of Assyria will be brought down, And the scepter of Egypt, it shall be taken away.

12 And I will give them mastery in Yahweh, And in His Name shall they walk, averring is Yahweh.

Chapter 11

1 Open your double doors, Lebanon, And the fire shall devour among your cedars.

2 Howl, fir tree, for the cedar falls, When the noble ones, they are devastated. Howl, oaks of Bashan, For the defended wildwood comes down.

3 Hark, the howling of the shepherds For their nobility is devastated. Hark, the roaring of sheltered lions For the jungle of the Jordan is devastated.

4 Thus says Yahweh my Elohim: Graze the flock for the killing,

5 whose buyers, they shall kill, yet they shall not be guilty. And their sellers, they shall say, Blessed is Yahweh! I shall be rich! Their own shepherds, they are not sparing them.

6 Indeed I shall no longer spare the dwellers of the land, averring is Yahweh. Behold, I will cause the humans to be found, each in the hand of his associate, and in the hand of his king. And they will pound the land to pieces, yet I shall not rescue from their hand.

7 So I am grazing the flock for the killing, for the traffickers of the flock. And I am taking for myself two staves. One I call Pleasantness, and the other I call Pledgers. So I am grazing the flock.

8 And I am suppressing three shepherds in one month. Yet my soul is impatient with them; and also, their soul is nauseated with me.

9 Then I am saying, I shall not graze you. The dying shall die; and the suppressed shall be suppressed; and the remainder shall eat, each one, of the flesh of her associate.

10 Then I am taking my stave, Pleasantness, and am hacking it to pieces, to annul my covenant which I contracted with all the peoples.

11 And it is being annulled in that day. And the traffickers of the flock, who are observing me, know that it is the word of Yahweh.

12 And I am saying to them, If it is good in your eyes, grant my hire. And if not, forbear. And they are weighing my hire, thirty silver pieces.

13 Then Yahweh is saying to me, Fling it to the minter the noble esteem with which I am esteemed by them! So I am taking the thirty silver pieces and am flinging them to the minter in the house of Yahweh.

14 And I am hacking to pieces the second stave, Pledgers, to annul the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then Yahweh is saying to me, Again take to yourself the implement of a foolish shepherd.

16 For behold, I am raising up a shepherd in the land; The suppressed he shall not visit; The roving he shall not seek; And the broken he shall not heal; That which stands upright he shall not sustain. Yet the flesh of the plump he shall eat; Even their hoofs he shall tear off.

17 Woe to the useless shepherd, forsaker of the flock! A sword shall fall on his arm and on his right eye! His arm shall be dried up, yea dried up, And his right eye, it shall be dimmed, yea dimmed.

Chapter 12

1 The load of the word of Yahweh concerning Israel: Averring is Yahweh, the One stretching out the heavens, And founding the earth, And forming the spirit of the human within him,

2 Behold I am making Jerusalem a threshold of shivering to all the peoples round about. And also concerning Judah, it shall be caught in the siege against Jerusalem.

3 And it will come to be in that day, I shall make Jerusalem a stone, A lading for all the peoples; All laden with it, they shall be lacerated, yea lacerated, And all the nations of the earth shall be gathered against it.

4 In that day, averring is Yahweh, I shall smite every horse with derangement, And his rider with madness. Yet over the house of Judah I shall unclose My eyes, When I smite every horse of the peoples with blindness.

5 And the mentors of Judah will say in their heart, The dwellers of Jerusalem are resoluteness to me in Yahweh of hosts, their Elohim.

6 In that day I shall make the mentors of Judah like a chafing pan of fire among sticks, And like a torch of fire in a sheaf, And they will devour all the peoples round about, on the right and on the left; And Jerusalem will still dwell in her place in Jerusalem.

7 Yahweh will save the tents of Judah first So that the beauty of the house of David And the beauty of the dwellers of Jerusalem may not be magnified over Judah.

8 In that day Yahweh shall be a protection about the dwellers of Jerusalem, And the unsteady one among them, in that day, will become like David, And the house of David like Elohim, Like the messenger of Yahweh before them.

9 And it will come to be in that day, I shall seek to exterminate all the nations coming against Jerusalem.

10 Yet I will pour out on the house of David, And on the dwellers of Jerusalem, A spirit of grace and supplications; And they will look to Him Whom they stabbed, And they will wail over Him as the wailing for an only son, And they will grieve bitterly over Him as one grieving bitterly over a firstborn.

11 In that day the wailing shall be great in Jerusalem, Like the wailing of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon.

12 And the land will bewail, family by family alone: The family of the house of David alone, and their wives alone; The family of the house of Nathan alone, and their wives alone;

13 The family of the house of Levi alone, and their wives alone; The family of Shimei alone, and their wives alone;

14 All the families that remain family by family alone, and their wives alone

Chapter 13

1 In that day there shall come to be a fountain opened for the house of David, and for the dwellers of Jerusalem, for sin and for impurity.

2 And it will come to be in that day, averring is Yahweh of hosts, I shall cut off the names of fetishes from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. And, moreover, I shall cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass from the land.

3 And it will come to be, in case a man is prophesying still, then his father and his mother, those giving him birth, will say to him, You shall not live, for you speak falsehood in the Name of Yahweh. And his father and his mother, those giving him birth, shall stab him when he prophesies.

4 And it will come to be in that day that the prophets shall be ashamed, each because of his vision, when he prophesies; and they will not put on a hairy mantle in order to dissimulate.

5 And he will say, I am not a prophet. I am a man serving the ground, for human service, it has owned me from my youth.

6 And one will say to him, What are these smitings between your hands? Then he will say, Here I was smitten in the house of those in friendship with me.

7 Sword! rouse against My Shepherd, And against the Master, My Companion, averring is Yahweh of hosts. Smite the Shepherd, and the flock is scattering. And I restore My hand on the inferior ones.

8 And it will come to be that in all the land, averring is Yahweh, Two divisions in it shall be cut off and shall decease. Yet the third shall be left in it.

9 And I will bring the third into the fire. And I will refine them as silver is refined. And I will test them as gold is tested. It shall call in My Name, and I shall answer it. I will say, My people is it. And it will say, Yahweh is my Elohim.

Chapter 14

1 Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh, And your loot will be apportioned among you.

2 Yet I will gather all nations to Jerusalem for battle, And the city will be seized, And the houses rifled, and the women, they shall be ravished. And half the city will go forth into deportation. Yet the rest of My people, they shall not be cut off from the city.

3 Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, As when He fights in a day of attack.

4 And His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, Which is adjoining Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives will be rent in half From east and to west by a very great ravine, And half of the mountain will remove northward, And half of it southward.

5 And the ravine of My mountains will be stopped up For the ravine of the mountains shall touch to Azel. And it will be stopped up just as it was stopped up From before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Yahweh my Elohim will come, And all the holy ones with Him.

6 And it will come to be in that day that no light shall come; The precious orbs, they shall be congealed.

7 And one day will come (it shall be known to Yahweh), Not day and not night, And it will come that at eventide there shall come light,

8 And it will come to be in that day, that living waters shall flow forth from Jerusalem, Half of them to the eastern sea, and half of them to the western sea; In summer and in winter shall it continue.

9 Then Yahweh will come to be King over the entire earth. In that day Yahweh shall come to be one, and His Name one.

10 All the land from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem, shall become round about as the Arabah, yet it will remain high, and dwell in its place, from the gate of Benjamin unto the place of the first gate, unto the gate of the corners and from the tower of Hananel, unto the king’s winevats.

11 And the people will dwell in it, And there shall be no more doom, And Jerusalem will dwell in serenity.

12 And this shall come to be the stroke with which Yahweh shall strike all the peoples who rallied their hosts against Jerusalem: Their flesh will putrefy while they are standing on their feet, and their eyes, they shall be putrefied in their holes, and their tongue, it shall be putrefied in their mouths.

13 And it will come to be in that day, much discomfiture shall come among them from Yahweh. And they will take fast hold, each on the hand of his associate. Yet his hand will come up against the hand of his associate.

14 And, moreover, Judah, she shall fight in Jerusalem, and the estate of all the nations round about will be gathered, gold and silver and garments exceedingly much.

15 And so the stroke shall fall on the horse, the mule, the camel and the donkey, and all the beasts, which shall come to be in these camps, like this stroke.

16 And it will come to be that everyone left of all the nations coming against Jerusalem, they will also go up, as often as year by year, to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, and to celebrate the festival of booths.

17 And it will come, whoever shall not go up from the families of the earth, to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of hosts, then the downpour shall not come on them.

18 And if a family of Egypt shall not go up, and will not come, then it will not be on them; there shall come the stroke with which Yahweh shall strike the nations which will not go up to celebrate the festival of booths.

19 This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations which will not go up to celebrate the festival of booths.

20 In that day there shall be on the horse shades: Holy to Yahweh. And the pots in the house of Yahweh will be like the sprinkling bowls before the altar.

21 And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will come to be holy to Yahweh of hosts. And all who are sacrificing will come and take of them and cook in them. And no longer shall there be a trafficker in the house of Yahweh of hosts, in that day.

The Book of Malachi

Chapter 1

1 The load of the word of Yahweh to Israel by the hand of Malachi:

2 I love you, says Yahweh. Yet you say, In what way do You love us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? averring is Yahweh, yet I am loving Jacob,

3 yet Esau I hate. And I shall make his mountains a desolation, and his allotment is for the wild jackals of the wilderness.

4 Though Edom shall say, We are destitute, yet we shall return and shall build the deserted places, thus says Yahweh of hosts: They shall build, yet I shall demolish. And they will call them: Boundary of wickedness, and: The people to whom Yahweh is indignant until the eon.

5 And your eyes, they shall see, and you shall say, Let Yahweh be magnified beyond the boundary of Israel.

6 A son, he is glorifying his father, and a servant his lord. Yet if I am a Father, where is My glory? And if I am a Lord, where is the fear of Me? says Yahweh of hosts to you, the priests who are despising My Name. Yet you say, In what way do we despise Your Name?

7 You are bringing close on My altar sullied bread, and you say, In what way do we sully You? When you say, The table of Yahweh, it is despised.

8 And when you are bringing close the blind for sacrifice, is there no evil? And when you are bringing close the lame and the ill, is there no evil? Offer it, I pray, to your viceroy! Will he accept you or lift up your face? says Yahweh of hosts.

9 And now, beseech, I pray, the face of El, that He may be gracious to us. From your hand has this come; would He lift up our faces because of you? says Yahweh of hosts.

10 Who, moreover, is among you that shall lock the double doors so you shall not light up My altar gratuitously? I have no delight in you, says Yahweh of hosts, and I will not accept an approach present from your hand.

11 For from the rising of the sun unto its setting, great is My Name among the nations, and in every place incense is being brought close for My Name, and a clean approach present. For My Name is great among the nations, says Yahweh of hosts.

12 Yet you are profaning Me when you say, The table of Yahweh, sullied is it, and its produce. Despised is its food.

13 And you say, Behold what tiredness it is! And you puff at it, says Yahweh of hosts. And you bring the pillaged and the lame and the ill. And when you bring the approach present, shall I accept it from your hand? says Yahweh.

14 Cursed be the plotter, when there is a male in his drove, and he is vowing and sacrificing what is ruined to Yahweh. For a great King am I, says Yahweh of hosts, and My Name is feared among the nations.

Chapter 2

1 And now, this instruction is for you, priests.

2 If you will not hear, and if you will not take it to heart to give glory to My Name, says Yahweh of hosts, then I will send among you the curse. And I will curse your blessings. And, moreover, I have cursed them, for you are not taking it to heart.

3 Behold Me rebuking your seed. And I will sift dung on your faces, the dung of your festivals, and I will carry you away with it.

4 And you will know that I send to you this instruction to become My covenant with Levi, says Yahweh of hosts.

5 My covenant, it came to be with him life and peace, and I am giving them to him for fear, and he is fearing Me. And in view of My Name he is dismayed.

6 The law of truth, it came to be in his mouth, and iniquity, it was not found on his lips. In peace and in uprightness he walked with Me, and turned many back from depravity.

7 For the lips of a priest, they shall keep knowledge, and the law shall they seek from his mouth, for the messenger of Yahweh of hosts is he.

8 Yet you withdraw from the way. You cause many to stumble at the law. You ruin the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh of hosts.

9 And, moreover, I make you despised and low to all the people, in accordance as you are not keeping My ways, yet you show partiality in the law.

10 Have we not all one Father? Did not one El create us? For what reason are we dealing treacherously, each with his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers?

11 Judah deals treacherously, and an abhorrence is done in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah profanes the holy place of Yahweh, which He loves, and has possessed the daughter of a foreign el.

12 Yahweh shall cut off the man who is doing it, the one rousing and the one responding, from the tents of Jacob, and from bringing close an approach present to Yahweh of hosts.

13 And this which I hate are you doing: covering the altar of Yahweh with tears, with lamentation and groaning; because I am not facing about to your approach present any more, or taking it with acceptance from your hand.

14 Yet you say, On what grounds? Because Yahweh, He testified between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you are treacherous. Yet she is your partner and the wife of your covenant.

15 And did not He make you one? Yet the rest of the spirit is His. And you say, What! Is one seeking a seed of Elohim? Now you beware in your spirit, for with the wife of your youth you must not be treacherous.

16 When one hates to send away, says Yahweh Elohim of Israel, yet covers wrong by his clothing, says Yahweh of hosts, then you beware in your spirit, and you shall not be treacherous.

17 You weary Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, In what way do we weary Him? When you say, All doing evil are good in the eyes of Yahweh, and in them He delights, or, Where is the Elohim of judgment?

Chapter 3

1 Behold Me sending My messenger, and he will surface the way before Me. And suddenly, the Lord Whom you are seeking shall come to His temple, and the Messenger of the covenant, in Whom you are delighting. Behold, He comes! says Yahweh of hosts.

2 Yet who will endure the day of His coming? And who will stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire, and like the soap of launderers.

3 And He will sit like a refiner and a cleanser of silver. And He will cleanse the sons of Levi, and purify them like gold and like silver. And they will come to be for Yahweh, bringing close the approach present in righteousness.

4 Then the approach present of Judah and Jerusalem will be congenial to Yahweh as in the days of the eon, and as in former years.

5 Then I will come near to you for judgment, and be a swift witness against the enchanters and against the adulterers, and against those who are swearing in My Name to falsehood, and against those extorting the hire of the hireling, the widow and the orphan, and turning aside the sojourner, and do not fear Me, says Yahweh of hosts.

6 For I, Yahweh, do not alter; and you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.

7 From the days of your fathers, you have withdrawn from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and let Me return to you, says Yahweh of hosts. Yet you say, In what way shall we return?

8 Will a human defraud Elohim? For you are defrauding Me. Yet you say, In what way do we defraud You? In the tithe and the heave offering!

9 With a curse you curse Me, and Me you are defrauding the nation, all of it.

10 Bring the entire tithe to the treasure house, and viands shall come to be in My house. And test Me, indeed in this, says Yahweh of hosts, if I will not open for you crevices in the heavens and I empty for you a blessing until there is insufficient storage.

11 And I will rebuke for you the devourer, and he shall not ruin the fruit of the ground for you, nor shall it bereave for you the vine in the field, says Yahweh of hosts.

12 And all nations will call you happy, for you shall become a land of delight, says Yahweh of hosts.

13 Your words are steadfast against Me, says Yahweh. Yet you say, What do we speak against You?

14 You say, It is futility to serve Elohim. And what gain is it that we keep His charge, and that we walk somberly in view of Yahweh of hosts?

15 And now we are calling the arrogant happy. Moreover, the doers of wickedness are built up. They even test Elohim, and are escaping.

16 Then those that fear Yahweh speak, each with his associate. And Yahweh is attending and hearing. And a memorial scroll is written before Him, concerning the fearers of Yahweh, and concerning those taking account of His Name.

17 And they become Mine, says Yahweh of hosts, for the day which I am making, a special possession, and I will spare them just as a man is sparing his son who is serving him.

18 And you will return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between a servant of Elohim and him who does not serve Him.

Chapter 4

1 For behold, the day is coming, consuming like a stove, and all the arrogant and all doing wickedness become stubble. And the coming day will set them aflame, says Yahweh of hosts, which shall not leave to them root or bough.

2 Yet the Sun of righteousness will radiate for you who fear My Name, and healing will be in Its wings. And you will come forth and frolic like calves of the stall.

3 And you will tread down the wicked, for they shall become ashes under the soles of your feet in the day which I am making, says Yahweh of hosts.

4 Remember the law of Moses, My servant, which I instructed him in Horeb for all Israel, the statutes and ordinances.

5 Behold, I will send to you Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and advent day of Yahweh.

6 And he will restore the heart of the fathers to the sons and the heart of the sons to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth to its doom.