THE OLD TESTAMENT OF THE BIBLE- ACV

GENESIS

CHAPTER 1

¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ²And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters ³And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. ⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. ⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. ⁷And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day. ⁹And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. ¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth, and he called the gathering together of the waters Seas. And God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind (in which is the seed of them) upon the earth. And it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed according to their kind, and trees bearing fruit in which is the seed of it, according to their kind. And God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, a third day. ¹⁴And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years. ¹⁵And let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so. ¹⁶And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, also the stars. ¹⁷And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, ¹⁸and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. ²⁰And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. ²¹And God created the great sea creatures, and every living creature that moves, which the waters brought forth abundantly, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²²And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. ²³And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. ²⁴And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth according to their kind. And it was so. ²⁵And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kind, and the cattle according to their kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²⁶And God said, Let us make man in our image�after our likeness�and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. ²⁷And God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. ²⁸And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and have power over it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. ²⁹And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed. To you it shall be for food, ³⁰and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon the earth in which there is life, for food�every green herb. And it was so. ³¹And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

CHAPTER 2

¹And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ²And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ³And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. ⁴These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven. ⁵And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up, for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth. And there was not a man to till the ground, ⁶but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. ⁷And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. ⁸And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹And out of the ground Jehovah God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, also the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. ¹⁰And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it was divided, and became four heads. ¹¹The name of the first is Pishon. That is it which encompasses the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²And the gold of that land is good. There is bdellium and the onyx stone. ¹³And the name of the second river is Gihon. The same is it which encompasses the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴And the name of the third river is Hiddekel. That is it which goes in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. ¹⁵And Jehovah God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. ¹⁶And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou may freely eat, ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it. For in the day that thou eat of it thou shall surely die. ¹⁸And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make a help meet for him. ¹⁹And out of the ground Jehovah God formed each beast of the field, and each bird of the heavens, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was the name of it. ²⁰And the man gave names to each of the cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to each beast of the field, but for man there was not found a help meet for him. ²¹And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept. And God took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in place of it. ²²And the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the man, he made a woman, and brought her to the man. ²³And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. ²⁴Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cling to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh. ²⁵And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Yea, has God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden? ²And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, ³but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat of it, nor shall ye touch it, lest ye die. ⁴And the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not surely die. ⁵For God knows that in the day ye eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ⁶And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate. And she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. ⁸And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden. ⁹And Jehovah God called to the man, and said to him, Where are thou? ¹⁰And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked. And I hid myself. ¹¹And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Have thou eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee that thou should not eat? ¹²And the man said, The woman whom thou gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. ¹³And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this thou have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate. ¹⁴And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because thou have done this, cursed are thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly thou shall go, and dust thou shall eat all the days of thy life. ¹⁵And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. He shall bruise thy head, and thou shall bruise his heel. ¹⁶To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy childbearing, in pain thou shall bring forth children. And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. ¹⁷And to Adam he said, Because thou have hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shall not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake. In toil thou shall eat of it all the days of thy life. ¹⁸Also, thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to thee, and thou shall eat the herb of the field. ¹⁹In the sweat of thy face thou shall eat bread, till thou return to the ground, for out of it thou were taken. For thou are dust, and to dust thou shall return. ²⁰And the man called his wife�s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them. ²²And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever� ²³therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from where he was taken. ²⁴So he drove out the man. And he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree of life.

CHAPTER 4

¹And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from Jehovah. ²And again she bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ³And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought an offering to Jehovah of the fruit of the ground. ⁴And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it. And Jehovah had respect to Abel and to his offering, ⁵but he did not have respect to Cain and to his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶And Jehovah said to Cain, Why are thou angry? And why has thy countenance fallen? ⁷If thou do well, shall thou not be accepted? And if thou do not well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire shall be for thee, and thou shall rule over it. ⁸And Cain told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and killed him. ⁹And Jehovah said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not. Am I my brother�s keeper? ¹⁰And he said, What have thou done? The voice of thy brother�s blood cries to me from the ground. ¹¹And now cursed are thou from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive thy brother�s blood from thy hand. ¹²When thou till the ground, it shall not henceforth yield to thee its strength. A fugitive and a wanderer thou shall be on the earth. ¹³And Cain said to Jehovah, My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴Behold, thou have driven me out this day from the face of the ground, and I shall be hid from thy face, and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. And it shall come to pass, that whoever finds me shall slay me. ¹⁵And Jehovah said to him, Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And Jehovah appointed a sign for Cain, lest any who finds him should smite him. ¹⁶And Cain went out from the presence of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. ¹⁷And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bore Enoch. And Cain built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad begot Mehujael, and Mehujael begot Methushael, and Methushael begot Lamech. ¹⁹And Lamech took to him two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰And Adah bore Jabal. He was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. ²¹And his brother�s name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe. ²²And Zillah, she also bore Tubal-cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. ²³And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech. For I have killed a man for wounding me, and a young man for bruising me. ²⁴If Cain shall be avenged seven fold, truly Lamech seventy-seven fold. ²⁵And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth. For, she said, God has appointed for me another seed instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. ²⁶And to Seth, to him also there was born a son, and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 5

¹This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God he made him, ²male and female he created them, and blessed them, and called their name Man, in the day when they were created. ³And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and called his name Seth. ⁴And the days of Adam were eight hundred years after he begot Seth. And he begot sons and daughters. ⁵And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died. ⁶And Seth lived a hundred and five years, and begot Enosh. ⁷And Seth lived eight hundred and seven years after he begot Enosh, and begot sons and daughters. ⁸And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died. ⁹And Enosh lived ninety years, and begot Kenan. ¹⁰And Enosh lived eight hundred and fifteen years after he begot Kenan, and begot sons and daughters. ¹¹And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died. ¹²And Kenan lived seventy years, and begot Mahalalel. ¹³And Kenan lived eight hundred and forty years after he begot Mahalalel, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁴And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died. ¹⁵And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begot Jared. ¹⁶And Mahalalel lived eight hundred and thirty years after he begot Jared, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁷And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died. ¹⁸And Jared lived a hundred sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. ¹⁹And Jared lived eight hundred years after he begot Enoch, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁰And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years, and he died. ²¹And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begot Methuselah. ²²And Enoch walked with God after he begot Methuselah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters. ²³And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years. ²⁴And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. ²⁵And Methuselah lived a hundred eighty-seven years, and begot Lamech. ²⁶And Methuselah lived seven hundred eighty-two years after he begot Lamech, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁷And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years, and he died. ²⁸And Lamech lived a hundred eighty-two years, and begot a son. ²⁹And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us in our work and in the toil of our hands, because of the ground which Jehovah has cursed. ³⁰And Lamech lived five hundred ninety-five years after he begot Noah, and begot sons and daughters. ³¹And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years, and he died. ³²And Noah was five hundred years old. And Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

CHAPTER 6

¹And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, ²that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair. And they took to them wives of all that they chose. ³And Jehovah said, My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he also is flesh. Yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. ⁴The giants were on the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and they bore sons to them, the same were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. ⁵And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ⁶And Jehovah regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. ⁷And Jehovah said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground, from man, to beast, to creeping things, and birds of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them. ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah. ⁹These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah begot three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹²And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. ¹³And God said to Noah, The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them, and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. ¹⁴Make thee an ark of gopher wood. Thou shall make rooms in the ark, and shall pitch it inside and outside with pitch. ¹⁵And this is how thou shall make it: The length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. ¹⁶Thou shall make a light for the ark, and thou shall finish it to a cubit upward. And thou shall set the door of the ark in the side of it, with lower, second, and third stories thou shall make it. ¹⁷And I, behold, I bring the flood of waters upon this earth, to destroy all flesh, in which is the breath of life, from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. ¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with thee. And thou shall come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons� wives with thee. ¹⁹And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort thou shall bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee. They shall be male and female. ²⁰Of the birds according to their kind, and of the cattle according to their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind. Two of every sort shall come to thee, to keep them alive. ²¹And take thou to thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. ²²Thus Noah did; according to all that God commanded him, so he did.

CHAPTER 7

¹And Jehovah said to Noah, Come, thou and all thy house into the ark, for I have seen thee righteous before me in this generation. ²Of every clean beast thou shall take to thee by sevens, the male and his female. And of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female. ³Also of the birds of the heavens by sevens, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. ⁴For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will destroy from off the face of the ground. ⁵And Noah did according to all that Jehovah commanded him. ⁶And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. ⁷And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons� wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. ⁸Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps upon the ground, ⁹there went in two by two to Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah. ¹⁰And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. ¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah�s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. ¹²And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. ¹³In the selfsame day Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah�s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ark, ¹⁴they, and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort. ¹⁵And they went in to Noah into the ark, two by two of all flesh in which is the breath of life. ¹⁶And those that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him. And Jehovah shut him in. ¹⁷And the flood was forty days upon the earth. And the waters increased, and bore up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth. ¹⁸And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters. ¹⁹And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high mountains that were under the whole heaven were covered, ²⁰fifteen cubits upward. The waters prevailed, and the mountains were covered. ²¹And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, from birds, to cattle, to beasts, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, and every man. ²²All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, of all that was on the dry land, died. ²³And every living thing was destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, from man, to cattle, to creeping things, and birds of the heavens, and they were destroyed from the earth. And only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. ²⁴And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred and fifty days.

CHAPTER 8

¹And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. ²Also the fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. ³And the waters returned from off the earth continually. And after the end of a hundred and fifty days the waters decreased. ⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. ⁵And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. ⁶And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made. ⁷And he sent forth a raven. And it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. ⁸And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground. ⁹But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot. And she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. And he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in to him into the ark. ¹⁰And he stayed yet another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. ¹¹And the dove came in to him at evening. And, lo, in her mouth an olive leaf plucked off, so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. ¹²And he stayed yet seven other days, and sent forth the dove. And she did not return again to him any more. ¹³And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked. And, behold, the face of the ground was dried. ¹⁴And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry. ¹⁵And God spoke to Noah, saying, ¹⁶Go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons� wives with thee. ¹⁷Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all flesh, both birds and cattle, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. ¹⁸And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons� wives with him. ¹⁹Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatever moves upon the earth, according to their families, went forth out of the ark. ²⁰And Noah built an altar to Jehovah, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor. And Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man�s sake, for that the imagination of man�s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again any more smite everything living, as I have done. ²²While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

CHAPTER 9

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth. ²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the heavens, with all with which the ground teems, and all the fishes of the sea. They are delivered into your hand. ³Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. As the green herb, I have given you all. ⁴But flesh with the life of it, which is the blood of it, ye shall not eat. ⁵And surely your blood, the blood of your lives, I will require. At the hand of every beast I will require it. And at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man�s brother, I will require the life of man. ⁶Whoever sheds man�s blood, by man shall his blood be shed. For in the image of God he made man. ⁷And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply. Bring forth abundantly on the earth, and multiply on it. ⁸And God spoke to Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, ⁹And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth. ¹¹And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood, nor shall there be a flood any more to destroy the earth. ¹²And God said, This is the sign of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: ¹³I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. ¹⁵And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. ¹⁶And the bow shall be in the cloud, and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. ¹⁷And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth. ¹⁸And the sons of Noah, who went forth from the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth. And Ham is the father of Canaan. ¹⁹These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was spread over. ²⁰And Noah began to be a farmer, and planted a vineyard. ²¹And he drank of the wine, and was drunken. And he was uncovered within his tent. ²²And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. ²³And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father. And their faces were backward, and they did not see their father�s nakedness. ²⁴And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his youngest son had done to him. ²⁵And he said, Cursed be Canaan. He shall be a servant of servants to his brothers. ²⁶And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem. And let Canaan be his servant. ²⁷God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem. And let Canaan be his servant. ²⁸And Noah lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood. ²⁹And all the days of Noah were nine hundred and fifty years, and he died.

CHAPTER 10

¹Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, of Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. ²The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. ³And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah. ⁴And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. ⁵From these were the islands of the nations divided in their lands, every man according to his tongue, according to their families, in their nations. ⁶And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. ⁷And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan. ⁸And Cush begot Nimrod. He began to be a mighty man on the earth. ⁹He was a mighty hunter before Jehovah. Therefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah. ¹⁰And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. ¹¹He went forth out of that land into Assyria, and built Nineveh, and Rehoboth-ir, and Calah, ¹²and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city). ¹³And Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, ¹⁴and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from where the Philistines went forth), and Caphtorim. ¹⁵And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, ¹⁶and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, ¹⁷and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, ¹⁸and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. And afterward the families of the Canaanite were spread abroad. ¹⁹And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as thou go toward Gerar, to Gaza, as thou go toward Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, to Lasha. ²⁰These are the sons of Ham, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, in their nations. ²¹And to Shem, the father of all the sons of Eber, the elder brother of Japheth, sons were also born to him. ²²The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram. ²³And the sons of Aram: Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash. ²⁴And Arphaxad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. ²⁵And to Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg. For in his days the earth was divided. And his brother�s name was Joktan. ²⁶And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, ²⁷and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, ²⁸and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba, ²⁹and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan. ³⁰And their dwelling was from Mesha, as thou go toward Sephar, the mountain of the east. ³¹These are the sons of Shem, according to their families, according to their tongues, in their lands, according to their nations. ³²These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations. And from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood.

CHAPTER 11

¹And the whole earth was of one language and of one speech. ²And it came to pass, as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. ³And they said one to another, Come, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had slime for mortar. ⁴And they said, Come, let us build a city for us, and a tower, and its top in the heavens. And let us make a name for us, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. ⁵And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men built. ⁶And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. And now nothing will be withheld from them, which they propose to do. ⁷Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand each other�s speech. ⁸So Jehovah scattered them abroad from there upon the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. ⁹Therefore the name of it was called Babel, because Jehovah there confounded the language of all the earth, and from there Jehovah scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth. ¹⁰These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood. ¹¹And Shem lived five hundred years after he begot Arphaxad, and begot sons and daughters. ¹²And Arphaxad lived a hundred and thirty-five years, and begot Cainan. ¹³And Arphaxad lived after he had begotten Cainan, four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters, and died. And Cainan lived a hundred and thirty years and begot Shelah; and Cainan lived after he had begotten Shelah, three hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters, and died. ¹⁴And Shelah lived thirty years, and begot Eber. ¹⁵And Shelah lived four hundred and three years after he begot Eber, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁶And Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg. ¹⁷And Eber lived four hundred and thirty years after he begot Peleg, and begot sons and daughters. ¹⁸And Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu. ¹⁹And Peleg lived two hundred and nine years after he begot Reu, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁰And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug. ²¹And Reu lived two hundred and seven years after he begot Serug, and begot sons and daughters. ²²And Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor. ²³And Serug lived two hundred years after he begot Nahor, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁴And Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah. ²⁵And Nahor lived a hundred and nineteen years after he begot Terah, and begot sons and daughters. ²⁶And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. ²⁷Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran. And Haran begot Lot. ²⁸And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. ²⁹And Abram and Nahor took wives to themselves. The name of Abram�s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor�s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. ³⁰And Sarai was barren; she had no child. ³¹And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son�s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram�s wife. And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. And they came to Haran, and dwelt there. ³²And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran.

CHAPTER 12

¹Now Jehovah said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father�s house, to the land that I will show thee. ²And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and be thou a blessing. ³And I will bless those who bless thee, and he who curses thee I will curse. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ⁴So Abram went as Jehovah had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. ⁵And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother�s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. And they came into the land of Canaan. ⁶And Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. ⁷And Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said, I will give this land to thy seed. And there he built an altar to Jehovah, who appeared to him. ⁸And he moved from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah. ⁹And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South. ¹⁰And there was a famine in the land. And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. ¹¹And it came to pass, when he came near to enter into Egypt, that he said to Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou are a fair woman to look upon. ¹²And it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife. And they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. ¹³Say, I pray thee, thou are my sister, that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee. ¹⁴And it came to pass, that, when Abram came into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. ¹⁵And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh. And the woman was taken into Pharaoh�s house. ¹⁶And he dealt well with Abram for her sake. And he had sheep, and oxen, and he-donkeys, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-donkeys, and camels. ¹⁷And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram�s wife. ¹⁸And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou have done to me? Why did thou not tell me that she was thy wife? ¹⁹Why did thou say, She is my sister, so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore behold thy wife. Take her, and go thy way. ²⁰And Pharaoh gave men command concerning him. And they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.

CHAPTER 13

¹And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South. ²And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. ³And he went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first. And Abram called on the name of Jehovah there. ⁵And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. ⁶And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together. For their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. ⁷And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram�s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot�s cattle. And the Canaanite and the Perizzite then dwelt in the land. ⁸And Abram said to Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we are brothers. ⁹Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If the left hand, then I will go to the right. Or if the right hand, then I will go to the left. ¹⁰And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah) like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as thou go to Zoar. ¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the Plain of the Jordan. And Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. ¹²Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. And Lot dwelt in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinners against Jehovah. ¹⁴And Jehovah said to Abram, after Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou are, northward and southward and eastward and westward. ¹⁵For all the land which thou see, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed forever. ¹⁶And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth. So that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then may thy seed also be numbered. ¹⁷Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for to thee I will give it. ¹⁸And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to Jehovah.

CHAPTER 14

¹And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, ²that they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar). ³All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea). ⁴They served Chedorlaomer twelve years, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled. ⁵And in the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim, ⁶and the Horites on their mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness. ⁷And they returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and smote all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, who dwelt in Hazazon-tamar. ⁸And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar), and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim, ⁹against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five. ¹⁰Now the valley of Siddim was full of slime pits. And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there. And those who remained fled to the mountain. ¹¹And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way. ¹²And they took Lot, Abram�s brother�s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed. ¹³And some man came who had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner. And these were allies with Abram. ¹⁴And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan. ¹⁵And he divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. ¹⁶And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and also the women, and the people. ¹⁷And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (the same is the King�s Valley). ¹⁸And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. And he was priest of God Most High. ¹⁹And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. ²⁰And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of all. ²¹And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the men, and take the goods to thyself. ²²And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, ²³that I will not take a thread nor a shoe latchet nor anything that is thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abram rich, ²⁴except only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion.

CHAPTER 15

¹After these things the word of Jehovah came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield, thy exceedingly great reward. ²And Abram said, O lord Jehovah, what will thou give me, since I go childless. And he who shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? ³And Abram said, Behold, thou have given no seed to me. And, lo, a man born in my house is my heir. ⁴And, behold, the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir, but he who shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said to him, So shall thy seed be. ⁶And he believed in Jehovah, and he reckoned it to him for righteousness. ⁷And he said to him, I am Jehovah who brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. ⁸And he said, O lord Jehovah, how shall I know that I shall inherit it? ⁹And he said to him, Take a heifer three years old for me, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. ¹⁰And he took all these for him, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half opposite the other. But he did not divide the birds. ¹¹And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away. ¹²And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram. And, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹³And he said to Abram, Know of a certainty that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs. And shall serve them, and they shall afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴And also I will judge that nation, whom they shall serve, and afterward they shall come out with great substance. ¹⁵But thou will go to thy fathers in peace; thou will be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶And in the fourth generation they shall come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. ¹⁷And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. ¹⁸In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, To thy seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates: ¹⁹the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite, ²⁰and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim, ²¹and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

CHAPTER 16

¹Now Sarai, Abram�s wife, bore him no sons. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. ²And Sarai said to Abram, Behold now, Jehovah has restrained me from bearing. Go in, I pray thee, to my handmaid. It may be that I will obtain sons by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. ³And Sarai, Abram�s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife. ⁴And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. ⁵And Sarai said to Abram, My wrong be upon thee. I gave my handmaid into they bosom, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Jehovah judge between me and thee. ⁶But Abram said to Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes. And Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her face. ⁷And the agent of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur. ⁸And he said, Hagar, Sarai�s handmaid, from where have thou come? And where are thou going? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai. ⁹And the agent of Jehovah said to her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. ¹⁰And the agent of Jehovah said to her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude. ¹¹And the agent of Jehovah said to her, Behold, thou are with child, and shall bear a son, and thou shall call his name Ishmael, because Jehovah has heard thy affliction. ¹²And he will be a wild donkey among men, his hand against every man, and every man�s hand against him, and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brothers. ¹³And she called the name of Jehovah who spoke to her, Thou are a God who sees, for she said, Have I even here looked behind him who sees me? ¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. Behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered. ¹⁵And Hagar bore Abram a son. And Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. ¹⁶And Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

CHAPTER 17

¹And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said to him, I am God Almighty, walk before me, and be thou perfect. ²And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. ³And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, ⁴As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shall be the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for I have made thee the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶And I will make thee exceedingly fruitful. And I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee and to thy seed after thee. ⁸And I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojourning, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. ⁹And God said to Abraham, And as for thee, thou shall keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and you. ¹²And he who is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations: he who is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner that is not of thy seed. ¹³He who is born in thy house, and he who is bought with thy money, must be circumcised. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant. ¹⁵And God said to Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shall not call her name Sarai, but her name shall be Sarah. ¹⁶And I will bless her. And moreover I will give thee a son by her. Yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be by her. ¹⁷Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to him who is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear? ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee! ¹⁹And God said, No, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son, and thou shall call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. ²⁰And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall beget twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to thee at this set time in the next year. ²²And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham. ²³And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all who were born in his house, and all who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham�s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said to him. ²⁴And Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶In the selfsame day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. ²⁷And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

CHAPTER 18

¹And Jehovah appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. ²And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him. And when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, ³and said, My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant. ⁴Let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. ⁵And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart. After that ye shall pass on, inasmuch as ye came to your servant. And they said, Do so as thou have said. ⁶And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes. ⁷And Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it to the servant. And he hastened to dress it. ⁸And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree, and they ate. ⁹And they said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. ¹⁰And he said, I will certainly return to thee when the season comes round, and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age. It had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ¹²And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have become old shall I have pleasure, my lord also being old? ¹³And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I who am old certainly bear a child? ¹⁴Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return to thee, when the season comes round, and Sarah shall have a son. ¹⁵Then Sarah denied, saying, I did not laugh, for she was afraid. And he said, No, but thou did laugh. ¹⁶And the men rose up from there, and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to bring them on the way. ¹⁷And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do, ¹⁸since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? ¹⁹For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice, to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. ²⁰And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, ²¹I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which comes to me. And if not, I will know. ²²And the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham yet stood before Jehovah. ²³And Abraham drew near, and said, Will thou consume righteous men with wicked men? ²⁴Perhaps there are fifty righteous men within the city. Will thou consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous men that are in it? ²⁵That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay a righteous man with a wicked man, that so the righteous man should be as the wicked man. Far be it from thee. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? ²⁶And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous men within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. ²⁷And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord, who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸Perhaps there shall lack five of the fifty righteous men. Will thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five. ²⁹And he spoke to him yet again, and said, Perhaps there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty�s sake. ³⁰And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Perhaps there shall be thirty found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. ³¹And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord. Perhaps there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty�s sake. ³²And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Perhaps ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten�s sake. ³³And Jehovah went his way as soon as he had left off conversing with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

CHAPTER 19

¹And the two agents came to Sodom at evening, and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. And Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. And he bowed himself with his face to the earth, ²and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant�s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will abide in the street all night. ³And he urged them greatly. And they turned in to him, and entered into his house. And he made a feast for them, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. ⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, encompassed the house around, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. ⁵And they called to Lot, and said to him, Where are the men who came in to thee this night? Bring them out to us, that we may know them. ⁶And Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. ⁷And he said, I pray you, my brothers, do not so wickedly. ⁸Behold now, I have two daughters who have not known a man. Let me, I pray you, bring them out to you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes. Only do nothing to these men, inasmuch as they have come under the shadow of my roof. ⁹And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will be a judge. Now we will deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed greatly upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door. ¹⁰But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. ¹¹And they smote the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door. ¹²And the men said to Lot, Have thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomever thou have in the city, bring them out of the place. ¹³For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them has been great before Jehovah. And Jehovah has sent us to destroy it. ¹⁴And Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place, for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law as a man jesting. ¹⁵And when the morning arose, then the agents hurried Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters who are here, lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. ¹⁶But he lingered. And the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful to him, and they brought him forth, and set him outside the city. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life, do not look behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain. Escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. ¹⁸And Lot said to them, Oh, not so, my lord. ¹⁹Behold now, thy servant has found favor in thy sight, and thou have magnified thy loving kindness, which thou have shown to me in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. ²⁰Behold now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (is it not a little one?), and my soul shall live. ²¹And he said to him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou have spoken. ²²Hasten thee, escape there, for I cannot do anything till thou have come there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. ²³The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven. ²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. ²⁶But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Jehovah. ²⁸And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt. ³⁰And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he feared to dwell in Zoar. And he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters. ³¹And the firstborn said to the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man on the earth to come in to us after the manner of all the earth. ³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed by our father. ³³And they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in, and lay with her father. And he did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁴And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said to the younger, Behold, I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine this night also, and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed by our father. ³⁵And they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose, and lay with him. And he did not know when she lay down, nor when she arose. ³⁶Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father. ³⁷And the firstborn bore a son, and called his name Moab. The same is the father of the Moabites to this day. ³⁸And the younger, she also bore a son, and called his name Ben-ammi. The same is the father of the sons of Ammon to this day.

CHAPTER 20

¹And Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur. And he sojourned in Gerar. ²And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. ³But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, thou are but a dead man, because of the woman whom thou have taken, for she is a man�s wife. ⁴Now Abimelech had not come near her. And he said, Lord, will thou slay even a righteous nation? ⁵Did he not himself say to me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother. In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this. ⁶And God said to him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of thy heart thou have done this. And I also withheld thee from sinning against me. Therefore I did not allow thee to touch her. ⁷Now therefore restore the man�s wife. For he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shall live. And if thou do not restore her, know thou that thou shall surely die, thou, and all that are thine. ⁸And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. And the men were exceedingly afraid. ⁹Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, What have thou done to us? And in what have I sinned against thee, that thou have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou have done deeds to me that ought not to be done. ¹⁰And Abimelech said to Abraham, What did thou see, that thou have done this thing? ¹¹And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. ¹²And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. ¹³And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father�s house, that I said to her, This is thy kindness which thou shall show to me. At every place where we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. ¹⁴And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored to him Sarah his wife. ¹⁵And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee. Dwell where it pleases thee. ¹⁶And to Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all who are with thee. And in regard to all thou are righted. ¹⁷And Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants. And they bore sons. ¹⁸For Jehovah had closed up fast all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham�s wife.

CHAPTER 21

¹And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did to Sarah as he had spoken. ²And Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. ⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me. ⁷And she said, Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah should give sons suck? For I have borne him a son in his old age. ⁸And the child grew, and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son. For the son of this handmaid shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. ¹¹And the thing was very grievous in Abraham�s sight on account of his son. ¹²And God said to Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy handmaid. In all that Sarah says to thee, hearken to her voice. For in Isaac shall thy seed be called. ¹³And also I will make a nation of the son of the handmaid, because he is thy seed. ¹⁴And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. ¹⁵And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. ¹⁶And she went, and sat herself down opposite him a good way off, as it were a bowshot. For she said, Let me not look upon the death of the child. And she sat opposite him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. ¹⁷And God heard the voice of the lad. And the agent of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, What troubles thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is. ¹⁸Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand, for I will make him a great nation. ¹⁹And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. ²⁰And God was with the lad, and he grew. And he dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. ²¹And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran. And his mother took for him a wife out of the land of Egypt. ²²And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou do. ²³Now therefore swear to me here by God that thou will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son�s son. But according to the kindness that I have done to thee, thou shall do to me, and to the land in which thou have sojourned. ²⁴And Abraham said, I will swear. ²⁵And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water which Abimelech�s servants had taken away violently. ²⁶And Abimelech said, I know not who has done this thing, neither did thou tell me, nor yet did I hear of it, but today. ²⁷And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech. And the two made a covenant. ²⁸And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, What do these seven ewe lambs mean which thou have set by themselves? ³⁰And he said, These seven ewe lambs thou shall take from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well. ³¹Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because there they swore both of them. ³²So they made a covenant at Beersheba. And Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his army, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. ³³And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there called on the name of Jehovah, the Everlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

CHAPTER 22

¹And it came to pass after these things, that God proved Abraham, and said to him, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. ²And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou love, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah. And offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. ³And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said to his young men, Abide ye here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder, and we will worship, and come again to you. ⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And they went both of them together. ⁷And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? ⁸And Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together. ⁹And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹And the agent of Jehovah called to him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. ¹²And he said, Do not lay thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him. For now I know that thou fear God, since thou have not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. ¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh. As it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided. ¹⁵And the agent of Jehovah called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, ¹⁶and said, By myself I have sworn, says Jehovah, because thou have done this thing, and have not withheld thy son, thine only son, ¹⁷that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, ¹⁸and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou have obeyed my voice. ¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men. And they rose up and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. ²⁰And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she also has borne sons to thy brother Nahor: ²¹Uz his first born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram, ²²and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel. ²³And Bethuel begot Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham�s brother. ²⁴And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bore Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.

CHAPTER 23

¹And the life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years. These were the years of the life of Sarah. ²And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. ³And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying, ⁴I am a stranger and a sojourner with you. Give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. ⁵And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him, ⁶Hear us, my lord. Thou are a prince of God among us. Bury thy dead in our choice sepulchers. None of us shall withhold from thee his sepulcher, but that thou may bury thy dead. ⁷And Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the sons of Heth. ⁸And he conversed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, ⁹that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has, which is in the end of his field. Let him give it to me for the full price in the midst of you for a possession of a burying place. ¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the sons of Heth, even of all who went in at the gate of his city, saying, ¹¹No, my lord, hear me. I give thee the field. And the cave that is in it, I give it to thee. I give it to thee in the presence of the sons of my people. Bury thy dead. ¹²And Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land. ¹³And he spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou will, I pray thee, hear me. I will give the price of the field. Take it from me, and I will bury my dead there. ¹⁴And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him, ¹⁵My lord, hearken to me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and thee? Therefore bury thy dead. ¹⁶And Abraham hearkened to Ephron. And Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver that he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant. ¹⁷So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the border of it round about, were made sure ¹⁸to Abraham for a possession in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan. ²⁰And the field, and the cave that is in it, were made sure to Abraham for a possession of a burying place by the sons of Heth.

CHAPTER 24

¹And Abraham was old, well stricken in age. And Jehovah had blessed Abraham in all things. ²And Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his house, who ruled over all that he had, Put thy hand, I pray thee, under my thigh. ³And I will make thee swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that thou will not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell. ⁴But thou shall go to my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac. ⁵And the servant said to him, Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Must I bring thy son again to the land from where thou came? ⁶And Abraham said to him, Beware thou that thou not bring my son there again. ⁷Jehovah, the God of heaven, who took me from my father�s house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spoke to me, and who swore to me, saying, To thy seed I will give this land, he will send his agent before thee, and thou shall take a wife for my son from there. ⁸And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shall be clear from this my oath. Only thou shall not bring my son there again. ⁹And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter. ¹⁰And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed, having all goodly things of his master�s in his hand. And he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹And he made the camels to kneel down outside the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water. ¹²And he said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray thee, good speed this day, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³Behold, I am standing by the fountain of water. And the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink. And she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also. Let the same be she that thou have appointed for thy servant Isaac. And thereby I shall know that thou have shown kindness to my master. ¹⁵And it came to pass, before he was done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham�s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. ¹⁶And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her. And she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up. ¹⁷And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher. ¹⁸And she said, Drink, my lord. And she hurried, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. ¹⁹And when she had finished giving him drink, she said, I will draw for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. ²⁰And she hurried, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again to the well to draw, and drew for all his camels. ²¹And the man looked steadfastly on her, keeping silent, to know whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or not. ²²And it came to pass, as the camels had finished drinking, that the man took a golden ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold, ²³and said, Whose daughter are thou? Tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father�s house for us to lodge in? ²⁴And she said to him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor. ²⁵She said moreover to him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. ²⁶And the man bowed his head, and worshiped Jehovah. ²⁷And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken his loving kindness and his truth toward my master. As for me, Jehovah has led me in the way to the house of my master�s brothers. ²⁸And the damsel ran, and told her mother�s house according to these words. ²⁹And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. And Laban ran out to the man, to the fountain. ³⁰And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets upon his sister�s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spoke the man to me, that he came to the man. And, behold, he was standing by the camels at the fountain. ³¹And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah. Why do thou stand outside? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. ³²And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels. And he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³And there was set before him food to eat. But he said, I will not eat until I have told my errand. And he said, Speak on. ³⁴And he said, I am Abraham�s servant. ³⁵And Jehovah has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great. And he has given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶And Sarah my master�s wife bore a son to my master when she was old. And has he given to him all that he has. ³⁷And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shall not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell, ³⁸but thou shall go to my father�s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son. ³⁹And I said to my master, Perhaps the woman will not follow me. ⁴⁰And he said to me, Jehovah, before whom I walk, will send his agent with thee, and prosper thy way. And thou shall take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father�s house. ⁴¹Then thou shall be clear from my oath, when thou come to my kindred. And if they do not give her to thee, thou shall be clear from my oath. ⁴²And I came this day to the fountain, and said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, if thou do now prosper my way which I go, ⁴³behold, I am standing by the fountain of water, and let it come to pass, that the maiden who comes forth to draw, to whom I shall say, Give me, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher to drink, ⁴⁴and she shall say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels, let the same be the woman whom Jehovah has appointed for my master�s son. ⁴⁵And before I was done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder. And she went down to the fountain, and drew. And I said to her, Let me drink, I pray thee. ⁴⁶And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also. So I drank, and she made the camels drink also. ⁴⁷And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter are thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor�s son, whom Milcah bore to him. And I put the ring upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands. ⁴⁸And I bowed my head, and worshiped Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master�s brother�s daughter for his son. ⁴⁹And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. ⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceeds from Jehovah; we cannot speak to thee bad or good. ⁵¹Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master�s son�s wife, as Jehovah has spoken. ⁵²And it came to pass, that, when Abraham�s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth to Jehovah. ⁵³And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious things to her brother and to her mother. ⁵⁴And they ate and drank, he and the men who were with him, and tarried all night. And they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away to my master. ⁵⁵And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten. After that she shall go. ⁵⁶And he said to them, Do not hinder me, since Jehovah has prospered my way. Send me away that I may go to my master. ⁵⁷And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. ⁵⁸And they called Rebekah, and said to her, Will thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. ⁵⁹And they sent Rebekah their sister away, and her nurse, and Abraham�s servant, and his men. ⁶⁰And they blessed Rebekah, and said to her, Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of those who hate them. ⁶¹And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man. And the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. ⁶²And Isaac came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi, for he dwelt in the land of the South. ⁶³And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the evening. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming. ⁶⁴And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel. ⁶⁵And she said to the servant, What man is this who walks in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my master. And she took her veil, and covered herself. ⁶⁶And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. ⁶⁷And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah�s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother�s death.

CHAPTER 25

¹And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah. ²And she bore him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. ³And Jokshan begot Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. ⁴And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. ⁵And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac. ⁶But to the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts. And he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, to the east country. ⁷And these are the days of the years of Abraham�s life which he lived, a hundred seventy-five years. ⁸And Abraham gave up the spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people. ⁹And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, ¹⁰the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, and Sarah his wife. ¹¹And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son. And Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi. ¹²Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham�s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah�s handmaid, bore to Abraham. ¹³And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, ¹⁴and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, ¹⁵Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. ¹⁶These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their nations. ¹⁷And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred and thirty-seven years. And he gave up the spirit and died, and was gathered to his people. ¹⁸And they dwelt from Havilah to Shur which is before Egypt, as thou go toward Assyria. He abode opposite all his brothers. ¹⁹And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham�s son: Abraham begot Isaac. ²⁰And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife. ²¹And Isaac entreated Jehovah for his wife, because she was barren. And Jehovah was entreated by him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ²²And the children struggled together within her. And she said, If it be so, why do I live? And she went to inquire of Jehovah. ²³And Jehovah said to her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger than the other people. And the elder shall serve the younger. ²⁴And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. ²⁵And the first came forth red all over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. ²⁶And after that his brother came forth, and his hand had hold on Esau�s heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them. ²⁷And the boys grew. And Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. ²⁸Now Isaac loved Esau, because he ate of his venison. And Rebekah loved Jacob. ²⁹And Jacob boiled pottage. And Esau came in from the field, and he was faint. ³⁰And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage, for I am faint. Therefore his name was called Edom. ³¹And Jacob said, First sell me thy birthright. ³²And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die, and what profit shall the birthright do to me? ³³And Jacob said, Swear to me first. And he swore to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob. ³⁴And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils. And he ate and drank, and rose up, and went his way. So Esau despised his birthright.

CHAPTER 26

¹And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines, to Gerar. ²And Jehovah appeared to him, and said, Do not go down into Egypt. Dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of. ³Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee. For to thee, and to thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham thy father. ⁴And I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give to thy seed all these lands, and in thy seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ⁵because Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my order, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. ⁶And Isaac dwelt in Gerar. ⁷And the men of the place asked him of his wife. And he said, She is my sister. For he feared to say, My wife, Lest, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah, because she was fair to look upon. ⁸And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was playing with Rebekah his wife. ⁹And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, she is certainly thy wife, and how did thou say, She is my sister? And Isaac said to him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her. ¹⁰And Abimelech said, What is this thou have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou would have brought guiltiness upon us. ¹¹And Abimelech ordered all the people, saying, He who touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death. ¹²And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold. And Jehovah blessed him. ¹³And the man became great, and grew more and more until he became very great. ¹⁴And he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household. And the Philistines envied him. ¹⁵Now all the wells which his father�s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with soil. ¹⁶And Abimelech said to Isaac, Go from us, for thou are much mightier than we. ¹⁷And Isaac departed from there, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. ¹⁸And Isaac again dug the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. For the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham. And he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. ¹⁹And Isaac�s servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. ²⁰And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac�s herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he called the name of the well Esek, because they contended with him. ²¹And they dug another well, and they strove for that also. And he called the name of it Sitnah. ²²And he moved from there, and dug another well, and they did not strive for that. And he called the name of it Rehoboth. And he said, For now Jehovah has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. ²³And he went up from there to Beersheba. ²⁴And Jehovah appeared to him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father. Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham�s sake. ²⁵And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac�s servants dug a well. ²⁶Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his army. ²⁷And Isaac said to them, Why have ye come to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? ²⁸And they said, We saw plainly that Jehovah was with thee. And we said, Let there now be an oath between us, even between us and thee. And let us make a covenant with thee, ²⁹that thou will do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done to thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace. Thou are now the blessed of Jehovah. ³⁰And he made a feast for them, and they ate and drank. ³¹And they rose up promptly in the morning, and swore one to another. And Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. ³²And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac�s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said to him, We have found water. ³³And he called it Shibah. Therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day. ³⁴And when Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. ³⁵And they were a bitterness of spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.

CHAPTER 27

¹And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said to him, My son. And he said to him, Here I am. ²And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death. ³Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take venison for me. ⁴And make savory food for me, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat, that my soul may bless thee before I die. ⁵And Rebekah heard when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it. ⁶And Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak to Esau thy brother, saying, ⁷Bring venison for me, and make savory food for me, that I may eat, and bless thee before Jehovah before my death. ⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. ⁹Go now to the flock, and fetch me two good kids of the goats from there. And I will make them savory food for thy father, such as he loves. ¹⁰And thou shall bring it to thy father, that he may eat, so that he may bless thee before his death. ¹¹And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹²My father will perhaps feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver. And I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing. ¹³And his mother said to him, Upon me be thy curse, my son. Only obey my voice, and go fetch them for me. ¹⁴And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother. And his mother made savory food, such as his father loved. ¹⁵And Rebekah took the goodly garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck. ¹⁷And she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob. ¹⁸And he came to his father, and said, My father. And he said, Here I am. Who are thou, my son? ¹⁹And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau thy firstborn. I have done according as thou bade me. Arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. ²⁰And Isaac said to his son, How is it that thou have found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Jehovah thy God sent me good speed. ²¹And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. ²²And Jacob went near to Isaac his father. And he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob�s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. ²³And he did not discern him, because his hands were hairy as his brother Esau�s hands. So he blessed him. ²⁴And he said, Are thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am. ²⁵And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son�s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he ate. And he brought wine to him, and he drank. ²⁶And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son. ²⁷And he came near, and kissed him. And he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field that Jehovah has blessed. ²⁸And God give thee of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the earth, and plenty of grain and new wine. ²⁹Let peoples serve thee, and nations bow down to thee. Be lord over thy brothers, and let thy mother�s sons bow down to thee. Cursed be he who curses thee, and blessed be he who blesses thee. ³⁰And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹And he also made savory food, and brought it to his father. And he said to his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son�s venison, that thy soul may bless me. ³²And Isaac his father said to him, Who are thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau. ³³And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who then is he who has taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou came, and have blessed him? Yea, he shall be blessed. ³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father. ³⁵And he said, Thy brother came with guile, and has taken away thy blessing. ³⁶And he said, Is not he rightly name Jacob? For he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and, behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have thou not reserved a blessing for me? ³⁷And Isaac answered and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brothers I have given to him for servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. And what then shall I do for thee, my son? ³⁸And Esau said to his father, Have thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept. ³⁹And Isaac his father answered and said to him, Behold, of the fatness of the earth shall be thy dwelling, and of the dew of heaven from above. ⁴⁰And by thy sword thou shall live, and thou shall serve thy brother. And it shall come to pass, when thou shall break loose, that thou shall shake his yoke from off thy neck. ⁴¹And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him. And Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand. Then I will kill my brother Jacob. ⁴²And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah. And she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, thy brother Esau comforts himself concerning thee, to kill thee. ⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran. ⁴⁴And tarry with him a few days, until thy brother�s fury turns away, ⁴⁵until thy brother�s anger turns away from thee, and he forgets that which thou have done to him. Then I will send, and fetch thee from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day? ⁴⁶And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?

CHAPTER 28

¹And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and ordered him, and said to him, Thou shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. ²Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother�s father, and take thee a wife from there of the daughters of Laban thy mother�s brother. ³And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou may be a company of peoples, ⁴and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee, that thou may inherit the land of thy sojourning, which God gave to Abraham. ⁵And Isaac sent Jacob away. And he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob�s and Esau�s mother. ⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take for him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him an order, saying, Thou shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan, ⁷and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan did not please Isaac his father. ⁹And Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham�s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife. ¹⁰And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. ¹¹And he touched upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set. And he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹²And he dreamed, and, behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And, behold, the agents of God ascending and descending on it. ¹³And, behold, Jehovah stood above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which thou lie, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed. ¹⁴And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shall spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee wherever thou go, and will bring thee again into this land. For I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. ¹⁶And Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I did not know it. ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. ¹⁸And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it. ¹⁹And he called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at first. ²⁰And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, ²¹so that I come again to my father�s house in peace, and Jehovah will be my God, ²²then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God�s house. And of all that thou shall give me I will surely give the tenth to thee.

CHAPTER 29

¹Then Jacob went on his journey, and came to the land of the sons of the east. ²And he looked, and, behold, a well in the field. And, lo, three flocks of sheep were lying there by it, for they watered the flocks out of that well. And the stone upon the well�s mouth was great. ³And all the flocks were gathered there. And they rolled the stone from the well�s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well�s mouth in its place. ⁴And Jacob said to them, My brothers, where are ye from? And they said, We are of Haran. ⁵And he said to them, Do ye know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. ⁶And he said to them, Is it well with him? And they said, It is well. And, behold, Rachel his daughter comes with the sheep. ⁷And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together. Water ye the sheep, and go and feed them. ⁸And they said, We cannot until all the flocks be gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well�s mouth. Then we water the sheep. ⁹While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father�s sheep, for she kept them. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother�s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother�s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well�s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother�s brother. ¹¹And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹²And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father�s brother, and that he was Rebekah�s son. And she ran and told her father. ¹³And it came to pass, when Laban heard the news of Jacob his sister�s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things. ¹⁴And Laban said to him, Surely thou are my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month. ¹⁵And Laban said to Jacob, Because thou are my brother, should thou therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall thy wages be? ¹⁶And Laban had two daughters. The name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. ¹⁷And Leah�s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful and well favored. ¹⁸And Jacob loved Rachel, and he said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter. ¹⁹And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man. Abide with me. ²⁰And Jacob served seven years for Rachel. And they seemed to him but a few days, for the love he had for her. ²¹And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in to her. ²²And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast. ²³And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him. And he went in to her. ²⁴And Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid to his daughter Leah for a handmaid. ²⁵And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah. And he said to Laban, What is this thou have done to me? Did I not serve with thee for Rachel? Why then have thou beguiled me? ²⁶And Laban said, It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn. ²⁷Fulfill the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service which thou shall serve with me yet seven other years. ²⁸And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week. And he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife. ²⁹And Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, Bilhah his handmaid to be her handmaid. ³⁰And he also went in to Rachel, and also he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years. ³¹And Jehovah saw that Leah was regarded inferior, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren. ³²And Leah conceived, and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, Because Jehovah has looked upon my affliction, for now my husband will love me. ³³And she conceived again, and bore a son, and said, Because Jehovah has heard that I am regarded inferior, he has therefore given me this son also. And she called his name Simeon. ³⁴And she conceived again, and bore a son, and said, Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons. Therefore his name was called Levi. ³⁵And she conceived again, and bore a son. And she said, This time I will praise Jehovah. Therefore she called his name Judah. And she left off bearing.

CHAPTER 30

¹And when Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no sons, Rachel envied her sister, and she said to Jacob, Give me sons, or else I die. ²And Jacob�s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God�s stead, who has withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? ³And she said, Behold, my maid Bilhah, go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may obtain sons by her. ⁴And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife, and Jacob went in to her. ⁵And Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ⁶And Rachel said, God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan. ⁷And Bilhah Rachel�s handmaid conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸And Rachel said, With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali. ⁹When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife. ¹⁰And Zilpah Leah�s handmaid bore Jacob a son. ¹¹And Leah said, Fortunate! And she called his name Gad. ¹²And Zilpah Leah�s handmaid bore Jacob a second son. ¹³And Leah said, Happy am I! For the daughters will call me happy. And she called his name Asher. ¹⁴And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son�s mandrakes. ¹⁵And she said to her, Is it a small matter that thou have taken away my husband? And would thou take away my son�s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son�s mandrakes. ¹⁶And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in to me, for I have surely hired thee with my son�s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night. ¹⁷And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸And Leah said, God has given me my hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband. And she called his name Issachar. ¹⁹And Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun. ²¹And afterwards she bore a daughter, and called her name Dinah. ²²And God remembered Rachel. And God hearkened to her, and opened her womb. ²³And she conceived, and bore a son, and said, God has taken away my reproach. ²⁴And she called his name Joseph, saying, Jehovah adds another son to me. ²⁵And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away, that I may go to my own place, and to my country. ²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go, for thou know my service with which I have served thee. ²⁷And Laban said to him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry, for I have learned by experience that Jehovah has blessed me for thy sake. ²⁸And he said, Appoint for me thy wages, and I will give it. ²⁹And he said to him, Thou know how I have served thee, and how thy cattle have fared with me. ³⁰For it was little which thou had before I came, and it has increased to a multitude, and Jehovah has blessed thee wherever I turned. And now when shall I provide for my own house also? ³¹And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shall not give me anything. If thou will do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it. ³²I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from there every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats, and of such shall be my hire. ³³So shall my righteousness answer for me after this, when thou shall come concerning my hire that is before thee. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that is with me, shall be considered stolen. ³⁴And Laban said, Behold, O that it might be according to thy word. ³⁵And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons. ³⁶And he set three days� journey between himself and Jacob. And Jacob fed the rest of Laban�s flocks. ³⁷And Jacob took for him rods of fresh poplar, and of the almond and of the plane tree, and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white which was in the rods appear. ³⁸And he set the rods which he had peeled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. And they conceived when they came to drink. ³⁹And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted. ⁴⁰And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban. And he put his own herds apart, and did not put them near Laban�s flock. ⁴¹And it came to pass, whenever the stronger of the flock conceived, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods, ⁴²but when the flock were weak, he did not put them in. So the weaker were Laban�s, and the stronger Jacob�s. ⁴³And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and donkeys.

CHAPTER 31

¹And he heard the words of Laban�s sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father�s, and he has gotten all this glory of that which was our father�s. ²And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime. ³And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return to the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred, and I will be with thee. ⁴And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock, ⁵and said to them, I see your father�s countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime, but the God of my father has been with me. ⁶And ye know that with all my power I have served your father. ⁷And your father has deceived me, and changed my wages ten times, but God did not allow him to hurt me. ⁸If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages, then all the flock bore speckled, and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy wages, then all the flock bore ringstreaked. ⁹Thus God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me. ¹⁰And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up my eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled. ¹¹And the agent of God said to me in the dream, Jacob. And I said, Here I am. ¹²And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled, for I have seen all that Laban does to thee. ¹³I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointed a pillar, where thou vowed a vow to me. Now arise, get thee out from this land, and return to the land of thy nativity. ¹⁴And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father�s house? ¹⁵Are we not accounted by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and has also quite devoured our money. ¹⁶For all the riches which God has taken away from our father, that is ours and our children�s. Now then, whatever God has said to thee, do. ¹⁷Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels. ¹⁸And he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan. ¹⁹Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father�s. ²⁰And Jacob slipped away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he fled. ²¹So he fled with all that he had. And he rose up, and passed over the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead. ²²And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled. ²³And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him seven days� journey, and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁴And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said to him, Take heed to thyself that thou not speak to Jacob either good or bad. ²⁵And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain. And Laban encamped with his brothers in the mountain of Gilead. ²⁶And Laban said to Jacob, What have thou done, that thou have slipped away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword? ²⁷Why did thou flee secretly, and creep away from me, and did not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp, ²⁸and did not allow me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now thou have done foolishly. ²⁹It is in the power of my hand to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou not speak to Jacob either good or bad. ³⁰And now, though thou have certainly gone, because thou have been very desirous for thy father�s house, yet why have thou stolen my gods? ³¹And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid, for I said, Lest thou should take thy daughters from me by force. ³²With whomever thou find thy gods, he shall not live. Before our brothers discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them. ³³And Laban went into Jacob�s tent, and into Leah�s tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants, but he did not find them. And he went out of Leah�s tent, and entered into Rachel�s tent. ³⁴Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel�s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt around all the tent, but did not find them. ³⁵And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee, for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but did not find the teraphim. ³⁶And Jacob was angry, and chided with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? What is my sin that thou have hotly pursued after me? ³⁷Whereas thou have felt around all my stuff, what have thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brothers and thy brothers, that they may judge between us two. ³⁸These twenty years I have been with thee, thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and I have not eaten the rams of thy flocks. ³⁹I did not bring to thee that which was torn by beasts; I bore the loss of it, of my hand thou required it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. ⁴⁰Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹These twenty years I have been in thy house. I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock. And thou have changed my wages ten times. ⁴²Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now thou would have sent me away empty. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee last night. ⁴³And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou see is mine. And what can I do this day to these my daughters, or to their sons whom they have borne? ⁴⁴And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee. ⁴⁵And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. ⁴⁶And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones, and they took stones, and made a heap. And they ate there by the heap. ⁴⁷And Laban called it Jegar-saha-dutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. ⁴⁸And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore the name of it was called Galeed, ⁴⁹and Mizpah. For he said, May Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another, ⁵⁰if thou will afflict my daughters, and if thou will take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us, see, God is witness between me and thee. ⁵¹And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set between me and thee. ⁵²This heap is witness, and the pillar is witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shall not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm. ⁵³The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us. And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴And Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread. And they ate bread, and tarried all night on the mountain. ⁵⁵And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them. And Laban departed and returned to his place.

CHAPTER 32

¹And Jacob went on his way, and the agents of God met him. ²And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God�s camp. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim. ³And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom. ⁴And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say to my lord Esau, Thus says thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now. ⁵And I have oxen, and donkeys, flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants. And I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight. ⁶And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he comes to meet thee, and four hundred men with him. ⁷Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. And he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies. ⁸And he said, If Esau comes to the one company, and smites it, then the company which is left shall escape. ⁹And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who said to me, Return to thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good, ¹⁰I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou have shown to thy servant, for with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. ¹¹Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau. For I fear him, lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the sons. ¹²And thou said, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. ¹³And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother: ¹⁴two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-donkeys and ten foals. ¹⁶And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space between herd and herd. ¹⁷And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meets thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose are thou? And where do thou go? And whose are these before thee? ¹⁸Then thou shall say, Thy servant Jacob�s. It is a present sent to my lord Esau. And, behold, he also is behind us. ¹⁹And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all who followed the herds, saying, On this manner shall ye speak to Esau when ye find him, ²⁰and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. ²¹So the present passed over before him, and he himself lodged that night in the company. ²²And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵And when he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob�s thigh was strained as he wrestled with him. ²⁶And he said, Let me go, for the day breaks. And he said, I will not let thee go unless thou bless me. ²⁷And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. ²⁸And he said, Thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for thou have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed. ²⁹And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Why is it that thou ask for my name? And he blessed him there. ³⁰And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. ³¹And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh. ³²Therefore the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob�s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

CHAPTER 33

¹And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. And he divided the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two handmaids. ²And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindmost. ³And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. ⁴And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children whom God has graciously given thy servant. ⁶Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. ⁷And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves. And afterward Joseph came near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves. ⁸And he said, What do thou mean by all this company which I met? And he said, To find favor in the sight of my lord. ⁹And Esau said, I have enough, my brother, let that which thou have be thine. ¹⁰And Jacob said, No, I pray thee, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand, inasmuch as I have seen thy face, as any man would see the face of God, and thou were pleased with me. ¹¹Take, I pray thee, my gift that is brought to thee, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough. And he urged him, and he took it. ¹²And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee. ¹³And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young, and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant, and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir. ¹⁵And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folks that are with me. And he said, What need is it? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord. ¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. ¹⁷And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built for him a house, and made booths for his cattle. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth. ¹⁸And Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and encamped before the city. ¹⁹And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem�s father, for a hundred lambs. ²⁰And he erected an altar there, and called it El-Elohe-Israel.

CHAPTER 34

¹And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. ²And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. And he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her. ³And his soul clung to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spoke kindly to the damsel. ⁴And Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife. ⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. And his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob held his peace until they came. ⁶And Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to converse with him. ⁷And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. And the men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob�s daughter, which thing ought not to be done. ⁸And Hamor conversed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter. I pray you, give her to him to wife. ⁹And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to you. ¹⁰And ye shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you. Dwell and trade ye in it, and get possessions for you in it. ¹¹And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find favor in your eyes, and what ye shall say to me I will give. ¹²Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say to me, but give me the damsel to wife. ¹³And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister, ¹⁴and said to them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who is uncircumcised, for that is a reproach to us. ¹⁵Only on this condition will we consent to you: If ye will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised. ¹⁶Then we will give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to us. And we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. ¹⁷But if ye will not hearken to us, to be circumcised, then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. ¹⁸And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor�s son. ¹⁹And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob�s daughter. And he was honored above all the house of his father. ²⁰And Hamor and Shechem his son came to the gate of their city, and conversed with the men of their city, saying, ²¹These men are peaceable with us, therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade in it, for, behold, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters. ²²Only on this condition will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised. ²³Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us. ²⁴And all who went out of the gate of his city hearkened to Hamor and to Shechem his son, and every male was circumcised, all who went out of the gate of his city. ²⁵And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah�s brothers, took each man his sword, and came upon the city unawares, and killed all the males. ²⁶And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem�s house, and went forth. ²⁷The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸They took their flocks and their herds and their donkeys, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, ²⁹and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, they took captive and made a prey, even all that was in the house. ³⁰And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. And, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. ³¹And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?

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¹And God said to Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make an altar there to God, who appeared to thee when thou fled from the face of Esau thy brother. ²Then Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments. ³And let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me on the way which I went. ⁴And they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears. And Jacob hid them under the oak that was by Shechem. ⁵And they journeyed, and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. ⁶So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Bethel), he and all the people that were with him. ⁷And he built there an altar, and called the place El-bethel, because God was revealed to him there, when he fled from the face of his brother. ⁸And Deborah Rebekah�s nurse died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak. And the name of it was called Allon-bacuth. ⁹And God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob. Thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called his name Israel. ¹¹And God said to him, I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins. ¹²And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to thee, and I will give the land to thy seed after thee. ¹³And God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him. ¹⁴And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. And he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it. ¹⁵And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel. ¹⁶And they journeyed from Bethel. And there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said to her, Fear not, for now thou shall have another son. ¹⁸And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin. ¹⁹And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). ²⁰And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave, the same is the Pillar of Rachel�s grave to this day. ²¹And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. ²²And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father�s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. ²³The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob�s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel�s handmaid: Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶And the sons of Zilpah, Leah�s handmaid: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. ²⁷And Jacob came to Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. ²⁸And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years. ²⁹And Isaac gave up the spirit, and died, and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him. ³⁰Now these are the generations of Esau (the same is Edom).

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²Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, ³and Basemath Ishmael�s daughter, sister of Nebaioth. ⁴And Adah bore to Esau Eliphaz, and Basemath bore Reuel, ⁵and Oholibamah bore Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan. ⁶And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob. ⁷For their substance was too great for them to dwell together, and the land of their sojourning could not bear them because of their cattle. ⁸And Esau dwelt in mount Seir. Esau is Edom. ⁹And these are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in mount Seir: ¹⁰These are the names of Esau�s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. ¹¹And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz. ¹²And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau�s son, and she bore to Eliphaz Amalek. These are the sons of Adah, Esau�s wife. ¹³And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah, These were the sons of Basemath, Esau�s wife. ¹⁴And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau�s wife: and she bore to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah. ¹⁵These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz, ¹⁶chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek. These are the chiefs that came by Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Adah. ¹⁷And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau�s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah. These are the chiefs that came by Reuel in the land of Edom. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau�s wife. ¹⁸And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau�s wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah. These are the chiefs that came by Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau�s wife. ¹⁹These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs. The same is Edom. ²⁰These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah, ²¹and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan. These are the chiefs that came of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. ²²And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman. And Lotan�s sister was Timna. ²³And these are the sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, Shepho and Onam. ²⁴And these are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the donkeys of Zibeon his father. ²⁵And these are the children of Anah: Dishon, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. ²⁶And these are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Cheran. ²⁷These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and Akan. ²⁸These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. ²⁹These are the chiefs that came from the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah, ³⁰chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These are the chiefs that came from the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir. ³¹And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the sons of Israel. ³²And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah. ³³And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. ³⁴And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. ³⁵And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead. And the name of his city was Avith. ³⁶And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. ³⁷And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. ³⁸And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. ³⁹And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his stead. And the name of his city was Pau, and his wife�s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab. ⁴⁰And these are the names of the chiefs that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timnah, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth, ⁴¹chief Aholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, ⁴²chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, ⁴³chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom, according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

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¹And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father�s sojourning, in the land of Canaan. ²These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father�s wives, and Joseph brought the evil report of them to their father. ³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made for him a coat of many colors. ⁴And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers. And they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. ⁵And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him yet the more. ⁶And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed. ⁷For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright. And, behold, your sheaves came round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. ⁸And his brothers said to him, Shall thou indeed reign over us? Or shall thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. ⁹And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers. And said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream again. And, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me. ¹⁰And he told it to his father, and to his brothers. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that thou have dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? ¹¹And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the saying in mind. ¹²And his brothers went to feed their father�s flock in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, Are not thy brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send thee to them. And he said to him, Here I am. ¹⁴And he said to him, Go now, see whether it is well with thy brothers, and well with the flock, and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. ¹⁵And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What do thou seek? ¹⁶And he said, I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding. ¹⁷And the man said, They are departed from here, for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. ¹⁸And they saw him afar off. And before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. ¹⁹And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer comes. ²⁰Come now therefore, and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits. And we will say, An evil beast has devoured him. And we shall see what will become of his dreams. ²¹And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life. ²²And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood. Cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him, that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. ²³And it came to pass, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him, ²⁴and they took him, and cast him into the pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. ²⁵And they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. ²⁶And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? ²⁷Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers hearkened to him. ²⁸And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and lifted Joseph up out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. ²⁹And Reuben returned to the pit, and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. And he tore his clothes, ³⁰and he returned to his brothers, and said, The child is not, and I, where shall I go? ³¹And they took Joseph�s coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood. ³²And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, We have found this. Know now whether it is thy son�s coat or not. ³³And he knew it, and said, It is my son�s coat. An evil beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces. ³⁴And Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. ³⁵And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him. ³⁶And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh�s, the captain of the guard.

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¹And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. ²And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. And he took her, and went in to her. ³And she conceived, and bore a son, and he called his name Er. ⁴And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. ⁵And she yet again bore a son, and called his name Shelah. And he was at Chezib, when she bore him. ⁶And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. ⁷And Er, Judah�s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah killed him. ⁸And Judah said to Onan, Go in to thy brother�s wife, and perform the duty of a husband�s brother to her, and raise up seed to thy brother. ⁹And Onan knew that the seed would not be his. And it came to pass, when he went in to his brother�s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother. ¹⁰And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and he killed him also. ¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in thy father�s house, till Shelah my son be grown up, for he said, Lest he also die, like his brothers. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father�s house. ¹²And in process of time Shua�s daughter, the wife of Judah, died. And Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheep shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. ¹³And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law goes up to Timnah to shear his sheep. ¹⁴And she put the garments of her widowhood off from her, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not given to him to wife. ¹⁵When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, for she had covered her face. ¹⁶And he turned to her by the way, and said, Come, I pray thee, let me come in to thee, for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will thou give me, that thou may come in to me? ¹⁷And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock. And she said, Will thou give me a pledge, till thou send it? ¹⁸And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand. And he gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him. ¹⁹And she arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood. ²⁰And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman�s hand, but he did not find her. ²¹Then he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the prostitute, who was at Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There has been no prostitute here. ²²And he returned to Judah, and said, I have not found her, and also the men of the place said, There has been no prostitute here. ²³And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be put to shame. Behold, I sent this kid, and thou have not found her. ²⁴And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law has played the harlot, and moreover, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. ²⁵When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man, whose these are, I am with child. And she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose these are, the signet, and the cords, and the staff. ²⁶And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more. ²⁷And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb. ²⁸And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out a hand. And the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. ²⁹And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out. And she said, Why have thou made a breach for thyself? Therefore his name was called Perez. ³⁰And afterward his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread upon his hand. And his name was called Zerah.

CHAPTER 39

¹And Joseph was brought down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh�s, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there. ²And Jehovah was with Joseph. And he was a man who succeeds. And he was in the house of his master the Egyptian. ³And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all that he did to prosper in his hand. ⁴And Joseph found favor in his sight, and he ministered to him. And he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand. ⁵And it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian�s house for Joseph�s sake. And the blessing of Jehovah was upon all that he had, in the house and in the field. ⁶And he left all that he had in Joseph�s hand, and he knew nothing that was with him, save the bread which he ate. And Joseph was comely, and well-favored. ⁷And it came to pass, after these things, that his master�s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me. ⁸But he refused, and said to his master�s wife, Behold, my master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my hand. ⁹He is not greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? ¹⁰And it came to pass, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not hearken to her, to lie by her, or to be with her. ¹¹And it came to pass, about this time, that he went into the house to do his work, and there was none of the men of the house there inside. ¹²And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me. And he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got out. ¹³And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth, ¹⁴that she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled, and got out. ¹⁶And she laid up his garment by her until his master came home. ¹⁷And she spoke to him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, whom thou have brought to us, came in to me to mock me. ¹⁸And it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled out. ¹⁹And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me, that his wrath was kindled. ²⁰And Joseph�s master took him, and put him into the prison, the place where the king�s prisoners were bound. And he was there in the prison. ²¹But Jehovah was with Joseph, and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²²And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph�s hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. And whatever they did there, he was the doer of it. ²³The keeper of the prison did not look to anything that was under his hand, because Jehovah was with him, and that which he did, Jehovah made it prosper.

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¹And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt, and his baker, offended their lord the king of Egypt. ²And Pharaoh was angry against his two officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. ³And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. ⁴And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he ministered to them. And they continued a season in ward. ⁵And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison. ⁶And Joseph came in to them in the morning, and saw them, and, behold, they were sad. ⁷And he asked Pharaoh�s officers who were with him in ward in his master�s house, saying, Why do ye look so sad today? ⁸And they said to him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no man who can interpret it. And Joseph said to them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell it to me, I pray you. ⁹And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me. ¹⁰And in the vine were three branches. And it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters of it brought forth ripe grapes. ¹¹And Pharaoh�s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh�s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh�s hand. ¹²And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days. ¹³Within yet three days Pharaoh shall lift up thy head, and restore thee to thine office. And thou shall give Pharaoh�s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou was his butler. ¹⁴But have me in thy remembrance when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. ¹⁵For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews, and here also I have done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon. ¹⁶When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head. ¹⁷And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked food for Pharaoh, and the birds ate them out of the basket upon my head. ¹⁸And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹Within yet three days Pharaoh shall lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree, and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee. ²⁰And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh�s birthday, that he made a feast to all his servants. And he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants. ²¹And he restored the chief butler to his butlership again, and he gave the cup into Pharaoh�s hand, ²²but he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. ²³Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

CHAPTER 41

¹And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed. And, behold, he stood by the river. ²And, behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, well-favored and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cows upon the brink of the river. ⁴And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed cows ate up the seven well-favored and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he slept and dreamed a second time. And, behold, seven ears of grain came up upon one stalk, fat and good. ⁶And, behold, seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven fat and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. ⁸And it came to pass in the morning, that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men of it. And Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was no man who could interpret them to Pharaoh. ⁹Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my faults this day. ¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. ¹¹And we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he, we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. ¹²And there was a young man with us there, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him. And he interpreted to us our dreams. He interpreted to each man according to his dream. ¹³And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; he restored me to my office, and he hanged him. ¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph. And they brought him hastily out of the dungeon, and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in to Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no man who can interpret it. And I have heard say of thee, that when thou hear a dream thou can interpret it. ¹⁶And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace. ¹⁷And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the brink of the river. ¹⁸And, behold, there came up out of the river seven cows, fat-fleshed and well-favored, and they fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹And, behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness. ²⁰And the lean and ill-favored cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹And when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke. ²²And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up upon one stalk, full and good. ²³And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no man who could declare it to me. ²⁵And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one; what God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dream is one. ²⁷And the seven lean and ill-favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind, they shall be seven years of famine. ²⁸That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. ²⁹Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰and there shall arise after them seven years of famine. And all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land. ³¹And the plenty shall not be known in the land because of that famine which follows, for it shall be very grievous. ³²And because the dream was doubled to Pharaoh, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh look out for a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶And the food shall be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land not perish through the famine. ³⁷And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? ³⁹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Inasmuch as God has shown thee all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou. ⁴⁰Thou shall be over my house, and according to thy word all my people shall be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than thou. ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. ⁴²And Pharaoh took his signet ring from off his hand, and put it upon Joseph�s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. ⁴³And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, Bow the knee. And he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee no man shall lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph�s name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, for a wife. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt. ⁴⁶And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. ⁴⁸And he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities. The food of the field, which was round about every city, he laid up in the same. ⁴⁹And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering, for it was without number. ⁵⁰And two sons were born to Joseph before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, for God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father�s house. ⁵²And the name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction. ⁵³And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. ⁵⁴And the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said. And there was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. And Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do. ⁵⁶And the famine was over all the face of the earth. And Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe on all the earth.

CHAPTER 42

¹Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt. And Jacob said to his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? ²And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Get you down there, and buy for us from there, that we may live, and not die. ³And Joseph�s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Benjamin, Joseph�s brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, Lest perhaps harm befall him. ⁵And the sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. ⁶And Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph�s brothers came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth. ⁷And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but made himself foreign to them, and spoke roughly with them. And he said to them. From where come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. ⁸And Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him. ⁹And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them. And said to them, Ye are spies; ye have come to see the nakedness of the land. ¹⁰And they said to him, No, my lord, but thy servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all one man�s sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies. ¹²And he said to them, No, but ye have come to see the nakedness of the land. ¹³And they said, We thy servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. ¹⁴And Joseph said to them, This is that which I spoke to you, saying, Ye are spies. ¹⁵By this ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth from here unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother. And ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. ¹⁷And he put them all together into ward three days. ¹⁸And Joseph said to them the third day, This do, and live, for I fear God: ¹⁹If ye be true men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house, but go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses, ²⁰and bring your youngest brother to me. So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. ²¹And they said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore this distress has come upon us. ²²And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Sin not against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required. ²³And they did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴And he turned himself around from them, and wept. And he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. ²⁵Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man�s money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way. And thus it was done to them. ²⁶And they loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. ²⁷And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey provender in the lodging place, he saw his money, and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸And he said to his brothers, My money is restored, and, lo, it is even in my sack. And their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, What is this that God has done to us? ²⁹And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying, ³⁰The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹And we said to him, We are true men, and we are no spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. ³³And the man, the lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that ye are true men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way, ³⁴and bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men. So I will deliver your brother to you, and ye shall trade in the land. ³⁵And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man�s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, Ye have bereaved me of my sons. Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me. ³⁷And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, Kill my two sons if I do not bring him to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. ³⁸And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm befalls him by the way in which ye go, then ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.

CHAPTER 43

¹And the famine was severe in the land. ²And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, Go again, buy us a little food. ³And Judah spoke to him, saying, The man solemnly protested to us, saying, Ye shall not see my face unless your brother be with you. ⁴If thou will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for thee, ⁵but if thou will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, Ye shall not see my face unless your brother be with you. ⁶And Israel said, Why did ye deal so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? ⁷And they said, The man asked diligently concerning ourselves, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we in any way know that he would say, Bring your brother down? ⁸And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the young man with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. ⁹I will be surety for him, of my hand shall thou require him. If I do not bring him to thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰For unless we had lingered, surely we would have now returned a second time. ¹¹And their father Israel said to them, If it be so now, do this: Take of the choice fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm, and a little honey, spicery and myrrh, nuts, and almonds. ¹²And take double money in your hand, and the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks carry again in your hand. Perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³Also take your brother, and arise, go again to the man. ¹⁴And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And if I be bereaved of my sons, I am bereaved. ¹⁵And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin, and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house, and kill, and make ready, for the men shall dine with me at noon. ¹⁷And the man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men to Joseph�s house. ¹⁸And the men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph�s house, and they said, We are brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our donkeys. ¹⁹And they came near to the steward of Joseph�s house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house, ²⁰and said, Oh, my lord, we indeed came down at the first time to buy food. ²¹And it came to pass, when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man�s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. And we have brought it again in our hand. ²²And we have brought other money down in our hand to buy food. We know not who put our money in our sacks. ²³And he said, Peace be to you, fear not. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. And he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And the man brought the men into Joseph�s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. And he gave their donkeys provender. ²⁵And they made ready the present against Joseph�s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. ²⁶And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down themselves to him to the earth. ²⁷And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spoke? Is he yet alive? ²⁸And they said, Thy servant our father is well; he is yet alive. And they bowed the head, and made obeisance. ²⁹And he lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother�s son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom ye spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to thee, my son. ³⁰And Joseph made haste, for his heart yearned over his brother, and he sought where to weep. And he entered into his chamber, and wept there. ³¹And he washed his face, and came out. And he restrained himself, and said, Set on bread. ³²And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, who ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. And the men marveled one with another. ³⁴And he took and sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin�s portion was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

CHAPTER 44

¹And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men�s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man�s money in his sack�s mouth. ²And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack�s mouth of the youngest, and his grain money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. ³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, Up, follow after the men, and when thou overtake them, say to them, Why have ye rewarded evil for good? ⁵Is not this that in which my lord drinks, and how he indeed divines? Ye have done evil in so doing. ⁶And he overtook them, and he spoke to them these words. ⁷And they said to him, Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from thy servants that they should do such a thing. ⁸Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks� mouths, we brought again to thee out of the land of Canaan. How then would we steal out of thy lord�s house silver or gold? ⁹With whomever of thy servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord�s bondmen. ¹⁰And he said, Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my bondman, and ye shall be blameless. ¹¹Then they hurried, and took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack. ¹²And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left off at the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin�s sack. ¹³Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city. ¹⁴And Judah and his brothers came to Joseph�s house. And he was yet there, and they fell before him on the ground. ¹⁵And Joseph said to them, What deed is this that ye have done? Know ye not that such a man as I can indeed divine? ¹⁶And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak, or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are my lord�s bondmen, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found. ¹⁷And he said, Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my bondman, but as for you, get you up in peace to your father. ¹⁸Then Judah came near to him, and said, Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord�s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant, for thou are even as Pharaoh. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? ²⁰And we said to my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one. And his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him. ²¹And thou said to thy servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes upon him. ²²And we said to my lord, The young man cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die. ²³And thou said to thy servants, Unless your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. ²⁴And it came to pass when we came up to thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food. ²⁶And we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down, for we may not see the man�s face unless our youngest brother be with us. ²⁷And thy servant my father said to us, Ye know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces, and I have not seen him since. ²⁹And if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. ³⁰Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the young man is not with us, since his life is bound up in the young man�s life, ³¹it will come to pass, when he sees that the young man is not with us, that he will die. And thy servants will bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. ³²For thy servant became surety for the young man to my father, saying, If I do not bring him to thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. ³³Now therefore, let thy servant, I pray thee, abide a bondman to my lord instead of the young man, and let the young man go up with his brothers. ³⁴For how shall I go up to my father, if the young man be not with me? Lest I see the evil that shall come on my father.

CHAPTER 45

¹Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried out, Cause every man to go out from me. And no man stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. ³And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph, does my father yet live? And his brothers could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence. ⁴And Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near, and he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. ⁵And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. ⁸So now it was not you that sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Hasten ye, and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says thy son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, delay not. ¹⁰And thou shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shall be near to me, thou, and thy sons, and thy sons� sons, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou have. ¹¹And there will I nourish thee, for there are yet five years of famine, lest thou come to poverty, thou, and thy household, and all that thou have. ¹²And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen. And ye shall hasten and bring down my father here. ¹⁴And he fell upon his brother Benjamin�s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. ¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them. And after that his brothers talked with him. ¹⁶And the report of it was heard in Pharaoh�s house, saying, Joseph�s brothers have come. And it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. ¹⁷And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to thy brothers, This do ye: Load your beasts, and go, get you to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸and take your father and your households, and come to me. And I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. ¹⁹Now thou are commanded, this do ye: Take wagons for you out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰Also do not regard your stuff, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours. ²¹And the sons of Israel did so. And Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. ²²He gave to all of them, each man, changes of raiment, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. ²³And he sent to his father according to this manner: ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. ²⁴So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. And he said to them, See that ye not fall out by the way. ²⁵And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he did not believe them. ²⁷And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. And when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. ²⁸And Israel said, It is enough, Joseph my son is yet alive. I will go and see him before I die.

CHAPTER 46

¹And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here I am. ³And he said, I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. ⁴I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again, and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. ⁵And Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶And they took up their goods, and all their property, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, they came into the land of Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him: ⁷the sons, and the sons of his sons with him, his daughters, and the daughters of his daughters. And he brought all his seed into Egypt. ⁸And these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob�s firstborn. ⁹And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²And the sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah. But Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puvah, and Iob, and Shimron. ¹⁴And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. ¹⁶And the sons of Gad: Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. ¹⁹The sons of Rachel Jacob�s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bore to him. ²¹And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. ²²These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. ²³And the sons of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. ²⁵These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob. All the souls were seven. ²⁶All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that came out of his loins, besides Jacob�s sons� wives, all the souls were sixty-six. ²⁷And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy. ²⁸And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. ²⁹And Joseph made his chariot ready, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen. And he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. ³⁰And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou are yet alive. ³¹And Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father�s house, I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, My brothers, and my father�s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³²And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. ³³And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? ³⁴that ye shall say, Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers, that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.

CHAPTER 47

¹Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan. And, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. ²And he took five men from among his brothers, and presented them to Pharaoh. ³And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. ⁴And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for thy servants� flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. ⁵And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brothers have come to thee. ⁶The land of Egypt is before thee. Make thy father and thy brothers to dwell in the best of the land; in the land of Goshen let them dwell. And if thou know any able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. ⁷And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life? ⁹And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. ¹⁰And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. ¹¹And Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²And Joseph nourished his father, and his brothers, and all his father�s household, with bread, according to their families. ¹³And there was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. ¹⁴And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh�s house. ¹⁵And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread, for why should we die in thy presence? For our money fails. ¹⁶And Joseph said, Give your cattle, and I will give you for your cattle, if money fails. ¹⁷And they brought their cattle to Joseph. And Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys. And he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year. ¹⁸And when that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent, and the herds of cattle are my lord�s; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands. ¹⁹Why should we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land not be desolate. ²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For the Egyptians, every man, sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. And the land became Pharaoh�s. ²¹And as for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it. ²²Only he did not buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their land. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. ²⁴And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those of your households, and for food for your little ones. ²⁵And they said, Thou have saved our lives. Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh�s servants. ²⁶And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh�s. ²⁷And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they got possessions in it, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty-seven years. ²⁹And the time drew near that Israel must die. And he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put thy hand, I pray thee, under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt, ³⁰but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place. And he said, I will do as thou have said. ³¹And he said, Swear to me, and he swore to him. And Israel bowed himself upon the head of the bed.

CHAPTER 48

¹And it came to pass after these things, that it was reported to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²And it was reported to Jacob, saying, Behold, thy son Joseph comes to thee. And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. ³And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, ⁴and said to me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. ⁵And now thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came to thee into Egypt, are mine, Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. ⁶And thy issue, which thou beget after them, shall be thine, they shall be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem). ⁸And Israel beheld Joseph�s sons, and said, Who are these? ⁹And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, to me, and I will bless them. ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near to him, and he kissed them, and embraced them. ¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face, and, lo, God has let me see thy seed also. ¹²And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel�s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel�s right hand, and brought them near to him. ¹⁴And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim�s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh�s head, guiding his hands deliberately, for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, ¹⁶the agent who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. ¹⁷And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father�s hand, to remove it from Ephraim�s head to Manasseh�s head. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn, put thy right hand upon his head. ¹⁹And his father refused, and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. ²⁰And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. ²²Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

CHAPTER 49

¹And Jacob called to his sons, and said, gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days. ²Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father. ³Reuben, thou are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power. ⁴Boiling over as water, thou shall not have the pre-eminence, because thou went up to thy father�s bed, then thou defiled it; he went up to my couch. ⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their swords. ⁶O my soul, come not thou into their council, to their assembly, my glory, be not thou united, for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they hocked an ox. ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. ⁸Judah, thy brothers shall praise thee. Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies. Thy father�s sons shall bow down before thee. ⁹Judah is a lion�s whelp. From the prey, my son, thou have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him up? ¹⁰The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler�s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and to him shall the obedience of the peoples be. ¹¹Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey�s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes. ¹²His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. ¹³Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea, and he shall be for a haven of ships. And his border shall be upon Sidon. ¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey, couching down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵And he saw a resting place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant. And he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task work. ¹⁶Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse�s heels, so that his rider falls backward. ¹⁸I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah. ¹⁹Gad, a troop shall press upon him, but he shall press upon their heel. ²⁰Out of the Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. ²¹Naphtali is a hind let loose. He gives goodly words. ²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a fountain, his branches run over the wall. ²³The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and persecute him, ²⁴but his bow abode in strength. And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), ²⁵even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. ²⁶The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my forefathers to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. ²⁷Benjamin is a wolf that ravens. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at evening he shall divide the spoil. ²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke to them and blessed them; every man according to his blessing he blessed them. ²⁹And he ordered them, and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying place. ³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah, ³²the field and the cave that is in it, which was purchased from the sons of Heth. ³³And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.

CHAPTER 50

¹And Joseph fell upon his father�s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. ²And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel. ³And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. ⁴And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, ⁵My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die. In my grave which I have dug for me in the land of Canaan, there shall thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. ⁶And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. ⁷And Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸and all the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and his father�s house. Only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. ⁹And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. And it was a very great company. ¹⁰And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan. And there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. And he made a mourning for his father seven days. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians. Therefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. ¹²And his sons did to him according as he commanded them. ¹³For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. ¹⁴And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brothers, and all who went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. ¹⁵And when Joseph�s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did to him. ¹⁶And they sent a message to Joseph, saying, Thy father commanded before he died, saying, ¹⁷So shall ye say to Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brothers, and their sin, because they did to thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold, we are thy servants. ¹⁹And Joseph said to them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰And as for you, ye meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. ²¹Now therefore fear ye not. I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them. ²²And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father�s house. And Joseph lived a hundred and ten years. ²³And Joseph saw Ephraim�s sons of the third generation. Also the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph�s knees. ²⁴And Joseph said to his brothers, I die, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ²⁵And Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from here. ²⁶So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. ²⁷Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt (every man and his household who came with Jacob):

EXODUS

CHAPTER 1

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵And all the souls who came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls. And Joseph was in Egypt already. ⁶And Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation. ⁷And the sons of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty, and the land was filled with them. ⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. ¹⁰Come, let us deal craftily with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when war happens, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land. ¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built store-cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Rameses. ¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. And they were grieved because of the sons of Israel. ¹³And the Egyptians made the sons of Israel to serve with rigor. ¹⁴And they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, with which they made them serve with rigor. ¹⁵And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. ¹⁶And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the birth-stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. ¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive. ¹⁸And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the male children alive? ¹⁹And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and are delivered before the midwife comes to them. ²⁰And God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. ²¹And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them households. ²²And Pharaoh ordered all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

CHAPTER 2

¹And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. ²And the woman conceived, and bore a son. And when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. ³And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch. And she put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river�s edge. ⁴And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. ⁵And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked along by the riverside. And she saw the ark among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to fetch it. ⁶And she opened it, and saw the child, and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews� children. ⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh�s daughter, Shall I go and call a nurse for thee from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? ⁸And Pharaoh�s daughter said to her, Go. And the maiden went and called the child�s mother. ⁹And Pharaoh�s daughter said to her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. ¹⁰And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh�s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water. ¹¹And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked on their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brothers. ¹²And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. ¹³And he went out the second day, and, behold, two men of the Hebrews were striving together. And he said to him who did the wrong, Why do thou smite thy neighbor? ¹⁴And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? Do thou think to kill me, as thou killed the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely the thing is known. ¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well. ¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father�s flock. ¹⁷And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. ¹⁸And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye have come so soon today? ¹⁹And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock. ²⁰And he said to his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that ye have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread. ²¹And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter. ²²And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. ²³And it came to pass in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. ²⁴And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. ²⁵And God saw the sons of Israel, and God took knowledge of them.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ²And the agent of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. ³And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. ⁴And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am. ⁵And he said, Do not draw near here. Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place on which thou stand is holy ground. ⁶Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. ⁷And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁸And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹And now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou may bring forth my people the sons of Israel out of Egypt. ¹¹And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt? ¹²And he said, I will certainly be with thee. And this shall be the sign to thee, that I have sent thee: When thou have brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. ¹³And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the sons of Israel, and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say to them? ¹⁴And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And he said, Thus shall thou say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. ¹⁵And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shall thou say to the sons of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. ¹⁶Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. ¹⁷And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁸And they shall hearken to thy voice. And thou shall come, thou and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and ye shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. And now let us go, we pray thee, three days� journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. ¹⁹And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. ²⁰And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst of it, and after that he will let you go. ²¹And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. And it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty. ²²But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who sojourns in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. And ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and ye shall despoil the Egyptians.

CHAPTER 4

¹And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice, for they will say, Jehovah has not appeared to thee. ²And Jehovah said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A rod. ³And he said, Cast in on the ground. And he cast it on the ground. And it became a serpent, and Moses fled from before it. ⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail (and he put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand), ⁵that they may believe that Jehovah, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to thee. ⁶And Jehovah said furthermore to him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom. And when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as snow. ⁷And he said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. (And he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.) ⁸And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, nor hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. ⁹And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe even these two signs, nor hearken to thy voice, that thou shall take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land. And the water which thou take out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land. ¹⁰And Moses said to Jehovah, Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou have spoken to thy servant, for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. ¹¹And Jehovah said to him, Who has made man�s mouth? Or who makes a man dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah? ¹²Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shall speak. ¹³And he said, Oh, Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou will send. ¹⁴And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is there not Aaron thy brother the Levite? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he comes forth to meet thee, and when he sees thee, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵And thou shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do, ¹⁶and he shall be thy spokesman to the people. And it shall come to pass, that he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shall be to him as God. ¹⁷And thou shall take this rod in thy hand, with which thou shall do the signs. ¹⁸And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they be yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. ¹⁹And Jehovah said to Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt, for all the men are dead who sought thy life. ²⁰And Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them upon a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand. ²¹And Jehovah said to Moses, When thou go back into Egypt, see that thou do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in thy hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. ²²And thou shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says Jehovah, Israel is my son, my firstborn, ²³and I have said to thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me, and thou have refused to let him go. Behold, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn. ²⁴And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that Jehovah met him, and sought to kill him. ²⁵Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet. And she said, Surely a bridegroom of blood thou are to me. ²⁶So he let him alone. Then she said, A bridegroom of blood thou are, because of the circumcision. ²⁷And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him on the mountain of God, and kissed him. ²⁸And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had ordered him. ²⁹And Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the sons of Israel. ³⁰And Aaron spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹And the people believed. And when they heard that Jehovah had visited the sons of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

CHAPTER 5

¹And afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. ²And Pharaoh said, Who is Jehovah, that I should hearken to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know Jehovah, and moreover I will not let Israel go. ³And they said, The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go, we pray thee, three days� journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword. ⁴And the king of Egypt said to them, Therefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, loose the people from their works? Get you to your burdens. ⁵And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land are now many, and ye make them rest from their burdens. ⁶And the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, ⁷Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick as formerly. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. ⁸And the number of the bricks, which they made formerly, ye shall lay upon them. Ye shall not diminish any of it. For they are idle, therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God. ⁹Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labor in it, and let them not regard lying words. ¹⁰And the taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, Thus says Pharaoh, I will not give you straw. ¹¹Go yourselves, get you straw where ye can find it, for none of your work shall be diminished. ¹²So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. ¹³And the taskmasters were urgent saying, Fulfill your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw. ¹⁴And the officers of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh�s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Why have ye not fulfilled your task both yesterday and today, in making brick as formerly? ¹⁵Then the officers of the sons of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, Why do thou deal thus with thy servants? ¹⁶There is no straw given to thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick. And, behold, thy servants are beaten, but the fault it in thine own people. ¹⁷But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle. Therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to Jehovah. ¹⁸Go therefore now, and work, for there shall no straw be given you, yet ye shall deliver the number of bricks. ¹⁹And the officers of the sons of Israel saw that they were in affliction, when it was said, Ye shall not diminish anything from your bricks, your daily tasks. ²⁰And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh, ²¹and they said to them, Jehovah look upon you, and judge, because ye have made our fragrance to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. ²²And Moses returned to Jehovah, and said, Lord, why have thou dealt ill with this people? Why is it that thou have sent me? ²³For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he has dealt ill with this people, neither have thou delivered thy people at all.

CHAPTER 6

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Now thou shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land. ²And God spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am Jehovah. ³And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but I was not known by them by my name Jehovah. ⁴And I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojourning, in which they sojourned. ⁵And moreover I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the sons of Israel, I am Jehovah. And I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments. ⁷And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you in to the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and I will give it to you for a heritage. I am Jehovah. ⁹And Moses spoke so to the sons of Israel, but they did not hearken to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. ¹²And Moses spoke before Jehovah, saying, Behold, the sons of Israel have not hearkened to me, how then shall Pharaoh hear me, who am of uncircumcised lips? ¹³And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them an order to the sons of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers� houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi, these are the families of Reuben. ¹⁵And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman, these are the families of Simeon. ¹⁶And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred thirty-seven years. ¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families. ¹⁸And the sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. And the years of the life of Kohath were a hundred thirty-three years. ¹⁹And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations. ²⁰And Amram took him Jochebed his father�s sister to wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty-seven years. ²¹And the sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri. ²²And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri. ²³And Aaron took him Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, to wife, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²⁴And the sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the families of the Korahites. ²⁵And Eleazar Aaron�s son took to him one of the daughters of Putiel to wife, and she bore to him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers of the Levites according to their families. ²⁶These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom Jehovah said, Bring out the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. ²⁷These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the sons of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron. ²⁸And it came to pass on the day when Jehovah spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, ²⁹that Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, I am Jehovah. Speak thou to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to thee. ³⁰And Moses said before Jehovah, Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh hearken to me?

CHAPTER 7

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, See, I have made thee as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. ²Thou shall speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the sons of Israel go out of his land. ³And I will harden Pharaoh�s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. ⁴But Pharaoh will not hearken to you. And I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my armies, my people the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. ⁵And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the sons of Israel from among them. ⁶And Moses and Aaron did so, as Jehovah commanded them, so they did. ⁷And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh. ⁸And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ⁹When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Show a wonder for you, then thou shall say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh. And they did so, as Jehovah had commanded, and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. ¹¹Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. And they also, the magicians of Egypt, did in like manner with their enchantments. ¹²For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents, but Aaron�s rod swallowed up their rods. ¹³And Pharaoh�s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as Jehovah had spoken. ¹⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Pharaoh�s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵Get thee to Pharaoh in the morning, lo, he goes out to the water, and thou shall stand by the river�s edge to meet him, and the rod which was turned to a serpent thou shall take in thy hand. ¹⁶And thou shall say to him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness. And, behold, until now thou have not hearkened. ¹⁷Thus says Jehovah, In this thou shall know that I am Jehovah. Behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. ¹⁸And the fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul, and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river. ¹⁹And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. ²⁰And Moses and Aaron did so, as Jehovah commanded. And he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants, and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. ²¹And the fish that were in the river died, and the river became foul, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river. And the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt. ²²And the magicians of Egypt did in like manner with their enchantments. And Pharaoh�s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as Jehovah had spoken. ²³And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart. ²⁴And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water of the river. ²⁵And seven days were fulfilled, after Jehovah had smitten the river.

CHAPTER 8

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs. ³And the river shall swarm with frogs, which shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs. ⁴And the frogs shall come up both upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants. ⁵And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to come up upon the land of Egypt. ⁶And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷And the magicians did in like manner with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt. ⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat Jehovah, that he take away the frogs from me, and from my people, and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Jehovah. ⁹And Moses said to Pharaoh, Have this honor over me: When shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and thy houses, and remain in the river only? ¹⁰And he said, Tomorrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word, that thou may know that there is none like Jehovah our God. ¹¹And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people, they shall remain in the river only. ¹²And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. And Moses cried to Jehovah concerning the frogs which he had brought upon Pharaoh. ¹³And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses. And the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields. ¹⁴And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart, and did not hearken to them, as Jehovah had spoken. ¹⁶And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the earth, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt. ¹⁷And they did so. And Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth. And there were lice upon man, and upon beast; all the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. ¹⁸And the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. And there were lice upon man, and upon beast. ¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God. And Pharaoh�s heart was hardened, and he did not hearken to them, as Jehovah had spoken. ²⁰And Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh. Lo, he comes forth to the water. And say to him, Thus says Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²¹Else, if thou will not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon they servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses. And the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they are. ²²And in that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there, to the end thou may know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth. ²³And I will put a division between my people and thy people. This sign shall be by tomorrow. ²⁴And Jehovah did so, and there came grievous swarms of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants� houses. And in all the land of Egypt the land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies. ²⁵And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land. ²⁶And Moses said, It is not right to do so, for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God. Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us? ²⁷We will go three days� journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, as he shall command us. ²⁸And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness, only ye shall not go very far away. Entreat for me. ²⁹And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat Jehovah that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow. Only let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Jehovah. ³⁰And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Jehovah. ³¹And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one. ³²And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

CHAPTER 9

¹Then Jehovah said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. ²For if thou refuse to let them go, and will still hold them, ³behold, the hand of Jehovah is upon thy cattle which are in the field, upon the horses, upon the donkeys, upon the camels, upon the herds, and upon the flocks�a very grievous pestilence. ⁴And Jehovah shall make a distinction between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and there shall nothing die of all that belongs to the sons of Israel. ⁵And Jehovah appointed a set time, saying, Tomorrow Jehovah shall do this thing in the land. ⁶And Jehovah did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died, but of the cattle of the sons of Israel not one died. ⁷And Pharaoh sent, and, behold, there was not so much as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead. But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, and he did not let the people go. ⁸And Jehovah said to Moses and to Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. ⁹And it shall become small dust over all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with sores upon man and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven, and it became a boil breaking forth with sores upon man and upon beast. ¹¹And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were upon the magicians, and upon all the Egyptians. ¹²And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he did not hearken to them, as Jehovah had spoken to Moses. ¹³And Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me. ¹⁴For this time I will send all my plagues upon thy heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou may know that there is none like me in all the earth. ¹⁵For now I have put forth my hand, and smitten thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou have been cut off from the earth. ¹⁶But indeed for this cause I have raised thee up, to display in thee my power, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷As yet thou exalt thyself against my people, that thou will not let them go? ¹⁸Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded even until now. ¹⁹Now therefore send, hasten in thy cattle and all that thou have in the field, for every man and beast that shall be found in the field, and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them, and they shall die. ²⁰He who feared the word of Jehovah among the servants of Pharaoh made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses. ²¹And he who did not regard the word of Jehovah left his servants and his cattle in the field. ²²And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch forth thy hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. ²³And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and Jehovah sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth, and Jehovah rained hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. ²⁵And throughout all the land of Egypt the hail smote all that was in the field, both man and beast, and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field. ²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, was there no hail. ²⁷And Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, I have sinned this time. Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. ²⁸Entreat Jehovah, for there has been enough of these mighty thunderings and hail, and I will let you go, and ye shall stay no longer. ²⁹And Moses said to him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to Jehovah. The thunders shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail, that thou may know that the earth is Jehovah�s. ³⁰But as for thee and thy servants, I know that ye will not yet fear Jehovah God. ³¹And the flax and the barley were smitten, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom. ³²But the wheat and the rye were not smitten, for they were not grown up. ³³And Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands to Jehovah, and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured upon the earth. ³⁴And when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. ³⁵And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the sons of Israel go, as Jehovah had spoken by Moses.

CHAPTER 10

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, ²and that thou may tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son�s son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them, that ye may know that I am Jehovah. ³And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, How long will thou refuse to humble thyself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. ⁴Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, tomorrow I will bring locusts into thy border. ⁵And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no man is able to see the ground. And they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remains to you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which grows for you out of the field. ⁶And thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, as neither thy fathers nor thy fathers� fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth to this day. And he turned, and went out from Pharaoh. ⁷And Pharaoh�s servants said to him, How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God. Do thou not yet know that Egypt is destroyed? ⁸And Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh. And he said to them, Go, serve Jehovah your God, but who are those who shall go? ⁹And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast to Jehovah. ¹⁰And he said to them, So be Jehovah with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones. Look, evil is before you. ¹¹Not so. Go ye now who are men, and serve Jehovah, for that is what ye desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh�s presence. ¹²And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail has left. ¹³And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night, and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. ¹⁴And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt, very grievous were they, before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such. ¹⁵For they covered the face of the whole ground, so that the land was darkened, and they ate every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. And there remained not any green thing, either tree nor herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt. ¹⁶Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste, and he said, I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you. ¹⁷Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah your God, that he may only take away from me this death. ¹⁸And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Jehovah. ¹⁹And Jehovah turned an exceedingly strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea. There remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt. ²⁰But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh�s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go. ²¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. ²²And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days, ²³they did not see each other, neither did anyone rise from his place for three days, but all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. ²⁴And Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah, only let your flocks and your herds stay. Let your little ones also go with you. ²⁵And Moses said, Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God. ²⁶Our cattle shall also go with us, there shall not a hoof be left behind, for we must take of it to serve Jehovah our God, and we do not know with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come there. ²⁷But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh�s heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸And Pharaoh said to him, Get thee from me. Take heed to thyself, see my face no more, for in the day thou see my face thou shall die. ²⁹And Moses said, Thou have spoken well. I will see thy face again no more.

CHAPTER 11

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, afterwards he will let you go from here. When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out from here altogether. ²Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold. ³And Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh�s servants, and in the sight of the people. ⁴And Moses said, Thus says Jehovah, About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt, ⁵and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits upon his throne, even to the firstborn of the maid-servant that is behind the mill, and all the firstborn of cattle. ⁶And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor shall be any more. ⁷But against any of the sons of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that ye may know how that Jehovah makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel. ⁸And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and bow themselves down to me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people who follow thee. And after that I will go out. And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. ⁹And Jehovah said to Moses, Pharaoh will not hearken to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. And Jehovah hardened Pharaoh�s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

CHAPTER 12

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ²This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³Speak ye to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers� houses, a lamb for a household. ⁴And if the household be too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls, according to every man�s eating ye shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. Ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats. ⁶And ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening. ⁷And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel upon the houses in which they shall eat it. ⁸And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread, with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs and with the inwards of it. ¹⁰And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, but that which remains of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. ¹¹And thus ye shall eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And ye shall eat it in haste. It is Jehovah�s Passover. ¹²For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am Jehovah. ¹³And the blood shall be to you for a sign upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. ¹⁴And this day shall be to you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever. ¹⁵Seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread, even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation, no manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. ¹⁷And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for in this selfsame day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore ye shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. ¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one who is born in the land. ²⁰Ye shall eat nothing leavened, in all your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread. ²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Draw out, and take to you lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover. ²²And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ²³For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. ²⁴And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever. ²⁵And it shall come to pass, when ye have come to the land which Jehovah will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall keep this service. ²⁶And it shall come to pass, when your sons shall say to you, What do ye mean by this service? ²⁷that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Jehovah�s Passover, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshiped. ²⁸And the sons of Israel went and did so, as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. ²⁹And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle. ³⁰And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. ³¹And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the sons of Israel, and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said. ³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone, and bless me also. ³³And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We are all dead men. ³⁴And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders. ³⁵And the sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment. ³⁶And Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians. ³⁷And the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children. ³⁸And a mixed multitude also went up with them, and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle. ³⁹And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions. ⁴⁰Now the time that the sons of Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It is a night to be much observed to Jehovah for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of Jehovah, to be much observed of all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. ⁴³And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no foreigner eat of it, ⁴⁴but every man�s servant who is bought for money, when thou have circumcised him, then he shall eat of it. ⁴⁵A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat of it. ⁴⁶In one house it shall be eaten. Thou shall not carry forth any of the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone of it. ⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as one who is born in the land, but no uncircumcised man shall eat of it. ⁴⁹One law shall be to him who is home-born, and to the stranger who sojourns among you. ⁵⁰Thus did all the sons of Israel, as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they. ⁵¹And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Jehovah brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

CHAPTER 13

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the sons of Israel. Both of man and of beast, it is mine. ³And Moses said to the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand Jehovah brought you out from this place. There shall no leavened bread be eaten. ⁴This day ye go forth in the month Abib. ⁵And it shall be, when Jehovah shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shall keep this service in this month. ⁶Seven days thou shall eat unleavened bread, and in the seventh day shall be a feast to Jehovah. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days, and there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy borders. ⁸And thou shall tell thy son in that day, saying, It is because of that which Jehovah did for me when I came forth out of Egypt. ⁹And it shall be for a sign to thee upon thy hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the law of Jehovah may be in thy mouth, for with a strong hand has Jehovah brought thee out of Egypt. ¹⁰Thou shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year. ¹¹And it shall be, when Jehovah shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it to thee, ¹²that thou shall set apart to Jehovah all that opens the womb. And every firstling which thou have that comes of a beast, the males shall be Jehovah�s. ¹³And every firstling of a donkey thou shall redeem with a lamb, and if thou will not redeem it, then thou shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among thy sons thou shall redeem. ¹⁴And it shall be, when thy son asks thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shall say to him, By strength of hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Pharaoh would hardly let us go, that Jehovah slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to Jehovah all that opens the womb, being males, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem. ¹⁶And it shall be for a sign upon thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes, for by strength of hand Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, Lest perhaps the people regret when they see war, and they return to Egypt. ¹⁸But God led the people about, by the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea. And the sons of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had strictly sworn the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones away from here with you. ²⁰And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night. ²²The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night departed not from before the people.

CHAPTER 14

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, that they turn back and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal-zephon. Ye shall encamp opposite it by the sea. ³And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, They are entangled in the land; the wilderness has shut them in. ⁴And I will harden Pharaoh�s heart, and he shall follow after them, and I will get for me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his army, and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah. And they did so. ⁵And it was told the king of Egypt that the people were fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed towards the people, and they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? ⁶And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him. ⁷And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over all of them. ⁸And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the sons of Israel, for the sons of Israel went out with a high hand. ⁹And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baal-zephon. ¹⁰And when Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they were very afraid. And the sons of Israel cried out to Jehovah, ¹¹and they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have thou dealt thus with us, to bring us forth out of Egypt? ¹²Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it were better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. ¹³And Moses said to the people, Fear ye not. Stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you today, for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever. ¹⁴Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall keep silent. ¹⁵And Jehovah said to Moses, Why do thou cry to me? Speak to the sons of Israel, that they go forward. ¹⁶And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them, and I will get for me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his army, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. ¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have gotten for me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. ¹⁹And the agent of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them, and stood behind them. ²⁰And it came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. And the cloud and the darkness was there, yet it gave light by night. And the one did not come near the other all the night. ²¹And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Jehovah caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. ²²And the sons of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. ²³And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh�s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked forth upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and troubled the army of the Egyptians. ²⁵And he took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them with difficulty, so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fights for them against the Egyptians. ²⁶And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen. ²⁷And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared, and the Egyptians fled against it, and Jehovah overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, even all the army of Pharaoh who went in after them into the sea, there remained not so much as one of them. ²⁹But the sons of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left. ³⁰Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea-shore. ³¹And Israel saw the great work which Jehovah did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared Jehovah, and they believed in Jehovah, and in his servant Moses.

CHAPTER 15

¹Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Jehovah, and spoke, saying, I will sing to Jehovah, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. ²Jehovah is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father�s God, and I will exalt him. ³Jehovah is a man of war. Jehovah is his name. ⁴Pharaoh�s chariots and his army he has cast into the sea, and his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. ⁵The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. ⁶Thy right hand, O Jehovah, is glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Jehovah, dashes the enemy in pieces. ⁷And in the greatness of thine excellency thou overthrow those who rise up against thee. Thou send forth thy wrath, it consumes them as stubble. ⁸And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were piled up. The floods stood up as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. ⁹The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall be satisfied upon them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. ¹⁰Thou did blow with thy wind, the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹Who is like thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? ¹²Thou stretched out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. ¹³Thou in thy loving kindness have led the people that thou have redeemed. Thou have guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation. ¹⁴The peoples have heard, they tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed, the mighty men of Moab. Trembling takes hold upon them. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. ¹⁶Terror and dread falls upon them. By the greatness of thine arm they are as still as a stone, till thy people pass over, O Jehovah, till the people pass over whom thou have purchased. ¹⁷Thou will bring them in, and plant them on the mountain of thine inheritance, the place, O Jehovah, which thou have made for thee to dwell in, the sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established. ¹⁸Jehovah shall reign forever and ever. ¹⁹For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Jehovah brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the sons of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea. ²⁰And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. ²¹And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to Jehovah, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. ²²And Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. ²³And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. ²⁴And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? ²⁵And he cried to Jehovah. And Jehovah showed him a tree, and he cast it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, ²⁶and he said, If thou will diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians, for I am Jehovah who heals thee. ²⁷And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the waters.

CHAPTER 16

¹And they took their journey from Elim. And all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. ²And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness. ³And the sons of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we ate bread to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. ⁴Then Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day�s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not. ⁵And it shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. ⁶And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At evening, then ye shall know that Jehovah has brought you out from the land of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of Jehovah, for he hears your murmurings against Jehovah. And what are we, that ye murmur against us? ⁸And Moses said, This shall be when Jehovah shall give you flesh to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning, for that Jehovah hears your murmurings which ye murmur against him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah. ⁹And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, Come near before Jehovah, for he has heard your murmurings. ¹⁰And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah appeared in the cloud. ¹¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God. ¹³And it came to pass at evening, that the quails came up, and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay round about the camp, ¹⁴and when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoarfrost on the ground. ¹⁵And when the sons of Israel saw it, they said one to another, What is it? For they knew not what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which Jehovah has given you to eat. ¹⁶This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded, Gather ye of it every man according to his eating, an omer a head. According to the number of your persons, ye shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent. ¹⁷And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸And when they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. ¹⁹And Moses said to them, Let no man leave of it till the morning. ²⁰Notwithstanding they did not hearken to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul, and Moses was angry with them. ²¹And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating. And when the sun grew hot, it melted. ²²And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³And he said to them, This is that which Jehovah has spoken, Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath to Jehovah. Bake that which ye will bake, and boil that which ye will boil, and all that remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. ²⁴And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade, and it did not become foul, neither was there any worm in it. ²⁵And Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a sabbath to Jehovah. Today ye shall not find it in the field. ²⁶Six days ye shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the sabbath, there shall be none in it. ²⁷And it came to pass on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. ²⁸And Jehovah said to Moses, How long do ye refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? ²⁹See, because Jehovah has given you the sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Abide ye every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day. ³¹And the house of Israel called the name of it Manna. And it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers with honey. ³²And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded. Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt. ³³And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omerful of manna in it, and lay it up before Jehovah, to be kept throughout your generations. ³⁴As Jehovah commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. ³⁵And the sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. ³⁶Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

CHAPTER 17

¹And all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their journeys, according to the commandment of Jehovah, and encamped in Rephidim. And there was no water for the people to drink. ²Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why do ye contend with me? Why do ye challenge Jehovah? ³And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Why have thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our sons and our cattle with thirst? ⁴And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do to this people? They are almost ready to stone me. ⁵And Jehovah said to Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with thee from the elders of Israel, and thy rod, with which thou smote the river, take in thy hand, and go. ⁶Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contending of the sons of Israel, and because they challenged Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us, or not? ⁸Then Amalek came, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹And Moses said to Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹²But Moses� hands were heavy. And they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³And Joshua weakened Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. ¹⁵And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi. ¹⁶And he said, Jehovah has sworn, Jehovah will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

CHAPTER 18

¹Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses� father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, how that Jehovah had brought Israel out of Egypt. ²And Jethro, Moses� father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses� wife, after he had sent her away, ³and her two sons, of whom the name of the one was Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. ⁴And the name of the other was Eliezer, for he said, The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh. ⁵And Jethro, Moses� father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the mount of God. ⁶And he said to Moses, I, thy father-in-law Jethro, have come to thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her. ⁷And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent. ⁸And Moses told his father-in-law all that Jehovah had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel�s sake, all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how Jehovah delivered them. ⁹And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which Jehovah had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰And Jethro said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods, yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them. ¹²And Jethro, Moses� father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. And Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses� father-in-law before God. ¹³And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning to the evening. ¹⁴And when Moses� father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou do to the people? Why do thou sit by thyself, and all the people stand about thee from morning to evening? ¹⁵And Moses said to his father-in-law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶When they have a matter, they come to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor. And I make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. ¹⁷And Moses� father-in-law said to him, The thing that thou do is not good. ¹⁸Thou will surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee, for the thing is too heavy for thee. Thou are not able to perform it thyself alone. ¹⁹Hearken now to my voice. I will give thee counsel, and God be with thee. Be thou for the people toward God, and bring thou the cases to God. ²⁰And thou shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they must do. ²¹Moreover thou shall provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating unjust gain, and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, ²²and let them judge the people at all seasons. And it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring to thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. ²³If thou shall do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shall be able to endure, and all this people also shall go to their place in peace. ²⁴So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. ²⁵And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens, ²⁶and they judged the people at all seasons. The hard cases they brought to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves. ²⁷And Moses let his father-in-law depart, and he went his way into his own land.

CHAPTER 19

¹In the third month after the sons of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. ²And when they were departed from Rephidim, and came to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness, and there Israel encamped before the mount. ³And Moses went up to God. And Jehovah called to him out of the mountain, saying, Thus thou shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel: ⁴Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles� wings, and brought you to myself. ⁵Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be my own possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, ⁶and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shall speak to the sons of Israel. ⁷And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which Jehovah commanded him. ⁸And all the people answered together, and said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to Jehovah. ⁹And Jehovah said to Moses, Lo, I come to thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people to Jehovah. ¹⁰And Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments, ¹¹and be ready for the third day, for the third day Jehovah will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. ¹²And thou shall set bounds to the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye not go up onto the mount, or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mount shall be surely put to death; ¹³no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through, whether it be beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mount. ¹⁴And Moses went down from the mount to the people, and sanctified the people, and they washed their garments. ¹⁵And he said to the people, Be ready for the third day. Come not near a woman. ¹⁶And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of an exceedingly loud trumpet. And all the people who were in the camp trembled. ¹⁷And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the lower part of the mount. ¹⁸And mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire, and the smoke of it ascended as the smoke of a furnace. And the whole mount quaked greatly. ¹⁹And when the voice of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. ²⁰And Jehovah came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount. And Jehovah called Moses to the top of the mount, and Moses went up. ²¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Go down, command the people, lest they break through to Jehovah to gaze, and many of them perish. ²²And let the priests also, who come near to Jehovah, sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break forth upon them. ²³And Moses said to Jehovah, The people cannot come up to mount Sinai, for thou commanded us, saying, Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. ²⁴And Jehovah said to him, Go, get thee down. And thou shall come up, thou, and Aaron with thee, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Jehovah, lest he break forth upon them. ²⁵So Moses went down to the people, and told them.

CHAPTER 20

¹And God spoke all these words, saying, ²I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ³Thou shall have no other gods before me. ⁴Thou shall not make to thee a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ⁷Thou shall not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. ⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days thou shall labor, and do all thy work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah thy God. Thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, ¹¹for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. ¹²Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee. ¹³Thou shall not murder. ¹⁴Thou shall not commit adultery. ¹⁵Thou shall not steal. ¹⁶Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor. ¹⁷Thou shall not covet thy neighbor�s house. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor�s wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is thy neighbor�s. ¹⁸And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. ¹⁹And they said to Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. ²⁰And Moses said to the people, Fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye not sin. ²¹And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. ²²And Jehovah said to Moses, Thus thou shall say to the sons of Israel, Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. ²³Ye shall not make other gods with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make to you. ²⁴An altar of earth thou shall make to me, and shall sacrifice on it thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen. In every place where I record my name I will come to thee and I will bless thee. ²⁵And if thou make to me an altar of stone, thou shall not build it of hewn stones, for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou have polluted it. ²⁶Neither shall thou go up by steps to my altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered on it.

CHAPTER 21

¹Now these are the ordinances which thou shall set before them. ²If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her sons shall be her master�s, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my sons, I will not go out free, ⁶then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door, or to the door-post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him forever. ⁷And if a man sells his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. ⁸If she does not please her master, who has espoused her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no power to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. ⁹And if he espouses her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the manner of daughters. ¹⁰If he takes him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, he shall not diminish. ¹¹And if he does not do these three things to her, then she shall go out for nothing, without money. ¹²He who smites a man, so that he dies, shall surely be put to death. ¹³And if a man does not lie in wait, but God delivers him into his hand, then I will appoint for thee a place where he shall flee. ¹⁴And if a man comes presumptuously upon his neighbor, to kill him with guile, thou shall take him from my altar, that he may die. ¹⁵And he who smites his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶And he who steals a man, and sells him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷And he who curses his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸And if men contend, and one smites the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he does not die, but keeps his bed, ¹⁹if he rises again, and walks abroad upon his staff, then he who smote him shall be acquitted. Only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. ²⁰And if a man smites his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. ²¹Notwithstanding, if he continues a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his money. ²²And if men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart, and yet no harm follow, he shall be surely fined, according as the woman�s husband shall lay upon him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. ²³But if any harm follows, then thou shall give life for life, ²⁴eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, ²⁵burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. ²⁶And if a man smites the eye of his servant, or the eye of his maid, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye�s sake. ²⁷And if he knocks out his man-servant�s tooth, or his maid-servant�s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth�s sake. ²⁸And if an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted. ²⁹But if the ox was accustomed to gore in time past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. ³⁰If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid upon him. ³¹Whether it has gored a son, or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him. ³²If the ox gores a man-servant or a maid-servant, there shall be given to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. ³³And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit and not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it, ³⁴the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to the owner of it, and the dead beast shall be his. ³⁵And if one man�s ox hurts another�s, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox, and divide the price of it, and the dead they shall also divide. ³⁶Or if it be known that the ox was accustomed to gore in time past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.

CHAPTER 22

¹If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. ²If the thief is found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him. ³If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodguiltiness for him. A thief shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. ⁴If the theft is found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. ⁵If a man shall cause a field or vineyard to be eaten, and shall let his beast loose, and it feeds in another man�s field, he shall make restitution of the best of his own field, and of the best of his own vineyard. ⁶If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns, so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed, he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. ⁷If a man shall deliver to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it be stolen out of the man�s house, if the thief be found, he shall pay double. ⁸If the thief is not found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to see whether he has not put his hand to his neighbor�s goods. ⁹For every matter of trespass, whether it be for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, of which a man says, This is it, the case of both parties shall come before God. He whom God shall condemn shall pay double to his neighbor. ¹⁰If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast, to keep, and it dies, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing it, ¹¹the oath of Jehovah shall be between them both, whether he has not put his hand to his neighbor�s goods. And the owner of it shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. ¹²But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to the owner of it. ¹³If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn. ¹⁴And if a man borrows anything of his neighbor, and it be hurt, or die, the owner of it not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. ¹⁵If the owner of it is with it, he shall not make it good. If it be a hired thing, it came for its hire. ¹⁶And if a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to be his wife. ¹⁷If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins. ¹⁸Thou shall not allow a sorceress to live. ¹⁹Whoever lies with a beast shall surely be put to death. ²⁰He who sacrifices to any god, except to Jehovah only, shall be utterly destroyed. ²¹And thou shall not wrong a sojourner, neither shall thou oppress him, for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²²Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. ²³If thou afflict them at all, and they cry at all to me, I will surely hear their cry, ²⁴and my wrath shall grow hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your sons fatherless. ²⁵If thou lend money to any of my people with thee who is poor, thou shall not be to him as a creditor, neither shall ye lay upon him interest. ²⁶If thou at all take thy neighbor�s garment to pledge, thou shall restore it to him before the sun goes down, ²⁷for that is his only covering. It is his garment for his skin. How shall he sleep? And it shall come to pass, when he cries to me, that I will hear, for I am gracious. ²⁸Thou shall not revile God, nor speak ill of a ruler of thy people. ²⁹Thou shall not delay to offer from thy harvest, and from the outflow of thy presses. The firstborn of thy sons thou shall give to me. ³⁰Likewise thou shall do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep. Seven days it shall be with its dam. On the eighth day thou shall give it me. ³¹And ye shall be holy men to me. Therefore ye shall not eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field. Ye shall cast it to the dogs.

CHAPTER 23

¹Thou shall not take up a false report. Do not put thy hand with the wicked man to be an unrighteous witness. ²Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil, neither shall thou speak in a case to turn aside after a multitude to distort justice, ³neither shall thou favor a poor man in his case. ⁴If thou meet thine enemy�s ox or his donkey going astray, thou shall surely bring it back to him again. ⁵If thou see the donkey of him who hates thee lying under his burden, thou shall refrain leaving him. Thou shall surely release it with him. ⁶Thou shall not distort the justice due to thy poor in his case. ⁷Keep thee far from a false matter. And do not kill an innocent and righteous man, for I will not justify a wicked man. ⁸And thou shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds those who have sight, and perverts the words of the righteous. ⁹And thou shall not oppress a sojourner, for ye know the heart of a sojourner, since ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And six years thou shall sow thy land, and shall gather in the increase of it, ¹¹but the seventh year thou shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of thy people may eat, and what they leave the beast of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shall deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. ¹²Six days thou shall do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shall rest, that thine ox and thy donkey may have rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the sojourner, may be refreshed. ¹³And in all things that I have said to you take ye heed, and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth. ¹⁴Three times thou shall keep a feast to me in the year. ¹⁵Thou shall keep the feast of unleavened bread (Seven days thou shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in it thou came out from Egypt, and none shall appear before me empty), ¹⁶and the feast of harvest, the first-fruits of thy labors, which thou sow in the field, and the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when thou gather in thy labors out of the field. ¹⁷Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the lord Jehovah. ¹⁸Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, neither shall the fat of my feast remain all night until the morning. ¹⁹The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shall bring into the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother�s milk. ²⁰Behold, I send an agent before thee, to keep thee by the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. ²¹Take ye heed before him, and hearken to his voice, provoke him not. For he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. ²²But if thou shall indeed hearken to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to thine adversaries. ²³For my agent shall go before thee, and bring thee in to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and I will cut them off. ²⁴Thou shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works, but thou shall utterly overthrow them, and break their pillars in pieces. ²⁵And ye shall serve Jehovah your God, and he will bless thy bread, and thy water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. ²⁶There shall none cast her young, nor be barren, in thy land; I will fulfill the number of thy days. ²⁷I will send my terror before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shall come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs to thee. ²⁸And I will send the hornet before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. ²⁹I will not drive them out from before thee in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the beasts of the field multiply against thee. ³⁰Little by little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. ³¹And I will set thy border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and thou shall drive them out before thee. ³²Thou shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. ³³They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me, for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to thee.

CHAPTER 24

¹And he said to Moses, Come up to Jehovah, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship ye afar off. ²And Moses alone shall come near to Jehovah, but they shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him. ³And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the ordinances. And all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which Jehovah has spoken will we do. ⁴And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar below the mount, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, who offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to Jehovah. ⁶And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people. And they said, All that Jehovah has spoken will we do, and be obedient. ⁸And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words. ⁹Then Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. ¹⁰And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under his feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness. ¹¹And he laid not his hand upon the nobles of the sons of Israel. And they beheld God, and ate and drank. ¹²And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to me onto the mount, and be there, and I will give thee the tablets of stone, and the law and the commandment, which I have written, that thou may teach them. ¹³And Moses rose up, and Joshua his minister, and Moses went up onto the mount of God. ¹⁴And he said to the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again to you. And, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a case, let him come near to them. ¹⁵And Moses went up onto the mount, and the cloud covered the mount. ¹⁶And the glory of Jehovah abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up onto the mount. And Moses was on the mount forty days and forty nights.

CHAPTER 25

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, that they take for me an offering; of every man whose heart makes him willing ye shall take my offering. ³And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and brass, ⁴and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats� hair, ⁵and rams� skins dyed red, and certain skins, and acacia wood, ⁶oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense, ⁷onyx stones, and stones to be set for the ephod and for the breastplate. ⁸And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. ⁹According to all that I show thee: the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the furniture of it, even so shall ye make it. ¹⁰And they shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. ¹¹And thou shall overlay it with pure gold. Inside and outside thou shall overlay it, and shall make upon it a crown of gold round about. ¹²And thou shall cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four feet of it. And two rings shall be on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. ¹³And thou shall make staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ¹⁴And thou shall put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, with which to bear the ark. ¹⁵The staves shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. ¹⁶And thou shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. ¹⁷And thou shall make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it. ¹⁸And thou shall make two cherubim of gold; of beaten work shall thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. ¹⁹And make one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end; of one piece with the mercy-seat ye shall make the cherubim on the two ends of it. ²⁰And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy-seat. ²¹And thou shall put the mercy-seat above upon the ark. And in the ark thou shall put the testimony that I shall give thee. ²²And there I will meet with thee. And I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment to the sons of Israel. ²³And thou shall make a table of acacia wood, two cubits the length of it, and a cubit the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. ²⁴And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. ²⁵And thou shall make to it a border of a handbreadth round about, and thou shall make a golden crown to the border of it round about. ²⁶And thou shall make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet of it. ²⁷The rings shall be close by the border, for places for the staves to bear the table. ²⁸And thou shall make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. ²⁹And thou shall make the dishes of it, and the spoons of it, and the pitchers of it, and the bowls of it, with which to pour out, of pure gold thou shall make them. ³⁰And thou shall set upon the table showbread before me always. ³¹And thou shall make a lampstand of pure gold. Of beaten work shall the lampstand be made, even its base, and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. ³²And there shall be six branches going out of the sides of it, three branches of the lampstand out of the one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it: ³³three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knob and a flower, and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knob and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lampstand, ³⁴and in the lampstand four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knobs of it, and the flowers of it. ³⁵And a knob under two branches of one piece with it, and a knob under two branches of one piece with it, and a knob under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ³⁶Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece with it, the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold. ³⁷And thou shall make the lamps of it, seven. And they shall light the lamps of it, to give light in front of it. ³⁸And the snuffers of it, and the snuff dishes of it, shall be of pure gold. ³⁹Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels. ⁴⁰And see that thou make them according to their pattern that has been shown thee on the mountain.

CHAPTER 26

¹Moreover thou shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains, of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim the work of the skilful workman shall thou make them. ²The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains shall have one measure. ³Five curtains shall be coupled together one to another, and the other five curtains shall be coupled one to another. ⁴And thou shall make loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling, and likewise thou shall make in the edge of the curtain that is outmost in the second coupling. ⁵Fifty loops thou shall make in the one curtain, and fifty loops thou shall make in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling; the loops shall be opposite one to another. ⁶And thou shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps. And the tabernacle shall be one whole. ⁷And thou shall make curtains of goats� hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Eleven curtains thou shall make them. ⁸The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. The eleven curtains shall have one measure. ⁹And thou shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shall double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent. ¹⁰And thou shall make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops upon the edge of the curtain which is outmost in the second coupling. ¹¹And thou shall make fifty clasps of brass, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one. ¹²And the overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle. ¹³And the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it. ¹⁴And thou shall make a covering for the tent of rams� skins dyed red, and a covering of certain skins above. ¹⁵And thou shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up. ¹⁶Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board. ¹⁷There shall be two tenons in each board, joined one to another. Thus thou shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle. ¹⁸And thou shall make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side southward. ¹⁹And thou shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards: two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. ²⁰And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards, ²¹and their forty sockets of silver: two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. ²²And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward thou shall make six boards. ²³And thou shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. ²⁴And they shall be double beneath, and in like manner they shall be entire to the top of it to one ring. Thus shall it be for them both, they shall be for the two corners. ²⁵And there shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets: two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. ²⁶And thou shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, ²⁷and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the hinder part westward. ²⁸And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall pass through from end to end. ²⁹And thou shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars. And thou shall overlay the bars with gold. ³⁰And thou shall raise up the tabernacle according to the fashion of it which has been shown thee on the mount. ³¹And thou shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. With cherubim the work of the skilful workman shall it be made. ³²And thou shall hang it upon four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, their hooks shall be of gold, upon four sockets of silver. ³³And thou shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring in there within the veil the ark of the testimony. And the veil shall separate to you between the holy place and the most holy. ³⁴And thou shall put the mercy-seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy place. ³⁵And thou shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand opposite the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south. And thou shall put the table on the north side. ³⁶And thou shall make a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer. ³⁷And thou shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and thou shall cast five sockets of brass for them.

CHAPTER 27

¹And thou shall make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long, and five cubits broad (the altar shall be foursquare), and the height of it shall be three cubits. ²And thou shall make the horns of it upon the four corners of it. The horns of it shall be of one piece with it, and thou shall overlay it with brass. ³And thou shall make its pots to take away its ashes, and its shovels, and its basins, and its flesh-hooks, and its firepans; all the vessels of it thou shall make of brass. ⁴And thou shall make for it a grating of network of brass, and upon the network thou shall make four brazen rings in the four corners of it. ⁵And thou shall put it under the ledge round the altar beneath, that the network may reach halfway up the altar. ⁶And thou shall make staves for the altar, staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with brass. ⁷And the staves of it shall be put into the rings, and the staves shall be upon the two sides of the altar, in bearing it. ⁸Thou shall make it hollow with planks. As it has been shown thee on the mount, so shall they make it. ⁹And thou shall make the court of the tabernacle. For the south side southward there shall be hangings for the court of fine twined linen a hundred cubits long for one side. ¹⁰And the pillars of it shall be twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver. ¹¹And likewise for the north side in length there shall be hangings a hundred cubits long, and the pillars of it twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass, the hooks of the pillars and their bands, of silver. ¹²And for the breadth of the court on the west side shall be hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten. ¹³And the breadth of the court on the east side eastward shall be fifty cubits. ¹⁴The hangings for the one side of the gate shall be fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. ¹⁵And for the other side shall be hangings of fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. ¹⁶And for the gate of the court shall be a screen of twenty cubits, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer, their pillars four, and their sockets four. ¹⁷All the pillars of the court round about shall be banded with silver, their hooks of silver, and their sockets of brass. ¹⁸The length of the court shall be a hundred cubits, and the breadth fifty everywhere, and the height five cubits, of fine twined linen, and their sockets of brass. ¹⁹All the instruments of the tabernacle in all the service of it, and all the pegs of it, and all the pegs of the court, shall be of brass. ²⁰And thou shall command the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually ²¹in the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony. Aaron and his sons shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Jehovah. It shall be a statute forever throughout their generations on the behalf of the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 28

¹And bring thou near to thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest�s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron�s sons. ²And thou shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty. ³And thou shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron�s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest�s office. ⁴And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a tunic of checker work, a miter, and a sash. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest�s office. ⁵And they shall take the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen. ⁶And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skilful workman. ⁷It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined to the two ends of it, that it may be joined together. ⁸And the skillfully woven band, which is upon it, with which to gird it on, shall be like the work of it and of the same piece, of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. ⁹And thou shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: ¹⁰six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the six that remain on the other stone, according to their birth. ¹¹With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, thou shall engrave the two stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel. Thou shall make them to be enclosed in settings of gold. ¹²And thou shall put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial. ¹³And thou shall make settings of gold, ¹⁴and two chains of pure gold, like cords shall thou make them, of wreathen work. And thou shall put the wreathen chains on the settings. ¹⁵And thou shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skilful workman. Thou shall make it like the work of the ephod: of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, thou shall make it. ¹⁶It shall be foursquare and double, a span shall be the length of it, and a span the breadth of it. ¹⁷And thou shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones: a row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row, ¹⁸and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond, ¹⁹and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst, ²⁰and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be enclosed in gold in their settings. ²¹And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one according to his name; they shall be for the twelve tribes. ²²And thou shall make upon the breastplate chains like cords, of wreathen work of pure gold. ²³And thou shall make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. ²⁴And thou shall put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. ²⁵And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shall put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod in the forepart of it. ²⁶And thou shall make two rings of gold, and thou shall put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, upon the edge of it, which is toward the side of the ephod inward. ²⁷And thou shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the forepart of it, close by the coupling of it, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²⁸And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings of it to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be upon the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod. ²⁹And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Jehovah continually. ³⁰And thou shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be upon Aaron�s heart, when he goes in before Jehovah. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the sons of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually. ³¹And thou shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³²And it shall have a hole for the head in the midst of it. It shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it be not torn. ³³And upon the skirts of it thou shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the skirts of it, and bells of gold between them round about: ³⁴a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about. ³⁵And it shall be upon Aaron to minister. And the sound of it shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before Jehovah, and when he comes out, that he does not die. ³⁶And thou shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLY TO JEHOVAH. ³⁷And thou shall put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be upon the miter. It shall be upon the forefront of the miter. ³⁸And it shall be upon Aaron�s forehead. And Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the sons of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts. And it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah. ³⁹And thou shall weave the tunic in checker work of fine linen. And thou shall make a miter of fine linen. And thou shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer. ⁴⁰And for Aaron�s sons thou shall make tunics. And thou shall make for them sashes, and head-coverings thou shall make for them, for glory and for beauty. ⁴¹And thou shall put them upon Aaron thy brother, and upon his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest�s office. ⁴²And thou shall make for them linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness, from the loins even to the thighs they shall reach. ⁴³And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they go in to the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place, that they not bear iniquity, and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and to his seed after him.

CHAPTER 29

¹And this is the thing that thou shall do to them to hallow them, to minister to me in the priest�s office: Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish, ²and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened mingled with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil, of fine wheaten flour shall thou make them, ³and thou shall put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams. ⁴And Aaron and his sons thou shall bring to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. ⁵And thou shall take the garments, and put upon Aaron the tunic, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ⁶And thou shall set the miter upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the miter. ⁷Then thou shall take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. ⁸And thou shall bring his sons, and put tunics upon them. ⁹And thou shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and bind head-coverings on them. And they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute. And thou shall consecrate Aaron and his sons. ¹⁰And thou shall bring the bullock before the tent of meeting. And Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock, ¹¹and thou shall kill the bullock before Jehovah, at the door of the tent of meeting. ¹²And thou shall take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and thou shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. ¹³And thou shall take all the fat that covers the inwards, and the caul upon the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. ¹⁴But the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and it dung, thou shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering. ¹⁵Thou shall also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram. ¹⁶And thou shall slay the ram, and thou shall take its blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar. ¹⁷And thou shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its inwards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head, ¹⁸and thou shall burn the whole ram upon the altar. It is a burnt offering to Jehovah. It is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ¹⁹And thou shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram. ²⁰Then thou shall kill the ram, and take of its blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. ²¹And thou shall take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him. And he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons� garments with him. ²²Also thou shall take from the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat that covers the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration), ²³and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Jehovah, ²⁴and thou shall put the whole upon the hands of Aaron, and upon the hands of his sons, and shall wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah. ²⁵And thou shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar upon the burnt offering, for a sweet savor before Jehovah. It is an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ²⁶And thou shall take the breast of Aaron�s ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before Jehovah, and it shall be thy portion. ²⁷And thou shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh of the heave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons, ²⁸and it shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the sons of Israel, for it is a heave offering. And it shall be a heave offering from the sons of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their heave offering to Jehovah. ²⁹And the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. ³⁰Seven days shall the son that is priest in his stead put them on, when he comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place. ³¹And thou shall take the ram of consecration, and boil its flesh in a holy place. ³²And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting. ³³And they shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them, but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy. ³⁴And if any of the flesh of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then thou shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy. ³⁵And thus thou shall do to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee. Seven days thou shall consecrate them. ³⁶And every day thou shall offer the bullock of sin offering for atonement. And thou shall cleanse the altar when thou make atonement for it, and thou shall anoint it, to sanctify it. ³⁷Seven days thou shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall be holy. ³⁸Now this is that which thou shall offer upon the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually. ³⁹The one lamb thou shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shall offer at evening. ⁴⁰And with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering. ⁴¹And the other lamb thou shall offer at evening, and shall do thereto according to the meal offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering of it, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ⁴²It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, where I will meet with you, to speak to thee there. ⁴³And there I will meet with the sons of Israel, and the tent shall be sanctified by my glory. ⁴⁴And I will sanctify the tent of meeting, and the altar. I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest�s office. ⁴⁵And I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will be their God. ⁴⁶And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them. I am Jehovah their God.

CHAPTER 30

¹And thou shall make an altar to burn incense upon. Thou shall make it of acacia wood. ²A cubit shall be the length of it, and a cubit the breadth of it (it shall be foursquare), and two cubits shall be the height of it. The horns of it shall be of one piece with it. ³And thou shall overlay it with pure gold, the top of it, and the sides of it round about, and the horns of it. And thou shall make to it a crown of gold round about. ⁴And two golden rings thou shall make for it under the crown of it, upon the two ribs of it, upon the two sides of it thou shall make them. And they shall be for places for staves with which to bear it. ⁵And thou shall make the staves of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. ⁶And thou shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee. ⁷And Aaron shall burn in it incense of sweet spices. Every morning, when he dresses the lamps, he shall burn it. ⁸And when Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations. ⁹Ye shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering. And ye shall pour no drink offering on it. ¹⁰And Aaron shall make atonement upon the horns of it once in the year, with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. Once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Jehovah. ¹¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²When thou take the sum of the sons of Israel, according to those who are numbered of them, then they shall give every man a ransom for his soul to Jehovah when thou number them, that there be no plague among them when thou number them. ¹³This they shall give, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered: half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary, (the shekel is twenty gerahs,) half a shekel for an offering to Jehovah. ¹⁴Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of Jehovah. ¹⁵The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls. ¹⁶And thou shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls. ¹⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸Thou shall also make a laver of brass, and the base of it of brass for washing. And thou shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and thou shall put water in it. ¹⁹And Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet there. ²⁰When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die, or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ²¹So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die. And it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations. ²²Moreover Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²³Take thou also to thee the chief spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundred and fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty, ²⁴and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive oil a hin. ²⁵And thou shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil. ²⁶And thou shall anoint with it the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, ²⁷and the table and all the vessels of it, and the lampstand and the vessels of it, and the altar of incense, ²⁸and the altar of burnt offering with all the vessels of it, and the laver and the base of it. ²⁹And thou shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. ³⁰And thou shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest�s office. ³¹And thou shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. ³²Upon the flesh of man it shall not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it, according to the composition of it. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. ³³Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it upon a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Take to thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense, of each shall there be a like weight. ³⁵And thou shall make of it incense, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. ³⁶And thou shall beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with thee. It shall be to you most holy. ³⁷And the incense which thou shall make, ye shall not make for yourselves according to the composition of it. It shall be to thee holy for Jehovah. ³⁸Whoever shall make like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people.

CHAPTER 31

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, ³and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, ⁴to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, ⁵and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of workmanship. ⁶And I, behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And in the heart of all who are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee: ⁷the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is on it, and all the furniture of the tent, ⁸and the table and its vessels, and the pure lampstand with all its vessels, and the altar of incense, ⁹and the altar of burnt offering with all its vessels, and the laver and its base, ¹⁰and the finely wrought garments, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest�s office, ¹¹and the anointing oil, and the incense of sweet spices for the holy place. According to all that I have commanded thee they shall do. ¹²And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹³Speak thou also to the sons of Israel, saying, Truly ye shall keep my sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies you. ¹⁴Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ¹⁵Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Jehovah. Whoever does any work on the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. ¹⁶Therefore the sons of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. ¹⁷It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. ¹⁸And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

CHAPTER 32

¹And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, Up, make gods for us, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. ²And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them to me. ³And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. ⁴And he received it at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, and made it a molten calf. And they said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ⁵And when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation, and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to Jehovah. ⁶And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to revel. ⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go, get thee down. For thy people, that thou brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made for them a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ⁹And Jehovah said to Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may grow hot against them, and that I may consume them. And I will make of thee a great nation. ¹¹And Moses besought Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, why does thy wrath grow hot against thy people, whom thou have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, He brought them forth for evil, to kill them on the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and relent of this evil against thy people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swore by thine own self, and said to them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven. And all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. ¹⁴And Jehovah relented of the evil which he said he would do to his people. ¹⁵And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. ¹⁶And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. ¹⁷And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. ¹⁸And he said, It is not the voice of those who shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of those who cry for being overcome, but the noise of those who sing do I hear. ¹⁹And it came to pass, as soon as he came near to the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses� anger grew hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount. ²⁰And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it upon the water, and made the sons of Israel drink of it. ²¹And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to thee, that thou have brought a great sin upon them? ²²And Aaron said, Let not the anger of my lord grow hot. Thou know the people, that they are set on evil. ²³For they said to me, Make gods for us, which shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him. ²⁴And I said to them, Whoever has any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf. ²⁵And when Moses saw that the people were broken loose, (for Aaron had let them loose for a derision among their enemies,) ²⁶then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Whoever is on Jehovah�s side, come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together to him. ²⁷And he said to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Put ye every man his sword upon his thigh, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. ²⁸And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And there fell of the people that day about three thousand men. ²⁹And Moses said, Consecrate yourselves today to Jehovah, yea, every man against his son, and against his brother, that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day. ³⁰And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said to the people, Ye have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to Jehovah, perhaps I shall make atonement for your sin. ³¹And Moses returned to Jehovah, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made gods of gold for them. ³²Yet now, if thou will forgive their sin�, and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou have written. ³³And Jehovah said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. ³⁴And now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to thee. Behold, my agent shall go before thee. Nevertheless in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them. ³⁵And Jehovah smote the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made.

CHAPTER 33

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, Depart, go up from here, thou and the people that thou have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To thy seed will I give it. ²And I will send an agent before thee, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite� ³to a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee on the way. ⁴And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned, and no man put his ornaments on him. ⁵And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people. If I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee. Therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do to thee. ⁶And the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward. ⁷Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it outside the camp, afar off from the camp, and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that everyone who sought Jehovah went out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. ⁸And it came to pass, when Moses went out to the tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tent. ⁹And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the tent, and Jehovah spoke with Moses. ¹⁰And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the tent. And all the people rose up and worshiped, every man at his tent door. ¹¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend, and he turned again into the camp. But his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart out of the tent. ¹²And Moses said to Jehovah, See, thou say to me, Bring up this people, and thou have not let me know whom thou will send with me. Yet thou have said, I know thee by name, and thou have also found favor in my sight. ¹³Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee, to the end that I may find favor in thy sight. And consider that this nation is thy people. ¹⁴And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest. ¹⁵And Moses said to him, If thy presence go not, do not carry us up from here. ¹⁶For how shall it now be known that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people? Is it not in that thou go with us, so that we are separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth? ¹⁷And Jehovah said to Moses, I will do this thing also that thou have spoken, for thou have found favor in my sight, and I know thee by name. ¹⁸And he said, Show me, I pray thee, thy glory. ¹⁹And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee. I will be merciful to whom I may be merciful, and I will be compassionate to whomever I may be compassionate. ²⁰And he said, Thou cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live. ²¹And Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shall stand upon the rock. ²²And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by. ²³And I will take away my hand, and thou shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.

CHAPTER 34

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Hew thee two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which thou broke. ²And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount. ³And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount, neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. ⁴And he hewed two tablets of stone like the first. And Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. ⁵And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah. ⁶And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, ⁷keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, and upon the sons�s sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. ⁸And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. ⁹And he said, If now I have found favor in thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the midst of us, for it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. ¹⁰And he said, Behold, I make a covenant. Before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation, and all the people among which thou are shall see the work of Jehovah, for it is an awesome thing that I do with thee. ¹¹Observe thou that which I command thee this day. Behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ¹²Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where thou go, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee. ¹³But ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim, ¹⁴for thou shall worship no other god. For Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. ¹⁵Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and a man calls thee and thou eat of his sacrifice, ¹⁶and thou take of their daughters to thy sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods, and make thy sons play the harlot after their gods. ¹⁷Thou shall make thee no molten gods. ¹⁸Thou shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days thou shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib, for in the month Abib thou came out from Egypt. ¹⁹All that opens the womb is mine, and all thy cattle that is male, the firstlings of cow and sheep. ²⁰And the firstling of a donkey thou shall redeem with a lamb, and if thou will not redeem it, then thou shall break its neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. ²¹Six days thou shall work, but on the seventh day thou shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest thou shall rest. ²²And thou shall observe the feast of weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering in the middle of the year. ²³Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the lord Jehovah, the God of Israel. ²⁴For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders. Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou go up to appear before Jehovah thy God three times in the year. ²⁵Thou shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning. ²⁶The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shall bring to the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother�s milk. ²⁷And Jehovah said to Moses, Write thou these words, for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. ²⁸And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread, nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. ²⁹And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses� hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him. ³⁰And when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹And Moses called to them. And Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³²And afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he gave them in commandment all that Jehovah had spoken with him on mount Sinai. ³³And when Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. ³⁴But when Moses went in before Jehovah to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out. And he came out, and spoke to the sons of Israel that which he was commanded. ³⁵And the sons of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses� face shone. And Moses put the veil upon his face again until he went in to speak with him.

CHAPTER 35

¹And Moses assembled all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and said to them, These are the words which Jehovah has commanded, that ye should do them. ²Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of solemn rest to Jehovah. Whoever does any work in it shall be put to death. ³Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day. ⁴And Moses spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Jehovah commanded, saying, ⁵Take ye from among you an offering to Jehovah. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it�Jehovah�s offering: gold, and silver, and brass, ⁶and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats� hair, ⁷and rams� skins dyed red, and certain skins, and acacia wood, ⁸and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, ⁹and onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. ¹⁰And let every wise-hearted man among you come, and make all that Jehovah has commanded: ¹¹the tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets, ¹²the ark, and the staves of it, the mercy-seat, and the veil of the screen, ¹³the table, and its staves, and all its vessels, and the showbread, ¹⁴the lampstand also for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light, ¹⁵and the altar of incense, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door, at the door of the tabernacle, ¹⁶the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base, ¹⁷the hangings of the court, the pillars of it, and their sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, ¹⁸the pegs of the tabernacle, and the pegs of the court, and their cords, ¹⁹the finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest�s office. ²⁰And all the congregation of the sons of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. ²¹And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him up, and everyone whom his spirit made willing, and brought Jehovah�s offering, for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all the service of it, and for the holy garments. ²²And they came, both men and women, as many as were willing-hearted, and brought brooches, and earrings, and signet-rings, and armlets, all jewels of gold, even every man who offered an offering of gold to Jehovah. ²³And every man, with whom was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats� hair, and rams� skins dyed red, and certain skins, brought them. ²⁴Everyone who offered an offering of silver and brass brought Jehovah�s offering, and every man, with whom was found acacia wood for any work of the service, brought it. ²⁵And all the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun: the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen. ²⁶And all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats� hair. ²⁷And the rulers brought the onyx stones, and the stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate, ²⁸and the spice, and the oil, for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. ²⁹The sons of Israel brought a freewill offering to Jehovah, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing to bring for all the work, which Jehovah had commanded to be made by Moses. ³⁰And Moses said to the sons of Israel, See, Jehovah has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. ³¹And he has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, ³²and to devise skilful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, ³³and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all manner of skilful workmanship. ³⁴And he has put in his heart that he may teach, both he, and Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. ³⁵He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all manner of workmanship, of the engraver, and of the skilful workman, and of the embroiderer, in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in fine linen, and of the weaver, even of those who do any workmanship, and of those who devise skilful works.

CHAPTER 36

¹And Bezalel and Oholiab shall work, and every wise-hearted man, in whom Jehovah has put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Jehovah has commanded. ²And Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it, ³and they received from Moses all the offering which the sons of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. And they brought yet to him freewill offerings every morning. ⁴And all the wise men, who wrought all the work of the sanctuary, came every man from his work which they wrought. ⁵And they spoke to Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah commanded to make. ⁶And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. ⁷For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. ⁸And all the wise-hearted men among them who wrought the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains, of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim; the work of the skilful workman made them. ⁹The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure. ¹⁰And he coupled five curtains one to another, and the other five curtains he coupled one to another. ¹¹And he made loops of blue upon the edge of the one curtain from the selvedge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling. ¹²Fifty loops he made in the one curtain, and fifty loops he made in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling; the loops were opposite one to another. ¹³And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps, so the tabernacle was one. ¹⁴And he made curtains of goats� hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Eleven curtains he made them. ¹⁵The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure. ¹⁶And he coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves. ¹⁷And he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops he made upon the edge of the curtain which was outmost in the second coupling. ¹⁸And he made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be one. ¹⁹And he made a covering for the tent of rams� skins dyed red, and a covering of certain skins above. ²⁰And he made the boards for the tabernacle, of acacia wood, standing up. ²¹Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board. ²²Each board had two tenons, joined one to another. Thus he made for all the boards of the tabernacle. ²³And he made the boards for the tabernacle. Twenty boards for the south side southward. ²⁴And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons. ²⁵And for the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards, ²⁶and their forty sockets of silver, two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board. ²⁷And for the hinder part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. ²⁸And he made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the hinder part. ²⁹And they were double beneath, and in like manner they were entire to the top of it to one ring. Thus he did to both of them in the two corners. ³⁰And there were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets, under every board two sockets. ³¹And he made bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, ³²and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward. ³³And he made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other. ³⁴And he overlaid the boards with gold. And made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold. ³⁵And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. He made it with cherubim, the work of the skilful workman. ³⁶And he made for it four pillars of acacia, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold, and he cast for them four sockets of silver. ³⁷And he made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer, ³⁸and the five pillars of it with their hooks. And he overlaid their capitals and their bands with gold, and their five sockets were of brass.

CHAPTER 37

¹And Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood; two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. ²And he overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a crown of gold to it round about. ³And he cast four rings of gold for it, in the four feet of it, even two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. ⁴And he made staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. ⁵And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark. ⁶And he made a mercy-seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it. ⁷And he made two cherubim of gold, of beaten work he made them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat, ⁸one cherub at the one end, and one cherub at the other end, of one piece with the mercy-seat. He made the cherubim at the two ends of it. ⁹And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, with their faces one to another. The faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy-seat. ¹⁰And he made the table of acacia wood, two cubits the length of it, and a cubit the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the height of it. ¹¹And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made thereunto a crown of gold round about. ¹²And he made to it a border of a handbreadth round about, and made a golden crown to the border of it round about. ¹³And he cast four rings of gold for it, and put the rings in the four corners that were on the four feet of it, ¹⁴close by the border were the rings, the places for the staves to bear the table. ¹⁵And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table. ¹⁶And he made the vessels which were upon the table, the dishes of it, and the spoons of it, and the bowls of it, and the flagons of it, with which to pour out, of pure gold. ¹⁷And he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of beaten work, even its base, and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its flowers, were of one piece with it. ¹⁸And there were six branches going out of the sides of it, three branches of the lampstand out of the one side of it, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it, ¹⁹three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knob and a flower, and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knob and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. ²⁰And in the lampstand were four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knobs of it, and the flowers of it, ²¹and a knob under two branches of one piece with it, and a knob under two branches of one piece with it, and a knob under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of it. ²²Their knobs and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was one beaten work of pure gold. ²³And he made the lamps of it, seven, and the snuffers of it, and the snuff dishes of it, of pure gold. ²⁴He made it of a talent of pure gold, and all the vessels of it. ²⁵And he made the altar of incense of acacia wood: a cubit was the length of it, and a cubit the breadth of it, foursquare, and two cubits was the height of it. The horns of it were of one piece with it. ²⁶And he overlaid it with pure gold, the top of it, and the sides of it round about, and the horns of it. And he made to it a crown of gold round about. ²⁷And he made for it two golden rings under the crown of it, upon the two ribs of it, upon the two sides of it, for places for staves with which to bear it. ²⁸And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with gold. ²⁹And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, after the art of the perfumer.

CHAPTER 38

¹And he made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood: five cubits was the length of it, and five cubits the breadth of it, foursquare, and three cubits the height of it. ²And he made the horns of it upon the four corners of it. The horns of it were of one piece with it, and he overlaid it with brass. ³And he made all the vessels of the altar: the pots, and the shovels, and the basins, the flesh-hooks, and the firepans. All the vessels of it he made of brass. ⁴And he made for the altar a grating of network of brass, under the ledge around it beneath, reaching halfway up. ⁵And he cast four rings for the four ends of the grating of brass, to be places for the staves. ⁶And he made the staves of acacia wood, and overlaid them with brass. ⁷And he put the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to bear it; he made it hollow with planks. ⁸And he made the laver of brass, and the base of it of brass, from the mirrors of the women who fasted, who fasted by the doors of the tabernacle of witness, in the day in which he set it up. ⁹And he made the court. For the south side southward the hangings of the court were of fine twined linen, a hundred cubits, ¹⁰their pillars were twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass. The hooks of the pillars and their bands were of silver. ¹¹And for the north side a hundred cubits, their pillars twenty, and their sockets twenty, of brass, the hooks of the pillars, and their bands, of silver. ¹²And for the west side were hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten, the hooks of the pillars, and their bands, of silver. ¹³And for the east side eastward fifty cubits. ¹⁴The hangings for the one side of the gate were fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three, ¹⁵and so for the other side. On this hand and that hand by the gate of the court were hangings of fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three. ¹⁶All the hangings of the court round about were of fine twined linen. ¹⁷And the sockets for the pillars were of brass, the hooks of the pillars, and their bands, of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, of silver. And all the pillars of the court were banded with silver. ¹⁸And the screen for the gate of the court was the work of the embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. And twenty cubits was the length, and the height in the breadth was five cubits, answerable to the hangings of the court. ¹⁹And their pillars were four, and their sockets four, of brass, their hooks of silver, and the overlaying of their capitals, and their bands, of silver. ²⁰And all the pegs of the tabernacle, and of the court round about, were of brass. ²¹This is the sum of the tabernacle, even the tabernacle of the testimony, as they were counted, according to the commandment of Moses, for the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron the priest. ²²And Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that Jehovah commanded Moses. ²³And with him was Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a skilful workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in fine linen. ²⁴All the gold that was used for the work in all the work of the sanctuary, even the gold of the offering, was twenty-nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary. ²⁵And the silver from those who were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and seventy-five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, ²⁶a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for everyone who passed over to those who were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men. ²⁷And the hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil, a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket. ²⁸And of the thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their capitals, and made bands for them. ²⁹And the brass of the offering was seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels. ³⁰And with it he made the sockets to the door of the tent of meeting, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grating for it, and all the vessels of the altar, ³¹and 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

¹And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. ³And they beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skilful workman. ⁴They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together. It was joined together at the two ends. ⁵And the skillfully woven band, that was upon it with which to gird it on, was of the same piece and like the work of it, of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁶And they wrought the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. ⁷And he put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁸And he made the breastplate, the work of the skilful workman, like the work of the ephod, of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. ⁹It was foursquare. They made the breastplate double; a span was the length of it, and a span the breadth of it, being double. ¹⁰And they set four rows of stones in it. A row of sardius, topaz, and carbuncle was the first row, ¹¹and the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond, ¹²and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst, ¹³and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were set in enclosures of gold in their settings. ¹⁴And the stones were according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one according to his name, for the twelve tribes. ¹⁵And they made upon the breastplate chains like cords, of wreathen work of pure gold. ¹⁶And they made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. ¹⁷And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. ¹⁸And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, in the forepart of it. ¹⁹And they made two rings of gold, and put them upon the two ends of the breastplate, upon the edge of it, which was toward the side of the ephod inward. ²⁰And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the forepart of it, close by the coupling of it, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²¹And they bound the breastplate by the rings of it to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be upon the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²²And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. ²³And the hole of the robe in the midst of it, as the hole of a coat of mail, with a binding round about the hole of it, that it should not be torn. ²⁴And they made upon the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, twined. ²⁵And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the skirts of the robe round about, between the pomegranates, ²⁶a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about, to minister in, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²⁷And they made the tunics of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, ²⁸and the miter of fine linen, and the goodly head-coverings of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, ²⁹and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³⁰And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like the engravings of a signet, HOLY TO JEHOVAH. ³¹And they tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it upon the miter above, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³²Thus was finished all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. And the sons of Israel did according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so did they. ³³And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent, and all its furniture: its clasps, its boards, it bars, and its pillars, and it sockets, ³⁴and the covering of rams� skins dyed red, and the covering of certain skins, and the veil of the screen, ³⁵the ark of the testimony, and the staves of it, and the mercy-seat, ³⁶the table, all the vessels of it, and the showbread, ³⁷the pure lampstand, the lamps of it, even the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels of it, and the oil for the light, ³⁸and the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the screen for the door of the tent, ³⁹the brazen altar, and its grating of brass, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base, ⁴⁰the hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets, and the screen for the gate of the court, the cords of it, and the pegs of it, and all the instruments of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting, ⁴¹the finely wrought garments for ministering in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest�s office. ⁴²According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did all the work. ⁴³And Moses saw all the work, and, behold, they had done it, as Jehovah had commanded, even so they had done it. And Moses blessed them.

CHAPTER 40

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²On the first day of the first month thou shall raise up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ³And thou shall put the ark of the testimony in it, and thou shall screen the ark with the veil. ⁴And thou shall bring in the table, and set in order the things that are upon it, and thou shall bring in the lampstand, and light the lamps of it. ⁵And thou shall set the golden altar for incense before the ark of the testimony, and put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. ⁶And thou shall set the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. ⁷And thou shall set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and shall put water in it. ⁸And thou shall set up the court round about, and hang up the screen of the gate of the court. ⁹And thou shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle, and all that is in it, and shall hallow it, and all the furniture of it. And it shall be holy. ¹⁰And thou shall anoint the altar of burnt offering, and all its vessels, and sanctify the altar. And the altar shall be most holy. ¹¹And thou shall anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it. ¹²And thou shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. ¹³And thou shall put upon Aaron the holy garments, and thou shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest�s office. ¹⁴And thou shall bring his sons, and put tunics upon them, ¹⁵and thou shall anoint them, as thou anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest�s office. And their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations. ¹⁶Thus did Moses. According to all that Jehovah commanded him, so did he. ¹⁷And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was raised up. ¹⁸And Moses raised up the tabernacle, and laid its sockets, and set up the boards of it, and put in the bars of it, and raised up its pillars. ¹⁹And he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent above upon it, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²⁰And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy-seat above upon the ark. ²¹And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the veil of the screen, and screened the ark of the testimony, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²²And he put the table in the tent of meeting, upon the side of the tabernacle northward, outside the veil. ²³And he set the bread in order upon it before Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²⁴And he put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward. ²⁵And he lit the lamps before Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²⁶And he put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the veil, ²⁷and he burnt incense of sweet spices on it, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²⁸And he put the screen of the door to the tabernacle. ²⁹And he set the altar of burnt offering at the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered upon it the burnt offering and the meal offering, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³⁰And he set the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it, with which to wash. ³¹And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet there. ³²They washed when they went into the tent of meeting, and when they came near to the altar, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³³And he raised up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. ³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. ³⁵And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting, because the cloud abode thereupon, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. ³⁶And when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the sons of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys, ³⁷but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till the day that it was taken up. ³⁸For the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

LEVITICUS

CHAPTER 1

¹And Jehovah called to Moses, and spoke to him out of the tent of meeting, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When any man of you offers an oblation to Jehovah, ye shall offer your oblation of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock. ³If his oblation be a burnt offering of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish. He shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before Jehovah. ⁴And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. ⁵And he shall kill the bullock before Jehovah, and Aaron�s sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁶And he shall skin the burnt offering, and cut it into its pieces. ⁷And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire. ⁸And Aaron�s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar, ⁹but its innards and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹⁰And if his oblation be of the flock, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer it a male without blemish. ¹¹And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before Jehovah, and Aaron�s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood upon the altar round about. ¹²And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar, ¹³but the innards and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer the whole, and burn it upon the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹⁴And if his oblation to Jehovah be a burnt offering of birds, then he shall offer his oblation of turtle-doves, or of young pigeons. ¹⁵And the priest shall bring it to the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar. And the blood of it shall be drained out on the side of the altar. ¹⁶And he shall take away its crop with the filth of it, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes. ¹⁷And he shall rend it by the wings of it, but shall not divide it apart, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah.

CHAPTER 2

¹And when anyone offers an oblation of a meal offering to Jehovah, his oblation shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense on it. ²And he shall bring it to Aaron�s sons the priests, and he shall take out of it his handful of the fine flour of it, and of the oil of it, with all the frankincense of it. And the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ³And that which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron�s and his sons�. It is a thing most holy of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. ⁴And when thou offer an oblation of a meal offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. ⁵And if thy oblation be a meal offering of the baking-pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mingled with oil. ⁶Thou shall part it in pieces, and pour oil in it. It is a meal offering. ⁷And if thy oblation be a meal offering of the frying-pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. ⁸And thou shall bring the meal offering that is made of these things to Jehovah, and it shall be presented to the priest, and he shall bring it to the altar. ⁹And the priest shall take up from the meal offering the memorial of it, and shall burn it upon the altar, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹⁰And that which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron�s and his sons�. It is a thing most holy of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. ¹¹No meal offering, which ye shall offer to Jehovah, shall be made with leaven, for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ¹²As an oblation of first-fruits ye shall offer them to Jehovah, but they shall not come up for a sweet savor on the altar. ¹³And every oblation of thy meal offering thou shall season with salt, nor shall thou allow the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meal offering. With all thine oblations thou shall offer salt. ¹⁴And if thou offer a meal offering of first-fruits to Jehovah, thou shall offer for the meal offering of thy first-fruits grain in the ear parched with fire, crushed grain of the fresh ear. ¹⁵And thou shall put oil upon it, and lay frankincense on it. It is a meal offering. ¹⁶And the priest shall burn the memorial of it, part of the crushed grain of it, and part of the oil of it, with all the frankincense of it. It is an offering made by fire to Jehovah.

CHAPTER 3

¹And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he offer of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before Jehovah. ²And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his oblation, and kill it at the door of the tent of meeting. And Aaron�s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. ³And he shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Jehovah, he shall take away the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is upon the innards, ⁴and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul upon the liver, with the kidneys. ⁵And Aaron�s sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt offering, which is upon the wood that is on the fire. It is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ⁶And if his oblation for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah be of the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. ⁷If he offers a lamb for his oblation, then he shall offer it before Jehovah. ⁸And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his oblation, and kill it before the tent of meeting. And Aaron�s sons shall sprinkle the blood of it upon the altar round about. ⁹And he shall offer of the sacrifice of peace offerings an offering made by fire to Jehovah. The fat of it, the entire fat tail, he shall take away close by the backbone. And he shall take away the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is upon the innards, ¹⁰and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the loins, and the caul upon the liver, with the kidneys. ¹¹And the priest shall burn it upon the altar. It is the food of the offering made by fire to Jehovah. ¹²And if his oblation be a goat, then he shall offer it before Jehovah. ¹³And he shall lay his hand upon the head of it, and kill it before the tent of meeting. And the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle the blood of it upon the altar round about. ¹⁴And he shall offer his oblation from it, even an offering made by fire to Jehovah. He shall take away the fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is upon the innards, ¹⁵and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the loins, and the caul upon the liver, with the kidneys. ¹⁶And the priest shall burn them upon the altar. It is the food of the offering made by fire, for a sweet savor. All the fat is Jehovah�s. ¹⁷It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.

CHAPTER 4

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin unwittingly, in any of the things which Jehovah has commanded not to be done, and shall do any one of them, ³if the anointed priest shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin, which he has sinned, a young bullock without blemish to Jehovah for a sin offering. ⁴And he shall bring the bullock to the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the bullock, and kill the bullock before Jehovah. ⁵And the anointed priest shall take of the blood of the bullock, and bring it to the tent of meeting. ⁶And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before Jehovah, before the veil of the sanctuary. ⁷And the priest shall put of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before Jehovah, which is in the tent of meeting, and all the blood of the bullock he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁸And all the fat of the bullock of the sin offering he shall take off from it. The fat that covers the innards, and all the fat that is upon the innards, ⁹and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the loins, and the caul upon the liver, with the kidneys, he shall take away, ¹⁰as it is taken off from the ox of the sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall burn them upon the altar of burnt offering. ¹¹And the skin of the bullock, and all its flesh, with its head, and with its legs, and its innards, and its dung, ¹²even the whole bullock he shall carry forth outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. It shall be burnt where the ashes are poured out. ¹³And if the whole congregation of Israel err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done any of the things which Jehovah has commanded not to be done, and are guilty, ¹⁴when the sin by which they have sinned is known, then the assembly shall offer a young bullock for a sin offering, and bring it before the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before Jehovah, and the bullock shall be killed before Jehovah. ¹⁶And the anointed priest shall bring of the blood of the bullock to the tent of meeting. ¹⁷And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before Jehovah, before the veil. ¹⁸And he shall put of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before Jehovah, that is in the tent of meeting, and all the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering, which is at the door of the tent of meeting. ¹⁹And all the fat of it he shall take off from it, and burn it upon the altar. ²⁰Thus he shall do with the bullock, as he did with the bullock of the sin offering, so he shall do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. ²¹And he shall carry forth the bullock outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bullock. It is the sin offering for the assembly. ²²When a ruler sins, and does unwittingly any one of all the things which Jehovah his God has commanded not to be done, and is guilty, ²³if his sin, by which he has sinned, be made known to him, he shall bring for his oblation a goat, a male without blemish. ²⁴And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before Jehovah. It is a sin offering. ²⁵And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and the blood of it he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering. ²⁶And all the fat of it he shall burn upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin, and he shall be forgiven. ²⁷And if any soul of the common people sin unwittingly, in doing any of the things which Jehovah has commanded not to be done, and be guilty, ²⁸if his sin, which he has sinned, be made known to him, then he shall bring for his oblation a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has sinned. ²⁹And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. ³⁰And the priest shall take of the blood of it with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and all the blood of it he shall pour out at the base of the altar. ³¹And all the fat of it he shall take away, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor to Jehovah. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ³²And if he brings a lamb as his oblation for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish. ³³And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. ³⁴And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and all the blood of it he shall pour out at the base of the altar. ³⁵And all the fat of it he shall take away, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn them on the altar, upon the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned, and he shall be forgiven.

CHAPTER 5

¹And if a soul sins, in that he hears the voice of an oath, he being a witness, whether he has seen or known, if he does not testify, then he shall bear his iniquity. ²Or if a soul touches any unclean thing, whether it be the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it be hidden from him, and he be unclean, then he shall be guilty. ³Or if he touch the uncleanness of man, whatever his uncleanness be with which he is unclean, and it be hid from him, when he knows of it, then he shall be guilty. ⁴Or if a soul swears rashly with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatever it be that a man shall utter rashly with an oath, and it be hid from him, when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in one of these. ⁵And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these, that he shall confess that by which he has sinned. ⁶And he shall bring his trespass offering to Jehovah for his sin which he has sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin. ⁷And if his means is not sufficient for a lamb, then he shall bring his trespass offering for that by which he has sinned, two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to Jehovah, one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. ⁸And he shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it apart. ⁹And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering, according to the ordinance. And the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin which he has sinned, and he shall be forgiven. ¹¹But if his means is not sufficient for two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, then he shall bring his oblation for that by which he has sinned, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil upon it, nor shall he put any frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. ¹²And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as the memorial of it, and burn it on the altar, upon the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. It is a sin offering. ¹³And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin that he has sinned in any of these things, and he shall be forgiven. And the remnant shall be the priest�s, as the meal offering. ¹⁴And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁵If a soul commits a trespass, and sins unwittingly in the holy things of Jehovah, then he shall bring his trespass offering to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering. ¹⁶And he shall make restitution for that which he has done amiss in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part to it, and give it to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and he shall be forgiven. ¹⁷And if a soul sins, and does any of the things which Jehovah has commanded not to be done, though he did not know it, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. ¹⁸And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning the thing by which he erred unwittingly and knew it not, and he shall be forgiven. ¹⁹It is a trespass offering. He is certainly guilty before Jehovah.

CHAPTER 6

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²If a soul sins, and commits a trespass against Jehovah, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or have oppressed his neighbor, ³or has found that which was lost, and deal falsely by it, and swears to a lie, in any of all these things that a man does, sinning by it, ⁴then it shall be, if he has sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he has gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was committed to him, or the lost thing which he found, ⁵or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall even restore it in full, and shall add the fifth part more to it. He shall give it to him to whom it pertains, in the day of his being found guilty. ⁶And he shall bring his trespass offering to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest. ⁷And the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah, and he shall be forgiven concerning whatever he does so as to be guilty by it. ⁸And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁹Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night to the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. ¹⁰And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and he shall put his linen breeches upon his flesh, and he shall take up the ashes of the fire which has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. ¹¹And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. ¹²And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn the fat of the peace offerings on it. ¹³Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out. ¹⁴And this is the law of the meal offering: The sons of Aaron shall offer it before Jehovah, before the altar. ¹⁵And he shall take up his handful from it, of the fine flour of the meal offering, and of the oil of it, and all the frankincense which is upon the meal offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor, as the memorial of it, to Jehovah. ¹⁶And that which is left of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten without leaven in a holy place. They shall eat it in the court of the tent of meeting. ¹⁷It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire, it is most holy, as the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. ¹⁸Every male among the sons of Aaron shall eat of it, as a portion forever throughout your generations, from the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. Whoever touches them shall be holy. ¹⁹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁰This is the oblation of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to Jehovah in the day when he is anointed: the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering perpetually, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening. ²¹It shall be made with oil on a baking-pan. Thou shall bring it in when it is soaked. Thou shall offer the meal offering in baked pieces for a sweet savor to Jehovah. ²²And the anointed priest who shall be in his stead from among his sons shall offer it. It shall be wholly burnt to Jehovah by a statute forever. ²³And every meal offering of the priest shall be wholly burnt; it shall not be eaten. ²⁴And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁵Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed the sin offering shall be killed before Jehovah. It is most holy. ²⁶The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the tent of meeting. ²⁷Whatever shall touch the flesh of it shall be holy. And when there is of the blood sprinkled upon any garment, thou shall wash that on which it was sprinkled in a holy place. ²⁸But the earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken, and if it be boiled in a brazen vessel, it shall be scoured, and rinsed in water. ²⁹Every male among the priests shall eat of it. It is most holy. ³⁰And no sin offering, from which any of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place, shall be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire.

CHAPTER 7

¹And this is the law of the trespass offering. It is most holy. ²In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the trespass offering, and the blood of it he shall sprinkle upon the altar round about. ³And he shall offer from it all the fat of it. He shall take away the fat tail, and the fat that covers the innards, ⁴and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the caul upon the liver, with the kidneys. ⁵And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire to Jehovah. It is a trespass offering. ⁶Every male among the priests shall eat of it. It shall be eaten in a holy place; it is most holy. ⁷As is the sin offering, so is the trespass offering, there is one law for them. The priest who makes atonement with it, he shall have it. ⁸And the priest who offers any man�s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he has offered. ⁹And every meal offering that is baked in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying-pan, and on the baking-pan, shall be the priest�s who offers it. ¹⁰And every meal offering, mingled with oil, or dry, all the sons of Aaron shall have, one as well as another. ¹¹And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer to Jehovah. ¹²If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour soaked. ¹³He shall offer his oblation with the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving with cakes of leavened bread. ¹⁴And from it he shall offer one out of each oblation for a heave offering to Jehovah. It shall be the priest�s who sprinkles the blood of the peace offerings. ¹⁵And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten on the day of his oblation; he shall not leave any of it until the morning. ¹⁶But if the sacrifice of his oblation be a vow, or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the morrow that which remains of it shall be eaten, ¹⁷but that which remains of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. ¹⁸And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings is eaten on the third day, it shall not be accepted, nor shall it be imputed to him who offers it. It shall be an abomination, and the soul that eats of it shall bear his iniquity. ¹⁹And the flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire. And as for the flesh, every clean man shall eat of it, ²⁰but the soul that eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain to Jehovah, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his people. ²¹And when a soul shall touch any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or an unclean beast, or any unclean abomination, and eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain to Jehovah, that soul shall be cut off from his people. ²²And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²³Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. ²⁴And the fat of that which dies of itself, and the fat of that which is torn of beasts, may be used for any other service, but ye shall certainly not eat of it. ²⁵For whoever eats the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah, even the soul that eats it shall be cut off from his people. ²⁶And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of bird or of beast, in any of your dwellings. ²⁷Whoever it is who eats any blood, that soul shall be cut off from his people. ²⁸And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁹Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to Jehovah shall bring his oblation to Jehovah out of the sacrifice of his peace offerings. ³⁰His own hands shall bring the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before Jehovah. ³¹And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron�s and his sons�. ³²And the right thigh ye shall give to the priest for a heave offering out of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. ³³He among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right thigh for a portion. ³⁴For I have taken the wave-breast and the heave-thigh from the sons of Israel out of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons as a portion forever from the sons of Israel. ³⁵This is the anointing-portion of Aaron, and the anointing-portion of his sons, out of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister to Jehovah in the priest�s office, ³⁶which Jehovah commanded to be given them from the sons of Israel, in the day that he anointed them. It is a portion forever throughout their generations. ³⁷This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meal offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecration, and of the sacrifice of peace offerings, ³⁸which Jehovah commanded Moses at mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the sons of Israel to offer their oblations to Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai.

CHAPTER 8

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bullock of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, ³and assemble thou all the congregation at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁴And Moses did as Jehovah commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁵And Moses said to the congregation, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded to be done. ⁶And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. ⁷And he put upon him the tunic, and girded him with the sash, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and bound it to him therewith. ⁸And he placed the breastplate upon him, and he put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastplate. ⁹And he set the miter upon his head. And upon the miter, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹⁰And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and sanctified them. ¹¹And he sprinkled of it upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels, and the laver and its base, to sanctify them. ¹²And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron�s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. ¹³And Moses brought Aaron�s sons, and clothed them with tunics, and girded them with sashes, and bound head-coverings upon them, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹⁴And he brought the bullock of the sin offering. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock of the sin offering, ¹⁵and he killed it. And Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it. ¹⁶And he took all the fat that was upon the innards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. ¹⁷But the bullock, and its skin, and its flesh, and its dung, he burnt with fire outside the camp, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹⁸And he presented the ram of the burnt offering. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, ¹⁹and he killed it. And Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. ²⁰And he cut the ram into its pieces, and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat. ²¹And he washed the innards and the legs with water. And Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar. It was a burnt offering for a sweet savor. It was an offering made by fire to Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²²And he presented the other ram, the ram of consecration. And Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, ²³and he killed it. And Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron�s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. ²⁴And he brought Aaron�s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot. And Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. ²⁵And he took the fat, and the fat tail, and all the fat that was upon the innards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right thigh, ²⁶and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before Jehovah, he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat, and upon the right thigh. ²⁷And he put the whole upon the hands of Aaron, and upon the hands of his sons, and waved them for a wave offering before Jehovah. ²⁸And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering. They were a consecration for a sweet savor. It was an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ²⁹And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before Jehovah. It was Moses� portion of the ram of consecration, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³⁰And Moses took of the anointing oil, and of the blood which was upon the altar, and sprinkled it upon Aaron, upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon his sons� garments with him, and sanctified Aaron, his garments, and his sons, and his sons� garments with him. ³¹And Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the door of the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it. ³²And that which remains of the flesh and of the bread ye shall burn with fire. ³³And ye shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting seven days, until the days of your consecration be fulfilled, for he shall consecrate you seven days. ³⁴As has been done this day, so Jehovah has commanded to do, to make atonement for you. ³⁵And ye shall remain at the door of the tent of meeting day and night seven days, and keep the charge of Jehovah, that ye not die, for so I am commanded. ³⁶And Aaron and his sons did all the things which Jehovah commanded by Moses.

CHAPTER 9

¹And it came to pass on the eighth day, that Moses called Aaron and his sons, and the elders of Israel, ²and he said to Aaron, Take thee a calf of the herd for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and offer them before Jehovah. ³And thou shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Take ye a he-goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old, without blemish, for a burnt offering, ⁴and an ox and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice before Jehovah, and a meal offering mingled with oil. For today Jehovah appears to you. ⁵And they brought that which Moses commanded before the tent of meeting, and all the congregation drew near and stood before Jehovah. ⁶And Moses said, This is the thing which Jehovah commanded that ye should do, and the glory of Jehovah shall appear to you. ⁷And Moses said to Aaron, Draw near to the altar, and offer thy sin offering, and thy burnt offering, and make atonement for thyself, and for the people. And offer the oblation of the people, and make atonement for them, as Jehovah commanded. ⁸So Aaron drew near to the altar, and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself. ⁹And the sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger in the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, ¹⁰but he burnt the fat, and the kidneys, and the caul from the liver of the sin offering, upon the altar, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹¹And he burnt the flesh and the skin with fire outside the camp. ¹²And he killed the burnt offering. And Aaron�s sons delivered to him the blood, and he sprinkled it upon the altar round about. ¹³And they delivered the burnt offering to him, piece by piece, and the head, and he burnt them upon the altar. ¹⁴And he washed the innards and the legs, and burnt them upon the burnt offering on the altar. ¹⁵And he presented the people�s oblation. And took the goat of the sin offering which was for the people, and killed it, and offered it for sin, as the first. ¹⁶And he presented the burnt offering, and offered it according to the ordinance. ¹⁷And he presented the meal offering, and filled his hand from it, and burnt it upon the altar, besides the burnt offering of the morning. ¹⁸He also killed the ox and the ram, the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the people. And Aaron�s sons delivered to him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round about, ¹⁹and the fat of the ox and of the ram, the fat tail, and that which covers the innards, and the kidneys, and the caul of the liver. ²⁰And they put the fat upon the breasts, and he burnt the fat upon the altar. ²¹And the breasts and the right thigh Aaron waved for a wave offering before Jehovah, as Moses commanded. ²²And Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people, and blessed them. And he came down from offering the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. ²³And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and came out, and blessed the people. And the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people. ²⁴And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

CHAPTER 10

¹And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each of them took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which he had not commanded them. ²And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah. ³Then Moses said to Aaron, This is it that Jehovah spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in those who come near me. And I will be glorified before all the people. And Aaron remained silent. ⁴And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Draw near. Carry your brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp. ⁵So they drew near, and carried them in their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said. ⁶And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Let not the hair of your heads go loose, neither tear your clothes, that ye not die, and that he not be angry with all the congregation, but let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which Jehovah has kindled. ⁷And ye shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting, lest ye die, for the anointing oil of Jehovah is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. ⁸And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, saying, ⁹Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tent of meeting, that ye not die�it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations� ¹⁰and that ye may make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, ¹¹and that ye may teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which Jehovah has spoken to them by Moses. ¹²And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, for it is most holy. ¹³And ye shall eat it in a holy place, because it is thy portion, and thy sons� portion, of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire. For so I am commanded. ¹⁴And ye shall eat the wave-breast and the heave-thigh in a clean place, thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee. For they are given as thy portion, and thy sons� portion, out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the sons of Israel. ¹⁵They shall bring the heave-thigh and the wave-breast with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before Jehovah, and it shall be thine, and thy sons� with thee, as a portion forever, as Jehovah has commanded. ¹⁶And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt. And he was angry with Eleazar and with Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left, saying, ¹⁷Why have ye not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, seeing it is most holy, and he has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before Jehovah? ¹⁸Behold, the blood of it was not brought into the sanctuary inside. Ye should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded. ¹⁹And Aaron spoke to Moses, Behold, this day they have offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before Jehovah, and there have befallen me such things as these. And if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been well-pleasing in the sight of Jehovah? ²⁰And when Moses heard, it was well-pleasing in his sight.

CHAPTER 11

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, These are the living things which ye may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. ³Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven footed, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat. ⁴Nevertheless these shall ye not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those that part the hoof: the camel, because he chews the cud but does not part the hoof, he is unclean to you. ⁵And the coney, because he chews the cud but does not part the hoof, he is unclean to you. ⁶And the hare, because she chews the cud but does not part the hoof, she is unclean to you. ⁷And the swine, because he parts the hoof, and is cloven footed, but does not chew the cud, he is unclean to you. ⁸Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch, they are unclean to you. ⁹These may ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that may ye eat. ¹⁰And all that have no fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you, ¹¹and they shall be an abomination to you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses ye shall have in abomination. ¹²Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination to you. ¹³And these ye shall have in abomination among the birds, they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the vulture, and the osprey, ¹⁴and the kite, and the falcon after its kind, ¹⁵every raven after its kind, ¹⁶and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind, ¹⁷and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl, ¹⁸and the horned owl, and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, ¹⁹and the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. ²⁰All winged creeping things that go upon all fours are an abomination to you. ²¹Yet these ye may eat of all winged creeping things that go upon all fours, which have legs above their feet, with which to leap upon the earth, ²²even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. ²³But all winged creeping things, which have four feet, are an abomination to you, ²⁴and by these ye shall become unclean. Whoever touches the carcass of them shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁵And whoever bears any of the carcass of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. ²⁶Every beast which parts the hoof, and is not cloven footed, nor chews the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean. ²⁷And whatever goes upon its paws, among all beasts that go on all fours, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁸And he who bears the carcass of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you. ²⁹And these are those which are unclean to you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kind, ³⁰and the gecko, and the land-crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand-lizard, and the chameleon. ³¹These are those which are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them, when they are dead, shall be unclean until the evening. ³²And upon whatever any of them falls when they are dead, it shall be unclean, whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack. Whatever vessel it be, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening, then it shall be clean. ³³And every earthen vessel, into which any of them falls, whatever is in it shall be unclean, and ye shall break it. ³⁴All food therein which may be eaten, that on which water comes, shall be unclean, and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean. ³⁵And everything upon which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean, whether oven, or range for pots, it shall be broken in pieces; they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you. ³⁶Nevertheless a fountain or a pit in which is a gathering of water shall be clean, but that which touches their carcass shall be unclean. ³⁷And if any of their carcass falls upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean. ³⁸But if water is put upon the seed, and any of their carcass falls in it, it is unclean to you. ³⁹And if any beast, of which ye may eat, dies, he who touches the carcass of it shall be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁰And he who eats of the carcass of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. He also who bears the carcass of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. ⁴¹And every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth is an abomination; it shall not be eaten. ⁴²Whatever goes upon the belly, and whatever goes upon all fours, or whatever has many feet, even all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat, for they are an abomination. ⁴³Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps, nor shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled by it. ⁴⁴For I am Jehovah your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and become ye holy, since I am holy. Neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that moves upon the earth. ⁴⁵For I am Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. ⁴⁶This is the law of the beast, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps upon the earth, ⁴⁷to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.

CHAPTER 12

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives seed, and bears a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days, as in the days of the impurity of her sickness she shall be unclean. ³And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. ⁴And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying thirty-three days. She shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. ⁵But if she bears a maid-child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her impurity, and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying sixty-six days. ⁶And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtle-dove, for a sin offering, to the door of the tent of meeting, to the priest. ⁷And he shall offer it before Jehovah, and make atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed from the fountain of her blood. This is the law for her who bears, whether a male or a female. ⁸And if her means are not sufficient for a lamb, then she shall take two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, the one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

CHAPTER 13

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, or a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes in the skin of his flesh a leprous disease, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest, or to one of his sons the priests. ³And the priest shall look on the disease in the skin of the flesh, and if the hair in the disease has turned white, and the appearance of the disease is deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a leprous disease. And the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. ⁴And if the bright spot is white in the skin of his flesh, and the appearance of it is not deeper than the skin, and the hair of it has not turned white, then the priest shall shut up the disease seven days. ⁵And the priest shall look on him the seventh day, and, behold, if in his eyes the disease is arrested, and the disease is not spread in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up seven days more. ⁶And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day, and, behold, if the disease is dim, and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. It is a scab, and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. ⁷But if the scab spreads abroad in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall show himself to the priest again. ⁸And the priest shall look, and, behold, if the scab is spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous disease. ⁹When the leprous disease is in a man, then he shall be brought to the priest. ¹⁰And the priest shall look, and, behold, if there is a white rising in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the rising, ¹¹it is an old leprous disease in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. He shall not shut him up, for he is unclean. ¹²And if the leprous disease breaks out abroad in the skin, and the leprous disease covers all the skin of the disease from his head even to his feet, as far as appears to the priest, ¹³then the priest shall look. And, behold, if the leprous disease has covered all his flesh, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease. It is all turned white; he is clean. ¹⁴But whenever raw flesh appears in him, he shall be unclean. ¹⁵And the priest shall look on the raw flesh, and pronounce him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean; it is a leprous disease. ¹⁶Or if the raw flesh turns again, and is changed to white, then he shall come to the priest. ¹⁷And the priest shall look on him, and, behold, if the disease is turned into white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean of the disease; he is clean. ¹⁸And when the flesh has a boil in the skin of it, and it is healed, ¹⁹and in the place of the boil there is a white rising, or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it shall be shown to the priest. ²⁰And the priest shall look, and, behold, if the appearance of it is deeper than the skin, and the hair of it has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous disease; it has broken out in the boil. ²¹But if the priest looks on it, and, behold, there are no white hairs in it, and it is not deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest shall shut him up seven days. ²²And if it spreads abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a disease. ²³But if the bright spot stays in its place, and has not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest shall pronounce him clean. ²⁴Or when the flesh has a burning by fire in the skin of it, and the quick of the burning become a bright spot, reddish-white, or white, ²⁵then the priest shall look upon it. And, behold, if the hair in the bright spot has turned white, and the appearance of it is deeper than the skin, it is a leprous disease. It has broken out in the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease. ²⁶But if the priest looks on it, and, behold, there is no white hair in the bright spot, and it is no deeper than the skin, but is dim, then the priest shall shut him up seven days. ²⁷And the priest shall look upon him the seventh day. If it spread abroad in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease. ²⁸And if the bright spot stays in its place, and has not spread in the skin, but is dim, it is the rising of the burning, and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar of the burning. ²⁹And when a man or woman has a disease upon the head or upon the beard, ³⁰then the priest shall look on the disease. And, behold, if the appearance of it is deeper than the skin, and there is yellow thin hair in it, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a scall. It is a leprous disease of the head or of the beard. ³¹And if the priest looks on the disease of the scall, and, behold, the appearance of it is not deeper than the skin, and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall shut up the disease of the scall seven days. ³²And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the disease, and, behold, if the scall has not spread, and there is in it no yellow hair, and the appearance of the scall is not deeper than the skin, ³³then he shall be shaven, but the scall he shall not shave, and the priest shall shut up him who has the scall seven days more. ³⁴And in the seventh day the priest shall look on the scall, and, behold, if the scall has not spread in the skin, and the appearance of it is not deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. And he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. ³⁵But if the scall spreads abroad in the skin after his cleansing, ³⁶then the priest shall look on him. And, behold, if the scall has spread in the skin, the priest shall not seek for the yellow hair, he is unclean. ³⁷But if in his eyes the scall is arrested, and black hair is grown up in it, the scall is healed. He is clean, and the priest shall pronounce him clean. ³⁸And when a man or a woman has bright spots in the skin of the flesh, even white bright spots, ³⁹then the priest shall look. And, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh are of a dull white, it is a tetter. It has broken out in the skin; he is clean. ⁴⁰And if a man�s hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; he is clean. ⁴¹And if his hair is fallen off from the front part of his head, he is forehead bald; he is clean. ⁴²But if there is a reddish-white disease in the bald head, or the bald forehead, it is a leprous disease breaking out in his bald head, or his bald forehead. ⁴³Then the priest shall look upon him, and, behold, if the rising of the disease is reddish-white in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the appearance of a leprous disease in the skin of the flesh, ⁴⁴he is a leprous man; he is unclean. The priest shall surely pronounce him unclean; his disease is on his head. ⁴⁵And the man with a leprous disease in whom the disease is, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall go loose, and he shall cover his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean. ⁴⁶All the days in which the disease is in him he shall be unclean; he is unclean. He shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. ⁴⁷The garment also that a leprous disease is in, whether it be a woolen garment, or a linen garment, ⁴⁸whether it be in warp, or woof, of linen, or of woolen, whether in a skin, or in anything made of skin, ⁴⁹if the disease is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is a leprous disease, and shall be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰And the priest shall look upon the disease, and shut up the disease seven days. ⁵¹And he shall look on the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in the skin, whatever service skin is used for, the disease is a fretting leprosy, it is unclean. ⁵²And he shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in woolen or in linen, or anything of skin, in which the disease is, for it is a fretting leprosy. It shall be burnt in the fire. ⁵³And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the disease has not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, ⁵⁴then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which the disease is, and he shall shut it up seven more days. ⁵⁵And the priest shall look, after the disease is washed, and, behold, if the disease has not changed its color, and the disease has not spread, it is unclean. Thou shall burn it in the fire. It is a fret, whether the bareness be inside or outside. ⁵⁶And if the priest looks, and, behold, the disease is dim after the washing of it, then he shall tear it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof. ⁵⁷And if it still appears in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is breaking out. Thou shall burn that in which the disease is with fire. ⁵⁸And the garment, either the warp, or the woof, or whatever thing of skin it be, which thou shall wash, if the disease has departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean. ⁵⁹This is the law of a leprous disease in a garment of woolen or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

CHAPTER 14

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²This shall be the law of the man with a leprous disease in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest, ³and the priest shall go forth out of the camp. And the priest shall look, and, behold, if a leprous disease be healed in the man with a leprous disease, ⁴then the priest shall command to take two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop for him who is to be cleansed. ⁵And the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. ⁶As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. ⁷And he shall sprinkle seven times upon him who is to be cleansed from the leprous disease, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird go into the open field. ⁸And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days. ⁹And it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off. And he shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and he shall be clean. ¹⁰And on the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish, and three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. ¹¹And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed, and those things, before Jehovah, at the door of the tent of meeting. ¹²And the priest shall take one of the he-lambs, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah. ¹³And he shall kill the he-lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For as the sin offering is the priest�s, so is the trespass offering; it is most holy. ¹⁴And the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. ¹⁵And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. ¹⁶And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah. ¹⁷And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand the priest shall put upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering. ¹⁸And the rest of the oil that is in the priest�s hand he shall put upon the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah. ¹⁹And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. ²⁰And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering upon the altar, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. ²¹And if he is poor, and cannot get so much, then he shall take one he-lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil, ²²and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get, and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering. ²³And on the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting, before Jehovah. ²⁴And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah. ²⁵And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering. And the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. ²⁶And the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand. ²⁷And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Jehovah. ²⁸And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering. ²⁹And the rest of the oil that is in the priest�s hand he shall put upon the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Jehovah. ³⁰And he shall offer one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, such as he is able to get, ³¹even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meal offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before Jehovah. ³²This is the law of him in whom is a leprous disease, who is not able to get what pertains to his cleansing. ³³And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ³⁴When ye have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a leprous disease in a house of the land of your possession, ³⁵then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, There seems to me to be as it were a disease in the house. ³⁶And the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes in to see the disease, that all that is in the house not be made unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house, ³⁷and he shall look on the disease. And, behold, if the disease is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the appearance of it is deeper than the wall surface, ³⁸then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. ³⁹And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look. And, behold, if the disease has spread in the walls of the house, ⁴⁰then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the disease is, and cast them into an unclean place outside the city. ⁴¹And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside round about, and they shall pour out the mortar, that they scrape off, outside the city into an unclean place. ⁴²And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones. And he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house. ⁴³And if the disease comes again, and breaks out in the house, after he has taken out the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, ⁴⁴then the priest shall come in and look. And, behold, if the disease has spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house; it is unclean. ⁴⁵And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber of it, and all the mortar of the house, and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. ⁴⁶Moreover he who goes into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁷And he who lies in the house shall wash his clothes. And he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes. ⁴⁸And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the disease is healed. ⁴⁹And he shall take two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop to cleanse the house. ⁵⁰And he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. ⁵¹And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵²And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet, ⁵³but he shall let the living bird go out of the city into the open field. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean. ⁵⁴This is the law for all manner of a leprous disease, and for a scall, ⁵⁵and for a leprous disease of a garment, and for a house, ⁵⁶and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot, ⁵⁷to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean. This is the law of a leprous disease.

CHAPTER 15

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When any man has an issue out of his flesh, he is unclean because of his issue. ³And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue, whether his flesh runs with his issue, or his flesh has stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness. ⁴Every bed on which he who has the issue lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. ⁵And whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ⁶And he who sits on anything on which he who has the issue sat shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ⁷And he who touches the flesh of him who has the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ⁸And if he who has the issue spits upon him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ⁹And whatever saddle he who has the issue rides upon shall be unclean. ¹⁰And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And he who bears those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ¹¹And whomever he who has the issue touches, without having rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ¹²And the earthen vessel, which he who has the issue touches, shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water. ¹³And when he who has an issue is cleansed of his issue, then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. ¹⁴And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and come before Jehovah to the door of the tent of meeting, and give them to the priest. ¹⁵And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah for his issue. ¹⁶And if any man�s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall bathe all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the evening. ¹⁷And every garment, and every skin, on which is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening. ¹⁸The woman also with whom a man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening. ¹⁹And if a woman has an issue, and her issue in her flesh is blood, she shall be seven days in her impurity, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁰And everything that she lies upon in her impurity shall be unclean. Also everything that she sits upon shall be unclean. ²¹And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ²²And whoever touches anything that she sits upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ²³And if it be on the bed, or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁴And if any man lies with her, and her impurity be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean. ²⁵And if a woman has an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she has an issue beyond the time of her impurity, she shall be all the days of the issue of her uncleanness as in the days of her impurity; she is unclean. ²⁶Every bed on which she lies all the days of her issue shall be to her as the bed of her impurity, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. ²⁷And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. ²⁸But if she is cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. ²⁹And on the eighth day she shall take to her two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. ³⁰And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her before Jehovah for the issue of her uncleanness. ³¹Thus ye shall separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, that they not die in their uncleanness when they defile my tabernacle that is in the midst of them. ³²This is the law of him who has an issue, and of him whose seed of copulation goes from him, so that he is unclean thereby, ³³and of her who is sick with her impurity, and of him who has an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him who lies with her who is unclean.

CHAPTER 16

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before Jehovah, and died, ²and Jehovah said to Moses, Speak to Aaron thy brother, that he not come at all times into the holy place within the veil, before the mercy-seat which is upon the ark, that he not die, for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat. ³Aaron shall come into the holy place this way: with a young bullock for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with the linen sash, and he shall be attired with the linen miter. They are the holy garments, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and put them on. ⁵And he shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two he-goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. ⁶And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house. ⁷And he shall take the two goats, and set them before Jehovah at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁸And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for Jehovah, and the other lot for the scapegoat. ⁹And Aaron shall present the goat upon which the lot fell for Jehovah, and offer him for a sin offering. ¹⁰But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be set alive before Jehovah, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the wilderness. ¹¹And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself. ¹²And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Jehovah, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil. ¹³And he shall put the incense upon the fire before Jehovah, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony, that he not die. ¹⁴And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat on the east. And he shall sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times before the mercy-seat. ¹⁵Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy-seat. ¹⁶And he shall make atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting that dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. ¹⁷And there shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he goes in to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸And he shall go out to the altar that is before Jehovah, and make atonement for it. And shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. ¹⁹And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel. ²⁰And when he has made an end of atoning for the holy place, and the tent of meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the sons of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins. And he shall put them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a man who is in readiness into the wilderness. ²²And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities to a solitary land. And he shall let the goat go in the wilderness. ²³And Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there. ²⁴And he shall bathe his flesh in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come forth, and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵And he shall burn upon the altar the fat of the sin offering. ²⁶And he who lets the goat go for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. ²⁷And the bullock of the sin offering, and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be carried forth outside the camp, and they shall burn in the fire their skins, and their flesh, and their dung. ²⁸And he who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. ²⁹And it shall be a statute forever to you. In the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the home-born, or the stranger who sojourns among you. ³⁰For on this day atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you. Ye shall be clean from all your sins before Jehovah. ³¹It is a sabbath of solemn rest to you, and ye shall afflict your souls. It is a statute forever. ³²And the priest, who shall be anointed and who shall be consecrated to be priest in his father�s stead, shall make the atonement. And he shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments, ³³and shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. ³⁴And this shall be an everlasting statute to you, to make atonement for the sons of Israel because of all their sins once in the year. And he did as Jehovah commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 17

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded, saying, ³Whatever man there is of the house of Israel, who kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp, ⁴and has not brought it to the door of the tent of meeting, to offer it as an oblation to Jehovah before the tabernacle of Jehovah, blood shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people, ⁵to the end that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they sacrifice in the open field, even that they may bring them to Jehovah, to the door of the tent of meeting, to the priest, and sacrifice them for sacrifices of peace offerings to Jehovah. ⁶And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of Jehovah at the door of the tent of meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet savor to Jehovah. ⁷And they shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices to the he-goats, after which they play the harlot. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generations. ⁸And thou shall say to them, Whatever man there is of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice, ⁹and does not bring it to the door of the tent of meeting, to sacrifice it to Jehovah, that man shall be cut off from his people. ¹⁰And whatever man there is of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, who eats any manner of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. ¹¹For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life. ¹²Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger that sojourns among you eat blood. ¹³And whatever man there is of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, who takes any beast or bird in hunting that may be eaten, he shall pour out the blood of it, and cover it with dust. ¹⁴For as to the life of all flesh, the blood of it is with the life of it. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for the life of all flesh is the blood of it. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. ¹⁵And every soul who eats that which dies of itself, or that which is torn of beasts, whether he be home-born or a sojourner, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening, then he shall be clean. ¹⁶But if he does not wash them, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his iniquity.

CHAPTER 18

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, I am Jehovah your God. ³Ye shall not do after the doings of the land of Egypt, in which ye dwelt, and ye shall not do after the doings of the land of Canaan, where I bring you, nor shall ye walk in their statutes. ⁴Ye shall do my ordinances, and ye shall keep my statutes, to walk therein. I am Jehovah your God. ⁵Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. I am Jehovah. ⁶None of you shall approach to any who are near of kin to him, to uncover nakedness. I am Jehovah. ⁷The nakedness of thy father, even the nakedness of thy mother, thou shall not uncover. She is thy mother. Thou shall not uncover her nakedness, ⁸the nakedness of thy father�s wife. It is thy father�s nakedness. ⁹The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or the daughter of thy mother, whether born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shall not uncover. ¹⁰The nakedness of thy son�s daughter, or of thy daughter�s daughter, even their nakedness thou shall not uncover, for theirs is thine own nakedness. ¹¹The nakedness of thy father�s wife�s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹²Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy father�s sister. She is thy father�s near kinswoman. ¹³Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy mother�s sister, for she is thy mother�s near kinswoman. ¹⁴Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy father�s brother. Thou shall not approach to his wife. She is thine aunt. ¹⁵Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter-in-law. She is thy son�s wife. Thou shall not uncover her nakedness. ¹⁶Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy brother�s wife. It is thy brother�s nakedness. ¹⁷Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. Thou shall not take her son�s daughter, or her daughter�s daughter, to uncover her nakedness. They are near kinswomen. It is iniquity. ¹⁸And thou shall not take a wife in addition to her sister, to be a rival to her, to uncover her nakedness, besides the other in her life-time. ¹⁹And thou shall not approach to a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is impure by her uncleanness. ²⁰And thou shall not lie carnally with thy neighbor�s wife, to defile thyself with her. ²¹And thou shall not give any of thy seed to make them pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall thou profane the name of thy God. I am Jehovah. ²²Thou shall not lie with a man, as with a woman. It is abomination. ²³And thou shall not lie with any beast to defile thyself with it, nor shall any woman stand before a beast, to lie down with it. It is a perversion. ²⁴Do not defile ye yourselves in any of these things. For in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out from before you, ²⁵and the land is defiled. Therefore I visit the iniquity of it upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. ²⁶Ye therefore shall keep my statutes and my ordinances, and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the home-born, nor the stranger that sojourns among you, ²⁷(for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and the land is defiled), ²⁸that the land not vomit you out also, when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you. ²⁹For whoever shall do any of these abominations, even the souls that do them shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰Therefore ye shall keep my charge, that ye not practice any of these abominable customs, which were practiced before you, and that ye not defile yourselves in it. I am Jehovah your God.

CHAPTER 19

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and say to them, Ye shall be holy, for I Jehovah your God am holy. ³Every man shall fear his mother and his father. And ye shall keep my sabbaths. I am Jehovah your God. ⁴Turn ye not to idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods. I am Jehovah your God. ⁵And when ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah, ye shall offer it that ye may be accepted. ⁶It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow. And if any remain until the third day, it shall be burnt with fire. ⁷And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. ⁸But he who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the holy thing of Jehovah, and that soul shall be cut off from his people. ⁹And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shall not wholly reap the corners of thy field, nor shall thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest. ¹⁰And thou shall not glean thy vineyard, nor shall thou gather the fallen fruit of thy vineyard. Thou shall leave them for the poor man and for the sojourner. I am Jehovah your God. ¹¹Ye shall not steal, nor shall ye deal falsely, nor lie one to another. ¹²And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, and profane the name of thy God. I am Jehovah. ¹³Thou shall not oppress thy neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. ¹⁴Thou shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but thou shall fear thy God. I am Jehovah. ¹⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment. Thou shall not respect the person of the poor man, nor honor the person of the mighty man, but thou shall judge thy neighbor in righteousness. ¹⁶Thou shall not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people, neither shall thou stand against the blood of thy neighbor. I am Jehovah. ¹⁷Thou shall not hate thy brother in thy heart. Thou shall surely rebuke thy neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. ¹⁸Thou shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of thy people, but thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself. I am Jehovah. ¹⁹Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shall not let thy cattle engender with a diverse kind. Thou shall not sow thy field with two kinds of seed, neither shall there come upon thee a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together. ²⁰And whoever lies carnally with a woman, who is a bondmaid, betrothed to a husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her, they shall be punished. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹And he shall bring his trespass offering to Jehovah, to the door of the tent of meeting, even a ram for a trespass offering. ²²And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before Jehovah for his sin which he has sinned. And the sin which he has sinned shall be forgiven him. ²³And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit of it as their uncircumcision. Three years they shall be as uncircumcised to you; it shall not be eaten. ²⁴But in the fourth year all the fruit of it shall be holy, for giving praise to Jehovah. ²⁵And in the fifth year ye shall eat of the fruit of it, that it may yield to you the increase of it. I am Jehovah your God. ²⁶Ye shall not eat anything with the blood. Neither shall ye use enchantments, nor practice augury. ²⁷Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, nor shall thou mar the corners of thy beard. ²⁸Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you. I am Jehovah. ²⁹Do not profane thy daughter, to make her a harlot, lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. ³⁰Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am Jehovah. ³¹Do not turn to those who have familiar spirits, nor to the wizards. Do not seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am Jehovah your God. ³²Thou shall rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and thou shall fear thy God. I am Jehovah. ³³And if a stranger sojourns with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. ³⁴The stranger that sojourns with you shall be to you as the home-born among you, and thou shall love him as thyself, for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God. ³⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity. ³⁶Ye shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷And ye shall observe all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them. I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 20

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Moreover, thou shall say to the sons of Israel, Whoever he is of the sons of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who gives of his seed to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. ³I also will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people, because he has given of his seed to Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. ⁴And if the people at the land do at all hide their eyes from that man, when he gives of his seed to Molech, and do not put him to death, ⁵then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all who play the harlot after him, to play the harlot with Molech, from among their people. ⁶And the soul that turns to those who have familiar spirits, and to the wizards, to play the harlot after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. ⁷Sanctify yourselves therefore, and become ye holy, for I am Jehovah your God. ⁸And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them. I am Jehovah who sanctifies you. ⁹For he who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. ¹⁰And the man who commits adultery with another man�s wife, even he who commits adultery with his neighbor�s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. ¹¹And the man who lies with his father�s wife has uncovered his father�s nakedness. Both of them shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. ¹²And if a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have wrought perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. ¹³And if a man lies with a man, as with a woman, both of them have committed abomination. They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. ¹⁴And if a man takes a wife and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burnt with fire, both he and they, that there be no wickedness among you. ¹⁵And if a man lies with a beast, he shall surely be put to death, and ye shall kill the beast. ¹⁶And if a woman approaches to any beast, and lies down with it, thou shall kill the woman and the beast. They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. ¹⁷And if a man shall take his sister, his father�s daughter, or his mother�s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a shameful thing, and they shall be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister�s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. ¹⁸And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. And both of them shall be cut off from among their people. ¹⁹And thou shall not uncover the nakedness of thy mother�s sister, nor of thy father�s sister, for he has made naked his near kin. They shall bear their iniquity. ²⁰And if a man shall lie with his uncle�s wife, he has uncovered his uncle�s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. ²¹And if a man shall take his brother�s wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother�s nakedness; they shall be childless. ²²Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my ordinances, and do them, that the land, where I bring you to dwell in it, not vomit you out. ²³And ye shall not walk in the customs of the nation which I cast out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. ²⁴But I have said to you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Jehovah your God, who has separated you from the peoples. ²⁵Ye shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean. And ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you as unclean. ²⁶And ye shall be holy to me, for I, Jehovah, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that ye should be mine. ²⁷A man or also a woman who has a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death. They shall stone them with stones; their blood shall be upon them.

CHAPTER 21

¹And Jehovah said to Moses, Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, There shall none defile himself for the dead among his people, ²except for his kin, who is near to him: for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother. ³And for his sister a virgin, who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. ⁴He shall not defile himself, who is a chief man among his people, to profane himself. ⁵They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. ⁶They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy. ⁷They shall not take a woman who is a harlot, or profane, neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband, for he is holy to his God. ⁸Thou shall sanctify him therefore, for he offers the bread of thy God. He shall be holy to thee, for I Jehovah, who sanctify you, am holy. ⁹And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burnt with fire. ¹⁰And he who is the high priest among his brothers, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured, and who is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not let the hair of his head go loose, nor tear his clothes, ¹¹neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother, ¹²neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God, for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him. I am Jehovah. ¹³And he shall take a wife in her virginity. ¹⁴A widow, or one divorced, or a profane woman, a harlot, these he shall not take, but he shall take to wife a virgin of his own people. ¹⁵And he shall not profane his seed among his people, for I am Jehovah who sanctifies him. ¹⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷Speak to Aaron, saying, Whoever he is of thy seed throughout their generations who has a blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. ¹⁸For whatever man he is who has a blemish, he shall not approach: not a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a flat nose, or anything superfluous, ¹⁹or a man who is broken-footed, or broken-handed, ²⁰or crook-backed, or a dwarf, or who has a blemish in his eye, or is scurvy, or scabbed, or has his testicles broken. ²¹No man of the seed of Aaron the priest, who has a blemish, shall come near to offer the offerings of Jehovah made by fire; he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. ²²He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy, ²³only he shall not go in to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a blemish, that he not profane my sanctuaries, for I am Jehovah who sanctifies them. ²⁴So Moses spoke to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 22

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they hallow to me, and that they not profane my holy name. I am Jehovah. ³Say to them, Whoever he is of all your seed throughout your generations, that approaches to the holy things, which the sons of Israel hallow to Jehovah, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from before me. I am Jehovah. ⁴Whatever man of the seed of Aaron being a man with a leprous disease, or has an issue, he shall not eat of the holy things until he is clean. And whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goes from him, ⁵or whoever touches any creeping thing, by which he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatever uncleanness he has, ⁶the soul that touches any such shall be unclean until the evening. And shall not eat of the holy things unless he bathe his flesh in water. ⁷And when the sun is down, he shall be clean, and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his bread. ⁸That which dies of itself, or is torn by beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself with it. I am Jehovah. ⁹They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it, and die in it if they profane it. I am Jehovah who sanctifies them. ¹⁰There shall no stranger eat of the holy thing. A sojourner of the priest�s, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing. ¹¹But if a priest buys any soul, the purchase of his money, he shall eat of it, and such as are born in his house, they shall eat of his bread. ¹²And if a priest�s daughter be married to a stranger, she shall not eat of the heave offering of the holy things. ¹³But if a priest�s daughter be a widow, or divorced, and have no child, and is returned to her father�s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father�s bread, but there shall no stranger eat of it. ¹⁴And if a man eats of the holy thing unwittingly, then he shall put the fifth part of it to it, and shall give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵And they shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they offer to Jehovah, ¹⁶and so cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt when they eat their holy things, for I am Jehovah who sanctifies them. ¹⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, Whoever he is of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners in Israel, who offers his oblation, whether it be any of their vows, or any of their freewill offerings, which they offer to Jehovah for a burnt offering, ¹⁹that ye may be accepted, ye shall offer a male without blemish, of the bullocks, of the sheep, or of the goats. ²⁰But whatever has a blemish, that ye shall not offer, for it shall not be acceptable for you. ²¹And whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah to accomplish a vow, or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish in it. ²²Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a skin tumor, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these to Jehovah, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar to Jehovah. ²³Either a bullock or a lamb that has anything superfluous or lacking in his parts, that thou may offer for a freewill offering, but it shall not be accepted for a vow. ²⁴That which has its testicles bruised, or crushed, or broken, or cut, ye shall not offer to Jehovah, neither shall ye do thus in your land. ²⁵Neither from the hand of a foreigner shall ye offer the bread of your God of any of these, because their corruption is in them; there is a blemish in them. They shall not be accepted for you. ²⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷When a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, is brought forth, then it shall be seven days under the dam, and from the eighth day and after that it shall be accepted for the oblation of an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ²⁸And whether it be cow or ewe, ye shall not kill it and its young both in one day. ²⁹And when ye sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Jehovah, ye shall sacrifice it that ye may be accepted. ³⁰It shall be eaten on the same day. Ye shall leave none of it until the morning. I am Jehovah. ³¹Therefore ye shall keep my commandments, and do them. I am Jehovah. ³²And ye shall not profane my holy name, but I will be hallowed among the sons of Israel. I am Jehovah who hallows you, ³³who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 23

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, The set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts. ³Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. Ye shall do no manner of work. It is a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings. ⁴These are the set feasts of Jehovah, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their appointed season: ⁵In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, is Jehovah�s Passover. ⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to Jehovah. Ye shall eat unleavened bread seven days. ⁷In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work. ⁸But ye shall offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah seven days. In the seventh day is a holy convocation, ye shall do no job work. ⁹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye have come into the land which I give to you, and shall reap the harvest of it, then ye shall bring the sheaf of the first-fruits of your harvest to the priest. ¹¹And he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹²And in the day when ye wave the sheaf, ye shall offer a he-lamb without blemish a year old for a burnt offering to Jehovah. ¹³And the meal offering of it shall be two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire to Jehovah for a sweet savor. And the drink offering of it shall be of wine, the fourth part of a hin. ¹⁴And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched grain, nor fresh ears, until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ¹⁵And ye shall count to you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering, there shall be complete seven sabbaths. ¹⁶Ye shall number fifty days, even to the morrow after the seventh sabbath, and ye shall offer a new meal offering to Jehovah. ¹⁷Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave-loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour. They shall be baked with leaven, for first-fruits to Jehovah. ¹⁸And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish a year old, and one young bullock, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to Jehovah, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹⁹And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two he-lambs a year old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the first-fruits for a wave offering before Jehovah, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Jehovah for the priest. ²¹And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day, there shall be a holy convocation to you. Ye shall do no job work. It is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations. ²²And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shall not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shall thou gather the gleaning of thy harvest. Thou shall leave them for the poor man, and for the sojourner. I am Jehovah your God. ²³And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest to you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵Ye shall do no job work, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ²⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷However on the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement. It shall be a holy convocation to you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ²⁸And ye shall do no manner of work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before Jehovah your God. ²⁹For whatever soul it be who shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰And whatever soul it be who does any manner of work in that same day, that soul I will destroy from among his people. ³¹Ye shall do no manner of work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³²It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and ye shall afflict your souls. In the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, ye shall keep your sabbath. ³³And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of tabernacles for seven days to Jehovah. ³⁵On the first day shall be a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work. ³⁶Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah. On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah. It is a solemn assembly; ye shall do no job work. ³⁷These are the set feasts of Jehovah, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to Jehovah, a burnt offering, and a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, each on its own day. ³⁸Besides the sabbaths of Jehovah, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings, which ye give to Jehovah. ³⁹However on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruits of the land, ye shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. ⁴⁰And ye shall take to you on the first day the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God seven days. ⁴¹And ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations. Ye shall keep it in the seventh month. ⁴²Ye shall dwell in booths seven days. All who are home-born in Israel shall dwell in booths, ⁴³that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God. ⁴⁴And Moses declared to the sons of Israel the set feasts of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 24

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Command the sons of Israel, that they bring to thee pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually. ³Aaron shall keep it outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, in order from evening to morning before Jehovah continually. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁴He shall keep the lamps upon the pure lampstand in order before Jehovah continually. ⁵And thou shall take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes of it. Two tenth parts of an ephah shall be in one cake. ⁶And thou shall set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before Jehovah. ⁷And thou shall put pure frankincense upon each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, even an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ⁸Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually. It is on the behalf of the sons of Israel, an everlasting covenant. ⁹And it shall be for Aaron and his sons. And they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him of the offerings of Jehovah made by fire by a perpetual statute. ¹⁰And the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel. And the son of the Israelite woman and a man of Israel strove together in the camp, ¹¹and the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed. And they brought him to Moses. And his mother�s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. ¹²And they put him in ward, that it might be declared to them at the mouth of Jehovah. ¹³And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴Bring forth him who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him. ¹⁵And thou shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. ¹⁶And he who blasphemes the name of Jehovah, he shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him. As well the sojourner, as the home-born, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death. ¹⁷And he who smites any man mortally shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸And he who smites a beast mortally shall make it good, life for life. ¹⁹And if a man causes a blemish in his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him: ²⁰injury for injury, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, as he has caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be rendered to him. ²¹And he who kills a beast shall make it good. And he who kills a man shall be put to death. ²²Ye shall have one manner of law, as for the sojourner, as for the home-born, for I am Jehovah your God. ²³And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, and they brought forth him who had cursed out of the camp, and stoned him with stones. And the sons of Israel did as Jehovah commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 25

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses at mount Sinai, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath to Jehovah. ³Six years thou shall sow thy field, and six years thou shall prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits of it, ⁴but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to Jehovah. Thou shall neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. ⁵That which grows of itself of thy harvest thou shall not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shall not gather. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. ⁶And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you: for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger, who sojourns with thee. ⁷And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, all the increase of it shall be for food. ⁸And thou shall number seven sabbaths of years to thee, seven times seven years, and there shall be to thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty-nine years. ⁹Then thou shall send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. In the day of atonement ye shall send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land. ¹⁰And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants of it. It shall be a jubilee to you, and ye shall return every man to his possession, and ye shall return every man to his family. ¹¹That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee to you. Ye shall not sow, neither reap that which grows of itself in it, nor gather in it of the undressed vines. ¹²For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. Ye shall eat the increase of it out of the field. ¹³In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man to his possession. ¹⁴And if thou sell anything to thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor�s hand, ye shall not wrong each other. ¹⁵According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shall buy of thy neighbor, and according to the number of years of the crops he shall sell to thee. ¹⁶According to the multitude of the years thou shall increase the price of it, and according to the fewness of the years thou shall diminish the price of it, for the number of the crops he sells to thee. ¹⁷And ye shall not wrong each other, but thou shall fear thy God, for I am Jehovah your God. ¹⁸Therefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them, and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. ¹⁹And the land shall yield its fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell in safety in it. ²⁰And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase, ²¹then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years. ²²And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old storage, until the ninth year. Until its fruits come in, ye shall eat the old storage. ²³And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine. For ye are strangers and sojourners with me. ²⁴And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land. ²⁵If thy brother becomes poor, and sells some of his possession, then his kinsman who is next to him shall come, and shall redeem that which his brother has sold. ²⁶And if a man has no one to redeem it, and he becomes rich and finds sufficient to redeem it, ²⁷then let him reckon the years of the sale of it, and restore the excess to the man to whom he sold it, and he shall return to his possession. ²⁸But if he is not able to get it back for himself, then that which he has sold shall remain in the hand of him who has bought it until the year of jubilee. And in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return to his possession. ²⁹And if a man sells a dwelling-house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold. For a full year he shall have the right of redemption. ³⁰And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not go out in the jubilee. ³¹But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee. ³²Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. ³³And if a man purchases from the Levites, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee. For the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. ³⁴But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession. ³⁵And if thy brother becomes poor, and his hand fails with thee, then thou shall uphold him; he shall live with thee as a stranger and a sojourner. ³⁶Take thou no interest from him or increase, but fear thy God, that thy brother may live with thee. ³⁷Thou shall not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy food for profit. ³⁸I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God. ³⁹And if thy brother becomes poor with thee, and sells himself to thee, thou shall not impose upon him servile labor. ⁴⁰He shall be with thee as a hired servant, and as a sojourner. He shall serve with thee to the year of jubilee. ⁴¹Then he shall go out from thee, he and his sons with him, and shall return to his own family. And he shall return to the possession of his fathers. ⁴²For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. They shall not be sold as bondmen. ⁴³Thou shall not rule over him with rigor, but shall fear thy God. ⁴⁴And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shall have, from the nations that are round about you, ye shall buy bondmen and bondmaids from them. ⁴⁵Moreover of the sons of the strangers who sojourn among you, ye shall buy from them, and from their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land, and they shall be your possession. ⁴⁶And ye shall make them an inheritance for your sons after you, to hold for a possession. Ye shall take your permanent bondmen from them, but over your brothers the sons of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor. ⁴⁷And if a stranger or sojourner with thee becomes rich, and thy brother becomes poor beside him, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger�s family, ⁴⁸he may be redeemed after he is sold. One of his brothers may redeem him. ⁴⁹Or his uncle, or his uncle�s son, may redeem him. Or any who is near of kin to him of his family may redeem him. Or if he becomes rich, he may redeem himself. ⁵⁰And he shall reckon with him who bought him from the year that he sold himself to him to the year of jubilee. And the price of his sale shall be according to the number of years. He shall be with him according to the time of a hired servant. ⁵¹If there be yet many years, according to them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for. ⁵²And if there remain but few years to the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him. He shall give back the price of his redemption according to his years. ⁵³He shall be with him as a servant hired year by year. He shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight. ⁵⁴And if he is not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his sons with him. ⁵⁵For the sons of Israel are servants to me. They are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.

CHAPTER 26

¹Ye shall make for you no idols. Neither shall ye rear up for you a graven image, or a pillar. Neither shall ye place any figured stone in your land, to bow down to it. For I am Jehovah your God. ²Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary. I am Jehovah. ³If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them, ⁴then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. ⁵And your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time, and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. ⁶And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, nor shall the sword go through your land. ⁷And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. ⁸And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. ⁹And I will have respect to you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you. ¹⁰And ye shall eat old storage long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new. ¹¹And I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. ¹²And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. ¹³I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen. And I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright. ¹⁴But if ye will not hearken to me, and will not do all these commandments, ¹⁵and if ye shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors my ordinances, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, ¹⁶I also will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, even consumption and fever, that shall consume the eyes, and make the soul to pine away. And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷And I will set my face against you, and ye shall be smitten before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and ye shall flee when no man pursues you. ¹⁸And if for these things ye will not yet hearken to me, then I will chastise you seven times more for your sins. ¹⁹And I will break the pride of your power. And I will make your sky as iron, and your earth as brass, ²⁰and your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, nor shall the trees of the land yield their fruit. ²¹And if ye walk contrary to me, and will not hearken to me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. ²²And I will send the beast of the field among you, which shall rob you of your sons, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number, and your ways shall become desolate. ²³And if by these things ye will not be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me, ²⁴then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will smite you, even I, seven times for your sins. ²⁵And I will bring a sword upon you that shall execute the vengeance of the covenant, and ye shall be gathered together within your cities. And I will send the pestilence among you, and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. ²⁶When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver your bread again by weight, and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. ²⁷And if for all this ye will not hearken to me, but walk contrary to me, ²⁸then I will walk contrary to you in wrath, and I also will chastise you seven times for your sins. ²⁹And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters ye shall eat. ³⁰And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your sun-images, and cast your dead bodies upon the bodies of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. ³¹And I will make your cities a waste, and will bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. ³²And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it shall be astonished at it. ³³And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste. ³⁴Then the land shall enjoy its sabbaths, as long as it lies desolate, and ye are in your enemies� land, even then shall the land rest, and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵As long as it lies desolate it shall have rest, even the rest which it had not in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it. ³⁶And as for those who are left of you, I will send a faintness into their heart in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee as a man flees from the sword, and they shall fall when no man pursues. ³⁷And they shall stumble one upon another, as it were before the sword, when no man pursues. And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. ³⁸And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. ³⁹And those who are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies� lands, and also in the iniquities of their fathers they shall pine away with them. ⁴⁰And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary to me, ⁴¹I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies. If then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity, ⁴²then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and I will remember the land. ⁴³The land also shall be left by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. And they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity, because, even because they rejected my ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them, for I am Jehovah their God, ⁴⁵but for their sakes I will remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am Jehovah. ⁴⁶These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which Jehovah made between him and the sons of Israel at mount Sinai by Moses.

CHAPTER 27

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When a man shall accomplish a vow, the persons shall be for Jehovah by thy estimation. ³And thy estimation shall be of the male from twenty years old even to sixty years old, even thy estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁴And if it be a female, then thy estimation shall be thirty shekels. ⁵And if it be from five years old even to twenty years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. ⁶And if it be from a month old even to five years old, then thy estimation shall be of the male five shekels of silver, and for the female thy estimation shall be three shekels of silver. ⁷And if it be from sixty years old and upward, if it be a male, then thy estimation shall be fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. ⁸But if he be poorer than thy estimation, then he shall be set before the priest, and the priest shall value him; according to the ability of him who vowed shall the priest value him. ⁹And if it be a beast, of which men offer an oblation to Jehovah, all that any man gives of such to Jehovah shall be holy. ¹⁰He shall not alter it, nor change it, a good for a bad, or a bad for a good. And if he shall at all change beast for beast, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy. ¹¹And if it be any unclean beast, of which they do not offer an oblation to Jehovah, then he shall set the beast before the priest, ¹²and the priest shall value it, whether it be good or bad. As thou the priest values it, so shall it be. ¹³But if he will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of it to thy estimation. ¹⁴And when a man shall sanctify his house to be holy to Jehovah, then the priest shall estimate it, whether it be good or bad. As the priest shall estimate it, so shall it stand. ¹⁵And if he who sanctified it will redeem his house, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation to it, and it shall be his. ¹⁶And if a man shall sanctify to Jehovah part of the field of his possession, then thy estimation shall be according to the sowing of it, the sowing of a homer of barley at fifty shekels of silver. ¹⁷If he sanctifies his field from the year of jubilee, according to thy estimation it shall stand. ¹⁸But if he sanctifies his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon to him the money according to the years that remain to the year of jubilee, and an abatement shall be made from thy estimation. ¹⁹And if he who sanctified the field will indeed redeem it, then he shall add the fifth part of the money of thy estimation to it, and it shall be assured to him. ²⁰And if he will not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed any more, ²¹but the field, when it goes out in the jubilee, shall be holy to Jehovah, as a field set apart; the possession of it shall be the priest�s. ²²And if he sanctifies to Jehovah a field which he has bought, which is not of the field of his possession, ²³then the priest shall reckon to him the worth of thy estimation to the year of jubilee, and he shall give thine estimation in that day, as a holy thing to Jehovah. ²⁴In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him of whom it was bought, even to him to whom the possession of the land belongs. ²⁵And all thy estimations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary; twenty gerahs shall be the shekel. ²⁶Only the firstling among beasts, which is made a firstling to Jehovah, no man shall sanctify it, whether it be ox or sheep, it is Jehovah�s. ²⁷And if it be of an unclean beast, then he shall ransom it according to thine estimation, and shall add to it the fifth part of it, or if it be not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to thy estimation. ²⁸Notwithstanding, nothing set apart, that a man shall set apart to Jehovah of all that he has, whether of man or beast, or of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed; everything set apart is most holy to Jehovah. ²⁹No one set apart, who shall be set apart from among men, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death. ³⁰And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is Jehovah�s; it is holy to Jehovah. ³¹And if a man will redeem any of his tithe, he shall add to it the fifth part of it. ³²And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Jehovah. ³³He shall not search whether it be good or bad, neither shall he change it. And if he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed. ³⁴These are the commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at mount Sinai.

NUMBERS

CHAPTER 1

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying, ²Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, every male, by their polls, ³from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel. Thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies. ⁴And with you there shall be a man of every tribe, each one head of his fathers� house. ⁵And these are the names of the men who shall stand with you. Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur. ⁶Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ⁷Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ⁸Of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar. ⁹Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon. ¹⁰Of the sons of Joseph, of Ephraim: Elishama the son of Ammihud; of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ¹¹Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni. ¹²Of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ¹³Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran. ¹⁴Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel. ¹⁵Of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan. ¹⁶These are those who were called from the congregation, the rulers of the tribes of their fathers. They were the heads of the thousands of Israel. ¹⁷And Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name, ¹⁸and they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month. And they declared their ancestry after their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls. ¹⁹As Jehovah commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. ²⁰And the sons of Reuben, Israel�s firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war, ²¹those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty-six thousand and five hundred. ²²Of the sons of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, those who were numbered of it, according to the number of the names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war, ²³those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand and three hundred. ²⁴Of the sons of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ²⁵those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. ²⁶Of the sons of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ²⁷those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Judah, were seventy-four thousand and six hundred. ²⁸Of the sons of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ²⁹those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty-four thousand and four hundred. ³⁰Of the sons of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³¹those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty-seven thousand and four hundred. ³²Of the sons of Joseph, namely, of the sons of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³³those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred; ³⁴of the sons of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³⁵those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty-two thousand and two hundred. ³⁶Of the sons of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³⁷those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand and four hundred. ³⁸Of the sons of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ³⁹those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand and seven hundred. ⁴⁰Of the sons of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ⁴¹those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand and five hundred. ⁴²Of the sons of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers� houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war, ⁴³those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand and four hundred. ⁴⁴These are those who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, and the rulers of Israel, being twelve men. They were each one for his fathers� house. ⁴⁵So all those who were numbered of the sons of Israel by their fathers� houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war in Israel, ⁴⁶even all those who were numbered were six hundred three thousand and five hundred and fifty. ⁴⁷But the Levites according to the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. ⁴⁸For Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁹Only the tribe of Levi thou shall not number, neither shall thou take the sum of them among the sons of Israel, ⁵⁰but appoint thou the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all the furniture of it, and over all that belongs to it. They shall bear the tabernacle, and all the furniture of it, and they shall minister to it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. ⁵¹And when the tabernacle sets forward, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And the stranger who comes near shall be put to death. ⁵²And the sons of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their armies. ⁵³But the Levites shall encamp round about the tabernacle of the testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the sons of Israel. And the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony. ⁵⁴Thus did the sons of Israel. According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so they did.

CHAPTER 2

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²The sons of Israel shall encamp every man by his own standard, with the ensigns of their fathers� houses. They shall encamp round about opposite the tent of meeting. ³And those who encamp on the east side toward the sunrise shall be those of the standard of the camp of Judah, according to their armies. And the ruler of the sons of Judah shall be Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ⁴And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were seventy-four thousand and six hundred. ⁵And those who encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Issachar. And the ruler of the sons of Issachar shall be Nethanel the son of Zuar. ⁶And his army, and those who were numbered of it, were fifty-four thousand and four hundred. ⁷Then the tribe of Zebulun. And the ruler of the sons of Zebulun shall be Eliab the son of Helon. ⁸And his army, and those who were numbered of it, were fifty-seven thousand and four hundred. ⁹All who were numbered of the camp of Judah were a hundred eighty-six thousand and four hundred, according to their armies. They shall set forth first. ¹⁰On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their armies. And the ruler of the sons of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur. ¹¹And his army, and those who were numbered of it, were forty-six thousand and five hundred. ¹²And those who encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Simeon. And the ruler of the sons of Simeon shall be Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ¹³And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-nine thousand and three hundred. ¹⁴Then the tribe of Gad. And the ruler of the sons of Gad shall be Eliasaph the son of Reuel. ¹⁵And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were forty-five thousand and six hundred and fifty. ¹⁶All who were numbered of the camp of Reuben were a hundred fifty-one thousand and four hundred and fifty, according to their armies. And they shall set forth second. ¹⁷Then the tent of meeting shall set forward, with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camps. As they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place, by their standards. ¹⁸On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies. And the ruler of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud. ¹⁹And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were forty thousand and five hundred. ²⁰And next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh. And the ruler of the sons of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ²¹And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were thirty-two thousand and two hundred. ²²Then the tribe of Benjamin. And the ruler of the sons of Benjamin shall be Abidan the son of Gideoni. ²³And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were thirty-five thousand and four hundred. ²⁴All who were numbered of the camp of Ephraim were a hundred eight thousand and a hundred, according to their armies. And they shall set forth third. ²⁵On the north side shall be the standard of the camp of Dan according to their armies. And the ruler of the sons of Dan shall be Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were sixty-two thousand and seven hundred. ²⁷And those who encamp next to him shall be the tribe of Asher. And the ruler of the sons of Asher shall be Pagiel the son of Ochran. ²⁸And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were forty-one thousand and five hundred. ²⁹Then the tribe of Naphtali. And the ruler of the sons of Naphtali shall be Ahira the son of Enan. ³⁰And his army, and those who were numbered of them, were fifty-three thousand and four hundred. ³¹All that were numbered of the camp of Dan were a hundred fifty-seven thousand and six hundred. They shall set forth rearmost by their standards. ³²These are those who were numbered of the sons of Israel by their fathers� houses. All who were numbered of the camps according to their armies were six hundred three thousand and five hundred and fifty. ³³But the Levites were not numbered among the sons of Israel, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³⁴Thus did the sons of Israel. According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so they encamped by their standards, and so they set forward, everyone by their families, according to their fathers� houses.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now these are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that Jehovah spoke with Moses in mount Sinai: ²And these are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed, whom he consecrated to minister in the priest�s office. ⁴And Nadab and Abihu died before Jehovah when they offered strange fire before Jehovah in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no sons. And Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest�s office in the presence of Aaron their father. ⁵And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. ⁷And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁸And they shall keep all the furniture of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. ⁹And thou shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the sons of Israel. ¹⁰And thou shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. And the stranger who comes near shall be put to death. ¹¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of all the firstborn who opens the womb among the sons of Israel. And the Levites shall be mine, ¹³for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I hallowed to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They shall be mine. I am Jehovah. ¹⁴And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, ¹⁵Number the sons of Levi by their fathers� houses, by their families. Thou shall number them, every male from a month old and upward. ¹⁶And Moses numbered them according to the word of Jehovah, as he was commanded. ¹⁷And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁸And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁹And the sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ²⁰And the sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers� houses. ²¹Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites. These are the families of the Gershonites. ²²Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those who were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred. ²³The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward. ²⁴And the ruler of the fathers� house of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael. ²⁵And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering of it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof. ²⁷And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites. These are the families of the Kohathites. ²⁸According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. ²⁹The families of the sons of Kohath shall encamp on the side of the tabernacle southward. ³⁰And the ruler of the fathers� house of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. ³¹And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the lampstand, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all the service thereof. ³²And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be ruler of the rulers of the Levites, with the oversight of those who keep the charge of the sanctuary. ³³Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites. These are the families of Merari. ³⁴And those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred. ³⁵And the ruler of the fathers� house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the side of the tabernacle northward. ³⁶And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars of it, and the pillars of it, and the sockets of it, and all the instruments of it, and all the service thereof, ³⁷and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pegs, and their cords. ³⁸And those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the sons of Israel. And the stranger that comes near shall be put to death. ³⁹All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Jehovah, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand. ⁴⁰And Jehovah said to Moses, Number all the firstborn males of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. ⁴¹And thou shall take the Levites for me (I am Jehovah) instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the sons of Israel. ⁴²And Moses numbered, as Jehovah commanded him, all the firstborn among the sons of Israel. ⁴³And all the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three. ⁴⁴And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. And the Levites shall be mine. I am Jehovah. ⁴⁶And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the sons of Israel, who are over and above the number of the Levites, ⁴⁷thou shall take five shekels apiece by the poll. According to the shekel of the sanctuary thou shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs), ⁴⁸and thou shall give the money, with which the odd number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons. ⁴⁹And Moses took the redemption-money from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites. ⁵⁰He took the money from the firstborn of the sons of Israel, a thousand three hundred and sixty-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁵¹And Moses gave the redemption-money to Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 4

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers� houses, ³from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter upon the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ⁴This is the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, about the most holy things: ⁵When the camp sets forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons, and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it. ⁶And shall put on it a covering of certain skin, and shall spread over it a cloth all of blue, and shall put in the staves of it. ⁷And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls and the cups with which to pour out. And the continual bread shall be on it. ⁸And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of certain skin, and shall put in the staves of it. ⁹And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff dishes, and all the oil vessels of it, with which they minister to it. ¹⁰And they shall put it and all the vessels of it within a covering of certain skin, and shall put it upon the frame. ¹¹And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of certain skin, and shall put in the staves of it. ¹²And they shall take all the vessels of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of certain skin, and shall put them on the frame. ¹³And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it. ¹⁴And they shall put upon it all the vessels of it, with which they minister about it: the firepans, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar. And they shall spread upon it a covering of certain skin, and put in the staves of it. ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp is set forward, after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it, but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. ¹⁶And the charge of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the continual meal offering, and the anointing oil, the charge of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it: the sanctuary, and the furniture of it. ¹⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ¹⁸Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites, ¹⁹but thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to the most holy things. Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint for them each one to his service and to his burden, ²⁰but they shall not go in to see the sanctuary even for a moment, lest they die. ²¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²²Take the sum of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers� houses, by their families, ²³from thirty years old and upward until fifty years old thou shall number them, all who enter in to wait upon the service, to do the work in the tent of meeting. ²⁴This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in bearing burdens: ²⁵They shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of certain skin that is above upon it, and the screen for the door of the tent of meeting, ²⁶and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and whatever shall be done with them; therein they shall serve. ²⁷At the commandment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burden, and in all their service. And ye shall appoint to those in charge all their burden. ²⁸This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the tent of meeting. And their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ²⁹As for the sons of Merari, thou shall number them by their families, by their fathers� houses. ³⁰From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old thou shall number them, each man who enters upon the service, to do the work of the tent of meeting. ³¹And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tent of meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars of it, and the pillars of it, and the sockets of it, ³²and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pegs, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service. And ye shall appoint the instruments of the charge of their burden by name. ³³This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ³⁴And Moses and Aaron and the rulers of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites by their families, and by their fathers� houses, ³⁵from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, each man who entered upon the service, for work in the tent of meeting. ³⁶And those who were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. ³⁷These are those who were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses. ³⁸And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, their families, and by their fathers� houses, ³⁹from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, each man who entered upon the service, for work in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁰even those who were numbered of them, by their families, by their fathers� houses, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty. ⁴¹These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the tent of meeting, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah. ⁴²And those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers� houses, ⁴³from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, each man who entered upon the service, for work in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁴even those who were numbered of them by their families, were three thousand and two hundred. ⁴⁵These are those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses. ⁴⁶All those who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the rulers of Israel numbered, by their families, and by their fathers� houses, ⁴⁷from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, each man who entered in to do the work of service, and the work of bearing burdens in the tent of meeting, ⁴⁸even those who were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and eighty. ⁴⁹According to the commandment of Jehovah they were numbered by Moses, each man according to his service, and according to his burden. Thus they were numbered by him, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 5

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Command the sons of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every man who has an issue, and whoever is unclean about life. ³Ye shall put out both male and female. Ye shall put them outside the camp, that they not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell. ⁴And the sons of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp. As Jehovah spoke to Moses, so did the sons of Israel. ⁵And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶Speak to the sons of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Jehovah, and that soul shall be guilty, ⁷then he shall confess his sin which he has done. And he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, and add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. ⁸But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Jehovah shall be the priest�s, besides the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him. ⁹And every heave offering of all the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his. ¹⁰And every man�s hallowed things shall be his. Whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his. ¹¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, If any man�s wife goes aside, and commits a trespass against him, ¹³and a man lies with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, and she is not taken in the act, ¹⁴and the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled, or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she is not defiled, ¹⁵then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her oblation for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. ¹⁶And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before Jehovah. ¹⁷And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel. And the priest shall take of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water. ¹⁸And the priest shall set the woman before Jehovah, and let the hair of the woman�s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that causes the curse. ¹⁹And the priest shall cause her to swear, and shall say to the woman, If no man has lain with thee, and if thou have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under thy husband, be thou free from this water of bitterness that causes the curse. ²⁰But if thou have gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou are defiled, and some man has lain with thee besides thy husband, ²¹then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, Jehovah make thee a curse and an oath among thy people when Jehovah makes thy thigh to fall away, and thy body to swell. ²²And this water that causes the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy body to swell, and thy thigh to fall away. And the woman shall say, Truly, Truly. ²³And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness. ²⁴And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse. And the water that causes the curse shall enter into her bitter. ²⁵And the priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman�s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Jehovah, and bring it to the altar. ²⁶And the priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as the memorial of it, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. ²⁷And when he has made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she is defiled, and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away. And the woman shall be a curse among her people. ²⁸And if the woman is not defiled, but is clean, then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. ²⁹This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes aside, and is defiled, ³⁰or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before Jehovah, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. ³¹And the man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.

CHAPTER 6

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When either man or woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to Jehovah, ³he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink. He shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or dried. ⁴All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the kernels even to the husk. ⁵All the days of his vow of separation there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the days be fulfilled, in which he separates himself to Jehovah, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long. ⁶He shall not come near to a dead body all the days that he separates himself to Jehovah. ⁷He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is upon his head. ⁸All the days of his separation he is holy to Jehovah. ⁹And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he defiles the head of his separation, then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it. ¹⁰And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. ¹¹And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day. ¹²And he shall separate to Jehovah the days of his separation, and shall bring a he-lamb a year old for a trespass offering. But the former days shall be void, because his separation was defiled. ¹³And this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation are fulfilled: He shall be brought to the door of the tent of meeting, ¹⁴and he shall offer his oblation to Jehovah: one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, ¹⁵and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their meal offering, and their drink offerings. ¹⁶And the priest shall present them before Jehovah, and shall offer his sin offering, and his burnt offering. ¹⁷And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to Jehovah, with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall also offer the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ¹⁸And the Nazirite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ¹⁹And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven his separation, ²⁰and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Jehovah. This is holy for the priest, together with the wave-breast and heave-thigh. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine. ²¹This is the law of the Nazirite who vows, and of his oblation to Jehovah for his separation, besides that which he is able to get. According to his vow which he vows, so he must do after the law of his separation. ²²And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²³Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, This way ye shall bless the sons of Israel: Ye shall say to them, ²⁴Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee. ²⁵Jehovah make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious to thee. ²⁶Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. ²⁷So shall they put my name upon the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.

CHAPTER 7

¹And it came to pass on the day that Moses made an end of setting up the tabernacle, that he anointed it and sanctified it, and all the furniture of it, and the altar and all the vessels of it, and anointed them and sanctified them. ²Then the rulers of Israel, the heads of their fathers� houses, offered. These were the rulers of the tribes. These are those who were over those who were numbered. ³And they brought their oblation before Jehovah: six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the rulers, and for each one an ox. And they presented them before the tabernacle. ⁴And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵Take it from them, that they may be used in doing the service of the tent of meeting. And thou shall give them to the Levites, to every man according to his service. ⁶And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites. ⁷Two wagons and four oxen he gave to the sons of Gershon, according to their service. ⁸And he gave four wagons and eight oxen to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. ⁹But he gave none to the sons of Kohath, because the service of the sanctuary belonged to them. They bore it upon their shoulders. ¹⁰And the rulers offered for the dedication of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the rulers offered their oblation before the altar. ¹¹And Jehovah said to Moses, They shall offer their oblation, each ruler on his day, for the dedication of the altar. ¹²And he who offered his oblation the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah. ¹³And his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ¹⁴one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ¹⁵one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ¹⁶one male of the goats for a sin offering; ¹⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ¹⁸On the second day Nethanel the son of Zuar, ruler of Issachar, offered. ¹⁹He offered for his oblation one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ²⁰one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ²¹one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ²²one male of the goats for a sin offering; ²³and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Nethanel the son of Zuar. ²⁴On the third day was Eliab the son of Helon, ruler of the sons of Zebulun. ²⁵His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ²⁶one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ²⁷one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ²⁸one male of the goats for a sin offering; ²⁹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Eliab the son of Helon. ³⁰On the fourth day was Elizur the son of Shedeur, ruler of the sons of Reuben. ³¹His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ³²one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ³³one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ³⁴one male of the goats for a sin offering; ³⁵and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Elizur the son of Shedeur. ³⁶On the fifth day was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, ruler of the sons of Simeon. ³⁷His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ³⁸one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ³⁹one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁴⁰one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁴¹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ⁴²On the sixth day was Eliasaph the son of Deuel, ruler of the sons of Gad. ⁴³His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁴⁴one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁴⁵one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁴⁶one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁴⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Eliasaph the son of Deuel. ⁴⁸On the seventh day was Elishama the son of Ammihud, ruler of the sons of Ephraim. ⁴⁹His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁵⁰one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁵¹one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁵²one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁵³and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Elishama the son of Ammihud. ⁵⁴On the eighth day was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, ruler of the sons of Manasseh. ⁵⁵His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁵⁶one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁵⁷one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁵⁸one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁵⁹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ⁶⁰On the ninth day was Abidan the son of Gideoni, ruler of the sons of Benjamin. ⁶¹His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁶²one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁶³one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁶⁴one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁶⁵and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Abidan the son of Gideoni. ⁶⁶On the tenth day was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, ruler of the sons of Dan. ⁶⁷His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁶⁸one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁶⁹one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁷⁰one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁷¹and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ⁷²On the eleventh day was Pagiel the son of Ochran, ruler of the sons of Asher. ⁷³His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁷⁴one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁷⁵one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁷⁶one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁷⁷and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Pagiel the son of Ochran. ⁷⁸On the twelfth day was Ahira the son of Enan, ruler of the sons of Naphtali. ⁷⁹His oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred a thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering; ⁸⁰one golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; ⁸¹one young bullock, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; ⁸²one male of the goats for a sin offering; ⁸³and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old. This was the oblation of Ahira the son of Enan. ⁸⁴This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the rulers of Israel: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, twelve golden spoons, ⁸⁵each silver platter weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and each bowl seventy. All the silver of the vessels was two thousand and four hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. ⁸⁶The twelve golden spoons, full of incense, weighed ten shekels apiece, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. All the gold of the spoons was a hundred and twenty shekels. ⁸⁷All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve bullocks, the rams twelve, the he-lambs a year old twelve, and their meal offering, and the males of the goats for a sin offering twelve. ⁸⁸And all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace offerings was twenty-four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he-goats sixty, the he-lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication of the altar after it was anointed. ⁸⁹And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with him, then he heard the Voice speaking to him from above the mercy-seat that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim, and he spoke to him.

CHAPTER 8

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When thou light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand. ³And Aaron did so. He lit the lamps of it in front of the lampstand, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁴And this was the work of the lampstand, beaten work of gold. To the base of it, and to the flowers of it, it was beaten work. According to the pattern which Jehovah had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand. ⁵And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁶Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and cleanse them. ⁷And thus thou shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves. ⁸Then let them take a young bullock, and its meal offering�fine flour mingled with oil. And thou shall take another young bullock for a sin offering. ⁹And thou shall present the Levites before the tent of meeting. And thou shall assemble the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰and thou shall present the Levites before Jehovah. And the sons of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites. ¹¹And Aaron shall offer the Levites before Jehovah for a wave offering on the behalf of the sons of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Jehovah. ¹²And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks, and offer thou the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, to Jehovah, to make atonement for the Levites. ¹³And thou shall set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave offering to Jehovah. ¹⁴Thus shall thou separate the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. ¹⁵And after that the Levites shall go in to do the service of the tent of meeting. And thou shall cleanse them, and offer them for a wave offering. ¹⁶For they are wholly given to me from among the sons of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the sons of Israel, I have taken them to me. ¹⁷For all the firstborn among the sons of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself. ¹⁸And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel. ¹⁹And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the sons of Israel, to do the service of the sons of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the sons of Israel, that there be no plague among the sons of Israel, when the sons of Israel come near to the sanctuary. ²⁰Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the Levites. According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the sons of Israel did to them. ²¹And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes. And Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Jehovah, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. ²²And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons. As Jehovah had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them. ²³And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴This is that which belongs to the Levites: From twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service in the work of the tent of meeting. ²⁵And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the work, and shall serve no more, ²⁶but shall minister with their brothers in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shall thou do to the Levites concerning their charges.

CHAPTER 9

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, saying, ²Moreover let the sons of Israel keep the Passover in its appointed season. ³In the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, ye shall keep it in its appointed season. According to all the statutes of it, and according to all the ordinances of it, ye shall keep it. ⁴And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, that they should keep the Passover. ⁵And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. According to all that Jehovah commanded Moses, so did the sons of Israel. ⁶And there were certain men who were unclean by reason of the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day, ⁷and those men said to him, We are unclean by reason of the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer the oblation of Jehovah in its appointed season among the sons of Israel? ⁸And Moses said to them, Stay ye, that I may hear what Jehovah will command concerning you. ⁹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your generations shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be on a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover to Jehovah. ¹¹In the second month on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹²They shall leave none of it to the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it. ¹³But the man who is clean, and is not on a journey, and forbears to keep the Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people, because he did not offer the oblation of Jehovah in its appointed season; that man shall bear his sin. ¹⁴And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the Passover to Jehovah, according to the statute of the Passover, and according to the ordinance of it, so shall he do. Ye shall have one statute, both for the sojourner, and for him who is born in the land. ¹⁵And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony, and at evening it was upon the tabernacle, as it were the appearance of fire, until morning. ¹⁶So it was always: the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night. ¹⁷And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, then after that the sons of Israel journeyed. And in the place where the cloud abode, there the sons of Israel encamped. ¹⁸At the commandment of Jehovah the sons of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of Jehovah they encamped. As long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they remained encamped. ¹⁹And when the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle many days, then the sons of Israel kept the charge of Jehovah, and did not journey. ²⁰And sometimes the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle, then according to the commandment of Jehovah they remained encamped, and according to the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed. ²¹And sometimes the cloud was from evening until morning, and when the cloud was taken up in the morning, they journeyed, or if by day and by night, when the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. ²²Whether it was two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, abiding on it, the sons of Israel remained encamped, and did not journey, but when it was taken up, they journeyed. ²³At the commandment of Jehovah they encamped, and at the commandment of Jehovah they journeyed. They kept the charge of Jehovah, at the commandment of Jehovah by Moses.

CHAPTER 10

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Make thee two trumpets of silver, of beaten work thou shall make them. And thou shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps. ³And when they shall blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to thee at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁴And if they blow but one, then the rulers, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to thee. ⁵And when ye blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall take their journey. ⁶And when ye blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. ⁷But when the assembly is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. ⁸And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets, and they shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁹And when ye go to war in your land against the adversary that oppresses you, then ye shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. And ye shall be remembered before Jehovah your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. ¹⁰Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, ye shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. And they shall be to you for a memorial before your God: I am Jehovah your God. ¹¹And it came to pass in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony. ¹²And the sons of Israel set forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran. ¹³And they first took their journey according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses. ¹⁴And in the first place the standard of the camp of the sons of Judah set forward according to their armies, and over his army was Nahshon the son of Amminadab. ¹⁵And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Issachar was Nethanel the son of Zuar. ¹⁶And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun was Eliab the son of Helon. ¹⁷And the tabernacle was taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bore the tabernacle, set forward. ¹⁸And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their armies, and over his army was Elizur the son of Shedeur. ¹⁹And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Simeon was Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. ²⁰And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel. ²¹And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary, and the others set up the tabernacle until their coming. ²²And the standard of the camp of the sons of Ephraim set forward according to their armies, and over his army was Elishama the son of Ammihud. ²³And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh was Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. ²⁴And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin was Abidan the son of Gideoni. ²⁵And the standard of the camp of the sons of Dan, which was the rearward of all the camps, set forward according to their armies, and over his army was Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai. ²⁶And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Asher was Pagiel the son of Ochran. ²⁷And over the army of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali was Ahira the son of Enan. ²⁸Thus were the journeys of the sons of Israel according to their armies, and they set forward. ²⁹And Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses� father-in-law, We are journeying to the place of which Jehovah said, I will give it to you. Come thou with us, and we will do thee good, for Jehovah has spoken good concerning Israel. ³⁰And he said to him, I will not go, but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred. ³¹And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee, inasmuch as thou know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou shall be to us instead of eyes. ³²And it shall be, if thou go with us, yea, it shall be, that whatever good Jehovah shall do to us, the same we will do to thee. ³³And they set forward from the mount of Jehovah three days� journey. And the ark of the covenant of Jehovah went before them three days� journey, to seek out a resting-place for them. ³⁴And the cloud of Jehovah was over them by day when they set forward from the camp. ³⁵And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, O Jehovah, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let those who hate thee flee before thee. ³⁶And when it rested, he said, Return, O Jehovah, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel.

CHAPTER 11

¹And the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of Jehovah. And when Jehovah heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of Jehovah burnt among them, and devoured in the outermost part of the camp. ²And the people cried to Moses. And Moses prayed to Jehovah, and the fire abated. ³And the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of Jehovah burnt among them. ⁴And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly. And the sons of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? ⁵We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic, ⁶but now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all except this manna to look upon. ⁷And the manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance of it as the appearance of bdellium. ⁸The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. ⁹And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. ¹⁰And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased. ¹¹And Moses said to Jehovah, Why have thou dealt ill with thy servant? And why have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou lay the burden of all this people upon me? ¹²Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that thou should say to me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nurturing father carries the sucking child, to the land which thou swore to their fathers? ¹³From where should I have flesh to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. ¹⁴I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. ¹⁵And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight, and let me not see my wretchedness. ¹⁶And Jehovah said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou know to be the elders of the people and officers over them. And bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. ¹⁷And I will come down and talk with thee there. And I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou not bear it thyself alone. ¹⁸And say thou to the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh, for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore Jehovah will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. ¹⁹Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, ²⁰but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you, because ye have rejected Jehovah who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we come forth out of Egypt? ²¹And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen, and thou have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. ²²Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them? ²³And Jehovah said to Moses, Is Jehovah�s hand grown short? Now thou shall see whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not. ²⁴And Moses went out, and told the people the words of Jehovah. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tent. ²⁵And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders. And it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. ²⁶But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the spirit rested upon them. And they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the tent. And they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And a young man ran, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. ²⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. ²⁹And Moses said to him, Are thou jealous for my sake? Would that all of Jehovah�s people were prophets, that Jehovah would put his spirit upon them! ³⁰And Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel. ³¹And there went forth a wind from Jehovah, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day�s journey on this side, and a day�s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. ³²And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. ³³While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague. ³⁴And the name of that place was called Kibrothhattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted. ³⁵From Kibrothhattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they abode at Hazeroth.

CHAPTER 12

¹And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. ²And they said, Has Jehovah indeed spoken only with Moses? Has he not spoken also with us? And Jehovah heard it. ³Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth. ⁴And Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three to the tent of meeting. And the three came out. ⁵And Jehovah came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both came forth. ⁶And he said, Hear now my words. If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. ⁷My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house. ⁸With him I will speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches, and he has beheld the form of Jehovah. Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses? ⁹And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against them, and he departed. ¹⁰And the cloud removed from over the tent. And, behold, Miriam was leprous, as snow. And Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. ¹¹And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. ¹²Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother�s womb. ¹³And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, Heal her, O God, I beseech thee. ¹⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again. ¹⁵And Miriam was shut up outside the camp seven days. And the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. ¹⁶And afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

CHAPTER 13

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel. From every tribe of their fathers ye shall send a man, each one a ruler among them. ³And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Jehovah. All of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel. ⁴And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; ⁵of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; ⁶of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; ⁷of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; ⁸of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; ⁹of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; ¹⁰of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; ¹¹of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi; ¹²of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; ¹³of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; ¹⁴of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; ¹⁵of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. ¹⁶These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua. ¹⁷And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country. ¹⁸And see the land, what it is, and the people who dwell in it, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, ¹⁹and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad, and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds, ²⁰and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood in it, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes. ²¹So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. ²²And they went up by the South, and came to Hebron. And Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the sons of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³And they came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it upon a staff between two, also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. ²⁴That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the sons of Israel cut down from there. ²⁵And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. ²⁶And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷And they told him, and said, We came to the land where thou sent us. And surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. ²⁸However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, very great, and moreover we saw the sons of Anak there. ²⁹Amalek dwells in the land of the South. And the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country. And the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan. ³⁰And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. ³¹But the men who went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. ³²And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up the inhabitants of it. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. ³³And we saw there the giants, the sons of Anak, who come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

CHAPTER 14

¹And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried, and the people wept that night. ²And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron. And the whole congregation said to them, Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³And why does Jehovah bring us to this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be a prey. Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? ⁴And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. ⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. ⁶And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes. ⁷And they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. ⁸If Jehovah delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹Only do not rebel against Jehovah, neither fear ye the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their defense is removed from over them, and Jehovah is with us. Fear them not. ¹⁰But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel. ¹¹And Jehovah said to Moses, How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them? ¹²I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they. ¹³And Moses said to Jehovah, Then the Egyptians will hear it, for thou brought up this people in thy might from among them, ¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that thou Jehovah are in the midst of this people, for thou Jehovah are seen face to face, and thy cloud stands over them, and thou go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵Now if thou shall kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, ¹⁶Because Jehovah was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness. ¹⁷And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou have spoken, saying, ¹⁸Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and upon the fourth generation. ¹⁹Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy loving kindness, and according as thou have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now. ²⁰And Jehovah said, I have pardoned according to thy word, ²¹but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah, ²²because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have challenged me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, ²³surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them who despised me see it. ²⁴But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went, and his seed shall possess it. ²⁵Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley. Tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. ²⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²⁷How long shall I bear with this evil congregation that murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against me. ²⁸Say to them, As I live, says Jehovah, surely as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you. ²⁹Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And all who were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, ³⁰surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I swore that I would make you dwell in it, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹But your little ones, that ye said would be a prey, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. ³²But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. ³³And your sons shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your dead bodies be consumed in the wilderness. ³⁴After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, ye shall bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation. ³⁵I, Jehovah, have spoken, surely I will do this to all this evil congregation that are gathered together against me. In this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. ³⁶And the men, whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, ³⁷even those men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before Jehovah. ³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men who went to spy out the land. ³⁹And Moses told these words to all the sons of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰And they rose up early in the morning, and got up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up to the place which Jehovah has promised, for we have sinned. ⁴¹And Moses said, Why do ye now transgress the commandment of Jehovah, seeing it shall not prosper? ⁴²Do not go up, for Jehovah is not among you, that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. ⁴³For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword. Because ye have turned back from following Jehovah, therefore Jehovah will not be with you. ⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain, nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and Moses, did not depart out of the camp. ⁴⁵Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even to Hormah.

CHAPTER 15

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye come into the land of your habitations, which I give to you, ³and will make an offering by fire to Jehovah, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your set feasts, to make a sweet savor to Jehovah, of the herd, or of the flock, ⁴then he who offers his oblation shall offer to Jehovah a meal offering of a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of oil. ⁵And wine for the drink offering, the fourth part of a hin, thou shall prepare with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb. ⁶Or for a ram, thou shall prepare for a meal offering two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with the third part of a hin of oil. ⁷And for the drink offering thou shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ⁸And when thou prepare a bullock for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace offerings to Jehovah; ⁹then he shall offer with the bullock a meal offering of three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour mingled with half a hin of oil. ¹⁰And thou shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹¹Thus shall it be done for each bullock, or for each ram, or for each of the he-lambs, or of the kids. ¹²According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number. ¹³All who are home-born shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹⁴And if a stranger sojourns with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah; as ye do, so he shall do. ¹⁵For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you, and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. As ye are, so shall the sojourner be before Jehovah. ¹⁶One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger who sojourns with you. ¹⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye come into the land where I bring you, ¹⁹then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up a heave offering to Jehovah. ²⁰Of the first of your dough ye shall offer up a cake for a heave offering, as the heave offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye heave it. ²¹Of the first of your dough ye shall give to Jehovah a heave offering throughout your generations. ²²And when ye shall err, and not observe all these commandments, which Jehovah has spoken to Moses, ²³even all that Jehovah has commanded you by Moses, from the day that Jehovah gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, ²⁴then it shall be, if it be done unwittingly, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savor to Jehovah, with the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it, according to the ordinance, and one he-goat for a sin offering. ²⁵And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, for it was an error, and they have brought their oblation, an offering made by fire to Jehovah, and their sin offering before Jehovah, for their error. ²⁶And all the congregation of the sons of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, for in respect of all the people it was done unwittingly. ²⁷And if one soul sins unwittingly, then he shall offer a she-goat a year old for a sin offering. ²⁸And the priest shall make atonement for the soul that errs, when he sins unwittingly, before Jehovah, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. ²⁹Ye shall have one law for him who does anything unwittingly, for him who is home-born among the sons of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. ³⁰But the soul that does anything with a high hand, whether he be home-born or a sojourner, the same blasphemes Jehovah, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ³¹Because he has despised the word of Jehovah, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him. ³²And while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks upon the sabbath day. ³³And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. ³⁴And they put him in ward, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. ³⁵And Jehovah said to Moses, The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. ³⁶And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁸Speak to the sons of Israel, and bid them that they make for them hems in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the hem of each border a cord of blue. ³⁹And it shall be to you for a hem, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them, and that ye not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to play the harlot, ⁴⁰that ye may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. ⁴¹I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am Jehovah your God.

CHAPTER 16

¹Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took, ²and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty rulers of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown, ³and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, Ye take too much upon you, since all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and Jehovah is among them. Why then do ye lift up yourselves above the assembly of Jehovah? ⁴And when Moses heard it, he fell upon his face. ⁵And he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, In the morning Jehovah will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him, even him whom he shall choose will he cause to come near to him. ⁶This do: Take you censers, Korah, and all his company, ⁷and put fire in them, and put incense upon them before Jehovah tomorrow. And it shall be that the man whom Jehovah chooses, he is holy. Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. ⁸And Moses said to Korah, Hear now, ye sons of Levi. ⁹Is it a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of Jehovah, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, ¹⁰and that he has brought thee near, and all thy brothers the sons of Levi with thee? And ye seek the priesthood also? ¹¹Therefore thou and all thy company are gathered together against Jehovah. And Aaron, what is he that ye murmur against him? ¹²And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. And they said, We will not come up. ¹³Is it a small thing that thou have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but thou must make thyself also a ruler over us? ¹⁴Moreover thou have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will thou put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up. ¹⁵And Moses was very angry, and said to Jehovah, Do not respect thou their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them. ¹⁶And Moses said to Korah, Be thou and all thy company before Jehovah, thou, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow. ¹⁷And take ye every man his censer, and put incense upon them, and bring ye before Jehovah every man his censer, two hundred and fifty censers, thou also, and Aaron, each his censer. ¹⁸And they took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense on it, and stood at the door of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. ¹⁹And Korah assembled all the congregation against them to the door of the tent of meeting. And the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the congregation. ²⁰And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²¹Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. ²²And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will thou be angry with all the congregation? ²³And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴Speak to the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. ²⁵And Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. ²⁶And he spoke to the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins. ²⁷So they got up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side. And Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones. ²⁸And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these works, for it is not of my own mind. ²⁹If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then Jehovah has not sent me. ³⁰But if Jehovah makes a new thing, and the ground opens its mouth, and swallows them up, with all that pertains to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then ye shall understand that these men have despised Jehovah. ³¹And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split asunder that was under them, ³²and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men that pertained to Korah, and all their goods. ³³So they, and all that pertained to them, went down alive into Sheol. And the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly. ³⁴And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them, for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up. ³⁵And fire came forth from Jehovah, and devoured the two hundred and fifty men who offered the incense. ³⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁷Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter thou the fire yonder, for they are holy, ³⁸even the censers of these sinners against their own lives, and let them be made beaten plates for a covering of the altar, for they offered them before Jehovah, therefore they are holy, and they shall be a sign to the sons of Israel. ³⁹And Eleazar the priest took the brazen censers, which those who were burnt had offered, and they beat them out for a covering of the altar, ⁴⁰to be a memorial to the sons of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to burn incense before Jehovah, that he not be as Korah, and as his company, as Jehovah spoke to him by Moses. ⁴¹But on the morrow all the congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of Jehovah. ⁴²And it came to pass, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting, and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Jehovah appeared. ⁴³And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting. ⁴⁴And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁴⁵Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces. ⁴⁶And Moses said to Aaron, Take thy censer, and put fire in it from off the altar, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them, for there is wrath gone out from Jehovah. The plague has begun. ⁴⁷And Aaron took as Moses spoke, and ran into the midst of the assembly. And, behold, the plague had begun among the people. And he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. ⁴⁹Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah. ⁵⁰And Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the tent of meeting, and the plague was stopped.

CHAPTER 17

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, and take rods from them, one for each father�s house, from all their rulers according to their fathers� houses, twelve rods. Write thou every man�s name upon his rod. ³And thou shall write Aaron�s name upon the rod of Levi, for there shall be one rod for each head of their fathers� houses. ⁴And thou shall lay them up in the tent of meeting before the testimony, where I meet with you. ⁵And it shall come to pass, that the rod of the man whom I shall choose shall bud. And I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the sons of Israel, which they murmur against you. ⁶And Moses spoke to the sons of Israel. And all their rulers gave him rods, for each ruler one, according to their fathers� houses, even twelve rods, and the rod of Aaron was among their rods. ⁷And Moses laid up the rods before Jehovah in the tent of the testimony. ⁸And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses went into the tent of the testimony, and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and put forth buds, and produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. ⁹And Moses brought out all the rods from before Jehovah to all the sons of Israel. And they looked, and took every man his rod. ¹⁰And Jehovah said to Moses, Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony, to be kept for a sign against the sons of rebellion, that thou may make an end of their murmurings against me, that they not die. ¹¹Thus Moses did. As Jehovah commanded him, so he did. ¹²And the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, Behold, we perish, we are undone, we are all undone. ¹³Every man who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of Jehovah, dies. Shall we all of us perish?

CHAPTER 18

¹And Jehovah said to Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy fathers� house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. ²And thy brothers also, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou near with thee, that they may be joined to thee, and minister to thee, but thou and thy sons with thee shall be before the tent of the testimony. ³And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tent. Only they shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary and to the altar, that they not die, neither they, nor ye. ⁴And they shall be joined to thee, and keep the charge of the tent of meeting, for all the service of the tent, and a stranger shall not come near to you. ⁵And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar, that there be no more wrath upon the sons of Israel. ⁶And I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to Jehovah, to do the service of the tent of meeting. ⁷And thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil, and ye shall serve. I give you the priesthood as a service of gift. And the stranger who comes near shall be put to death. ⁸And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, And I, behold, I have given thee the charge of my heave offerings, even all the hallowed things of the sons of Israel. I have given them to thee by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, as a portion forever. ⁹This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, even every meal offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render to me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. ¹⁰As the most holy things thou shall eat of it; every male shall eat of it. It shall be holy to thee. ¹¹And this is thine: the heave offering of their gift, even all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel. I have given them to thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, as a portion forever. Everyone who is clean in thy house shall eat of it. ¹²All the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first-fruits of them which they give to Jehovah, I have given them to thee. ¹³The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring to Jehovah, shall be thine. Everyone who is clean in thy house shall eat of it. ¹⁴Everything devoted in Israel shall be thine. ¹⁵Everything that opens the womb, of all flesh which they offer to Jehovah, both of man and beast shall be thine. Nevertheless the firstborn of man thou shall surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts thou shall redeem. ¹⁶And those that are to be redeemed of them from a month old shall thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the same is twenty gerahs). ¹⁷But the firstling of an ox, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shall not redeem. They are holy. Thou shall sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shall burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor to Jehovah. ¹⁸And the flesh of them shall be thine. As the wave-breast and as the right thigh, it shall be thine. ¹⁹All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Jehovah, I have given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, as a portion forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Jehovah to thee and to thy seed with thee. ²⁰And Jehovah said to Aaron, Thou shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall thou have any portion among them. I am thy portion and thine inheritance among the sons of Israel. ²¹And to the sons of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting. ²²And henceforth the sons of Israel shall not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin, and die. ²³But the Levites shall do the service of the tent of meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. And among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁴For the tithe of the sons of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance. Therefore I have said to them, Among the sons of Israel they shall have no inheritance. ²⁵And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶Moreover thou shall speak to the Levites, and say to them, When ye take from the sons of Israel the tithe which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up a heave offering of it for Jehovah, a tithe of the tithe. ²⁷And your heave offering shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing-floor, and as the fullness of the winepress. ²⁸Thus ye also shall offer a heave offering to Jehovah of all your tithes, which ye receive of the sons of Israel. And from it ye shall give Jehovah�s heave offering to Aaron the priest. ²⁹Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of Jehovah, of all the best of it, even the hallowed part of it out of it. ³⁰Therefore thou shall say to them, When ye heave the best of it from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing-floor, and as the increase of the wine-press. ³¹And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households, for it is your reward in return for your service in the tent of meeting. ³²And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it. And ye shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, that ye not die.

CHAPTER 19

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, ²This is the statute of the law which Jehovah has commanded, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, and upon which a yoke never came. ³And ye shall give her to Eleazar the priest, and he shall bring her forth outside the camp, and she shall be killed before his face. ⁴And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle her blood toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times. ⁵And the heifer shall be burned in his sight: her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, he shall burn. ⁶And the priest shall take cedar-wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer. ⁷Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water. And afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the evening. ⁸And he who burned her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the evening. ⁹And a man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside the camp in a clean place. And it shall be kept for the congregation of the sons of Israel for a water for impurity. It is a sin offering. ¹⁰And he who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. And it shall be to the sons of Israel, and to the stranger who sojourns among them, for a statute forever. ¹¹He who touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days. ¹²The same shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean, but if he does not purify himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean. ¹³Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself, defiles the tabernacle of Jehovah. And that soul shall be cut off from Israel, because the water for impurity was not sprinkled upon him. He shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him. ¹⁴This is the law when a man dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent, and everyone who is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁵And every open vessel, which has no covering bound upon it, is unclean. ¹⁶And whoever in the open field touches a man who is slain with a sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. ¹⁷And for the unclean they shall take of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering, and running water shall be put with that in a vessel. ¹⁸And a clean man shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the souls who were there, and upon him who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave. ¹⁹And the clean man shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day. And on the seventh day he shall purify him. And he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at evening. ²⁰But the man who shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean. ²¹And it shall be a perpetual statute to them. And he who sprinkles the water for impurity shall wash his clothes, and he who touches the water for impurity shall be unclean until evening. ²²And whatever the unclean man touches shall be unclean, and the soul who touches it shall be unclean until evening.

CHAPTER 20

¹And the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam died there, and was buried there. ²And there was no water for the congregation, and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brothers died before Jehovah! ⁴And why have ye brought the assembly of Jehovah into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our beasts? ⁵And why have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink. ⁶And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces. And the glory of Jehovah appeared to them. ⁷And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water, and thou shall bring forth water to them out of the rock. So thou shall give the congregation and their cattle drink. ⁹And Moses took the rod from before Jehovah, as he commanded him. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, ye rebels. Shall we bring forth water to you out of this rock? ¹¹And Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice, and water came forth abundantly. And the congregation drank, and their cattle. ¹²And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, Because ye did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. ¹³These are the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel strove with Jehovah, and he was sanctified in them. ¹⁴And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus says thy brother Israel, Thou know all the travail that has befallen us, ¹⁵how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time. And the Egyptians dealt ill with us and our fathers. ¹⁶And when we cried to Jehovah, he heard our voice, and sent an agent, and brought us forth out of Egypt. And, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the outermost of thy border. ¹⁷Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of the water of the wells. We will go along the king�s highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy border. ¹⁸And Edom said to him, Thou shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against thee. ¹⁹And the sons of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway. And if we drink of thy water, I and my cattle, then will I give the price of it. Only let me, without doing anything, pass through on my feet. ²⁰And he said, Thou shall not pass through. And Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand. ²¹Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border. Therefore Israel turned away from him. ²²And they journeyed from Kadesh, and the sons of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to mount Hor. ²³And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to mount Hor, ²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son. And Aaron shall be gathered, and shall die there. ²⁷And Moses did as Jehovah commanded. And they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there on the top of the mount, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. ²⁹And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

CHAPTER 21

¹And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South, heard tell that Israel came by the way of Atharim, and he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. ²And Israel vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said, If thou will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. ³And Jehovah hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites. And they utterly destroyed them and their cities. And the name of the place was called Hormah. ⁴And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to encompass the land of Edom. And the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. ⁵And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and there is no water, and our soul loathes this light bread. ⁶And Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and many people of Israel died. ⁷And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, because we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee. Pray to Jehovah, that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. ⁸And Jehovah said to Moses, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a standard. And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live. ⁹And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon the standard. And it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he looked to the serpent of brass, he lived. ¹⁰And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in Oboth. ¹¹And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped at Iyeabarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹²From there they journeyed, and encamped in the valley of Zered. ¹³From there they journeyed, and encamped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes out of the border of the Amorites, for the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴Therefore it is said in the book of the Wars of Jehovah, Vaheb in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon, ¹⁵and the slope of the valleys that inclines toward the dwelling of Ar, and leans upon the border of Moab. ¹⁶And from there they journeyed to Beer. That is the well of which Jehovah said to Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. ¹⁷Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well. Sing ye to it, ¹⁸the well, which the rulers dug, which the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter, and with their staves. And from the wilderness they journeyed to Mattanah, ¹⁹and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰and from Bamoth to the valley which is in the field of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which looks down upon the desert. ²¹And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ²²Let me pass through thy land. We will not turn aside into field, or into vineyard. We will not drink of the water of the wells. We will go by the king�s highway, until we have passed thy border. ²³And Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and went out against Israel into the wilderness, and came to Jahaz, and he fought against Israel. ²⁴And Israel smote him with the edge of the sword, and possessed his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, even to the sons of Ammon, for the border of the sons of Ammon was strong. ²⁵And Israel took all these cities. And Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all the towns of it. ²⁶For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab, and had taken all his land out of his hand, even to the Arnon. ²⁷Therefore those who speak in proverbs say, Come ye to Heshbon. Let the city of Sihon be built and established. ²⁸For a fire has gone out of Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon. It has devoured Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of the Arnon. ²⁹Woe to thee, Moab! Thou are undone, O people of Chemosh. He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. ³⁰We have shot at them. Heshbon is perished even to Dibon, and we have laid waste even to Nophah, which reaches to Medeba. ³¹Thus Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites. ³²And Moses sent to spy out Jazer. And they took the towns of it, and drove out the Amorites that were there. ³³And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. ³⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Fear him not, for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land. And thou shall do to him as thou did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. ³⁵So they smote him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left to him remaining. And they possessed his land.

CHAPTER 22

¹And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. ²And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³And Moab was exceedingly afraid of the people, because they were many. And Moab was distressed because of the sons of Israel. ⁴And Moab said to the elders of Midian, Now will this multitude lick up all that is round about us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field. And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵And he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, to Pethor, which is by the River, to the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, Behold, a people came out from Egypt. Behold, they cover the face of the earth, and they abide opposite me. ⁶Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse for me this people, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom thou bless is blessed, and he whom thou curse is cursed. ⁷And the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the rewards of divination in their hand, and they came to Balaam, and spoke to him the words of Balak. ⁸And he said to them, Lodge here this night, and I will bring you word again, as Jehovah shall speak to me. And the rulers of Moab abode with Balaam. ⁹And God came to Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee? ¹⁰And Balaam said to God, Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ¹¹Behold, the people came out of Egypt, it covers the face of the earth. Now, come curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them, and shall drive them out. ¹²And God said to Balaam, Thou shall not go with them. Thou shall not curse the people, for they are blessed. ¹³And Balaam rose up in the morning, and said to the rulers of Balak, Get into your land, for Jehovah refuses to give me leave to go with you. ¹⁴And the rulers of Moab rose up, and they went to Balak, and said, Balaam refuses to come with us. ¹⁵And Balak sent yet again rulers, more, and more honorable than they. ¹⁶And they came to Balaam, and said to him, Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, Let nothing, I pray thee, hinder thee from coming to me. ¹⁷For I will promote thee to very great honor, and whatever thou say to me I will do. Come therefore, I pray thee, curse this people for me. ¹⁸And Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah my God, to do less or more. ¹⁹Now therefore, I pray you, tarry ye also here this night, that I may know what Jehovah will speak to me more. ²⁰And God came to Balaam at night, and said to him, If the men come to call thee, rise up, go with them, but only the word which I speak to thee, that shall thou do. ²¹And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and went with the rulers of Moab. ²²And God�s anger was kindled because he went, and the agent of Jehovah placed himself in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his donkey, and his two servants were with him. ²³And the donkey saw the agent of Jehovah standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand, and the donkey turned aside out of the way, and went into the field. And Balaam smote the donkey, to turn her into the way. ²⁴Then the agent of Jehovah stood in a narrow path between the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. ²⁵And the donkey saw the agent of Jehovah, and she thrust herself to the wall, and crushed Balaam�s foot against the wall. And he smote her again. ²⁶And the agent of Jehovah went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. ²⁷And the donkey saw the agent of Jehovah, and she lay down under Balaam. And Balaam�s anger was kindled, and he smote the donkey with his staff. ²⁸And Jehovah opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, What have I done to thee, that thou have smitten me these three times? ²⁹And Balaam said to the donkey, Because thou have mocked me. I would there were a sword in my hand, for now I would have killed thee. ³⁰And the donkey said to Balaam, Am not I thy donkey, upon which thou have ridden all thy life long to this day? Was I ever accustomed to do so to thee? And he said, No. ³¹Then Jehovah opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the agent of Jehovah standing in the way, with his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed his head, and fell on his face. ³²And the agent of Jehovah said to him, Why have thou smitten thy donkey these three times? Behold, I have come forth as an adversary, because thy way is perverse before me. ³³And the donkey saw me, and turned aside before me these three times. Unless she had turned aside from me, surely now I would have even slain thee, and saved her alive. ³⁴And Balaam said to the agent of Jehovah, I have sinned, for I knew not that thou stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displease thee, I will get back again. ³⁵And the agent of Jehovah said to Balaam, Go with the men, but only the word that I shall speak to thee, that thou shall speak. So Balaam went with the rulers of Balak. ³⁶And when Balak heard that Balaam came, he went out to meet him to the City of Moab, which is on the border of the Arnon, which is in the outmost part of the border. ³⁷And Balak said to Balaam, Did I not earnestly send to thee to call thee? Why did thou not come to me? Am I not able indeed to promote thee to honor? ³⁸And Balaam said to Balak, Lo, I have come to thee. Have I now any power at all to speak anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that shall I speak. ³⁹And Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. ⁴⁰And Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent to Balaam, and to the rulers that were with him. ⁴¹And it came to pass in the morning, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, and he saw from there the outmost part of the people.

CHAPTER 23

¹And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams. ²And Balak did as Balaam had spoken. And Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram. ³And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go. Perhaps Jehovah will come to meet me, and whatever he shows me I will tell thee. And he went to a bare height. ⁴And God met Balaam, and he said to him, I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. ⁵And Jehovah put a word in Balaam�s mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shall speak. ⁶And he returned to him. And, lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the rulers of Moab. ⁷And he took up his oracle, and said, From Aram Balak has brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, defy Israel. ⁸How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? And how shall I defy, whom Jehovah has not defied? ⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him. Lo, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. ¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! ¹¹And Balak said to Balaam, What have thou done to me? I took thee to curse my enemies, and, behold, thou have blessed them altogether. ¹²And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which Jehovah puts in my mouth? ¹³And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from where thou may see them. Thou shall see but the outmost part of them, and shall not see them all, and curse them for me from there. ¹⁴And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar. ¹⁵And he said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet Jehovah yonder. ¹⁶And Jehovah met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus shall thou speak. ¹⁷And he came to him. And, lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the rulers of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken? ¹⁸And he took up his oracle, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear. Hearken to me, thou son of Zippor. ¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good? ²⁰Behold, I have received to bless. And he has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. ²¹He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. ²²God brings them forth out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild-ox. ²³Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob, neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God wrought! ²⁴Behold, the people rise up as a lioness, and as a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eats of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain. ²⁵And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all. ²⁶But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaks, that I must do? ²⁷And Balak said to Balaam, Come now, I will take thee to another place. Perhaps it will please God that thou may curse them for me from there. ²⁸And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down upon the desert. ²⁹And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me here seven altars, and prepare for me here seven bullocks and seven rams. ³⁰And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

CHAPTER 24

¹And when Balaam saw that it pleased Jehovah to bless Israel, he did not go, as at the other times, to meet with omens, but he set his face toward the wilderness. ²And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon him. ³And he took up his oracle, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, and the man whose eye was closed says, ⁴he says who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open, ⁵How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, thy tabernacles, O Israel! ⁶As valleys they are spread forth, as gardens by the river-side, as aloes which Jehovah has planted, as cedar trees beside the waters. ⁷Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. ⁸God brings him forth out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild-ox. He shall eat up the nations his adversaries, and shall break their bones in pieces, and smite them through with his arrows. ⁹He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a lioness. Who shall rouse him up? He who blesses thee is blessed, And he who curses thee is cursed. ¹⁰And Balak�s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, I called thee to curse my enemies, and, behold, thou have altogether blessed them these three times. ¹¹Therefore now flee thou to thy place. I thought to promote thee to great honor, but, lo, Jehovah has kept thee back from honor. ¹²And Balaam said to Balak, Did I not also speak to thy messengers that thou sent to me, saying, ¹³If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Jehovah, to do either good or bad of my own mind. What Jehovah speaks, that I will speak? ¹⁴And now, behold, I go to my people. Come, I will advise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. ¹⁵And he took up his oracle, and said, Balaam the son of Beor says, and the man whose eye was closed says, ¹⁶he says who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down, and having his eyes open: ¹⁷I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. There shall come forth a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite through the corners of Moab, and break down all the sons of tumult. ¹⁸And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession, who were his enemies, while Israel does valiantly. ¹⁹And out of Jacob shall come he who shall have dominion, and shall destroy the remnant from the city. ²⁰And he looked on Amalek, and took up his oracle, and said, Amalek was the first of the nations, but his latter end shall come to destruction. ²¹And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his oracle, and said, Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thy nest is set in the rock. ²²Nevertheless Kain shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. ²³And he took up his oracle, and said, Alas, who shall live when God does this? ²⁴But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, and they shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall come to destruction. ²⁵And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.

CHAPTER 25

¹And Israel abode in Shittim. And the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab, ²for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. And the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. ³And Israel joined himself to Baal-peor, and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel. ⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may turn away from Israel. ⁵And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Kill ye every one his men who have joined themselves to Baal-peor. ⁶And, behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his brothers a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the door of the tent of meeting. ⁷And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. ⁸And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stayed from the sons of Israel. ⁹And those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand. ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the sons of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the sons of Israel in my jealousy. ¹²Therefore say, Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. ¹³And it shall be to him, and to his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the sons of Israel. ¹⁴Now the name of the man of Israel who was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a ruler of a fathers� house among the Simeonites. ¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers� house in Midian. ¹⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷Vex the Midianites, and smite them, ¹⁸for they vex you with their wiles, with which they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the ruler of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.

CHAPTER 26

¹And it came to pass after the plague, that Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, saying, ²Take the sum of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers� houses, all who are able to go forth to war in Israel. ³And Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho ⁴saying from twenty years old and upward, as Jehovah commanded Moses and the sons of Israel, who came forth out of the land of Egypt. ⁵Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. The sons of Reuben: of Hanoch, the family of the Hanochites; of Pallu, the family of the Palluites; ⁶of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Carmi, the family of the Carmites. ⁷These are the families of the Reubenites. And those who were numbered of them were forty-three thousand and seven hundred and thirty. ⁸(And the sons of Pallu: Eliab. ⁹And the sons of Eliab: Nemuel, and Dathan, and Abiram. These are that Dathan and Abiram, who were renown men of the congregation, who strove against Moses and against Aaron in the company of Korah when they strove against Jehovah, ¹⁰and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up together with Korah when that company died, that time the fire devoured two hundred and fifty men, and they became an example. ¹¹Notwithstanding, the sons of Korah did not die.) ¹²The sons of Simeon according to their families: of Nemuel, the family of the Nemuelites; of Jamin, the family of the Jaminites; of Jachin, the family of the Jachinites; ¹³of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites; of Shaul, the family of the Shaulites. ¹⁴These are the families of the Simeonites, twenty-two thousand and two hundred. ¹⁵The sons of Gad according to their families: of Zephon, the family of the Zephonites; of Haggi, the family of the Haggites; of Shuni, the family of the Shunites; ¹⁶of Ozni, the family of the Oznites; of Eri, the family of the Erites; ¹⁷of Arod, the family of the Arodites; of Areli, the family of the Arelites. ¹⁸These are the families of the sons of Gad according to those who were numbered of them, forty thousand and five hundred. ¹⁹The sons of Judah: Er and Onan, and Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. ²⁰And the sons of Judah according to their families were: of Shelah, the family of the Shelanites; of Perez, the family of the Perezites; of Zerah, the family of the Zerahites. ²¹And the sons of Perez were: of Hezron, the family of the Hezronites; of Hamul, the family of the Hamulites. ²²These are the families of Judah according to those who were numbered of them, seventy-six thousand and five hundred. ²³The sons of Issachar according to their families: of Tola, the family of the Tolaites; of Puvah, the family of the Punites; ²⁴of Jashub, the family of the Jashubites; of Shimron, the family of the Shimronites. ²⁵These are the families of Issachar according to those who were numbered of them, sixty-four thousand and three hundred. ²⁶The sons of Zebulun according to their families: of Sered, the family of the Seredites; of Elon, the family of the Elonites; of Jahleel, the family of the Jahleelites. ²⁷These are the families of the Zebulunites according to those who were numbered of them, sixty thousand and five hundred. ²⁸The sons of Joseph according to their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. ²⁹The sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites; and Machir begot Gilead; of Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. ³⁰These are the sons of Gilead: of Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; of Helek, the family of the Helekites; ³¹and of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; ³²and of Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; and of Hepher, the family of the Hepherites. ³³And Zelophehad the son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters, and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ³⁴These are the families of Manasseh, and those who were numbered of them were fifty-two thousand and seven hundred. ³⁵These are the sons of Ephraim according to their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. ³⁶And these are the sons of Shuthelah: of Eran, the family of the Eranites. ³⁷These are the families of the sons of Ephraim according to those who were numbered of them, thirty-two thousand and five hundred. These are the sons of Joseph after their families. ³⁸The sons of Benjamin according to their families: of Bela, the family of the Belaites; of Ashbel, the family of the Ashbelites; of Ahiram, the family of the Ahiramites; ³⁹of Shephupham, the family of the Shuphamites; of Hupham, the family of the Huphamites. ⁴⁰And the sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: of Ard, the family of the Ardites; of Naaman, the family of the Naamites. ⁴¹These are the sons of Benjamin according to their families, and those who were numbered of them were forty-five thousand and six hundred. ⁴²These are the sons of Dan according to their families: of Shuham, the family of the Shuhamites. These are the families of Dan according to their families. ⁴³All the families of the Shuhamites, according to those who were numbered of them, were sixty-four thousand and four hundred. ⁴⁴The sons of Asher according to their families: of Imnah, the family of the Imnites; of Ishvi, the family of the Ishvites; of Beriah, the family of the Berites. ⁴⁵Of the sons of Beriah: of Heber, the family of the Heberites; of Malchiel, the family of the Malchielites. ⁴⁶And the name of the daughter of Asher was Serah. ⁴⁷These are the families of the sons of Asher according to those who were numbered of them, fifty-three thousand and four hundred. ⁴⁸The sons of Naphtali according to their families: of Jahzeel, the family of the Jahzeelites; of Guni, the family of the Gunites; ⁴⁹of Jezer, the family of the Jezerites; of Shillem, the family of the Shillemites. ⁵⁰These are the families of Naphtali according to their families, and those who were numbered of them were forty-five thousand and four hundred. ⁵¹These are those who were numbered of the sons of Israel, six hundred one thousand seven hundred and thirty. ⁵²And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁵³To these the land shall be divided for an inheritance according to the number of names. ⁵⁴To the many thou shall give more inheritance, and to the few thou shall give less inheritance: to each one according to those who were numbered of him shall his inheritance be given. ⁵⁵Notwithstanding, the land shall be divided by lot. They shall inherit according to the names of the tribes of their fathers. ⁵⁶According to the lot their inheritance shall be divided between the many and the fewer. ⁵⁷And these are those who were numbered of the Levites according to their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites; of Kohath, the family of the Kohathites; of Merari, the family of the Merarites. ⁵⁸These are the families of Levi: the family of the Libnites, the family of the Hebronites, the family of the Mahlites, the family of the Mushites, the family of the Korahites. And Kohath begot Amram. ⁵⁹And the name of Amram�s wife was Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram, Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister. ⁶⁰And to Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁶¹And Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before Jehovah. ⁶²And those who were numbered of them were twenty-three thousand, every male from a month old and upward, for they were not numbered among the sons of Israel, because there was no inheritance given them among the sons of Israel. ⁶³These are those who were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. ⁶⁴But among these there was not a man of them who was numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. ⁶⁵For Jehovah had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not a man of them left, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

CHAPTER 27

¹Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, drew near. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah. ²And they stood before Moses, and before Eleazar the priest, and before the rulers and all the congregation, at the door of the tent of meeting, saying, ³Our father died in the wilderness, and he was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against Jehovah in the company of Korah, but he died in his own sin, and he had no sons. ⁴Why should the name of our father be taken away from among his family, because he had no son? Give to us a possession among the brothers of our father. ⁵And Moses brought their case before Jehovah. ⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ⁷The daughters of Zelophehad speak right. Thou shall surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father�s brothers, and thou shall cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. ⁸And thou shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, If a man dies, and has no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. ⁹And if he has no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰And if he has no brothers, then ye shall give his inheritance to his father�s brothers. ¹¹And if his father has no brothers, then ye shall give his inheritance to his kinsman who is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it. And it shall be to the sons of Israel a statute and ordinance, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹²And Jehovah said to Moses, Get thee up onto this mountain of Abarim, and behold the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. ¹³And when thou have seen it, thou also shall be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother was gathered, ¹⁴because ye rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) ¹⁵And Moses spoke to Jehovah, saying, ¹⁶Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, ¹⁷who may go out before them, and who may come in before them, and who may lead them out, and who may bring them in, that the congregation of Jehovah be not as sheep which have no shepherd. ¹⁸And Jehovah said to Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay thy hand upon him, ¹⁹and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation, and give him a charge in their sight. ²⁰And thou shall put of thine honor upon him, that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey. ²¹And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim before Jehovah. At his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation. ²²And Moses did as Jehovah commanded him. And he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation. ²³And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as Jehovah spoke by Moses.

CHAPTER 28

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Command the sons of Israel, and say to them, My oblation, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a sweet savor to me, ye shall observe to offer to me in their due season. ³And thou shall say to them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer to Jehovah: he-lambs a year old without blemish, two day by day, for a continual burnt offering. ⁴The one lamb thou shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shall offer at evening, ⁵and the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil. ⁶It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained on mount Sinai for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ⁷And the drink offering of it shall be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb. In the holy place thou shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to Jehovah. ⁸And the other lamb thou shall offer at evening. As the meal offering of the morning, and as the drink offering of it, thou shall offer it, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. ⁹And on the sabbath day two he-lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering of it. ¹⁰This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering, and the drink offering of it. ¹¹And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering to Jehovah: two young bullocks, and one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish, ¹²and three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for each bullock, and two tenth parts of fine flour for a meal offering, mingled with oil for the one ram, ¹³and a tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal offering to every lamb, for a burnt offering of a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ¹⁴And their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bullock, and the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year. ¹⁵And one he-goat for a sin offering to Jehovah, it shall be offered besides the continual burnt offering, and the drink offering of it. ¹⁶And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is Jehovah�s Passover. ¹⁷And on the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast; seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. ¹⁸In the first day shall be a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work. ¹⁹But ye shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to Jehovah: two young bullocks, and one ram, and seven he-lambs a year old (they shall be to you without blemish), ²⁰and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil. Three tenth parts ye shall offer for a bullock, and two tenth parts for the ram, ²¹a tenth part shall thou offer for every lamb of the seven lambs. ²²Also one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. ²³Ye shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering. ²⁴After this manner ye shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah. It shall be offered besides the continual burnt offering, and the drink offering of it. ²⁵And on the seventh day ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work. ²⁶Also in the day of the first-fruits, when ye offer a new meal offering to Jehovah in your feast of weeks, ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work. ²⁷But ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savor to Jehovah: two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old, ²⁸and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for each bullock, two tenth parts for the one ram, ²⁹a tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs, ³⁰one he-goat, to make atonement for you. ³¹Besides the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering of it, ye shall offer them (they shall be to you without blemish), and their drink offerings.

CHAPTER 29

¹And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work. It is a day of blowing of trumpets to you. ²And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savor to Jehovah: one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish, ³and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram, ⁴and one tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs, ⁵and one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you, ⁶besides the burnt offering of the new moon, and the meal offering of it, and the continual burnt offering and the meal offering of it, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire to Jehovah. ⁷And on the tenth day of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation, and ye shall afflict your souls. Ye shall do no manner of work. ⁸But ye shall offer a burnt offering to Jehovah for a sweet savor: one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old (they shall be to you without blemish), ⁹and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the one ram, ¹⁰a tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs, ¹¹one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering of it, and their drink offerings. ¹²And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no job work, and ye shall keep a feast to Jehovah seven days. ¹³And ye shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah: thirteen young bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old (they shall be without blemish), ¹⁴and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth parts for each ram of the two rams, ¹⁵and a tenth part for every lamb of the fourteen lambs, ¹⁶and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ¹⁷And on the second day, twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish, ¹⁸and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, ¹⁹and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering of it, and their drink offerings. ²⁰And on the third day, eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish, ²¹and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, ²²and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ²³And on the fourth day, ten bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish, ²⁴their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, ²⁵and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ²⁶And on the fifth day, nine bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish, ²⁷and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, ²⁸and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ²⁹And on the sixth day, eight bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish, ³⁰and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, ³¹and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, the meal offering of it, and the drink offerings of it. ³²And on the seventh day, seven bullocks, two rams, fourteen he-lambs a year old without blemish, ³³and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance, ³⁴and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ³⁵On the eighth day, ye shall have a solemn assembly. Ye shall do no job work. ³⁶But ye shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to Jehovah: one bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs a year old without blemish, ³⁷their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the ordinance, ³⁸and one he-goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering of it, and the drink offering of it. ³⁹These ye shall offer to Jehovah in your set feasts, besides your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meal offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings. ⁴⁰And Moses told the sons of Israel according to all that Jehovah commanded Moses.

CHAPTER 30

¹And Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, This is the thing which Jehovah has commanded. ²When a man vows a vow to Jehovah, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. ³Also when a woman vows a vow to Jehovah, and binds herself by a bond, being in her father�s house, in her youth, ⁴and her father hears her vow, and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father remains silent at her, then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand. ⁵But if her father disallows her in the day that he hears, none of her vows, or of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, shall stand. And Jehovah will forgive her, because her father disallowed her. ⁶And if she is married to a husband, while her vows are upon her, or the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul, ⁷and her husband hears it, and remains silent at her in the day that he hears it, then her vows shall stand, and her bonds with which she has bound her soul shall stand. ⁸But if her husband disallows her in the day that he hears it, then he shall make void her vow which is upon her, and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul. And Jehovah will forgive her. ⁹But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, even everything with which she has bound her soul shall stand against her. ¹⁰And if she vowed in her husband�s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath, ¹¹and her husband heard it, and remained silent at her, and did not disallow her, then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she bound her soul shall stand. ¹²But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and Jehovah will forgive her. ¹³Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. ¹⁴But if her husband altogether remains silent at her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows, or all her bonds, which are upon her. He has established them, because he remained silent at her in the day that he heard them. ¹⁵But if he shall make them null and void after he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity. ¹⁶These are the statutes, which Jehovah commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth in her father�s house.

CHAPTER 31

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Avenge the sons of Israel of the Midianites. Afterward thou shall be gathered to thy people. ³And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Jehovah�s vengeance on Midian. ⁴From every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, ye shall send to the war. ⁵So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶And Moses sent them, a thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷And they warred against Midian as Jehovah commanded Moses, and they killed every male. ⁸And they killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. ⁹And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones. And all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. ¹⁰And all their cities in the places in which they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. ¹¹And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast. ¹²And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. ¹³And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the rulers of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. ¹⁵And Moses said to them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ¹⁶Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Jehovah. ¹⁷Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸But all the women-children, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹And encamp ye outside the camp seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, ye and your captives. ²⁰And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats� hair, and all things made of wood, ye shall purify yourselves. ²¹And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah has commanded Moses: ²²only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead� ²³everything which may go into fire�ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity. And all that may not go into fire ye shall make to go through the water. ²⁴And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp. ²⁵And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation, ²⁷and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war who went out to battle, and all the congregation. ²⁸And levy a tribute to Jehovah of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the donkeys, and of the flocks. ²⁹Take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for Jehovah�s heave offering. ³⁰And of the sons of Israel�s half, thou shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah. ³¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah commanded Moses. ³²Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³and seventy-two thousand oxen, ³⁴and sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶And the half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand and five hundred sheep. ³⁷And Jehovah�s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸And the oxen were thirty-six thousand, of which Jehovah�s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹And the donkeys were thirty thousand and five hundred, of which Jehovah�s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰And the persons were sixteen thousand, of whom Jehovah�s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹And Moses gave the tribute, which was Jehovah�s heave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁴²And of the sons of Israel�s half, which Moses divided off from the men who warred ⁴³now the congregation�s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand and five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴and thirty-six thousand oxen, ⁴⁵and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons), ⁴⁷even of the sons of Israel�s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁴⁸And the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses. ⁴⁹And they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us. ⁵⁰And we have brought Jehovah�s oblation, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle-chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, earrings, and armlets, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah. ⁵¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, even all wrought jewels. ⁵²And all the gold of the heave offering that they offered up to Jehovah, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ⁵³(For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the sons of Israel before Jehovah.

CHAPTER 32

¹Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle. And when they saw the land of Jazer, and the land of Gilead, that, behold, the place was a place for cattle, ²the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the rulers of the congregation, saying, ³Ataroth, and Dibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Sebam, and Nebo, and Beon, ⁴the land which Jehovah smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle. ⁵And they said, If we have found favor in thy sight, let this land be given to thy servants for a possession. Bring us not over the Jordan. ⁶And Moses said to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, Shall your brothers go to the war, and shall ye sit here? ⁷And why do ye discourage the heart of the sons of Israel from going over into the land which Jehovah has given them? ⁸Thus did your fathers when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹For when they went up to the valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the sons of Israel, that they should not go into the land which Jehovah had given them. ¹⁰And Jehovah�s anger was kindled in that day, and he swore, saying, ¹¹Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me, ¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have wholly followed Jehovah. ¹³And Jehovah�s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander to and fro in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of Jehovah was consumed. ¹⁴And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers� stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of Jehovah toward Israel. ¹⁵For if ye turn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness, and ye will destroy all this people. ¹⁶And they came near to him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷but we ourselves will be ready armed to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸We will not return to our houses until the sons of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. ¹⁹For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan, and forward, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward. ²⁰And Moses said to them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will arm yourselves to go before Jehovah to the war, ²¹and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before Jehovah, until he has driven out his enemies from before him, ²²and the land is subdued before Jehovah, then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless towards Jehovah, and towards Israel, and this land shall be to you for a possession before Jehovah. ²³But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against Jehovah, and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴Build for you cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep, and do that which has proceeded out of your mouth. ²⁵And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Thy servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall be there in the cities of Gilead, ²⁷but thy servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before Jehovah to battle, as my lord says. ²⁸So Moses gave charge concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²⁹And Moses said to them, If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man that is armed to battle, before Jehovah, and the land shall be subdued before you, then ye shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession, ³⁰but if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan. ³¹And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, As Jehovah has said to thy servants, so we will do. ³²We will pass over armed before Jehovah into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance is with us beyond the Jordan. ³³And Moses gave to them, even to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land, according to the cities of it with their borders, even the cities of the land round about. ³⁴And the sons of Gad built Dibon, and Ataroth, and Aroer, ³⁵and Atrothshophan, and Jazer, and Jogbehah, ³⁶and Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran: fortified cities, and folds for sheep. ³⁷And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiriathaim, ³⁸and Nebo, and Baal-meon, (their names being changed,) and Sibmah. And they gave other names to the cities which they built. ³⁹And the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead, and took it, and dispossessed the Amorites that were in it. ⁴⁰And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it. ⁴¹And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took the towns of it, and called them Havvoth-jair. ⁴²And Nobah went and took Kenath, and the villages of it, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

CHAPTER 33

¹These are the journeys of the sons of Israel when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their armies under the hand of Moses and Aaron. ²And Moses wrote their goings out according to their journeys by the commandment of Jehovah. And these are their journeys according to their goings out. ³And 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 out with a high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians, ⁴while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn whom Jehovah had smitten among them; upon their gods also Jehovah executed judgments. ⁵And the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses, and encamped in Succoth. ⁶And they journeyed from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, which is in the edge of the wilderness. ⁷And they journeyed from Etham, and turned back to Pihahiroth, which is before Baal-zephon, and they encamped before Migdol. ⁸And they journeyed from before Hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness. And they went three days� journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah. ⁹And they journeyed from Marah, and came to Elim. And in Elim were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there. ¹⁰And they journeyed from Elim, and encamped by the Red Sea. ¹¹And they journeyed from the Red Sea, and encamped in the wilderness of Sin. ¹²And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, and encamped in Dophkah. ¹³And they journeyed from Dophkah, and encamped in Alush. ¹⁴And they journeyed from Alush, and encamped in Rephidim, where was no water for the people to drink. ¹⁵And they journeyed from Rephidim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai. ¹⁶And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai, and encamped in Kibroth-hattaavah. ¹⁷And they journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah, and encamped in Hazeroth. ¹⁸And they journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in Rithmah. ¹⁹And they journeyed from Rithmah, and encamped in Rimmon-perez. ²⁰And they journeyed from Rimmon-perez, and encamped in Libnah. ²¹And they journeyed from Libnah, and encamped in Rissah. ²²And they journeyed from Rissah, and encamped in Kehelathah. ²³And they journeyed from Kehelathah, and encamped in mount Shepher. ²⁴And they journeyed from mount Shepher, and encamped in Haradah. ²⁵And they journeyed from Haradah, and encamped in Makheloth. ²⁶And they journeyed from Makheloth, and encamped in Tahath. ²⁷And they journeyed from Tahath, and encamped in Terah. ²⁸And they journeyed from Terah, and encamped in Mithkah. ²⁹And they journeyed from Mithkah, and encamped in Hashmonah. ³⁰And they journeyed from Hashmonah, and encamped in Moseroth. ³¹And they journeyed from Moseroth, and encamped in Bene-jaakan. ³²And they journeyed from Bene-jaakan, and encamped in Hor-haggidgad. ³³And they journeyed from Hor-haggidgad, and encamped in Jotbathah. ³⁴And they journeyed from Jotbathah, and encamped in Abronah. ³⁵And they journeyed from Abronah, and encamped in Ezion-geber. ³⁶And they journeyed from Ezion-geber, and encamped in the wilderness of Zin (the same is Kadesh). ³⁷And they journeyed from Kadesh, and encamped at mount Hor, in the edge of the land of Edom. ³⁸(And Aaron the priest went up onto mount Hor at the commandment of Jehovah, and died there, in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month. ³⁹And Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old when he died in mount Hor. ⁴⁰And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who dwelt in the South in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the sons of Israel.) ⁴¹And they journeyed from mount Hor, and encamped in Zalmonah. ⁴²And they journeyed from Zalmonah, and encamped in Punon. ⁴³And they journeyed from Punon, and encamped in Oboth. ⁴⁴And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped in Iye-abarim, in the border of Moab. ⁴⁵And they journeyed from Iyim, and encamped in Dibon-gad. ⁴⁶And they journeyed from Dibon-gad, and encamped in Almon-diblathaim. ⁴⁷And they journeyed from Almon-diblathaim, and encamped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo. ⁴⁸And they journeyed from the mountains of Abarim, and encamped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho. ⁴⁹And they encamped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even to Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab. ⁵⁰And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, ⁵¹Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵²then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places. ⁵³And ye shall take possession of the land, and dwell in it, for to you I have given the land to possess it. ⁵⁴And ye shall inherit the land by lot according to your families. To the more ye shall give more inheritance, and to the few thou shall give less inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to any man, that shall be his. Ye shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. ⁵⁵But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those that ye let remain of them shall be as pricks in your eyes, and as thorns in your sides, and they shall vex you in the land in which ye dwell. ⁵⁶And it shall come to pass, that, as I thought to do to them, so I will do to you.

CHAPTER 34

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ²Command the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye come into the land of Canaan (this is the land that shall fall to you for an inheritance, even the land of Canaan according to the borders of it), ³then your south quarter shall be from the wilderness of Zin along by the side of Edom. And your south border shall be from the end of the Salt Sea eastward. ⁴And your border shall turn about southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and pass along to Zin. And the goings out of it shall be southward of Kadesh-barnea. And it shall go forth to Hazar-addar, and pass along to Azmon. ⁵And the border shall turn about from Azmon to the brook of Egypt, and the goings out of it shall be at the sea. ⁶And for the western border, ye shall have the great sea and the border of it. This shall be your west border. ⁷And this shall be your north border: From the great sea ye shall mark out for you mount Hor. ⁸From mount Hor ye shall mark out to the entrance of Hamath. And the goings out of the border shall be at Zedad. ⁹And the border shall go forth to Ziphron, and the goings out of it shall be at Hazar-enan. This shall be your north border. ¹⁰And ye shall mark out your east border from Hazar-enan to Shepham. ¹¹And the border shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. And the border shall go down, and shall reach to the side of the sea of Chinnereth eastward. ¹²And the border shall go down to the Jordan, and the goings out of it shall be at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to the borders of it round about. ¹³And Moses commanded the sons of Israel, saying, This is the land which ye shall inherit by lot, which Jehovah has commanded to give to the nine tribes, and to the half-tribe. ¹⁴For the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their fathers� houses, and the tribe of the children of Gad according to their fathers� houses, have received, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received, their inheritance. ¹⁵The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise. ¹⁶And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷These are the names of the men who shall divide the land to you for inheritance: Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun. ¹⁸And ye shall take one ruler of every tribe, to divide the land for inheritance. ¹⁹And these are the names of the men: Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. ²⁰And of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, Shemuel the son of Ammihud. ²¹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chislon. ²²And of the tribe of the sons of Dan a ruler, Bukki the son of Jogli. ²³Of the sons of Joseph: of the tribe of the sons of Manasseh a ruler, Hanniel the son of Ephod, ²⁴and of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim a ruler, Kemuel the son of Shiphtan. ²⁵And of the tribe of the sons of Zebulun a ruler, Elizaphan the son of Parnach. ²⁶And of the tribe of the sons of Issachar a ruler, Paltiel the son of Azzan. ²⁷And of the tribe of the sons of Asher a ruler, Ahihud the son of Shelomi. ²⁸And of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali a ruler, Pedahel the son of Ammihud. ²⁹These are those whom Jehovah commanded to divide the inheritance to the sons of Israel in the land of Canaan.

CHAPTER 35

¹And Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, ²Command the sons of Israel, that they give to the Levites from the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in. And ye shall give suburbs for the cities round about them to the Levites. ³And they shall have the cities to dwell in, and their suburbs shall be for their cattle, and for their substance, and for all their beasts. ⁴And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give to the Levites, shall be from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. ⁵And ye shall measure outside the city for the east side two thousand cubits, and for the south side two thousand cubits, and for the west side two thousand cubits, and for the north side two thousand cubits, the city being in the midst. This shall be to them the suburbs of the cities. ⁶And of the cities which ye shall give to the Levites, there shall be the six cities of refuge, which ye shall give for the manslayer to flee to. And besides them ye shall give forty-two cities. ⁷All the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, them with their suburbs. ⁸And concerning the cities which ye shall give of the possession of the sons of Israel, from the many ye shall take many, and from the few ye shall take few. Everyone according to his inheritance which he inherits shall give of his cities to the Levites. ⁹And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ¹¹then ye shall appoint cities to be cities of refuge for you, that the manslayer who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. ¹²And the cities shall be to you for refuge from the avenger, that the manslayer not die until he stands before the congregation for judgment. ¹³And the cities which ye shall give shall be for you six cities of refuge. ¹⁴Ye shall give three cities beyond the Jordan, and three cities ye shall give in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge. ¹⁵For the sons of Israel, and for the stranger and for the sojourner among them, these six cities shall be for refuge, that everyone who kills any person unwittingly may flee there. ¹⁶But if he smote him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁷And if he smote him with a stone in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸Or if he smote him with a weapon of wood in the hand, by which a man may die, and he died, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death. ¹⁹The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death. When he meets him, he shall put him to death. ²⁰And if he thrust him from hatred, or hurled at him, lying in wait, so that he died, ²¹or in enmity smote him with his hand, so that he died, he who smote him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death, when he meets him. ²²But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or hurled upon him anything without lying in wait, ²³or with any stone, by which a man may die, not seeing him, and cast it upon him, so that he died, and he was not his enemy, nor sought his harm, ²⁴then the congregation shall judge between the smiter and the avenger of blood according to these ordinances. ²⁵And the congregation shall deliver the manslayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to his city of refuge where he fled. And he shall dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil. ²⁶But if the manslayer shall at any time go beyond the border of his city of refuge where he flees, ²⁷and the avenger of blood find him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall not be guilty of blood, ²⁸because he should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the death of the high priest the manslayer shall return into the land of his possession. ²⁹And these things shall be for a statute and ordinance to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³⁰Whoever kills any person, the murderer shall be slain at the mouth of witnesses, but one witness shall not testify against any person so that he dies. ³¹Moreover ye shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall surely be put to death. ³²And ye shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest. ³³So ye shall not pollute the land in which ye are, for blood, it pollutes the land. And no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it. ³⁴And thou shall not defile the land which ye inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, Jehovah, dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 36

¹And the heads of the fathers of the family of the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, of the families of the sons of Joseph, came near, and spoke before Moses, and before the rulers, the heads of the fathers of the sons of Israel. ²And they said, Jehovah commanded my lord to give the land for inheritance by lot to the sons of Israel. And my lord was commanded by Jehovah to give the inheritance of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters. ³And if they be married to any of the sons of the other tribes of the sons of Israel, then their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our fathers, and will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall belong. So it will be taken away from the lot of our inheritance. ⁴And when the jubilee of the sons of Israel shall be, then their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe to which they shall belong. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of the tribe of our fathers. ⁵And Moses commanded the sons of Israel according to the word of Jehovah, saying, The tribe of the sons of Joseph speak right. ⁶This is the thing which Jehovah commands concerning the daughters of Zelophehad, saying, Let them be married to whom they think best, only into the family of the tribe of their father shall they be married. ⁷So no inheritance of the sons of Israel shall remove from tribe to tribe, for the sons of Israel shall cling each one to the inheritance of the tribe of his fathers. ⁸And every daughter, who possesses an inheritance in any tribe of the sons of Israel, shall be wife to one of the family of the tribe of her father, that the sons of Israel may possess every man the inheritance of his fathers. ⁹So no inheritance shall move from one tribe to another tribe, for the tribes of the sons of Israel shall cling each one to his own inheritance. ¹⁰Even as Jehovah commanded Moses, so did the daughters of Zelophehad, ¹¹for Mahlah, Tirzah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophedad, were married to their father�s brothers� sons. ¹²They were married into the families of the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of the family of their father. ¹³These are the commandments and the ordinances which Jehovah commanded by Moses to the sons of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

DEUTERONOMY

CHAPTER 1

¹These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Di-zahab. ²It is eleven days journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. ³And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, according to all that Jehovah had given him in commandment to them, ⁴after he had smitten Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who dwelt in Ashtaroth, at Edrei. ⁵Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to declare this law, saying, ⁶Jehovah our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough at this mountain. ⁷Turn, and take your journey, and go to the hill-country of the Amorites, and to all the places near thereto, in the Arabah, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the South, and by the sea-shore, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ⁸Behold, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them. ⁹And I spoke to you at that time, saying, I am not able to bear you myself alone. ¹⁰Jehovah your God has multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude. ¹¹Jehovah, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as ye are, and bless you, as he has promised you! ¹²How can I myself alone bear your encumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? ¹³Take for you wise men, and understanding, and known, according to your tribes, and I will make them heads over you. ¹⁴And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou have spoken is good to do. ¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. ¹⁶And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the sojourner who is with him. ¹⁷Ye shall not respect persons in judgment. Ye shall hear the small and the great alike. Ye shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God�s. And the case that is too hard for you ye shall bring to me, and I will hear it. ¹⁸And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do. ¹⁹And we journeyed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which ye saw, by the way to the hill-country of the Amorites, as Jehovah our God commanded us, and we came to Kadesh-barnea. ²⁰And I said to you, Ye have come to the hill-country of the Amorites, which Jehovah our God gives to us. ²¹Behold, Jehovah thy God has set the land before thee. Go up, take possession, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, has spoken to thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed. ²²And ye came near to me, all of you, and said, Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up, and the cities to which we shall come. ²³And the thing pleased me well. And I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe. ²⁴And they turned and went up into the hill-country, and came to the valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. ²⁵And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down to us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which Jehovah our God gives to us. ²⁶Yet ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God. ²⁷And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because Jehovah hated us, he has brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. ²⁸Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven, and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there. ²⁹Then I said to you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. ³⁰Jehovah your God who goes before you, he will fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, ³¹and in the wilderness, where thou have seen how that Jehovah thy God bore thee, as a man bears his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came to this place. ³²Yet in this thing ye did not believe Jehovah your God, ³³who went before you in the way, to seek out a place for you to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to show you by what way ye should go, and in the cloud by day. ³⁴And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, and was angry, and swore, saying, ³⁵Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see the good land, which I swore to give to your fathers, ³⁶except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and I will give to him the land that he has trodden upon, and to his sons, because he has wholly followed Jehovah. ³⁷Also Jehovah was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shall not go in there. ³⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before thee, he shall go in there. Encourage thou him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹Moreover your little ones, who ye said would be a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there, and I will give it to them, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰But as for you, turn, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea. ⁴¹Then ye answered and said to me, We have sinned against Jehovah, we will go up and fight according to all that Jehovah our God commanded us. And ye girded on every man his weapons of war, and were forward to go up into the hill-country. ⁴²And Jehovah said to me, Say to them, Do not go up, neither fight, for I am not among you, lest ye be smitten before your enemies. ⁴³So I spoke to you, and ye did not hearken, but ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill-country. ⁴⁴And the Amorites, who dwelt in that hill-country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah. ⁴⁵And ye returned and wept before Jehovah, but Jehovah did not hearken to your voice, nor gave ear to you. ⁴⁶So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according to the days that ye abode there.

CHAPTER 2

¹Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Jehovah spoke to me. And we encompassed mount Seir many days. ²And Jehovah spoke to me, saying, ³Ye have encompassed this mountain long enough, turn northward. ⁴And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brothers the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. Take ye good heed to yourselves therefore. ⁵Do not contend with them, for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given mount Seir to Esau for a possession. ⁶Ye shall purchase food from them for money, that ye may eat, and ye shall also buy water from them for money, that ye may drink. ⁷For Jehovah thy God has blessed thee in all the work of thy hand. He has known thy walking through this great wilderness. These forty years Jehovah thy God has been with thee; thou have lacked nothing. ⁸So we passed by from our brothers the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, from the way of the Arabah from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹And Jehovah said to me, Do not vex Moab, neither contend with them in battle, for I will not give thee of his land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot for a possession. ¹⁰(The Emim dwelt in it formerly, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim. ¹¹These also are accounted Rephaim, as the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ¹²The Horites also dwelt in Seir formerly, but the sons of Esau succeeded them. And they destroyed them from before them, and dwelt in their stead, as Israel did to the land of his possession, which Jehovah gave to them.) ¹³Now rise up, and get you over the brook Zered. And we went over the brook Zered. ¹⁴And the days in which we came from Kadesh-barnea, until we came over the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were consumed from the midst of the camp, as Jehovah swore to them. ¹⁵Moreover the hand of Jehovah was against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp, until they were consumed. ¹⁶So it came to pass, when all the men of war were consumed and dead from among the people, ¹⁷that Jehovah spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸Thou are this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab. ¹⁹And when thou come near opposite the sons of Ammon, do not vex them, nor contend with them, for I will not give thee of the land of the sons of Ammon for a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot for a possession. ²⁰(That also is accounted a land of Rephaim. Rephaim dwelt in it formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, ²¹a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim. But Jehovah destroyed them before them, and they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead, ²²as he did for the sons of Esau, who dwell in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. And they succeeded them, and dwelt in their stead even to this day. ²³And the Avvim, who dwelt in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came forth out of Caphtor, destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead.) ²⁴Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into thy hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. ²⁵This day I will begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. ²⁶And I sent messengers out of the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷Let me pass through thy land. I will go along by the highway, I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left. ²⁸Thou shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on my feet, ²⁹as the sons of Esau who dwell in Seir, and the Moabites who dwell in Ar, did to me, until I shall pass over the Jordan into the land which Jehovah our God gives us. ³⁰But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for Jehovah thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as at this day. ³¹And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before thee. Begin to possess, that thou may inherit his land. ³²Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. ³³And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us. And we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. ³⁴And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining. ³⁵We only took the cattle for a prey to ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. ³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. Jehovah our God delivered up all before us. ³⁷Only to the land of the sons of Ammon thou did not come near, all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wherever Jehovah our God forbad us.

CHAPTER 3

¹Then we turned, and went up the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edrei. ²And Jehovah said to me, Fear him not, for I have delivered him, and all his people, and his land, into thy hand. And thou shall do to him as thou did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon. ³So Jehovah our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people, and we smote him until none was left to him remaining. ⁴And we took all his cities at that time. There was not a city which we did not take from them, sixty cities, all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; besides the un-walled towns a great many. ⁶And we utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones. ⁷But all the cattle, and the spoil of the cities, we took for a prey to ourselves. ⁸And we took the land at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the valley of the Arnon to mount Hermon ⁹(the Sidonians call Hermon, Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir), ¹⁰all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹(For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron. Is it not in Rabbah of the sons of Ammon? Nine cubits was the length of it, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.) ¹²And we took this land in possession at that time. From Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, and half the hill-country of Gilead, and the cities of it, I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. ¹³And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob, even all Bashan. The same is called the land of Rephaim. ¹⁴(Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and called them, even Bashan, after his own name, Havvoth-jair, to this day.) ¹⁵And I gave Gilead to Machir. ¹⁶And I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites from Gilead even to the valley of the Arnon, the middle of the valley, and the border of it, even to the river Jabbok, which is the border of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁷also the Arabah, and the Jordan and the border of it, from Chinnereth even to the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah eastward. ¹⁸And I commanded you at that time, saying, Jehovah your God has given you this land to possess it. Ye shall pass over armed before your brothers the sons of Israel, all the men of valor. ¹⁹But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you ²⁰until Jehovah gives rest to your brothers, as to you, and they also possess the land which Jehovah your God gives them beyond the Jordan, then ye shall return every man to his possession, which I have given you. ²¹And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, Thine eyes have seen all that Jehovah your God has done to these two kings. So shall Jehovah do to all the kingdoms where thou go over. ²²Ye shall not fear them, for Jehovah your God, he it is who fights for you. ²³And I besought Jehovah at that time, saying, ²⁴O lord Jehovah, thou have begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy strong hand, for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy mighty acts? ²⁵Let me go over, I pray thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. ²⁶But Jehovah was angry with me because of you, and did not hearken to me. And Jehovah said to me, It shall be enough for thee. Speak no more to me of this matter. ²⁷Get thee up to the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes, for thou shall not go over this Jordan. ²⁸But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him, for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shall see. ²⁹So we abode in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

CHAPTER 4

¹And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, gives you. ²Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Baal-peor. For all the men who followed Baal-peor, Jehovah thy God has destroyed them from the midst of thee. ⁴But ye who clung to Jehovah your God are alive every one of you this day. ⁵Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land where ye go in to possess it. ⁶Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. ⁷For what great nation is there that has a god so near to them, as Jehovah our God is whenever we call upon him? ⁸And what great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? ⁹Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, but make them known to thy sons and thy son�s sons� ¹⁰the day that thou stood before Jehovah thy God in Horeb, when Jehovah said to me, Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their sons. ¹¹And ye came near and stood under the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. ¹²And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form, only a voice. ¹³And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. And he wrote them upon two tablets of stone. ¹⁴And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land where ye go over to possess it. ¹⁵Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves, for ye saw no manner of form on the day that Jehovah spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire. ¹⁶Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make for you a graven image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. ¹⁹And lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven, and when thou see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, thou be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Jehovah thy God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰But Jehovah has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day. ²¹Furthermore Jehovah was angry with me because of you, and swore that I would not go over the Jordan, and that I would not go in to that good land, which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance, ²²but I must die in this land. I must not go over the Jordan, but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. ²³Take heed to yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image in the form of anything which Jehovah thy God has forbidden thee. ²⁴For Jehovah thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. ²⁵When thou shall beget sons, and son�s sons, and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to anger, ²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land to which ye go over the Jordan to possess it. Ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations where Jehovah shall lead you away. ²⁸And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men�s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹But from there ye shall seek Jehovah thy God. And thou shall find him when thou search after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. ³⁰When thou are in tribulation, and all these things have come upon thee, in the latter days thou shall return to Jehovah thy God, and hearken to his voice. ³¹For Jehovah thy God is a merciful God. He will not fail thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore to them. ³²For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of heaven to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it? ³³Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou have heard, and live? ³⁴Or has God assayed to go and take for him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵It was shown to thee, that thou might know that Jehovah he is God. There is none else besides him. ³⁶Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee. And upon earth he made thee to see his great fire, and thou heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt, ³⁸to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day. ³⁹Know therefore this day, and lay it to thy heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath. There is none else. ⁴⁰And thou shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy sons after thee, and that thou may prolong thy days in the land, which Jehovah thy God gives thee, forever. ⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, ⁴²that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past, and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ⁴³namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites. ⁴⁴And this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel. ⁴⁵These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt, ⁴⁶beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel smote when they came forth out of Egypt. ⁴⁷And they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, ⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to mount Sion (the same is Hermon), ⁴⁹and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

CHAPTER 5

¹And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and observe to do them. ²Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³Jehovah did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. ⁴Jehovah spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire ⁵(I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to show you the word of Jehovah, for ye were afraid because of the fire, and did not go up onto the mount), saying, ⁶I am Jehovah thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ⁷Thou shall have no other gods before me. ⁸Thou shall not make to thee a graven image: any likeness that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹Thou shall not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. ¹¹Thou shall not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. ¹²Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy, as Jehovah thy God commanded thee. ¹³Six days thou shall labor, and do all thy work, ¹⁴but the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah thy God: thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thy donkey, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thou. ¹⁵And thou shall remember that thou were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm, therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. ¹⁶Honor thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God commanded thee, that thy days may be long, and that it may go well with thee in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee. ¹⁷Thou shall not murder. ¹⁸Neither shall thou commit adultery. ¹⁹Neither shall thou steal. ²⁰Neither shall thou bear false witness against thy neighbor. ²¹Neither shall thou covet thy neighbor�s wife. Neither shall thou desire thy neighbor�s house, his field, or his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is thy neighbor�s. ²²These words Jehovah spoke to all your assembly on the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tablets of stone, and gave them to me. ²³And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that ye came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. ²⁴And ye said, Behold, Jehovah our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man, and he lives. ²⁵Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, then we shall die. ²⁶For who is there of all flesh, who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ²⁷Go thou near, and hear all that Jehovah our God shall say. And speak thou to us all that Jehovah our God shall speak to thee, and we will hear it, and do it. ²⁸And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me. And Jehovah said to me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken to thee. They have well said all that they have spoken. ²⁹Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their sons forever! ³⁰Go say to them, Return ye to your tents. ³¹But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak to thee all the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. ³²Ye shall observe to do therefore as Jehovah your God has commanded you. Ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³³Ye shall walk in all the way which Jehovah your God has commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

CHAPTER 6

¹Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land where ye go over to possess it, ²that thou might fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son�s son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. ³Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, has promised to thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁴Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. ⁵And thou shall love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart. ⁷And thou shall teach them diligently to thy sons, and shall talk of them when thou sit in thy house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise up. ⁸And thou shall bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shall write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates. ¹⁰And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land which he swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee, great and goodly cities, which thou did not build, ¹¹and houses full of all good things, which thou did not fill, and cisterns hewn out, which thou did not hew, vineyards and olive trees, which thou did not plant, and thou shall eat and be full, ¹²then beware lest thou forget Jehovah, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹³Thou shall fear Jehovah thy God, and him thou shall serve, and shall swear by his name. ¹⁴Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, ¹⁵for Jehovah thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God, lest the anger of Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from off the face of the earth. ¹⁶Ye shall not challenge Jehovah your God, as ye challenged him in Massah. ¹⁷Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded thee. ¹⁸And thou shall do that which is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou may go in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore to thy fathers, ¹⁹to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah has spoken. ²⁰When thy son asks thee in time to come, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God has commanded you? ²¹Then thou shall say to thy son, We were Pharaoh�s bondmen in Egypt, and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²²And Jehovah showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes. ²³And he brought us out from there that he might bring us in to give us the land which he swore to our fathers. ²⁴And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God for our good always, that he might preserve us alive as at this day. ²⁵And it shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all this commandment before Jehovah our God as he has commanded us.

CHAPTER 7

¹When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land where thou go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, ²and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shall smite them, then thou shall utterly destroy them. Thou shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. ³Neither shall thou make marriages with them. Thy daughter thou shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall thou take to thy son. ⁴For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods, so the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. ⁵But thus shall ye deal with them: Ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire. ⁶For thou are a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Jehovah thy God has chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. ⁷Jehovah did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸but because Jehovah loves you. And because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Jehovah has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹Know therefore that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, ¹⁰and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ¹¹Thou shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them. ¹²And it shall come to pass, because ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to thy fathers. ¹³And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee. He will also bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground, thy grain and thy new wine and thine oil, the increase of thy cattle and the young of thy flock, in the land which he swore to thy fathers to give thee. ¹⁴Thou shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. ¹⁵And Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness. And none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou know, will he put upon thee, but will lay them upon all those who hate thee. ¹⁶And thou shall consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God shall deliver to thee. Thine eye shall not pity them. Neither shall thou serve their gods, for that will be a snare to thee. ¹⁷If thou shall say in thy heart, These nations are more than I. How can I dispossess them? ¹⁸Thou shall not be afraid of them. Thou shall remember well what Jehovah thy God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt: ¹⁹the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm by which Jehovah thy God brought thee out. So shall Jehovah thy God do to all the peoples of whom thou are afraid. ²⁰Moreover Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and hide themselves perish from before thee. ²¹Thou shall not be frightened at them, for Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and awesome. ²²And Jehovah thy God will cast out those nations before thee little by little. Thou may not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. ²³But Jehovah thy God will deliver them up before thee, and will discomfit them with a great confusion until they be destroyed. ²⁴And he will deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shall make their name to perish from under heaven. There shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. ²⁵Ye shall burn the graven images of their gods with fire. Thou shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it to thee, lest thou be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God. ²⁶And thou shall not bring an abomination into thy house, and become a devoted thing like it. Thou shall utterly detest it, and thou shall utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing.

CHAPTER 8

¹All the commandment which I command thee this day ye shall observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers. ²And thou shall remember all the way which Jehovah thy God has led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart, whether thou would keep his commandments, or not. ³And he humbled thee, and allowed thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knew not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Jehovah. ⁴Thy raiment did not grow old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. ⁵And thou shall consider in thy heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so Jehovah thy God chastens thee. ⁶And thou shall keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. ⁷For Jehovah thy God brings thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; ⁸a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹a land in which thou shall eat bread without scarceness. Thou shall not lack anything in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou may dig copper. ¹⁰And thou shall eat and be full, and thou shall bless Jehovah thy God for the good land which he has given thee. ¹¹Beware lest thou forget Jehovah thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command thee this day. ¹²Lest, when thou have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and dwelt in it, ¹³and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou have is multiplied, ¹⁴then thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget Jehovah thy God, who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, ¹⁵who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness�fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water�who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint, ¹⁶who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers did not know, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. ¹⁷And lest thou say in thy heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. ¹⁸But thou shall remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he who gives thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to thy fathers, as at this day. ¹⁹And it shall be, if thou shall forget Jehovah thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. ²⁰As the nations that Jehovah makes to perish before you, so shall ye perish, because ye would not hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God.

CHAPTER 9

¹Hear, O Israel: Thou are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom thou know, and of whom thou have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? ³Know therefore this day, that Jehovah thy God is he who goes over before thee as a devouring fire. He will destroy them, and he will bring them down before thee. So thou shall drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Jehovah has spoken to thee. ⁴Do not speak thou in thy heart, after Jehovah thy God has thrust them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. Whereas for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah drives them out from before thee. ⁵Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thy heart, do thou go in to possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations Jehovah thy God drives them out from before thee, and that he may establish the word which Jehovah swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ⁶Know therefore, that Jehovah thy God does not give thee this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou are a stiff-necked people. ⁷Remember, do not thou forget how thou provoked Jehovah thy God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou went forth out of the land of Egypt, until ye came to this place, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah. ⁸Also in Horeb ye provoked Jehovah to wrath, and Jehovah was angry with you to destroy you. ⁹When I was gone up onto the mount to receive the tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant which Jehovah made with you, then I abode on the mount forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰And Jehovah delivered to me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them was according to all the words, which Jehovah spoke with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. ¹¹And it came to pass, at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Jehovah gave me the two tablets of stone, even the tablets of the covenant. ¹²And Jehovah said to me, Arise, get thee down quickly from here, for thy people that thou have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten image. ¹³Furthermore Jehovah spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people. ¹⁴Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than they. ¹⁵So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against Jehovah your God. Ye had made you a molten calf. Ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which Jehovah had commanded you. ¹⁷And I took hold of the two tablets, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸And I fell down before Jehovah, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which ye sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Jehovah was angry against you to destroy you. But Jehovah hearkened to me that time also. ²⁰And Jehovah was very angry with Aaron to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mount. ²²And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked Jehovah to wrath. ²³And when Jehovah sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you, then ye rebelled against the commandment of Jehovah your God, and ye did not believe him, nor hearken to his voice. ²⁴Ye have been rebellious against Jehovah from the day that I knew you. ²⁵So I fell down before Jehovah the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Jehovah had said he would destroy you. ²⁶And I prayed to Jehovah, and said, O lord Jehovah, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, that thou have redeemed through thy greatness, that thou have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Look not to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their profaneness, nor to their sin, ²⁸lest the land from where thou brought us out say, Because Jehovah was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. ²⁹Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou brought out by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm.

CHAPTER 10

¹At that time Jehovah said to me, Hew thee two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me onto the mount, and make thee an ark of wood. ²And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which thou broke, and thou shall put them in the ark. ³So I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two tablets of stone like the first, and went up onto the mount, having the two tablets in my hand. ⁴And he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which Jehovah spoke to you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly, and Jehovah gave them to me. ⁵And I turned and came down from the mount, and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And they are there as Jehovah commanded me. ⁶(And the sons of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried, and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest�s office in his stead. ⁷From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of brooks of water. ⁸At that time Jehovah set apart the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day. ⁹Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brothers. Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah thy God spoke to him.) ¹⁰And I stayed on the mount as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, and Jehovah hearkened to me that time also: Jehovah would not destroy thee. ¹¹And Jehovah said to me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, and they shall go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give to them. ¹²And now, Israel, what does Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, ¹³to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? ¹⁴Behold, to Jehovah thy God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is in it. ¹⁵Only Jehovah had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all peoples as at this day. ¹⁶Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. ¹⁷For Jehovah your God, he is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the mighty, and the awesome, who regards not persons, nor takes reward. ¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and loves the sojourner in giving him food and raiment. ¹⁹Love ye therefore the sojourner, for ye were sojourners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰Thou shall fear Jehovah thy God. Him thou shall serve, and to him thou shall cling, and by his name thou shall swear. ²¹He is thy praise, and he is thy God, who has done for thee these great and awesome things, which thine eyes have seen. ²²Thy fathers went down into Egypt, in souls, seventy. And now Jehovah thy God has made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

CHAPTER 11

¹Therefore thou shall love Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, always. ²And ye know this day, for it is not with your sons who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm, ³and his signs, and his works, which he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and to all his land, ⁴and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and how Jehovah has destroyed them to this day, ⁵and what he did to you in the wilderness, until ye came to this place, ⁶and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel, ⁷but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did. ⁸Therefore ye shall keep all the commandment which I command thee this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, where ye go over to possess it, ⁹and that ye may prolong your days in the land, which Jehovah swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰For the land, where thou go in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from where ye came out, where thou sowed thy seed, and watered it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs, ¹¹but the land, where ye go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water from the rain of heaven, ¹²a land which Jehovah thy God cares for. The eyes of Jehovah thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even to the end of the year. ¹³And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently to my commandments which I command you this day, to love Jehovah your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that thou may gather in thy grain, and thy new wine, and thine oil. ¹⁵And I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and thou shall eat and be full. ¹⁶Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them, ¹⁷and the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he shut up the heavens, so that there shall be no rain, and the land shall not yield its fruit, and ye perish quickly from off the good land which Jehovah gives you. ¹⁸Therefore ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul. And ye shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹And ye shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when thou sit in thy house, and when thou walk by the way, and when thou lie down, and when thou rise up. ²⁰And thou shall write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates, ²¹that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your sons, in the land which Jehovah swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth. ²²For if ye shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Jehovah your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him, ²³then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. ²⁴Every place on which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours, from the wilderness, and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even to the hinder sea shall be your border. ²⁵There shall no man be able to stand before you. Jehovah your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he has spoken to you. ²⁶Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: ²⁷the blessing, if ye shall hearken to the commandments of Jehovah your God, which I command you this day, ²⁸and the curse, if ye shall not hearken to the commandments of Jehovah your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day to go after other gods, which ye have not known. ²⁹And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land where thou go to possess it, that thou shall set the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. ³⁰Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh? ³¹For ye are to pass over the Jordan to go in to possess the land which Jehovah your God gives you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell in it. ³²And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you this day.

CHAPTER 12

¹These are the statutes and the ordinances which ye shall observe to do in the land which Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, has given thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the earth. ²Ye shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree. ³And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire. And ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy their name out of that place. ⁴Ye shall not do so to Jehovah your God. ⁵But to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation ye shall seek, and there thou shall come. ⁶And there ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock. ⁷And there ye shall eat before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand to, ye and your households, in which Jehovah thy God has blessed thee. ⁸Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes. ⁹For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Jehovah thy God gives thee. ¹⁰But when ye go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety, ¹¹then it shall come to pass that to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, there ye shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow to Jehovah. ¹²And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite who is within your gates�inasmuch as he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou see, ¹⁴but in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of thy tribes. There thou shall offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shall do all that I command thee. ¹⁵Notwithstanding, thou may kill and eat flesh within all thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he has given thee, the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. ¹⁶Only ye shall not eat the blood. Thou shall pour it out upon the ground as water. ¹⁷Thou may not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy grain, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy herd or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vow, nor thy freewill offerings, nor the heave offering of thy hand. ¹⁸But thou shall eat them before Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite who is within thy gates. And thou shall rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all that thou put thy hand to. ¹⁹Take heed to thyself that thou not forsake the Levite as long as thou live in thy land. ²⁰When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he has promised thee, and thou shall say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul desires to eat flesh, thou may eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul. ²¹If the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to put his name there, be too far from thee, then thou shall kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which Jehovah has given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou may eat within thy gates, according to all the desire of thy soul. ²²Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou shall eat of it. The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. ²³Only be sure that thou not eat the blood. For the blood is the life, and thou shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴Thou shall not eat it. Thou shall pour it out upon the ground as water. ²⁵Thou shall not eat it, that it may go well with thee, and with thy sons after thee, when thou shall do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah. ²⁶Only thy holy things which thou have, and thy vows, thou shall take, and go to the place which Jehovah shall choose. ²⁷And thou shall offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and thou shall eat the flesh. ²⁸Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy sons after thee forever, when thou do that which is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God. ²⁹When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, where thou go in to dispossess them, and thou dispossess them, and dwell in their land, ³⁰take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before thee, and that thou not inquire after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? Even so I will do likewise. ³¹Thou shall not do so to Jehovah thy God. For every abomination to Jehovah, which he hates, they have done to their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. ³²Whatever thing I command you, that shall ye observe to do. Thou shall not add to it, nor diminish from it.

CHAPTER 13

¹If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives thee a sign or a wonder, ²and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou have not known, and let us serve them, ³thou shall not hearken to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams, for Jehovah your God proves you, to know whether ye love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cling to him. ⁵And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which Jehovah thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shall thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. ⁶If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, who is as thine own soul, entices thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou have not known, thou, nor thy fathers, ⁷of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, near to thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth, ⁸thou shall not consent to him, nor hearken to him. Neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shall thou spare, neither shall thou conceal him, ⁹but thou shall surely kill him. Thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. ¹⁰And thou shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹¹And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall no more do any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee. ¹²If thou shall hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which Jehovah thy God gives thee to dwell there, saying, ¹³Certain base fellows have gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known, ¹⁴then thou shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently. And, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee, ¹⁵thou shall surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is in it, and the cattle in it, with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶And thou shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street of it, and shall burn the city with fire, and all the spoil of it, every whit, to Jehovah thy God, and it shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. ¹⁷And nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to thy hand, that Jehovah may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he has sworn to thy fathers, ¹⁸when thou shall hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

CHAPTER 14

¹Ye are the sons of Jehovah your God. Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. ²For thou are a holy people to Jehovah thy God, and Jehovah has chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. ³Thou shall not eat any abominable thing. ⁴These are the beasts which ye may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, ⁵the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the chamois. ⁶And every beast that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the beasts, that may ye eat. ⁷Nevertheless of those that chew the cud, or of those that have the hoof cloven, these ye shall not eat: the camel, and the hare, and the coney, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, they are unclean to you, ⁸and the swine, because he parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, he is unclean to you. Of their flesh ye shall not eat, and their carcasses ye shall not touch. ⁹These ye may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales ye may eat. ¹⁰And whatever does not have fins and scales ye shall not eat; it is unclean to you. ¹¹Of all clean birds ye may eat, ¹²but these are those of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the osprey, ¹³and the glede, and the falcon, and the kite according to its kind, ¹⁴and every raven after its kind, ¹⁵and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-gull, and the hawk according to its kind, ¹⁶the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl, ¹⁷and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant, ¹⁸and the stork, and the heron according to its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. ¹⁹And all winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten. ²⁰Of all clean birds ye may eat. ²¹Ye shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. Thou may give it to the sojourner who is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or thou may sell it to a foreigner, for thou are a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shall not boil a kid in its mother�s milk. ²²Thou shall surely tithe all the increase of thy seed; that which comes forth from the field year by year. ²³And thou shall eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy grain, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock, that thou may learn to fear Jehovah thy God always. ²⁴And if the way is too long for thee, so that thou are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God shall choose to set his name there when Jehovah thy God shall bless thee, ²⁵then thou shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in thy hand, and shall go to the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose. ²⁶And thou shall bestow the money for whatever thy soul desires, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asks of thee. And thou shall eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shall rejoice, thou and thy household. ²⁷And the Levite who is within thy gates, thou shall not forsake him, for he has no portion nor inheritance with thee. ²⁸At the end of every three years thou shall bring forth all the tithe of thine increase in the same year, and shall lay it up within thy gates. ²⁹And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with thee, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou do.

CHAPTER 15

¹At the end of every seven years thou shall make a release. ²And this is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it from his neighbor and his brother, because Jehovah�s release has been proclaimed. ³From a foreigner thou may exact it, but whatever of thine is with thy brother, thy hand shall release. ⁴However there shall be no poor with thee (for Jehovah will surely bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance to possess it), ⁵if only thou diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day. ⁶For Jehovah thy God will bless thee as he promised thee, and thou shall lend to many nations, but thou shall not borrow, and thou shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. ⁷If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brothers, within any of thy gates in thy land which Jehovah thy God gives thee, thou shall not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy poor brother, ⁸but thou shall surely open thy hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need which he wants. ⁹Beware that there not be a base thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand, and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou give him nothing, and he cry to Jehovah against thee, and it be sin to thee. ¹⁰Thou shall surely give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou give to him, because for this thing Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou put thy hand to. ¹¹For the poor will never cease out of the land. Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shall surely open thy hand to thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land. ¹²If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to thee, and serves thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shall let him go free from thee. ¹³And when thou let him go free from thee, thou shall not let him go empty. ¹⁴Thou shall furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy winepress. As Jehovah thy God has blessed thee thou shall give to him. ¹⁵And thou shall remember that thou were a bondman in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee. Therefore I command thee this thing today. ¹⁶And it shall be, if he says to thee, I will not go out from thee, because he loves thee and thy house, because he is well with thee, ¹⁷then thou shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be thy servant forever. And also to thy maid-servant thou shall do likewise. ¹⁸It shall not seem hard to thee when thou let him go free from thee, for he has been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years. And Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou do. ¹⁹All the firstling males that are born of thy herd and of thy flock thou shall sanctify to Jehovah thy God. Thou shall do no work with the firstling of thy herd, nor shear the firstling of thy flock. ²⁰Thou shall eat it before Jehovah thy God year by year in the place which Jehovah shall choose, thou and thy household. ²¹And if it has any blemish, as lame or blind, any ill blemish whatever, thou shall not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God. ²²Thou shall eat it within thy gates. The unclean man and the clean man alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart. ²³Only thou shall not eat the blood of it. Thou shall pour it out upon the ground as water.

CHAPTER 16

¹Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Jehovah thy God, for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. ²And thou shall sacrifice the Passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Jehovah shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. ³Thou shall eat no leavened bread with it. Seven days thou shall eat unleavened bread with it, even the bread of affliction, for thou came forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou may remember the day when thou came forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. ⁴And there shall be no leaven seen with thee in all thy borders seven days. Neither shall any of the flesh, which thou sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. ⁵Thou may not sacrifice the Passover within any of thy gates, which Jehovah thy God gives thee, ⁶but at the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there thou shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou came forth out of Egypt. ⁷And thou shall roast and eat it in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, and thou shall turn in the morning, and go to thy tents. ⁸Six days thou shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to Jehovah thy God. Thou shall do no work. ⁹Thou shall number to thee seven weeks. From the time thou begin to put the sickle to the standing grain thou shall begin to number seven weeks. ¹⁰And thou shall keep the feast of weeks to Jehovah thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering from thy hand, which thou shall give, according as Jehovah thy God blesses thee. ¹¹And thou shall rejoice before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite who is within thy gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in the midst of thee, in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, ¹²and thou shall remember that thou were a bondman in Egypt. And thou shall observe and do these statutes. ¹³Thou shall keep the feast of tabernacles seven days after thou have gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress. ¹⁴And thou shall rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates. ¹⁵Seven days thou shall keep a feast to Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah shall choose, because Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shall be altogether joyful. ¹⁶Three times in a year all thy males shall appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. And they shall not appear before Jehovah empty. ¹⁷Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he has given thee. ¹⁸Thou shall make judges and officers for thee in all thy gates, which Jehovah thy God gives thee, according to thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. ¹⁹Thou shall not distort justice. Thou shall not respect persons, neither shall thou take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the righteous. ²⁰Thou shall follow that which is altogether just, that thou may live, and inherit the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee. ²¹Thou shall not plant for thee an Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God, which thou shall make for thee. ²²Neither shall thou set up a pillar for thee, which Jehovah thy God hates.

CHAPTER 17

¹Thou shall not sacrifice to Jehovah thy God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a blemish or anything bad, for that is an abomination to Jehovah thy God. ²If there be found in the midst of thee, within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God gives thee, man or woman, who does that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, in transgressing his covenant, ³and has gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, or the sun, or the moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, ⁴and it be told thee, and thou have heard of it, then shall thou inquire diligently. And, behold, if it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel, ⁵then thou shall bring forth that man or that woman, who has done this evil thing, to thy gates, even the man or the woman, and thou shall stone them to death with stones. ⁶At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he who is to die be put to death. He shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness. ⁷The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So thou shall put away the evil from the midst of thee. ⁸If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates, then thou shall arise, and get thee up to the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose. ⁹And thou shall come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days, and thou shall inquire. And they shall show thee the sentence of judgment. ¹⁰And thou shall do according to the tenor of the sentence which they shall show thee from that place which Jehovah shall choose. And thou shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach thee, ¹¹according to the tenor of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shall do. Thou shall not turn aside from the sentence, which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. ¹²And the man who does presumptuously, in not hearkening to the priest who stands to minister there before Jehovah thy God, or to the judge, even that man shall die, and thou shall put away the evil from Israel. ¹³And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously. ¹⁴When thou have come to the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee, and shall possess it, and shall dwell in it, and shall say, I will set a king over me like all the nations that are round about me, ¹⁵thou shall surely set him king over thee whom Jehovah thy God shall choose. Thou shall set a king over thee from among thy brothers. Thou may not put a foreigner over thee who is not thy brother. ¹⁶Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses, inasmuch as Jehovah has said to you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. ¹⁷Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away. Neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. ¹⁸And it shall be, when he sits upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for him a copy of this law in a book, out of it before the priests the Levites, ¹⁹and it shall be with him. And he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear Jehovah his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them, ²⁰that his heart not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left, to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his sons, in the midst of Israel.

CHAPTER 18

¹The priests the Levites, even all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Jehovah made by fire, and his inheritance. ²And they shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Jehovah is their inheritance as he has spoken to them. ³And this shall be the priests� due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep: that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. ⁴The first-fruits of thy grain, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, thou shall give him. ⁵For Jehovah thy God has chosen him out of all thy tribes to stand to minister in the name of Jehovah, him and his sons forever. ⁶And if a Levite comes from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourns, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Jehovah shall choose, ⁷then he shall minister in the name of Jehovah his God, as all his brothers the Levites do who stand there before Jehovah. ⁸They shall have like portions to eat, besides that which comes of the sale of his patrimony. ⁹When thou have come into the land, which Jehovah thy God gives thee, thou shall not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations. ¹⁰There shall not be found with thee anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, a psychic, he who practices augury, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer, ¹¹or a charmer, or a medium, or a spiritist, or a necromancer. ¹²For whoever does these things is an abomination to Jehovah. And because of these abominations Jehovah thy God drives them out from before thee. ¹³Thou shall be perfect with Jehovah thy God. ¹⁴For these nations, that thou shall dispossess, hearken to those who practice augury, and to psychics. But as for thee, Jehovah thy God has not allowed thee to do so. ¹⁵Jehovah thy God will raise up for thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brothers, like me. Ye shall hearken to him, ¹⁶according to all that thou desired of Jehovah thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die. ¹⁷And Jehovah said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. ¹⁸I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, like thee. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him. ¹⁹And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not hearken to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. ²⁰But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. ²¹And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word which Jehovah has not spoken? ²²When a prophet speaks in the name of Jehovah, if the thing does not follow, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Thou shall not be afraid of him.

CHAPTER 19

¹When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations, whose land Jehovah thy God gives thee, and thou succeed them, and dwell in their cities, and in their houses, ²thou shall set apart three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God gives thee to possess it. ³Thou shall prepare for thee the way, and divide the borders of thy land, which Jehovah thy God causes thee to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there. ⁴And this is the case of the manslayer, who shall flee there and live: Whoever kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past, ⁵as when a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the helve, and lands upon his neighbor, so that he dies, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. ⁶Lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and smite him mortally, whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he did not hate him in time past. ⁷Therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shall set apart three cities for thee. ⁸And if Jehovah thy God enlarge thy border, as he has sworn to thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give to thy fathers, ⁹if thou shall keep all this commandment to do it, which I command thee this day, to love Jehovah thy God, and to walk ever in his ways, then shall thou add three more cities for thee, besides these three, ¹⁰that innocent blood not be shed in the midst of thy land, which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. ¹¹But if any man hates his neighbor, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and smites him mortally so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities, ¹²then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. ¹³Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shall put away the innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee. ¹⁴Thou shall not remove thy neighbor�s landmark, which they of old time have set, in thine inheritance which thou shall inherit, in the land that Jehovah thy God gives thee to possess it. ¹⁵One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. ¹⁶If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrong-doing, ¹⁷then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Jehovah, before the priests and the judges that shall be in those days, ¹⁸and the judges shall make diligent inquiry. And, behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother, ¹⁹then ye shall do to him, as he had thought to do to his brother. So shall thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. ²⁰And those who remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in the midst of thee. ²¹And thine eyes shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

CHAPTER 20

¹When thou go forth to battle against thine enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, thou shall not be afraid of them, for Jehovah thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ²And it shall be, when ye draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, ³and shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, ye draw near this day to battle against your enemies. Let not your heart faint. Fear not, nor tremble, neither be ye frightened at them. ⁴For Jehovah your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. ⁵And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. ⁶And what man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used the fruit of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit of it. ⁷And what man is there who has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. ⁸And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother�s heart melt as his heart. ⁹And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people. ¹⁰When thou draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. ¹¹And it shall be, if it makes to thee an answer of peace, and opens to thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found in it shall become tributary to thee, and shall serve thee. ¹²And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shall besiege it. ¹³And when Jehovah thy God delivers it into thy hand, thou shall smite every male of it with the edge of the sword, ¹⁴but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil of it, thou shall take for a prey to thyself. And thou shall eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God has given thee. ¹⁵Thus thou shall do to all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. ¹⁶But of the cities of these peoples, that Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance, thou shall save alive nothing that breathes, ¹⁷but thou shall utterly destroy them�the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite�as Jehovah thy God has commanded thee, ¹⁸that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods, so ye would sin against Jehovah your God. ¹⁹When thou shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shall not destroy the trees of it by wielding an axe against them, for thou may eat of them. And thou shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by thee? ²⁰Only the trees of which thou know that they are not trees for food, thou shall destroy and cut them down. And thou shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with thee, until it falls.

CHAPTER 21

¹If a man is found slain in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it not be known who has smitten him, ²then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth. And they shall measure to the cities which are round about him who is slain, ³and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke, ⁴and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer to a valley with running water, which is neither plowed nor sown, and shall break the heifer�s neck there in the valley. ⁵And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near, for Jehovah thy God has chosen them to minister to him, and to bless in the name of Jehovah, and according to their word shall every controversy and every stroke be. ⁶And all the elders of that city, who are nearest to the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley, ⁷and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. ⁸Forgive, O Jehovah, thy people Israel whom thou have redeemed, and allow no innocent blood to remain in the midst of thy people Israel. And the blood shall be forgiven them. ⁹So shall thou put away the innocent blood from the midst of thee when thou shall do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah. ¹⁰When thou go forth to battle against thine enemies, and Jehovah thy God delivers them into thy hands, and thou carry them away captive, ¹¹and see among the captives a beautiful woman, and thou have a desire for her, and would take her to thee to wife, ¹²then thou shall bring her home to thy house. And she shall shave her head, and pare her nails, ¹³and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thy house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. And after that thou shall go in to her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. ¹⁴And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shall let her go where she will, but thou shall not sell her at all for money. Thou shall not deal with her harshly, because thou have humbled her. ¹⁵If a man has two wives, the one beloved, and the other regarded inferior, and they have borne him sons, both the beloved and the one regarded inferior, and if the firstborn son be hers who was regarded inferior, ¹⁶then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn before the son of the one regarded inferior, who is the firstborn. ¹⁷But he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the one regarded inferior, by giving him a double portion of all that he has, for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. ¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and, though they chasten him, will not hearken to them, ¹⁹then his father and his mother shall lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place. ²⁰And they shall say to the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice. He is a glutton, and a drunkard. ²¹And all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So thou shall put away the evil from the midst of thee, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. ²²And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, ²³his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shall surely bury him the same day, for he who is hanged is accursed of God, that thou not defile thy land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance.

CHAPTER 22

¹Thou shall not see thy brother�s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them. Thou shall surely bring them again to thy brother. ²And if thy brother be not near to thee, or if thou do not know him, then thou shall bring it home to thy house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seeks after it, and thou shall restore it to him. ³And so shall thou do with his donkey, and so shall thou do with his garment, and so shall thou do with every lost thing of thy brother�s, which he has lost, and thou have found. Thou may not hide thyself. ⁴Thou shall not see thy brother�s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide thyself from them. Thou shall surely help him to lift them up again. ⁵A woman shall not wear that which pertains to a man, neither shall a man put on a woman�s garment, for whoever does these things is an abomination to Jehovah thy God. ⁶If a bird�s nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs, thou shall not take the dam with the young. ⁷Thou shall surely let the dam go, but the young thou may take to thyself, that it may be well with thee, and that thou may prolong thy days. ⁸When thou build a new house, then thou shall make a guard rail for thy roof, that thou not bring blood upon thy house, if any man falls from there. ⁹Thou shall not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole fruit be forfeited: the seed which thou have sown, and the increase of the vineyard. ¹⁰Thou shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. ¹¹Thou shall not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together. ¹²Thou shall make for thee hems upon the four borders of thy clothing, with which thou cover thyself. ¹³If any man takes a wife, and goes in to her, and dislikes her, ¹⁴and charges her with shameful things, and brings up an evil name upon her, and says, I took this woman, and when I came near to her, I did not find in her the tokens of virginity, ¹⁵then the father of the damsel, and her mother, shall take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel�s virginity to the elders of the city in the gate. ¹⁶And the damsel�s father shall say to the elders, I gave my daughter to this man to wife, and he dislikes her. ¹⁷And, lo, he has charged her with shameful things, saying, I did not find in thy daughter the tokens of virginity, and yet these are the tokens of my daughter�s virginity. And they shall spread the garment before the elders of the city. ¹⁸And the elders of that city shall take the man and chastise him, ¹⁹and they shall fine him a hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the damsel, because he has brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel, and she shall be his wife. He may not put her away all his days. ²⁰But if this thing be true, that the tokens of virginity were not found in the damsel, ²¹then they shall bring the damsel out to the door of her father�s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death with stones, because she has wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father�s house. So shall thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. ²²If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, the man that lay with the woman, and the woman. So shall thou put away the evil from Israel. ²³If there be a damsel who is a virgin betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city, and lies with her, ²⁴then ye shall bring them both out to the gate of that city. And ye shall stone them to death with stones, the damsel, because she did not cry out, being in the city, and the man, because he has humbled his neighbor�s wife. So thou shall put away the evil from the midst of thee. ²⁵But if the man finds the damsel who is betrothed in the field, and the man forces her, and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die, ²⁶but to the damsel thou shall do nothing. There is in the damsel no sin worthy of death. For as when a man rises against his neighbor, and kills him, even so is this matter, ²⁷for he found her in the field, the betrothed damsel cried out, and there was none to save her. ²⁸If a man finds a damsel who is a virgin, who is not betrothed, and lays hold on her, and lies with her, and they be found, ²⁹then the man who lay with her shall give to the damsel�s father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall be his wife, because he has humbled her. He may not put her away all his days. ³⁰A man shall not take his father�s wife, and shall not uncover his father�s skirt.

CHAPTER 23

¹He who is wounded in the testicles, or has his private part cut off, shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah. ²A bastard shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah, even to the tenth generation none of his shall enter into the assembly of Jehovah. ³An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of Jehovah, even to the tenth generation none belonging to them shall enter into the assembly of Jehovah forever, ⁴because they met you not with bread and with water on the way, when ye came forth out of Egypt, and because they hired against thee Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse thee. ⁵Nevertheless Jehovah thy God would not hearken to Balaam, but Jehovah thy God turned the curse into a blessing to thee, because Jehovah thy God loved thee. ⁶Thou shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all thy days forever. ⁷Thou shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother. Thou shall not abhor an Egyptian, because thou were a sojourner in his land. ⁸The sons of the third generation who are born to them shall enter into the assembly of Jehovah. ⁹When the army goes forth against thine enemies, then thou shall keep thee from every evil thing. ¹⁰If there be among you any man, who is not clean by reason of an accident by night, then he shall go abroad out of the camp. He shall not come inside the camp. ¹¹But it shall be, when evening comes on, he shall bathe himself in water, and when the sun is down, he shall come inside the camp. ¹²Thou shall have a place also outside the camp, where thou shall go forth abroad. ¹³And thou shall have a paddle among thy weapons, and it shall be, when thou sit down abroad, thou shall dig with it, and shall turn back and cover that which comes from thee. ¹⁴For Jehovah thy God walks in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee. Therefore thy camp shall be holy, that he may not see an unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee. ¹⁵Thou shall not deliver to his master a servant who is escaped from his master to thee. ¹⁶He shall dwell with thee, in the midst of thee, in the place which he shall choose within one of thy gates, where it pleases him best. Thou shall not oppress him. ¹⁷There shall be no prostitute of the daughters of Israel, neither shall there be a sodomite of the sons of Israel. ¹⁸Thou shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog, into the house of Jehovah thy God for any vow, for even both these are an abomination to Jehovah thy God. ¹⁹Thou shall not lend upon interest to thy brother: interest of money, interest of food, interest of anything that is lent upon interest. ²⁰To a foreigner thou may lend upon interest, but to thy brother thou shall not lend upon interest, that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all that thou put thy hand to, in the land where thou go in to possess it. ²¹When thou shall vow a vow to Jehovah thy God, thou shall not be slack to pay it. For Jehovah thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee. ²²But if thou shall forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee. ²³That which has gone out of thy lips thou shall observe and do, according as thou have vowed to Jehovah thy God, a freewill offering, which thou have promised with thy mouth. ²⁴When thou come into thy neighbor�s vineyard, then thou may eat thy fill of grapes at thine own pleasure, but thou shall not put any in thy vessel. ²⁵When thou come into thy neighbor�s standing grain, then thou may pluck the ears with thy hand, but thou shall not move a sickle to thy neighbor�s standing grain.

CHAPTER 24

¹When a man takes a wife, and marries her, then it shall be, if she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some unseemly thing in her, that he shall write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. ²And when she has departed out of his house, she may go and be another man�s. ³And if the latter husband dislikes her, and writes her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies, who took her to be his wife, ⁴her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled. For that is abomination before Jehovah, and thou shall not cause the land to sin, which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance. ⁵When a man takes a new wife, he shall not go out in the army, neither shall he be charged with any business. He shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer his wife whom he has taken. ⁶No man shall take the mill or the upper millstone to pledge, for he takes life to pledge. ⁷If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the sons of Israel, and he deals with him harshly, or sells him, then that thief shall die. So shall thou put away the evil from the midst of thee. ⁸Take heed in the disease of leprosy, that thou observe diligently, and do according to all that the priests the Levites shall teach you. As I commanded them, so ye shall observe to do. ⁹Remember what Jehovah thy God did to Miriam by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt. ¹⁰When thou do lend thy neighbor any manner of loan, thou shall not go into his house to fetch his pledge. ¹¹Thou shall stand outside, and the man to whom thou lend shall bring forth the pledge outside to thee. ¹²And if he is a poor man, thou shall not sleep with his pledge. ¹³Thou shall surely restore to him the pledge when the sun goes down, that he may sleep in his garment, and bless thee. And it shall be righteousness to thee before Jehovah thy God. ¹⁴Thou shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brothers, or of thy sojourners that are in thy land within thy gates. ¹⁵Thou shall give him his hire in his day, neither shall the sun go down upon it, for he is poor, and sets his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be sin to thee. ¹⁶The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, neither shall the sons be put to death for the fathers. Every man shall be put to death for his own sin. ¹⁷Thou shall not distort the justice due to the sojourner, or to the fatherless, nor take the widow�s raiment to pledge, ¹⁸but thou shall remember that thou were a bondman in Egypt, and Jehovah thy God redeemed thee from there. Therefore I command thee to do this thing. ¹⁹When thou reap thy harvest in thy field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, thou shall not go again to fetch it. It shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow, that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands. ²⁰When thou beat thine olive tree, thou shall not go over the boughs again. It shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. ²¹When thou gather of thy vineyard, thou shall not glean it behind thee. It shall be for the sojourner, for the fatherless, and for the widow. ²²And thou shall remember that thou were a bondman in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command thee to do this thing.

CHAPTER 25

¹If there be a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and they judge them, then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the iniquitous. ²And it shall be, if the iniquitous man is deserving to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his iniquity, by number. ³He may give him forty stripes. He shall not exceed, lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then thy brother should seem debased to thee. ⁴Thou shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain. ⁵If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not be married outside to a stranger. Her husband�s brother shall go in to her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of a husband�s brother to her. ⁶And it shall be, that the firstborn who she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not blotted out of Israel. ⁷And if the man does not want to take his brother�s wife, then his brother�s wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband�s brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel. He will not perform the duty of a husband�s brother to me. ⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him. And if he stands, and says, I do not want to take her, ⁹then his brother�s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face. And she shall answer and say, So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother�s house. ¹⁰And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe loosed. ¹¹When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who smites him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by the privates, ¹²then thou shall cut off her hand. Thine eye shall have no pity. ¹³Thou shall not have in thy bag diverse weights, a great and a small. ¹⁴Thou shall not have in thy house diverse measures, a great and a small. ¹⁵A perfect and just weight thou shall have, a perfect and just measure thou shall have, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee. ¹⁶For all who do such things, even all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Jehovah thy God. ¹⁷Remember what Amalek did to thee by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt, ¹⁸how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all who were feeble behind thee, when thou were faint and weary, and he feared not God. ¹⁹Therefore it shall be, when Jehovah thy God has given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shall not forget.

CHAPTER 26

¹And it shall be, when thou have come in to the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell in it, ²that thou shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which thou shall bring in from thy land that Jehovah thy God gives thee, and thou shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. ³And thou shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and say to him, I profess this day to Jehovah thy God, that I have come to the land which Jehovah swore to our fathers to give us. ⁴And the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it down before the altar of Jehovah thy God. ⁵And thou shall answer and say before Jehovah thy God, My father was a Syrian ready to perish, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there, few in number. And he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶And the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage. ⁷And we cried to Jehovah, the God of our fathers, and Jehovah heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression. ⁸And Jehovah brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders. ⁹And he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O Jehovah, have given me. And thou shall set it down before Jehovah thy God, and worship before Jehovah thy God. ¹¹And thou shall rejoice in all the good which Jehovah thy God has given to thee, and to thy house, thou, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is in the midst of thee. ¹²When thou have made an end of tithing all the tithe of thine increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then thou shall give it to the Levite, to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled. ¹³And thou shall say before Jehovah thy God, I have put away the hallowed things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the sojourner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all thy commandment which thou have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. ¹⁴I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away from it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead. I have hearkened to the voice of Jehovah my God. I have done according to all that thou have commanded me. ¹⁵Look down from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the ground which thou have given us, as thou swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁶This day Jehovah thy God commands thee to do these statutes and ordinances. Thou shall therefore keep and do them with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. ¹⁷Thou have avouched Jehovah this day to be thy God, and that thou would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and hearken to his voice. ¹⁸And Jehovah has avouched thee this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised thee, and that thou should keep all his commandments, ¹⁹and to make thee high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou may be a holy people to Jehovah thy God, as he has spoken.

CHAPTER 27

¹And Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandment which I command you this day. ²And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over the Jordan to the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee, that thou shall set up for thee great stones, and plaster them with plaster. ³And thou shall write upon them all the words of this law when thou have passed over, that thou may go in to the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, has promised thee. ⁴And it shall be, when ye have passed over the Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in mount Ebal, and thou shall plaster them with plaster. ⁵And there thou shall build an altar to Jehovah thy God, an altar of stones. Thou shall lift up no iron upon them. ⁶Thou shall build the altar of Jehovah thy God of unhewn stones. And thou shall offer burnt offerings on it to Jehovah thy God. ⁷And thou shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there, and thou shall rejoice before Jehovah thy God. ⁸And thou shall write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly. ⁹And Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, Keep silence, and hearken, O Israel. This day thou have become the people of Jehovah thy God. ¹⁰Thou shall therefore obey the voice of Jehovah thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day. ¹¹And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, ¹²These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye have passed over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³And these shall stand upon mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. ¹⁴And the Levites shall answer, and say to all the men of Israel with a loud voice, ¹⁵Cursed be the man who makes a graven or molten image, an abomination to Jehovah, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Truly. ¹⁶Cursed be he who dishonors his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Truly. ¹⁷Cursed be he who removes his neighbor�s landmark. And all the people shall say, Truly. ¹⁸Cursed be he who makes the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Truly. ¹⁹Cursed be he who distorts the justice to the sojourner, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²⁰Cursed be he who lies with his father�s wife, because he has uncovered his father�s skirt. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²¹Cursed be he who lies with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²²Cursed be he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²³Cursed be he who lies with his mother-in-law. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²⁴Cursed be he who smites his neighbor in secret. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²⁵Cursed be he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent man. And all the people shall say, Truly. ²⁶Cursed is every man who does not continue in all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Truly.

CHAPTER 28

¹And it shall come to pass, if thou shall hearken diligently to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that Jehovah thy God will set thee on high above all the nations of the earth, ²and all these blessings shall come upon thee, and overtake thee, if thou shall hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God: ³Blessed shall thou be in the city, and blessed shall thou be in the field. ⁴Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy beasts, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock. ⁵Blessed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. ⁶Blessed shall thou be when thou come in, and blessed shall thou be when thou go out. ⁷Jehovah will cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thee. They shall come out against thee one way, and shall flee before thee seven ways. ⁸Jehovah will command the blessing upon thee in thy barns, and in all that thou put thy hand to. And he will bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God gives thee. ⁹Jehovah will establish thee for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to thee, if thou shall keep the commandments of Jehovah thy God, and walk in his ways. ¹⁰And all the peoples of the earth shall see that thou are called by the name of Jehovah, and they shall be afraid of thee. ¹¹And Jehovah will make thee plenteous for good, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which Jehovah swore to thy fathers to give thee. ¹²Jehovah will open to thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand. And thou shall lend to many nations, and thou shall not borrow. ¹³And Jehovah will make thee the head, and not the tail. And thou shall only be above, and thou shall not be beneath, if thou shall hearken to the commandments of Jehovah thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do, ¹⁴and shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. ¹⁵But it shall come to pass, if thou will not hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: ¹⁶Cursed shall thou be in the city, and cursed shall thou be in the field. ¹⁷Cursed shall be thy basket and thy kneading-trough. ¹⁸Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock. ¹⁹Cursed shall thou be when thou come in, and cursed shall thou be when thou go out. ²⁰Jehovah will send upon thee cursing, discomfiture, and rebuke, in all that thou put thy hand to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly, because of the evil of thy doings, by which thou have forsaken me. ²¹Jehovah will make the pestilence cling to thee, until he has consumed thee from off the land, where thou go in to possess it. ²²Jehovah will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with fiery heat, and with the sword, and with blight, and with mildew. And they shall pursue thee until thou perish. ²³And thy sky that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. ²⁴Jehovah will make the rain of thy land powder and dust. From the sky it shall come down upon thee, until thou be destroyed. ²⁵Jehovah will cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies. Thou shall go out one way against them, and shall flee seven ways before them. And thou shall be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶And thy dead body shall be food to all birds of the sky, and to the beasts of the earth, and there shall be none to frighten them away. ²⁷Jehovah will smite thee with the boil of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scurvy, and with the itch, of which thou cannot be healed. ²⁸Jehovah will smite thee with madness, and with blindness, and with confusion of mind, ²⁹and thou shall grope at noonday, as the blind man gropes in darkness. And thou shall not prosper in thy ways. And thou shall only be oppressed and robbed always, and there shall be none to save thee. ³⁰Thou shall betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her. Thou shall build a house, and thou shall not dwell in it. Thou shall plant a vineyard, and shall not use the fruit of it. ³¹Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shall not eat of it. Thy donkey shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee. Thy sheep shall be given to thine enemies, and thou shall have none to save thee. ³²Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to another people. And thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day, and there shall be nothing in the power of thy hand. ³³The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labors, shall a nation eat up which thou know not. And thou shall only be oppressed and crushed always, ³⁴so that thou shall be mad because of the sight of thine eyes which thou shall see. ³⁵Jehovah will smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore boil, of which thou cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot to the crown of thy head. ³⁶Jehovah will bring thee, and thy king whom thou shall set over thee, to a nation that thou have not known, thou nor thy fathers. And there thou shall serve other gods, wood and stone. ³⁷And thou shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Jehovah shall lead thee away. ³⁸Thou shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. ³⁹Thou shall plant vineyards and dress them, but thou shall neither drink of the wine, nor gather, for the worm shall eat them. ⁴⁰Thou shall have olive trees throughout all thy borders, but thou shall not anoint thyself with the oil, for thine olive shall drop off. ⁴¹Thou shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be thine, for they shall go into captivity. ⁴²All thy trees and the fruit of thy ground shall the locust possess. ⁴³The sojourner who is in the midst of thee shall mount up above thee higher and higher, and thou shall come down lower and lower. ⁴⁴He shall lend to thee, and thou shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and thou shall be the tail. ⁴⁵And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed, because thou hearkened not to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee, ⁴⁶and they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed forever. ⁴⁷Because thou served not Jehovah thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things, ⁴⁸therefore thou shall serve thine enemies that Jehovah shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he has destroyed thee. ⁴⁹Jehovah will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flies, a nation whose tongue thou shall not understand, ⁵⁰a nation of fierce countenance, that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young, ⁵¹and shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed, that also shall not leave thee grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of thy cattle, or the young of thy flock, until they have caused thee to perish. ⁵²And they shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, in which thou trusted, throughout all thy land. And they shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Jehovah thy God has given thee. ⁵³And thou shall eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom Jehovah thy God has given thee, in the siege and in the distress with which thine enemies shall distress thee. ⁵⁴The man who is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his sons whom he has remaining, ⁵⁵so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his sons whom he shall eat, because he has nothing left to him, in the siege and in the distress with which thine enemy shall distress thee in all thy gates. ⁵⁶The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter, ⁵⁷and toward her young one who comes out from between her feet, and toward her sons whom she shall bear, for she shall eat them secretly for want of all things, in the siege and in the distress with which thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates. ⁵⁸If thou will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou may fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH THY GOD, ⁵⁹then Jehovah will make thy calamities extraordinary, and the calamities of thy seed, even great calamities and of long continuance, and severe sicknesses and of long continuance. ⁶⁰And he will bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou were afraid of, and they shall cling to thee. ⁶¹Also every sickness, and every calamity, which is not written in the book of this law, them Jehovah will bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed. ⁶²And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude, because thou did not hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God. ⁶³And it shall come to pass, that, as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you. And ye shall be plucked from off the land where thou go in to possess it. ⁶⁴And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. And there thou shall serve other gods, which thou have not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone. ⁶⁵And among these nations thou shall find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot, but Jehovah will give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul. ⁶⁶And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee, and thou shall fear night and day, and shall have no assurance of thy life. ⁶⁷In the morning thou shall say, Would it were evening! and at evening thou shall say, Would it were morning! for the fear of thy heart which thou shall fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shall see. ⁶⁸And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way of which I said to thee, Thou shall see it no more again. And there ye shall sell yourselves to your enemies for bondmen and for bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.

CHAPTER 29

¹These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. ²And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, ³the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders, ⁴yet Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day. ⁵And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not grown old upon you, and thy shoe has not grown old upon thy foot. ⁶Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink, that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God. ⁷And when ye came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us to battle, and we smote them. ⁸And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of the Manassites. ⁹Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. ¹⁰Ye stand this day all of you before Jehovah your God�your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, ¹¹your little ones, your wives, and thy sojourner who is in the midst of thy camps, from the hewer of thy wood to the drawer of thy water� ¹²that thou may enter into the covenant of Jehovah thy God, and into his oath, which Jehovah thy God makes with thee this day, ¹³that he may establish thee this day to himself for a people, and that he may be to thee a God, as he spoke to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. ¹⁴Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, ¹⁵but with him who stands here with us this day before Jehovah our God, and also with him who is not here with us this day ¹⁶(for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed, ¹⁷and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them). ¹⁸Lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from Jehovah our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations. Lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood, ¹⁹and it comes to pass, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry. ²⁰Jehovah will not pardon him, but then the anger of Jehovah and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹And Jehovah will set him apart to evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law. ²²And the generation to come, your sons who shall rise up after you, and the foreigner who shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the calamities of that land, and the sicknesses with which Jehovah has made it sick. ²³The whole land of it is brimstone, and salt, a burning. It is not sown, nor bears, nor any grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath, ²⁴even all the nations shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land? What is the meaning of the heat of this great anger? ²⁵Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, ²⁶and went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods that they knew not, and that he had not given to them. ²⁷Therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book. ²⁸And Jehovah rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day. ²⁹The secret things belong to Jehovah our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

CHAPTER 30

¹And it shall come to pass, when all these things have come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Jehovah thy God has driven thee, ²and shall return to Jehovah thy God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy sons, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, ³that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples where Jehovah thy God has scattered thee. ⁴If any of thine outcasts be in the outermost parts of heaven, from there Jehovah thy God will gather thee, and from there he will fetch thee. ⁵And Jehovah thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shall possess it, and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers. ⁶And Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou may live. ⁷And Jehovah thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on those who hate thee, who persecuted thee. ⁸And thou shall return and obey the voice of Jehovah, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. ⁹And Jehovah thy God will make thee plenteous in all the work of thy hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, for good. For Jehovah will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers, ¹⁰if thou shall obey the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if thou turn to Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. ¹¹For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. ¹²It is not in heaven, that thou should say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? ¹³Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou should say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it? ¹⁴But the word is very near to thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou may do it. ¹⁵See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil, ¹⁶in that I command thee this day to love Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that thou may live and multiply, and that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in the land where thou go in to possess it. ¹⁷But if thy heart turns away, and thou will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you this day, that ye shall surely perish. Ye shall not prolong your days in the land where thou pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that thou may live, thou and thy seed, ²⁰to love Jehovah thy God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him, for he is thy life, and the length of thy days, that thou may dwell in the land which Jehovah swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

CHAPTER 31

¹And Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. ²And he said to them, I am a hundred and twenty years old this day. I can no more go out and come in. And Jehovah has said to me, Thou shall not go over this Jordan. ³Jehovah thy God, he will go over before thee. He will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shall dispossess them. Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as Jehovah has spoken. ⁴And Jehovah will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, whom he destroyed. ⁵And Jehovah will deliver them up before you, and ye shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. ⁶Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be frightened at them, for Jehovah thy God, he it is who goes with thee. He will not leave thee, nor forsake thee. ⁷And Moses called to Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of good courage. For thou shall go with this people into the land which Jehovah has sworn to their fathers to give them, and thou shall cause them to inherit it. ⁸And Jehovah, he it is who goes before thee. He will be with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Fear not, neither be dismayed. ⁹And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons of Levi, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the set time of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles, ¹¹when all Israel has come to appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ¹²Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little ones, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear Jehovah your God, and observe to do all the words of this law, ¹³and that their sons who have not known may hear, and learn to fear Jehovah your God as long as ye live in the land where ye go over the Jordan to possess it. ¹⁴And Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that I may give him a command. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵And Jehovah appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the tent. ¹⁶And Jehovah said to Moses, Behold, thou shall sleep with thy fathers. And this people will rise up, and play the harlot after the strange gods of the land where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come upon them, so that they will say in that day, Have not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us? ¹⁸And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they shall have wrought, in that they have turned to other gods. ¹⁹Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach thou it the sons of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the sons of Israel. ²⁰For when I shall have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat, then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant. ²¹And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed. For I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore. ²²So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel. ²³And he gave Joshua the son of Nun a command, and said, Be strong and of good courage, for thou shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with thee. ²⁴And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, ²⁵that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, saying, ²⁶Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee. ²⁷For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against Jehovah, and how much more after my death? ²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you. And evil will befall you in the latter days, because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands. ³⁰And Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished:

CHAPTER 32

¹Give ear, ye heavens, and I will speak, and let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ²My doctrine shall drop as the rain. My speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender grass, and as the showers upon the herb. ³For I will proclaim the name of Jehovah. Ascribe ye greatness to our God. ⁴The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he. ⁵They have dealt corruptly with him. They are not his sons, it is their blemish, a perverse and crooked generation. ⁶Do ye thus requite Jehovah, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father who has bought thee? He has made thee, and established thee. ⁷Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee, thine elders, and they will tell thee. ⁸When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. ⁹For Jehovah�s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. ¹⁰He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness. He compassed him about. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. ¹¹As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings. He took them. He bore them on his pinions. ¹²Jehovah alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him. ¹³He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the field, and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, ¹⁴butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat, and of the blood of the grape thou drank wine. ¹⁵But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. Thou have grown fat. Thou have grown thick. Thou have become sleek. Then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. With abominations they provoked him to anger. ¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods that they knew not, to new gods that came up of late, which your fathers did not dread. ¹⁸Thou are unmindful of the Rock that begot thee, and have forgotten God who gave thee birth. ¹⁹And Jehovah saw, and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. ²⁰And he said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be. For they are a very perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. ²¹They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy with a non-nation. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. ²²For a fire is kindled in my anger, and burns to the lowest Sheol, and devours the earth with its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. ²³I will heap evils upon them. I will spend my arrows upon them, ²⁴to be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. And I will send upon them the teeth of beasts, with the poison of crawling things of the dust. ²⁵Outside the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers terror, to both young man and virgin, the suckling with the man of gray hairs. ²⁶I said, I would scatter them afar, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men, ²⁷were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge amiss, lest they should say, Our hand is exalted, and Jehovah has not done all this. ²⁸For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them. ²⁹Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! ³⁰How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight unless their Rock had sold them, and Jehovah had delivered them up? ³¹For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. ³²For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter. ³³Their wine is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps. ³⁴Is not this laid up in store with me, sealed up among my treasures? ³⁵Vengeance is for me, and recompense at the time when their foot shall slide. For the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that are to come upon them shall make haste. ³⁶For Jehovah will judge his people, and regrets for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none remaining, shut up or left at large. ³⁷And he will say, Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge, ³⁸which ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, let them be your protection. ³⁹See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me. I kill, and I make alive. I wound, and I heal. And there is none that can deliver out of my hand. ⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, As I live forever, ⁴¹if I whet my glittering sword, and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to my adversaries, and will recompense those who hate me. ⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy. ⁴³Rejoice, O ye Gentiles, with his people. For he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will recompense those who hate him, and will make expiation for his land, for his people. ⁴⁴And Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he and Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel. ⁴⁶And he said to them, Set your heart to all the words which I testify to you this day, which ye shall command your sons to observe to do, even all the words of this law. ⁴⁷For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life, and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land where ye go over the Jordan to possess it. ⁴⁸And Jehovah spoke to Moses that selfsame day, saying, ⁴⁹Get thee up onto this mountain of Abarim, to mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is opposite Jericho, and behold the land of Canaan, which I give to the sons of Israel for a possession. ⁵⁰And die on the mount where thou go up, and be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered to his people, ⁵¹because ye trespassed against me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because ye did not sanctify me in the midst of the sons of Israel. ⁵²For thou shall see the land before thee, but thou shall not go there into the land which I give the sons of Israel.

CHAPTER 33

¹And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. ²And he said, Jehovah came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shined forth from mount Paran, and he came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At his right hand was a fiery law for them. ³Yea, he loves the people. All his sanctified are in thy hand, and they sat down at thy feet. He shall receive from thy words. ⁴Moses commanded for us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob. ⁵And he was king in Jeshurun when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together. ⁶Let Reuben live, and not die, nor let his men be few. ⁷And this is of Judah: And he said, Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah, and bring him into his people. With his hands he contended for himself, and thou shall be a help against his adversaries. ⁸And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with thy holy man, whom thou proved at Massah, with whom thou strove at the waters of Meribah, ⁹who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brothers, nor knew he his own sons, for they have observed thy word, and keep thy covenant. ¹⁰They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances, and Israel thy law. They shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt offering upon thine altar. ¹¹Bless, Jehovah, his substance, and accept the work of his hands. Smite through the loins of those who rise up against him, and of those who hate him, that they not rise again. ¹²Of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Jehovah shall dwell in safety by him. He covers him all the day long, and he dwells between his shoulders. ¹³And of Joseph he said, Blessed of Jehovah be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that couches beneath, ¹⁴and for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, and for the precious things of the growth of the moons, ¹⁵and for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the everlasting hills, ¹⁶and for the precious things of the earth and the fullness of it, and the good will of him who dwelt in the bush. Let it come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. ¹⁷The firstling of his herd, majesty is his. And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox. With them he shall push the peoples, all of them, even the ends of the earth. And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh. ¹⁸And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out, and, Issachar, in thy tents. ¹⁹They shall call the peoples to the mountain. There they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall suck the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures of the sand. ²⁰And of Gad he said, Blessed be he who enlarges Gad. He dwells as a lioness, and tears the arm, yea, the crown of the head. ²¹And he provided the first part for himself, for there was the lawgiver�s portion reserved. And he came with the heads of the people. He executed the righteousness of Jehovah, and his ordinances with Israel. ²²And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion�s whelp that leaps forth from Bashan. ²³And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of Jehovah, possess thou the west and the south. ²⁴And of Asher he said, Blessed be Asher with sons. Let him be acceptable to his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil. ²⁵Thy bars shall be iron and brass, and as thy days, so shall thy strength be. ²⁶There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides upon the heavens for thy help, and in his excellency on the skies. ²⁷The eternal God is thy dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he thrust out the enemy from before thee, and said, Destroy. ²⁸And Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, in a land of grain and new wine. Yea, his heavens drop down dew. ²⁹Happy are thou, O Israel. Who is like thee, a people saved by Jehovah, the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy excellency! And thine enemies shall submit themselves to thee, and thou shall tread upon their high places.

CHAPTER 34

¹And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is opposite Jericho. And Jehovah showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan, ²and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the farther sea, ³and the South, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar. ⁴And Jehovah said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to thy seed. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shall not go over there. ⁵So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. ⁶And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor, but no man knows of his sepulcher to this day. ⁷And Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated. ⁸And the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. ⁹And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him. And the sons of Israel hearkened to him, and did as Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹⁰And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face, ¹¹in all the signs and the wonders, which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, ¹²and in all the mighty hand, and in all the great terror, which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel.

JOSHUA

CHAPTER 1

¹Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of Jehovah, that Jehovah spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses� minister, saying, ²Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, to the land which I give to them, even to the sons of Israel. ³Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you I have given it, as I spoke to Moses. ⁴From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even to the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border. ⁵There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. ⁶Be strong and of good courage, for thou shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. ⁷Only be strong and very courageous to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee. Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou may have good success wherever thou go. ⁸This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shall meditate on it day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written in it, for then thou shall make thy way prosperous, and then thou shall have good success. ⁹Have I not commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage. Be not frightened, neither be thou dismayed, for Jehovah thy God is with thee wherever thou go. ¹⁰Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, ¹¹Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying, Prepare food for you, for within three days ye are to pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land, which Jehovah your God gives you to possess it. ¹²And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua spoke, saying, ¹³Remember the word which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, saying, Jehovah your God gives you rest, and will give you this land. ¹⁴Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall abide in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but ye shall pass over before your brothers armed, all the mighty men of valor, and shall help them ¹⁵until Jehovah has given your brothers rest, as you, and they also have possessed the land which Jehovah your God gives them. Then ye shall return to the land of your possession, and possess it, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise. ¹⁶And they answered Joshua, saying, All that thou have commanded us we will do, and wherever thou send us we will go. ¹⁷According as we hearkened to Moses in all things, so will we hearken to thee. Only Jehovah thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. ¹⁸Whoever he is who shall rebel against thy commandment, and shall not hearken to thy words in all that thou command him, he shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage.

CHAPTER 2

¹And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men as spies secretly, saying, Go, view the land, and Jericho. And they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lay down there. ²And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, men came in here tonight of the sons of Israel to search out the land. ³And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who came to thee, who have entered into thy house, for they have come to search out all the land. ⁴And the woman took the two men, and hid them. And she said, Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know from where they were. ⁵And it came to pass about the time of the shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I know not. Pursue after them quickly, for ye will overtake them. ⁶But she had brought them up to the roof, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof. ⁷And the men pursued after them the way to the Jordan to the fords, and as soon as those who pursued after them were gone out, they shut the gate. ⁸And before they were laid down, she came up to them upon the roof. ⁹And she said to the men, I know that Jehovah has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us. And that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. ¹⁰For we have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when ye came out of Egypt, and what ye did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and to Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. ¹¹And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts melted, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man because of you, for Jehovah your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. ¹²Now therefore, I pray you, swear to me by Jehovah, since I have dealt kindly with you, that ye also will deal kindly with my father�s house, and give me a true token, ¹³and that ye will save alive my father, and my mother, and my brothers, and my sisters, and all that they have, and will deliver our lives from death. ¹⁴And the men said to her, Our life for yours if ye do not utter this our business. And it shall be, when Jehovah gives us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee. ¹⁵Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the side of the wall, and she dwelt upon the wall. ¹⁶And she said to them, Get you to the mountain lest the pursuers come upon you. And hide yourselves there three days, until the pursuers be returned, and afterward ye may go your way. ¹⁷And the men said to her, We will be guiltless of this thine oath which thou have made us to swear. ¹⁸Behold, when we come into the land, thou shall bind this line of scarlet cord in the window which thou let us down by. And thou shall gather to thee into the house thy father, and thy mother, and thy brothers, and all thy father�s household. ¹⁹And it shall be, that whoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we shall be guiltless. And whoever shall be with thee in the house, his blood shall be on our head if any hand be upon him. ²⁰But if thou utter this our business, then we shall be guiltless of thine oath which thou have made us to swear. ²¹And she said, According to your words, so be it. And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet line in the window. ²²And they went, and came to the mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers were returned. And the pursuers sought them throughout all the way, but did not find them. ²³Then the two men returned, and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of Nun. And they told him all that had befallen them. ²⁴And they said to Joshua, Truly Jehovah has delivered into our hands all the land, and moreover all the inhabitants of the land melt away before us.

CHAPTER 3

¹And Joshua rose up early in the morning. And they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodged there before they passed over. ²And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp, ³and they commanded the people, saying, When ye see the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God, and the priests the Levites bearing it, then ye shall move from your place, and go after it. ⁴Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near to it, that ye may know the way by which ye must go, for ye have not passed this way heretofore. ⁵And Joshua said to the people, Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow Jehovah will do wonders among you. ⁶And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass over before the people. And they took up the ark of the covenant, and went before the people. ⁷And Jehovah said to Joshua, This day I will begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. ⁸And thou shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, When ye have come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, ye shall stand still in the Jordan. ⁹And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Come here, and hear the words of Jehovah your God. ¹⁰And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passes over before you into the Jordan. ¹²Now therefore take for you twelve men out of the tribes of Israel, for every tribe a man. ¹³And it shall come to pass, when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, even the waters that come down from above, and they shall stand in one heap. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the people moved from their tents to pass over the Jordan�the priests who bore the ark of the covenant being before the people� ¹⁵and when those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the time of harvest), ¹⁶that the waters which came down from above, stood, and rose up in one heap a great way off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those that went down toward the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, were wholly cut off. And the people passed over right against Jericho. ¹⁷And the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel passed over on dry ground until all the nation were passed clean over the Jordan.

CHAPTER 4

¹And it came to pass, when all the nation were clean passed over the Jordan, that Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, ²Take for you twelve men out of the people, a man out of every tribe, ³and command ye them, saying, Take for you here out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests� feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night. ⁴Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the sons of Israel, a man out of every tribe. ⁵And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of Jehovah your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, ⁶that this may be a sign among you, that, when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do ye mean by these stones? ⁷Then ye shall say to them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the sons of Israel forever. ⁸And the sons of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as Jehovah spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. ⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day. ¹⁰For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that Jehovah commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hastened and passed over. ¹¹And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of Jehovah passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people. ¹²And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses spoke to them. ¹³About forty thousand ready armed for war passed over before Jehovah to battle, to the plains of Jericho. ¹⁴On that day Jehovah magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life. ¹⁵And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, ¹⁶Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan. ¹⁷Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of the Jordan. ¹⁸And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests� feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place, and went over all its banks, as formerly. ¹⁹And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹And he spoke to the sons of Israel, saying, When your sons shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean? ²²Then ye shall let your sons know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. ²³For Jehovah your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as Jehovah your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were passed over, ²⁴that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of Jehovah, that it is mighty, that ye may fear Jehovah your God forever.

CHAPTER 5

¹And it came to pass, when all the kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings of the Canaanites, who were by the sea, heard how that Jehovah had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the sons of Israel until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the sons of Israel. ²At that time Jehovah said to Joshua, Make for thee knives of flint, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time. ³And Joshua made him knives of flint, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. ⁴And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised: All the people who came forth out of Egypt, who were males, even all the men of war, died in the wilderness by the way after they came forth out of Egypt. ⁵For all the people who came out were circumcised, but all the people who were born in the wilderness by the way as they came forth out of Egypt, they had not circumcised. ⁶For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness till all the nation, even the men of war who came forth out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, to whom Jehovah swore that he would not let them see the land which Jehovah swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁷And their sons, whom he raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised because they had not circumcised them by the way. ⁸And it came to pass, when they had done circumcising all the nation, that they abode in their places in the camp, till they were recovered. ⁹And Jehovah said to Joshua, This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Therefore the name of that place was called Gilgal, to this day. ¹⁰And the sons of Israel encamped in Gilgal. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at evening in the plains of Jericho. ¹¹And they ate of the produce of the land on the morrow after the Passover, unleavened cakes and parched grain, in the selfsame day. ¹²And the manna ceased on the morrow, after they had eaten of the produce of the land. Neither had the sons of Israel manna any more, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. ¹³And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him, and said to him, Are thou for us, or for our adversaries? ¹⁴And he said, No, but as captain of the army of Jehovah I have now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and worshiped, and said to him, What does my lord say to his servant? ¹⁵And the captain of Jehovah�s army said to Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place on which thou stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

CHAPTER 6

¹Now Jericho was shut up tight because of the sons of Israel. None went out, and none came in. ²And Jehovah said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into thy hand, and the king of it, and the mighty men of valor. ³And ye shall encompass the city, all the men of war, going around the city once. Thus shall thou do six days. ⁴And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams� horns before the ark. And the seventh day ye shall encompass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵And it shall be, that, when they make a long blast with the ram�s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout. And the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall go up every man straight before him. ⁶And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said to them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams� horns before the ark of Jehovah. ⁷And they said to the people, Pass on, and encompass the city, and let the armed men pass on before the ark of Jehovah. ⁸And it was so, that, when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams� horns before Jehovah passed on, and blew the trumpets. And the ark of the covenant of Jehovah followed them. ⁹And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rearward went behind the ark, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went. ¹⁰And Joshua commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor let your voice be heard, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. Then ye shall shout. ¹¹So he caused the ark of Jehovah to encompass the city, going around it once. And they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp. ¹²And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Jehovah. ¹³And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams� horns before the ark of Jehovah went on continually, and blew the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, and the rearward came behind the ark of Jehovah, the priests blowing the trumpets as they went. ¹⁴And the second day they encompassed the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. ¹⁵And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early at the dawning of the day, and encompassed the city according to the same manner seven times. Only on that day they encompassed the city seven times. ¹⁶And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, Shout, for Jehovah has given you the city. ¹⁷And the city shall be set apart, even it and all that is in it, to Jehovah. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸But as for you, only keep yourselves from what is set apart, lest when ye have set it apart, ye take from what is set apart. So ye would make the camp of Israel accursed, and trouble it. ¹⁹But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy to Jehovah. They shall come into the treasury of Jehovah. ²⁰So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets. And it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the edge of the sword. ²²And Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, Go into the harlot�s house, and bring out from there the woman, and all that she has, as ye swore to her. ²³And the young men, the spies, went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brothers, and all that she had. They also brought out all her kindred, and they set them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴And they burnt the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver, and the gold, and the vessels of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house of Jehovah. ²⁵But Joshua saved alive Rahab the harlot, and her father�s household, and all that she had. And she dwelt in the midst of Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho. ²⁶And Joshua charged them with an oath at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before Jehovah who rises up and builds this city Jericho. With the loss of his firstborn he shall lay the foundation of it, and with the loss of his youngest son he shall set up the gates of it. ²⁷So Jehovah was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

CHAPTER 7

¹But the sons of Israel committed a trespass in what was set apart. For Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took from what was set apart, and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the sons of Israel. ²And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai. ³And they returned to Joshua, and said to him, Let not all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai. Do not make all the people to toil there, for they are but few. ⁴So there went up there of the people about three thousand men. And they fled before the men of Ai. ⁵And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty-six men. And they chased them from before the gate even to Shebarim, and smote them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted, and became as water. ⁶And Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of Jehovah until the evening, he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust upon their heads. ⁷And Joshua said, Alas, O lord Jehovah, why have thou at all brought this people over the Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to cause us to perish? Would that we had been content and dwelt beyond the Jordan! ⁸Oh, Lord, what shall I say after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! ⁹For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will encompass us around, and cut off our name from the earth, and what will thou do for thy great name? ¹⁰And Jehovah said to Joshua, Get thee up. Why are thou thus fallen upon thy face? ¹¹Israel has sinned. Yes, they have even transgressed my covenant which I commanded them. Yes, they have even taken from what was set apart, and have also stolen, and also dissembled. And they have even put it among their own stuff. ¹²Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they have become accursed. I will not be with you any more unless ye destroy what was set apart from among you. ¹³Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow. For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, There is what has been set apart in the midst of thee, O Israel. Thou cannot stand before thine enemies until ye take away the devoted thing from among you. ¹⁴In the morning therefore ye shall be brought near by your tribes, and it shall be, that the tribe which Jehovah takes shall come near by families, and the family which Jehovah shall take shall come near by households, and the household which Jehovah shall take shall come near man by man. ¹⁵And it shall be, that he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of Jehovah, and because he has wrought folly in Israel. ¹⁶So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel near by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷And he brought near the family of Judah, and he took the family of the Zerahites. And he brought near the family of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and make confession to him, and tell me now what thou have done. Hide it not from me. ²⁰And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Of a truth I have sinned against Jehovah, the God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: ²¹When I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them. And, behold, they are hid in the ground in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. ²²So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. And, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. ²³And they took them from the midst of the tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the sons of Israel, and they laid them down before Jehovah. ²⁴And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the mantle, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his donkeys, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. ²⁵And Joshua said, Why have thou troubled us? Jehovah shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and they burned them with fire, and stoned them with stones. ²⁶And they raised over him a great heap of stones, to this day, and Jehovah turned from the fierceness of his anger. Therefore the name of that place was called the valley of Achor to this day.

CHAPTER 8

¹And Jehovah said to Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land. ²And thou shall do to Ai and its king as thou did to Jericho and its king. Only the spoil of it, and the cattle of it, ye shall take for a prey to yourselves. Set thee an ambush for the city behind it. ³So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose out thirty thousand men, the mighty men of valor, and sent them forth by night. ⁴And he commanded them, saying, Behold, ye shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready, ⁵and I, and all the people that are with me, will approach to the city. And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them. ⁶And they will come out after us, till we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first. So we will flee before them. ⁷And ye shall rise up from the ambush, and take possession of the city, for Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it shall be, when ye have seized upon the city, that ye shall set the city on fire. According to the word of Jehovah shall ye do. See, I have commanded you. ⁹And Joshua sent them forth, and they went to the ambushment, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai, but Joshua lodged that night among the people. ¹⁰And Joshua arose up early in the morning, and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹And all the people, even the men of war who were with him, went up, and drew near, and came before the city, and encamped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. ¹²And he took about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. ¹³So they set the people, even all the army that was on the north of the city, and their ambushment that were on the west of the city, and Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hastened and rose up early, and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the time appointed, before the Arabah, but he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. And they left the city open, and pursued after Israel. ¹⁸And Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thy hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and entered into the city, and took it. And they hastened and set the city on fire. ²⁰And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and, behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way. And the people who fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. ²¹And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again, and killed the men of Ai. ²²And the others came forth out of the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And they smote them so that they let none of them remain or escape. ²³And they took the king of Ai alive, and brought him to Joshua. ²⁴And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they were all fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all Israel returned to Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵And all who fell that day, both of men and women, were twelve thousand, even all the men of Ai. ²⁶For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the javelin, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷Only the cattle and the spoil of that city Israel took for prey to themselves, according to the word of Jehovah which he commanded Joshua. ²⁸So Joshua burnt Ai, and made it a heap forever, even a desolation, to this day. ²⁹And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until the evening. And at the going down of the sun Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, and cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raised a great heap of stones on it, to this day. ³⁰Then Joshua built an altar to Jehovah, the God of Israel, in mount Ebal, ³¹as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded the sons of Israel, as it is written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of unhewn stones, upon which no man had lifted up any iron. And they offered burnt offerings on it to Jehovah, and sacrificed peace offerings. ³²And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote, in the presence of the sons of Israel. ³³And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this side of the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, as well the sojourner as the home born, half of them in front of mount Gerizim, and half of them in front of mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of Jehovah had commanded at the first, that they should bless the people of Israel. ³⁴And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the book of the law. ³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who were among them.

CHAPTER 9

¹And it came to pass, when all the kings who were beyond the Jordan, in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and on all the shore of the great sea in front of Lebanon�the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite�heard of it, ²that they gathered themselves together to fight with Joshua and with Israel with one accord. ³But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, ⁴they also worked shrewdly, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their donkeys, and wine-skins, old and torn and bound up, ⁵and old and patched shoes upon their feet, and old garments upon them, and all the bread of their provision was dry and became moldy. ⁶And they went to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him, and to the men of Israel, We have come from a far country, now therefore make ye a covenant with us. ⁷And the men of Israel said to the Hivites, Perhaps ye dwell among us, and how shall we make a covenant with you? ⁸And they said to Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said to them, Who are ye, and from where do ye come? ⁹And they said to him, From a very far country. Thy servants have come because of the name of Jehovah thy God, for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt, ¹⁰and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. ¹¹And our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, Take provision in your hand for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, We are your servants, and now make ye a covenant with us. ¹²This our bread we took hot for our provision out of our houses on the day we came forth to go to you, but now, behold, it is dry, and has become moldy. ¹³And these wine-skins, which we filled, were new, and, behold, they are torn. And these our garments and our shoes have become old by reason of the very long journey. ¹⁴And the men took of their provision, and did not ask counsel at the mouth of Jehovah. ¹⁵And Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the rulers of the congregation swore to them. ¹⁶And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors, and that they dwelt among them. ¹⁷And the sons of Israel journeyed, and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, and Chephirah, and Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸And the sons of Israel did not smite them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by Jehovah, the God of Israel. And all the congregation murmured against the rulers. ¹⁹But all the rulers said to all the congregation, We have sworn to them by Jehovah, the God of Israel, now therefore we may not touch them. ²⁰This we will do to them, and let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them. ²¹And the rulers said to them, Let them live. So they became hewers of wood and drawers of water to all the congregation, as the rulers had spoken to them. ²²And Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, Why have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you, when ye dwell among us? ²³Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall never fail to be bondmen of you, both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. ²⁴And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that Jehovah thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you. Therefore we were very afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. ²⁵And now, behold, we are in thy hand. As it seems good and right to thee to do to us, do. ²⁶And so he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the sons of Israel, that they did not kill them. ²⁷And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah to this day in the place which he should choose.

CHAPTER 10

¹Now it came to pass, when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it, as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them, ²that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men of it were mighty. ³Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, and to Piram king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, ⁴Come up to me, and help me, and let us smite Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel. ⁵Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and went up, they and all their armies, and encamped against Gibeon, and made war against it. ⁶And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Slack not thy hand from thy servants. Come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the hill-country are gathered together against us. ⁷So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. ⁸And Jehovah said to Joshua, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thy hands. There shall not a man of them stand before thee. ⁹Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, for he went up from Gilgal all the night. ¹⁰And Jehovah discomfited them before Israel, and he killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon, and smote them to Azekah, and to Makkedah. ¹¹And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, that Jehovah cast down great stones from heaven upon them to Azekah, and they died. More died with the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. ¹²Then Joshua spoke to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel. And he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Aijalon. ¹³And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the nation had avenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stayed in the midst of heaven, and hastened not to go down about a whole day. ¹⁴And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah hearkened to the voice of a man, for Jehovah fought for Israel. ¹⁵And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal. ¹⁶And these five kings fled, and hid themselves in the cave at Makkedah. ¹⁷And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hidden in the cave at Makkedah. ¹⁸And Joshua said, Roll great stones to the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to keep them, ¹⁹but stay ye not. Pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them. Do not allow them to enter into their cities, for Jehovah your God has delivered them into your hand. ²⁰And it came to pass, when Joshua and the sons of Israel had made an end of killing them with a very great slaughter, till they were consumed, and the remnant which remained of them had entered into the fortified cities, ²¹that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. No man moved his tongue against any of the sons of Israel. ²²Then Joshua said, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring forth those five kings to me out of the cave. ²³And they did so, and brought forth those five kings to him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon. ²⁴And it came to pass, when they brought forth those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them. ²⁵And Joshua said to them, Fear not, nor be dismayed. Be strong and of good courage, for thus shall Jehovah do to all your enemies against whom ye fight. ²⁶And afterward Joshua smote them, and put them to death, and hanged them on five trees. And they were hanging upon the trees until the evening. ²⁷And it came to pass at the time of the going down of the sun, that Joshua commanded, and they took them down off the trees, and cast them into the cave in which they had hidden themselves, and laid great stones on the mouth of the cave, to this very day. ²⁸And Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king of it. He utterly destroyed them and all the souls that were in it. He left none remaining, and he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho. ²⁹And Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, to Libnah, and fought against Libnah. ³⁰And Jehovah delivered it also, and the king of it, into the hand of Israel. And he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were in it. He left none remaining in it, and he did to the king of it as he had done to the king of Jericho. ³¹And Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish, and encamped against it, and fought against it. ³²And Jehovah delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel. And he took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were in it, according to all that he had done to Libnah. ³³Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish. And Joshua smote him and his people until he had left him none remaining. ³⁴And Joshua passed from Lachish, and all Israel with him, to Eglon. And they encamped against it, and fought against it. ³⁵And they took it on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword. And all the souls that were in it he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish. ³⁶And Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, to Hebron. And they fought against it, ³⁷and they took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king of it, and all the cities of it, and all the souls that were in it. He left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but he utterly destroyed it, and all the souls that were in it. ³⁸And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir, and fought against it. ³⁹And he took it, and the king of it, and all the cities of it. And they smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed all the souls that were in it. He left none remaining. As he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir, and to the king of it, as he had done also to Libnah, and to the king of it. ⁴⁰So Joshua smote all the land, the hill-country, and the South, and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but he utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, commanded. ⁴¹And Joshua smote them from Kadesh-barnea even to Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even to Gibeon. ⁴²And all these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because Jehovah, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. ⁴³And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp to Gilgal.

CHAPTER 11

¹And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard of it, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, ²and to the kings who were on the north, in the hill-country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west, ³to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the hill-country, and the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpah, ⁴and they went out, they and all their armies with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea-shore in multitude, with horses and chariots, very many. ⁵And all these kings met together. And they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel. ⁶And Jehovah said to Joshua, Be not afraid because of them, for tomorrow at this time I will deliver them up all slain before Israel. Thou shall hock their horses, and burn their chariots with fire. ⁷So Joshua came, and all the people of war with him, against them by the waters of Merom suddenly, and fell upon them. ⁸And Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Israel, and they smote them, and chased them to great Sidon, and to Misrephoth-maim, and to the valley of Mizpeh eastward. And they smote them until they left them none remaining. ⁹And Joshua did to them as Jehovah bade him. He hocked their horses, and burnt their chariots with fire. ¹⁰And Joshua turned back at that time, and took Hazor, and smote the king of it with the sword, for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. ¹¹And they smote all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left that breathed, and he burnt Hazor with fire. ¹²And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, Joshua took, and he smote them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded. ¹³But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except only Hazor. Joshua burned that. ¹⁴And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the sons of Israel took for a prey to themselves, but every man they smote with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, neither did they leave any who breathed. ¹⁵As Jehovah commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that Jehovah commanded Moses. ¹⁶So Joshua took all that land, the hill-country, and all the South, and all the land of Goshen, and the lowland, and the Arabah, and the hill-country of Israel, and the lowland of the same, ¹⁷from mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, even to Baal-gad in the valley of Lebanon under mount Hermon. And he took all their kings, and smote them, and put them to death. ¹⁸Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. ¹⁹There was not a city that made peace with the sons of Israel, except the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon. They took all in battle. ²⁰For it was of Jehovah to harden their hearts, to come against Israel in battle, that he might utterly destroy them, that they might have no favor, but that he might destroy them as Jehovah commanded Moses. ²¹And Joshua came at that time, and cut off the Anakim from the hill-country, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the hill-country of Judah, and from all the hill-country of Israel. Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. ²²There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the sons of Israel. Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod some remained. ²³So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Jehovah spoke to Moses. And Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land had rest from war.

CHAPTER 12

¹Now these are the kings of the land, whom the sons of Israel smote, and possessed their land beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the valley of the Arnon to mount Hermon, and all the Arabah eastward: ²Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, and ruled from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the middle of the valley, and half Gilead, even to the river Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon, ³and the Arabah to the sea of Chinneroth, eastward, and to the sea of the Arabah, even the Salt Sea, eastward, the way to Beth-jeshimoth, and on the south, under the slopes of Pisgah, ⁴and the border of Og king of Bashan, of the remnant of the Rephaim, who dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, ⁵and ruled in mount Hermon, and in Salecah, and in all Bashan, to the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and half Gilead, the border of Sihon king of Heshbon. ⁶Moses the servant of Jehovah and the sons of Israel smote them. And Moses the servant of Jehovah gave it for a possession to the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁷And 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 even to mount Halak, that goes up to Seir, and Joshua gave it to the tribes of Israel for a possession according to their divisions, ⁸in the hill-country, and in the lowland, and in the Arabah, and in the slopes, and in the wilderness, and in the South, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: ⁹The king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; ¹⁰the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; ¹¹the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; ¹²the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one; ¹³the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; ¹⁴the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; ¹⁵the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; ¹⁶the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; ¹⁷the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; ¹⁸the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lassharon, one; ¹⁹the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; ²⁰the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one; ²¹the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one; ²²the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one; ²³the king of Dor in the height of Dor, one; the king of Goiim in Gilgal, one; ²⁴the king of Tirzah, one: all the kings thirty-one.

CHAPTER 13

¹Now Joshua was old and well stricken in years, and Jehovah said to him, Thou are old and well stricken in years, and there remains yet very much land to be possessed. ²This is the land that yet remains: all the regions of the Philistines, and all the Geshurites; ³from the Shihor, which is before Egypt, even to the border of Ekron northward, which is reckoned to the Canaanites; the five lords of the Philistines; the Gazites, and the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites; also the Avvim ⁴on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah that belongs to the Sidonians, to Aphek, to the border of the Amorites; ⁵and the land of the Gebalites, and all Lebanon, toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad under mount Hermon to the entrance of Hamath; ⁶all the inhabitants of the hill-country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, even all the Sidonians. I will drive them out from before the sons of Israel, only allot thou it to Israel for an inheritance as I have commanded thee. ⁷Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. ⁸With him the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them: ⁹from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain of Medeba to Dibon; ¹⁰and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, to the border of the sons of Ammon; ¹¹and Gilead, and the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites, and all mount Hermon, and all Bashan to Salecah; ¹²all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei (the same was left of the remnant of the Rephaim), for these Moses smote, and drove them out. ¹³Nevertheless the sons of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites, nor the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day. ¹⁴Only to the tribe of Levi he gave no inheritance. The offerings of Jehovah, the God of Israel, made by fire are his inheritance as he spoke to him. ¹⁵And Moses gave to the tribe of the sons of Reuben according to their families. ¹⁶And their border was from Aroer, that is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and the city that is in the middle of the valley, and all the plain by Medeba; ¹⁷Heshbon, and all its cities that are in the plain; Dibon, and Bamoth-baal, and Beth-baal-meon, ¹⁸and Jahaz, and Kedemoth, and Mephaath, ¹⁹and Kiriathaim, and Sibmah, and Zereth-shahar in the mount of the valley, ²⁰and Beth-peor, and the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth, ²¹and all the cities of the plain, and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses smote with the chiefs of Midian, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the rulers of Sihon who dwelt in the land. ²²The sons of Israel also killed Balaam the son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword among the rest of their slain. ²³And the border of the sons of Reuben was the Jordan, and the border of it. This was the inheritance of the sons of Reuben according to their families, the cities and the villages of it. ²⁴And Moses gave to the tribe of Gad, to the sons of Gad, according to their families. ²⁵And their border was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the sons of Ammon, to Aroer that is before Rabbah, ²⁶and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh, and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Debir, ²⁷and in the valley, Beth-haram, and Beth-nimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, the Jordan and the border of it, to the outermost part of the sea of Chinnereth beyond the Jordan eastward. ²⁸This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families, the cities and the villages of it. ²⁹And Moses gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, and it was for the half-tribe of the sons of Manasseh according to their families. ³⁰And their border was from Mahanaim, all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the towns of Jair, which are in Bashan, sixty cities. ³¹And half Gilead, and Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were for the sons of Machir the son of Manasseh, even for the half of the sons of Machir according to their families. ³²These are the inheritances which Moses distributed in the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan at Jericho, eastward. ³³But to the tribe of Levi Moses gave no inheritance. Jehovah, the God of Israel, is their inheritance, as he spoke to them.

CHAPTER 14

¹And these are the inheritances which the sons of Israel took in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel, distributed to them, ²by the lot of their inheritance, as Jehovah commanded by Moses, for the nine tribes, and for the half-tribe. ³For Moses had given the inheritance of the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan, but to the Levites he gave no inheritance among them. ⁴For the sons of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And they gave no portion to the Levites in the land except cities to dwell in with the suburbs of it for their cattle and for their substance. ⁵As Jehovah commanded Moses, so the sons of Israel did, and they divided the land. ⁶Then the sons of Judah drew near to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, Thou know the thing that Jehovah spoke to Moses the man of God concerning me and concerning thee in Kadesh-barnea. ⁷I was forty years old when Moses the servant of Jehovah sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. ⁸Nevertheless my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed Jehovah my God. ⁹And Moses swore on that day, saying, Surely the land in which thy foot has trodden shall be an inheritance to thee and to thy sons forever because thou have wholly followed Jehovah my God. ¹⁰And now, behold, Jehovah has kept me alive, as he spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that Jehovah spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, lo, I am this day eighty-five years old. ¹¹As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me. As my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, and to go out and to come in. ¹²Now therefore give me this hill-country of which Jehovah spoke in that day. For thou heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and cities great and fortified. It may be that Jehovah will be with me, and I shall drive them out, as Jehovah spoke. ¹³And Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. ¹⁴Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day because he wholly followed Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹⁵Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land had rest from war.

CHAPTER 15

¹And the lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families was to the border of Edom, even to the wilderness of Zin southward, at the outermost part of the south. ²And their south border was from the outermost part of the Salt Sea, from the bay that looks southward. ³And it went out southward of the ascent of Akrabbim, and passed along to Zin, and went up by the south of Kadesh-barnea, and passed along by Hezron, and went up to Addar, and turned about to Karka, ⁴and it passed along to Azmon, and went out at the brook of Egypt. And the goings out of the border were at the sea. This shall be your south border. ⁵And the east border was the Salt Sea, even to the end of the Jordan. And the border of the north quarter was from the bay of the sea at the end of the Jordan, ⁶and the border went up to Beth-hoglah, and passed along by the north of Beth-arabah, and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, ⁷and the border went up to Debir from the valley of Achor, and so northward, looking toward Gilgal, that is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south side of the river, and the border passed along to the waters of En-shemesh. And the goings out of it were at En-rogel, ⁸and the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnom to the side of the Jebusite southward (the same is Jerusalem), and the border went up to the top of the mountain that lies before the valley of Hinnom westward, which is at the outermost part of the vale of Rephaim northward, ⁹and the border extended from the top of the mountain to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, and went out to the cities of mount Ephron, and the border extended to Baalah (the same is Kiriath-jearim), ¹⁰and the border turned about from Baalah westward to mount Seir, and passed along to the side of mount Jearim on the north (the same is Chesalon), and went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed along by Timnah, ¹¹and the border went out to the side of Ekron northward, and the border extended to Shikkeron, and passed along to mount Baalah, and went out at Jabneel. And the goings out of the border were at the sea. ¹²And the west border was to the great sea, and the border of it. This is the border of the sons of Judah round about according to their families. ¹³And to Caleb the son of Jephunneh he gave a portion among the sons of Judah, according to the commandment of Jehovah to Joshua, even Kiriath-arba. Arba was the father of Anak (the same is Hebron). ¹⁴And Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai, the sons of Anak. ¹⁵And he went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir. Now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. ¹⁶And Caleb said, He who smites Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, to him I will give Achsah my daughter to wife. ¹⁷And Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. ¹⁸And it came to pass, when she came, that she moved him to ask of her father a field. And she alighted from off her donkey, and Caleb said, What would thou? ¹⁹And she said, Give me a blessing, because thou have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. ²⁰This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families. ²¹And the outermost cities of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the South were thus: Kabzeel, and Eder, and Jagur, ²²and Kinah, and Dimonah, and Adadah, ²³and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph, and Telem, and Bealoth, ²⁵and Hazor-hadattah, and Kerioth-hezron (the same is Hazor), ²⁶Amam, and Shema, and Moladah, ²⁷and Hazar-gaddah, and Heshmon, and Beth-pelet, ²⁸and Hazar-shual, and Beersheba, and Biziothiah, ²⁹Baalah, and Iim, and Ezem, ³⁰and Eltolad, and Chesil, and Hormah, ³¹and Ziklag, and Madmannah, and Sansannah, ³²and Lebaoth, and Shilhim, and Ain, and Rimmon. All the cities are twenty-nine, with their villages. ³³In the lowland, Eshtaol, and Zorah, and Ashnah, ³⁴and Zanoah, and En-gannim, Tappuah, and Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth, and Adullam, Socoh, and Azekah, ³⁶and Shaaraim, and Adithaim, and Gederah, and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages. ³⁷Zenan, and Hadashah, and Migdal-gad, ³⁸and Dilean, and Mizpeh, and Joktheel, ³⁹Lachish, and Bozkath, and Eglon, ⁴⁰and Cabbon, and Lahmam, and Chitlish, ⁴¹and Gederoth, Beth-dagon, and Naamah, and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages. ⁴²Libnah, and Ether, and Ashan, ⁴³and Iphtah, and Ashnah, and Nezib, ⁴⁴and Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages. ⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and its villages, ⁴⁶from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the side of Ashdod, with their villages. ⁴⁷Ashdod, its towns and its villages, Gaza, its towns and its villages, to the brook of Egypt, and the great sea, and the border of it. ⁴⁸And in the hill-country, Shamir, and Jattir, and Socoh, ⁴⁹and Dannah, and Kiriath-sannah (the same is Debir), ⁵⁰and Anab, and Eshtemoh, and Anim, ⁵¹and Goshen, and Holon, and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages. ⁵²Arab, and Dumah, and Eshan, ⁵³and Janim, and Beth-tappuah, and Aphekah, ⁵⁴and Humtah, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), and Zior; nine cities with their villages. ⁵⁵Maon, Carmel, and Ziph, and Jutah, ⁵⁶and Jezreel, and Jokdeam, and Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah; ten cities with their villages. ⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur, and Gedor, ⁵⁹and Maarath, and Beth-anoth, and Eltekon; six cities with their villages. ⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (the same is Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah; two cities with their villages. ⁶¹In the wilderness, Beth-arabah, Middin, and Secacah, ⁶²and Nibshan, and the City of Salt, and En-gedi; six cities with their villages. ⁶³And as for the Jebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not drive them out, but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem to this day.

CHAPTER 16

¹And the lot came out for the sons of Joseph from the Jordan at Jericho, at the waters of Jericho on the east, even the wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill-country to Bethel. ²And it went out from Bethel to Luz, and passed along to the border of the Archites to Ataroth, ³and it went down westward to the border of the Japhletites, to the border of Beth-horon the nether, even to Gezer. And the goings out of it were at the sea. ⁴And the sons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance. ⁵And the border of the sons of Ephraim according to their families was thus: the border of their inheritance eastward was Ataroth-addar, to Beth-horon the upper, ⁶and the border went out westward at Michmethath on the north, and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh, and passed along it on the east of Janoah, ⁷and it went down from Janoah to Ataroth, and to Naarah, and reached to Jericho, and went out at the Jordan. ⁸From Tappuah the border went along westward to the brook of Kanah. And the goings out of it were at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families, ⁹together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. ¹⁰And they did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwell in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and have become servants to do task work.

CHAPTER 17

¹And this was the lot for the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. As for Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, because he was a man of war, therefore he had Gilead and Bashan. ²So it was for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer, and for the sons of Helek, and for the sons of Asriel, and for the sons of Shechem, and for the sons of Hepher, and for the sons of Shemida. These were the male children of Manasseh the son of Joseph according to their families. ³But Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, but daughters. And these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ⁴And they came near before Eleazar the priest, and before Joshua the son of Nun, and before the rulers, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers. Therefore according to the commandment of Jehovah he gave them an inheritance among the brothers of their father. ⁵And there fell ten parts to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, ⁶because the daughters of Manasseh had an inheritance among his sons. And the land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh. ⁷And the border of Manasseh was from Asher to Michmethath, which is before Shechem. And the border went along to the right hand, to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. ⁸The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. ⁹And the border went down to the brook of Kanah, southward of the brook. These cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh. And the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the brook. And the goings out of it were at the sea. ¹⁰Southward it was Ephraim�s, and northward it was Manasseh�s, and the sea was his border, and they reached to Asher on the north, and to Issachar on the east. ¹¹And Manasseh had in Issachar and in Asher, Beth-shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Endor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, even the three heights. ¹²Yet the sons of Manasseh could not drive out those cities, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. ¹³And it came to pass, when the sons of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to task work, and did not utterly drive them out. ¹⁴And the sons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, Why have thou given me but one lot and one part for an inheritance, seeing I am a great people, inasmuch as until now Jehovah has blessed me? ¹⁵And Joshua said to them, If thou be a great people, get thee up to the forest, and cut down for thyself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill-country of Ephraim is too narrow for thee. ¹⁶And the sons of Joseph said, The hill-country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns, and those who are in the valley of Jezreel. ¹⁷And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou are a great people, and have great power. Thou shall not have only one lot, ¹⁸but the hill-country shall be thine, for though it is a forest, thou shall cut it down, and the goings out of it shall be thine. For thou shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.

CHAPTER 18

¹And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the tent of meeting there, and the land was subdued before them. ²And seven tribes remained among the sons of Israel, which had not yet divided their inheritance. ³And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, How long are ye slack to go in to possess the land, which Jehovah, the God of your fathers, has given you? ⁴Appoint for you three men of each tribe. And I will send them, and they shall arise, and walk through the land, and describe it according to their inheritance, and they shall come to me. ⁵And they shall divide it into seven portions: Judah shall abide in his border on the south, and the house of Joseph shall abide in their border on the north. ⁶And ye shall describe the land into seven portions, and bring it here to me. And I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah our God. ⁷For the Levites have no portion among you, for the priesthood of Jehovah is their inheritance, and Gad and Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan eastward, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave them. ⁸And the men arose, and went. And Joshua charged those who went to describe the land, saying, Go and walk through the land, and describe it, and come again to me. And I will cast lots for you here before Jehovah in Shiloh. ⁹And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities into seven portions in a book. And they came to Joshua to the camp at Shiloh. ¹⁰And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before Jehovah. And there Joshua divided the land to the sons of Israel according to their divisions. ¹¹And the lot of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin came up according to their families, and the border of their lot went out between the sons of Judah and the sons of Joseph. ¹²And their border on the north quarter was from the Jordan, and the border went up to the side of Jericho on the north, and went up through the hill-country westward. And the goings out of it were at the wilderness of Beth-aven. ¹³And the border passed along from there to Luz, to the side of Luz (the same is Bethel), southward, and the border went down to Ataroth-addar, by the mountain that lies on the south of Beth-horon the nether. ¹⁴And the border extended, and turned around on the west quarter southward, from the mountain that lies before Beth-horon southward. And the goings out of it were at Kiriath-baal (the same is Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah. This was the west quarter. ¹⁵And the south quarter was from the uttermost part of Kiriath-jearim, and the border went out westward, and went out to the fountain of the waters of Nephtoah, ¹⁶and the border went down to the uttermost part of the mountain that lies before the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is in the vale of Rephaim northward, and it went down to the valley of Hinnom, to the side of the Jebusite southward, and went down to En-rogel, ¹⁷and it extended northward, and went out at En-shemesh, and went out to Geliloth, which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, and it went down to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben, ¹⁸and it passed along to the side opposite the Arabah northward, and went down to the Arabah, ¹⁹and the border passed along to the side of Beth-hoglah northward. And the goings out of the border were at the north bay of the Salt Sea, at the south end of the Jordan. This was the south border. ²⁰And the Jordan was the border of it on the east quarter. This was the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin, by the borders of it round about, according to their families. ²¹Now the cities of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin according to their families were: Jericho, and Beth-hoglah, and Emek-keziz, ²²and Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Bethel, ²³and Avvim, and Parah, and Ophrah, ²⁴and Chephar-ammoni, and Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities with their villages. ²⁵Gibeon, and Ramah, and Beeroth, ²⁶and Mizpeh, and Chephirah, and Mozah, ²⁷and Rekem, and Irpeel, and Taralah, ²⁸and Zelah, Eleph, and the Jebusite (the same is Jerusalem), Gibeath, and Kiriath; fourteen cities with their villages. This is the inheritance of the sons of Benjamin according to their families.

CHAPTER 19

¹And the second lot came out for Simeon, even for the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families. And their inheritance was in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah. ²And they had for their inheritance Beersheba, or Sheba, and Moladah, ³and Hazar-shual, and Balah, and Ezem, ⁴and Eltolad, and Bethul, and Hormah, ⁵and Ziklag, and Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susah, ⁶and Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen; thirteen cities with their villages. ⁷Ain, Rimmon, and Ether, and Ashan; four cities with their villages; ⁸and all the villages that were round about these cities to Baalath-beer, Ramah of the South. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Simeon according to their families. ⁹The inheritance of the sons of Simeon was out of the part of the sons of Judah, for the portion of the sons of Judah was too much for them. Therefore the sons of Simeon had inheritance in the midst of their inheritance. ¹⁰And the third lot came up for the sons of Zebulun according to their families. And the border of their inheritance was to Sarid, ¹¹and their border went up westward, even to Maralah, and reached to Dabbesheth, and it reached to the brook that is before Jokneam, ¹²and it turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrising to the border of Chisloth-tabor, and it went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia. ¹³And from there it passed along eastward to Gath-hepher, to Eth-kazin, and it went out at Rimmon which stretches to Neah, ¹⁴and the border turned about it on the north to Hannathon. And the goings out of it were at the valley of Iph-tah-el, ¹⁵and Kattath, and Nahalal, and Shimron, and Idalah, and Bethlehem; twelve cities with their villages. ¹⁶This is the inheritance of the sons of Zebulun according to their families, these cities with their villages. ¹⁷The fourth lot came out for Issachar, even for the sons of Issachar according to their families. ¹⁸And their border was to Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem, ¹⁹and Hapharaim, and Shion, and Anaharath, ²⁰and Rabbith, and Kishion, and Ebez, ²¹and Remeth, and Engannim, and En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez, ²²and the border reached to Tabor, and Shahazumah, and Beth-shemesh. And the goings out of their border were at the Jordan; sixteen cities with their villages. ²³This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Issachar according to their families, the cities with their villages. ²⁴And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families. ²⁵And their border was Helkath, and Hali, and Beten, and Achshaph, ²⁶and Allammelech, and Amad, and Mishal, and it reached to Carmel westward, and to Shihor-libnath, ²⁷and it turned toward the sunrising to Beth-dagon, and reached to Zebulun, and to the valley of Iph-tah-el northward to Beth-emek and Neiel, and it went out to Cabul on the left hand, ²⁸and Ebron, and Rehob, and Hammon, and Kanah, even to great Sidon, ²⁹and the border turned to Ramah, and to the fortified city of Tyre, and the border turned to Hosah. And the goings out of it were at the sea by the region of Achzib, ³⁰also Ummah, and Aphek, and Rehob; twenty-two cities with their villages. ³¹This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Asher according to their families, these cities with their villages. ³²The sixth lot came out for the sons of Naphtali, even for the sons of Naphtali according to their families. ³³And their border was from Heleph, from the oak in Zaanannim, and Adam-inekeb, and Jabneel, to Lakkum. And the goings out of it were at the Jordan. ³⁴And the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor, and went out from there to Hukkok, and it reached to Zebulun on the south, and reached to Asher on the west, and to Judah at the Jordan toward the sunrising. ³⁵And the fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, and Hammath, Rakkath, and Chinnereth, ³⁶and Adamah, and Ramah, and Hazor, ³⁷and Kedesh, and Edrei, and En-hazor, ³⁸and Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. ³⁹This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Naphtali according to their families, the cities with their villages. ⁴⁰The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families. ⁴¹And the border of their inheritance was Zorah, and Eshtaol, and Ir-shemesh, ⁴²and Shaalabbin, and Aijalon, and Ithlah, ⁴³and Elon, and Timnah, and Ekron, ⁴⁴and Eltekeh, and Gibbethon, and Baalath, ⁴⁵and Jehud, and Bene-berak, and Gath-rimmon, ⁴⁶and Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the border opposite Joppa. ⁴⁷And the border of the sons of Dan went out beyond them, for the sons of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt in it, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father. ⁴⁸This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Dan according to their families, these cities with their villages. ⁴⁹So they made an end of distributing the land for inheritance by the borders of it. And the sons of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun in the midst of them. ⁵⁰According to the commandment of Jehovah they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnath-serah in the hill-country of Ephraim. And he built the city, and dwelt in it. ⁵¹These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel, distributed for inheritance by lot in Shiloh before Jehovah, at the door of the tent of meeting. So they made an end of dividing the land.

CHAPTER 20

¹And Jehovah spoke to Joshua, saying, ²Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, Assign for you the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you by Moses, ³that the manslayer who kills any soul unwittingly and unawares may flee there. And they shall be to you for a refuge from the avenger of blood. ⁴And he shall flee to one of those cities, and shall stand at the entrance of the gate of the city, and declare his case in the ears of the elders of that city. And they shall take him into the city to them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. ⁵And if the avenger of blood pursues after him, then they shall not deliver up the manslayer into his hand, because he smote his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him formerly. ⁶And he shall dwell in that city, until he stands before the congregation for judgment, until the death of the high priest who shall be in those days. Then the manslayer shall return, and come to his own city, and to his own house, to the city from where he fled. ⁷And they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill-country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron) in the hill-country of Judah. ⁸And beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness in the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. ⁹These were the appointed cities for all the sons of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them, that whoever kills any soul unwittingly might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he stood before the congregation.

CHAPTER 21

¹Then the heads of fathers of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers of the tribes of the sons of Israel. ²And they spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, Jehovah commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs of it for our cattle. ³And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the commandment of Jehovah, these cities with their suburbs: ⁴And the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And the sons of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had by lot out of the tribe of Judah, and out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin, thirteen cities. ⁵And the rest of the sons of Kohath had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. ⁶And the sons of Gershon had by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. ⁷The sons of Merari according to their families had out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. ⁸And the sons of Israel gave these cities by lot to the Levites with their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded by Moses. ⁹And they gave out of the tribe of the sons of Judah, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name, ¹⁰and they were for the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the sons of Levi, for theirs was the first lot. ¹¹And they gave them Kiriath-arba, Arba was the father of Anak (the same is Hebron), in the hill-country of Judah, with the suburbs of it round about it. ¹²But the fields of the city, and the villages of it, gave they to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession. ¹³And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Libnah with its suburbs, ¹⁴and Jattir with its suburbs, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, ¹⁵and Holon with its suburbs, and Debir with its suburbs, ¹⁶and Ain with its suburbs, and Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. ¹⁷And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba with its suburbs, ¹⁸Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four cities. ¹⁹All the cities of the sons of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their suburbs. ²⁰And the families of the sons of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the sons of Kohath, they had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹And they gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill-country of Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its suburbs, ²²and Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs; four cities. ²³And out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon with its suburbs, ²⁴Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; four cities. ²⁵And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs; two cities. ²⁶All the cities of the families of the rest of the sons of Kohath were ten with their suburbs. ²⁷And to the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be-eshterah with its suburbs; two cities. ²⁸And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, ²⁹Jarmuth with its suburbs, En-gannim with its suburbs; four cities. ³⁰And out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with its suburbs, ³¹Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four cities. ³²And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Hammoth-dor with its suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities. ³³All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their suburbs. ³⁴And to the families of the sons of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs, and Kartah with its suburbs, ³⁵Dimnah with its suburbs, Nahalal with its suburbs; four cities. ³⁶And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, and Jahaz with its suburbs, ³⁷Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four cities. ³⁸And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, ³⁹Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities in all. ⁴⁰All these were the cities of the sons of Merari according to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites; and their lot was twelve cities. ⁴¹All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession of the sons of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs. ⁴²These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them. Thus it was with all these cities. ⁴³So Jehovah gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers, and they possessed it, and dwelt in it. ⁴⁴And Jehovah gave them rest round about, according to all that he swore to their fathers. And there stood not a man of all their enemies before them. Jehovah delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵There failed not anything of any good thing which Jehovah had spoken to the house of Israel; all came to pass.

CHAPTER 22

¹Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ²and said to them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, and have hearkened to my voice in all that I commanded you. ³Ye have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Jehovah your God. ⁴And now Jehovah your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now turn ye, and get you to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you beyond the Jordan. ⁵Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cling to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁶So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away, and they went to their tents. ⁷Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given in Bashan, but to the other half Joshua gave among their brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, ⁸and spoke to them, saying, Return with much wealth to your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers. ⁹And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the sons of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, of which they were possessed, according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses. ¹⁰And when they came to the region about the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, a great altar to look upon. ¹¹And the sons of Israel heard say, Behold, the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that pertains to the sons of Israel. ¹²And when the sons of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the sons of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up against them to war. ¹³And the sons of Israel sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, ¹⁴and with him ten rulers, one ruler of a fathers� house for each of the tribes of Israel. And they were each man of them head of their fathers� houses among the thousands of Israel. ¹⁵And they came to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and they spoke with them, saying, ¹⁶Thus says the whole congregation of Jehovah, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following Jehovah, in that ye have built for you an altar, to rebel this day against Jehovah? ¹⁷Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague upon the congregation of Jehovah, ¹⁸that ye must turn away this day from following Jehovah? And it will be, seeing ye rebel today against Jehovah, that tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass ye over to the land of the possession of Jehovah, in which Jehovah�s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us, but do not rebel against Jehovah, nor rebel against us, in building for you an altar besides the altar of Jehovah our God. ²⁰Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in what was set apart, and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And that man did not perish alone in his iniquity. ²¹Then the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the thousands of Israel, ²²The Mighty One, God, Jehovah, the Mighty One, God, Jehovah, he knows, and Israel he shall know, if it is in rebellion, or if in trespass against Jehovah (do not save us this day), ²³that we have built us an altar to turn away from following Jehovah, or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering on it, or if to offer sacrifices of peace offerings on it, let Jehovah himself require it, ²⁴and if we have not rather out of carefulness done this, from purpose, saying, In time to come your sons might speak to our sons, saying, What have ye to do with Jehovah, the God of Israel? ²⁵For Jehovah has made the Jordan a border between us and you, ye sons of Reuben and sons of Gad. Ye have no portion in Jehovah. So your sons might make our sons cease from fearing Jehovah. ²⁶Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, ²⁷but it shall be a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we may do the service of Jehovah before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings, that your sons may not say to our sons in time to come, Ye have no portion in Jehovah. ²⁸Therefore we said, It shall be, when they so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we shall say, Behold the pattern of the altar of Jehovah, which our fathers made, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, but it is a witness between us and you. ²⁹Far be it from us that we should rebel against Jehovah, and turn away this day from following Jehovah, to build an altar for burnt offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of Jehovah our God that is before his tabernacle. ³⁰And when Phinehas the priest, and the rulers of the congregation, even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard the words that the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the sons of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well. ³¹And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the sons of Reuben, and to the sons of Gad, and to the sons of Manasseh, This day we know that Jehovah is in the midst of us, because ye have not committed this trespass against Jehovah. Now ye have delivered the sons of Israel out of the hand of Jehovah. ³²And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the rulers, returned from the sons of Reuben, and from the sons of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the sons of Israel, and brought them word again. ³³And the thing pleased the sons of Israel. And the sons of Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to war, to destroy the land in which the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad dwelt. ³⁴And the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad called the altar Witness. For, they said, it is a witness between us that Jehovah is God.

CHAPTER 23

¹And it came to pass after many days, when Jehovah had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, and Joshua was old and well stricken in years, ²that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them, I am old and well stricken in years, ³and ye have seen all that Jehovah your God has done to all these nations because of you, for Jehovah your God, he it is who has fought for you. ⁴Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of the sun. ⁵And Jehovah your God, he will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from out of your sight. And ye shall possess their land, as Jehovah your God spoke to you. ⁶Therefore be ye very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye not turn aside therefrom to the right hand or to the left; ⁷that ye do not come among these nations, these that remain among you, neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves down to them, ⁸but cling to Jehovah your God as ye have done to this day. ⁹For Jehovah has driven out from before you great nations and strong. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day. ¹⁰One man of you shall chase a thousand, for Jehovah your God, he it is who fights for you, as he spoke to you. ¹¹Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that ye love Jehovah your God. ¹²Else if ye do at all go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and make marriages with them, and go in to them, and they to you, ¹³know for a certainty that Jehovah your God will no more drive these nations from out of your sight, but they shall be a snare and a trap to you, and a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which Jehovah your God has given you. ¹⁴And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which Jehovah your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass to you; not one thing has failed of it. ¹⁵And it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you of which Jehovah your God spoke to you, so will Jehovah bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land which Jehovah your God has given you. ¹⁶When ye transgress the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves to them, then the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to you.

CHAPTER 24

¹And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. ²And Joshua said to all the people, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Your fathers dwelt of old time beyond the River, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor, and they served other gods. ³And I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. ⁴And I gave to Isaac, Jacob and Esau. And I gave to Esau mount Seir to possess it. And Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. ⁵And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out. ⁶And I brought your fathers out of Egypt. And ye came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷And when they cried out to Jehovah, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt, and ye dwelt in the wilderness many days. ⁸And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt beyond the Jordan. And they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand, and ye possessed their land, and I destroyed them from before you. ⁹Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, ¹⁰but I would not hearken to Balaam. Therefore he blessed you greatly. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹And ye went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. And I delivered them into your hand. ¹²And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites, not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. ¹³And I gave you a land in which thou had not labored, and cities which ye did not build, and ye dwell in it. Ye eat of vineyards and oliveyards which ye did not plant. ¹⁴Now therefore fear Jehovah, and serve him in sincerity and in truth. And put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Jehovah. ¹⁵And if it seems evil to you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah. ¹⁶And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods. ¹⁷For Jehovah our God, he it is who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed. ¹⁸And Jehovah drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve Jehovah, for he is our God. ¹⁹And Joshua said to the people, Ye cannot serve Jehovah, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgression nor your sins. ²⁰If ye forsake Jehovah, and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good. ²¹And the people said to Joshua, No, but we will serve Jehovah. ²²And Joshua said to the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen for you, Jehovah, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. ²³Now therefore, he said, put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Jehovah, the God of Israel. ²⁴And the people said to Joshua, we will serve Jehovah our God, and we will hearken to his voice. ²⁵So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ²⁶And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. And he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Jehovah. ²⁷And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of Jehovah which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest ye deny your God. ²⁸So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance. ²⁹And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, being a hundred and ten years old. ³⁰And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathserah, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. ³¹And Israel served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of Jehovah that he had wrought for Israel. ³²And they buried the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up out of Egypt, in Sicima, in the portion of the land which Jacob bought from the Amorites who dwelt in Sicima for a hundred ewe-lambs. And he gave it to Joseph for a portion. ³³And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. And they buried him in the hill of Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill-country of Ephraim.

JUDGES

CHAPTER 1

¹And it came to pass after the death of Joshua, that the sons of Israel asked of Jehovah, saying, Who shall go up for us first against the Canaanites, to fight against them? ²And Jehovah said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have delivered the land into his hand. ³And Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him. ⁴And Judah went up, and Jehovah delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they smote of them in Bezek ten thousand men. ⁵And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ⁶But Adoni-bezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. ⁷And Adoni-bezek said, Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there. ⁸And the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. ⁹And afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the hill-country, and in the South, and in the lowland. ¹⁰And Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they smote Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai. ¹¹And from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir. (Now the name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher.) ¹²And Caleb said, He who smites Kiriath-sepher, and takes it, I will give to him Achsah my daughter to wife. ¹³And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb�s younger brother, took it, and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. ¹⁴And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field. And she alighted from off her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What would thou? ¹⁵And she said to him, Give me a blessing, since thou have set me in the land of the South, give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. ¹⁶And the sons of the Kenite, Moses� brother-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the sons of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad, and they went and dwelt with the people. ¹⁷And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they smote the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. ¹⁸Also Judah took Gaza with the border of it, and Ashkelon with the border of it, and Ekron with the border of it. ¹⁹And Jehovah was with Judah, and drove out those of the hill-country. But they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had chariots of iron. ²⁰And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had spoken, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there. ²¹And the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. ²²And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel, and Jehovah was with them. ²³And the house of Joseph sent to spy out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.) ²⁴And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said to him, Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with thee. ²⁵And he showed them the entrance into the city. And they smote the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man go and all his family. ²⁶And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name of it Luz, which is the name of it to this day. ²⁷And Manasseh did not drive out those of Beth-shean and its towns, nor of Taanach and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. ²⁸And it came to pass, when Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to task work, and did not utterly drive them out. ²⁹And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer, but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them. ³⁰Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol, but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became subject to task work. ³¹Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, nor the inhabitants of Sidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob, ³²but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. ³³Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to task work. ³⁴And the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill-country, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley, ³⁵but the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. Yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became subject to task work. ³⁶And the border of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

CHAPTER 2

¹And the agent of Jehovah came up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, I made you go up out of Egypt, and have brought you to the land which I swore to your fathers. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you. ²And ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. Ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened to my voice. Why have ye done this? ³Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you, but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you. ⁴And it came to pass, when the agent of Jehovah spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept. ⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there to Jehovah. ⁶Now when Joshua had sent the people away, the sons of Israel went every man to his inheritance to possess the land. ⁷And the people served Jehovah all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work of Jehovah that he had wrought for Israel. ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Jehovah, died, being a hundred and ten years old. ⁹And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰And also all that generation were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them that did not know Jehovah, nor yet the work which he had wrought for Israel. ¹¹And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim. ¹²And they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the peoples that were round about them, and bowed themselves down to them. And they provoked Jehovah to anger. ¹³And they forsook Jehovah, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that despoiled them. And he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. ¹⁵Wherever they went out, the hand of Jehovah was against them for evil, as Jehovah had spoken, and as Jehovah had sworn to them. And they were exceedingly distressed. ¹⁶And Jehovah raised up Judges who saved them out of the hand of those who despoiled them. ¹⁷And yet they did not hearken to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods, and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked, obeying the commandments of Jehovah. They did not do so. ¹⁸And when Jehovah raised up judges for them, then Jehovah was with the judge, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For Jehovah regretted because of their groaning because of those who oppressed them and vexed them. ¹⁹But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down to them. They did not cease from their doings, nor from their stubborn way. ²⁰And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he said, Because this nation has transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has not hearkened to my voice, ²¹I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²²that by them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of Jehovah to walk in it, as their fathers kept it, or not. ²³So Jehovah left those nations, without driving them out quickly. Neither did he deliver them into the hand of Joshua.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now these are the nations which Jehovah left to prove Israel by them, (even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan, ²only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, to teach them war, at least to such as formerly knew nothing of that): ³namely, the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath. ⁴And they were left, to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken to the commandments of Jehovah, which he commanded their fathers by Moses. ⁵And the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶And they took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. ⁷And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and forgot Jehovah their God, and served the Baalim and the Asheroth. ⁸Therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia, And the sons of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹And when the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, Jehovah raised up a savior to the sons of Israel, who saved them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb�s younger brother. ¹⁰And the Spirit of Jehovah came upon him, and he judged Israel. And he went out to war, and Jehovah delivered Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand, and his hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹And the land had rest forty years. And Othniel the son of Kenaz died. ¹²And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. And Jehovah strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel because they had done that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. ¹³And he gathered to him the sons of Ammon and Amalek, and he went and smote Israel, and they possessed the city of palm trees. ¹⁴And the sons of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵But when the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, Jehovah raised up for them a savior, Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite, a left-handed man. And the sons of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made for himself a sword which had two edges, a cubit in length. And he girded it under his raiment upon his right thigh. ¹⁷And he offered the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And when he had made an end of offering the tribute, he sent away the men who bore the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back from the quarries that were by Gilgal, and said, I have a secret errand to thee, O king. And he said, Keep silence. And all who stood by him went out from him. ²⁰And Ehud came to him. And he was sitting by himself alone in the cool upper room. And Ehud said, I have a message from God to thee. And he arose out of his seat. ²¹And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his body. ²²And the handle also went in after the blade, and the fat closed upon the blade, for he did not draw the sword out of his body, and it came out behind. ²³Then Ehud went forth into the porch, and shut the doors of the upper room upon him, and locked them. ²⁴Now when he was gone out, his servants came, and they saw, and, behold, the doors of the upper room were locked. And they said, Surely he is covering his feet in the upper chamber. ²⁵And they delayed till they were ashamed, and, behold, he did not open the doors of the upper room. Therefore they took the key, and opened, and, behold, their lord was fallen down dead on the earth. ²⁶And Ehud escaped while they delayed, and passed beyond the quarries, and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷And it came to pass, when he came, that he blew a trumpet in the hill-country of Ephraim. And the sons of Israel went down with him from the hill-country, and he before them. ²⁸And he said to them, Follow after me, for Jehovah has delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand. And they went down after him, and took the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites, and did not allow a man to pass over. ²⁹And they smote about ten thousand men of Moab at that time, every robust man, and every man of valor, and there escaped not a man. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest eighty years. ³¹And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who smote six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox-goad, and he also saved Israel.

CHAPTER 4

¹And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, when Ehud was dead. ²And Jehovah sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan who reigned in Hazor, the captain of whose army was Sisera who dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. ³And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he mightily oppressed the sons of Israel twenty years. ⁴Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, she judged Israel at that time. ⁵And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill-country of Ephraim, and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment. ⁶And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedesh-naphtali, and said to him, Has not Jehovah, the God of Israel, commanded, saying, Go and approach to mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun? ⁷And I will draw Sisera, the captain of Jabin�s army, to thee, to the river Kishon, with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into thy hand. ⁸And Barak said to her, If thou will go with me, then I will go, but if thou will not go with me, I will not go. ⁹And she said, I will surely go with thee. Notwithstanding, the journey that thou take shall not be for thine honor, for Jehovah will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh. ¹⁰And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali together to Kedesh. And there went up ten thousand men at his feet, and Deborah went up with him. ¹¹Now Heber the Kenite had separated himself from the Kenites, even from the sons of Hobab the brother-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far as the oak in Zaanannim, which is by Kedesh. ¹²And they told Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam was gone up to mount Tabor. ¹³And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles, to the river Kishon. ¹⁴And Deborah said to Barak, Up, for this is the day in which Jehovah has delivered Sisera into thy hand. Has not Jehovah gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. ¹⁵And Jehovah discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his army, with the edge of the sword before Barak. And Sisera alighted from his chariot, and fled away on his feet. ¹⁶But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the army, to Harosheth of the Gentiles. And all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword. There was not a man left. ¹⁷However Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And he turned in to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. ¹⁹And he said to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink, for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him. ²⁰And he said to her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man comes and inquires of thee, and says, Is there any man here? that thou shall say, No. ²¹Then Jael Heber�s wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him, and struck the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground, for he was in a deep sleep, so he fainted and died. ²²And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, Come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seek. And he came to her, and, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples. ²³So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the sons of Israel. ²⁴And the hand of the sons of Israel prevailed more and more against Jabin the king of Canaan until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

CHAPTER 5

¹Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, ²That the leaders took the lead in Israel, that the people offered themselves willingly, bless ye Jehovah. ³Hear, O ye kings. Give ear, O ye rulers. I, even I, will sing to Jehovah. I will sing praise to Jehovah, the God of Israel. ⁴Jehovah, when thou went forth out of Seir, when thou marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, yea, the clouds dropped water. ⁵The mountains quaked at the presence of Jehovah, even yon Sinai at the presence of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ⁶In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the highways were unoccupied, and the travelers walked through byways. ⁷The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, until that I, Deborah, arose, that I arose a mother in Israel. ⁸They chose new gods, then war was in the gates. Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? ⁹My heart is toward the governors of Israel, who offered themselves willingly among the people. Bless ye Jehovah. ¹⁰Tell, ye who ride on white donkeys, ye who sit on rich carpets, and ye who walk by the way. ¹¹Far from the noise of archers, in the places of drawing water, there they shall rehearse the righteous acts of Jehovah, the righteous acts of his rule in Israel. Then the people of Jehovah went down to the gates. ¹²Awake, awake, Deborah, awake, awake, utter a song. Arise, Barak, and lead away thy captives, thou son of Abinoam. ¹³Then a remnant of the nobles and the people came down. Jehovah came down for me against the mighty. ¹⁴Out of Ephraim, those whose root is in Amalek, after thee, Benjamin, among thy peoples, out of Machir, came down governors, and out of Zebulun those who handle the marshal�s staff. ¹⁵And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah, as was Issachar, so was Barak, into the valley they rushed forth at his feet. By the watercourses of Reuben there were great resolves of heart. ¹⁶Why did thou sit among the sheepfolds, to hear the pipings for the flocks? At the watercourses of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷Gilead abode beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he remain in ships? Asher sat still at the haven of the sea, and abode by his creeks. ¹⁸Zebulun was a people who jeopardized their lives to the death, and Naphtali, upon the high places of the field. ¹⁹The kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. They took no gain of money. ²⁰From heaven the stars fought; from their courses they fought against Sisera. ²¹The river Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength. ²²Then the horse hoofs stamped by reason of the prancings, the prancings of their strong ones. ²³Curse ye Meroz, said the agent of Jehovah. Curse ye bitterly the inhabitants of it, because they did not come to the help of Jehovah, to the help of Jehovah against the mighty. ²⁴Blessed above women shall Jael be, the wife of Heber the Kenite. Blessed shall she be above women in the tent. ²⁵He asked water. She gave him milk. She brought him butter in a lordly dish. ²⁶She put her hand to the tent-pin, and her right hand to the workmen�s hammer. And with the hammer she smote Sisera; she struck through his head. Yea, she pierced and struck through his temples. ²⁷At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay. At her feet he bowed, he fell. Where he bowed, there he fell down dead. ²⁸Through the window she looked forth, and cried�the mother of Sisera through the lattice�Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why do the wheels of his chariots delay? ²⁹Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, ³⁰Have they not found, have they not divided the spoil? A damsel, two damsels to every man, to Sisera a spoil of dyed garments, a spoil of dyed garments embroidered, of dyed garments embroidered on both sides, on the necks of the spoil? ³¹So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah, but let those who love him be as the sun when he goes forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

CHAPTER 6

¹And the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. ²And the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. And because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds. ³And so it was, when Israel had sown, that the Midianites came up, and the Amalekites, and the sons of the east, they came up against them. ⁴And they encamped against them, and destroyed the increase of the earth, till thou come to Gaza, and left no sustenance in Israel, neither sheep, nor ox, nor donkey. ⁵For they came up with their cattle and their tents. They came in as locusts for multitude. Both they and their camels were without number, and they came into the land to destroy it. ⁶And Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah. ⁷And it came to pass, when the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah because of Midian, ⁸that Jehovah sent a prophet to the sons of Israel. And he said to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage. ⁹And I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all that oppressed you, and drove them out from before you, and gave you their land. ¹⁰And I said to you, I am Jehovah your God. Ye shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell, but ye have not hearkened to my voice. ¹¹And the agent of Jehovah came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah that pertained to Joash the Abiezrite. And his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. ¹²And the agent of Jehovah appeared to him, and said to him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. ¹³And Gideon said to him, Oh, my lord, if Jehovah is with us, then why has all this befallen us? And where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not Jehovah bring us up from Egypt? But now Jehovah has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian. ¹⁴And Jehovah looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent thee? ¹⁵And he said to him, Oh, Lord, with what shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is the poorest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father�s house. ¹⁶And Jehovah said to him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shall smite the Midianites as one man. ¹⁷And he said to him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, then show me a sign that it is thou who talk with me. ¹⁸Depart not from here, I pray thee, until I come to thee, and bring forth my present, and lay it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. ¹⁹And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of meal. He put the flesh in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out to him under the oak, and presented it. ²⁰And the agent of God said to him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. ²¹Then the agent of Jehovah put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And there went up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. And the agent of Jehovah departed out of his sight. ²²And Gideon saw that he was the agent of Jehovah. And Gideon said, Alas, O lord Jehovah! Inasmuch as I have seen the agent of Jehovah face to face. ²³And Jehovah said to him, Peace be to thee. Fear not; thou shall not die. ²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to Jehovah, and called it Jehovah-shalom. To this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. ²⁵And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Take thy father�s bullock, even the second bullock seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father has, and cut down the Asherah that is by it. ²⁶And build an altar to Jehovah thy God upon the top of this stronghold, in the orderly manner, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which thou shall cut down. ²⁷Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as Jehovah had spoken to him. And it came to pass, because he feared his father�s household and the men of the city, so that he could not do it by day, that he did it by night. ²⁸And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. ²⁹And they said one to another, Who has done this thing? And when they inquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing. ³⁰Then the men of the city said to Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die, because he has broken down the altar of Baal, and because he has cut down the Asherah that was by it. ³¹And Joash said to all who stood against him, Will ye contend for Baal? Or will ye save him? He who will contend for him, let him be put to death while it is morning. If he be a god, let him contend for himself because he has broken down his altar. ³²Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal contend against him because he has broken down his altar. ³³Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves together. And they passed over, and encamped in the valley of Jezreel. ³⁴But the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet, and Abiezer was gathered together after him. ³⁵And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they also were gathered together after him. And he sent messengers to Asher, and to Zebulun, and to Naphtali, and they came up to meet them. ³⁶And Gideon said to God, If thou will save Israel by my hand, as thou have spoken, ³⁷behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing-floor. If there be dew on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the ground, then I shall know that thou will save Israel by my hand as thou have spoken. ³⁸And it was so, for he rose up early on the morrow, and pressed the fleece together, and wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. ³⁹And Gideon said to God, Let not thine anger be kindled against me, and I will speak but this once. Let me make trial, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece. Let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. ⁴⁰And God did so that night, for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the ground.

CHAPTER 7

¹Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people who were with him, rose up early, and encamped beside the spring of Harod. And the camp of Midian was on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. ²And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people who are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, My own hand has saved me. ³Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty-two thousand, and there remained ten thousand. ⁴And Jehovah said to Gideon, The people are yet too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be, that of whom I say to thee, This man shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee, and of whomever I say to thee, This man shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. ⁵So he brought down the people to the water. And Jehovah said to Gideon, Everyone who laps of the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, him thou shall set by himself. Likewise everyone who bows down upon his knees to drink. ⁶And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men, but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. ⁷And Jehovah said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand. And let all the people go every man to his place. ⁸So the people took provision in their hand, and their trumpets. And he sent all the men of Israel every man to his tent, but retained the three hundred men. And the camp of Midian was beneath him in the valley. ⁹And it came to pass the same night, that Jehovah said to him, Arise, get thee down into the camp, for I have delivered it into thy hand. ¹⁰But if thou fear to go down, go thou with Purah thy servant down to the camp. ¹¹And thou shall hear what they say, and afterward thy hands shall be strengthened to go down into the camp. Then he went down with Purah his servant to the outermost part of the armed men who were in the camp. ¹²And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east lay along in the valley like locusts for multitude, and their camels were without number, as the sand which is upon the sea-shore for multitude. ¹³And when Gideon came, behold, there was a man telling a dream to his fellow. And he said, Behold, I dreamed a dream. And, lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian, and came to the tent, and smote it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat. ¹⁴And his fellow answered and said, This is nothing else except the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel. Into his hand God has delivered Midian, and all the army. ¹⁵And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation of it, that he worshiped. And he returned into the camp of Israel, and said, Arise, for Jehovah has delivered the army of Midian into your hand. ¹⁶And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put trumpets into the hands of all of them, and empty pitchers, with torches inside the pitchers. ¹⁷And he said to them, Look on me, and do likewise, and, behold, when I come to the outermost part of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so ye shall do. ¹⁸When I blow the trumpet, I and all who are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, For Jehovah and for Gideon. ¹⁹So Gideon, and the hundred men who were with him, came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch when they had but newly set the watch. And they blew the trumpets, and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. ²⁰And the three companies blew the trumpets, and broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow. And they cried out, The sword of Jehovah and of Gideon. ²¹And they stood every man in his place round about the camp. And all the army ran, and they shouted, and put them to flight. ²²And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and Jehovah set every man�s sword against his fellow, and against all the army. And the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. ²³And the men of Israel were gathered together out of Naphtali, and out of Asher, and out of all Manasseh, and pursued after Midian. ²⁴And Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill-country of Ephraim, saying, Come down against Midian, and take before them the waters, as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. So all the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and took the waters as far as Beth-barah, even the Jordan. ²⁵And they took the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and Zeeb they killed at the winepress of Zeeb, and pursued Midian. And they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon beyond the Jordan.

CHAPTER 8

¹And the men of Ephraim said to him, Why have thou done thus to us, that thou did not call us when thou went to fight with Midian? And they chided with him sharply. ²And he said to them, What have I now done in comparison with you? Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? ³God has delivered into your hand the rulers of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and what was I able to do in comparison with you? Then their anger was abated toward him when he had said that. ⁴And Gideon came to the Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men who were with him, faint, yet pursuing. ⁵And he said to the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian. ⁶And the rulers of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand that we should give bread to thine army? ⁷And Gideon said, Therefore when Jehovah has delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers. ⁸And he went up from there to Penuel, and spoke to them in like manner, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹And he spoke also to the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower. ¹⁰Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their armies with them, about fifteen thousand men, all who were left of all the army of the sons of the east, for there fell a hundred and twenty thousand men who drew a sword. ¹¹And Gideon went up by the way of those who dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the army, for the army was confident. ¹²And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued after them. And he took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the army. ¹³And Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle from the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴And he caught a young man of the men of Succoth, and inquired of him. And he described for him the rulers of Succoth, and the elders of it, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵And he came to the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, concerning whom ye taunted me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thy hand, that we should give bread to thy men who are weary? ¹⁶And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth. ¹⁷And he broke down the tower of Penuel, and killed the men of the city. ¹⁸Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye killed at Tabor? And they answered, As thou are, so were they. Each one resembled the sons of a king. ¹⁹And he said, They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As Jehovah lives, if ye had saved them alive, I would not kill you. ²⁰And he said to Jether his firstborn, Up, and kill them. But the youth did not draw his sword, for he feared because he was yet a youth. ²¹Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength. And Gideon arose, and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescents that were on their camels� necks. ²²Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, Rule thou over us, both thou, and thy son, and thy son�s son also, for thou have saved us out of the hand of Midian. ²³And Gideon said to them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you. Jehovah shall rule over you. ²⁴And Gideon said to them, I would make a request of you, that ye would give me every man the earrings of his spoil. (For they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.) ²⁵And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and cast in it every man the earrings of his spoil. ²⁶And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, besides the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and besides the chains that were about their camels� necks. ²⁷And Gideon made an ephod of it, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah. And all Israel played the harlot after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon, and to his house. ²⁸So Midian was subdued before the sons of Israel, and they lifted up their heads no more. And the land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon. ²⁹And Jerubbaal the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house. ³⁰And Gideon had seventy sons begotten from his body, for he had many wives. ³¹And his concubine who was in Shechem, she also bore him a son, and he called his name Abimelech. ³²And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulcher of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. ³³And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the sons of Israel turned again, and played the harlot after the Baalim, and made Baal-berith their god. ³⁴And the sons of Israel did not remember Jehovah their God, who had delivered them out of the hand of all their enemies on every side, ³⁵neither did they show kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shown to Israel.

CHAPTER 9

¹And Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother�s brothers, and spoke with them, and with all the family of the house of his mother�s father, saying, ²Speak, I pray you, in the ears of all the men of Shechem, Which is better for you, that all the sons of Jerubbaal, who are seventy men, rule over you, or that one rule over you? Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh. ³And his mother�s brothers spoke of him in the ears of all the men of Shechem all these words. And their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, He is our brother. ⁴And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith, with which Abimelech hired vain and unstable fellows who followed him. ⁵And he went to his father�s house at Ophrah, and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy men, upon one stone, but Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶And all the men of Shechem assembled themselves together, and all the house of Millo, and went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar that was in Shechem. ⁷And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood on the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice, and cried out, and said to them, Hearken to me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken to you. ⁸The trees went forth a time to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, Reign thou over us. ⁹But the olive tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness with which by me they honor God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? ¹⁰And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. ¹¹But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? ¹²And the trees said to the vine, Come thou, and reign over us. ¹³And the vine said to them, Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and man, and go to wave to and fro over the trees? ¹⁴Then all the trees said to the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us. ¹⁵And the bramble said to the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, and if not, let fire come out of the bramble, and devour the cedars of Lebanon. ¹⁶Now therefore, if ye have dealt truly and uprightly, in that ye have made Abimelech king, and if ye have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house, and have done to him according to the deed of his hands ¹⁷(for my father fought for you, and ventured his life, and delivered you out of the hand of Midian, ¹⁸and ye have risen up against my father�s house this day, and have slain his sons, seventy men, upon one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his maid-servant, king over the men of Shechem because he is your brother), ¹⁹if ye then have dealt truly and uprightly with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice ye in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech, and devour the men of Shechem, and the house of Millo, and let fire come out from the men of Shechem, and from the house of Millo, and devour Abimelech. ²¹And Jotham ran away, and fled, and went to Beer, and dwelt there, for fear of Abimelech his brother. ²²And Abimelech was ruler over Israel three years. ²³And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the men of Shechem, and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, ²⁴that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and that their blood might be laid upon Abimelech their brother who killed them, and upon the men of Shechem who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. ²⁵And the men of Shechem set ambushes for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them, and it was told Abimelech. ²⁶And Gaal the son of Ebed came with his brothers, and went over to Shechem, and the men of Shechem put their trust in him. ²⁷And they went out into the field, and gathered their vineyards, and trod the grapes, and held festival, and went into the house of their god, and ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech. ²⁸And Gaal the son of Ebed said, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is not he the son of Jerubbaal, and Zebul his officer? Serve ye the men of Hamor the father of Shechem, but why should we serve him? ²⁹And would that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. And he said to Abimelech, Increase thine army, and come out. ³⁰And when Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. ³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech privately, saying, Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem, and, behold, they are fortifying the city against thee. ³²Now therefore, up by night, thou and the people who are with thee, and lie in wait in the field. ³³And it shall be, that in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, thou shall rise early, and rush upon the city, and, behold, when he and the people who are with him come out against thee, then thou may do to them as thou shall find occasion. ³⁴And Abimelech rose up, and all the people who were with him, by night, and they laid wait against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵And Gaal the son of Ebed went out, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city. And Abimelech rose up, and the people who were with him, from the ambushment. ³⁶And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, Behold, there comes a people down from the tops of the mountains. And Zebul said to him, Thou see the shadow of the mountains as if they were men. ³⁷And Gaal spoke again and said, See, there comes a people down by the middle of the land, and one company comes by the way of the oak of Meonenim. ³⁸Then Zebul said to him, Where is now thy mouth, that thou said, Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him? Is not this the people that thou have despised? Go out now, I pray, and fight with them. ³⁹And Gaal went out before the men of Shechem, and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him, and there fell many wounded, even to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹And Abimelech dwelt at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his brothers, that they should not dwell in Shechem. ⁴²And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people went out into the field, and they told Abimelech. ⁴³And he took the people, and divided them into three companies, and laid wait in the field. And he looked, and, behold, the people came forth out of the city. And he rose up against them, and smote them. ⁴⁴And Abimelech, and the companies who were with him, rushed forward, and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, and the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field, and smote them. ⁴⁵And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. And he took the city, and killed the people that were in it, and he beat down the city, and sowed it with salt. ⁴⁶And when all the men of the tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered into the stronghold of the house of El-berith. ⁴⁷And it was told Abimelech that all the men of the tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸And Abimelech got up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it up, and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the people who were with him, What ye have seen me do, make haste, and do as I have done. ⁴⁹And all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed Abimelech, and put them to the stronghold, and set the stronghold on fire upon them, so that all the men of the tower of Shechem died also, about a thousand men and women. ⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and encamped against Thebez, and took it. ⁵¹But there was a strong tower inside the city. And all the men and women fled, and all those of the city, and shut themselves in, and got up to the roof of the tower. ⁵²And Abimelech came to the tower, and fought against it, and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³And a certain woman cast an upper millstone upon Abimelech�s head, and broke his skull. ⁵⁴Then he called hastily to the young man his armor bearer, and said to him, Draw thy sword, and kill me, that men not say of me, A woman killed him. And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they departed every man to his place. ⁵⁶Thus God requited the wickedness of Abimelech, which he did to his father, in slaying his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷And God requited all the wickedness of the men of Shechem upon their heads. And the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

CHAPTER 10

¹And after Abimelech there arose Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, to save Israel, and he dwelt in Shamir in the hill-country of Ephraim. ²And he judged Israel twenty-three years, and died, and was buried in Shamir. ³And after him arose Jair, the Gileadite, and he judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴And he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havvoth-jair to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵And Jair died, and was buried in Kamon. ⁶And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and served the Baalim, and the Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Sidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook Jehovah, and did not serve him. ⁷And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the sons of Ammon. ⁸And they vexed and oppressed the sons of Israel that year. Eighteen years they oppressed all the sons of Israel who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. ⁹And the sons of Ammon passed over the Jordan to also fight against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was exceedingly distressed. ¹⁰And the sons of Israel cried to Jehovah, saying, We have sinned against thee, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baalim. ¹¹And Jehovah said to the sons of Israel, Did not I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines? ¹²The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, oppressed you. And ye cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand. ¹³Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods. Therefore I will save you no more. ¹⁴Go and cry to the gods which ye have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress. ¹⁵And the sons of Israel said to Jehovah, We have sinned. Do thou to us whatever seems good to thee, only deliver us, we pray thee, this day. ¹⁶And they put away the foreign gods from among them, and served Jehovah. And his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. ¹⁷Then the sons of Ammon were gathered together, and encamped in Gilead. And the sons of Israel assembled themselves together, and encamped in Mizpah. ¹⁸And the people, the rulers of Gilead, said one to another, What man is he who will begin to fight against the sons of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.

CHAPTER 11

¹Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valor, and he was the son of a harlot, and Gilead begot Jephthah. ²And Gilead�s wife bore sons to him. And when his wife�s sons grew up, they drove out Jephthah, and said to him, Thou shall not inherit in our father�s house, for thou are the son of another woman. ³Then Jephthah fled from his brothers, and dwelt in the land of Tob. And vain fellows were gathered to Jephthah, and they went out with him. ⁴And it came to pass after a while, that the sons of Ammon made war against Israel. ⁵And it was so, that, when the sons of Ammon made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to fetch Jephthah out of the land of Tob. ⁶And they said to Jephthah, Come and be our chief, that we may fight with the sons of Ammon. ⁷And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, Did ye not hate me, and drive me out of my father�s house? And why have ye come to me now when ye are in distress? ⁸And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, For that reason we turned again to thee now, that thou may go with us, and fight with the sons of Ammon. And thou shall be our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead. ⁹And Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, If ye bring me home again to fight with the sons of Ammon, and Jehovah delivers them before me, shall I be your head? ¹⁰And the elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, Jehovah shall be witness between us. Surely according to thy word so will we do. ¹¹Then Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him head and chief over them. And Jephthah spoke all his words before Jehovah in Mizpah. ¹²And Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the sons of Ammon, saying, What have thou to do with me, that thou have come to me to fight against my land? ¹³And the king of the sons of Ammon answered to the messengers of Jephthah, Because Israel took away my land when he came up out of Egypt, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and to the Jordan. Now therefore restore those lands again peaceably. ¹⁴And Jephthah sent messengers again to the king of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁵And he said to him, Thus says Jephthah: Israel did not take away the land of Moab, nor the land of the sons of Ammon, ¹⁶but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh, ¹⁷then Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land, but the king of Edom did not hearken. And in like manner he sent to the king of Moab, but he would not. And Israel abode in Kadesh. ¹⁸Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab. And they encamped on the other side of the Arnon, but they did not come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab. ¹⁹And Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, the king of Heshbon. And Israel said to him, Let us pass, we pray thee, through thy land to my place. ²⁰But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his border, but Sihon gathered all his people together, and encamped in Jahaz, and fought against Israel. ²¹And Jehovah, the God of Israel, delivered Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they smote them. So Israel possessed all the land of the Amorites, the inhabitants of that country. ²²And they possessed all the border of the Amorites, from the Arnon even to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness even to the Jordan. ²³So now Jehovah, the God of Israel, has dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and should thou possess them? ²⁴Will thou not possess that which Chemosh thy god gives thee to possess? So whomever Jehovah our God has dispossessed from before us, them will we possess. ²⁵And now are thou anything better than Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever strive against Israel, or did he ever fight against them? ²⁶While Israel dwelt in Heshbon and its towns, and in Aroer and its towns, and in all the cities that are along by the side of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did ye not recover them within that time? ²⁷I therefore have not sinned against thee, but thou do me wrong to war against me. Jehovah, the Judge, be judge this day between the sons of Israel and the sons of Ammon. ²⁸However the king of the sons of Ammon did not hearken to the words of Jephthah which he sent him. ²⁹Then the Spirit of Jehovah came upon Jephthah, and he passed over Gilead and Manasseh, and passed over Mizpeh of Gilead, and from Mizpeh of Gilead he passed over to the sons of Ammon. ³⁰And Jephthah vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said, If thou will indeed deliver the sons of Ammon into my hand, ³¹then it shall be, that whatever comes forth from the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the sons of Ammon, it shall be Jehovah�s, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering. ³²So Jephthah passed over to the sons of Ammon to fight against them, and Jehovah delivered them into his hand. ³³And he smote them from Aroer until thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities, and to Abelcheramim, with a very great slaughter. So the sons of Ammon were subdued before the sons of Israel. ³⁴And Jephthah came to Mizpah to his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances. And she was his only child. Besides her he had neither son nor daughter. ³⁵And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he tore his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! Thou have brought me very low, and thou are one of those who trouble me, for I have opened my mouth to Jehovah, and I cannot go back. ³⁶And she said to him, My father, thou have opened thy mouth to Jehovah. Do to me according to that which has proceeded out of thy mouth, inasmuch as Jehovah has taken vengeance for thee on thine enemies, even on the sons of Ammon. ³⁷And she said to her father, Let this thing be done for me: Let me alone two months, that I may depart and go down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my companions. ³⁸And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months. And she departed, she and her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains. ³⁹And it came to pass at the end of two months, that she returned to her father, who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed, and she knew no man. And it was a custom in Israel, ⁴⁰that the daughters of Israel went yearly to celebrate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite four days in a year.

CHAPTER 12

¹And the men of Ephraim were gathered together, and passed northward. And they said to Jephthah, Why did thou pass over to fight against the sons of Ammon, and did not call us to go with thee? We will burn thy house upon thee with fire. ²And Jephthah said to them, I and my people were at great strife with the sons of Ammon, and when I called you, ye did not save me out of their hand. ³And when I saw that ye did not save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed opposite the sons of Ammon, and Jehovah delivered them into my hand. Why then have ye come up to me this day, to fight against me? ⁴Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead smote Ephraim, because they said, Ye are fugitives of Ephraim, ye Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim, and in the midst of Manasseh. ⁵And the Gileadites took the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And it was so, that, when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, Let me go over, the men of Gilead said to him, Are thou an Ephraimite? If he said, No, ⁶then they said to him, Say now Shibboleth, and he said Sibboleth, for he could not frame to pronounce it right, then they laid hold on him, and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. And there fell at that time of Ephraim forty-two thousand. ⁷And Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead. ⁸And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. ⁹And he had thirty sons. And he sent abroad thirty daughters, and thirty daughters he brought in from abroad for his sons. And he judged Israel seven years. ¹⁰And Ibzan died, and was buried at Bethlehem. ¹¹And after him Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel, and he judged Israel ten years. ¹²And Elon the Zebulunite died, and was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun. ¹³And after him Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel. ¹⁴And he had forty sons and thirty sons� sons who rode on seventy donkey colts, and he judged Israel eight years. ¹⁵And Abdon the son of Hillel the Pirathonite died, and was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill-country of the Amalekites.

CHAPTER 13

¹And the sons of Israel again did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and Jehovah delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years. ²And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites, whose name was Manoah, and his wife was barren, and did not bear. ³And the agent of Jehovah appeared to the woman, and said to her, Behold now, thou are barren, and do not bear, but thou shall conceive, and bear a son. ⁴Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, ⁵for, lo, thou shall conceive, and bear a son. And no razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. And he shall begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁶Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came to me, and his countenance was like the countenance of the agent of God, very awesome. And I did not ask him from where he was, neither did he tell me his name, ⁷but he said to me, Behold, thou shall conceive, and bear a son. And now drink no wine nor strong drink, and do not eat any unclean thing, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death. ⁸Then Manoah entreated Jehovah, and said, Oh, Lord, I pray thee, let the man of God whom thou sent come again to us, and teach us what we shall do to the child that shall be born. ⁹And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the agent of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰And the woman made haste, and ran, and told her husband, and said to him, Behold, the man has appeared to me, who came to me the other day. ¹¹And Manoah arose, and went after his wife, and came to the man, and said to him, Are thou the man who spoke to the woman? And he said, I am. ¹²And Manoah said, Now let thy words come to pass. What shall be the ordering of the child, and what shall we do to him? ¹³And the agent of Jehovah said to Manoah, Of all that I said to the woman let her beware. ¹⁴She may not eat of anything that comes of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe. ¹⁵And Manoah said to the agent of Jehovah, I pray thee, let us detain thee, that we may make ready a kid for thee. ¹⁶And the agent of Jehovah said to Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread, and if thou will make ready a burnt offering, thou must offer it to Jehovah. For Manoah did not know that he was the agent of Jehovah. ¹⁷And Manoah said to the agent of Jehovah, What is thy name, that, when thy words come to pass, we may do thee honor? ¹⁸And the agent of Jehovah said to him, Why do thou ask after my name, seeing it is wonderful? ¹⁹So Manoah took the kid with the meal offering, and offered it upon the rock to Jehovah. And the agent did wondrously, and Manoah and his wife looked on, ²⁰for it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the agent of Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on, and they fell on their faces to the ground. ²¹But the agent of Jehovah appeared no more to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the agent of Jehovah. ²²And Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. ²³But his wife said to him, If Jehovah were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meal offering at our hand, neither would he have shown us all these things, nor would at this time have told such things as these. ²⁴And the woman bore a son, and called his name Samson. And the child grew, and Jehovah blessed him. ²⁵And the Spirit of Jehovah began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

CHAPTER 14

¹And Samson went down to Timnah, and saw a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. ²And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnah of the daughters of the Philistines. Now therefore get her for me to wife. ³Then his father and his mother said to him, Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brothers, or among all my people, that thou go to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? And Samson said to his father, Get her for me, for she pleases me well. ⁴But his father and his mother knew not that it was of Jehovah, for he sought an occasion against the Philistines. Now at that time the Philistines had rule over Israel. ⁵Then Samson went down, and his father and his mother, to Timnah, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. And, behold, a young lion roared against him. ⁶And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he tore him apart as he would have torn a kid, and he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. ⁷And he went down, and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well. ⁸And after a while he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and, behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. ⁹And he took it into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother, and gave to them, and they ate, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the body of the lion. ¹⁰And his father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there, for so the young men used to do. ¹¹And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him. ¹²And Samson said to them, Let me now put forth a riddle to you. If ye can declare it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment, ¹³but if ye cannot declare it to me, then ye shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of raiment. And they said to him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. ¹⁴And he said to them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days declare the riddle. ¹⁵And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said to Samson�s wife, Entice thy husband, that he may declare to us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father�s house with fire. Have ye called us to impoverish us? Is it not so? ¹⁶And Samson�s wife wept before him, and said, Thou do but hate me, and not love me. Thou have put forth a riddle to the sons of my people, and have not told it to me. And he said to her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and shall I tell thee? ¹⁷And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her because she pressed him greatly. And she told the riddle to the sons of her people. ¹⁸And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye would not have found out my riddle. ¹⁹And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and smote thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave the changes of raiment to those who declared the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father�s house. ²⁰But Samson�s wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend.

CHAPTER 15

¹But it came to pass after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid. And he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber, but her father would not allow him to go in. ²And her father said, I truly thought that thou had utterly hated her, therefore I gave her to thy companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead of her. ³And Samson said to them, This time I shall be blameless in regard of the Philistines when I do them a mischief. ⁴And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails. ⁵And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks and the standing grain, and also the oliveyards. ⁶Then the Philistines said, Who has done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. ⁷And Samson said to them, If ye do after this manner, surely I will be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. ⁸And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter. And he went down and dwelt in the cleft of the rock of Etam. ⁹Then the Philistines went up, and encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. ¹⁰And the men of Judah said, Why have ye come up against us? And they said, We come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us. ¹¹Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, Know thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that thou have done to us? And he said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them. ¹²And they said to him, We have come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said to them, Swear to me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. ¹³And they spoke to him, saying, No, but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand, but truly we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock. ¹⁴When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him, and the ropes that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands dropped from off his hands. ¹⁵And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put forth his hand, and took it, and smote a thousand men with it. ¹⁶And Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey I have smitten a thousand men. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place was called Ramath-lehi. ¹⁸And he was very thirsty, and called on Jehovah, and said, Thou have given this great deliverance by the hand of thy servant, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? ¹⁹But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out there. And when he had drunk his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi to this day. ²⁰And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

CHAPTER 16

¹And Samson went to Gaza, and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. ²And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. And they encompassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, Not till morning light, then we will kill him. ³And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron. ⁴And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in what his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him. And we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. ⁶And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what thy great strength lies, and with what thou might be bound to afflict thee. ⁷And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then I shall become weak, and be as another man. ⁸Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. ⁹Now she had an ambush abiding in the inner chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the withes, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known. ¹⁰And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou have mocked me, and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou might be bound. ¹¹And he said to her, If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I shall become weak, and be as another man. ¹²So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with it, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And the ambushment was abiding in the inner chamber. And he broke them off his arms like a thread. ¹³And Delilah said to Samson, Until now thou have mocked me, and told me lies. Tell me with what thou might be bound. And he said to her, If thou weave the seven locks of my head with the web. ¹⁴And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web. ¹⁵And she said to him, How can thou say, I love thee, when thy heart is not with me? Thou have mocked me these three times, and have not told me with what thy great strength lies. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death. ¹⁷And he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother�s womb. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. ¹⁸And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹And she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head. And she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. ²⁰And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free, but he knew not that Jehovah was departed from him. ²¹And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grinding in the prison-house. ²²However the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. ²³And the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice, for they said, Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. ²⁴And when the people saw him, they praised their god, for they said, Our god has delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country who has slain many of us. ²⁵And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make sport to us. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house, and he made sport before them. And they set him between the pillars. ²⁶And Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, Allow me that I may feel the pillars upon which the house rests, that I may lean upon them. ²⁷Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there. And there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, who beheld while Samson made sport. ²⁸And Samson called to Jehovah, and said, O lord Jehovah, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. ²⁹And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house rested, and leaned upon them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left. ³⁰And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might, and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those that he killed in his life. ³¹Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

CHAPTER 17

¹And there was a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ²And he said to his mother, The eleven hundred pieces of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou uttered a curse, and also spoke it in my ears, behold, the silver is with me. I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be my son from Jehovah. ³And he restored the eleven hundred pieces of silver to his mother. And his mother said, I verily dedicate the silver to Jehovah from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten image. Now therefore I will restore it to thee. ⁴And when he restored the money to his mother, his mother took two hundred pieces of silver, and gave them to the founder, who made of it a graven image and a molten image. And it was in the house of Micah. ⁵And the man Micah had a house of gods, and he made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes. ⁷And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. ⁸And the man departed out of the city, out of Bethlehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place. And he came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. ⁹And Micah said to him, From where come thou? And he said to him, I am a Levite of Bethlehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. ¹⁰And Micah said to him, Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten pieces of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy food. So the Levite went in. ¹¹And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was to him as one of his sons. ¹²And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. ¹³Then Micah said, Now I know that Jehovah will do me good, seeing I have a Levite for my priest.

CHAPTER 18

¹In those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days the tribe of the Danites sought for them an inheritance to dwell in, for to that day their inheritance had not fallen to them among the tribes of Israel. ²And the sons of Dan sent of their family five men from their whole number, men of valor, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it. And they said to them, Go, search the land. And they came to the hill-country of Ephraim to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young man the Levite. And they turned aside there, and said to him, Who brought thee here? And what are thou doing in this place? And what have thou here? ⁴And he said to them, Thus and thus has Micah dealt with me, and he has hired me, and I have become his priest. ⁵And they said to him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be prosperous. ⁶And the priest said to them, Go in peace. Your way is before Jehovah in which ye go. ⁷Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were in it, how they dwelt in security, according to the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and secure, for there was none in the land possessing authority, that might put them to shame in anything. And they were far from the Sidonians, and had no dealings with any man. ⁸And they came to their brothers to Zorah and Eshtaol. And their brothers said to them, What say ye? ⁹And they said, Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good, and are ye idle? Be not slothful to go and to enter in to possess the land. ¹⁰When ye go, ye shall come to a people secure. And the land is large, for God has given it into your hand, a place where there is no want of anything that is on the earth. ¹¹And there set forth from there of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men girded with weapons of war. ¹²And they went up, and encamped in Kiriath-jearim, in Judah. Therefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan, to this day. Behold, it is behind Kiriath-jearim. ¹³And they passed from there to the hill-country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah. ¹⁴Then the five men who went to spy out the country of Laish, answered and said to their brothers, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore consider what ye have to do. ¹⁵And they turned aside there, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even to the house of Micah, and asked him of his welfare. ¹⁶And the six hundred men girded with their weapons of war, who were of the sons of Dan, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷And the five men who went to spy out the land went up, and came in there, and took the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. And the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men girded with weapons of war. ¹⁸And when these went into Micah�s house, and fetched the graven image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image, the priest said to them, What do ye? ¹⁹And they said to him, Hold thy peace, lay thy hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel? ²⁰And the priest�s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people. ²¹So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the goods before them. ²²When they were a good way from the house of Micah, the men who were in the houses near to Micah�s house were gathered together, and overtook the sons of Dan. ²³And they cried out to the sons of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said to Micah, What troubles thee that thou come with such a company? ²⁴And he said, ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away, and what have I more? And how do ye then say to me, What troubles thee? ²⁵And the sons of Dan said to him, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. ²⁶And the sons of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his house. ²⁷And they took that which Micah had made, and the priest whom he had, and came to Laish, to a people quiet and secure, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and they burnt the city with fire. ²⁸And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with any man, and it was in the valley that lies by Beth-rehob. And they built the city, and dwelt in it. ²⁹And they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father who was born to Israel. However the name of the city was Laish at first. ³⁰And the sons of Dan set up for themselves the graven image. And Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹So they set up for them Micah�s graven image which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.

CHAPTER 19

¹And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah. ²And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him to her father�s house to Bethlehem-judah, and was there the space of four months. ³And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak kindly to her, to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of donkeys. And she brought him into her father�s house, and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him. ⁴And his father-in-law, the damsel�s father, retained him, and he abode with him three days. So they ate and drank, and lodged there. ⁵And it came to pass on the fourth day, that they arose early in the morning, and he rose up to depart. And the damsel�s father said to his son-in-law, Strengthen thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward ye shall go your way. ⁶So they sat down, and ate and drank, both of them together. And the damsel�s father said to the man, Be pleased, I pray thee, to tarry all night, and let thy heart be merry. ⁷And the man rose up to depart, but his father-in-law urged him, and he lodged there again. ⁸And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart. And the damsel�s father said, Strengthen thy heart, I pray thee, and tarry ye until the day declines. And they ate, both of them. ⁹And when the man rose up to depart, he, and his concubine, and his servant, his father-in-law, the damsel�s father, said to him, Behold, now the day draws toward evening, I pray you tarry all night. Behold, the day grows to an end, lodge here that thy heart may be merry, and tomorrow get early on your way that thou may go home. ¹⁰But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus (the same is Jerusalem And there were with him a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine was also with him. ¹¹When they were by Jebus, the day was far spent, and the servant said to his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it. ¹²And his master said to him, We will not turn aside into the city of a foreigner that is not of the sons of Israel, but we will pass over to Gibeah. ¹³And he said to his servant, Come and let us draw near to one of these places, and we will lodge in Gibeah, or in Ramah. ¹⁴So they passed on and went their way. And the sun went down upon them near to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin. ¹⁵And they turned aside there, to go in to lodge in Gibeah. And he went in, and sat down in the street of the city, for there was no man that took them into his house to lodge. ¹⁶And, behold, there came an old man from his work out of the field at evening. Now the man was of the hill-country of Ephraim, and he sojourned in Gibeah, but the men of the place were Benjamites. ¹⁷And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the wayfaring man in the street of the city. And the old man said, Where do thou go? And from where do thou come? ¹⁸And he said to him, We are passing from Bethlehem-judah to the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim. I am from there, and I went to Bethlehem-judah. And I am now going to the house of Jehovah, and there is no man that takes me into his house. ¹⁹Yet there is both straw and provender for our donkeys, and there is bread and wine also for me, and for thy handmaid, and for the young man who is with thy servants. There is no want of anything. ²⁰And the old man said, Peace be to thee. However let all thy wants lie upon me, only do not lodge in the street. ²¹So he brought him into his house, and gave the donkeys fodder. And they washed their feet, and ate and drank. ²²As they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain base fellows, beset the house round about, beating at the door. And they spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man who came into thy house, that we may know him. ²³And the man, the master of the house, went out to them, and said to them, No, my brothers, I pray you, do not so wickedly, seeing that this man has come into my house. Do not this folly. ²⁴Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine. I will bring them out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seems good to you, but to this man do not any such folly. ²⁵But the men would not hearken to him. So the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her forth to them. And they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning, and when the day began to spring, they let her go. ²⁶Then the woman came in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man�s house where her lord was, till it was light. ²⁷And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way, and, behold, the woman his concubine was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold. ²⁸And he said to her, Up, and let us be going, but there was no answering. Then he took her up upon the donkey, and the man rose up, and got to his place. ²⁹And when he came into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel. ³⁰And it was so, that all who saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day that the sons of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt to this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak.

CHAPTER 20

¹Then all the sons of Israel went out. And the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, to Jehovah at Mizpah. ²And the chiefs of all the people, even of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand footmen who drew a sword. ³(Now the sons of Benjamin heard that the sons of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the sons of Israel said, Tell us, how was this wickedness brought to pass? ⁴And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, I came into Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to lodge. ⁵And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and beset the house round about me by night. They thought to have me slain, and they forced my concubine, and she is dead. ⁶And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel. ⁷Behold, ye sons of Israel, all of you, give here your advice and counsel. ⁸And all the people arose as one man, saying, We will not any of us go to his tent, neither will we any of us turn to his house. ⁹But now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up against it by lot, ¹⁰and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand out of ten thousand, to fetch provision for the people, that they may do, when they come to Gibeah of Benjamin, according to all the folly that they have wrought in Israel. ¹¹So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit together as one man. ¹²And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, What wickedness is this that has come to pass among you? ¹³Now therefore deliver up the men, the base fellows, who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death, and put away evil from Israel. But Benjamin would not hearken to the voice of their brothers the sons of Israel. ¹⁴And the sons of Benjamin gathered themselves together out of the cities to Gibeah, to go out to battle against the sons of Israel. ¹⁵And the sons of Benjamin were numbered on that day out of the cities twenty-six thousand men who drew a sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who were numbered seven hundred chosen men. ¹⁶Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed. Every one could sling stones at a hair-breadth, and not miss. ¹⁷And the men of Israel, besides Benjamin, were numbered four hundred thousand men who drew a sword. All these were men of war. ¹⁸And the sons of Israel arose, and went up to Bethel, and asked counsel of God. And they said, Who shall go up for us first to battle against the sons of Benjamin? And Jehovah said, Judah first. ¹⁹And the sons of Israel rose up in the morning, and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰And the men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin. And the men of Israel set the battle in array against them at Gibeah. ²¹And the sons of Benjamin came forth out of Gibeah, and destroyed down to the ground of the Israelites on that day twenty-two thousand men. ²²And the people, the men of Israel, encouraged themselves, and set the battle again in array in the place where they set themselves in array the first day. ²³And the sons of Israel went up and wept before Jehovah until evening. And they asked of Jehovah, saying, Shall I again draw near to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother? And Jehovah said, Go up against him. ²⁴And the sons of Israel came near against the sons of Benjamin the second day. ²⁵And Benjamin went forth against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed down to the ground of the sons of Israel again eighteen thousand men. All these drew the sword. ²⁶Then all the sons of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came to Bethel, and wept, and sat there before Jehovah, and fasted that day until evening, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah. ²⁷And the sons of Israel asked of Jehovah (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ²⁸and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, stood before it in those days), saying, Shall I yet again go out to battle against the sons of Benjamin my brother, or shall I cease? And Jehovah said, Go up, for tomorrow I will deliver him into thy hand. ²⁹And Israel set an ambushment against Gibeah round about. ³⁰And the sons of Israel went up against the sons of Benjamin on the third day, and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. ³¹And the sons of Benjamin went out against the people, and were drawn away from the city. And they began to smite and kill of the people as at other times, in the highways, of which one goes up to Bethel, and the other to Gibeah, in the field about thirty men of Israel. ³²And the sons of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us as at the first. But the sons of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them away from the city to the highways. ³³And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place, and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar, and the ambushment of Israel broke forth out of their place, even out of Maareh-geba. ³⁴And there came opposite Gibeah ten thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was severe, but they knew not that evil was close upon them. ³⁵And Jehovah smote Benjamin before Israel, and the sons of Israel destroyed of Benjamin that day twenty-five thousand and a hundred men. All these drew the sword. ³⁶So the sons of Benjamin saw that they were smitten, for the men of Israel gave place to Benjamin because they trusted to the ambushment whom they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷And the ambushment hastened, and rushed upon Gibeah. And the ambushment drew themselves along, and smote all the city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸Now the appointed sign between the men of Israel and the ambushment was, that they should make a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city. ³⁹And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to smite and kill of the men of Israel about thirty persons, for they said, Surely they are smitten down before us as in the first battle. ⁴⁰But when the cloud began to arise up out of the city in a pillar of smoke, the Benjamites looked behind them, and, behold, the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven. ⁴¹And the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed, for they saw that evil had come upon them. ⁴²Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel to the way of the wilderness. But the battle followed hard after them, and those who came out of the cities destroyed them in the midst of it. ⁴³They enclosed the Benjamites round about, and chased them, and trod them down at their resting-place, as far as opposite Gibeah toward the sunrise. ⁴⁴And there fell of Benjamin eighteen thousand men. All these were men of valor. ⁴⁵And they turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. And they gleaned of them in the highways five thousand men, and followed hard after them to Gidom, and smote of them two thousand men. ⁴⁶So that all who fell that day of Benjamin were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword. All these were men of valor. ⁴⁷But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon, and abode in the rock of Rimmon four months. ⁴⁸And the men of Israel turned again upon the sons of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, both the entire city, and the cattle, and all that they found. Moreover they set on fire all the cities which they found.

CHAPTER 21

¹Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah, saying, There shall not any of us give his daughter to Benjamin to wife. ²And the people came to Bethel, and sat there till evening before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept bitterly. ³And they said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, why has this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel? ⁴And it came to pass on the morrow, that the people rose early, and built there an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. ⁵And the sons of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that did not come up in the assembly to Jehovah? For they had made a great oath concerning him who did not come up to Jehovah to Mizpah, saying, He shall surely be put to death. ⁶And the sons of Israel regretted for Benjamin their brother, and said, There is one tribe cut off from Israel this day. ⁷What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since we have sworn by Jehovah that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? ⁸And they said, Which one is there of the tribes of Israel that did not come up to Jehovah to Mizpah? And, behold, there came none to the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly. ⁹For when the people were numbered, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there. ¹⁰And the congregation sent there twelve thousand men of the most valiant, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the little ones. ¹¹And this is the thing that ye shall do: Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that has lain by man. ¹²And they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had not known man by lying with him, and they brought them to the camp to Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan. ¹³And the whole congregation sent and spoke to the sons of Benjamin who were in the rock of Rimmon, and proclaimed peace to them. ¹⁴And Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women whom they had saved alive of the women of Jabesh-gilead. And even so they were not sufficient for them. ¹⁵And the people regretted for Benjamin, because Jehovah had made a breach in the tribes of Israel. ¹⁶Then the elders of the congregation said, What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women are destroyed out of Benjamin? ¹⁷And they said, There must be an inheritance for those who are escaped of Benjamin, that a tribe be not blotted out from Israel. ¹⁸However we may not give them wives of our daughters, for the sons of Israel had sworn, saying, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. ¹⁹And they said, Behold, there is a feast of Jehovah from year to year in Shiloh, which is on the north of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebonah. ²⁰And they commanded the sons of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards, ²¹and watch. And, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in the dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch for you every man his wife from the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Benjamin. ²²And it shall be, when their fathers or their brothers come to complain to us, that we will say to them, Grant them graciously to us, because we took not for each man of them his wife in battle, neither did ye give them to them, else ye would now be guilty. ²³And the sons of Benjamin did so, and took for them wives, according to their number, of those who danced, whom they carried off. And they went and returned to their inheritance, and built the cities, and dwelt in them. ²⁴And the sons of Israel departed from there at that time, every man to his tribe and to his family, and they went out from there every man to his inheritance. ²⁵In those days there was no king in Israel. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

RUTH

CHAPTER 1

¹And it came to pass in the days when the judges judged, that there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem-judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two sons. ²And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephrathites of Bethlehem-judah. And they came into the country of Moab, and continued there. ³And Elimelech, Naomi�s husband, died, and she was left, and her two sons. ⁴And they took wives for them of the women of Moab. The name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth, and they dwelt there about ten years. ⁵And Mahlon and Chilion died, both of them, and the woman was left of her two children and of her husband. ⁶Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab how that Jehovah had visited his people in giving them bread. ⁷And she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her, and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah. ⁸And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, Go, return each of you to her mother�s house. Jehovah deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me. ⁹Jehovah grant you that ye may find rest, each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices, and wept. ¹⁰And they said to her, No, but we will return with thee to thy people. ¹¹And Naomi said, Turn again, my daughters. Why will ye go with me? Have I yet sons in my womb, that they may be your husbands? ¹²Turn again, my daughters. Go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. If I should say, I have hope. If I should even have a husband tonight, and should also bear sons, ¹³would ye therefore delay till they were grown? Would ye therefore stay from having husbands? No, my daughters, for it grieves me much for your sakes, for the hand of Jehovah has gone forth against me. ¹⁴And they lifted up their voices, and wept again. And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. ¹⁵And she said, Behold, thy sister-in-law has gone back to her people, and to her god. Return thou after thy sister-in-law. ¹⁶And Ruth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, and to return from following after thee, for where thou go, I will go, and where thou lodge, I will lodge. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. ¹⁷Where thou die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts thee and me. ¹⁸And when she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, she left off speaking to her. ¹⁹So those two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass, when they came to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about them, and the women said, Is this Naomi? ²⁰And she said to them, Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. ²¹I went out full, and Jehovah has brought me home again empty. Why do ye call me Naomi, seeing Jehovah has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? ²²So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, who returned out of the country of Moab. And they came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest.

CHAPTER 2

¹And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband�s, a mighty man of wealth, of the family of Elimelech, and his name was Boaz. ²And Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, Let me now go to the field, and glean among the ears of grain after him in whose sight I shall find favor. And she said to her, Go, my daughter. ³And she went, and came and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And her chance was to land on the portion of the field belonging to Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech. ⁴And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said to the reapers, Jehovah be with you. And they answered him, Jehovah bless thee. ⁵Then Boaz said to his servant who was set over the reapers, Whose damsel is this? ⁶And the servant who was set over the reapers answered and said, It is the Moabite damsel who came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab. ⁷And she said, Let me glean, I pray you, and gather behind the reapers among the sheaves. So she came, and has continued even from the morning until now, except that she tarried a little in the house. ⁸Then Boaz said to Ruth, Do thou not hear, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither pass from here, but abide here close by my maidens. ⁹Let thine eyes be on the field that they reap, and go thou after them. Have I not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And when thou are thirsty, go to the vessels, and drink of that which the young men have drawn. ¹⁰Then she fell on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, and said to him, Why have I found favor in thy sight that thou should take knowledge of me, seeing I am a foreigner? ¹¹And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully shown me all that thou have done to thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband, and how thou have left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and have come to a people that thou knew not formerly. ¹²Jehovah recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of Jehovah, the God of Israel, under whose wings thou have come to take refuge. ¹³Then she said, Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, because thou have comforted me, and because thou have spoken kindly to thy handmaid, though I be not as one of thy handmaidens. ¹⁴And at mealtime Boaz said to her, Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers, and they passed her parched grain, and she ate, and was satisfied, and left of it. ¹⁵And when she arose up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying, Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not reproach her. ¹⁶And also pull out some for her from the bundles, and leave it, and let her glean, and do not rebuke her. ¹⁷So she gleaned in the field until evening. And she beat out that which she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley. ¹⁸And she took it up, and went into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. And she brought forth and gave to her that which she had left after she was satisfied. ¹⁹And her mother-in-law said to her, Where have thou gleaned today? And where have thou worked? Blessed be he who took knowledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with whom she had worked, and said, The man�s name with whom I worked today is Boaz. ²⁰And Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, Blessed be he of Jehovah who has not left off his kindness to the living and to the dead. And Naomi said to her, The man is near of kin to us, one of our near kinsmen. ²¹And Ruth the Moabitess said, Yes, he said to me, Thou shall keep close by my young men until they have ended all my harvest. ²²And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, and that they not meet thee in any other field. ²³So she kept close by the maidens of Boaz, to glean to the end of barley harvest and of wheat harvest. And she dwelt with her mother-in-law.

CHAPTER 3

¹And Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, My daughter, shall I not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? ²And now is not Boaz our kinsman, with whose maidens thou were? Behold, he winnows barley tonight in the threshing-floor. ³Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the threshing-floor. But do not make thyself known to the man until he shall have done eating and drinking. ⁴And it shall be, when he lies down, that thou shall notice the place where he shall lie. And thou shall go in, and uncover his feet, and lie thee down. And he will tell thee what thou shall do. ⁵And she said to her, All that thou say I will do. ⁶And she went down to the threshing-floor, and did according to all that her mother-in-law bade her. ⁷And when Boaz had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. And she came softly, and uncovered his feet, and laid down. ⁸And it came to pass at midnight, that the man was startled, and turned himself, and, behold, a woman lay at his feet. ⁹And he said, Who are thou? And she answered, I am Ruth thy handmaid. Spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid, for thou are a near kinsman. ¹⁰And he said, Blessed be thou of Jehovah, my daughter. Thou have shown more kindness in the latter end than at the beginning, inasmuch as thou did not follow young men, whether poor or rich. ¹¹And now, my daughter, fear not. I will do to thee all that thou say, for all the city of my people know that thou are a worthy woman. ¹²And now it is true that I am a near kinsman. However there is a kinsman nearer than I. ¹³Remain this night, and it shall be in the morning that if he will perform to thee the part of a kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman�s part. But if he will not do the part of a kinsman to thee, then I will do the part of a kinsman to thee, as Jehovah lives. Lie down until the morning. ¹⁴And she lay at his feet until the morning. And she rose up before one could discern another. For he said, Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing-floor. ¹⁵And he said, Bring the mantle that is upon thee, and hold it. And she held it, and he measured six measures of barley, and laid it on her, and he went into the city. ¹⁶And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, Who are thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. ¹⁷And she said, He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said, Go not empty to thy mother-in-law. ¹⁸Then she said, Sit still, my daughter, until thou know how the matter will fall, for the man will not rest until he has finished the thing this day.

CHAPTER 4

¹Now Boaz went up to the gate, and sat down there. And, behold, the near kinsman of whom Boaz spoke came by, to whom he said, Such man, stay, turn aside. Sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down. ²And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down. ³And he said to the near kinsman, Naomi, who has come again out of the country of Moab, sells the parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech�s. ⁴And I thought to disclose it to thee, saying, Buy it before those who sit here, and before the elders of my people. If thou will redeem it, redeem it, but if thou will not redeem it, then tell me that I may know, for there is none to redeem it besides thee, and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it. ⁵Then Boaz said, That day thou buy the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance. ⁶And the near kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself lest I mar my own inheritance. Take thou my right of redemption on thee, for I cannot redeem it. ⁷Now this was the custom in former time in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning exchanging, to confirm all things: A man drew off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbor. And this was the manner of attestation in Israel. ⁸So the near kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for thyself. And he drew off his shoe. ⁹And Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, Ye are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech�s, and all that was Chilion�s and Mahlon�s, from the hand of Naomi. ¹⁰Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead not be cut off from among his brothers, and from the gate of his place. Ye are witnesses this day. ¹¹And all the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. Jehovah make the woman that has come into thy house like Rachel and like Leah, which two built the house of Israel, and do thou worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. ¹²And let thy house be like the house of Perez whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the seed which Jehovah shall give thee by this young woman. ¹³So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and Jehovah gave her conception, and she bore a son. ¹⁴And the women said to Naomi, Blessed be Jehovah, who has not left thee this day without a near kinsman. And let his name be famous in Israel. ¹⁵And he shall be to thee a restorer of life, and a nourisher of thine old age, for thy daughter-in-law, who loves thee, who is better to thee than seven sons, has borne him. ¹⁶And Naomi took the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse to it. ¹⁷And the women, her neighbors, gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi. And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. ¹⁸Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez begot Hezron, ¹⁹and Hezron begot Ram, and Ram begot Amminadab, ²⁰and Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon, ²¹and Salmon begot Boaz, and Boaz begot Obed, ²²and Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.

1ST SAMUEL

CHAPTER 1

¹Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill-country of Ephraim. And his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ²And he had two wives: the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³And this man went up out of his city from year to year to worship and to sacrifice to Jehovah of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests to Jehovah, were there. ⁴And when the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he gave to Peninnah his wife, and to all her sons and her daughters, portions, ⁵but to Hannah he gave a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but Jehovah had shut up her womb. ⁶And her rival provoked her greatly, to make her fret, because Jehovah had shut up her womb. ⁷And as he did so year by year when she went up to the house of Jehovah, so she provoked her. Therefore she wept, and did not eat. ⁸And Elkanah her husband said to her, Hannah, why do thou weep? And why do thou not eat? And why is thy heart grieved? Am not I better to thee than ten sons? ⁹So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest was sitting upon his seat by the door-post of the temple of Jehovah. ¹⁰And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to Jehovah, and wept much. ¹¹And she vowed a vow, and said, O Jehovah of hosts, if thou will indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thy handmaid, but will give to thy handmaid a man-child, then I will give him to Jehovah all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. ¹²And it came to pass, as she continued praying before Jehovah, that Eli noticed her mouth. ¹³Now Hannah, she spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴And Eli said to her, How long will thou be drunken? Put away thy wine from thee. ¹⁵And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I poured out my soul before Jehovah. ¹⁶Count not thy handmaid for an iniquitous woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and my provocation have I spoken until now. ¹⁷Then Eli answered and said, Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant thy petition that thou have asked of him. ¹⁸And she said, Let thy handmaid find favor in thy sight. So the woman went her way, and ate, and her countenance was no more sad. ¹⁹And they rose up in the morning early, and worshiped before Jehovah, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and Jehovah remembered her. ²⁰And it came to pass, when the time came about, that Hannah conceived, and bore a son. And she called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of Jehovah. ²¹And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer to Jehovah the yearly sacrifice, and his vow. ²²But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, Not until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before Jehovah, and abide there forever. ²³And Elkanah her husband said to her, Do what seems good to thee. Remain until thou have weaned him, only Jehovah establish his word. So the woman remained and gave her son suck, until she weaned him. ²⁴And when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bullocks, and one ephah of meal, and a bottle of wine, and brought him to the house of Jehovah in Shiloh, and the child was young. ²⁵And they killed the bullock, and brought the child to Eli. ²⁶And she said, Oh, my lord, as thy soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by thee here, praying to Jehovah. ²⁷I prayed for this child, and Jehovah has given me my petition which I asked of him. ²⁸Therefore also I have granted him to Jehovah; as long as he lives he is granted to Jehovah. And he worshiped Jehovah there.

CHAPTER 2

¹And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart exults in Jehovah. My horn is exalted in Jehovah. My mouth is enlarged over my enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. ²There is none holy as Jehovah, for there is none besides thee, neither is there any rock like our God. ³Talk no more so very proudly. Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth, for Jehovah is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. ⁴The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength. ⁵Those who were full have hired out themselves for bread, and those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. Yea, the barren has borne seven, and she who has many sons languishes. ⁶Jehovah kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up. ⁷Jehovah makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. ⁸He raises up the poor out of the dust, he lifts up the needy from the dunghill, to make them sit with rulers, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah�s, and he has set the world upon them. ⁹He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness, for by strength no man shall prevail. ¹⁰Those who strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in heaven. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. ¹¹And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house, and the child ministered to Jehovah before Eli the priest. ¹²Now the sons of Eli were base men; they knew not Jehovah. ¹³And the custom of the priests with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest�s servant came, while the flesh was boiling, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand, ¹⁴and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot. All that the flesh-hook brought up the priest took with it. So they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵And before they burned the fat, the priest�s servant came, and said to the man who sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest, for he will not have boiled flesh from thee, but raw. ¹⁶And if the man said to him, They will surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as thy soul desires, then he would say, No, but thou shall give it to me now, and if not, I will take it by force. ¹⁷And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah, for the men despised the offering of Jehovah. ¹⁸But Samuel ministered before Jehovah, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁹Moreover his mother made him a little robe, and brought it to him from year to year when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, Jehovah give thee seed by this woman for the petition which was asked of Jehovah. And they went to their own home. ²¹And Jehovah visited Hannah, and she conceived, and bore three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before Jehovah. ²²Now Eli was very old. And he heard all that his sons did to all Israel, and how that they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tent of meeting. ²³And he said to them, Why do ye such things? For I hear of your evil dealings from all this people. ²⁴No, my sons, for it is no good report that I hear. Ye make Jehovah�s people to transgress. ²⁵If one man sins against another, God shall judge him, but if a man sins against Jehovah, who shall entreat for him? Notwithstanding, they did not hearken to the voice of their father, because Jehovah intended to kill them. ²⁶And the child Samuel grew on, and increased in favor both with Jehovah, and also with men. ²⁷And there came a man of God to Eli, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Did I reveal myself to the house of thy father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh�s house? ²⁸And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? And did I give to the house of thy father all the offerings of the sons of Israel made by fire? ²⁹Why do ye kick at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honor thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chief of all the offerings of Israel my people? ³⁰Therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, says, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me forever, but now Jehovah says, Be it far from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father�s house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house. ³²And thou shall see an enemy in my habitation, in all that I shall give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in thy house forever. ³³And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from my altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thy heart. And all the increase of thy house shall die in the flower of their age. ³⁴And this shall be the sign to thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: In one day they shall die, both of them. ³⁵And I will raise up for me a faithful priest who shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind. And I will build for him a sure house, and he shall walk before my anointed forever. ³⁶And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left in thy house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests� offices that I may eat a morsel of bread.

CHAPTER 3

¹And the child Samuel served Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision. ²And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place (now his eyes had begun to grow dim so that he could not see), ³and the lamp of God was not yet gone out, and Samuel was laid down in the temple of Jehovah where the ark of God was, ⁴that Jehovah called Samuel. And he said, Here I am. ⁵And he ran to Eli, and said, Here I am, for thou called me. And he said, I did not call. Lie down again. And he went and lay down. ⁶And Jehovah called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for thou called me. And he answered, I did not call, my son. Lie down again. ⁷Now Samuel did not yet know Jehovah, neither was the word of Jehovah yet revealed to him. ⁸And Jehovah called Samuel again the third time. And he arose and went to Eli, and said, Here I am, for thou called me. And Eli perceived that Jehovah had called the child. ⁹Therefore Eli said to Samuel, Go, lie down, and it shall be, if he calls thee, that thou shall say, Speak, Jehovah, for thy servant hears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. ¹⁰And Jehovah came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel said, Speak, for thy servant hears. ¹¹And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone who hears it shall tingle. ¹²In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even to the end. ¹³For I have told him that I will judge his house forever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse upon themselves, and he did not restrain them. ¹⁴And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli�s house shall not be expiated with sacrifice nor offering forever. ¹⁵And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of Jehovah. And Samuel was afraid to show Eli the vision. ¹⁶Then Eli called Samuel, and said, Samuel, my son. And he said, Here I am. ¹⁷And he said, What is the thing that Jehovah has spoken to thee? I pray thee, hide it not from me. God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide anything from me of all the things that he spoke to thee. ¹⁸And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is Jehovah. Let him do what seems him good. ¹⁹And Samuel grew, and Jehovah was with him, and let none of his words fall to the ground. ²⁰And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of Jehovah. ²¹And Jehovah appeared again in Shiloh, for Jehovah revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 4

¹And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. ²And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines; and they killed of the army in the field about four thousand men. ³And when the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has Jehovah smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of Shiloh to us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies. ⁴So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who sits above the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵And when the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. ⁶And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What is the meaning of the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of Jehovah came into the camp. ⁷And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing heretofore. ⁸Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness. ⁹Be strong, and strengthen yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight. ¹⁰And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. ¹¹And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed. ¹²And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn, and with dirt upon his head. ¹³And when he came, lo, Eli was sitting upon his seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. ¹⁴And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What does the noise of this tumult mean? And the man hastened, and came and told Eli. ¹⁵Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim so that he could not see. ¹⁶And the man said to Eli, I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, How did the matter go, my son? ¹⁷And he who brought the news answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. And thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. ¹⁸And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate. And his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. ¹⁹And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas� wife, was with child, near to be delivered. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and brought forth, for her pains came upon her. ²⁰And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, Fear not, for thou have brought forth a son. But she did not answer, neither did she regard it. ²¹And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²²And she said, The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.

CHAPTER 5

¹Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ²And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. ³And when those of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. ⁴And when they arose early on the morning of the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him. ⁵Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon�s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day. ⁶But the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with tumors, even Ashdod and the borders of it. ⁷And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is hard upon us, and upon Dagon our god. ⁸They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about to Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel there. ⁹And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of Jehovah was against the city with a very great discomfiture. And he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out upon them. ¹⁰So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people. ¹¹They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to its own place, that it not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly discomfiture throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. ¹²And the men who did not die were smitten with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

CHAPTER 6

¹And the ark of Jehovah was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ²And the Philistines called for the priests and the psychics, saying, What shall we do with the ark of Jehovah? Show us with what we shall sent it to its place. ³And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return for him a trespass offering. Then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. ⁴Then they said, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? And they said, Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. ⁵Therefore ye shall make images of your tumors, and images of your mice that mar the land. And ye shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. ⁶Why then do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? ⁷Now therefore take and prepare for you a new cart, and two milk cows on which there has come no yoke. And tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them. ⁸And take the ark of Jehovah, and lay it upon the cart. And put the jewels of gold, which ye return to him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side of it, and send it away, that it may go. ⁹And watch. If it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then he has done to us this great evil, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us. ¹⁰And the men did so, and took two milk cows, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. ¹¹And they put the ark of Jehovah upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their tumors. ¹²And the cows took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And the lords of the Philistines went behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh. ¹³And those of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and stood there where there was a great stone. And they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt offering to Jehovah. ¹⁵And the Levites took down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to Jehovah. ¹⁶And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. ¹⁷And these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering to Jehovah: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one. ¹⁸And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone on which they set down the ark of Jehovah, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite. ¹⁹And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of Jehovah. He smote of the people fifty thousand and seventy men. And the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. ²⁰And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up from us? ²¹And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of Jehovah. Come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

CHAPTER 7

¹And the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of Jehovah, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of Jehovah. ²And it came to pass, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-jearim, that the time was long, for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after Jehovah. ³And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return to Jehovah with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Jehovah, and serve him only. And he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁴Then the sons of Israel did put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served Jehovah only. ⁵And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to Jehovah. ⁶And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Jehovah, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against Jehovah. And Samuel judged the sons of Israel in Mizpah. ⁷And when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸And the sons of Israel said to Samuel, Do not cease to cry to Jehovah our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. ⁹And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Jehovah. And Samuel cried to Jehovah for Israel, and Jehovah answered him. ¹⁰And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but Jehovah thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten down before Israel. ¹¹And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them until they came under Beth-car. ¹²Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Jehovah has helped us to now. ¹³So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the border of Israel, and the hand of Jehovah was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath. And Israel delivered the border of it out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. ¹⁵And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷And his return was to Ramah, for his house was there. And there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to Jehovah.

CHAPTER 8

¹And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. ²Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba. ³And his sons did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain, and took bribes, and perverted justice. ⁴Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel to Ramah. ⁵And they said to him, Behold, thou are old, and thy sons do not walk in thy ways. Now make for us a king to judge us like all the nations. ⁶But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to Jehovah. ⁷And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken to the voice of the people in all that they say to thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not be king over them. ⁸According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also to thee. ⁹Now therefore hearken to their voice. However thou shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the manner of the king who shall reign over them. ¹⁰And Samuel told all the words of Jehovah to the people who asked of him a king. ¹¹And he said, This will be the manner of the king who shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them to him for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and they shall run before his chariots. ¹²And he will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties. And he will set some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots. ¹³And he will take your daughters to be perfumers, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. ¹⁴And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. ¹⁵And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. ¹⁶And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your finest young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work. ¹⁷He will take the tenth of your flocks. And ye shall be his servants. ¹⁸And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye shall have chosen you, and Jehovah will not answer you in that day. ¹⁹But the people refused to hearken to the voice of Samuel. And they said, No, but we will have a king over us ²⁰that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. ²¹And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of Jehovah. ²²And Jehovah said to Samuel, Hearken to their voice, and make for them a king. And Samuel said to the men of Israel, Go ye every man to his city.

CHAPTER 9

¹Now there was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. ²And he had a son whose name was Saul, a young man and fine looking. And there was not among the sons of Israel a man better looking than he. From his shoulders and upward he was taller than any of the people. ³And the donkeys of Kish, Saul�s father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the donkeys. ⁴And he passed through the hill-country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. Then they passed through the land of Shaalim, and they were not there. And he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they did not find them. ⁵When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant who was with him, Come, and let us return, lest my father leave off caring for the donkeys, and be anxious for us. ⁶And he said to him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says comes surely to pass. Now let us go there, perhaps he can tell us concerning our journey on which we go. ⁷Then Saul said to his servant, But behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is not a present to bring to the man of God. What have we? ⁸And the servant answered Saul again, and said, Behold, I have in my hand the fourth part of a shekel of silver. I will give that to the man of God, to tell us our way. ⁹(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, thus he said, Come, and let us go to the seer, for he who is now called a Prophet was formerly called a Seer.) ¹⁰Then Saul said to his servant, Well said. Come, let us go. So they went to the city where the man of God was. ¹¹As they went up the ascent to the city, they found young maidens going out to draw water, and said to them, Is the seer here? ¹²And they answered them, and said, He is. Behold, he is before thee. Make haste now, for he has come today into the city, for the people have a sacrifice today in the high place. ¹³As soon as ye have come into the city, ye shall straightaway find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice, and afterwards those who are bidden eat. Now therefore get you up, for at this time ye shall find him. ¹⁴And they went up to the city. And as they came within the city, behold, Samuel came out toward them, to go up to the high place. ¹⁵Now Jehovah had revealed to Samuel a day before Saul came, saying, ¹⁶Tomorrow about this time I will send thee a man out of the land of Benjamin, and thou shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. And he shall save my people out of the hand of the Philistines, for I have looked upon my people, because their cry has come to me. ¹⁷And when Samuel saw Saul, Jehovah said to him, Behold, the man of whom I spoke to thee! This man shall have authority over my people. ¹⁸Then Saul drew near to Samuel in the gate, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, where the seer�s house is. ¹⁹And Samuel answered Saul, and said, I am the seer. Go up before me to the high place, for ye shall eat with me today. And in the morning I will let thee go, and will tell thee all that is in thy heart. ²⁰And as for thy donkeys that were lost three days ago, set not thy mind on them, for they are found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for thee, and for all thy father�s house? ²¹And Saul answered and said, Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel? And my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then speak thou to me according to this manner? ²²And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the guest-chamber, and made them sit in the chief place among those who were bidden, who were about thirty men. ²³And Samuel said to the cook, Bring the portion which I gave thee, of which I said to thee, Set it by thee. ²⁴And the cook took up the thigh, and that which was upon it, and set it before Saul. And Samuel said, Behold, that which has been reserved! Set it before thee and eat, because it has been kept for thee to the appointed time, for I said, I have invited the people. So Saul ate with Samuel that day. ²⁵And when they came down from the high place into the city, he conversed with Saul upon the housetop. ²⁶And they arose early. And it came to pass about the dawning of the day, that Samuel called to Saul on the housetop, saying, Up, that I may send thee away. And Saul arose, and they went out both of them, he and Samuel, abroad. ²⁷As they were going down at the end of the city, Samuel said to Saul, Bid the servant pass on before us (and he passed on), but stand thou still first, that I may cause thee to hear the word of God.

CHAPTER 10

¹Then Samuel took the vial of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not that Jehovah has anointed thee to be prince over his inheritance? ²When thou are departed from me today, then thou shall find two men by Rachel�s sepulcher in the border of Benjamin at Zelzah. And they will say to thee, The donkeys which thou went to seek are found, and, lo, thy father has left off caring for the donkeys, and is anxious for you, saying, What shall I do for my son? ³Then thou shall go on forward from there, and thou shall come to the oak of Tabor. And there shall meet thee there three men going up to God to Bethel, one carrying three kids, and another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a bottle of wine. ⁴And they will salute thee, and give thee two loaves of bread, which thou shall receive from their hand. ⁵After that thou shall come to the hill of God where is the garrison of the Philistines. And it shall come to pass, when thou have come there to the city, that thou shall meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a timbrel, and a pipe, and a harp, before them, and they will be prophesying. ⁶And the Spirit of Jehovah will come mightily upon thee, and thou shall prophesy with them, and shall be turned into another man. ⁷And let it be, when these signs have come to thee, that thou do as occasion shall serve thee, for God is with thee. ⁸And thou shall go down before me to Gilgal. And, behold, I will come down to thee, to offer burnt offerings, and to sacrifice sacrifices of peace offerings. Thou shall tarry seven days till I come to thee, and show thee what thou shall do. ⁹And it was so, that, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all those signs came to pass that day. ¹⁰And when they came there to the hill, behold, a band of prophets met him. And the Spirit of God came mightily upon him, and he prophesied among them. ¹¹And it came to pass, when all who knew him formerly saw, that, behold, he prophesied with the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that has come to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹²And a man from the same place answered and said, And who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets? ¹³And when he had made an end of prophesying, he came to the high place. ¹⁴And Saul�s uncle said to him and to his servant, Where did ye go? And he said, To seek the donkeys, and when we saw that they were not found, we came to Samuel. ¹⁵And Saul�s uncle said, Tell me, I pray thee, what Samuel said to you. ¹⁶And Saul said to his uncle, He told us plainly that the donkeys were found. But concerning the matter of the kingdom, of which Samuel spoke, he did not tell him. ¹⁷And Samuel called the people together to Jehovah to Mizpah. ¹⁸And he said to the sons of Israel, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you, ¹⁹but ye have this day rejected your God who himself saves you out of all your calamities and your distresses, and ye have said to him, No, but set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves before Jehovah by your tribes, and by your thousands. ²⁰So Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was taken. ²¹And he brought the tribe of Benjamin near by their families, and the family of the Matrites was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken. But when they sought him, he could not be found. ²²Therefore they asked of Jehovah further, Is there yet a man to come here? And Jehovah answered, Behold, he has hid himself among the baggage. ²³And they ran and fetched him from there. And when he stood among the people, he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward. ²⁴And Samuel said to all the people, See ye him whom Jehovah has chosen, that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted, and said, Live, O king! ²⁵Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before Jehovah. And Samuel sent all the people away, every man to his house. ²⁶And Saul also went to his house to Gibeah, and mighty men went with him, whose hearts God had touched. ²⁷But certain worthless fellows said, How shall this man save us? And they despised him, and brought him no present. But he held his peace.

CHAPTER 11

¹Then Nahash the Ammonite came up, and encamped against Jabesh-gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee. ²And Nahash the Ammonite said to them, On this condition will I make it with you, that all your right eyes be put out, and I will lay it for a reproach upon all Israel. ³And the elders of Jabesh said to him, Give us seven days� respite that we may send messengers to all the borders of Israel, and then, if there be none to save us, we will come out to thee. ⁴Then the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul, and spoke these words in the ears of the people. And all the people lifted up their voice, and wept. ⁵And, behold, Saul came following the oxen out of the field, and Saul said, What troubles the people that they weep? And they told him the words of the men of Jabesh. ⁶And the Spirit of God came mightily upon Saul when he heard those words, and his anger was greatly kindled. ⁷And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come forth behind Saul and behind Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. And the dread of Jehovah fell on the people, and they came out as one man. ⁸And he numbered them in Bezek, and the sons of Israel were three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. ⁹And they said to the messengers who came, Thus ye shall say to the men of Jabesh-gilead, Tomorrow, by the time the sun is hot, ye shall have deliverance. And the messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. ¹⁰Therefore the men of Jabesh said, Tomorrow we will come out to you, and ye shall do with us all that seems good to you. ¹¹And it was so on the morrow, that Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch, and smote the Ammonites until the heat of the day. And it came to pass, that those who remained were scattered so that not two of them were left together. ¹²And the people said to Samuel, Who is he who said, Shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men that we may put them to death. ¹³And Saul said, There shall not a man be put to death this day, for today Jehovah has wrought deliverance in Israel. ¹⁴Then Samuel said to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there. ¹⁵And all the people went to Gilgal. And there they made Saul king before Jehovah in Gilgal, and there they offered sacrifices of peace offerings before Jehovah, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

CHAPTER 12

¹And Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened to your voice in all that ye said to me, and have made a king over you. ²And now, behold, the king walks before you. And I am old and gray headed, and, behold, my sons are with you. And I have walked before you from my youth to this day. ³Here I am. Witness against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed: Whose ox have I taken? Or whose donkey have I taken? Or whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Or of whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? And I will restore it to you. ⁴And they said, Thou have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have thou taken anything of any man�s hand. ⁵And he said to them, Jehovah is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found anything in my hand. And they said, He is witness. ⁶And Samuel said to the people, It is Jehovah who appointed Moses and Aaron, and who brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. ⁷Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before Jehovah concerning all the righteous acts of Jehovah, which he did to you and to your fathers. ⁸When Jacob had come into Egypt, and your fathers cried to Jehovah, then Jehovah sent Moses and Aaron who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them to dwell in this place. ⁹But they forgot Jehovah their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them. ¹⁰And they cried to Jehovah, and said, We have sinned because we have forsaken Jehovah, and have served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee. ¹¹And Jehovah sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelt in safety. ¹²And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, ye said to me, No, but a king shall reign over us, when Jehovah your God was your king. ¹³Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have asked for. And, behold, Jehovah has set a king over you. ¹⁴If ye will fear Jehovah, and serve him, and hearken to his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, then both ye and also the king who reigns over you shall be followers of Jehovah your God. ¹⁵But if ye will not hearken to the voice of Jehovah, but rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, then the hand of Jehovah will be against you as it was against your fathers. ¹⁶Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Jehovah will do before your eyes. ¹⁷Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call to Jehovah that he may send thunder and rain, and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of Jehovah in asking a king for you. ¹⁸So Samuel called to Jehovah, and Jehovah sent thunder and rain that day. And all the people greatly feared Jehovah and Samuel. ¹⁹And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for thy servants to Jehovah thy God that we not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask a king for us. ²⁰And Samuel said to the people, Fear not. Ye have indeed done all this evil, yet turn not aside from following Jehovah, but serve Jehovah with all your heart. ²¹And turn ye not aside after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. ²²For Jehovah will not forsake his people for his great name�s sake, because it has pleased Jehovah to make you a people to himself. ²³Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you. But I will instruct you in the good and the right way. ²⁴Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you. ²⁵But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.

CHAPTER 13

¹Saul was � years old when he began to reign. And when he had reigned two years over Israel, ²Saul chose for him three thousand men of Israel, of which two thousand were with Saul in Michmash, and on the mount of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan in Gibeah of Benjamin, and the rest of the people he sent every man to his tent. ³And Jonathan smote the garrison of the Philistines that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. And Saul blew the trumpet throughout all the land, saying, Let the Hebrews hear. ⁴And all Israel heard say that Saul had smitten the garrison of the Philistines, and also that Israel was had in abomination with the Philistines. And the people were gathered together after Saul to Gilgal. ⁵And the Philistines assembled themselves together to fight with Israel: thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea-shore in multitude. And they came up, and encamped in Michmash, eastward of Beth-aven. ⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in a strait (for the people were distressed), then the people hid themselves in caves, and in thickets, and in rocks, and in coverts, and in pits. ⁷Now some of the Hebrews had gone over the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead, but as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. ⁸And he tarried seven days, according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattered from him. ⁹And Saul said, Bring here the burnt offering to me, and the peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰And it came to pass that, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came, and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. ¹¹And Samuel said, What have thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash, ¹²therefore I said, Now the Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of Jehovah. I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering. ¹³And Samuel said to Saul, Thou have done foolishly. Thou have not kept the commandment of Jehovah thy God, which he commanded thee. For now Jehovah would have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever, ¹⁴but now thy kingdom shall not continue. Jehovah has sought for him a man after his own heart, and Jehovah has appointed him to be prince over his people, because thou have not kept that which Jehovah commanded thee. ¹⁵And Samuel arose, and got up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. And Saul numbered the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶And Saul, and Jonathan his son, and the people that were present with them, abode in Geba of Benjamin, but the Philistines encamped in Michmash. ¹⁷And the spoilers came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies. One company turned to the way that leads to Ophrah, to the land of Shual, ¹⁸and another company turned the way to Beth-horon, and another company turned the way of the border that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness. ¹⁹Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel, for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make for them swords or spears, ²⁰but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. ²¹Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to set the goads. ²²So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people who were with Saul and Jonathan. But with Saul and with Jonathan his son there was found. ²³And the garrison of the Philistines went out to the pass of Michmash.

CHAPTER 14

¹Now it fell upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the Philistines� garrison that is on yonder side. But he did not tell his father. ²And Saul abode in the outermost part of Gibeah under the pomegranate tree which is in Migron. And the people who were with him were about six hundred men, ³and Ahijah, the son of Ahitub, Ichabod�s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the priest of Jehovah in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people did not know that Jonathan was gone. ⁴And between the passes by which Jonathan sought to go over to the Philistines� garrison, there was a rocky crag on the one side, and a rocky crag on the other side. And the name of the one was Bozez, and the name of the other Seneh. ⁵The one crag rose up on the north in front of Michmash, and the other on the south in front of Geba. ⁶And Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, Come, and let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that Jehovah will work for us, for there is no limitation to Jehovah to save by many or by few. ⁷And his armor bearer said to him, Do all that is in thy heart. Turn thee, behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. ⁸Then Jonathan said, Behold, we will pass over to the men, and we will disclose ourselves to them. ⁹If they say thus to us, Tarry until we come to you, then we will stand still in our place, and will not go up to them. ¹⁰But if they say thus, Come up to us, then we will go up, for Jehovah has delivered them into our hand, and this shall be the sign to us. ¹¹And both of them disclosed themselves to the garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they had hid themselves. ¹²And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing. And Jonathan said to his armor bearer, Come up after me, for Jehovah has delivered them into the hand of Israel. ¹³And Jonathan climbed up upon his hands and upon his feet, and his armor bearer after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer killed them after him. ¹⁴And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow�s length in an acre of land. ¹⁵And there was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. The garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled. And the earth quaked, so there was an exceedingly great trembling. ¹⁶And the watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked, and, behold, the multitude melted away, and they went here and there. ¹⁷Then Saul said to the people who were with him, Number now, and see who has gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armor bearer were not there. ¹⁸And Saul said to Ahijah, Bring here the ark of God. For the ark of God was there at that time with the sons of Israel. ¹⁹And it came to pass, while Saul talked to the priest, that the tumult that was in the camp of the Philistines went on and increased. And Saul said to the priest, Withdraw thy hand. ²⁰And Saul and all the people who were with him were gathered together, and came to the battle. And, behold, every man�s sword was against his fellow, and there was a very great discomfiture. ²¹Now the Hebrews who were with the Philistines as formerly, and who went up with them into the camp, from the country round about, even they also turned to be with the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan. ²²Likewise all the men of Israel who had hid themselves in the hill-country of Ephraim, when they heard that the Philistines fled, even they also followed close after them in the battle. ²³So Jehovah saved Israel that day, and the battle passed over by Beth-aven. ²⁴And the men of Israel were distressed that day, for Saul had adjured the people, saying, Cursed be the man who eats any food until it be evening, and I be avenged on my enemies. So none of the people tasted food. ²⁵And all the people came into the forest, and there was honey upon the ground. ²⁶And when the people came to the forest, behold, the honey dropped, but no man put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath. ²⁷But Jonathan heard not when his father charged the people with the oath, therefore he put forth the end of the rod that was in his hand, and dipped it in the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth, and his eyes were enlightened. ²⁸Then one of the people answered, and said, Thy father strictly charged the people with an oath, saying, Cursed be the man who eats food this day, and the people were faint. ²⁹Then Jonathan said, My father has troubled the land. See, I pray you, how my eyes have been enlightened because I tasted a little of this honey. ³⁰How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely today of the spoil of their enemies which they found? For now there has been no great slaughter among the Philistines. ³¹And they smote of the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon. And the people were very faint, ³²and the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and killed them on the ground. And the people ate them with the blood. ³³Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against Jehovah, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, ye have dealt treacherously. Roll a great stone to me this day. ³⁴And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say to them, Bring me here every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and kill them here, and eat. And sin not against Jehovah in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and killed them there. ³⁵And Saul built an altar to Jehovah; the same was the first altar that he built to Jehovah. ³⁶And Saul said, Let us go down after the Philistines by night, and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them. And they said, Do whatever seems good to thee. Then the priest said, Let us draw near here to God. ³⁷And Saul asked counsel of God, Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will thou deliver them into the hand of Israel? But he did not answer him that day. ³⁸And Saul said, Draw near here, all ye chiefs of the people, and know and see how this sin has been this day. ³⁹For, as Jehovah lives, who saves Israel, though it be in Jonathan my son, he shall surely die. But there was not a man among all the people who answered him. ⁴⁰Then he said to all Israel, Be ye on one side, and I and Jonathan my son will be on the other side. And the people said to Saul, Do what seems good to thee. ⁴¹Therefore Saul said to Jehovah, the God of Israel, Show the right. And Jonathan and Saul were taken by lot, but the people escaped. ⁴²And Saul said, Cast lots between me and Jonathan my son. And Jonathan was taken. ⁴³Then Saul said to Jonathan, Tell me what thou have done. And Jonathan told him, and said, I did certainly taste a little honey with the end of the rod that was in my hand. And, lo, I must die. ⁴⁴And Saul said, God do so and more also, for thou shall surely die, Jonathan. ⁴⁵And the people said to Saul, Shall Jonathan die, who has wrought this great salvation in Israel? Far from it. As Jehovah lives, there shall not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he has wrought with God this day. So the people rescued Jonathan, that he did not die. ⁴⁶Then Saul went up from following the Philistines, and the Philistines went to their own place. ⁴⁷Now when Saul had taken the kingdom over Israel, he fought against all his enemies on every side, against Moab, and against the sons of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and against the Philistines. And wherever he turned himself, he put them to the worse. ⁴⁸And he did valiantly, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who despoiled them. ⁴⁹Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Ishvi, and Malchishua. And the names of his two daughters were these: the name of the firstborn Merab, and the name of the younger Michal. ⁵⁰And the name of Saul�s wife was Ahinoam the daughter of Ahimaaz. And the name of the captain of his army was Abner the son of Ner, Saul�s uncle. ⁵¹And Kish was the father of Saul, and Ner the father of Abner was the son of Abiel. ⁵²And there was great war against the Philistines all the days of Saul. And when Saul saw any mighty man, or any valiant man, he took him to him.

CHAPTER 15

¹And Samuel said to Saul, Jehovah sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people, over Israel. Now therefore hearken thou to the voice of the words of Jehovah. ²Thus says Jehovah of hosts, I have remembered that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way when he came up out of Egypt. ³Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. ⁴And Saul summoned the people, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. ⁶And Saul said to the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them, for ye showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ⁷And Saul smote the Amalekites, from Havilah as thou go to Shur, that is before Egypt. ⁸And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. ⁹But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. But everything that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly. ¹⁰Then the word of Jehovah came to Samuel, saying, ¹¹I regret that I have set up Saul to be king, for he has turned back from following me, and has not performed my commandments. And Samuel was angry, and he cried out to Jehovah all night. ¹²And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, and it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set up for him a monument, and turned, and passed on, and went down to Gilgal. ¹³And Samuel came to Saul. And Saul said to him, Blessed be thou of Jehovah. I have performed the commandment of Jehovah. ¹⁴And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? ¹⁵And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to Jehovah thy God, and the rest we have utterly destroyed. ¹⁶Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop, and I will tell thee what Jehovah has said to me this night. And he said to him, Say on. ¹⁷And Samuel said, Though thou were little in thine own sight, were thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel? And Jehovah anointed thee king over Israel. ¹⁸And Jehovah sent thee on a journey, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. ¹⁹Why then did thou not obey the voice of Jehovah, but did fly upon the spoil, and did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah? ²⁰And Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah, and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. ²¹But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice to Jehovah thy God in Gilgal. ²²And Samuel said, Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. ²³For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because thou have rejected the word of Jehovah, he has also rejected thee from being king. ²⁴And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of Jehovah, and thy words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. ²⁵Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me that I may worship Jehovah. ²⁶And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with thee, for thou have rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah has rejected thee from being king over Israel. ²⁷And as Samuel turned about to go away, Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it tore. ²⁸And Samuel said to him, Jehovah has torn the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and has given it to a neighbor of thine, who is better than thou. ²⁹And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for he is not a man that he should repent. ³⁰Then he said, I have sinned. Yet honor me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn again with me, that I may worship Jehovah thy God. ³¹So Samuel turned again after Saul, and Saul worshiped Jehovah. ³²Then Samuel said, Bring ye here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past. ³³And Samuel said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah in Gilgal. ³⁴Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul. ³⁵And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, for Samuel mourned for Saul, and Jehovah regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

CHAPTER 16

¹And Jehovah said to Samuel, How long will thou mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill thy horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for me a king among his sons. ²And Samuel said, How do I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And Jehovah said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I have come to sacrifice to Jehovah. ³And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shall do. And thou shall anoint to me him whom I name to thee. ⁴And Samuel did that which Jehovah spoke, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, Do thou come peaceably? ⁵And he said, Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to Jehovah. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. ⁶And it came to pass, when they came, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely Jehovah�s anointed is before him. ⁷But Jehovah said to Samuel, Do not look on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For Jehovah sees not as man sees, for man looks on the outward appearance, but Jehovah looks on the heart. ⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither has Jehovah chosen this man. ⁹Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said, Neither has Jehovah chosen this man. ¹⁰And Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, Jehovah has not chosen these men. ¹¹And Samuel said to Jesse, Are all thy sons here? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. ¹²And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and of a beautiful countenance, and fine to look upon. And Jehovah said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. ¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. ¹⁴Now the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him. ¹⁵And Saul�s servants said to him, Behold now, an evil spirit from God troubles thee. ¹⁶Let our lord now command thy servants, who are before thee, to seek out a man who is a skilful player on the harp. And it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from God is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand, and thou shall be well. ¹⁷And Saul said to his servants, Provide for me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me. ¹⁸Then one of the young men answered, and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skilful in playing, and a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely man, and Jehovah is with him. ¹⁹Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, Send to me David thy son, who is with the sheep. ²⁰And Jesse took a donkey with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David his son to Saul. ²¹And David came to Saul, and stood before him. And he loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. ²²And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight. ²³And it came to pass, when the spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand. So Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

CHAPTER 17

¹Now the Philistines gathered their armies together to battle. And they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. ²And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the vale of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. ³And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, and there was a valley between them. ⁴And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. ⁵And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. ⁶And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. ⁷And the staff of his spear was like a weaver�s beam, and his spear�s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. ⁸And he stood and cried out to the armies of Israel, and said to them, Why have ye come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. ⁹If he is able to fight with me, and kill me, then we will be your servants, but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then ye shall be our servants, and serve us. ¹⁰And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man, that we may fight together. ¹¹And when Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid. ¹²Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-judah, whose name was Jesse. And he had eight sons, and the man was an old man in the days of Saul, stricken in years among men. ¹³And the three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. ¹⁴And David was the youngest, and the three eldest followed Saul. ¹⁵Now David went to and fro from Saul to feed his father�s sheep at Bethlehem. ¹⁶And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. ¹⁷And Jesse said to David his son, Take now for thy brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to thy brothers. ¹⁸And bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand. And look how thy brothers fare, and take their pledge. ¹⁹Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. ²⁰And David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the place of the wagons as the army which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle. ²¹And Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. ²²And David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and saluted his brothers. ²³And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words, and David heard them. ²⁴And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were greatly afraid. ²⁵And the men of Israel said, Have ye seen this man who has come up? Surely to defy Israel he has come up. And it shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father�s house free in Israel. ²⁶And David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? ²⁷And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that kills him. ²⁸And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men. And Eliab�s anger was kindled against David, and he said, Why have thou come down? And with whom have thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the mischief of thy heart, for thou have come down that thou might see the battle. ²⁹And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? ³⁰And he turned away from him toward another, and spoke after the same manner, and the people answered him again after the former manner. ³¹And when the words were heard which David spoke, they repeated them before Saul, and he sent for him. ³²And David said to Saul, Let no man�s heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. ³³And Saul said to David, Thou are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for thou are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. ³⁴And David said to Saul, Thy servant was keeping his father�s sheep, and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, ³⁵I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and killed him. ³⁶Thy servant smote both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷And David said, Jehovah who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go, and Jehovah shall be with thee. ³⁸And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. ³⁹And David girded his sword upon his apparel, and he attempted to go, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them. And David put them off of him. ⁴⁰And he took his staff in his hand, and chose for him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd�s bag which he had, even in his wallet. And his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. ⁴¹And the Philistine came on and drew near to David, and the man who bore the shield went before him. ⁴²And when the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. ⁴³And the Philistine said to David, Am I a dog, that thou come to me with sticks? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the field. ⁴⁵Then David said to the Philistine, Thou come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin, but I come to thee in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou have defied. ⁴⁶This day Jehovah will deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee, and take thy head from off thee. And I will give the dead bodies of the armies of the Philistines this day to the birds of the heavens, and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ⁴⁷and that all this assembly may know that Jehovah saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is Jehovah�s, and he will give you into our hand. ⁴⁸And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hastened, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. ⁴⁹And David put his hand in his bag, and took from there a stone, and slung it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. ⁵⁰So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. ⁵¹Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath of it, and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵²And the men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines until thou come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron. And the wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath, and to Ekron. ⁵³And the sons of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. ⁵⁴And David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. ⁵⁵And when Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As thy soul lives, O king, I cannot tell. ⁵⁶And the king said, Inquire thou whose son the stripling is. ⁵⁷And as David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. ⁵⁸And Saul said to him, Whose son are thou, young man? And David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.

CHAPTER 18

¹And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. ²And Saul took him that day, and would no more let him go home to his father�s house. ³Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. ⁴And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his apparel, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his belt. ⁵And David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely. And Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul�s servants. ⁶And it came to pass as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with timbrels, with joy, and with instruments of music. ⁷And the women sang one to another as they played, and said, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. ⁸And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him, and he said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands, and what can he have more but the kingdom? ⁹And Saul eyed David from that day and forward. ¹⁰And it came to pass on the morrow, that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. And David played with his hand, as he did day by day, and Saul had his spear in his hand. ¹¹And Saul cast the spear, for he said, I will smite David even to the wall. And David turned away from his presence twice. ¹²And Saul was afraid of David because Jehovah was with him, and was departed from Saul. ¹³Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand, and he went out and came in before the people. ¹⁴And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways, and Jehovah was with him. ¹⁵And when Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he was afraid of him. ¹⁶But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them. ¹⁷And Saul said to David, Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to thee for a wife. Only be thou valiant for me, and fight Jehovah�s battles. For Saul said, Let not my hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him. ¹⁸And David said to Saul, Who am I, and what is my life, or my father�s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king? ¹⁹But it came to pass at the time when Merab, Saul�s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite to wife. ²⁰And Michal, Saul�s daughter, loved David, and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. ²¹And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, Thou shall this day be my son-in-law a second time. ²²And Saul commanded his servants, saying, Converse with David secretly, and say, Behold, the king has delight in thee, and all his servants love thee. Now therefore be the king�s son-in-law. ²³And Saul�s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. And David said, Does it seem to you a light thing to be the king�s son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed? ²⁴And the servants of Saul told him, saying, On this manner David spoke. ²⁵And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king does not desire any dowry, but a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king�s enemies. Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. ²⁶And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king�s son-in-law. And the days were not expired. ²⁷And David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men. And David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king�s son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. ²⁸And Saul saw and knew that Jehovah was with David, and Michal, Saul�s daughter, loved him. ²⁹And Saul was yet the more afraid of David, and Saul was David�s enemy continually. ³⁰Then the rulers of the Philistines went forth, and it came to pass, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was very precious.

CHAPTER 19

¹And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul�s son, delighted much in David. ²And Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeks to kill thee. Now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself in the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself. ³And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou are, and I will converse with my father of thee, and if I see anything, I will tell thee. ⁴And Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David, because he has not sinned against thee, and because his works have been very good toward thee. ⁵For he put his life in his hand, and smote the Philistine, and Jehovah wrought a great victory for all Israel. Thou saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will thou sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause? ⁶And Saul hearkened to the voice of Jonathan. And Saul swore, As Jehovah lives, he shall not be put to death. ⁷And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as beforetime. ⁸And there was war again. And David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter, and they fled before him. ⁹And an evil spirit from Jehovah was upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, and David was playing with his hand. ¹⁰And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away out of Saul�s presence, and he smote the spear into the wall. And David fled, and escaped that night. ¹¹And Saul sent messengers to David�s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. And Michal, David�s wife, told him, saying, If thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou will be slain. ¹²So Michal let David down through the window, and he went, and fled, and escaped. ¹³And Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats� hair at the head of it, and covered it with the clothes. ¹⁴And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. ¹⁵And Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him. ¹⁶And when the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats� hair at the head of it. ¹⁷And Saul said to Michal, Why have thou deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped? And Michal answered Saul, He said to me, Let me go. Why should I kill thee? ¹⁸Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. And he and Samuel went and dwelt in Naioth. ¹⁹And it was told Saul, saying, Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah. ²⁰And Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. ²¹And when it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. And Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. ²²Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu. And he asked and said, Where are Samuel and David? And one said, Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah. ²³And he went there to Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him also, and he went on, and prophesied until he came to Naioth in Ramah. ²⁴And he also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, Is Saul also among the prophets?

CHAPTER 20

¹And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeks my life? ²And he said to him, Far from it. Thou shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me, and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so. ³And David swore moreover, and said, Thy father knows well that I have found favor in thine eyes, and he says, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved. But truly as Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, there is but a step between me and death. ⁴Then Jonathan said to David, Whatever thy soul desires, I will even do it for thee. ⁵And David said to Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king to eat. But let me go that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening. ⁶If thy father misses me at all, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city, for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family. ⁷If he says thus, It is well. Thy servant shall have peace. But if he is angry, then know that evil is determined by him. ⁸Therefore deal kindly with thy servant, for thou have brought thy servant into a covenant of Jehovah with thee. But if there be in me iniquity, kill me thyself, for why should thou bring me to thy father? ⁹And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee, for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would I not tell it to thee? ¹⁰Then David said to Jonathan, Who shall tell me if perchance thy father answers thee roughly? ¹¹And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field. ¹²And Jonathan said to David, Jehovah, the God of Israel�when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there be good toward David, shall I not then send to thee, and disclose it to thee? ¹³Jehovah do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do thee evil, if I not disclose it to thee, and send thee away that thou may go in peace. And Jehovah be with thee as he has been with my father. ¹⁴And thou shall not only show me the loving kindness of Jehovah, while I yet live, that I not die, ¹⁵but also thou shall not cut off thy kindness from my house forever. No, not when Jehovah has cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. ¹⁶So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, And Jehovah will require it at the hand of David�s enemies. ¹⁷And Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him. For he loved him as he loved his own soul. ¹⁸Then Jonathan said to him, Tomorrow is the new moon, and thou will be missed because thy seat will be empty. ¹⁹And when thou have stayed three days, thou shall go down quickly, and come to the place where thou hid thyself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel. ²⁰And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark. ²¹And, behold, I will send the lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them, and come, for there is peace to thee and no hurt, as Jehovah lives. ²²But if I say thus to the boy, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee, go thy way, for Jehovah has sent thee away. ²³And concerning the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, Jehovah is between thee and me forever. ²⁴So David hid himself in the field. And when the new moon came, the king sat down to eat food. ²⁵And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon the seat by the wall, and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul�s side, but David�s place was empty. ²⁶Nevertheless Saul spoke nothing that day, for he thought, Something has befallen him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean. ²⁷And it came to pass on the morrow after the new moon, which was the second day, that David�s place was empty. And Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why has the son of Jesse not come in to the food, neither yesterday, nor today? ²⁸And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. ²⁹And he said, Let me go, I pray thee, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother, he has commanded me. And now, if I have found favor in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brothers. Therefore he has not come to the king�s table. ³⁰Then Saul�s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Thou son of a perverse rebellious woman, do I not know that thou have chosen the son of Jesse to thine own shame, and to the shame of thy mother�s nakedness? ³¹For as long as the son of Jesse lives upon the ground, thou shall not be established, nor thy kingdom. Therefore now send and fetch him to me, for he shall surely die. ³²And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why should he be put to death? What has he done? ³³And Saul cast his spear at him to smite him. By this Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to put David to death. ³⁴So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month, for he was grieved for David because his father had done him shame. ³⁵And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. ³⁶And he said to his lad, Run, now find the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. ³⁷And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? ³⁸And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan�s lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. ³⁹But the lad knew nothing. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. ⁴⁰And Jonathan gave his weapons to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city. ⁴¹And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the South, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. And they kissed each other, and wept one with another until David surpassed him. ⁴²And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, inasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of Jehovah, saying, Jehovah shall be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed, forever. And he arose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.

CHAPTER 21

¹Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, Why are thou alone, and no man with thee? ²And David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, Let no man know anything of the business about which I send thee, and what I have commanded thee, and I have assigned the young men to such and such a place. ³Now therefore what is under thy hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present. ⁴And the priest answered David, and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread. If only the young men have kept themselves from women. ⁵And David answered the priest, and said to him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy? ⁶So the priest gave him holy bread, for there was no bread there but the showbread that was taken from before Jehovah to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. ⁷Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Jehovah. And his name was Doeg the Edomite, the foremost of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. ⁸And David said to Ahimelech, And is there not here under thy hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king�s business required haste. ⁹And the priest said, The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom thou killed in the vale of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If thou will take that, take it, for there is no other except that here. And David said, There is none like that. Give it to me. ¹⁰And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. ¹¹And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? ¹²And David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath. ¹³And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. ¹⁴Then Achish said to his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad. Why then have ye brought him to me? ¹⁵Do I lack madmen, that ye have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?

CHAPTER 22

¹David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. And when his brothers and all his father�s house heard it, they went down there to him. ²And every man who was in distress, and every man who was in debt, and every man who was discontented, gathered themselves to him, and he became captain over them. And there were with him about four hundred men. ³And David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, Let my father and my mother, I pray thee, come forth, and be with you, till I know what God will do for me. ⁴And he brought them before the king of Moab, and they dwelt with him all the while that David was in the stronghold. ⁵And the prophet Gad said to David, Abide not in the stronghold. Depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth. ⁶And Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. ⁷And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, ye Benjamites. Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, ⁸that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a league with the son of Jesse? And there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day. ⁹Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, and said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. ¹⁰And he inquired of Jehovah for him, and gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine. ¹¹Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father�s house, the priests who were in Nob. And they came to the king, all of them. ¹²And Saul said, Hear now, thou son of Ahitub. And he answered, Here I am, my lord. ¹³And Saul said to him, Why have ye conspired against me, thou and the son of Jesse, in that thou have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me to lie in wait as at this day? ¹⁴Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, And who among all thy servants is so faithful as David, who is the king�s son-in-law, and is taken into thy council, and is honorable in thy house? ¹⁵Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me. Let not the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father, for thy servant knows nothing of all this, less or more. ¹⁶And the king said, Thou shall surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father�s house. ¹⁷And the king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn, and kill the priests of Jehovah, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of Jehovah. ¹⁸And the king said to Doeg, Turn thou, and fall upon the priests. And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod. ¹⁹And Nob, the city of the priests, he smote with the edge of the sword, both men and women, sons and sucklings, and oxen and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword. ²⁰And one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. ²¹And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Jehovah�s priests. ²²And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father�s house. ²³Abide thou with me. Fear not, for he who seeks my life seeks thy life, for with me thou shall be in safeguard.

CHAPTER 23

¹And they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing-floors. ²Therefore David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And Jehovah said to David, Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. ³And David�s men said to him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines? ⁴Then David inquired of Jehovah yet again. And Jehovah answered him, and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand. ⁵And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. ⁶And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand. ⁷And it was told Saul that David came to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars. ⁸And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. ⁹And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring here the ephod. ¹⁰Then said David, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, thy servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. ¹¹Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as thy servant has heard? O Jehovah, the God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy servant. And Jehovah said, He will come down. ¹²Then David said, Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul? And Jehovah said, They will deliver thee up. ¹³Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he ceased to go forth. ¹⁴And David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand. ¹⁵And David saw that Saul came out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the forest. ¹⁶And Jonathan, Saul�s son, arose, and went to David into the forest, and strengthened his hand in God. ¹⁷And he said to him, Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee. And thou shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to thee. And that, Saul my father also knows. ¹⁸And those two made a covenant before Jehovah. And David abode in the forest, and Jonathan went to his house. ¹⁹Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the forest, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert? ²⁰Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of thy soul to come down, and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king�s hand. ²¹And Saul said, Blessed be ye of Jehovah, for ye have had compassion on me. ²²Go, I pray you, make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there, for it is told me that he deals very shrewdly. ²³See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come ye again to me of a certainty. And I will go with you, and it shall come to pass, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah. ²⁴And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul, but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert. ²⁵And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David. Therefore he came down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. ²⁶And Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain. And David made haste to get away for fear of Saul. For Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about to take them. ²⁷But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Hasten thee, and come, for the Philistines have made a raid upon the land. ²⁸So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth. ²⁹And David went up from there, and dwelt in the strongholds of En-gedi.

CHAPTER 24

¹And it came to pass, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi. ²Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats. ³And he came to the sheepcotes by the way, where was a cave, and Saul went in to cover his feet. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave. ⁴And the men of David said to him, Behold, the day of which Jehovah said to thee, Behold, I will deliver thine enemy into thy hand, and thou shall do to him as it shall seem good to thee. Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul�s robe secretly. ⁵And it came to pass afterward, that David�s heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul�s skirt. ⁶And he said to his men, Jehovah forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Jehovah�s anointed, to put forth my hand against him, since he is Jehovah�s anointed. ⁷So David restrained his men with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. ⁸David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, My lord the king. And when Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and did obeisance. ⁹And David said to Saul, Why do thou hearken to men�s words, saying, Behold, David seeks thy hurt? ¹⁰Behold, this day thine eyes have seen how that Jehovah had delivered thee today into my hand in the cave. And some bade me kill thee, but I spared thee. And I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord, for he is Jehovah�s anointed. ¹¹Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of thy robe in my hand, for in that I cut off the skirt of thy robe, and killed thee not. Know thou and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against thee, though thou hunt after my life to take it. ¹²Jehovah judge between me and thee, and Jehovah avenge me of thee, but my hand shall not be upon thee. ¹³As says the proverb of the ancients, Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness, but my hand shall not be upon thee. ¹⁴After whom is the king of Israel come out? After whom do thou pursue? After a dead dog, after a flea. ¹⁵Jehovah therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of thy hand. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. ¹⁷And he said to David, Thou are more righteous than I, for thou have rendered to me good, whereas I have rendered to thee evil. ¹⁸And thou have declared this day how that thou have dealt well with me, inasmuch as when Jehovah had delivered me up into thy hand, thou killed me not. ¹⁹For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away well? Therefore Jehovah reward thee good for that which thou have done to me this day. ²⁰And now, behold, I know that thou shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thy hand. ²¹Swear now therefore to me by Jehovah, that thou will not cut off my seed after me, and that thou will not destroy my name out of my father�s house. ²²And David swore to Saul. And Saul went home, but David and his men got up to the stronghold.

CHAPTER 25

¹And Samuel died. And all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah. And David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. ²And there was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. And the man was very great in goods, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats. And he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. ³Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of his wife Abigail. And the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance, but the man was churlish and evil in his doings, and he was of the house of Caleb. ⁴And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. ⁵And David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. ⁶And thus ye shall say to him who lives in prosperity, Peace be to thee, and peace be to thy house, and peace be to all that thou have. ⁷And now I have heard that thou have shearers. Thy shepherds have now been with us, and we did them no hurt, neither was there anything missing to them all the while they were in Carmel. ⁸Ask thy young men, and they will tell thee. Therefore let the young men find favor in thine eyes, for we come in a good day. Give, I pray thee, whatever comes to thy hand to thy servants, and to thy son David. ⁹And when David�s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. ¹⁰And Nabal answered David�s servants, and said, Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants now-a-days who break away every man from his master. ¹¹Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men of whom I know not from where they are? ¹²So David�s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. ¹³And David said to his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword, and David also girded on his sword. And there went up after David about four hundred men, and two hundred abode by the baggage. ¹⁴But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal�s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master, and he railed at them. ¹⁵But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither did we miss anything as long as we went with them when we were in the fields. ¹⁶They were a wall to us both by night and by day all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. ¹⁷Now therefore know and consider what thou will do, for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house. For he is such a worthless fellow that a man cannot speak to him. ¹⁸Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched grain, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. ¹⁹And she said to her young men, Go on before me, behold, I come after you. But she did not tell her husband Nabal. ²⁰And it was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that, behold, David and his men came down toward her, and she met them. ²¹Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him, and he has returned me evil for good. ²²God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that pertains to him by the morning light so much as one man-child. ²³And when Abigail saw David, she hastened, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. ²⁴And she fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me be the iniquity, and let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine ears, and hear thou the words of thy handmaid. ²⁵Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal, for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him. But I thy handmaid saw not the young men of my lord whom thou sent. ²⁶Now therefore, my lord, as Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, since Jehovah has withheld thee from blood guiltiness, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now therefore let thine enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. ²⁷And now this present which thy servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. ²⁸Forgive, I pray thee, the trespass of thy handmaid. For Jehovah will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Jehovah, and evil shall not be found in thee all thy days. ²⁹And though men be risen up to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Jehovah thy God. And the souls of thine enemies, them he shall sling out as from the hollow of a sling. ³⁰And it shall come to pass, when Jehovah shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee prince over Israel, ³¹that this shall be no grief to thee, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that thou have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. And when Jehovah shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thy handmaid. ³²And David said to Abigail, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sent thee this day to meet me, ³³and blessed be thy discretion, and blessed be thou, who have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. ³⁴For in very deed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting thee, unless thou had hastened and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one man-child. ³⁵So David received from her hand that which she had brought him. And he said to her, Go up in peace to thy house. See, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person. ³⁶And Abigail came to Nabal, and, behold, he held a feast in his house like the feast of a king. And Nabal�s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. ³⁷And it came to pass in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. ³⁸And it came to pass about ten days after, that Jehovah smote Nabal, so that he died. ³⁹And when David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, Blessed be Jehovah, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil, and the evil-doing of Nabal Jehovah has returned upon his own head. And David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him to wife. ⁴⁰And when the servants of David came to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, David has sent us to thee, to take thee to him to wife. ⁴¹And she arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, Behold, thy handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord. ⁴²And Abigail hastened, and arose, and rode upon a donkey, with five of her damsels who followed her. And she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. ⁴³David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they became his wives, both of them. ⁴⁴Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David�s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

CHAPTER 26

¹And the Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Does not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert? ²Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. ³And Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. ⁴David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul definitely came. ⁵And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped. And David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. And Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around about him. ⁶Then David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp? And Abishai said, I will go down with thee. ⁷So David and Abishai came to the people by night. And, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the people lay round about him. ⁸Then said Abishai to David, God has delivered up thine enemy into thy hand this day. Now therefore let me smite him, I pray thee, with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not smite him the second time. ⁹And David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can put forth his hand against Jehovah�s anointed, and be guiltless? ¹⁰And David said, As Jehovah lives, Jehovah will smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall go down into battle and perish. ¹¹Jehovah forbid that I should put forth my hand against Jehovah�s anointed. But now take, I pray thee, the spear that is at his head, and the cruse of water, and let us go. ¹²So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul�s head, and they got away. And no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Jehovah was fallen upon them. ¹³Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off, a great space being between them. ¹⁴And David cried out to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, Answer thou not, Abner? Then Abner answered and said, Who are thou that cries to the king? ¹⁵And David said to Abner, Are not thou a valiant man? And who is like to thee in Israel? Why then have thou not kept watch over thy lord the king? For there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. ¹⁶This thing is not good that thou have done. As Jehovah lives, ye are worthy to die because ye have not kept watch over your lord, Jehovah�s anointed. And now see where the king�s spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his head. ¹⁷And Saul knew David�s voice, and said, Is this thy voice, my son David? And David said, It is my voice, my lord, O king. ¹⁸And he said, Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand? ¹⁹Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it be Jehovah who has stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering, but if it be the sons of men, cursed be they before Jehovah. For they have driven me out this day that I should not cling to the inheritance of Jehovah, saying, Go, serve other gods. ²⁰Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Jehovah. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when a man hunts a partridge in the mountains. ²¹Then Saul said, I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no more do thee harm because my life was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly. ²²And David answered and said, Behold the spear, O king! Let then one of the young men come over and fetch it. ²³And Jehovah will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness, inasmuch as Jehovah delivered thee into my hand today, and I would not put forth my hand against Jehovah�s anointed. ²⁴And, behold, as thy life was much set by this day in my eyes, so let my life be much set by in the eyes of Jehovah, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation. ²⁵Then Saul said to David, Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail. So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

CHAPTER 27

¹And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines, and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel, so I shall escape out of his hand. ²And David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal�s wife. ⁴And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath, and he sought no more again for him. ⁵And David said to Achish, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country that I may dwell there, for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? ⁶Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day. ⁷And the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. ⁸And David and his men went up, and made a raid upon the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for those nations were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old as thou go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt. ⁹And David smote the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the apparel, and he returned, and came to Achish. ¹⁰And Achish said, Against whom have ye made a raid today? And David said, Against the South of Judah, and against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites. ¹¹And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring them to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell of us, saying, So did David, and so has been his manner all the while he has dwelt in the country of the Philistines. ¹²And Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever.

CHAPTER 28

¹And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shall go out with me in the army, thou and thy men. ²And David said to Achish, Therefore thou shall know what thy servant will do. And Achish said to David, Therefore I will make thee my chief bodyguard forever. ³Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. ⁴And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem. And Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. ⁵And when Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. ⁶And when Saul inquired of Jehovah, Jehovah answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. ⁷Then Saul said to his servants, Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at En-dor. ⁸And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him. And they came to the woman by night, and he said, Divine to me, I pray thee, by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to thee. ⁹And the woman said to him, Behold, thou know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do thou lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die? ¹⁰And Saul swore to her by Jehovah, saying, As Jehovah lives, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing. ¹¹Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel. ¹²And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, Why have thou deceived me? For thou are Saul. ¹³And the king said to her, Be not afraid, for what do thou see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. ¹⁴And he said to her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man comes up, and he is covered with a robe. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance. ¹⁵And Samuel said to Saul, Why have thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And Saul answered, I am greatly distressed, for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams. Therefore I have called thee, that thou may make known to me what I shall do. ¹⁶And Samuel said, Why then do thou ask of me, since Jehovah departed from thee, and has become thine adversary? ¹⁷And Jehovah has done to thee, as he spoke by me. And Jehovah has torn the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbor, even to David. ¹⁸Because thou obeyed not the voice of Jehovah, and did not execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore Jehovah has done this thing to thee this day. ¹⁹Moreover Jehovah will deliver Israel also with thee into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow thou and thy sons shall be with me. Jehovah will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines. ²⁰Then Saul fell straightaway his full length upon the earth, and was greatly afraid because of the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. ²¹And the woman came to Saul, and saw that he was greatly troubled, and said to him, Behold, thy handmaid has hearkened to thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened to thy words which thou spoke to me. ²²Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also to the voice of thy handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee, and eat, that thou may have strength when thou go on thy way. ²³But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him, and he hearkened to their voice. So he arose from the ground, and sat upon the bed. ²⁴And the woman had a fatted calf in the house. And she hastened, and killed it, and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it. ²⁵And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants, and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

CHAPTER 29

¹Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by the fountain which is in Jezreel. ²And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands, and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish. ³Then the rulers of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to me to this day? ⁴But the rulers of the Philistines were angry with him. And the rulers of the Philistines said to him, Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where thou have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what does this man reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men? ⁵Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands? ⁶Then Achish called David, and said to him, As Jehovah lives, thou have been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the army is good in my sight, for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming to me to this day. Nevertheless the lords do not favor thee. ⁷Therefore now return, and go in peace, that thou not displease the lords of the Philistines. ⁸And David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have thou found in thy servant so long as I have been before thee to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? ⁹And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou are good in my sight, as an agent of God, notwithstanding the rulers of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. ¹⁰Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of thy lord who have come with thee, and as soon as ye are up early in the morning, and have light, depart. ¹¹So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

CHAPTER 30

¹And it came to pass, when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid upon the South, and upon Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire, ²and had taken captive the women and all that were in it, both small and great. They did not kill any, but carried them off, and went their way. ³And when David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire. And their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive. ⁴Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. ⁵And David�s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ⁶And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Jehovah his God. ⁷And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, I pray thee, bring me here the ephod. And Abiathar brought there the ephod to David. ⁸And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue, for thou shall surely overtake them, and shall without fail recover all. ⁹So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. ¹⁰But David pursued, he and four hundred men, for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. ¹¹And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread. And he ate, and they gave him water to drink. ¹²And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him, for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. ¹³And David said to him, To whom do thou belong? And from where are thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite. And my master left me because three days ago I fell sick. ¹⁴We made a raid upon the South of the Cherethites, and upon that which belongs to Judah, and upon the South of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. ¹⁵And David said to him, Will thou bring me down to this troop? And he said, Swear to me by God, that thou will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this troop. ¹⁶And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the ground, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. ¹⁷And David smote them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. And there escaped not a man of them, except four hundred young men who rode upon camels and fled. ¹⁸And David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. ¹⁹And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them; David brought back all. ²⁰And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other cattle, and said, This is David�s spoil. ²¹And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to abide at the brook Besor. And they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. And when David came near to the people, he saluted them. ²²Then answered all the wicked men and base fellows of those who went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered except to every man his wife and his children that he may lead them away, and depart. ²³Then David said, Ye shall not do so, my brothers, with that which Jehovah has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. ²⁴And who will hearken to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle so shall his share be who remains by the baggage; they shall share alike. ²⁵And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. ²⁶And when David came to Ziklag, he sent from the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold, a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah: ²⁷to those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the South, and to those who were in Jattir, ²⁸and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, ²⁹and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, ³⁰and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach, ³¹and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men were accustomed to frequent.

CHAPTER 31

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel. And the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. ²And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons, and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. ³And the battle went severely against Saul, and the archers overtook him, and he was greatly distressed because of the archers. ⁴Then Saul said to his armor bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. ⁵And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword, and died with him. ⁶So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together. ⁷And when the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled. And the Philistines came and dwelt in them. ⁸And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. ⁹And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about to carry the news to the house of their idols, and to the people. ¹⁰And they put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard concerning him, that which the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. ¹³And they took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

2ND SAMUEL

CHAPTER 1

¹And it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag, ²it came to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes torn, and earth upon his head. And so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the ground, and did obeisance. ³And David said to him, From where did thou come? And he said to him, I escaped out of the camp of Israel. ⁴And David said to him, How did the matter go? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, The people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead, and Saul and Jonathan his son are also dead. ⁵And David said to the young man who told him, How do thou know that Saul and Jonathan his son are dead? ⁶And the young man who told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul was leaning upon his spear, and, lo, the chariots and the horsemen followed close after him. ⁷And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called to me. And I answered, Here I am. ⁸And he said to me, Who are thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. ⁹And he said to me, Stand, I pray thee, beside me, and kill me, for anguish has taken hold of me, because my life is yet whole in me. ¹⁰So I stood beside him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he was fallen. And I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them here to my lord. ¹¹Then David took hold on his clothes, and tore them, and likewise all the men who were with him. ¹²And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until evening, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of Jehovah, and for the house of Israel, because they were fallen by the sword. ¹³And David said to the young man who told him, From where are thou? And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite. ¹⁴And David said to him, Why were thou not afraid to put forth thy hand to destroy Jehovah�s anointed? ¹⁵And David called one of the young men, and said, Go near, and fall upon him. And he smote him so that he died. ¹⁶And David said to him, Thy blood be upon thy head, for thy mouth has testified against thee, saying, I have slain Jehovah�s anointed. ¹⁷And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son ¹⁸(and he bade them teach the sons of Judah the song of the bow; behold, it is written in the book of Jashar): ¹⁹Thy glory, O Israel, is slain upon thy high places! How are the mighty fallen! ²⁰Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. ²¹Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you, neither fields of offerings, for there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil. ²²From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. ²³Saul and Jonathan, men who were loved and pleasant, undivided; comely in their lives, and undivided in their death; swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. ²⁴Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you delicately in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel. ²⁵How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan is slain upon thy high places. ²⁶I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant thou have been to me. Thy love to me was wonderful, exceeding the love of women. ²⁷How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

CHAPTER 2

¹And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And Jehovah said to him, Go up. And David said, Where shall I go up? And he said, To Hebron. ²So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. ³And David brought up his men who were with him, every man with his household, and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. ⁴And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, The men of Jabesh-gilead were those who buried Saul. ⁵And David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said to them, Blessed be ye of Jehovah, that ye have shown this kindness to your lord, even to Saul, and have buried him. ⁶And now Jehovah show loving kindness and truth to you. And I also will reward you this kindness because ye have done this thing. ⁷Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be ye valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them. ⁸Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul�s army, had taken Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim. ⁹And he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. ¹⁰Ish-bosheth, Saul�s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. ¹²And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon. ¹³And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met them by the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. ¹⁴And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men, I pray thee, arise and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise. ¹⁵Then they arose and went over by number: twelve for Benjamin, and for Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. ¹⁶And each man caught his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow�s side, so they fell down together. Therefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. ¹⁷And the battle was very severe that day. And Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David. ¹⁸And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel. And Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe. ¹⁹And Asahel pursued after Abner, and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. ²⁰Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Is it thou, Asahel? And he answered, It is I. ²¹And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay hold on one of the young men, and take his armor. But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. ²²And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me. Why should I smite thee to the ground? How then would I hold up my face to Joab thy brother? ²³However he refused to turn aside. Therefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him in the body, so that the spear came out behind him. And he fell down there, and died in the same place. And it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still. ²⁴But Joab and Abishai pursued after Abner. And the sun went down when they came to the hill of Ammah that lies before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. ²⁵And the sons of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one band, and stood on the top of a hill. ²⁶Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? Know thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? How long shall it be then, before thou bid the people return from following their brothers? ²⁷And Joab said, As God lives unless thou had spoken, surely then in the morning the people would have gone up every man from followed his brother. ²⁸So Joab blew the trumpet. And all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither did they fight any more. ²⁹And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah, and they passed over the Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and came to Mahanaim. ³⁰And Joab returned from following Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David�s servants nineteen men and Asahel. ³¹But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner�s men, so that three hundred and sixty men died. ³²And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulcher of his father, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and the day broke upon them at Hebron.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, but the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. ²And sons were born to David in Hebron: and his firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, ³and his second, Chileab, of Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite, and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, ⁴and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith, and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital, ⁵and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David�s wife. These were born to David in Hebron. ⁶And it came to pass, while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, that Abner made himself strong in the house of Saul. ⁷Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ish-bosheth said to Abner, Why have thou gone in to my father�s concubine? ⁸Then Abner was very angry for the words of Ish-bosheth, and said, Am I a dog�s head that belongs to Judah? This day I show kindness to the house of Saul thy father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not delivered thee into the hand of David, and yet thou charge me this day with a fault concerning this woman. ⁹God do so to Abner, and more also, if, as Jehovah has sworn to David, I do not even so to him, ¹⁰to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba. ¹¹And he could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. ¹²And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, Whose is the land? And saying, Make thy league with me, and, behold, my hand shall be with thee to bring about all Israel to thee. ¹³And he said, Well! I will make a league with thee, but one thing I require of thee. That is, thou shall not see my face unless thou first bring Michal, Saul�s daughter, when thou come to see my face. ¹⁴And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul�s son, saying, Deliver to me my wife Michal whom I betrothed to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. ¹⁵And Ish-bosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Paltiel the son of Laish. ¹⁶And her husband went with her, weeping as he went, and followed her to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, Go, return, and he returned. ¹⁷And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel, saying, In times past ye sought for David to be king over you. ¹⁸Now then do it, for Jehovah has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines, and out of the hand of all their enemies. ¹⁹And Abner also spoke in the ears of Benjamin. And Abner also went to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel, and to the whole house of Benjamin. ²⁰So Abner came to David to Hebron, and twenty men with him. And David made Abner and the men who were with him a feast. ²¹And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel to my lord the king that they may make a covenant with thee, and that thou may reign over all that thy soul desires. And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. ²²And, behold, the servants of David and Joab came from a foray, and brought in a great spoil with them, but Abner was not with David in Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace. ²³When Joab and all the army that was with him came, they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has sent him away, and he has gone in peace. ²⁴Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have thou done? Behold, Abner came to thee. Why is it that thou have sent him away, and he is quite gone? ²⁵Thou know Abner the son of Ner, that he came to deceive thee, and to know thy going out and thy coming in, and to know all that thou do. ²⁶And when Joab came out from David, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the well of Sirah, but David knew it not. ²⁷And when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him quietly, and smote him there in the body, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. ²⁸And afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before Jehovah forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. ²⁹Let it fall upon the head of Joab, and upon all his father�s house. And let there not fail from the house of Joab one who has an issue, or who is a leper, or who leans on a staff, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread. ³⁰So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel at Gibeon in the battle. ³¹And David said to Joab, and to all the people who were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David followed the bier. ³²And they buried Abner in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice, and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. ³³And the king lamented for Abner, and said, Should Abner die as a fool dies? ³⁴Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falls before the sons of iniquity, so did thou fall. And all the people wept again over him. ³⁵And all the people came to cause David to eat bread while it was yet day, but David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread, or anything else, till the sun is down. ³⁶And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as whatever the king did pleased all the people. ³⁷So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to kill Abner the son of Ner. ³⁸And the king said to his servants, Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? ³⁹And I am this day weak, though anointed king, and these men the sons of Zeruiah are too hard for me. Jehovah reward the evildoer according to his wickedness.

CHAPTER 4

¹And when Ish-bosheth, Saul�s son, heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands became feeble, and all the Israelites were troubled. ²And Saul�s son had two men who were captains of bands. The name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin, for Beeroth also is reckoned to Benjamin. ³And the Beerothites fled to Gittaim, and have been sojourners there until this day. ⁴Now Jonathan, Saul�s son, had a son who was lame in his feet. He was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel, and his nurse took him up, and fled. And it came to pass, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. And his name was Mephibosheth. ⁵And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, as he took his rest at noon. ⁶And they came there into the midst of the house as though they would have fetched wheat, and they smote him in the body. And Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷Now when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, they smote him, and killed him, and beheaded him, and took his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night. ⁸And they brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold, the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, thine enemy, who sought thy life. And Jehovah has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed. ⁹And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, As Jehovah lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, ¹⁰when he who told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good news, I took hold of him, and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. ¹¹How much more, when evil men have slain a righteous man in his own house upon his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth? ¹²And David commanded his young men, and they killed them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth, and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.

CHAPTER 5

¹Then all the tribes of Israel came to David to Hebron, and spoke, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. ²In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was thou who led out and brought in Israel. And Jehovah said to thee, Thou shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shall be prince over Israel. ³So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron. And king David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah, and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. ⁵In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. ⁶And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, Unless thou take away the blind and the lame, thou shall not come in here, thinking, David cannot come in here. ⁷Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. ⁸And David said on that day, Whoever smites the Jebusites, let him get up to the watercourse, and smite the lame and the blind, the hated by David�s soul, because the blind and the lame say, He cannot come into the house. ⁹And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David. And David built round about from Millo and inward. ¹⁰And David grew greater and greater, for Jehovah, the God of hosts, was with him. ¹¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons, and they built David a house. ¹²And David perceived that Jehovah had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for his people Israel�s sake. ¹³And David took for him more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem, after he came from Hebron, and there were yet sons and daughters born to David. ¹⁴And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, ¹⁵and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Nepheg, and Japhia, ¹⁶and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet. ¹⁷And when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went down to the stronghold. ¹⁸Now the Philistines had come and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁹And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will thou deliver them into my hand? And Jehovah said to David, Go up, for I will certainly deliver the Philistines into thy hand. ²⁰And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. And he said, Jehovah has broken my enemies before me, like the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim. ²¹And they left their images there, and David and his men took them away. ²²And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. ²³And when David inquired of Jehovah, he said, Thou shall not go up. Make a circuit behind them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees. ²⁴And it shall be, when thou hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shall bestir thyself, for then Jehovah has gone out before thee to smite the army of the Philistines. ²⁵And David did so, as Jehovah commanded him, and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gezer.

CHAPTER 6

¹And David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. ²And David arose, and went with all the people who were with him, from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, even the name of Jehovah of hosts who sits above the cherubim. ³And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. ⁴And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. ⁵And David and all the house of Israel played before Jehovah with all manner of instruments of fir-wood, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with castanets, and with cymbals. ⁶And when they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error, and he died there by the ark of God. ⁸And David was displeased, because Jehovah had broken forth upon Uzzah. And he called that place Perez-uzzah, to this day. ⁹And David was afraid of Jehovah that day, and he said, How shall the ark of Jehovah come to me? ¹⁰So David would not remove the ark of Jehovah to him into the city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹And the ark of Jehovah remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and Jehovah blessed Obed-edom, and all his house. ¹²And it was told king David, saying, Jehovah has blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertains to him, because of the ark of God. And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy. ¹³And it was so, that, when those who bore the ark of Jehovah had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. ¹⁴And David danced before Jehovah with all his might. And David was girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁵So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of Jehovah with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. ¹⁶And it was so, as the ark of Jehovah came into the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before Jehovah, and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷And they brought in the ark of Jehovah, and set it in its place, in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before Jehovah. ¹⁸And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁹And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, both to men and women, to every one a cake of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins. So all the people departed every one to his house. ²⁰Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovers himself! ²¹And David said to Michal, It was before Jehovah, who chose me above thy father, and above all his house, to appoint me prince over the people of Jehovah, over Israel. Therefore I will play before Jehovah. ²²And I will be yet more vile than this, and will be base in my own sight, but of the handmaids of whom thou have spoken, of them I shall be had in honor. ²³And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

CHAPTER 7

¹And it came to pass, when the king dwelt in his house, and Jehovah had given him rest from all his enemies round about, ²that the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains. ³And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thy heart, for Jehovah is with thee. ⁴And it came to pass the same night, that the word of Jehovah came to Nathan, saying, ⁵Go and tell my servant David, Thus says Jehovah, Shall thou build a house for me to dwell in? ⁶For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the sons of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. ⁷In all places in which I have walked with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people Israel, saying, Why have ye not built for me a house of cedar? ⁸Now therefore thus thou shall say to my servant David, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that thou should be prince over my people, over Israel. ⁹And I have been with thee wherever thou went, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee. And I will make thee a great name, like the name of the great ones that are on the earth. ¹⁰And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more. Neither shall the sons of iniquity afflict them any more, as at the first, ¹¹and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and I will cause thee to rest from all thine enemies. Moreover Jehovah tells thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. ¹²When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shall sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the sons of men, ¹⁵but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul whom I put away before thee. ¹⁶And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made sure forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever. ¹⁷According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁸Then David the king went in, and sat before Jehovah. And he said, Who am I, O lord Jehovah, and what is my house, that thou have brought me thus far? ¹⁹And this was yet a small thing in thine eyes, O lord Jehovah, but thou have spoken also of thy servant�s house for a great while to come, and this too according to the manner of men, O lord Jehovah! ²⁰And what can David say more to thee? For thou know thy servant, O lord Jehovah. ²¹For thy word�s sake, and according to thine own heart, thou have wrought all this greatness, to make thy servant know it. ²²Therefore thou are great, O Jehovah God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²³And what one nation on the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, and to make him a name, and to do great things for you, and awesome things for thy land, before thy people whom thou redeemed to thee out of Egypt, from the nations and their gods? ²⁴And thou established to thyself thy people Israel to be a people to thee forever, and thou, Jehovah, became their God. ²⁵And now, O Jehovah God, the word that thou have spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, confirm it forever, and do as thou have spoken. ²⁶And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of thy servant David shall be established before thee. ²⁷For thou, O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, have revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house. Therefore thy servant has found in his heart to pray this prayer to thee. ²⁸And now, O lord Jehovah, thou are God, and thy words are truth, and thou have promised this good thing to thy servant. ²⁹Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee, for thou, O lord Jehovah, have spoken it. And with thy blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.

CHAPTER 8

¹And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them. And David took the bridle of the mother city out of the hand of the Philistines. ²And he smote Moab, and measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground. And he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive. And the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute. ³David also smote Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to recover his dominion at the River. ⁴And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen. And David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved of them for a hundred chariots. ⁵And when the Syrians of Damascus came to aid Hadadezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men. ⁶Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. And Jehovah gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, king David took exceedingly much brass. ⁹And when Toi king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the army of Hadadezer, ¹⁰then Toi sent Joram his son to king David to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and smitten him, for Hadadezer had wars with Toi. And Joram brought with him vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and vessels of brass. ¹¹These also king David dedicated to Jehovah with the silver and gold that he dedicated of all the nations which he subdued: ¹²of Syria, and of Moab, and of the sons of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Rehob, king of Zobah. ¹³And David got a name for him when he returned from smiting the Syrians in the Valley of Salt, even eighteen thousand men. ¹⁴And he put garrisons in Edom. He put garrisons throughout all Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And Jehovah gave victory to David wherever he went. ¹⁵And David reigned over all Israel. And David executed justice and righteousness to all his people. ¹⁶And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, ¹⁷and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests, and Seraiah was scribe, ¹⁸and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David�s sons were chief ministers.

CHAPTER 9

¹And David said, Is there yet any who is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan�s sake? ²And there was of the house of Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, and they called him to David. And the king said to him, Are thou Ziba? And he said, Thy servant is he. ³And the king said, Is there not yet any of the house of Saul that I may show the kindness of God to him? And Ziba said to the king, Jonathan has yet a son who is lame in his feet. ⁴And the king said to him, Where is he? And Ziba said to the king, Behold, he is in the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, in Lo-debar. ⁵Then king David sent, and fetched him out of the house of Machir the son of Ammiel, from Lo-debar. ⁶And Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, and fell on his face, and did obeisance. And David said, Mephibosheth. And he answered, Behold, thy servant! ⁷And David said to him, Fear not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father�s sake, and will restore to thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shall eat bread at my table continually. ⁸And he did obeisance, and said, What is thy servant that thou should look upon such a dead dog as I am? ⁹Then the king called to Ziba, Saul�s servant, and said to him, All that pertained to Saul and to all his house I have given to thy master�s son. ¹⁰And thou shall till the land for him, thou, and thy sons, and thy servants. And thou shall bring in the fruits that thy master�s son may have bread to eat, but Mephibosheth thy master�s son shall always eat bread at my table. Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants. ¹¹Then Ziba said to the king, According to all that my lord the king commands his servant, so shall thy servant do. As for Mephibosheth, the king said, he shall eat at my table as one of the king�s sons. ¹²And Mephibosheth had a young son, whose name was Mica. And all who dwelt in the house of Ziba were servants to Mephibosheth. ¹³So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he ate continually at the king�s table. And he was lame in both his feet.

CHAPTER 10

¹And it came to pass after this, that the king of the sons of Ammon died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead. ²And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me. So David sent by his servants to comfort him concerning his father. And David�s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon. ³But the rulers of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun their lord, Think thou that David honors thy father, in that he has sent comforters to thee? Has not David sent his servants to thee to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? ⁴So Hanun took David�s servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵When they told it to David, he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return. ⁶And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had become odious to David, the sons of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, twenty thousand footmen, and the king of Maacah with a thousand men, and the men of Tob twelve thousand men. ⁷And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. ⁸And the sons of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the entrance of the gate. And the Syrians of Zobah and of Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. ⁹Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and behind, he chose from all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. ¹⁰And the rest of the people he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother. And he put them in array against the sons of Ammon. ¹¹And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. ¹²Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people, and for the cities of our God. And Jehovah do that which seems good to him. ¹³So Joab and the people who were with him drew near to the battle against the Syrians. And they fled before him. ¹⁴And when the sons of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai, and entered into the city. Then Joab returned from the sons of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. ¹⁵And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they gathered themselves together. ¹⁶And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the Syrians who were beyond the River, and they came to Helam, with Shobach the captain of the army of Hadarezer at their head. ¹⁷And it was told David. And he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him. ¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel. And David killed of the Syrians the men of seven hundred chariots, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their army so that he died there. ¹⁹And when all the kings who were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians were afraid to help the sons of Ammon any more.

CHAPTER 11

¹And it came to pass, at the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they destroyed the sons of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. ²And it came to pass at evening, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king�s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. ³And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? ⁴And David sent messengers, and took her. And she came in to him, and he lay with her (for she was purified from her uncleanness), and she returned to her house. ⁵And the woman conceived. And she sent and told David, and said, I am with child. ⁶And David sent to Joab, saying, Send me Uriah the Hittite. And Joab sent Uriah to David. ⁷And when Uriah came to him, David asked of him how Joab did, and how the people fared, and how the war prospered. ⁸And David said to Uriah, Go down to thy house, and wash thy feet. And Uriah departed out of the king�s house, and a gift from the king followed him. ⁹But Uriah slept at the door of the king�s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰And when they had told David, saying, Uriah did not go down to his house, David said to Uriah, Have thou not come from a journey? Why did thou not go down to thy house? ¹¹And Uriah said to David, The ark, and Israel, and Judah, abide in booths, and my lord Joab, and the servants of my lord, are encamped in the open field. Shall I then go into my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As thou live, and as thy soul lives, I will not do this thing. ¹²And David said to Uriah, Remain here today also, and tomorrow I will let thee depart. So Uriah abode in Jerusalem that day, and the morrow. ¹³And when David had called him, he ate and drank before him, and he made him drunk. And at evening he went out to lie on his bed with the servants of his lord, but did not go down to his house. ¹⁴And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. ¹⁵And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Joab kept watch upon the city, that he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew that valiant men were. ¹⁷And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab. And there fell some of the people, even of the servants of David, and Uriah the Hittite died also. ¹⁸Then Joab sent and told David all the things concerning the war. ¹⁹And he charged the messenger, saying, When thou have made an end of telling all the things concerning the war to the king, ²⁰it shall be that, if the king�s wrath arise, and he says to thee, Why did ye go so near to the city to fight? Did ye not know that they would shoot from the wall? ²¹Who smote Abimelech the son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall so that he died at Thebez? Why did ye go so near the wall? Then thou shall say, Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. ²²So the messenger went, and came and told David all that Joab had sent him. ²³And the messenger said to David, The men prevailed against us, and came out to us into the field, and we were upon them even to the entrance of the gate. ²⁴And the shooters shot at thy servants from off the wall. And some of the king�s servants are dead, and thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also. ²⁵Then David said to the messenger, Thus thou shall say to Joab, Let not this thing displease thee, for the sword devours one as well as another. Make thy battle stronger against the city, and overthrow it. And encourage thou him. ²⁶And when the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. ²⁷And when the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Jehovah.

CHAPTER 12

¹And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him, There were two men in one city: the one rich, and the other poor. ²The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds, ³but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up. And it grew up together with him, and with his sons. It ate of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him as a daughter. ⁴And there came a traveler to the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd to dress for the wayfaring man who came to him, but took the poor man�s lamb, and dressed it for the man who came to him. ⁵And David�s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As Jehovah lives, the man who has done this is worthy to die. ⁶And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. ⁷And Nathan said to David, Thou are the man. Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul. ⁸And I gave thee thy master�s house, and thy master�s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah. And if that had been too little, I would have added to thee such and such things. ⁹Why have thou despised the word of Jehovah, to do that which is evil in his sight? Thou have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be thy wife, and have slain him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁰Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thy house, because thou have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. ¹¹Thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house. And I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them to thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. ¹²For thou did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. ¹³And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against Jehovah. And Nathan said to David, Jehovah also has put away thy sin; thou shall not die. ¹⁴However, because by this deed thou have given great occasion to the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, the child also that is born to thee shall surely die. ¹⁵And Nathan departed to his house. And Jehovah struck the child that Uriah�s wife bore to David, and it was very sick. ¹⁶David therefore besought God for the child. And David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the ground. ¹⁷And the elders of his house arose, and stood beside him, to raise him up from the ground, but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them. ¹⁸And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive we spoke to him, and he did not hearken to our voice, how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead! ¹⁹But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. ²⁰Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel. And he came into the house of Jehovah, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house, and when he required, they set bread before him, and he ate. ²¹Then his servants said to him, What thing is this that thou have done? Thou fasted and wept for the child while it was alive, but when the child was dead, thou arose and ate bread. ²²And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who knows whether Jehovah will not be gracious to me, that the child may live? ²³But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me. ²⁴And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. And she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And Jehovah loved him, ²⁵and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet. And he called his name Jedidiah, for Jehovah�s sake. ²⁶Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and took the royal city. ²⁷And Joab sent messengers to David, and said, I have fought against Rabbah; yea, I have taken the city of waters. ²⁸Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city, and take it, lest I take the city, and it be called after my name. ²⁹And David gathered all the people together, and went to Rabbah, and fought against it, and took it. ³⁰And he took the crown of their king from off his head. And the weight of it was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones. And it was set on David�s head. And he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceedingly much. ³¹And he brought forth the people that were in it, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln. And thus he did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 13

¹And it came to pass after this, that Absalom the son of David had a fair sister whose name was Tamar. And Amnon the son of David loved her. ²And Amnon was so frustrated that he fell sick because of his sister Tamar. For she was a virgin, and it seemed hard to Amnon to do anything to her. ³But Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David�s brother. And Jonadab was a very sly man. ⁴And he said to him, Why, O son of the king, are thou emaciated this way from day to day? Will thou not tell me? And Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom�s sister. ⁵And Jonadab said to him, Lie down on thy bed, and feign thyself sick. And when thy father comes to see thee, say to him, Let my sister Tamar come, I pray thee, and give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it from her hand. ⁶So Amnon lay down, and feigned himself sick. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Let my sister Tamar come, I pray thee, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand. ⁷Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go now to thy brother Amnon�s house, and make food for him. ⁸So Tamar went to her brother Amnon�s house, and he was laid down. And she took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his sight, and baked the cakes. ⁹And she took the pan, and poured them out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, Have all men out from me. And they went out every man from him. ¹⁰And Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber that I may eat from thy hand. And Tamar took the cakes that she had made, and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. ¹¹And when she had brought them near to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, Come, lie with me, my sister. ¹²And she answered him, No, my brother, do not force me, for no such thing ought to be done in Israel. Do not do thou this folly. ¹³And I, where shall I carry my shame? And as for thee, thou will be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from thee. ¹⁴However he would not hearken to her voice, but being stronger than she, he forced her, and lay with her. ¹⁵Then Amnon hated her with exceedingly great hatred, for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, Arise, be gone. ¹⁶And she said to him, Not so, because this great wrong in putting me forth is worse than the other that thou did to me. But he would not hearken to her. ¹⁷Then he called his servant who ministered to him, and said, Put this woman out from me now, and bolt the door after her. ¹⁸And she had a garment of various colors upon her, for with such robes were the king�s daughters who were virgins appareled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her. ¹⁹And Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of various colors that was on her. And she laid her hand on her head, and went her way, crying aloud as she went. ²⁰And Absalom her brother said to her, Has Amnon thy brother been with thee? But now hold thy peace, my sister. He is thy brother. Do not take this thing to heart. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom�s house. ²¹But when king David heard of all these things, he was very angry. ²²And Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. ²³And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheep-shearers in Baal-hazor, which is beside Ephraim, and Absalom invited all the king�s sons. ²⁴And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold now, thy servant has sheep-shearers. Let the king, I pray thee, and his servants go with thy servant. ²⁵And the king said to Absalom, No, my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to thee. And he pressed him. However he would not go, but blessed him. ²⁶Then Absalom said, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said to him, Why should he go with thee? ²⁷But Absalom pressed him, and he let Amnon and all the king�s sons go with him. ²⁸And Absalom commanded his servants, saying, Notice ye now, when Amnon�s heart is merry with wine, and when I say to you, Smite Amnon, then kill him. Fear not; have I not commanded you? Be courageous, and be valiant. ²⁹And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king�s sons arose, and every man got up upon his mule, and fled. ³⁰And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that the news came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king�s sons, and there is not one of them left. ³¹Then the king arose, and tore his garments, and lay on the earth, and all his servants stood by with their clothes torn. ³²And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah, David�s brother, answered and said, Let not my lord suppose that they have killed all the young men the king�s sons, for Amnon only is dead. For by the command of Absalom this has been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. ³³Now therefore let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king�s sons are dead, for only Amnon is dead. ³⁴But Absalom fled. And the young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came much people by the way of the hill-side behind him. ³⁵And Jonadab said to the king, Behold, the king�s sons have come; as thy servant said, so it is. ³⁶And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of speaking, that, behold, the king�s sons came, and lifted up their voice, and wept. And the king also and all his servants wept very much. ³⁷But Absalom fled, and went to Talmai the son of Ammihur, king of Geshur. And David mourned for his son every day. ³⁸So Absalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three years. ³⁹And the soul of king David longed to go forth to Absalom, for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.

CHAPTER 14

¹Now Joab the son of Zeruiah perceived that the king�s heart was toward Absalom. ²And Joab sent to Tekoa, and fetched from there a wise woman, and said to her, I pray thee, feign thyself to be a mourner, and put on mourning apparel, I pray thee, and do not anoint thyself with oil, but be as a woman who has a long time mourned for the dead. ³And go in to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Joab put the words in her mouth. ⁴And when the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help, O king. ⁵And the king said to her, What troubles thee? And she answered, Of a truth I am a widow, and my husband is dead. ⁶And thy handmaid had two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was none to part them, but the one smote the other, and killed him. ⁷And, behold, the whole family is risen against thy handmaid, and they say, Deliver him who smote his brother that we may kill him for the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also. Thus they will quench my coal which is left, and will leave to my husband neither name nor remainder upon the face of the earth. ⁸And the king said to the woman, Go to thy house, and I will give charge concerning thee. ⁹And the woman of Tekoa said to the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father�s house, and the king and his throne be guiltless. ¹⁰And the king said, Whoever says anything to thee, bring him to me, and he shall not touch thee any more. ¹¹Then she said, I pray thee, let the king remember Jehovah thy God, that the avenger of blood not destroy any more, lest they destroy my son. And he said, As Jehovah lives, there shall not one hair of thy son fall to the earth. ¹²Then the woman said, Let thy handmaid, I pray thee, speak a word to my lord the king. And he said, Say on. ¹³And the woman said, Why then have thou devised such a thing against the people of God? For in speaking this word the king is as he who is guilty, in that the king does not fetch home again his banished one. ¹⁴For we must die, and are as water split on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again, neither does God take away life, but devises means that he who is banished be not an outcast from him. ¹⁵Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. And thy handmaid said, I will now speak to the king. It may be that the king will perform the request of his servant. ¹⁶For the king will hear to deliver his servant out of the hand of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the inheritance of God. ¹⁷Then thy handmaid said, Let, I pray thee, the word of my lord the king be gracious, for as an agent of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. And Jehovah thy God be with thee. ¹⁸Then the king answered and said to the woman, Hide not from me, I pray thee, anything that I shall ask thee. And the woman said, Let my lord the king now speak. ¹⁹And the king said, Is the hand of Joab with thee in all this? And the woman answered and said, As thy soul lives, my lord the king, none can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my lord the king has spoken, for thy servant Joab, he bade me, and he put all these words in the mouth of thy handmaid. ²⁰Thy servant Joab has done this thing to change the face of the matter. And my lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an agent of God, to know all things that are on the earth. ²¹And the king said to Joab, Behold now, I have done this thing. Go therefore, bring the young man Absalom back. ²²And Joab fell to the ground on his face, and did obeisance, and blessed the king. And Joab said, Today thy servant knows that I have found favor in thy sight, my lord, O king, in that the king has performed the request of his servant. ²³So Joab arose and went to Geshur, and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. ²⁴And the king said, Let him turn to his own house, but let him not see my face. So Absalom turned to his own house, and did not see the king�s face. ²⁵Now in all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty; from the sole of his foot even to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. ²⁶And when he cut the hair of his head (now it was at every year�s end that he cut it, because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king�s weight. ²⁷And to Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter whose name was Tamar. She was a woman of a fair countenance. ²⁸And Absalom dwelt two full years in Jerusalem, and he did not see the king�s face. ²⁹Then Absalom sent for Joab to send him to the king, but he would not come to him. And he sent again a second time, but he would not come. ³⁰Therefore he said to his servants, See, Joab�s field is near mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire. And Absalom�s servants set the field on fire. ³¹Then Joab arose, and came to Absalom to his house, and said to him, Why have thy servants set my field on fire? ³²And Absalom answered Joab, Behold, I sent to thee, saying, Come here, that I may send thee to the king to say, Why have I come from Geshur? It were better for me to still be there. Now therefore let me see the king�s face, and if there be iniquity in me, let him kill me. ³³So Joab came to the king, and told him. And when he had called for Absalom, he came to the king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

CHAPTER 15

¹And it came to pass after this, that Absalom prepared for him a chariot and horses, and fifty men to run before him. ²And Absalom rose up early, and stood beside the way of the gate. And it was so, that, when any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then Absalom called to him, and said, Of what city are thou? And he said, Thy servant is of one of the tribes of Israel. ³And Absalom said to him, See, thy matters are good and right, but there is no man appointed by the king to hear thee. ⁴Absalom said moreover, Oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or case might come to me, and I would do for him justice! ⁵And it was so, that, when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. ⁶And on this manner Absalom did to all Israel who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. ⁷And it came to pass at the end of forty years, that Absalom said to the king, I pray thee, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to Jehovah, in Hebron. ⁸For thy servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Syria, saying, If Jehovah shall indeed bring me again to Jerusalem, then I will serve Jehovah. ⁹And the king said to him, Go in peace. So he arose, and went to Hebron. ¹⁰But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, As soon as ye hear the sound of the trumpet, then ye shall say, Absalom is king in Hebron. ¹¹And with Absalom went two hundred men out of Jerusalem who were invited, and went in their simplicity. And they did not know anything. ¹²And Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David�s counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was offering the sacrifices. And the conspiracy was strong, for the people increased continually with Absalom. ¹³And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom. ¹⁴And David said to all his servants who were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee, for otherwise none of us shall escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and bring down evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword. ¹⁵And the king�s servants said to the king, Behold, thy servants are ready to do whatever my lord the king shall choose. ¹⁶And the king went forth, and all his household after him. And the king left ten women, who were concubines, to keep the house. ¹⁷And the king went forth, and all the people after him, and they remained in Beth-merhak. ¹⁸And all his servants passed on beside him; and all the Cherethites, and all the Pelethites, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came after him from Gath, passed on before the king. ¹⁹Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, Why do thou also go with us? Return, and abide with the king, for thou are a foreigner, and also an exile. Return to thine own place. ²⁰Whereas thou came but yesterday, should I this day make thee go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? Return thou, and take back thy brothers. Mercy and truth be with thee. ²¹And Ittai answered the king, and said, As Jehovah lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether for death or for life, even there thy servant will also be. ²²And David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. And Ittai the Gittite passed over, and all his men, and all the little ones that were with him. ²³And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over. The king himself also passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over toward the way of the wilderness. ²⁴And, lo, Zadok also came, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up until all the people had finished passing out of the city. ²⁵And the king said to Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall find favor in the eyes of Jehovah he will bring me again, and show me both it, and his habitation. ²⁶But if he says thus, I have no delight in thee, behold, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good to him. ²⁷The king said also to Zadok the priest, Are thou not a seer? Return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. ²⁸See, I will remain at the fords of the wilderness until there comes word from you to report to me. ²⁹Therefore Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem, and they abode there. ³⁰And David went up by the ascent of the mount of Olives, and wept as he went up, and he had his head covered, and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. ³¹And it was told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O Jehovah, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. ³²And it came to pass, that, when David came to the top of the ascent, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn, and dirt upon his head. ³³And David said to him, If thou pass on with me, then thou will be a burden to me, ³⁴but if thou return to the city, and say to Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king. As I have been thy father�s servant in time past, so I will now be thy servant, then thou will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel. ³⁵And have thou not there with thee Zadok and Abiathar the priests? Therefore it shall be, that whatever thing thou shall hear out of the king�s house, thou shall tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. ³⁶Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok�s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar�s son. And by them ye shall send to me everything that ye shall hear. ³⁷So Hushai, David�s friend, came into the city, and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 16

¹And when David was a little past the top of the ascent, behold, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth met him with a couple of saddled donkeys, and upon them two hundred loaves of bread, and a hundred clusters of raisins, and a hundred of summer fruits, and a bottle of wine. ²And the king said to Ziba, What do thou mean by these? And Ziba said, The donkeys are for the king�s household to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine, that such as are faint in the wilderness may drink. ³And the king said, And where is thy master�s son? And Ziba said to the king, Behold, he abides at Jerusalem, for he said, Today the house of Israel will restore for me the kingdom of my father. ⁴Then the king said to Ziba, Behold, all that pertains to Mephibosheth is thine. And Ziba said, I do obeisance. Let me find favor in thy sight, my lord, O king. ⁵And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out from there a man of the family of the house of Saul whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera. He came out, cursing as he came. ⁶And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. ⁷And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Begone, begone, thou man of blood, and base fellow. ⁸Jehovah has returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul in whose stead thou have reigned. And Jehovah has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son, and, behold, thou are taken in thine own mischief because thou are a man of blood. ⁹Then Abishai the son of Zeruiah said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. ¹⁰And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Because he curses, and because Jehovah has said to him, Curse David, who then shall say, Why have thou done so? ¹¹And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeks my life. How much more this Benjamite? Let him alone, and let him curse, for Jehovah has bidden him. ¹²It may be that Jehovah will look on the wrong done to me, and that Jehovah will reward me good for his cursing of me this day. ¹³So David and his men went by the way, and Shimei went along on the hill-side opposite him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. ¹⁴And the king, and all the people who were with him, came weary, and he refreshed himself there. ¹⁵And Absalom, and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel with him. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Hushai the Archite, David�s friend, came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom, Live, O king. Live, O king. ¹⁷And Absalom said to Hushai, Is this thy kindness to thy friend? Why did thou not go with thy friend? ¹⁸And Hushai said to Absalom, No, but whom Jehovah, and this people, and all the men of Israel have chosen, his will I be, and with him I will abide. ¹⁹And again, whom should I serve? Is it not in the presence of his son? As I have served in thy father�s presence, so I will be in thy presence. ²⁰Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, Give your counsel what we shall do. ²¹And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Go in to thy father�s concubines that he has left to keep the house, and all Israel will hear that thou are abhorred by thy father. Then the hands of all who are with thee will be strong. ²²So they spread Absalom a tent upon the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father�s concubines in the sight of all Israel. ²³And the counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the oracle of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.

CHAPTER 17

¹Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night. ²And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make him afraid. And all the people who are with him shall flee. And I will only smite the king, ³and I will bring back all the people to thee. The man whom thou seek is as if all returned, so all the people shall be in peace. ⁴And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel. ⁵Then Absalom said, Call now Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear likewise what he says. ⁶And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, Ahithophel has spoken after this manner. Shall we do after his saying? If not, speak thou. ⁷And Hushai said to Absalom, The counsel that Ahithophel has given this time is not good. ⁸Hushai said moreover, Thou know thy father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are chafed in their minds, as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field. And thy father is a man of war, and will not lodge with the people. ⁹Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place. And it will come to pass, when some of them are fallen at the first, that whoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom. ¹⁰And even he who is valiant, whose heart is as the heart of a lion, will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that thy father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. ¹¹But I counsel that all Israel be gathered together to thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that thou go to battle in thine own person. ¹²So we shall come upon him in some place where he shall be found, and we will light upon him as the dew falls on the ground, and of him and of all the men who are with him we will not leave so much as one. ¹³Moreover, if he be gotten into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city, and we will draw it into the river until there be not one small stone found there. ¹⁴And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For Jehovah had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Jehovah might bring evil upon Absalom. ¹⁵Then Hushai said to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, Thus and thus did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and thus have I counseled. ¹⁶Now therefore send quickly, and tell David, saying, Do not lodge this night at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means pass over, lest the king be swallowed up, and all the people who are with him. ¹⁷Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying by En-rogel. And a maid-servant used to go and tell them, and they went and told king David, for they might not be seen to come into the city. ¹⁸But a lad saw them, and told Absalom. And they went away quickly, both of them, and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his court, and they went down there. ¹⁹And the woman took and spread the covering over the well�s mouth, and spread ground grain on it. And nothing was known. ²⁰And Absalom�s servants came to the woman to the house, and they said, Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan? And the woman said to them, They have gone over the brook of water. And when they had sought and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. ²¹And it came to pass, after they were departed, that they came up out of the well, and went and told king David. And they said to David, Arise ye, and pass quickly over the water, for thus Ahithophel has counseled against you. ²²Then David arose, and all the people who were with him, and they passed over the Jordan. By the morning light there lacked not one of them who was not gone over the Jordan. ²³And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, and arose, and got home to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself. And he died, and was buried in the sepulcher of his father. ²⁴Then David came to Mahanaim. And Absalom passed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. ²⁵And Absalom set Amasa over the army instead of Joab. Now Amasa was the son of a man, whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who went in to Abigal the daughter of Nahash, sister to Zeruiah, Joab�s mother. ²⁶And Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead. ²⁷And it came to pass, when David came to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim, ²⁸brought beds, and basins, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and meal, and roasted grain, and beans, and lentils, and roasted pulse, ²⁹and honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of the herd, for David, and for the people who were with him, to eat. For they said, The people are hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.

CHAPTER 18

¹And David numbered the people who were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. ²And David sent forth the people, a third part under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab�s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said to the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. ³But the people said, Thou shall not go forth. For if we flee away, they will not care for us, neither if half of us die, will they care for us, but thou are worth ten thousand of us. Therefore now it is better that thou be ready to help us out of the city. ⁴And the king said to them, What seems best to you I will do. And the king stood by the gate-side, and all the people went out by hundreds and by thousands. ⁵And the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning Absalom. ⁶So the people went out into the field against Israel, and the battle was in the forest of Ephraim. ⁷And the people of Israel were smitten there before the servants of David, and there was a great slaughter there that day of twenty thousand men. ⁸For the battle was there spread over the face of all the country, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. ⁹And Absalom chanced to meet the servants of David. And Absalom was riding upon his mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the oak. And he was taken up between sky and earth, and the mule that was under him went on. ¹⁰And a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanging in an oak. ¹¹And Joab said to the man who told him, and, behold, thou saw it, and why did thou not smite him there to the ground? And I would have given thee ten pieces of silver, and a belt. ¹²And the man said to Joab, Though I should receive a thousand pieces of silver in my hand, yet I would not put forth my hand against the king�s son, for in our hearing the king charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man Absalom. ¹³Otherwise if I had dealt falsely against his life (and there is no matter hid from the king), then thou thyself would have set thyself against me. ¹⁴Then Joab said, I will not delay thus with thee. And he took three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak. ¹⁵And ten young men who bore Joab�s armor encompassed about and smote Absalom, and killed him. ¹⁶And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel, for Joab held back the people. ¹⁷And they took Absalom, and cast him into the great pit in the forest, and raised over him a very great heap of stones. And all Israel fled every man to his tent. ¹⁸Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself the pillar which is in the king�s valley, for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance. And he called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom�s monument to this day. ¹⁹Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, Let me now run, and bear the king news, how that Jehovah has avenged him of his enemies. ²⁰And Joab said to him, Thou shall not be the bearer of news this day, but thou shall bear news another day. But this day thou shall bear no news, because the king�s son is dead. ²¹Then Joab said to the Cushite, Go, tell the king what thou have seen. And the Cushite bowed himself to Joab, and ran. ²²Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said yet again to Joab, But come what may, let me, I pray thee, also run after the Cushite. And Joab said, Why will thou run, my son, seeing that thou will have no reward for the news? ²³But come what may, he said, I will run. And he said to him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the Plain, and outran the Cushite. ²⁴Now David was sitting between the two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof of the gate to the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, a man running alone. ²⁵And the watchman cried, and told the king. And the king said, If he is alone, there is news in his mouth. And he came apace, and drew near. ²⁶And the watchman saw another man running. And the watchman called to the porter, and said, Behold, another man running alone. And the king said, He also brings news. ²⁷And the watchman said, I think the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man, and comes with good news. ²⁸And Ahimaaz called, and said to the king, All is well. And he bowed himself before the king with his face to the earth, and said, Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who has delivered up the men who lifted up their hand against my lord the king. ²⁹And the king said, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab sent the king�s servant, even me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was. ³⁰And the king said, Turn aside, and stand here. And he turned aside, and stood still. ³¹And, behold, the Cushite came. And the Cushite said, News for my lord the king, for Jehovah has avenged thee this day of all those who rose up against thee. ³²And the king said to the Cushite, Is it well with the young man Absalom? And the Cushite answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise up against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. ³³And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!

CHAPTER 19

¹And it was told Joab, Behold, the king weeps and mourns for Absalom. ²And the victory that day was turned into mourning to all the people, for the people heard say that day, The king grieves for his son. ³And the people slipped away that day into the city, as people who are ashamed sneak away when they flee in battle. ⁴And the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son! ⁵And Joab came into the house to the king, and said, Thou have shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, who this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines, ⁶in that thou love those who hate thee, and hate those who love thee. For thou have declared this day that rulers and servants are nothing to thee. For this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died this day, then it would have pleased thee well. ⁷Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak graciously to thy servants. For I swear by Jehovah, if thou do not go forth, there will not remain a man with thee this night. And that will be worse to thee than all the evil that has befallen thee from thy youth until now. ⁸Then the king arose, and sat in the gate. And they told to all the people, saying, Behold, the king is sitting in the gate. And all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled every man to his tent. ⁹And all the people were contending throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king delivered us out of the hand of our enemies, and he saved us out of the hand of the Philistines. And now he fled out of the land from Absalom. ¹⁰And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? ¹¹And king David sent to Zadok and to Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak to the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his house? Since the speech of all Israel has come to the king, to bring him to his house. ¹²Ye are my brothers, ye are my bone and my flesh. Why then are ye the last to bring back the king? ¹³And say ye to Amasa, Are thou not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou not be captain of the army before me continually in the place of Joab. ¹⁴And he inclined the heart of all the men of Judah, even as the heart of one man, so that they sent to the king, saying, Return thou, and all thy servants. ¹⁵So the king returned, and came to the Jordan. And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to bring the king over the Jordan. ¹⁶And Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, who was of Bahurim, hastened and came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. ¹⁷And there were a thousand men of Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him. And they went through the Jordan in the presence of the king. ¹⁸And there went over a ferry-boat to bring over the king�s household, and to do what he thought good. And Shimei the son of Gera fell down before the king when he came over the Jordan. ¹⁹And he said to the king, Let not my lord impute iniquity to me, neither remember thou that which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart. ²⁰For thy servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore, behold, I have come this day the first of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. ²¹But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed Jehovah�s anointed? ²²And David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this day be adversaries to me? Shall there any man be put to death this day in Israel? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel? ²³And the king said to Shimei, Thou shall not die. And the king swore to him. ²⁴And Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king. And he had neither dressed his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came home in peace. ²⁵And it came to pass, when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, that the king said to him, Why did thou not go with me, Mephibosheth? ²⁶And he answered, My lord, O king, my servant deceived me. For thy servant said, I will saddle for me a donkey, that I may ride on it, and go with the king, because thy servant is lame. ²⁷And he has slandered thy servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is as an agent of God; do therefore what is good in thine eyes. ²⁸For all my father�s house were but dead men before my lord the king. Yet thou set thy servant among those who ate at thine own table. What right therefore have I yet that I should cry any more to the king? ²⁹And the king said to him, Why do thou speak any more of thy matters? I say, thou and Ziba divide the land. ³⁰And Mephibosheth said to the king, Yea, let him take all, inasmuch as my lord the king has come in peace to his own house. ³¹And Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim. And he went over the Jordan with the king to conduct him over the Jordan. ³²Now Barzillai was a very aged man, even eighty years old. And he had provided the king with sustenance while he lay at Mahanaim, for he was a very great man of wealth. ³³And the king said to Barzillai, Come thou over with me, and I will sustain thee with me in Jerusalem. ³⁴And Barzillai said to the king, How many are the days of the years of my life that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem? ³⁵I am this day eighty years old. Can I discern between good and bad? Can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king? ³⁶Thy servant would but just go over the Jordan with the king, and why should the king recompense it to me with such a reward? ³⁷Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back again, that I may die in my own city by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold, thy servant Chimham, let him go over with my lord the king, and do to him what shall seem good to thee. ³⁸And the king answered, Chimham shall go over with me, and I will do to him that which shall seem good to thee. And whatever thou shall require of me, that I will do for thee. ³⁹And all the people went over the Jordan, and the king went over. And the king kissed Barzillai, and blessed him, and he returned to his own place. ⁴⁰So the king went over to Gilgal, and Chimham went over with him. And all the people of Judah brought the king over, and also half the people of Israel. ⁴¹And, behold, all the men of Israel came to the king, and said to the king, Why have our brothers the men of Judah stolen thee away, and brought the king, and his household, over the Jordan, and all David�s men with him? ⁴²And all the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, Because the king is near of kin to us. Why then are ye angry for this matter? Have we eaten at all at the king�s cost, or has he given us any gift? ⁴³And the men of Israel answered the men of Judah, and said, We have ten parts in the king, and we have also more right in David than ye. Why then did ye despise us, that our advice should not be had first in bringing back our king? And the words of the men of Judah were fiercer than the words of the men of Israel.

CHAPTER 20

¹And there happened to be there a base fellow whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite. And he blew the trumpet, and said, We have no portion in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, O Israel. ²So all the men of Israel went up from following David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri, but the men of Judah clung to their king, from the Jordan even to Jerusalem. ³And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten women his concubines, whom he had left to keep the house, and put them in ward, and provided them with sustenance, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up to the day of their death, living in widowhood. ⁴Then the king said to Amasa, Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be thou here present. ⁵So Amasa went to call the men of Judah together, but he delayed longer than the set time which he had appointed him. ⁶And David said to Abishai, Now will Sheba the son of Bichri do us more harm than did Absalom. Take thou thy lord�s servants, and pursue after him, lest he get him fortified cities, and escape out of our sight. ⁷And there went out after him Joab�s men, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. And they went out of Jerusalem, to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. ⁸When they were at the great stone which is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. And Joab was girded with his apparel of war that he had put on, and on it was a belt with a sword fastened upon his loins in the sheath of it. And as he went forth it fell out. ⁹And Joab said to Amasa, Is it well with thee, my brother? And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. ¹⁰But Amasa took no heed to the sword that was in Joab�s hand. So he smote him with it in the body, and shed out his bowels to the ground, and struck him not again, and he died. And Joab and Abishai his brother pursued after Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹¹And there stood by him one of Joab�s young men, and said, He who favors Joab, and he who is for David, let him follow Joab. ¹²And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the midst of the highway. And when the man saw that all the people stood still, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field, and cast a garment over him, when he saw that everyone who came by him stood still. ¹³When he was removed out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue after Sheba the son of Bichri. ¹⁴And he went through all the tribes of Israel to Abel, and to Beth-maacah, and all the Berites. And they were gathered together, and also went after him. ¹⁵And they came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah, and they cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart. And all the people who were with Joab battered the wall, to throw it down. ¹⁶Then a wise woman out of the city cried out, Hear, hear. Say, I pray you, to Joab, Come near here, that I may speak with thee. ¹⁷And he came near to her, and the woman said, Are thou Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said to him, Hear the words of thy handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. ¹⁸Then she spoke, saying, They were accustomed to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel, and so they ended the matter. ¹⁹I am of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. Thou seek to destroy a city and a mother in Israel. Why will thou swallow up the inheritance of Jehovah? ²⁰And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow up or destroy. ²¹The matter is not so, but a man of the hill-country of Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, has lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. ²²Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and threw it out to Joab. And he blew the trumpet, and they were dispersed from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king. ²³Now Joab was over all the army of Israel, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and over the Pelethites, ²⁴and Adoram was over the men subject to task work, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder, ²⁵and Sheva was scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests, ²⁶and also Ira the Jairite was chief minister to David.

CHAPTER 21

¹And there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David sought the face of Jehovah. And Jehovah said, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he put to death the Gibeonites. ²And the king called the Gibeonites, and spoke to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant of the Amorites, and the sons of Israel had sworn to them, and yet Saul sought to kill them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah), ³and David said to the Gibeonites, What shall I do for you? And with what shall I make atonement that ye may bless the inheritance of Jehovah? ⁴And the Gibeonites said to him, It is no matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house, neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel. And he said, What ye shall say, that I will do for you. ⁵And they said to the king, The man who consumed us, and who devised against us, that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the borders of Israel, ⁶let seven men of his sons be delivered to us, and we will hang them up to Jehovah in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of Jehovah. And the king said, I will give them. ⁷But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of Jehovah�s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. ⁸But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul whom she bore to Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite. ⁹And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites. And they hanged them in the mountain before Jehovah, and they fell all seven together. And they were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, at the beginning of barley harvest. ¹⁰And Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth, and spread it for her upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water was poured upon them from heaven. And she neither allowed the birds of the heaven to rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night. ¹¹And it was told David what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done. ¹²And David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son from the men of Jabesh-gilead, who had stolen them from the street of Beth-shan where the Philistines had hanged them in the day that the Philistines killed Saul in Gilboa, ¹³and he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of Jonathan his son, and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. ¹⁴And they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son in the country of Benjamin in Zela, in the sepulcher of Kish his father. And they performed all that the king commanded. And after that God was entreated for the land. ¹⁵And the Philistines had war again with Israel. And David went down, and his servants with him, and fought against the Philistines. And David grew faint, ¹⁶and Ishbibenob, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass in weight, he being girded with a new sword, thought to have slain David. ¹⁷But Abishai the son of Zeruiah helped him, and smote the Philistine, and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him, saying, Thou shall no more go out with us to battle, that thou not quench the lamp of Israel. ¹⁸And it came to pass after this, that there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Saph, who was of the sons of the giant. ¹⁹And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. And Elhanan the son of Jaareoregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver�s beam. ²⁰And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had on every hand six fingers, and on every foot six toes, twenty-four in number, and he also was born to the giant. ²¹And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David�s brother, killed him. ²²These four were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

CHAPTER 22

¹And David spoke to Jehovah the words of this song in the day that Jehovah delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: ²And he said, Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, even mine. ³God, my rock, in him I will take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior. Thou save me from violence. ⁴I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised. So I shall be saved from my enemies. ⁵For the waves of death encompassed me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. ⁶The cords of Sheol were round about me. The snares of death came upon me. ⁷In my distress I called upon Jehovah. Yea, I called to my God. And he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came into his ears. ⁸Then the earth shook and trembled, the foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because he was angry. ⁹There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. ¹⁰He bowed the heavens also, and came down, and thick darkness was under his feet. ¹¹And he rode upon a cherub, and flew. Yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind. ¹²And he made darkness pavilions round about him, gathering of waters, thick clouds of the skies. ¹³At the brightness before him coals of fire were kindled. ¹⁴Jehovah thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. ¹⁵And he sent out arrows, and scattered them, lightning, and discomfited them. ¹⁶Then the channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare by the rebuke of Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. ¹⁷He sent from on high, he took me. He drew me out of many waters. ¹⁸He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. ¹⁹They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah was my support. ²⁰He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me. ²¹Jehovah rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. ²²For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²³For all his ordinances were before me. And as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. ²⁴I was also perfect toward him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁵Therefore Jehovah has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his eyesight. ²⁶With the merciful thou will show thyself merciful. With the perfect man thou will show thyself perfect. ²⁷With the pure thou will show thyself pure. And with the perverse thou will show thyself contrary. ²⁸And the afflicted people thou will save, but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou may bring them down. ²⁹For thou are my lamp, O Jehovah. And Jehovah will lighten my darkness. ³⁰For by thee I run upon a troop. By my God do I leap over a wall. ³¹As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Jehovah is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. ³²For who is God, except Jehovah? And who is a rock, except our God? ³³God is my strong fortress, and he guides the perfect in his way. ³⁴He makes his feet like hinds� feet, and sets me upon my high places. ³⁵He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass. ³⁶Thou have also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy gentleness has made me great. ³⁷Thou have enlarged my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped. ³⁸I have pursued my enemies, and destroyed them, neither did I turn again till they were consumed. ³⁹And I have consumed them, and smitten them through, so that they cannot arise. Yea, they are fallen under my feet. ⁴⁰For thou have girded me with strength to the battle. Thou have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴¹Thou have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. ⁴²They looked, but there was none to save; even to Jehovah, but he did not answer them. ⁴³Then I beat them small as the dust of the earth. I crushed them as the mire of the streets, and spread them abroad. ⁴⁴Thou have also delivered me from the strivings of my people. Thou have kept me to be the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. ⁴⁵The foreigners shall submit themselves to me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. ⁴⁶The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their hiding places. ⁴⁷Jehovah lives. And blessed be my rock. And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, ⁴⁸Even the God who executes vengeance for me, and who brings down peoples under me, ⁴⁹and who brings me forth from my enemies. Yea, thou lift me up above those who rise up against me. Thou deliver me from the violent man. ⁵⁰Therefore I will give thanks to thee, O Jehovah, among Gentiles, and will sing praises to thy name. ⁵¹He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, for evermore.

CHAPTER 23

¹Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, and the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel: ²The Spirit of Jehovah spoke by me, and his word was upon my tongue. ³The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God, ⁴he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, when the tender grass springs out of the earth, through clear shining after rain. ⁵Truly my house is not so with God. Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. For it is all my salvation, and all my desire, though he does not make it to grow. ⁶But the worthless shall be as thorns to be thrust away, all of them, because they cannot be taken with the hand. ⁷But the man who touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. ⁸These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, the same was Adino the Eznite, against eight hundred slain at one time. ⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodai the son of an Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away. ¹⁰He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And Jehovah wrought a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to take spoil. ¹¹And after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop where was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. ¹²But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines. And Jehovah wrought a great victory. ¹³And three of the thirty chief men went down, and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, and the troop of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁴And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁵And David longed, and said, Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! ¹⁶And the three mighty men broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah. ¹⁷And he said, Be it far from me, O Jehovah, that I should do this, to drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. ¹⁸And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. ¹⁹Was he not most honorable of the three? Therefore he was made their captain. However he did not attain to the first three. ²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. ²¹And he killed an Egyptian, a good-looking man. And the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian�s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²²These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name among the three mighty men. ²³He was more honorable than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David set him over his guard. ²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, ²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, ²⁷Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, ²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, ²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, ³⁰Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash. ³¹Abialbon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, ³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite (of the sons of Jashen), Jonathan, ³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, ³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, ³⁵Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, ³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, ³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armorbearers to Joab the son of Zeruiah, ³⁸Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

CHAPTER 24

¹And again the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. ²And the king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people. ³And Joab said to the king, Now Jehovah thy God add to the people, however many they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing? ⁴Notwithstanding, the king�s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. ⁵And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer. ⁶Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi. And they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Sidon, ⁷and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites. And they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba. ⁸So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. ⁹And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. ¹⁰And David�s heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done, but now, O Jehovah, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. ¹¹And when David rose up in the morning, the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Gad, David�s seer, saying, ¹²Go and speak to David, Thus says Jehovah, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it to thee. ¹³So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? Or will thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? Or shall there be three days� pestilence in thy land? Now decide, and see what answer I shall return to him who sent me. ¹⁴And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait. Let us fall now into the hand of Jehovah, for his mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man. ¹⁵So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed. And there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. ¹⁶And when the agent stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah relented of the evil, and said to the agent who destroyed the people, It is enough. Now stay thy hand. And the agent of Jehovah was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁷And David spoke to Jehovah when he saw the agent who smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely, but these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father�s house. ¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, Go up, rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁹And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Jehovah commanded. ²⁰And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. ²¹And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor from thee, to build an altar to Jehovah that the plague may be halted from the people. ²²And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. ²³All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king. And Araunah said to the king, Jehovah thy God accept thee. ²⁴And the king said to Araunah, No, but I will truly buy it from thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings to Jehovah my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. ²⁵And David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Jehovah was entreated for the land, and the plague was halted from Israel.

1ST KINGS

CHAPTER 1

¹Now king David was old and stricken in years, and they covered him with clothes, but he did not get warm. ²Therefore his servants said to him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin. And let her stand before the king, and take care of him. And let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get warmth. ³So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the borders of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴And the damsel was very fair. And she took care of the king, and ministered to him, but the king knew her not. ⁵Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king. And he prepared chariots for him, and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why have thou done so? And he was also a very handsome man. And he was born after Absalom. ⁷And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest. And, following Adonijah, they helped him. ⁸But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men who belonged to David, were not with Adonijah. ⁹And Adonijah killed sheep and oxen and fatlings by the stone of Zoheleth, which is beside En-rogel. And he called all his brothers, the king�s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king�s servants. ¹⁰But he did not call Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother. ¹¹Then Nathan spoke to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Have thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith reigns, and David our lord does not know it? ¹²Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou may save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon. ¹³Go and get thee in to king David, and say to him, Did thou not, my lord, O king, swear to thy handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? Why then does Adonijah reign? ¹⁴Behold, while thou yet talk there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words. ¹⁵And Bathsheba went in to the king into the chamber. And the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was ministering to the king. ¹⁶And Bathsheba bowed, and did obeisance to the king. And the king said, What do thou want? ¹⁷And she said to him, My lord, thou swore by Jehovah thy God to thy handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne. ¹⁸And now, behold, Adonijah reigns, and thou, my lord the king, do not know it. ¹⁹And he has slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the army, but he has not called Solomon thy servant. ²⁰And thou, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou should tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him. ²¹Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be considered offenders. ²²And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet came in. ²³And they told the king, saying, Behold, Nathan the prophet. And when he came in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground. ²⁴And Nathan said, My lord, O king, have thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? ²⁵For he has gone down this day, and has slain oxen and fatlings and sheep in abundance, and has called all the king�s sons, and the captains of the army, and Abiathar the priest. And, behold, they are eating and drinking before him, and say, Live, king Adonijah. ²⁶But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, he has not called. ²⁷Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou have not shown to thy servants who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? ²⁸Then king David answered and said, Call Bathsheba to me. And she came into the king�s presence, and stood before the king. ²⁹And the king swore, and said, As Jehovah lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, ³⁰truly as I swore to thee by Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead. Surely so I will do this day. ³¹Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did obeisance to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live forever. ³²And king David said, Call to me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And they came before the king. ³³And the king said to them, Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon. ³⁴And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. And blow ye the trumpet, and say, Live, king Solomon. ³⁵Then ye shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit upon my throne, for he shall be king in my stead. And I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah. ³⁶And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said, Truly. Jehovah, the God of my lord the king, say so too. ³⁷As Jehovah has been with my lord the king, even so be he with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord king David. ³⁸So Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, went down, and caused Solomon to ride upon king David�s mule, and brought him to Gihon. ³⁹And Zadok the priest took the horn of oil out of the tent, and anointed Solomon. And they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, Live, king Solomon. ⁴⁰And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth quivered with the sound of them. ⁴¹And Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Why is this noise of the city being in an uproar? ⁴²While he yet spoke, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, Come in, for thou are a worthy man, and bring good news. ⁴³And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Truly our lord king David has made Solomon king. ⁴⁴And the king has sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites. And they have caused him to ride upon the king�s mule. ⁴⁵And Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon. And they have come up from there rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. ⁴⁶And also Solomon sits on the throne of the kingdom. ⁴⁷And moreover the king�s servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, Thy God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed. ⁴⁸And also thus said the king, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who has given one of my seed to sit on my throne this day, my eyes even seeing it. ⁴⁹And all the guests of Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and every man went his way. ⁵⁰And Adonijah feared because of Solomon. And he arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. ⁵¹And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah fears king Solomon, for, lo, he has laid hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear to me first that he will not kill his servant with the sword. ⁵²And Solomon said, If he shall show himself a worthy man, there shall not a hair of him fall to the earth, but if wickedness be found in him, he shall die. ⁵³So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and did obeisance to king Solomon. And Solomon said to him, Go to thy house.

CHAPTER 2

¹Now the days of David drew near that he should die. And he charged Solomon his son, saying, ²I am going the way of all the earth. Be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man, ³and keep the charge of Jehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that thou may prosper in all that thou do, and wherever thou turn thyself. ⁴That Jehovah may establish his word which he spoke concerning me, saying, If thy sons take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee a man on the throne of Israel. ⁵Moreover thou also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, even what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner, and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his belt that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. ⁶Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and do not let his hoar head go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷But show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, and let them be of those who eat at thy table, for so they came to me when I fled from Absalom thy brother. ⁸And, behold, there is with thee Shimei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, of Bahurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by Jehovah, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. ⁹Now therefore do not hold him guiltless, for thou are a wise man, and thou will know what thou ought to do to him, and thou shall bring his hoar head down to Sheol with blood. ¹⁰And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. ¹¹And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹²And Solomon sat upon the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was established greatly. ¹³Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, Do thou come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. ¹⁴He said moreover, I have something to say to thee. And she said, Say on. ¹⁵And he said, Thou know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign. However the kingdom is turned about, and has become my brother�s, for it was his from Jehovah. ¹⁶And now I ask one petition of thee; do not deny me. And she said to him, Say on. ¹⁷And he said, Speak, I pray thee, to Solomon the king (for he will not say no thee), that he give me Abishag the Shunammite to wife. ¹⁸And Bathsheba said, Well, I will speak for thee to the king. ¹⁹Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king�s mother. And she sat on his right hand. ²⁰Then she said, I ask one small petition of thee; do not deny me. And the king said to her, Ask on, my mother, for I will not deny thee. ²¹And she said, Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to Adonijah thy brother to wife. ²²And king Solomon answered and said to his mother, And why do thou ask Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he is my elder brother, even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. ²³Then king Solomon swore by Jehovah, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah has not spoken this word against his own life. ²⁴Now therefore as Jehovah lives, who has established me, and set me on the throne of David my father, and who has made me a house as he promised, surely Adonijah shall be put to death this day. ²⁵And king Solomon sent by Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and he fell upon him so that he died. ²⁶And the king said to Abiathar the priest, Get thee to Anathoth, to thine own fields, for thou are worthy of death. But I will not at this time put thee to death, because thou bore the ark of the lord Jehovah before David my father, and because thou were afflicted in all wherein my father was afflicted. ²⁷So Solomon thrust out Abiathar from being priest to Jehovah, that he might fulfill the word of Jehovah, which he spoke concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. ²⁸And the news came to Joab, for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he did not turn after Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of Jehovah, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. ²⁹And it was told king Solomon, Joab has fled to the tent of Jehovah, and, behold, he is by the altar. Then Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, Go, fall upon him. ³⁰And Benaiah came to the tent of Jehovah, and said to him, Thus says the king, Come forth. And he said, No, but I will die here. And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me. ³¹And the king said to him, Do as he has said, and fall upon him, and bury him, that thou may take away the blood, which Joab shed without cause, from me and from my father�s house. ³²And Jehovah will return his blood upon his own head, because he fell upon two men more righteous and better than he, and killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know it, namely, Abner the son of Ner, captain of the army of Israel, and Amasa the son of Jether, captain of the army of Judah. ³³So shall their blood return upon the head of Joab, and upon the head of his seed forever. But to David, and to his seed, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace forever from Jehovah. ³⁴Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada went up, and fell upon him, and killed him. And he was buried in his own house in the wilderness. ³⁵And the king put Benaiah the son of Jehoiada in his room over the army. And the king put Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar. ³⁶And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Build for thee a house in Jerusalem, and dwell there, and go not forth from there anywhere. ³⁷For on the day thou go out, and pass over the brook Kidron, know thou for certain that thou shall surely die; thy blood shall be upon thine own head. ³⁸And Shimei said to the king, The saying is good. As my lord the king has said, so will thy servant do. And Shimei dwelt in Jerusalem many days. ³⁹And it came to pass at the end of three years, that two of the servants of Shimei ran away to Achish, son of Maacah, king of Gath. And they told Shimei, saying, Behold, thy servants are in Gath. ⁴⁰And Shimei arose, and saddled his donkey, and went to Gath to Achish to seek his servants. And Shimei went, and brought his servants from Gath. ⁴¹And it was told Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath, and was come again. ⁴²And the king sent and called for Shimei, and said to him, Did I not adjure thee by Jehovah, and protest to thee, saying, Know for certain, that on the day thou go out, and walk abroad anywhere, thou shall surely die? And thou said to me, The saying that I have heard is good. ⁴³Why then have thou not kept the oath of Jehovah, and the commandment that I have charged thee with? ⁴⁴The king said moreover to Shimei, Thou know all the iniquity which thy heart is privy to, what thou did to David my father. Therefore Jehovah shall return thy iniquity upon thine own head. ⁴⁵But king Solomon shall be blessed, and the throne of David shall be established before Jehovah forever. ⁴⁶So the king commanded Benaiah the son of Jehoiada. And he went out, and fell upon him so that he died. And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.

CHAPTER 3

¹And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh�s daughter, and brought her into the city of David until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of Jehovah, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. ²Only the people sacrificed in the high places, because there was no house built for the name of Jehovah until those days. ³And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father. Only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁴And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings upon that altar. ⁵In Gibeon Jehovah appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. ⁶And Solomon said, Thou have shown to thy servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee. And thou have kept for him this great loving kindness, that thou have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. ⁷And now, O Jehovah my God, thou have made thy servant king instead of David my father. And I am but a little child; I know not how to go out or come in. ⁸And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou have chosen, a great people that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. ⁹Give thy servant therefore an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to judge this thy great people? ¹⁰And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹And God said to him, Because thou have asked this thing, and have not asked for thyself long life, neither have asked riches for thyself, nor have asked the life of thine enemies, but have asked for thyself understanding to discern justice, ¹²behold, I have done according to thy word. Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart, so that there has been none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like thee. ¹³And I have also given thee that which thou have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there shall not be any among the kings like thee all thy days. ¹⁴And if thou will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David walked, then I will lengthen thy days. ¹⁵And Solomon awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants. ¹⁶Then two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷And the one woman said, Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. And I was delivered of a child with her in the house. ¹⁸And it came to pass the third day after I was delivered, that this woman was delivered also. And we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, except we two in the house. ¹⁹And this woman�s child died in the night, because she lay upon it. ²⁰And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while thy handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. ²¹And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead. But when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore. ²²And the other woman said, No, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son. And the other woman said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spoke before the king. ²³Then the king said, The one says, This is my son that lives, and thy son is the dead. And the other says, No, but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. ²⁴And the king said, Fetch me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. ²⁶Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill it. But the other said, It shall be neither mine nor thine. Divide it. ²⁷Then the king answered and said, Give her the living child, and by no means kill it; she is the mother of it. ²⁸And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged. And they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

CHAPTER 4

¹And king Solomon was king over all Israel. ²And these were the rulers whom he had: Azariah the son of Zadok, the priest; ³Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder; ⁴and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the army; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; ⁵and Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; and Zabud the son of Nathan was chief minister, and the king�s friend; ⁶and Ahishar was over the household; and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the men subject to task work. ⁷And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel who provided provisions for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for a month in the year. ⁸And these are their names: Ben-hur, in the hill-country of Ephraim; ⁹Ben-deker, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; ¹⁰Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him pertained Socoh, and all the land of Hepher); ¹¹Ben-abinadab, in all the height of Dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife); ¹²Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach and Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan, beneath Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as beyond Jokmeam; ¹³Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; even to him pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and brazen bars); ¹⁴Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; ¹⁵Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also took Basemath the daughter of Solomon to wife); ¹⁶Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; ¹⁷Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; ¹⁸Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; ¹⁹Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan, and he was the only officer who was in the land. ²⁰Judah and Israel were as many as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry. ²¹And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the River to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute, and served Solomon all the days of his life. ²²And Solomon�s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and sixty measures of meal, ²³ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and gazelles, and roebucks, and fatted fowl. ²⁴For he had dominion over all the region on this side the River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings on this side of the River. And he had peace on all sides round about him. ²⁵And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. ²⁶And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. ²⁷And those officers provided provisions for king Solomon, and for all who came to king Solomon�s table, every man in his month; they let nothing be lacking. ²⁸Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge. ²⁹And God gave Solomon exceedingly much wisdom and understanding, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea-shore. ³⁰And Solomon�s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹For he was wiser than all men: than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame was in all the nations round about. ³²And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. ³³And he spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes. ³⁴And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

CHAPTER 5

¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his father, for Hiram was ever a devotee of David. ²And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying, ³Thou know how that David my father could not build a house for the name of Jehovah his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until Jehovah put them under the soles of his feet. ⁴But now Jehovah my God has given me rest on every side; there is neither adversary, nor evil occurrence. ⁵And, behold, I purpose to build a house for the name of Jehovah my God, as Jehovah spoke to David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy place, he shall build the house for my name. ⁶Now therefore command thou that they cut for me cedar trees out of Lebanon. And my servants shall be with thy servants. And I will give thee wages for thy servants according to all that thou shall say, for thou know that there is not among us any that knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians. ⁷And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be Jehovah this day, who has given to David a wise son over this great people. ⁸And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard that which thou have sent to me. I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. ⁹My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea. And I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place that thou shall appoint me, and will cause them to be broken up there, and thou shall receive them. And thou shall accomplish my desire in giving food for my household. ¹⁰So Hiram gave Solomon timber of cedar and timber of fir according to all his desire. ¹¹And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil; thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. ¹²And Jehovah gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two made a league together. ¹³And king Solomon raised a conscription out of all Israel, and the conscription was thirty thousand men. ¹⁴And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses. They were in Lebanon a month, and at home two months. And Adoniram was over the men subject to task work. ¹⁵And Solomon had seventy thousand who bore burdens, and eighty thousand who were hewers in the mountains, ¹⁶besides Solomon�s chief officers who were over the work: three thousand and three hundred who bore rule over the people that labored in the work. ¹⁷And the king commanded, and they hewed out great stones, costly stones, to lay the foundation of the house with shaped stone. ¹⁸And Solomon�s builders and Hiram�s builders and the Gebalites fashioned them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the house.

CHAPTER 6

¹And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon�s reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of Jehovah. ²And the house which king Solomon built for Jehovah, the length of it was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty, and the height of it thirty cubits, ³and the porch in front of the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, and ten cubits was the breadth of it in front of the house. ⁴And he made windows of fixed lattice-work for the house. ⁵And against the wall of the house he built stories round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle. And he made side-chambers round about. ⁶The lowest story was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad, for on the outside he made offsets in the wall of the house round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. ⁷And the house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry. And there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was being built. ⁸The door for the middle side-chambers was in the right side of the house. And they went up by winding stairs into the middle story, and out of the middle into the third. ⁹So he built the house, and finished it. And he covered the house with beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰And he built the stories against all the house, each five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. ¹¹And the word of Jehovah came to Solomon, saying, ¹²Concerning this house that thou are building, if thou will walk in my statutes, and execute my ordinances, and keep all my commandments to walk in them, then I will establish my word with thee, which I spoke to David thy father. ¹³And I will dwell among the sons of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. ¹⁴So Solomon built the house, and finished it. ¹⁵And he built the walls of the house inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood. And he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir. ¹⁶And he built twenty cubits on the hinder part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls of the ceiling. He built them for it inside, for an oracle, even for the most holy place. ¹⁷And the house, that is, the temple in front of the oracle, was forty cubits long. ¹⁸And there was cedar on the house inside, carved with knops and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone seen. ¹⁹And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house inside, to set there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. ²⁰And inside the oracle was a space of twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height of it. And he overlaid it with pure gold. And he covered the altar with cedar. ²¹So Solomon overlaid the house inside with pure gold. And he drew chains of gold across before the oracle, and he overlaid it with gold. ²²And the whole house he overlaid with gold until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold. ²³And in the oracle he made two cherubim of olive-wood, each ten cubits high. ²⁴And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub. From the outermost part of the one wing to the outermost part of the other were ten cubits. ²⁵And the other cherub was ten cubits; both of the cherubim were of one measure and one form. ²⁶The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so it was of the other cherub. ²⁷And he set the cherubim inside the inner house. And the wings of the cherubim were stretched forth, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each another in the middle of the house. ²⁸And he overlaid the cherubim with gold. ²⁹And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, inside and outside. ³⁰And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, inside and outside. ³¹And for the entrance of the oracle he made doors of olive-wood. The lintel and door-posts were a fifth part of the wall. ³²So he made two doors of olive-wood. And he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold. And he spread the gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm trees. ³³So he also made for the entrance of the temple door-posts of olive-wood out of a fourth part of the wall, ³⁴and two doors of fir-wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. ³⁵And he carved thereon cherubim and palm trees and open flowers. And he overlaid them with gold fitted upon the graven work. ³⁶And he built the inner court with three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams. ³⁷In the fourth year the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid, in the month Ziv. ³⁸And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished throughout all the parts of it, and according to all the fashion of it. So he was seven years in building it.

CHAPTER 7

¹And Solomon was thirteen years building his own house, and he finished all his house. ²For he built the house of the forest of Lebanon. The length of it was a hundred cubits, and the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. ³And it was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams that were upon the pillars, fifteen in a row. ⁴And there were beams in three rows, and window was opposite window in three ranks. ⁵And all the doors and posts were made square with beams, and window was opposite window in three ranks. ⁶And he made the porch of pillars. The length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth of it thirty cubits, and a porch in front of them, and pillars and a threshold in front of them. ⁷And he made the porch of the throne where he was to judge, even the porch of judgment. And it was covered with cedar from floor to floor. ⁸And his house where he was to dwell, the other court within the porch was of the like work. He also made a house for Pharaoh�s daughter (whom Solomon had taken to wife), like this porch. ⁹All these were of costly stones, even of hewn stone, according to measure, sawed with saws, inside and outside, even from the foundation to the coping, and so on the outside to the great court. ¹⁰And the foundation was of costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. ¹¹And above were costly stones, even hewn stone, according to measure, and cedar-wood. ¹²And the great court round about had three courses of hewn stone, and a course of cedar beams, like the inner court of the house of Jehovah, and the porch of the house. ¹³And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. ¹⁴He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a workman in brass. And he was filled with wisdom and understanding and skill, to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. ¹⁵For he fashioned the two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits high apiece. And a line of twelve cubits encompassed each of them around. ¹⁶And he made two capitals of molten brass to set upon the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits. ¹⁷There were nets of checker-work, and wreaths of chain-work, for the capitals which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one capital, and seven for the other capital. ¹⁸So he made the pillars. And there were two rows round about upon the one network to cover the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars. And so he did for the other capital. ¹⁹And the capitals that were upon the top of the pillars in the porch were of lily-work, four cubits. ²⁰And there were capitals also above upon the two pillars, close by the protuberance which was beside the network. And the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about upon the other capital. ²¹And he set up the pillars at the porch of the temple. And he set up the right pillar, and called the name of it Jachin, and he set up the left pillar, and called the name of it Boaz. ²²And upon the top of the pillars was lily-work: so was the work of the pillars finished. ²³And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height of it was five cubits. And a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about. ²⁴And under the brim of it round about there were knops which encompassed it, for ten cubits, encompassing the sea round about. The knops were in two rows, cast when it was cast. ²⁵It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east. And the sea was set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. ²⁶And it was a handbreadth thick. And the brim of it was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It held two thousand baths. ²⁷And he made the ten bases of brass; four cubits was the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth of it, and three cubits the height of it. ²⁸And the work of the bases was on this manner: They had panels, and there were panels between the ledges. ²⁹And on the panels that were between the ledges were lions, oxen, and cherubim. And upon the ledges there was a pedestal above. And beneath the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work. ³⁰And every base had four brazen wheels, and axles of brass. And the four corners of it had supports. Beneath the laver were the molten supports with wreaths at the side of each. ³¹And the mouth of it within the capital and above was a cubit. And the mouth of it was round after the work of a pedestal, a cubit and a half. And also upon the mouth of it were engravings. And their panels were foursquare, not round. ³²And the four wheels were underneath the panels. And the axletrees of the wheels were in the base. And the height of a wheel was a cubit and half a cubit. ³³And the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel. Their axletrees, and their felloes, and their spokes, and their naves, were all molten. ³⁴And there were four supports at the four corners of each base. The supports of it were of the base itself. ³⁵And in the top of the base there was a round band half a cubit high. And on the top of the base the ledges of it and the panels of it were of the same. ³⁶And on the plates of the ledges of it, and on the panels of it, he engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees, according to the space of each, with wreaths round about. ³⁷After this manner he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, and one form. ³⁸And he made ten basins of brass. One basin contained forty baths. And every basin was four cubits. And upon every one of the ten bases one basin. ³⁹And he set the bases, five on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house. And he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south. ⁴⁰And Hiram made the basins, and the shovels, and the bowls. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he wrought for king Solomon in the house of Jehovah: ⁴¹the two pillars, and the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, ⁴²and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the pillars, ⁴³and the ten bases, and the ten basins on the bases, ⁴⁴and the one sea, and the twelve oxen under the sea, ⁴⁵and the pots, and the shovels, and the bowls. And all these vessels, which Hiram made for king Solomon in the house of Jehovah were of burnished brass. ⁴⁶The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. ⁴⁷And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed because they were very many; the weight of the brass could not be found out. ⁴⁸And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of Jehovah: the golden altar, and the table whereupon the showbread was, of gold, ⁴⁹and the lampstands, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle, of pure gold, and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, ⁵⁰and the cups, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the firepans, of pure gold, and the hinges, both for the doors of the inner house, the most holy place, and for the doors of the house, namely, of the temple, of gold. ⁵¹Thus all the work that king Solomon wrought in the house of Jehovah was finished. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated�the silver, and the gold, and the vessels�and put them in the treasuries of the house of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 8

¹Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers of the sons of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. ²And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. ⁴And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent; even these the priests and the Levites brought up. ⁵And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. ⁶And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves of it above. ⁸And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle. But they were not seen outside. And there they are to this day. ⁹There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb when Jehovah made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah, ¹¹so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah. ¹²Then Solomon spoke, Jehovah has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ¹³I have surely built thee a house of habitation, a place for thee to dwell in forever. ¹⁴And the king turned his face around, and blessed all the assembly of Israel. And all the assembly of Israel stood. ¹⁵And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hand fulfilled it, saying, ¹⁶Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there, but I chose David to be over my people Israel. ¹⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹⁸But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou did well that it was in thy heart. ¹⁹Nevertheless thou shall not build the house, but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name. ²⁰And Jehovah has established his word that he spoke, for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ²¹And there I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with our fathers when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. ²²And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. ²³And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with thy servants, who walk before thee with all their heart, ²⁴who have kept with thy servant David my father that which thou did promise him. Yea, thou spoke with thy mouth, and have fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. ²⁵Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou have promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way, to walk before me as thou have walked before me. ²⁶Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spoke to thy servant David my father. ²⁷But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house that I have built! ²⁸Yet have thou respect to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee this day, ²⁹that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof thou have said, My name shall be there, to hearken to the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place. ³⁰And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and when thou hear, forgive. ³¹If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before thine altar in this house, ³²then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. ³³When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication to thee in this house, ³⁴then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gave to their fathers. ³⁵When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou afflict them, ³⁶then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and send rain upon thy land, which thou have given to thy people for an inheritance. ³⁷If there be famine in the land, if there be pestilence, if there be blight, mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there be, ³⁸whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house, ³⁹then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou know (for thou, even thou only, know the hearts of all the sons of men), ⁴⁰that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gave to our fathers. ⁴¹Moreover concerning the foreigner who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name�s sake ⁴²(for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm), when he shall come and pray toward this house, ⁴³hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as does thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. ⁴⁴If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way thou shall send them, and they pray to Jehovah toward the city which thou have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name, ⁴⁵then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ⁴⁶If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sins not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, afar off or near, ⁴⁷yet if they shall rethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to thee in the land of those who carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly, ⁴⁸if they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who carried them captive, and pray to thee toward their land, which thou gave to their fathers, the city which thou have chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name, ⁴⁹then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their case, ⁵⁰and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions by which they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹(for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou brought forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron); ⁵²that thine eyes may be open to the supplication of thy servant, and to the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken to them whenever they cry to thee. ⁵³For thou separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spoke by Moses thy servant when thou brought our fathers out of Egypt, O lord Jehovah. ⁵⁴And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication to Jehovah, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven. ⁵⁵And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, ⁵⁶Blessed be Jehovah, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised. There has not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant. ⁵⁷Jehovah our God be with us as he was with our fathers. Let him not leave us, nor forsake us, ⁵⁸that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹And let these my words, with which I have made supplication before Jehovah, be near to Jehovah our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require, ⁶⁰that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah, he is God; there is none else. ⁶¹Let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day. ⁶²And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Jehovah. ⁶³And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to Jehovah, twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah. ⁶⁴The same day the king hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah, for there he offered the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Jehovah was too little to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat of the peace offerings. ⁶⁵So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days. ⁶⁶On the eighth day he sent the people away. And they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Jehovah had shown to David his servant, and to Israel his people.

CHAPTER 9

¹And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Jehovah, and the king�s house, and all Solomon�s desire which he was pleased to do, ²that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. ³And Jehovah said to him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, which thou have made before me. I have hallowed this house, which thou have built, to put my name there forever. And my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. ⁴And as for thee, if thou will walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, ⁵then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. ⁶But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your sons, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them, ⁷then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them. And this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight. And Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ⁸And though this house is so high, yet shall every man who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss. And they shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land, and to this house? ⁹and they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them; therefore has Jehovah brought all this evil upon them. ¹⁰And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king�s house ¹¹(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that king Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. ¹²And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him. And they did not please him. ¹³And he said, What cities are these which thou have given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul to this day. ¹⁴And Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold. ¹⁵And this is the reason for the conscription which king Solomon raised: to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon�s wife. ¹⁷And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, ¹⁸and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land, ¹⁹and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ²⁰As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the sons of Israel, ²¹their sons who were left after them in the land, whom the sons of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them Solomon raised a conscription of bondservants to this day. ²²But of the sons of Israel Solomon made no bondservants, but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his rulers, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. ²³These were the chief officers who were over Solomon�s work, five hundred and fifty, who bore rule over the people that labored in the work. ²⁴But Pharaoh�s daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo. ²⁵And three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built to Jehovah, burning incense therewith, upon the altar that was before Jehovah. So he finished the house. ²⁶And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. ²⁷And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. ²⁸And they came to Ophir, and fetched gold from there, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.

CHAPTER 10

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of Jehovah, she came to prove him with hard questions. ²And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and very much gold, and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she conversed with him of all that was in her heart. ³And Solomon answered to her all her questions; there was not anything hid from the king which he did not answer. ⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁵and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. ⁷However I did not believe the words until I came, and my eyes had seen it. And, behold, the half was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. ⁸Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, who hear thy wisdom. ⁹Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee to set thee on the throne of Israel. Because Jehovah loved Israel forever, therefore he made thee king, to do justice and righteousness. ¹⁰And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices a very great store, and precious stones. There came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. ¹¹And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug trees and precious stones. ¹²And the king made pillars of the almug trees for the house of Jehovah, and for the king�s house, also harps and psalteries for the singers. There have come no such almug trees, nor were seen, to this day. ¹³And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants. ¹⁴Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty and six talents of gold, ¹⁵besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country. ¹⁶And king Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler. ¹⁷And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁸Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. ¹⁹There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind. And there were supports on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the supports. ²⁰And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²¹And all king Solomon�s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; it was accounted of nothing in the days of Solomon. ²²For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram. Once every three years the navy of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²³So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. ²⁴And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁵And every man brought his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁶And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. And he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. ²⁸And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt. And the king�s merchants received them in herds, each herd at a price. ²⁹And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. And so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, they brought them out by their means.

CHAPTER 11

¹Now king Solomon loved many foreign women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, ²of the nations concerning which Jehovah said to the sons of Israel, Ye shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave to these in love. ³And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods. And his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶And Solomon did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and went not fully after Jehovah as did David his father. ⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the sons of Ammon. ⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who burnt incense and sacrificed to their gods. ⁹And Jehovah was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from Jehovah, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, ¹⁰and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep that which Jehovah commanded. ¹¹Therefore Jehovah said to Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done by thee, and thou have not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. ¹²Notwithstanding I will not do it in thy days, for David thy father�s sake, but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. ¹³However I will not rend away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant�s sake, and for Jerusalem�s sake which I have chosen. ¹⁴And Jehovah raised up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the king�s seed in Edom. ¹⁵For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the army was gone up to bury the slain, and had smitten every male in Edom ¹⁶(for Joab and all Israel remained there six months until he had cut off every male in Edom), ¹⁷that Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father�s servants with him, to go into Egypt, Hadad being yet a little child. ¹⁸And they arose out of Midian, and came to Paran. And they took men with them out of Paran, and they came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house, and appointed him provisions, and gave him land. ¹⁹And Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to wife the sister of his own wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen. ²⁰And the sister of Tahpenes bore him Genubath his son, whom Tahpenes weaned in Pharaoh�s house. And Genubath was in Pharaoh�s house among the sons of Pharaoh. ²¹And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the army was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart that I may go to my own country. ²²Then Pharaoh said to him, But what have thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seek to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing, however only let me depart. ²³And God raised up another adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his lord Hadadezer king of Zobah. ²⁴And he gathered men to him, and became captain over a troop when David killed them of Zobah. And they went to Damascus, and dwelt therein, and reigned in Damascus. ²⁵And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, besides the mischief that Hadad did. And he abhorred Israel, and reigned over Syria. ²⁶And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon whose mother�s name was Zeruah, a widow, he also lifted up his hand against the king. ²⁷And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo, and repaired the breach of the city of David his father. ²⁸And the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. And Solomon saw the young man that he was industrious, and he gave him charge over all the labor of the house of Joseph. ²⁹And it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him in the way. Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the field. ³⁰And Ahijah laid hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore it in twelve pieces. ³¹And he said to Jeroboam, Take thee ten pieces, for thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee ³²(but he shall have one tribe, for my servant David�s sake and for Jerusalem�s sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel), ³³because that they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the sons of Ammon. And they have not walked in my ways, to do that which is right in my eyes, and to keep my statutes and my ordinances as David his father did. ³⁴However I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him prince all the days of his life, for David my servant�s sake whom I chose, who kept my commandments and my statutes. ³⁵But I will take the kingdom out of his son�s hand, and will give it to thee, even ten tribes. ³⁶And I will give one tribe to his son, that David my servant may have a lamp always before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen for me to put my name there. ³⁷And I will take thee, and thou shall reign according to all that thy soul desires, and shall be king over Israel. ³⁸And it shall be, if thou will hearken to all that I command thee, and will walk in my ways, and do that which is right in my eyes, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did. That I will be with thee, and will build thee a sure house as I built for David, and will give Israel to thee. ³⁹And for this I will afflict the seed of David, but not forever. ⁴⁰Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. ⁴¹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon? ⁴²And the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. ⁴³And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 12

¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel came to Shechem to make him king. ²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was yet in Egypt where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon, and Jeroboam dwelt in Egypt, ³and they sent and called him), that Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came, and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴Thy father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou lighter the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve thee. ⁵And he said to them, Depart yet for three days, then come again to me. And the people departed. ⁶And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men who had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel give ye to me to return an answer to this people? ⁷And they spoke to him, saying, If thou will be a servant to this people this day, and will serve them, and answer them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever. ⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men, which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that grew up with him, who stood before him. ⁹And he said to them, What counsel give ye, that we may return an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father put upon us lighter? ¹⁰And the young men that grew up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus shall thou say to this people that spoke to thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter to us; thus shall thou speak to them, My little finger is thicker than my father�s loins. ¹¹And now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. ¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the third day. ¹³And the king answered the people roughly, and forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, ¹⁴and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions. ¹⁵So the king did not hearken to the people, for it was a thing brought about by Jehovah, that he might establish his word, which Jehovah spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel. Now see to thine own house, David. So Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷But as for the sons of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Adoram who was over the men subject to task work. And all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And king Rehoboam made speed to get up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day. ²⁰And it came to pass, when all Israel heard that Jeroboam was returned, that they sent and called him to the congregation, and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David, but only the tribe of Judah. ²¹And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah, and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam the son of Solomon. ²²But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ²³Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying, ²⁴Thus says Jehovah, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers the sons of Israel. Return every man to his house, for this thing is of me. So they hearkened to the word of Jehovah, and returned and went their way according to the word of Jehovah. ²⁵Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and dwelt therein. And he went out from there, and built Penuel. ²⁶And Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. ²⁷If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah. And they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah. ²⁸Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ²⁹And he set the one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. ³⁰And this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one, even to Dan. ³¹And he made houses of high places, and made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. ³²And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the feast that is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. ³³And he went up to the altar which he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the sons of Israel, and went up to the altar to burn incense.

CHAPTER 13

¹And, behold, there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of Jehovah to Bethel. And Jeroboam was standing by the altar to burn incense. ²And he cried against the altar by the word of Jehovah, and said, O altar, altar, thus says Jehovah: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And upon thee shall he sacrifice the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men�s bones they shall burn upon thee. ³And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which Jehovah has spoken: Behold, the altar shall be torn, and the ashes that are upon it shall be poured out. ⁴And it came to pass, when the king heard the saying of the man of God, which he cried against the altar in Bethel, that Jeroboam put forth his hand from the altar, saying, Lay hold on him. And his hand, which he put forth against him, dried up, so that he could not draw it back again to him. ⁵The altar also was torn, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of Jehovah. ⁶And the king answered and said to the man of God, Entreat now the favor of Jehovah thy God, and pray for me that my hand may be restored to me again. And the man of God entreated Jehovah, and the king�s hand was restored to him again, and became as it was before. ⁷And the king said to the man of God, Come home with me, and refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward. ⁸And the man of God said to the king, If thou will give me half thy house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread nor drink water in this place; ⁹for so it was charged me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Thou shall eat no bread, nor drink water, neither return by the way that thou came. ¹⁰So he went another way, and returned not by the way that he came to Bethel. ¹¹Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel. And one of his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. The words which he had spoken to the king, they also told them to their father. ¹²And their father said to them, What way did he go? Now his sons had seen what way the man of God went, who came from Judah. ¹³And he said to his sons, Saddle the donkey for me. So they saddled him the donkey, and he rode on it. ¹⁴And he went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. And he said to him, Are thou the man of God who came from Judah? And he said, I am. ¹⁵Then he said to him, Come home with me, and eat bread. ¹⁶And he said, I may not return with thee, nor go in with thee. Neither will I eat bread nor drink water with thee in this place; ¹⁷for it was said to me by the word of Jehovah, Thou shall eat no bread nor drink water there, nor turn again to go by the way that thou came. ¹⁸And he said to him, I also am a prophet as thou are. And an agent spoke to me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied to him. ¹⁹So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. ²⁰And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the word of Jehovah came to the prophet who brought him back. ²¹And he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Forasmuch as thou have been disobedient to the mouth of Jehovah, and have not kept the commandment which Jehovah thy God commanded thee, ²²but came back, and have eaten bread and drunk water in the place of which he said to thee, Eat no bread, and drink no water, thy body shall not come to the sepulcher of thy fathers. ²³And it came to pass, after he had eaten bread, and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, namely, for the prophet whom he had brought back. ²⁴And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and killed him. And his body was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the body. ²⁵And, behold, men passed by, and saw the body cast in the way, and the lion standing by the body. And they came and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. ²⁶And when the prophet who brought him back from the way heard of it, he said, It is the man of God who was disobedient to the mouth of Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him, and slain him, according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke to him. ²⁷And he spoke to his sons, saying, Saddle the donkey for me. And they saddled it. ²⁸And he went and found his body cast in the way, and the donkey and the lion standing by the body. The lion had not eaten the body, nor torn the donkey. ²⁹And the prophet took up the body of the man of God, and laid it upon the donkey, and brought it back. And he came to the city of the old prophet, to mourn, and to bury him. ³⁰And he laid his body in his own grave. And they mourned over him, saying, Alas, my brother! ³¹And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulcher in which the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. ³²For the saying which he cried by the word of Jehovah against the altar in Bethel, and against all the houses of the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, shall surely come to pass. ³³After this thing Jeroboam did not return from his evil way, but again made from among all the people priests of the high places. Whoever would, he consecrated him, that there might be priests of the high places. ³⁴And this thing became sin to the house of Jeroboam, even to cut it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth.

CHAPTER 14

¹At that time Abijah the son of Jeroboam fell sick. ²And Jeroboam said to his wife, Arise, I pray thee, and disguise thyself that thou not be known to be the wife of Jeroboam, and get thee to Shiloh. Behold, there is Ahijah the prophet who spoke concerning me that I should be king over this people. ³And take with thee ten loaves, and cakes, and a cruse of honey, and go to him. He will tell thee what shall become of the child. ⁴And Jeroboam�s wife did so, and arose, and went to Shiloh, and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set because of his age. ⁵And Jehovah said to Ahijah, Behold, the wife of Jeroboam comes to inquire of thee concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus thou shall say to her, for it will be, when she comes in, that she will feign herself to be another woman. ⁶And it was so, when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet, as she came in at the door, that he said, Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam. Why feign thou thyself to be another? For I am sent to thee with heavy news. ⁷Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over my people Israel, ⁸and tore the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee, and yet thou have not been as my servant David, who kept my commandments, and who followed me with all his heart to do only that which was right in my eyes, ⁹but have done evil above all who were before thee, and have gone and made thee other gods, and molten images to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind thy back, ¹⁰therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam every man-child, he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel, and will utterly sweep away the house of Jeroboam as a man sweeps away dung, till it be all gone. ¹¹He who dies of Jeroboam in the city shall the dogs eat, and he who dies in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat, for Jehovah has spoken it. ¹²Arise thou therefore, get thee to thy house. When thy feet enter into the city, the child shall die. ¹³And all Israel shall mourn for him, and bury him, for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave, because in him there is found some good thing toward Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. ¹⁴Moreover Jehovah will raise up a king for him over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam that day. But what? Even now. ¹⁵For Jehovah will smite Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. And he will root up Israel out of this good land which he gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River because they have made their Asherim, provoking Jehovah to anger. ¹⁶And he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he has sinned, and with which he has made Israel to sin. ¹⁷And Jeroboam�s wife arose, and departed, and came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. ¹⁸And all Israel buried him, and mourned for him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the prophet. ¹⁹And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁰And the days which Jeroboam reigned were twenty-two years, and he slept with his fathers. And Nadab his son reigned in his stead. ²¹And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother�s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ²²And Judah did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed, above all that their fathers had done. ²³For they also built for them high places, and pillars, and Asherim, on every high hill, and under every green tree. ²⁴And there were also sodomites in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Jehovah drove out before the sons of Israel. ²⁵And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. ²⁶And he took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king�s house. He even took away all. And he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ²⁷And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard who kept the door of the king�s house. ²⁸And it was so, that, as often as the king went into the house of Jehovah, the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. ²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁰And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ³¹And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And his mother�s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 15

¹Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat, Abijah began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ³And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him. And his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God as the heart of David his father. ⁴Nevertheless for David�s sake Jehovah his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem, ⁵because David did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ⁶Now there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. ⁷And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ⁸And Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. ⁹And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa began to reign over Judah. ¹⁰And he reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. And his grandmother�s name was Maacah the daughter of Abishalom. ¹¹And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah as David his father did. ¹²And he put away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. ¹³And also he removed Maacah his grandmother from being queen because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. And Asa cut down her image, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁴But the high places were not taken away. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with Jehovah all his days. ¹⁵And he brought into the house of Jehovah the things that his father had dedicated, and the things that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁶And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ¹⁷And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ¹⁸Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king�s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants. And king Asa sent them to Ben-hadad, the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying, ¹⁹There is a league between me and thee, between my father and thy father. Behold, I have sent to thee a present of silver and gold. Go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. ²⁰And Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹And it came to pass, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah. ²²Then king Asa made a proclamation to all Judah; none was exempted. And they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber of it, with which Baasha had built. And king Asa built with it Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. ²³Now the rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? But in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. ²⁴And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. ²⁵And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah. And he reigned over Israel two years. ²⁶And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin. ²⁷And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. And Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, for Nadab and all Israel were laying siege to Gibbethon. ²⁸Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. ²⁹And it came to pass that, as soon as he was king, he smote all the house of Jeroboam. He left to Jeroboam not any who breathed, until he had destroyed him according to the saying of Jehovah, which he spoke by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite, ³⁰for the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and with which he made Israel to sin, because of his provocation with which he provoked Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger. ³¹Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ³²And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. ³³In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, and reigned twenty-four years. ³⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin.

CHAPTER 16

¹And the word of Jehovah came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, ²Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and thou have walked in the way of Jeroboam, and have made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins, ³behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ⁴He of Baasha who dies in the city shall the dogs eat, and he of his who dies in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat. ⁵Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁶And Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah, and Elah his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And moreover the word of Jehovah came against Baasha by the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani, and against his house, both because of all the evil that he did in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger with the work of his hands in being like the house of Jeroboam, and because he smote him. ⁸In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha began to reign over Israel in Tirzah, and reigned two years. ⁹And his servant Zimri, captain of half his chariots, conspired against him. Now he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who was over the household in Tirzah. ¹⁰And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. ¹¹And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, that he smote all the house of Baasha. He left him not a single man-child, neither of his kinfolks, nor of his friends. ¹²Thus Zimri destroyed all the house of Baasha according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, ¹³for all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, which they sinned, and with which they made Israel to sin, to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities. ¹⁴Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹⁵In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. Now the people were encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. ¹⁶And the people who were encamped heard say, Zimri has conspired, and has also smitten the king. Therefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the army, king over Israel that day in the camp. ¹⁷And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. ¹⁸And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the castle of the king�s house, and burnt the king�s house over him with fire, ¹⁹and died for his sins which he sinned in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did to make Israel to sin. ²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²¹Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts; half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. ²²But the people who followed Omri prevailed against the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri reigned. ²³In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri began to reign over Israel, and reigned twelve years. He reigned six years in Tirzah. ²⁴And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver. And he built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built after the name of Shemer, the owner of the hill, Samaria. ²⁵And Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and dealt wickedly above all who were before him. ²⁶For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sins with which he made Israel to sin, to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger with their vanities. ²⁷Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁸So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria, and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. ²⁹And in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri began to reign over Israel. And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. ³⁰And Ahab the son of Omri did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah above all who were before him. ³¹And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. ³²And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. ³³And Ahab made the Asherah. And Ahab did yet more to provoke Jehovah, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. ³⁴In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho. He laid the foundation of it with the loss of Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates of it with the loss of his youngest son Segub, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke by Joshua the son of Nun.

CHAPTER 17

¹And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Jehovah, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. ²And the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, ³Get thee from here, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan. ⁴And it shall be, that thou shall drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. ⁵So he went and did according to the word of Jehovah, for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan. ⁶And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook. ⁷And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up because there was no rain in the land. ⁸And the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, ⁹Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee. ¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink. ¹¹And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. ¹²And she said, As Jehovah thy God lives, I do not have a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse. And, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son that we may eat it, and die. ¹³And Elijah said to her, Fear not, go and do as thou have said. But make me of it a little cake first, and bring it forth to me, and afterward make for thee and for thy son. ¹⁴For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, The jar of meal shall not be used up, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that Jehovah sends rain upon the earth. ¹⁵And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she, and he, and her house, ate many days. ¹⁶The jar of meal was not used up, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke by Elijah. ¹⁷And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Thou have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son! ¹⁹And he said to her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. ²⁰And he cried to Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah my God, have thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son? ²¹And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah my God, I pray thee, let this child�s soul come into him again. ²²And Jehovah hearkened to the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. ²³And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, See, thy son lives. ²⁴And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that thou are a man of God, and that the word of Jehovah in thy mouth is truth.

CHAPTER 18

¹And it came to pass after many days, that the word of Jehovah came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth. ²And Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. And the famine was severe in Samaria. ³And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly; ⁴for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.) ⁵And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go through the land, to all the fountains of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, that we not lose all the beasts. ⁶So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it; Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. ⁷And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him. And he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Is it thou, my lord Elijah? ⁸And he answered him, It is I. Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. ⁹And he said, How have I sinned that thou would deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to kill me? ¹⁰As Jehovah thy God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek thee. And when they said, He is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom and nation that they did not find thee. ¹¹And now thou say, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. ¹²And it will come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of Jehovah will carry thee where I know not. And so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he will kill me. But I thy servant fear Jehovah from my youth. ¹³Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of Jehovah, how I hid a hundred men of Jehovah�s prophets by fifties in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? ¹⁴And now thou say, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here, and he will kill me. ¹⁵And Elijah said, As Jehovah of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today. ¹⁶So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel? ¹⁸And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou, and thy father�s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of Jehovah, and thou have followed the Baalim. ¹⁹Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the Asherah four hundred, who eat at Jezebel�s table. ²⁰So Ahab sent to all the sons of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel. ²¹And Elijah came near to all the people, and said, How long do ye go limping between the two sides? If Jehovah be God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. ²²Then Elijah said to the people, I, even I only, am left a prophet of Jehovah, but Baal�s prophets are four hundred and fifty men. ²³Let them therefore give us two bullocks, and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. And I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on the wood, and put no fire under. ²⁴And call ye on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of Jehovah. And the God that answers by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken. ²⁵And Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first, for ye are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under. ²⁶And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped about the altar which was made. ²⁷And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is meditating, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awakened. ²⁸And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lances, till the blood gushed out upon them. ²⁹And it was so, when midday was past, that they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening oblation, but there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded. ³⁰And Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of Jehovah that was thrown down. ³¹And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob to whom the word of Jehovah came, saying, Israel shall be thy name. ³²And with the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah. And he made a trench around the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. ³³And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it on the wood. And he said, Fill four jars with water, and pour it on the burnt offering, and on the wood. ³⁴And he said, Do it the second time, and they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time, and they did it the third time. ³⁵And the water ran round about the altar, and he also filled the trench with water. ³⁶And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening oblation, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou are God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. ³⁷Hear me, O Jehovah, hear me, that this people may know that thou, Jehovah, are God, and that thou have turned their heart back again. ³⁸Then the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces. And they said, Jehovah, he is God, Jehovah, he is God. ⁴⁰and Elijah said to them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape. And they took them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there. ⁴¹And Elijah said to Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain. ⁴²So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and he bowed himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees. ⁴³And he said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. ⁴⁴And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, a cloud rises out of the sea, as small as a man�s hand. And he said, Go up, say to Ahab, Make ready thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain not stop thee. ⁴⁵And it came to pass in a little while, that the heavens grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶And the hand of Jehovah was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.

CHAPTER 19

¹And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and also how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. ²Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. ³And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life. And he came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. ⁴But he himself went a day�s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough, now, O Jehovah, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers. ⁵And he lay down and slept under a juniper tree, and, behold, an agent touched him, and said to him, Arise and eat. ⁶And he looked, and, behold, there was at his head a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water. And he ate and drank, and laid him down again. ⁷And the agent of Jehovah came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat because the journey is too great for thee. ⁸And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹And he came to a cave there, and lodged there. And, behold, the word of Jehovah came to him, and he said to him, What are thou doing here, Elijah? ¹⁰And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts. For the sons of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away. ¹¹And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before Jehovah, but Jehovah was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but Jehovah was not in the earthquake. ¹²And after the earthquake a fire, but Jehovah was not in the fire. And after the fire a still small voice. ¹³And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice to him, and said, What are thou doing here, Elijah? ¹⁴And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts. For the sons of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life to take it away. ¹⁵And Jehovah said to him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou come, thou shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. ¹⁶And thou shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi to be king over Israel. And thou shall anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah to be prophet in thy place. ¹⁷And it shall come to pass, that he who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill. And he who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. ¹⁸Yet I have reserved for me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth which has not kissed him. ¹⁹So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him, and cast his mantle upon him. ²⁰And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said to him, Go back again, for what have I done to thee? ²¹And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and killed them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave to the people, and they ate. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered to him.

CHAPTER 20

¹And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his army together. And there were thirty-two kings with him, and horses and chariots. And he went up and besieged Samaria, and fought against it. ²And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel, into the city, and said to him, Thus says Ben-hadad, ³Thy silver and thy gold is mine, thy wives also and thy sons, even the best, are mine. ⁴And the king of Israel answered and said, It is according to thy saying, my lord, O king, I am thine, and all that I have. ⁵And the messengers came again, and said, Thus speaks Ben-hadad, saying, I indeed sent to thee, saying, Thou shall deliver to me thy silver, and thy gold, and thy wives, and thy sons. ⁶But I will send my servants to thee tomorrow about this time, and they shall search thy house, and the houses of thy servants. And it shall be, that whatever is pleasant in thine eyes, they shall put it in their hand, and take it away. ⁷Then the king of Israel called all the elders of the land, and said, Mark, I pray you, and see how this man seeks mischief, for he sent to me for my wives, and for my sons, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I did not deny him. ⁸And all the elders and all the people said to him, Do thou not hearken, nor consent. ⁹Therefore he said to the messengers of Ben-hadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou sent for to thy servant at the first I will do, but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. ¹⁰And Ben-hadad sent to him, and said, The gods do so to me, and more also, if the dust of Samaria shall suffice for handfuls for all the people that follow me. ¹¹And the king of Israel answered and said, Tell him, Let not him who girds on his armor boast himself as he who puts it off. ¹²And it came to pass, when Ben-hadad heard this message as he was drinking, he and the kings, in the pavilions, that he said to his servants, Set yourselves in array. And they set themselves in array against the city. ¹³And, behold, a prophet came near to Ahab king of Israel, and said, Thus says Jehovah, Have thou seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver it into thy hand this day, and thou shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁴And Ahab said, By whom? And he said, Thus says Jehovah, By the young men of the rulers of the provinces. Then he said, Who shall begin the battle? And he answered, Thou. ¹⁵Then he mustered the young men of the rulers of the provinces, and they were two hundred and thirty-two. And after them he mustered all the people, even all the sons of Israel, being seven thousand. ¹⁶And they went out at noon. But Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the pavilions, he and the kings, the thirty-two kings who helped him. ¹⁷And the young men of the rulers of the provinces went out first. And Ben-hadad sent out, and they told him, saying, There are men come out from Samaria. ¹⁸And he said, Whether they come out for peace, take them alive, or whether they come out for war, take them alive. ¹⁹So these went out of the city, the young men of the rulers of the provinces, and the army which followed them. ²⁰And they killed everyone his man. And the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. And Ben-hadad the king of Syria escaped on a horse with horsemen. ²¹And the king of Israel went out, and smote the horses and chariots, and killed the Syrians with a great slaughter. ²²And the prophet came near to the king of Israel, and said to him, Go, strengthen thyself. And mark, and see what thou do, for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. ²³And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, Their god is a god of the hills, therefore they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. ²⁴And do this thing: Take the kings away, every man out of his place, and put captains in their place. ²⁵And number thee an army, like the army that thou have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. And we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. And he hearkened to their voice, and did so. ²⁶And it came to pass at the return of the year, that Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians, and went up to Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷And the sons of Israel were mustered, and were supported, and went against them. And the sons of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of kids, but the Syrians filled the country. ²⁸And a man of God came near and spoke to the king of Israel, and said, Thus says Jehovah, Because the Syrians have said, Jehovah is a god of the hills, but he is not a god of the valleys, therefore I will deliver all this great multitude into thy hand, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ²⁹And they encamped one opposite the other seven days. And so it was, that in the seventh day the battle was joined. And the sons of Israel killed of the Syrians a hundred thousand footmen in one day. ³⁰But the rest fled to Aphek, into the city, and the wall fell upon twenty-seven thousand men who were left. And Ben-hadad fled, and came into the city, into an inner chamber. ³¹And his servants said to him, Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us, we pray thee, put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes upon our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will save thy life. ³²So they girded sackcloth on their loins, and put ropes on their heads, and came to the king of Israel, and said, Thy servant Ben-hadad says, I pray thee, let me live. And he said, Is he yet alive? He is my brother. ³³Now the men observed diligently whether anything would come from him. And they quickly caught it, and they said, Thy brother Ben-hadad. Then he said, Go ye, bring him. Then Ben-hadad came forth to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot. ³⁴And Ben-hadad said to him, The cities which my father took from thy father I will restore, and thou shall make streets for thee in Damascus as my father made in Samaria. And I, said Ahab, will let thee go with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and let him go. ³⁵And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said by the word of Jehovah to his fellow, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man refused to smite him. ³⁶Then said he to him, Because thou have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, behold, as soon as thou are departed from me, a lion shall kill thee. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and killed him. ³⁷Then he found another man, and said, Smite me, I pray thee. And the man smote him, smiting and wounding him. ³⁸So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with his headband over his eyes. ³⁹And as the king passed by, he cried out to the king, and he said, Thy servant went out into the midst of the battle, and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man to me, and said, Keep this man. If by any means he is missing, then shall thy life be for his life, or else thou shall pay a talent of silver. ⁴⁰And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said to him, So shall thy judgment be, thyself have decided it. ⁴¹And he hastened, and took the headband away from his eyes, and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets. ⁴²And he said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Because thou have let go out of thy hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. ⁴³And the king of Israel went to his house heavy and displeased, and came to Samaria.

CHAPTER 21

¹And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, near by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. ²And Ahab spoke to Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard that I may have it for a garden of herbs because it is near to my house. And I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it, or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. ³And Naboth said to Ahab, Jehovah forbid it of me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee. ⁴And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him, for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid himself down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. ⁵But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said to him, Why is thy spirit so sad that thou eat no bread? ⁶And he said to her, Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite, and said to him, Give me thy vineyard for money, or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it. And he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard. ⁷And Jezebel his wife said to him, Do thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let thy heart be merry. I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. ⁸So she wrote letters in Ahab�s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, and who dwelt with Naboth. ⁹And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ¹⁰And set two men, base fellows, before him, and let them bear witness against him, saying, Thou cursed God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him to death. ¹¹And the men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who dwelt in his city, did as Jezebel had sent to them, according as it was written in the letters which she had sent to them. ¹²They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ¹³And the two men, the base fellows, came in and sat before him. And the base fellows bore witness against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, Naboth cursed God and the king. Then they carried him forth out of the city, and stoned him to death with stones. ¹⁴Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, Naboth is stoned, and is dead. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when Jezebel heard that Naboth was stoned, and was dead, that Jezebel said to Ahab, Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give thee for money, for Naboth is not alive, but dead. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, that Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it. ¹⁷And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it. ¹⁹And thou shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Have thou killed and also taken possession? And thou shall speak to him, saying, Thus says Jehovah, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. ²⁰And Ahab said to Elijah, Have thou found me, O my enemy? And he answered, I have found thee because thou have sold thyself to do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah. ²¹Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will utterly sweep thee away and will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and he who is shut up and he who is left at large in Israel. ²²And I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which thou have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin. ²³And Jehovah spoke also of Jezebel, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. ²⁴He who dies of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat, and he who dies in the field shall the birds of the heavens eat. ²⁵(But there was none like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ²⁶And he did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did whom Jehovah cast out before the sons of Israel.) ²⁷And it came to pass, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. ²⁸And the word of Jehovah came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹See thou how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son�s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

CHAPTER 22

¹And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel. ²And it came to pass in the third year, that Jehoshaphat the king of Judah came down to the king of Israel. ³And the king of Israel said to his servants, Know ye that Ramoth-gilead is ours, and we are still, and do not take it out of the hand of the king of Syria? ⁴And he said to Jehoshaphat, Will thou go with me to battle to Ramoth-gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou are, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. ⁵And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray thee, for the word of Jehovah. ⁶Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king. ⁷But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him? ⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, there is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. ⁹Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah. ¹⁰Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting each on his throne, arrayed in their robes, in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets were prophesying before them. ¹¹And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for him horns of iron, and said, Thus says Jehovah, With these thou shall push the Syrians until they be consumed. ¹²And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper, for Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king. ¹³And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold now, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth. Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak thou good. ¹⁴And Micaiah said, As Jehovah lives, what Jehovah says to me, that I will speak. ¹⁵And when he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we forbear? And he answered him, Go up and prosper, and Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king. ¹⁶And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Jehovah? ¹⁷And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And Jehovah said, These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace. ¹⁸And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? ¹⁹And Micaiah said, Therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah. I saw Jehovah sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. ²⁰And Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. ²¹And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him. ²²And Jehovah said to him, With what? And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shall entice him, and shall also prevail. Go forth, and do so. ²³Now therefore, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee. ²⁴Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way did the Spirit of Jehovah go from me to speak to thee? ²⁵And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shall see on that day when thou shall go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. ²⁶And the king of Israel said, Take Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king�s son, ²⁷and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I come in peace. ²⁸And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, ye peoples, all of you. ²⁹So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. ³⁰And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle, but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. ³¹Now the king of Syria had commanded the thirty-two captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel. ³²And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel, and they turned aside to fight against him. And Jehoshaphat cried out. ³³And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. ³⁴And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of his chariot, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the army, for I am severely wounded. ³⁵And the battle increased that day. And the king was propped up in his chariot against the Syrians. And he died at evening, and the blood ran out of the wound into the bottom of the chariot. ³⁶And there went a cry throughout the army about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his country. ³⁷So the king died, and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria. ³⁸And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood (now the harlots washed themselves there), according to the word of Jehovah which he spoke. ³⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁴⁰So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. ⁴¹And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. ⁴²Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ⁴³And he walked in all the way of Asa his father. He turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah. However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁴⁴And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. ⁴⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, and his might that he showed, and how he warred, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁴⁶And he put away out of the land the remnant of the sodomites, who remained in the days of his father Asa. ⁴⁷And there was no king in Edom; a deputy was king. ⁴⁸Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not go, for the ships were broken at Ezion-geber. ⁴⁹Then Ahaziah the son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, Let my servants go with thy servants in the ships. But Jehoshaphat would not. ⁵⁰And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. ⁵¹Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. ⁵²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, how he made Israel to sin. ⁵³And he served Baal, and worshiped him, and provoked to anger Jehovah, the God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

2ND KINGS

CHAPTER 1

¹And Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. ²And Ahaziah fell down through the lattice in his upper chamber that was in Samaria, and was sick. And he sent messengers, and said to them, Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I shall recover of this sickness. ³But the agent of Jehovah said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that ye go to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? ⁴Now therefore thus says Jehovah, Thou shall not come down from the bed where thou have gone up, but shall surely die. And Elijah departed. ⁵And the messengers returned to him, and he said to them, Why is it that ye are returned? ⁶And they said to him, There came up a man to meet us, and said to us, Go, turn again to the king that sent you, and say to him, Thus says Jehovah, Is it because there is no God in Israel that thou send to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore thou shall not come down from the bed where thou have gone up, but shall surely die. ⁷And he said to them, What manner of man was he who came up to meet you, and told you these words? ⁸And they answered him, He was a hairy man, and girt with a belt of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. ⁹Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and, behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he spoke to him, O man of God, the king has said, Come down. ¹⁰And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. ¹¹And again he sent to him another captain of fifty and his fifty. And he answered and said to him, O man of God, thus has the king said, Come down quickly. ¹²And Elijah answered and said to them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. ¹³And again he sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said to him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. ¹⁴Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and consumed the two former captains of fifty with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in thy sight. ¹⁵And the agent of Jehovah said to Elijah, Go down with him; do not be afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him to the king. ¹⁶And he said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Inasmuch as thou have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore thou shall not come down from the bed where thou have gone up, but shall surely die. ¹⁷So he died according to the word of Jehovah which Elijah had spoken. And Jehoram began to reign in his stead in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because he had no son. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

CHAPTER 2

¹And it came to pass, when Jehovah would take up Elijah by a whirlwind into heaven, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. ²And Elijah said to Elisha, Remain here, I pray thee, for Jehovah has sent me as far as Bethel. And Elisha said, As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. ³And the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said to him, Do thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head today? And he said, Yes, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁴And Elijah said to him, Elisha, remain here, I pray thee, for Jehovah has sent me to Jericho. And he said, As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. So they came to Jericho. ⁵And the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came near to Elisha, and said to him, Do thou know that Jehovah will take away thy master from thy head today? And he answered, Yes, I know it; hold ye your peace. ⁶And Elijah said to him, Remain here, I pray thee, for Jehovah has sent me to the Jordan. And he said, As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And the two went on. ⁷And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went, and stood opposite them afar off. And the two stood by the Jordan. ⁸And Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and struck the waters, and they were divided here and there, so that the two went over on dry ground. ⁹And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee before I am taken from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. ¹⁰And he said, Thou have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so to thee, but if not, it shall not be so. ¹¹And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, which divided them both apart. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. ¹²And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen of it! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes, and tore them in two pieces. ¹³He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and struck the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they were divided here and there, and Elisha went over. ¹⁵And when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho opposite him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. ¹⁶And they said to him, Behold now, there are fifty strong men with thy servants. Let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest the Spirit of Jehovah has taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send. ¹⁷And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. Therefore they sent fifty men. And they sought three days, but did not find him. ¹⁸And they came back to him while he remained at Jericho. And he said to them, Did I not say to you, Do not go? ¹⁹And the men of the city said to Elisha, Behold, we pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the ground barren. ²⁰And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. ²¹And he went forth to the spring of the waters, and cast salt therein, and said, Thus says Jehovah, I have healed these waters. There shall not be from there any more death or barren land. ²²So the waters were healed to this day, according to the word of Elisha which he spoke. ²³And he went up from there to Bethel. And as he was going up by the way, there came forth young lads out of the city, and mocked him, and said to him, Go up, thou baldhead; go up, thou baldhead. ²⁴And he looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of Jehovah. And there came forth two she-bears out of the wood, and tore forty-two lads of them. ²⁵And he went from there to mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now Jehoram the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and reigned twelve years. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, but not like his father and like his mother, for he put away the pillar of Baal that his father had made. ³Nevertheless he clung to the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin; he did not depart therefrom. ⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep-master. And he rendered to the king of Israel the wool of a hundred thousand lambs, and of a hundred thousand rams. ⁵But it came to pass, when Ahab was dead, that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶And king Jehoram went out of Samaria at that time, and mustered all Israel. ⁷And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up. I am as thou are, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. ⁸And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way of the wilderness of Edom. ⁹So the king of Israel went, and the king of Judah, and the king of Edom. And they made a circuit of seven days� journey, and there was no water for the army, nor for the beasts that followed them. ¹⁰And the king of Israel said, Alas! For Jehovah has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. ¹¹But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah, that we may inquire of Jehovah by him? And one of the king of Israel�s servants answered and said, Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, who poured water on the hands of Elijah. ¹²And Jehoshaphat said, The word of Jehovah is with him. So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him. ¹³And Elisha said to the king of Israel, What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. And the king of Israel said to him, No, for Jehovah has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab. ¹⁴And Elisha said, As Jehovah of hosts lives, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. ¹⁵But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of Jehovah came upon him. ¹⁶And he said, Thus says Jehovah, Make this valley full of trenches. ¹⁷For thus says Jehovah, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain, yet that valley shall be filled with water, and ye shall drink, both ye and your cattle and your beasts. ¹⁸And this is but a light thing in the sight of Jehovah. He will also deliver the Moabites into your hand. ¹⁹And ye shall smite every fortified city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones. ²⁰And it came to pass in the morning, about the time of offering the oblation, that, behold, there came water by the way of Edom, and the country was filled with water. ²¹Now when all the Moabites heard that the kings came up to fight against them, they gathered themselves together, all that were able to put on armor, and upward, and stood on the border. ²²And they rose up early in the morning, and the sun shone upon the water, and the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³And they said, This is blood. The kings are surely destroyed, and they have smitten each man his fellow. Now therefore, Moab, to the spoil. ²⁴And when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose up and smote the Moabites, so that they fled before them, and they went forward into the land smiting the Moabites. ²⁵And they beat down the cities. And on every good piece of land they cast every man his stone, and filled it. And they stopped all the fountains of water, and felled all the good trees, until in Kir-hareseth only they left the stones of it. However the slingers went about it, and smote it. ²⁶And when the king of Moab saw that the battle was too hard for him, he took with him seven hundred men that drew sword to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷Then he took his eldest son who should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt offering upon the wall. And there was great wrath against Israel, and they departed from him, and returned to their own land.

CHAPTER 4

¹Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou know that thy servant feared Jehovah, and the creditor has come to take my two children to him to be bondmen. ²And Elisha said to her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what have thou in the house? And she said, Thy handmaid has not anything in the house except a pot of oil. ³Then he said, Go, borrow for thee vessels abroad from all thy neighbors, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. ⁴And thou shall go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and thou shall set aside that which is full. ⁵So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons. They brought the vessels to her, and she poured out. ⁶And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said to her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said to her, There is no more a vessel. And the oil halted. ⁷Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons from the rest. ⁸And it fell on a day that Elisha passed to Shunem where there was a prominent woman. And she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as often as he passed by he turned in there to eat bread. ⁹And she said to her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually. ¹⁰Let us make, I pray thee, a little chamber on the wall. And let us set a bed for him there, and a table, and a seat, and a lampstand. And it shall be, when he comes to us, that he shall turn in there. ¹¹And it fell on a day that he came there, and he turned into the chamber and lay there. ¹²And he said to Gehazi his servant, Call this Shunammite. And when he had called her, she stood before him. ¹³And he said to him, Say now to her, Behold, thou have been caring for us with all this care. What is to be done for thee? Would thou be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army? And she answered, I dwell among my own people. ¹⁴And he said, What then is to be done for her? And Gehazi answered, Truly she has no son, and her husband is old. ¹⁵And he said, Call her. And when he had called her, she stood in the door. ¹⁶And he said, At this season, when the time comes round, thou shall embrace a son. And she said, No, my lord, thou man of God, do not lie to thy handmaid. ¹⁷And the woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came round, as Elisha had said to her. ¹⁸And when the child was grown, it fell on a day that he went out to his father to the reapers. ¹⁹And he said to his father, My head, my head. And he said to his servant, Carry him to his mother. ²⁰And when he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. ²¹And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut the door upon him, and went out. ²²And she called to her husband, and said, Send me, I pray thee, one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, and come again. ²³And he said, Why will thou go to him today? It is neither new moon nor sabbath. And she said, It shall be well. ²⁴Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, Drive, and go forward. Do not restrain my riding unless I bid thee. ²⁵So she went, and came to the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his servant, Behold, yonder is the Shunammite. ²⁶Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say to her, Is it well with thee? Is it well with thy husband? Is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well. ²⁷And when she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to thrust her away, but the man of God said, Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her, and Jehovah has hid it from me, and has not told me. ²⁸Then she said, Did I desire a son of my lord? Did I not say, do not deceive me? ²⁹Then he said to Gehazi, Gird up thy loins, and take my staff in thy hand, and go thy way. If thou meet any man, do not salute him, and if any salute thee, do not answer him again. And lay my staff upon the face of the child. ³⁰And the mother of the child said, As Jehovah lives, and as thy soul lives, I will not leave thee. And he arose, and followed her. ³¹And Gehazi passed on before them, and laid the staff upon the face of the child, but there was neither voice, nor hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, saying, The child has not awakened. ³²And when Elisha came into the house, behold, the child was dead, and laid upon his bed. ³³He went in therefore, and shut the door upon the two of them, and prayed to Jehovah. ³⁴And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands. And he stretched himself upon him, and the flesh of the child grew warm. ³⁵Then he returned, and walked in the house once to and fro, and went up, and stretched himself upon him. And the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶And he called Gehazi, and said, Call this Shunammite. So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, Take up thy son. ³⁷Then she went in, and fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground. And she took up her son, and went out. ³⁸And Elisha came again to Gilgal. And there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said to his servant, Set on the great pot, and boil pottage for the sons of the prophets. ³⁹And one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered wild gourds from it, his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they did not know them. ⁴⁰So they poured out for the men to eat. And it came to pass, as they were eating of the pottage, that they cried out, and said, O man of God, there is death in the pot. And they could not eat of it. ⁴¹But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot, and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot. ⁴²And a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first-fruits, twenty loaves of barley, and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, Give to the people that they may eat. ⁴³And his servant said, What, should I set this before a hundred men? But he said, Give to the people that they may eat, for thus says Jehovah, They shall eat, and shall leave of it. ⁴⁴So he set it before them, and they ate, and left of it according to the word of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 5

¹Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper. ²And the Syrians had gone out in bands, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maiden, and she waited on Naaman�s wife. ³And she said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would heal him of his leprosy. ⁴And a man went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maiden who is of the land of Israel. ⁵And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. ⁶And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, And now when this letter has come to thee, behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to thee that thou may heal him of his leprosy. ⁷And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he tore his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But consider, I pray you, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me. ⁸And it was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Why have thou torn thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. ⁹So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. ¹⁰And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shall be clean. ¹¹But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought he will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. ¹²Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. ¹³And his servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, would thou not have done it? How much rather then, when he says to thee, Wash, and be clean? ¹⁴Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. ¹⁵And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him. And he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, take a present from thy servant. ¹⁶But he said, As Jehovah lives, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he urged him to take it, but he refused. ¹⁷And Naaman said, If not, yet, I pray thee, let there be given to thy servant two mules� burden of dirt, for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to Jehovah. ¹⁸In this thing Jehovah pardon thy servant: when my master goes into the house of Rimmon to worship there, and he leans on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, when I bow myself in the house of Rimmon, Jehovah pardon thy servant in this thing. ¹⁹And he said to him, Go in peace. So he departed from him a little way. ²⁰But Gehazi the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, Behold, my master has spared this Naaman the Syrian, in not receiving at his hands that which he brought. As Jehovah lives, I will run after him, and take something from him. ²¹So Gehazi followed after Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running after him, he alighted from the chariot to meet him, and said, Is all well? ²²And he said, All is well. My master has sent me, saying, Behold, even now there come to me from the hill-country of Ephraim two young men of the sons of the prophets. Give them, I pray thee, a talent of silver, and two changes of raiment. ²³And Naaman said, Be pleased to take two talents. And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags, with two changes of raiment, and laid them upon two of his servants, and they bore them before him. ²⁴And when he came to the hill, he took them from their hand, and bestowed them in the house, and he let the men go, and they departed. ²⁵But he went in, and stood before his master. And Elisha said to him, From where did thou come, Gehazi? And he said, Thy servant went nowhere. ²⁶And he said to him, Did not my heart go with thee when the man turned from his chariot to meet thee? Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and oliveyards and vineyards, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and maid-servants? ²⁷The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cling to thee, and to thy seed forever. And he went out from his presence a leper as white as snow.

CHAPTER 6

¹And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell before thee is too confined for us. ²Let us go, we pray thee, to the Jordan, and every man take a beam from there, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. ³And one said, Be pleased, I pray thee, to go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. ⁴So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. ⁵But as one was felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water. And he cried, and said, Alas, my master! For it was borrowed. ⁶And the man of God said, Where did it fall? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in there, and made the iron to float. ⁷And he said, Take it up to thee. So he put out his hand, and took it. ⁸Now the king of Syria was warring against Israel, and he took counsel with his servants, saying, In such and such a place shall be my camp. ⁹And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou not pass such a place, for the Syrians are coming down there. ¹⁰And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of. And he saved himself there, not once nor twice. ¹¹And the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled for this thing, and he called his servants, and said to them, Will ye not show me which of us is for the king of Israel? ¹²And one of his servants said, No, my lord, O king, but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel tells the king of Israel the words that thou speak in thy bedchamber. ¹³And he said, Go and see where he is that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. ¹⁴Therefore he sent there horses, and chariots, and a great army. And they came by night, and encompassed the city about. ¹⁵And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an army with horses and chariots was round about the city. And his servant said to him, Alas, my master! What shall we do? ¹⁶And he answered, Fear not, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. ¹⁷And Elisha prayed, and said, Jehovah, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And Jehovah opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. ¹⁸And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed to Jehovah, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. ¹⁹And Elisha said to them, This is not the way, neither is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. And he led them to Samaria. ²⁰And it came to pass, when they came into Samaria, that Elisha said, Jehovah, open the eyes of these men that they may see. And Jehovah opened their eyes, and they saw. And, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. ²¹And the king of Israel said to Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? Shall I smite them? ²²And he answered, Thou shall not smite them. Would thou smite those whom thou have taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? Set bread and water before them that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. ²³And he prepared great provision for them. And when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel. ²⁴And it came to pass after this, that Benhadad king of Syria gathered all his army, and went up, and besieged Samaria. ²⁵And there was a great famine in Samaria. And, behold, they besieged it until a donkey�s head was sold for eighty pieces of silver, and the fourth part of a kab of dove�s dung for five pieces of silver. ²⁶And as the king of Israel was passing by upon the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, Help, my lord, O king. ²⁷And he said, If Jehovah does not help thee, from where shall I help thee? Out of the threshing-floor, or out of the winepress? ²⁸And the king said to her, What troubles thee? And she answered, This woman said to me, Give thy son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow. ²⁹So we boiled my son, and ate him. And I said to her on the next day, Give thy son that we may eat him. And she has hid her son. ³⁰And it came to pass, when the king heard the words of the woman, that he tore his clothes (now he was passing by upon the wall). And the people looked, and, behold, he had sackcloth inside upon his flesh. ³¹Then he said, God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day. ³²But Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And the king sent a man from before him, but before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, Do ye see how this son of a murderer has sent to take away my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door, and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master�s feet behind him? ³³And while he was yet talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him, and he said, Behold, this evil is of Jehovah. Why should I wait for Jehovah any longer?

CHAPTER 7

¹And Elisha said, Hear ye the word of Jehovah. Thus says Jehovah, Tomorrow about this time a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. ²Then the captain on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if Jehovah should make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shall see it with thine eyes, but shall not eat of it. ³Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate, and they said one to another, Why do we sit here until we die? ⁴If we say, We will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come, and let us fall to the army of the Syrians. If they save us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall but die. ⁵And they rose up in the twilight, to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they came to the outermost part of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no man there. ⁶For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great army. And they said one to another, Lo, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. ⁷Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. ⁸And when these lepers came to the outermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and ate and drank, and carried from there silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it. And they came back, and entered into another tent, and carried from there also, and went and hid it. ⁹Then they said one to another, We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we keep silent. If we delay till the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come, let us go and tell the king�s household. ¹⁰So they came and called to the porter of the city. And they told them, saying, We came to the camp of the Syrians, and, behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but the horses tied, and the donkeys tied, and the tents as they were. ¹¹And he called the porters, and they told it to the king�s household within. ¹²And the king arose in the night, and said to his servants, I will now show you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city we shall take them alive, and get into the city. ¹³And one of his servants answered and said, Let, I pray thee, some men take five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it; behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are consumed), and let us send and see. ¹⁴Therefore they took two chariots with horses. And the king sent after the army of the Syrians, saying, Go and see. ¹⁵And they went after them to the Jordan. And, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned, and told the king. ¹⁶And the people went out, and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of Jehovah. ¹⁷And the king appointed the captain on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate. And the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died as the man of God had said, who spoke when the king came down to him. ¹⁸And it came to pass, as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria. ¹⁹And that captain answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if Jehovah should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shall see it with thine eyes, but shall not eat of it. ²⁰It came to pass even so to him, for the people trampled upon him in the gate, and he died.

CHAPTER 8

¹Now Elisha had spoken to the woman, whose son he had restored to life, saying, Arise, and go thou and thy household, and sojourn wherever thou can sojourn, for Jehovah has called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years. ²And the woman arose, and did according to the word of the man of God. And she went with her household, and sojourned in the land of the Philistines seven years. ³And it came to pass at the end of seven years, that the woman returned out of the land of the Philistines, and she went forth to cry to the king for her house and for her land. ⁴Now the king was talking with Gehazi the servant of the man of God, saying, Tell me, I pray thee, all the great things that Elisha has done. ⁵And it came to pass, as he was telling the king how he had restored to life him who was dead, that, behold, the woman, whose son he had restored to life, cried to the king for her house and for her land. And Gehazi said, My lord, O king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life. ⁶And when the king asked the woman, she told him. So the king appointed to her a certain officer, saying, Restore all that was hers, and all the fruits of the field since the day that she left the land, even until now. ⁷And Elisha came to Damascus, and Benhadad the king of Syria was sick. And it was told him, saying, The man of God has come here. ⁸And the king said to Hazael, Take a present in thy hand, and go, meet the man of God, and inquire of Jehovah by him, saying, Shall I recover of this sickness? ⁹So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels� burden, and came and stood before him, and said, Thy son Benhadad king of Syria has sent me to thee, saying, Shall I recover of this sickness? ¹⁰And Elisha said to him, Go, say to him, Thou shall surely recover. However Jehovah has shown me that he shall surely die. ¹¹And he settled his countenance steadfastly upon him, until he was ashamed. And the man of God wept. ¹²And Hazael said, Why do thou weep my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds thou will set on fire, and their young men thou will kill with the sword, and will dash in pieces their little ones, and rip up their women with child. ¹³And Hazael said, But what is thy servant, who is but a dog, that he should do this great thing? And Elisha answered, Jehovah has shown me that thou shall be king over Syria. ¹⁴Then he departed from Elisha, and came to his master, who said to him, What did Elisha say to thee? And he answered, He told me that thou would surely recover. ¹⁵And it came to pass on the morrow, that he took the coverlet, and dipped it in water, and spread it on his face, so that he died. And Hazael reigned in his stead. ¹⁶And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. ¹⁷He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. ¹⁹However Jehovah would not destroy Judah, for David his servant�s sake, as he promised him to give to him a lamp for his sons always. ²⁰In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ²¹Then Joram passed over to Zair, and all his chariots with him. And he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites that encompassed him about, and the captains of the chariots. And the people fled to their tents. ²²So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. ²³And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁴And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. ²⁵In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign. ²⁶Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri king of Israel. ²⁷And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did the house of Ahab, for he was the son-in-law of the house of Ahab. ²⁸And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead, and the Syrians wounded Joram. ²⁹And king Joram returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

CHAPTER 9

¹And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, Gird up thy loins, and take this vial of oil in thy hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. ²And when thou come there, look out there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brothers, and carry him to an inner chamber. ³Then take the vial of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus says Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and delay not. ⁴So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. ⁵And when he came, behold, the captains of the army were sitting. And he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, To which of us all? And he said, To thee, O captain. ⁶And he arose, and went into the house. And he poured the oil on his head, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of Jehovah, even over Israel. ⁷And thou shall smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Jehovah, at the hand of Jezebel. ⁸For the whole house of Ahab shall perish. And I will cut off from Ahab every man-child, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. ⁹And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. ¹⁰And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled. ¹¹Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to thee? And he said to them, Ye know the man and what his talk was. ¹²And they said, It is not true; tell us now. And he said, Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, Thus says Jehovah, I have anointed thee king over Israel. ¹³Then they hastened, and every man took his garment, and put it under him on the top of the stairs, and blew the trumpet, saying, Jehu is king. ¹⁴So Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram was keeping Ramoth-gilead, he and all Israel, because of Hazael king of Syria. ¹⁵But king Joram was returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael king of Syria.) And Jehu said, If this be your mind, then let none escape and go forth out of the city to go to tell it in Jezreel. ¹⁶So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah came down to see Joram. ¹⁷Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? ¹⁸So one went on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he does not come back. ¹⁹Then he sent out a second on horseback who came to them, and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have thou to do with peace? Turn thee behind me. ²⁰And the watchman told, saying, He came to them, and does not come back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously. ²¹And Joram said, Make ready. And they made his chariot ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out to meet Jehu, and found him in the portion of Naboth the Jezreelite. ²²And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? ²³And Joram turned his hands, and fled, and said to Ahaziah, There is treachery, O Ahaziah. ²⁴And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and smote Joram between his arms. And the arrow went out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot. ²⁵Then Jehu said to Bidkar his captain, Take up, and cast him in the portion of the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember how that, when I and thou rode together after Ahab his father, Jehovah laid this burden upon him: ²⁶Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, says Jehovah, and I will requite thee in this plot, says Jehovah. Now therefore take and cast him into the plot of ground, according to the word of Jehovah. ²⁷But when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this, he fled by the way of the garden-house. And Jehu followed after him, and said, Smite him also in the chariot. And they smote him at the ascent of Gur, which is by Ibleam. And he fled to Megiddo, and died there. ²⁸And his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem, and buried him in his sepulcher with his fathers in the city of David. ²⁹(And it was in the eleventh year of Joram the son of Ahab Ahaziah began to reign over Judah.) ³⁰And when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her eyes, and attired her head, and looked out at the window. ³¹And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Is it peace, thou Zimri, thy master�s murderer? ³²And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? Who? And two or three eunuchs looked out to him. ³³And he said, Throw her down. So they threw her down. And some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses. And he trampled her under foot. ³⁴And when he came in, he ate and drank, and he said, Now see to this cursed woman, and bury her, for she is a king�s daughter. ³⁵And they went to bury her, but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶Therefore they came back, and told him. And he said, This is the word of Jehovah, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall the dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel, ³⁷and the body of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel, so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel.

CHAPTER 10

¹Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. And Jehu wrote letters, and sent to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, even the elders, and to those who brought up the sons of Ahab, saying, ²And now as soon as this letter comes to you, seeing your master�s sons are with you, and there are with you chariots and horses, also a fortified city, and armor, ³look ye out for the best and fittest of your master�s sons, and set him on his father�s throne, and fight for your master�s house. ⁴But they were exceedingly afraid, and said, Behold, the two kings did not stand before him. How then shall we stand? ⁵And he who was over the household, and he who was over the city, the elders also, and those who brought up the sons, sent to Jehu, saying, We are thy servants, and will do all that thou shall bid us. We will not make any man king. Do thou that which is good in thine eyes. ⁶Then he wrote a letter the second time to them, saying, If ye be on my side, and if ye will hearken to my voice, take ye the heads of the men your master�s sons, and come to me to Jezreel by tomorrow this time. Now the king�s sons, being seventy persons, were with the great men of the city who reared them. ⁷And it came to pass, when the letter came to them, that they took the king�s sons, and killed them, even seventy persons, and put their heads in baskets, and sent them to him to Jezreel. ⁸And a messenger came, and told him, saying, They have brought the heads of the king�s sons. And he said, Lay ye them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning. ⁹And it came to pass in the morning, that he went out, and stood, and said to all the people, Ye are righteous. Behold, I conspired against my master, and killed him. But who smote all these? ¹⁰Know now that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of Jehovah, which Jehovah spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for Jehovah has done that which he spoke by his servant Elijah. ¹¹So Jehu smote all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, and all his great men, and his familiar friends, and his priests, until he left to him none remaining. ¹²And he arose and departed, and went to Samaria. And as he was at the shearing-house of the shepherds in the way, ¹³Jehu met with the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah, and said, Who are ye? And they answered, We are the brothers of Ahaziah, and we go down to salute the sons of the king and the sons of the queen. ¹⁴And he said, Take them alive. And they took them alive, and killed them at the pit of the shearing-house, even forty-two men; neither did he leave any of them. ¹⁵And when he was departed from there, he came upon on Jehonadab the son of Rechab coming to meet him. And he saluted him, and said to him, Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? And Jehonadab answered, It is. If it be, give me thy hand. And he gave him his hand, and he took him up to him into the chariot. ¹⁶And he said, Come with me, and see my zeal for Jehovah. So they made him ride in his chariot. ¹⁷And when he came to Samaria, he smote all who remained to Ahab in Samaria, till he had destroyed him, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke to Elijah. ¹⁸And Jehu gathered all the people together, and said to them, Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much. ¹⁹Now therefore call to me all the prophets of Baal, all his worshippers, and all his priests. Let none be lacking, for I have a great sacrifice to do to Baal. Whoever shall be lacking, he shall not live. But Jehu did it in subtlety, to the intent that he might destroy the worshippers of Baal. ²⁰And Jehu said, Sanctify a solemn assembly for Baal. And they proclaimed it. ²¹And Jehu sent through all Israel. And all the worshippers of Baal came, so that there was not a man left who did not come. And they came into the house of Baal, and the house of Baal was filled from one end to another. ²²And he said to him who was over the vestry, Bring forth vestments for all the worshippers of Baal. And he brought forth for them vestments. ²³And Jehu went, and Jehonadab the son of Rechab, into the house of Baal. And he said to the worshippers of Baal, Search, and look that there be here with you none of the servants of Jehovah, but the worshippers of Baal only. ²⁴And they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Now Jehu had appointed for him eighty men outside, and said, If any of the men whom I bring into your hands escape, he who lets him go, his life shall be for the life of him. ²⁵And it came to pass, as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, that Jehu said to the guard and to the captains, Go in, and kill them; let none come forth. And they smote them with the edge of the sword. And the guard and the captains cast them out, and went to the city of the house of Baal. ²⁶And they brought forth the pillars that were in the house of Baal, and burned them. ²⁷And they broke down the pillar of Baal, and broke down the house of Baal, and made it an out-house to this day. ²⁸Thus Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel. ²⁹However from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, Jehu did not depart from after them, namely, the golden calves that were in Bethel, and that were in Dan. ³⁰And Jehovah said to Jehu, Because thou have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart, thy sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel. ³¹But Jehu did not take heed to walk in the law of Jehovah, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin. ³²In those days Jehovah began to cut off from Israel. And Hazael smote them in all the borders of Israel, ³³from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. ³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehu, and all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ³⁵And Jehu slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Jehoahaz his son reigned in his stead. ³⁶And the time that Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria was twenty-eight years.

CHAPTER 11

¹Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed. ²But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king�s sons who were slain, even him and his nurse, and put them in the bedchamber. And they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. ³And he was with her hidden in the house of Jehovah six years. And Athaliah reigned over the land. ⁴And in the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the captains over hundreds of the Carites and of the guard, and brought them to him into the house of Jehovah. And he made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of Jehovah, and showed them the king�s son. ⁵And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do: a third part of you, who come in on the sabbath, shall be keepers of the watch of the king�s house; ⁶and a third part shall be at the gate Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard. So shall ye keep the watch of the house, and be a barrier. ⁷And the two companies of you, even all who go forth on the sabbath, shall keep the watch of the house of Jehovah around the king. ⁸And ye shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand. And he who comes within the ranks, let him be slain. And be ye with the king when he goes out, and when he comes in. ⁹And the captains over hundreds did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And every man took his men, those who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. ¹⁰And the priest delivered to the captains over hundreds the spears and shields that had been king David�s, which were in the house of Jehovah. ¹¹And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. ¹²Then he brought out the king�s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony. And they made him king, and anointed him. And they clapped their hands, and said, Live, O king. ¹³And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the house of Jehovah. ¹⁴And she looked, and, behold, the king stood by the pillar, as the manner was, and the captains and the trumpets by the king. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, Treason! treason! ¹⁵And Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, Have her forth between the ranks, and kill with the sword the man who follows her. For the priest said, Let her not be slain in the house of Jehovah. ¹⁶So they made way for her. And she went by the way of the horses� entry to the king�s house, and there was she slain. ¹⁷And Jehoiada made a covenant between Jehovah and the king and the people, that they should be Jehovah�s people; between the king also and the people. ¹⁸And all the people of the land went to the house of Baal, and broke it down. They broke in pieces his altars and his images thoroughly, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of Jehovah. ¹⁹And he took the captains over hundreds, and the Carites, and the guard, and all the people of the land, and they brought down the king from the house of Jehovah, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king�s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. ²⁰So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. And they had slain Athaliah with the sword at the king�s house. ²¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign.

CHAPTER 12

¹Joash began to reign in the seventh year of Jehu. And he reigned forty years in Jerusalem, and his mother�s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. ²And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. ³However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁴And Joash said to the priests, All the money of the hallowed things that is brought into the house of Jehovah, in current money, the money of the persons for whom each man is rated, and all the money that it comes into any man�s heart to bring into the house of Jehovah, ⁵let the priests take it to them, every man from his acquaintance, and they shall repair the broken parts of the house wherever any breach shall be found. ⁶But it was so, that in the twenty-third year of king Joash the priests had not repaired the broken parts of the house. ⁷Then king Joash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests, and said to them, Why do ye not repair the broken parts of the house? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintance, but deliver it for the broken parts of the house. ⁸And the priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, neither repair the broken parts of the house. ⁹But Jehoiada the priest took a chest, and bored a hole in the lid of it, and set it beside the altar, on the right side as a man comes into the house of Jehovah. And the priests who kept the threshold put in it all the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah. ¹⁰And it was so, when they saw that there was much money in the chest, that the king�s scribe and the high priest came up, and they put up in bags and counted the money that was found in the house of Jehovah. ¹¹And they gave the money that was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah. And they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders who worked upon the house of Jehovah, ¹²and to the masons and the hewers of stone, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the broken parts of the house of Jehovah, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. ¹³But there were not made for the house of Jehovah cups of silver, snuffers, basins, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver, of the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah, ¹⁴for they gave that to those who did the work, and with it repaired the house of Jehovah. ¹⁵Moreover they did not reckon with the men into whose hand they delivered the money to give to those who did the work, for they dealt faithfully. ¹⁶The money for the trespass offerings, and the money for the sin offerings, was not brought into the house of Jehovah; it was the priests�. ¹⁷Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it. And Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem. ¹⁸And Joash king of Judah took all the hallowed things that Jehoshaphat and Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers, kings of Judah, had dedicated, and his own hallowed things, and all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and of the king�s house, and sent it to Hazael king of Syria. And he went away from Jerusalem. ¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰And his servants arose, and made a conspiracy, and smote Joash at the house of Millo, on the way that goes down to Silla. ²¹For Jozacar the son of Shimeath, and Jehozabad the son of Shomer, his servants, smote him, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 13

¹In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned seventeen years. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. He did not depart from it. ³And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael, continually. ⁴And Jehoahaz besought Jehovah, and Jehovah hearkened to him, for he saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them. ⁵(And Jehovah gave Israel a savior, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians, and the sons of Israel dwelt in their tents as beforetime. ⁶Nevertheless they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked therein. And the Asherah also remained in Samaria.) ⁷For he did not leave to Jehoahaz of the people except fifty horsemen, and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ⁹And Jehoahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria. And Joash his son reigned in his stead. ¹⁰In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned sixteen years. ¹¹And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin, but he walked therein. ¹²Now the rest of the acts of Joash, and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹³And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat upon his throne. And Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. ¹⁴Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness of which he died. And Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him, and said, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen of it! ¹⁵And Elisha said to him, Take bow and arrows. And he took to him bow and arrows. ¹⁶And he said to the king of Israel, Put thy hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it. And Elisha laid his hands upon the king�s hands. ¹⁷And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, Jehovah�s arrow of victory, even the arrow of victory over Syria, for thou shall smite the Syrians in Aphek till thou have consumed them. ¹⁸And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stopped. ¹⁹And the man of God was angry with him, and said, Thou should have smitten five or six times. Then thou would have smitten Syria till thou had consumed it, whereas now thou shall smite Syria but thrice. ²⁰And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the coming in of the year. ²¹And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band, and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha. And as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet. ²²And Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ²³But Jehovah was gracious to them, and had compassion on them, and had respect to them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither did he cast them from his presence as yet. ²⁴And Hazael king of Syria died, and Benhadad his son reigned in his stead. ²⁵And Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz again took out of the hand of Benhadad the son of Hazael the cities, which he had taken out of the hand of Jehoahaz his father by war. Three times Joash smote him, and recovered the cities of Israel.

CHAPTER 14

¹In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. ³And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, yet not like David his father. He did according to all that Joash his father had done. ⁴However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁵And it came to pass, as soon as the kingdom was established in his hand, that he killed his servants who had slain the king his father, ⁶but he did not put to death the sons of the murderers, according to that which is written in the book of the law of Moses, as Jehovah commanded, saying, The fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons be put to death for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. ⁷He killed ten thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt, and took Sela by war, and called the name of it Joktheel, to this day. ⁸Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look each other in the face. ⁹And Jehoash the king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by, and trampled the thistle. ¹⁰Thou have indeed smitten Edom, and thy heart has lifted thee up. Glory by it, and abide at home, for why should thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou should fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? ¹¹But Amaziah would not hear. So Jehoash king of Israel went up. And he and Amaziah king of Judah looked each other in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ¹²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent. ¹³And Jehoash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash the son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ¹⁴And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king�s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria. ¹⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash which he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ¹⁶And Jehoash slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. And Jeroboam his son reigned in his stead. ¹⁷And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁹And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. And he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there. ²⁰And they brought him upon horses, and he was buried at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. ²¹And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. ²²He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. ²³In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. ²⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ²⁵He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher. ²⁶For Jehovah saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, for there was none shut up nor left at large, neither was there any helper for Israel. ²⁷And Jehovah did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. ²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, and all that he did, and his might, how he warred, and how he recovered Damascus, and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, for Israel, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²⁹And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 15

¹In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. ²He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁴However the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places. ⁵And Jehovah smote the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham the king�s son was over the household, judging the people of the land. ⁶Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁷And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead. ⁸In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. ⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ¹⁰And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and killed him, and reigned in his stead. ¹¹Now the rest of the acts of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ¹²This was the word of Jehovah which he spoke to Jehu, saying, Thy sons to the fourth generation shall sit upon the throne of Israel. And so it came to pass. ¹³Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned the space of a month in Samaria. ¹⁴And Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and killed him, and reigned in his stead. ¹⁵Now the rest of the acts of Shallum, and his conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ¹⁶Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the borders of it, from Tirzah, because they did not open to him, therefore he smote it. And all the women in it who were with child he ripped up. ¹⁷In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and reigned ten years in Samaria. ¹⁸And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not depart all his days from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ¹⁹Pul the king of Assyria came against the land. And Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. ²⁰And Menahem exacted the money from Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and did not stay there in the land. ²¹Now the rest of the acts of Menahem, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? ²²And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his stead. ²³In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned two years. ²⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ²⁵And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him, and smote him in Samaria, in the castle of the king�s house, with Argob and Arieh. And fifty men of the Gileadites with him were there. And he killed him, and reigned in his stead. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Pekahiah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ²⁷In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and reigned twenty years. ²⁸And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel to sin. ²⁹In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came, and took Ijon, and Abel-beth-maacah, and Janoah, and Kedesh, and Hazor, and Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali. And he carried them captive to Assyria. ³⁰And Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah, and smote him, and killed him, and reigned in his stead in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. ³¹Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. ³²In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah king of Judah began to reign. ³³He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. ³⁴And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah. He did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. ³⁵However the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah. ³⁶Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ³⁷In those days Jehovah began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah. ³⁸And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. And Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 16

¹In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham king of Judah began to reign. ²Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah his God, like David his father. ³But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. Yes, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out from before the sons of Israel. ⁴And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war, and they besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome him. ⁶At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drove the Jews from Elath. And the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there to this day. ⁷So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son. Come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me. ⁸And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king�s house, and sent it for a present to the king of Assyria. ⁹And the king of Assyria hearkened to him. And the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and killed Rezin. ¹⁰And king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus. And king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the form of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it. ¹¹And Urijah the priest built an altar. According to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Urijah the priest made it until the coming of king Ahaz from Damascus. ¹²And when the king came from Damascus, the king saw the altar. And the king drew near to the altar, and offered thereon. ¹³And he burnt his burnt offering and his meal offering, and poured his drink offering, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings, upon the altar. ¹⁴And the brazen altar, which was before Jehovah, he brought from the forefront of the house, from between his altar and the house of Jehovah, and put it on the north side of his altar. ¹⁵And king Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, Upon the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, and the evening meal offering, and the king�s burnt offering, and his meal offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their meal offering, and their drink offerings. And sprinkle upon it all the blood of the burnt offering, and all the blood of the sacrifice. But the brazen altar shall be for me to inquire by. ¹⁶Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that king Ahaz commanded. ¹⁷And king Ahaz cut off the panels of the bases, and removed the laver from off them, and took down the sea from off the brazen oxen that were under it, and put it upon a pavement of stone. ¹⁸And the covered place for the sabbath that they had built in the house, and the king�s entry outside, he turned from the house of Jehovah, because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁰And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 17

¹In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and reigned nine years. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. ³Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him. And Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute. ⁴And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison. ⁵Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years. ⁶In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. ⁷And it was so, because the sons of Israel had sinned against Jehovah their God who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods, ⁸and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Jehovah cast out from before the sons of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made. ⁹And the sons of Israel did things secretly that were not right against Jehovah their God. And they built for them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. ¹⁰And they set up for them pillars and Asherim upon every high hill, and under every green tree, ¹¹and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as the nations did whom Jehovah carried away before them. And they wrought wicked things to provoke Jehovah to anger. ¹²And they served idols, of which Jehovah had said to them, Ye shall not do this thing. ¹³Yet Jehovah testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. ¹⁴Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but stiffened their neck, like the neck of their fathers who did not believe in Jehovah their God. ¹⁵And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them. And they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the nations that were round about them, concerning whom Jehovah had charged them that they should not do like them. ¹⁶And they forsook all the commandments of Jehovah their God, and made for them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. ¹⁷And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah to provoke him to anger. ¹⁸Therefore Jehovah was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but only the tribe of Judah. ¹⁹Also Judah did not keep the commandments of Jehovah their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰And Jehovah rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight. ²¹For he tore Israel from the house of David. And they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following Jehovah, and made them sin a great sin. ²²And the sons of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did. They did not depart from them ²³until Jehovah removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day. ²⁴And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel. And they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities of it. ²⁵And so it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they were not afraid of Jehovah. Therefore Jehovah sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations which thou have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and, behold, they kill them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land. ²⁷Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, Carry there one of the priests whom ye brought from there, and let them go and dwell there. And let him teach them the law of the god of the land. ²⁸So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Jehovah. ²⁹However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities wherein they dwelt. ³⁰And the men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. And the Sepharvites burnt their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. ³²So they were afraid of Jehovah, and made for them priests of the high places from among themselves, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. ³³They were afraid of Jehovah, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away. ³⁴To this day they do after the former manner. They do not fear Jehovah, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law or after the commandment which Jehovah commanded the sons of Jacob, whom he named Israel, ³⁵with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. ³⁶But Jehovah, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, him ye shall fear, and to him ye shall bow yourselves, and to him ye shall sacrifice. ³⁷And the statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, ye shall observe to do for evermore. And ye shall not fear other gods. ³⁸And the covenant that I have made with you ye shall not forget. Neither shall ye fear other gods, ³⁹but ye shall ye fear Jehovah your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies. ⁴⁰However they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner. ⁴¹So these nations were afraid of Jehovah, and served their graven images, their sons likewise, and their son�s sons, as did their fathers, so do they to this day.

CHAPTER 18

¹Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. ²He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. ³And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. ⁴He removed the high places, and broke the pillars, and cut down the Asherah, and he broke in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made. For to those days the sons of Israel burned incense to it, and he called it Nehushtan. ⁵He trusted in Jehovah, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. ⁶For he clung to Jehovah. He did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which Jehovah commanded Moses. ⁷And Jehovah was with him. Wherever he went forth he prospered. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria, and did not serve him. ⁸He smote the Philistines to Gaza and the borders of it, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city. ⁹And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it. ¹⁰And at the end of three years they took it. Samaria was taken in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel. ¹¹And the king of Assyria carried Israel away to Assyria, and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they did not obey the voice of Jehovah their God, but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded, and would not hear it, nor do it. ¹³Now in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. ¹⁴And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended. Return from me. That which thou put on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed to Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the king�s house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of Jehovah, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷And the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rab-saris and Rabshakeh from Lachish to king Hezekiah with a great army to Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they came up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the fuller�s field. ¹⁸And when they had called to the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder. ¹⁹And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this in which thou trust? ²⁰Thou say (but they are but vain words), There is counsel and strength for the war. Now on whom do thou trust that thou have rebelled against me? ²¹Now, behold, thou trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man leans it will go into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. ²²But if ye say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God, is that not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? ²³Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. ²⁴How then can thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master�s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ²⁵Have I now come up without Jehovah against this place to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. ²⁶Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, and Joah, said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. And do not speak with us in the Jews� language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall. ²⁷But Rabshakeh said to them, Has my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own urine with you? ²⁸Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews� language, and spoke, saying, Hear ye the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. ²⁹Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of his hand. ³⁰Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ³¹Do not hearken to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me. And eat ye every man of his vine, and every man of his fig tree, and drink ye every man the waters of his own cistern, ³²until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and of honey, that ye may live, and not die. And do not hearken to Hezekiah when he persuades you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. ³³Have any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ³⁴Where are the gods of Hamath, and of Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ³⁵Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ³⁶But the people were silent, and did not answer him a word, for the king�s commandment was, saying, Do not answer him. ³⁷Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

CHAPTER 19

¹And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests (covered with sackcloth) to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy, for the sons have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth. ⁴It may be that Jehovah thy God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God has heard. Therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. ⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus says Jehovah, Do not be afraid of the words that thou have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear news, and shall return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. ⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. ⁹And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he comes out to fight against thee, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Do not let thy God in whom thou trust deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Behold, thou have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. And shall thou be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden that were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? ¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, thou are the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear. Open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, with which he has sent for him to defy the living God. ¹⁷Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, ¹⁸and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were no gods, but the work of men�s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. ¹⁹Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save thou us, I beseech thee, out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou Jehovah are God alone. ²⁰Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. ²¹This is the word that Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised thee and laughed thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee. ²²Whom have thou defied and blasphemed? And against whom have thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. ²³By thy messengers thou have defied the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir trees of it. And I will enter into his farthest lodging-place, the forest of his fruitful field. ²⁴I have dug and drunk strange waters, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt. ²⁵Have thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that thou should be to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ²⁶Therefore their inhabitants were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops, and as grain blasted before it is grown up. ²⁷But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me. ²⁸Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou came. ²⁹And this shall be the sign to thee: Ye shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same. And in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it. ³⁰And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ³¹For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of Jehovah shall perform this. ³²Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. ³³By the way that he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come to this city, says Jehovah. ³⁴For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David�s sake. ³⁵And it came to pass that night, that the agent of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁶So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. ³⁷And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 20

¹In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Set thy house in order, for thou shall die, and not live. ²Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah, saying, ³Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept greatly. ⁴And it came to pass, before Isaiah was gone out into the middle part of the city, that the word of Jehovah came to him, saying, ⁵Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus says Jehovah, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will heal thee. On the third day thou shall go up to the house of Jehovah. ⁶And I will add to thy days fifteen years. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city for my own sake, and for my servant David�s sake. ⁷And Isaiah said, Take a cake of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. ⁸And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What shall be the sign that Jehovah will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah the third day? ⁹And Isaiah said, This shall be the sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do the thing that he has spoken: Shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps? ¹⁰And Hezekiah answered, It is a light thing for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, but let the shadow return backward ten steps. ¹¹And Isaiah the prophet cried to Jehovah, and he brought the shadow ten steps backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz. ¹²At that time Berodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. ¹³And Hezekiah hearkened to them, and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them. ¹⁴Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say, and from where did they come to thee? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country, even from Babylon. ¹⁵And he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. ¹⁶And Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah. ¹⁷Behold, the days come that all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store to this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says Jehovah. ¹⁸And of thy sons who shall issue from thee, whom thou shall beget, they shall take away. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ¹⁹Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of Jehovah which thou have spoken is good. He said moreover, Is it not so, if peace and truth shall be in my days? ²⁰Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²¹And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 21

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Hephzibah. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the sons of Israel. ³For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. And he reared up altars for Baal, and made an Asherah, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. ⁴And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah said, In Jerusalem I will put my name. ⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. ⁶And he made his son to pass through the fire, and practiced augury, and used enchantments, and dealt with psychics, and with sorcery. He wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah to provoke him to anger. ⁷And he set the graven image of Asherah, that he had made, in the house of which Jehovah said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. ⁸Neither will I cause the feet of Israel to wander any more out of the land which I gave their fathers, if only they will observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded them. ⁹But they did not hearken. And Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than did the nations whom Jehovah destroyed before the sons of Israel. ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke by his servants the prophets, saying, ¹¹Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these abominations, and has done wickedly above all that the Amorites did who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, ¹²therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Behold, I bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whoever hears of it, both his ears shall tingle. ¹³And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab. And I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. ¹⁴And I will cast off the remnant of my inheritance, and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. And they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, ¹⁵because they have done that which is evil in my sight, and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came forth out of Egypt even to this day. ¹⁶Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin with which he made Judah to sin in doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. ¹⁷Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and all that he did, and his sin that he sinned, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ¹⁸And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his stead. ¹⁹Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. ²⁰And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah as did Manasseh his father. ²¹And he walked in all the way that his father walked in, and served the idols that his father served, and worshiped them. ²²And he forsook Jehovah, the God of his fathers, and did not walk in the way of Jehovah. ²³And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and put the king to death in his own house. ²⁴But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead. ²⁵Now the rest of the acts of Amon which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁶And he was buried in his sepulcher in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 22

¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in all the way of David his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ³And it came to pass, in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah the son of Meshullam, the scribe, to the house of Jehovah, saying, ⁴Go up to Hilkiah the high priest that he may sum the money which is brought into the house of Jehovah, which the keepers of the threshold have gathered of the people. ⁵And let them deliver it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Jehovah. And let them give it to the workmen who are in the house of Jehovah, to repair the broken parts of the house, ⁶to the carpenters, and to the builders, and to the masons, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the house. ⁷However there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, for they dealt faithfully. ⁸And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹And Shaphan the scribe came to the king, and brought the king word again, and said, Thy servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of Jehovah. ¹⁰And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered to me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king. ¹¹And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he tore his clothes. ¹²And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king�s servant, saying, ¹³Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found, for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened to the words of this book to do according to all that which is written concerning us. ¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam, and Achbor, and Shaphan, and Asaiah, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter), and they conversed with her. ¹⁵And she said to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man who sent you to me, ¹⁶Thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of it, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. ¹⁷Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and it shall not be quenched. ¹⁸But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus shall ye say to him, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: As concerning the words which thou have heard, ¹⁹because thy heart was tender, and thou humbled thyself before Jehovah when thou heard what I spoke against this place, and against the inhabitants of it, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and have torn thy clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard thee, says Jehovah. ²⁰Therefore, behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shall be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil which I will bring upon this place. And they brought the king word again.

CHAPTER 23

¹And the king sent, and they gathered to him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. ²And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great. And he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Jehovah. ³And the king stood by the pillar, and made a covenant before Jehovah to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and all his soul, to confirm the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant. ⁴And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the threshold, to bring forth out of the temple of Jehovah all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the Asherah, and for all the host of heaven, and he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel. ⁵And he put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven. ⁶And he brought out the Asherah from the house of Jehovah, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron, and beat it to dust, and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. ⁷And he broke down the houses of the sodomites that were in the house of Jehovah where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. ⁸And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on a man�s left hand at the gate of the city. ⁹Nevertheless the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of Jehovah in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. ¹⁰And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech. ¹¹And he took away the horses that the kings of Judah had given to the sun, at the entrance of the house of Jehovah, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the suburbs. And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. ¹²And the altars that were on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars which Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of Jehovah, the king broke down, and beat them down from there, and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. ¹³And the king defiled the high places that were before Jerusalem, which were on the right hand of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the sons of Ammon. ¹⁴And he broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the Asherim, and filled their places with the bones of men. ¹⁵Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, even that altar and the high place he broke down. And he burned the high place and beat it to dust, and burned the Asherah. ¹⁶And as Josiah turned himself, he noticed the sepulchers that were there in the mount. And he sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchers, and burned them upon the altar, and defiled it, according to the word of Jehovah which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these things. ¹⁷Then he said, What monument is that which I see? And the men of the city told him, It is the sepulcher of the man of God who came from Judah, and proclaimed these things that thou have done against the altar of Bethel. ¹⁸And he said, Let him be; let no man move his bones. So they let his bones alone, with the bones of the prophet who came out of Samaria. ¹⁹And Josiah also took away all the houses of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke Jehovah to anger. And he did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. ²⁰And he killed all the priests of the high places that were there, upon the altars, and burned men�s bones upon them. And he returned to Jerusalem. ²¹And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the Passover to Jehovah your God, as it is written in this book of the covenant. ²²Surely such a Passover was not kept from the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah. ²³But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah this Passover was kept to Jehovah in Jerusalem. ²⁴Moreover Josiah put away the psychics, and the wizards, and the teraphim, and the idols, and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of Jehovah. ²⁵And there was no king before him like him, who turned to Jehovah with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither arose any like him after him. ²⁶Notwithstanding, Jehovah did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. ²⁸Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ²⁹In his days Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and king Josiah went against him. And Pharaoh-necoh killed him at Megiddo when he had seen him. ³⁰And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulcher. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father�s stead. ³¹Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ³²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done. ³³And Pharaoh-necoh put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem. And he put the land to a tribute of a hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. ³⁴And Pharaoh-necoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt, and died there. ³⁵And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold from the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it to Pharaoh-necoh. ³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Zebidah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. ³⁷And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done.

CHAPTER 24

¹In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. ²And Jehovah sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the sons of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spoke by his servants the prophets. ³Surely at the commandment of Jehovah this came upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, ⁴and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Jehovah would not pardon. ⁵Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? ⁶So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. ⁷And the king of Egypt did not come again any more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt. ⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother�s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done. ¹⁰At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. ¹¹And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it. ¹²And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers. And the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king�s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of Jehovah, as Jehovah had said. ¹⁴And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the rulers, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the blacksmiths. None remained except the poorest sort of the people of the land. ¹⁵And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. And the king�s mother, and the king�s wives, and his officers, and the chief men of the land, he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the blacksmiths a thousand, all of them strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. ¹⁷And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin�s father�s brother, king is his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah. ¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰For it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah through the anger of Jehovah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

CHAPTER 25

¹And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it. And they built forts against it round about. ²So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. ³On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁴Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king�s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about), and the king went by the way of the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him. ⁶Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah. And they gave judgment upon him. ⁷And they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. ⁸Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹And he burnt the house of Jehovah, and the king�s house. And all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burnt with fire. ¹⁰And all the army of the Chaldeans, that were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about. ¹¹And the remnant of the people that were left in the city, and those that fell away, that fell to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive. ¹²But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. ¹³And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. ¹⁴And they took away the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered. ¹⁵And the captain of the guard took away the firepans, and the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver. ¹⁶The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah, the brass of all these vessels was without weight. ¹⁷The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was upon it. And the height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass. And the second pillar had like these with network. ¹⁸And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. ¹⁹And he took an officer out of the city who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king�s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. ²¹And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. ²²And as for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over them. ²³Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ²⁴And Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, Fear not because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. ²⁵But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, so that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans. ²⁷And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison. ²⁸And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon, ²⁹and changed his prison garments. And Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life, ³⁰and for his allowance. There was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

1ST CHRONICLES

CHAPTER 1

¹Adam, Seth, Enosh, ²Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, ³Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, ⁴Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ⁵The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras. ⁶And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, and Diphath, and Togarmah. ⁷And the sons of Javan: Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim. ⁸The sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, Put, and Canaan. ⁹And the sons of Cush: Seba, and Havilah, and Sabta, and Raama, and Sabteca. And the sons of Raamah: Sheba, and Dedan. ¹⁰And Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth. ¹¹And Mizraim begot Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, ¹²and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (from whence came the Philistines), and Caphtorim. ¹³And Canaan begot Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, ¹⁴and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite, ¹⁵and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, ¹⁶and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite. ¹⁷The sons of Shem: Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram, and Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Meshech. ¹⁸And Arphaxad begot Shelah, and Shelah begot Eber. ¹⁹And to Eber were born two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. And his brother�s name was Joktan. ²⁰And Joktan begot Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah, ²¹and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah, ²²and Ebal, and Abimael, and Sheba, ²³and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab; all these were the sons of Joktan. ²⁴Shem, Arphaxad, Shelah, ²⁵Eber, Peleg, Reu, ²⁶Serug, Nahor, Terah, ²⁷Abram (the same is Abraham). ²⁸The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael. ²⁹These are their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth, then Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, ³⁰Mishma, and Dumah, Massa, Hadad, and Tema, ³¹Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These are the sons of Ishmael. ³²And the sons of Keturah, Abraham�s concubine: she bore Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And the sons of Jokshan: Sheba, and Dedan. ³³And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. ³⁴And Abraham begot Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel. ³⁵The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, and Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah. ³⁶The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, and Omar, Zephi, and Gatam, Kenaz, and Timna, and Amalek. ³⁷The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. ³⁸And the sons of Seir: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan. ³⁹And the sons of Lotan: Hori, and Homam. And Timna was Lotan�s sister. ⁴⁰The sons of Shobal: Alian, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. And the sons of Zibeon: Aiah, and Anah. ⁴¹The sons of Anah: Dishon. And the sons of Dishon: Hamran, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran. ⁴²The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, Jaakan. The sons of Dishan: Uz, and Aran. ⁴³Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel: Bela the son of Beor. And the name of his city was Dinhabah. ⁴⁴And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. ⁴⁵And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead. ⁴⁶And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead. And the name of his city was Avith. ⁴⁷And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead. ⁴⁸And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead. ⁴⁹And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead. ⁵⁰And Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his stead. And the name of his city was Pai, and his wife�s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-zahab. ⁵¹And Hadad died. And the chiefs of Edom were: chief Timna, chief Aliah, chief Jetheth, ⁵²chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, ⁵³chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, ⁵⁴chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom.

CHAPTER 2

¹These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun, ²Dan, Joseph, and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. ³The sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, which three were born to him of Shua�s daughter the Canaanitess. And Er, Judah�s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah, and he killed him. ⁴And Tamar his daughter-in-law bore for him Perez and Zerah. All the sons of Judah were five. ⁵The sons of Perez: Hezron, and Hamul. ⁶And the sons of Zerah: Zimri, and Ethan, and Heman, and Calcol, and Dara; five of them in all. ⁷And the sons of Carmi: Achar, the troubler of Israel who committed a trespass in the devoted thing. ⁸And the sons of Ethan: Azariah. ⁹The sons also of Hezron who were born to him: Jerahmeel, and Ram, and Chelubai. ¹⁰And Ram begot Amminadab, and Amminadab begot Nahshon, ruler of the sons of Judah. ¹¹And Nahshon begot Salmon, and Salmon begot Boaz, ¹²and Boaz begot Obed, and Obed begot Jesse, ¹³and Jesse begot his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third, ¹⁴Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, ¹⁵Ozem the sixth, David the seventh. ¹⁶And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. And the sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three. ¹⁷And Abigail bore Amasa. And the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite. ¹⁸And Caleb the son of Hezron begot sons of Azubah his wife, and of Jerioth. And these were her sons: Jesher, and Shobab, and Ardon. ¹⁹And Azubah died, and Caleb took to him Ephrath, who bore for him Hur. ²⁰And Hur begot Uri, and Uri begot Bezalel. ²¹And afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir the father of Gilead, whom he took to wife when he was sixty years old, and she bore for him Segub. ²²And Segub begot Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead. ²³And Geshur and Aram took the towns of Jair from them, with Kenath, and the villages of it, even sixty cities. All these were the sons of Machir the father of Gilead. ²⁴And after that Hezron was dead in Caleb-ephrathah, then Abijah, Hezron�s wife bore for him Ashhur the father of Tekoa. ²⁵And the sons of Jerahmeel the firstborn of Hezron were Ram the firstborn, and Bunah, and Oren, and Ozem, Ahijah. ²⁶And Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah; she was the mother of Onam. ²⁷And the sons of Ram the firstborn of Jerahmeel were Maaz, and Jamin, and Eker. ²⁸And the sons of Onam were Shammai, and Jada. And the sons of Shammai: Nadab, and Abishur. ²⁹And the name of the wife of Abishur was Abihail, and she bore for him Ahban, and Molid. ³⁰And the sons of Nadab: Seled, and Appaim; but Seled died without sons. ³¹And the sons of Appaim: Ishi. And the sons of Ishi: Sheshan. And the sons of Sheshan: Ahlai. ³²And the sons of Jada the brother of Shammai: Jether, and Jonathan; and Jether died without sons. ³³And the sons of Jonathan: Peleth, and Zaza. These were the sons of Jerahmeel. ³⁴Now Sheshan had no sons, but daughters. And Sheshan had a servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Jarha. ³⁵And Sheshan gave his daughter to Jarha his servant to wife, and she bore for him Attai. ³⁶And Attai begot Nathan, and Nathan begot Zabad, ³⁷and Zabad begot Ephlal, and Ephlal begot Obed, ³⁸and Obed begot Jehu, and Jehu begot Azariah, ³⁹and Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah, ⁴⁰and Eleasah begot Sismai, and Sismai begot Shallum, ⁴¹and Shallum begot Jekamiah, and Jekamiah begot Elishama. ⁴²And the sons of Caleb the brother of Jerahmeel were Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah the father of Hebron. ⁴³And the sons of Hebron: Korah, and Tappuah, and Rekem, and Shema. ⁴⁴And Shema begot Raham, the father of Jorkeam, and Rekem begot Shammai. ⁴⁵And the son of Shammai was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth-zur. ⁴⁶And Ephah, Caleb�s concubine, bore Haran, and Moza, and Gazez. And Haran begot Gazez. ⁴⁷And the sons of Jahdai: Regem, and Jothan, and Geshan, and Pelet, and Ephah, and Shaaph. ⁴⁸Maacah, Caleb�s concubine, bore Sheber and Tirhanah. ⁴⁹She also bore Shaaph the father of Madmannah, Sheva the father of Machbena, and the father of Gibea. And the daughter of Caleb was Achsah. ⁵⁰These were the sons of Caleb. The sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim, ⁵¹Salma the father of Bethlehem, Hareph the father of Beth-gader. ⁵²And Shobal the father of Kiriath-jearim had sons: Haroeh, half of the Menuhothites, ⁵³and the families of Kiriath-jearim: The Ithrites, and the Puthites, and the Shumathites, and the Mishraites; of them came the Zorathites and the Eshtaolites. ⁵⁴The sons of Salma: Bethlehem, and the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half of the Manahathites, the Zorites. ⁵⁵And the families of scribes who dwelt at Jabez: the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, the Sucathites. These are the Kenites who came of Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

CHAPTER 3

¹Now these were the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; the second, Daniel, of Abigail the Carmelitess; ²the third, Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; ³the fifth, Shephatiah of Abital; the sixth, Ithream by Eglah his wife. ⁴Six were born to him in Hebron, and he reigned there seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years. ⁵And these were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, and Shobab, and Nathan, and Solomon, four, of Bathsheba the daughter of Ammiel; ⁶and Ibhar, and Elishama, and Eliphelet, ⁷and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, ⁸and Elishama, and Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. ⁹All these were the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines. And Tamar was their sister. ¹⁰And Solomon�s son was Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, ¹¹Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, ¹²Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son, ¹³Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, ¹⁴Amon his son, Josiah his son. ¹⁵And the sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shallum. ¹⁶And the sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son. ¹⁷And the sons of Jeconiah, the captive: Shealtiel his son, ¹⁸and Malchiram, and Pedaiah, and Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah. ¹⁹And the sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel, and Shimei. And the sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, and Hananiah; and Shelomith was their sister; ²⁰and Hashubah, and Ohel, and Berechiah, and Hasadiah, Jushab-hesed, five. ²¹And the sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah, and Jeshaiah; the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, the sons of Shecaniah. ²²And the sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, and Igal, and Bariah, and Neariah, and Shaphat, six. ²³And the sons of Neariah: Elioenai, and Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three. ²⁴And the sons of Elioneai: Hodaviah, and Eliashib, and Pelaiah, and Akkub, and Johanan, and Delaiah, and Anani, seven.

CHAPTER 4

¹The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, and Carmi, and Hur, and Shobal. ²And Reaiah the son of Shobal begot Jahath. And Jahath begot Ahumai and Lahad. These are the families of the Zorathites. ³And these were the sons of the father of Etam: Jezreel, and Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi; ⁴and Penuel the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These are the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem. ⁵And Ashhur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah. ⁶And Naarah bore for him Ahuzzam, and Hepher, and Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. ⁷And the sons of Helah were Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan. ⁸And Hakkoz begot Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum. ⁹And Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. And his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him with sorrow. ¹⁰And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou would keep me from evil, that it not be to my sorrow! And God granted him that which he requested. ¹¹And Chelub the brother of Shuhah begot Mehir, who was the father of Eshton. ¹²And Eshton begot Beth-rapha, and Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah. ¹³And the sons of Kenaz: Othniel, and Seraiah. And the sons of Othniel: Hathath. ¹⁴And Meonothai begot Ophrah. And Seraiah begot Joab the father of Ge-harashim, for they were craftsmen. ¹⁵And the sons of Caleb the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. And the sons of Elah: Kenaz. ¹⁶And the sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, and Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel. ¹⁷And the sons of Ezrah: Jether, and Mered, and Epher, and Jalon. And she bore Miriam, and Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa. ¹⁸And his wife the Jewess bore Jered the father of Gedor, and Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. And these are the sons of Bithiah the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered took. ¹⁹And the sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. ²⁰And the sons of Shimon: Amnon, and Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. And the sons of Ishi: Zoheth, and Ben-zoheth. ²¹The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of those who worked fine linen, of the house of Ashbea; ²²and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who had dominion in Moab, and Jashubilehem. And the records are ancient. ²³These were the potters, and the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They dwelt there with the king for his work. ²⁴The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, and Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul; ²⁵Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. ²⁶And the sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son. ²⁷And Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many sons, neither did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah. ²⁸And they dwelt at Beersheba, and Moladah, and Hazarshual, ²⁹and at Bilhah, and at Ezem, and at Tolad, ³⁰and at Bethuel, and at Hormah, and at Ziklag, ³¹and at Beth-marcaboth, and Hazar-susim, and at Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their cities to the reign of David. ³²And their villages were Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities. ³³And all their villages that were round about the same cities, to Baal. These were their habitations, and they have their genealogy. ³⁴And Meshobab, and Jamlech, and Joshah the son of Amaziah, ³⁵and Joel, and Jehu the son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel, ³⁶and Elioenai, and Jaakobah, and Jeshohaiah, and Asaiah, and Adiel, and Jesimiel, and Benaiah, ³⁷and Ziza the son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah� ³⁸these mentioned by name were rulers in their families, and their fathers� houses increased greatly. ³⁹And they went to the entrance of Gedor, even to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks. ⁴⁰And they found lush and good pasture, and the land was wide and quiet and peaceable, for those who dwelt there formerly were of Ham. ⁴¹And these written by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and smote their tents, and the Meunim who were found there, and destroyed them utterly to this day, and dwelt in their stead because there was pasture there for their flocks. ⁴²And some of them, even of the sons of Simeon, five hundred men, went to mount Seir, having for their captains Pelatiah, and Neariah, and Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. ⁴³And they smote the remnant of the Amalekites who escaped, and have dwelt there to this day.

CHAPTER 5

¹And the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (for he was the firstborn, but, inasmuch as he defiled his father�s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, and so the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. ²Now Judah prevailed above his brothers, and the ruler came from him, but the birthright was Joseph�s), ³the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ⁴The sons of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son, ⁵Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son, ⁶Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried away captive. He was ruler of the Reubenites. ⁷And his brothers by their families, when the genealogy of their generations was reckoned: the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah, ⁸and Bela the son of Azaz, the son of Shema, the son of Joel, who dwelt in Aroer, even to Nebo and Baal-meon. ⁹And eastward he dwelt even to the entrance of the wilderness from the river Euphrates, because their cattle were multiplied in the land of Gilead. ¹⁰And in the days of Saul they made war with the Hagrites, who fell by their hand, and they dwelt in their tents throughout all the land east of Gilead. ¹¹And the sons of Gad dwelt opposite them, in the land of Bashan to Salecah: ¹²Joel the chief, and Shapham the second, and Janai, and Shaphat in Bashan. ¹³And their brothers of their fathers� houses: Michael, and Meshullam, and Sheba, and Jorai, and Jacan, and Zia, and Eber, seven. ¹⁴These were the sons of Abihail, the son of Huri, the son of Jaroah, the son of Gilead, the son of Michael, the son of Jeshishai, the son of Jahdo, the son of Buz. ¹⁵Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, was chief of their fathers� houses. ¹⁶And they dwelt in Gilead in Bashan, and in its towns, and in all the suburbs of Sharon, as far as their borders. ¹⁷All these were reckoned by genealogies in the days of Jotham king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel. ¹⁸The sons of Reuben, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, of valiant men, men able to bear buckler and sword, and to shoot with bow, and skilful in war, were forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty, who were able to go forth to war. ¹⁹And they made war with the Hagrites, with Jetur, and Naphish, and Nodab. ²⁰And they were helped against them, and the Hagrites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them, for they cried to God in the battle, and he was entreated by them because they put their trust in him. ²¹And they took away their cattle: of their camels fifty thousand, and of sheep two hundred and fifty thousand, and of donkeys two thousand, and of men a hundred thousand. ²²For there fell many slain, because the war was of God. And they dwelt in their stead until the captivity. ²³And the sons of the half-tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land. They increased from Bashan to Baal-hermon and Senir and mount Hermon. ²⁴And these were the heads of their fathers� houses: even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valor, famous men, heads of their fathers� houses. ²⁵And they trespassed against the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God destroyed before them. ²⁶And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river of Gozan to this day.

CHAPTER 6

¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ²And the sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. ³And the sons of Amram: Aaron, and Moses, and Miriam. And the sons of Aaron: Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. ⁴Eleazar begot Phinehas, Phinehas begot Abishua, ⁵and Abishua begot Bukki, and Bukki begot Uzzi, ⁶and Uzzi begot Zerahiah, and Zerahiah begot Meraioth, ⁷Meraioth begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub, ⁸and Ahitub begot Zadok, and Zadok begot Ahimaaz, ⁹and Ahimaaz begot Azariah, and Azariah begot Johanan, ¹⁰and Johanan begot Azariah, (he it is who executed the priest�s office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem), ¹¹and Azariah begot Amariah, and Amariah begot Ahitub, ¹²and Ahitub begot Zadok, and Zadok begot Shallum, ¹³and Shallum begot Hilkiah, and Hilkiah begot Azariah, ¹⁴and Azariah begot Seraiah, and Seraiah begot Jehozadak. ¹⁵And Jehozadak went into captivity when Jehovah carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁶The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari. ¹⁷And these are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei. ¹⁸And the sons of Kohath were Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel. ¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers. ²⁰Of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son, ²¹Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, Jeatherai his son. ²²The sons of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son, ²³Elkanah his son, and Ebiasaph his son, and Assir his son, ²⁴Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son. ²⁵And the sons of Elkanah: Amasai, and Ahimoth. ²⁶As for Elkanah, the sons of Elkanah: Zophai his son, and Nahath his son, ²⁷Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, Elkanah his son. ²⁸And the sons of Samuel: the firstborn Joel, and the second Abijah. ²⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzzah his son, ³⁰Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, Asaiah his son. ³¹And these are those whom David set over the service of song in the house of Jehovah, after the ark had rest. ³²And they ministered with song before the tabernacle of the tent of meeting until Solomon had built the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, and they served in their office according to their order. ³³And these are those who served, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, ³⁴the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, ³⁵the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, ³⁶the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, ³⁷the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, ³⁸the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. ³⁹And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea, ⁴⁰the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malchijah, ⁴¹the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, ⁴²the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, ⁴³the son of Jahath, the son of Gershom, the son of Levi. ⁴⁴And on the left hand their brothers the sons of Merari: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, ⁴⁵the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, ⁴⁶the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer, ⁴⁷the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. ⁴⁸And their brothers the Levites were appointed for all the service of the tabernacle of the house of God. ⁴⁹But Aaron and his sons offered upon the altar of burnt offering, and upon the altar of incense, for all the work of the most holy place, and to make atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded. ⁵⁰And these are the sons of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son, ⁵¹Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son, ⁵²Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son, ⁵³Zadok his son, Ahimaaz his son. ⁵⁴Now these are their dwelling-places according to their encampments in their borders, to the sons of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites (for theirs was the first lot), ⁵⁵to them they gave Hebron in the land of Judah, and the suburbs of it round about it. ⁵⁶But the fields of the city, and the villages of it, they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh. ⁵⁷And to the sons of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge, Hebron, Libnah also with its suburbs, and Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its suburbs, ⁵⁸and Hilen with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs, ⁵⁹and Ashan with its suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with its suburbs. ⁶⁰And out of the tribe of Benjamin, Geba with its suburbs, and Allemeth with its suburbs, and Anathoth with its suburbs. All their cities throughout their families were thirteen cities. ⁶¹And to the rest of the sons of Kohath were given by lot, out of the family of the tribe, out of the half-tribe, the half of Manasseh, ten cities. ⁶²And to the sons of Gershom, according to their families, out of the tribe of Issachar, and out of the tribe of Asher, and out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan, thirteen cities. ⁶³To the sons of Merari were given by lot, according to their families, out of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. ⁶⁴And the sons of Israel gave to the Levites the cities with their suburbs. ⁶⁵And they gave by lot out of the tribe of the sons of Judah, and out of the tribe of the sons of Simeon, and out of the tribe of the sons of Benjamin, these cities which are mentioned by name. ⁶⁶And some of the families of the sons of Kohath had cities of their borders out of the tribe of Ephraim. ⁶⁷And they gave to them the cities of refuge, Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim with its suburbs, also Gezer with its suburbs, ⁶⁸and Jokmeam with its suburbs, and Beth-horon with its suburbs, ⁶⁹and Aijalon with its suburbs, and Gath-rimmon with its suburbs. ⁷⁰And out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Aner with its suburbs, and Bileam with its suburbs, for the rest of the family of the sons of Kohath. ⁷¹To the sons of Gershom were given out of the family of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its suburbs, and Ashtaroth with its suburbs. ⁷²And out of the tribe of Issachar, Kedesh with its suburbs, Daberath with its suburbs, ⁷³and Ramoth with its suburbs, and Anem with its suburbs. ⁷⁴And out of the tribe of Asher, Mashal with its suburbs, and Abdon with its suburbs, ⁷⁵and Hukok with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs. ⁷⁶And out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its suburbs, and Hammon with its suburbs, and Kiriathaim with its suburbs. ⁷⁷To the rest of the Levites, the sons of Merari, were given out of the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmono with its suburbs, Tabor with its suburbs. ⁷⁸And beyond the Jordan at Jericho, on the east side of the Jordan, were given them out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer in the wilderness with its suburbs, and Jahzah with its suburbs, ⁷⁹and Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs. ⁸⁰And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs, and Mahanaim with its suburbs, ⁸¹and Heshbon with its suburbs, and Jazer with its suburbs.

CHAPTER 7

¹And of the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. ²And the sons of Tola: Uzzi, and Rephaiah, and Jeriel, and Jahmai, and Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers� houses, namely, of Tola, mighty men of valor in their generations. Their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand and six hundred. ³And the sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah. And the sons of Izrahiah: Michael, and Obadiah, and Joel, Isshiah, five; all of them chief men. ⁴And with them, by their generations, after their fathers� houses, were bands of the army for war, thirty-six thousand, for they had many wives and sons. ⁵And their brothers among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, reckoned in all by genealogy, were eighty-seven thousand. ⁶The sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Jediael, three. ⁷And the sons of Bela: Ezbon, and Uzzi, and Uzziel, and Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers� houses, mighty men of valor. And they were reckoned by genealogy twenty-two thousand and thirty-four. ⁸And the sons of Becher: Zemirah, and Joash, and Eliezer, and Elioenai, and Omri, and Jeremoth, and Abijah, and Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. ⁹And they were reckoned by genealogy, after their generations, heads of their fathers� houses, mighty men of valor, twenty thousand and two hundred. ¹⁰And the sons of Jediael: Bilhan. And the sons of Bilhan: Jeush, and Benjamin, and Ehud, and Chenaanah, and Zethan, and Tarshish, and Ahishahar. ¹¹All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers, mighty men of valor, seventeen thousand and two hundred, who were able to go forth in the army for war. ¹²Also the Shuppim, and the Huppim, the sons of Ir, and the Hushim, the sons of Aher. ¹³The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shallum, the sons of Bilhah. ¹⁴The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his concubine the Aramitess bore. She bore Machir the father of Gilead. ¹⁵And Machir took a wife of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister�s name was Maacah, and the name of the second was Zelophehad. And Zelophehad had daughters. ¹⁶And Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she called his name Peresh. And the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. ¹⁷And the son of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. ¹⁸And his sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, and Abiezer, and Mahlah. ¹⁹And the sons of Shemida were Ahian, and Shechem, and Likhi, and Aniam. ²⁰And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son, ²¹and Zabad his son, and Shuthelah his son, and Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in the land killed, because they came down to take away their cattle. ²²And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. ²³And he went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house. ²⁴And his daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth-horon the lower and the upper, and Uzzen-sheerah. ²⁵And Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son, ²⁶Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, ²⁷Nun his son, Joshua his son. ²⁸And their possessions and habitations were Bethel and the towns of it, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with the towns of it, also Shechem and the towns of it, to Azzah and the towns of it, ²⁹and by the borders of the sons of Manasseh, Beth-shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, Dor and its towns. In these dwelt the sons of Joseph the son of Israel. ³⁰The sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. ³¹And the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. ³²And Heber begot Japhlet, and Shomer, and Hotham, and Shua their sister. ³³And the sons of Japhlet: Pasach, and Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Japhlet. ³⁴And the sons of Shemer: Ahi, and Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. ³⁵And the sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, and Imna, and Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶The sons of Zophah: Suah, and Harnepher, and Shual, and Beri, and Imrah, ³⁷Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸And the sons of Jether: Jephunneh, and Pispa, and Ara. ³⁹And the sons of Ulla: Arah, and Hanniel, and Rizia. ⁴⁰All these were the sons of Asher, heads of the fathers� houses, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the rulers. And the number of them reckoned by genealogy for service in war was twenty-six thousand men.

CHAPTER 8

¹And Benjamin begot Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, and Aharah the third, ²Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth. ³And Bela had sons: Addar, and Gera, and Abihud, ⁴and Abishua, and Naaman, and Ahoah, ⁵and Gera, and Shephuphan, and Huram. ⁶And these are the sons of Ehud. These are the heads of fathers of the inhabitants of Geba, and they carried them captive to Manahath: ⁷Naaman, and Ahijah, and Gera. He carried them captive, and he begot Uzza and Ahihud. ⁸And Shaharaim begot sons in the field of Moab after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives. ⁹And he begot of Hodesh his wife, Jobab, and Zibia, and Mesha, and Malcam, ¹⁰and Jeuz, and Shachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of fathers. ¹¹And of Hushim he begot Abitub and Elpaal. ¹²And the sons of Elpaal: Eber, and Misham, and Shemed, who built Ono and Lod, with the towns of it, ¹³and Beriah, and Shema (who were heads of fathers of the inhabitants of Aijalon who put the inhabitants of Gath to flight) ¹⁴and Ahio, Shashak, and Jeremoth, ¹⁵and Zebadiah, and Arad, and Eder, ¹⁶and Michael, and Ishpah, and Joha, the sons of Beriah, ¹⁷and Zebadiah, and Meshullam, and Hizki, and Heber, ¹⁸and Ishmerai, and Izliah, and Jobab, the sons of Elpaal, ¹⁹and Jakim, and Zichri, and Zabdi, ²⁰and Elienai, and Zillethai, and Eliel, ²¹and Adaiah, and Beraiah, and Shimrath, the sons of Shimei, ²²and Ishpan, and Eber, and Eliel, ²³and Abdon, and Zichri, and Hanan, ²⁴and Hananiah, and Elam, and Anthothijah, ²⁵and Iphdeiah, and Penuel, the sons of Shashak, ²⁶and Shamsherai, and Shehariah, and Athaliah, ²⁷and Jaareshiah, and Elijah, and Zichri, the sons of Jeroham. ²⁸These were heads of fathers throughout their generations, chief men; these dwelt in Jerusalem. ²⁹And in Gibeon there dwelt the father of Gibeon Jeiel, whose wife�s name was Maacah, ³⁰and his firstborn son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Nadab, ³¹and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zecher. ³²And Mikloth begot Shimeah. And they also dwelt with their brothers in Jerusalem, opposite their brothers. ³³And Ner begot Kish, and Kish begot Saul, and Saul begot Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ³⁴And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal begot Micah. ³⁵And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tarea, and Ahaz. ³⁶And Ahaz begot Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah begot Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begot Moza, ³⁷and Moza begot Binea. Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. ³⁸And Azel had six sons whose names are these: Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel. ³⁹And the sons of Eshek his brother: Ulam his firstborn, Jeush the second, and Eliphelet the third. ⁴⁰And the sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and had many sons, and sons� sons, a hundred and fifty. All these were of the sons of Benjamin.

CHAPTER 9

¹So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies. And, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. And Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their transgression. ²Now the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israelites, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim. ³And in Jerusalem dwelt of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin, and of the sons of Ephraim and Manasseh: ⁴Uthai the son of Ammihud, the son of Omri, the son of Imri, the son of Bani, of the sons of Perez the son of Judah. ⁵And of the Shilonites: Asaiah the firstborn, and his sons. ⁶And of the sons of Zerah: Jeuel, and their brothers, six hundred and ninety. ⁷And of the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Hodaviah, the son of Hassenuah, ⁸and Ibneiah the son of Jeroham, and Elah the son of Uzzi, the son of Michri, and Meshullam the son of Shephatiah, the son of Reuel, the son of Ibnijah, ⁹and their brothers, according to their generations, nine hundred and fifty-six. All these men were heads of fathers by their fathers� houses. ¹⁰And of the priests: Jedaiah, and Jehoiarib, Jachin, ¹¹and Azariah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God, ¹²and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, and Maasai the son of Adiel, the son of Jahzerah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Meshillemith, the son of Immer, ¹³and their brothers, heads of their fathers� houses, a thousand and seven hundred and sixty, very able men for the work of the service of the house of God. ¹⁴And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, of the sons of Merari, ¹⁵and Bakbakkar, Heresh, and Galal, and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zichri, the son of Asaph, ¹⁶and Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun, and Berechiah the son of Asa, the son of Elkanah, who dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites. ¹⁷And the porters: Shallum, and Akkub, and Talmon, and Ahiman, and their brothers (Shallum was the chief), ¹⁸who formerly served in the king�s gate eastward. They were the porters for the camp of the sons of Levi. ¹⁹And Shallum the son of Kore, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, and his brothers, of his father�s house, the Korahites, were over the work of the service, keepers of the thresholds of the tent. And their fathers had been over the camp of Jehovah, keepers of the entry. ²⁰And Phinehas the son of Eleazar was ruler over them in time past, and Jehovah was with him. ²¹Zechariah the son of Meshelemiah was porter of the door of the tent of meeting. ²²All these who were chosen to be porters in the thresholds were two hundred and twelve. These were reckoned by genealogy in their villages, whom David and Samuel the seer ordained in their office of trust. ²³So they and their sons had the oversight of the gates of the house of Jehovah, even the house of the tent, by wards. ²⁴On the four sides were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south. ²⁵And their brothers, in their villages, were to come in every seven days from time to time to be with them; ²⁶for the four chief porters, who were Levites, were in an office of trust, and were over the chambers and over the treasuries in the house of God. ²⁷And they lodged round about the house of God, because the charge of it was upon them, and to them pertained the opening of it morning by morning. ²⁸And certain of them had charge of the vessels of service, for by count were these brought in, and by count were these taken out. ²⁹Some of them were also appointed over the furniture, and over all the vessels of the sanctuary, and over the fine flour, and the wine, and the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices. ³⁰And some of the sons of the priests prepared the confection of the spices. ³¹And Mattithiah, one of the Levites, who was the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, had the office of trust over the things that were baked in pans. ³²And some of their brothers, of the sons of the Kohathites, were over the showbread to prepare it every sabbath. ³³And these are the singers, heads of fathers of the Levites, who dwelt in the chambers and were free from other service, for they were employed in their work day and night. ³⁴These were heads of fathers of the Levites, throughout their generations, chief men; these dwelt at Jerusalem. ³⁵And in Gibeon there dwelt the father of Gibeon, Jeiel, whose wife�s name was Maacah, ³⁶and his firstborn son Abdon, and Zur, and Kish, and Baal, and Ner, and Nadab, ³⁷and Gedor, and Ahio, and Zechariah, and Mikloth. ³⁸And Mikloth begot Shimeam. And they also dwelt with their brothers in Jerusalem, opposite their brothers. ³⁹And Ner begot Kish, and Kish begot Saul, and Saul begot Jonathan, and Malchi-shua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ⁴⁰And the son of Jonathan was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal begot Micah. ⁴¹And the sons of Micah: Pithon, and Melech, and Tahrea, and Ahaz. ⁴²And Ahaz begot Jarah, and Jarah begot Alemeth, and Azmaveth, and Zimri; and Zimri begot Moza, ⁴³and Moza begot Binea, and Rephaiah his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son. ⁴⁴And Azel had six sons, whose names are these: Azrikam, Bocheru, and Ishmael, and Sheariah, and Obadiah, and Hanan; these were the sons of Azel.

CHAPTER 10

¹Now the Philistines fought against Israel. And the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. ²And the Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons. And the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, the sons of Saul. ³And the battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him. And he was wounded because of the archers. ⁴Then Saul said to his armor bearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me. But his armor bearer would not, for he was very afraid. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. ⁵And when his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell upon his sword, and died. ⁶So Saul died, and his three sons. And all his house died together. ⁷And when all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities, and fled. And the Philistines came and dwelt in them. ⁸And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen in mount Gilboa. ⁹And they stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about to carry the news to their idols, and to the people. ¹⁰And they put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon. ¹¹And when all Jabesh-gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹²all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. ¹³So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Jehovah, because of the word of Jehovah, which he did not keep, and also because he asked counsel of a spiritist, to inquire thereby, ¹⁴and did not inquire of Jehovah. Therefore he killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

CHAPTER 11

¹Then all Israel gathered themselves to David to Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. ²In times past, even when Saul was king, it was thou who led out and brought in Israel. And Jehovah thy God said to thee, Thou shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and thou shall be ruler over my people Israel. ³So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron. And David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah. And they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by Samuel. ⁴And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem (the same is Jebus), and the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, were there. ⁵And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shall not come in here. Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion; the same is the city of David. ⁶And David said, Whoever smites the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain. And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and was made chief. ⁷And David dwelt in the stronghold. Therefore they called it the city of David. ⁸And he built the city round about, from Millo even round about. And Joab repaired the rest of the city. ⁹And David grew greater and greater, for Jehovah of hosts was with him. ¹⁰Now these are the chief of the mighty men whom David had, who showed themselves strong with him in his kingdom, together with all Israel, to make him king, according to the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. ¹¹And this is the number of the mighty men whom David had: Jashobeam, the son of a Hachmonite, the chief of the thirty. He lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them at one time. ¹²And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo, the Ahohite, who was one of the three mighty men. ¹³He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where was a plot of ground full of barley. And the people fled from before the Philistines. ¹⁴And they stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines. And Jehovah saved them by a great victory. ¹⁵And three of the thirty chief men went down to the rock to David into the cave of Adullam. And the army of the Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁶And David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. ¹⁷And David longed, and said, Oh that a man would give me water to drink of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! ¹⁸And the three broke through the army of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David. But David would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah, ¹⁹and said, My God forbid it of me, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of these men who have put their lives in jeopardy? For with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did. ²⁰And Abishai, the brother of Joab, he was chief of the three, for he lifted up his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name among the three. ²¹Of the three, he was more famous than the two, and was made their captain. However he did not attain to the first three. ²²Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, he killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow. ²³And he killed an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high. And in the Egyptian�s hand was a spear like a weaver�s beam. And he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian�s hand, and killed him with his own spear. ²⁴These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name among the three mighty men. ²⁵Behold, he was more famous than the thirty, but he did not attain to the first three. And David set him over his guard. ²⁶Also the mighty men of the armies: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, ²⁷Shammoth the Harorite, Helez the Pelonite, ²⁸Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, Abiezer the Anathothite, ²⁹Sibbecai the Hushathite, Ilai the Ahohite, ³⁰Maharai the Netophathite, Heled the son of Baanah the Netophathite, ³¹Ithai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, Benaiah the Pirathonite, ³²Hurai of the brooks of Gaash, Abiel the Arbathite, ³³Azmaveth the Baharumite, Eliahba the Shaalbonite, ³⁴the sons of Hashem the Gizonite, Jonathan the son of Shagee the Hararite, ³⁵Ahiam the son of Sacar the Hararite, Eliphal the son of Ur, ³⁶Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahijah the Pelonite, ³⁷Hezro the Carmelite, Naarai the son of Ezbai, ³⁸Joel the brother of Nathan, Mibhar the son of Hagri, ³⁹Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite, the armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, ⁴⁰Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, ⁴¹Uriah the Hittite, Zabad the son of Ahlai, ⁴²Adina the son of Shiza the Reubenite, a chief of the Reubenites, and thirty with him, ⁴³Hanan the son of Maacah, and Joshaphat the Mithnite, ⁴⁴Uzzia the Ashterathite, Shama and Jeiel the sons of Hotham the Aroerite, ⁴⁵Jediael the son of Shimri, and Joha his brother, the Tizite, ⁴⁶Eliel the Mahavite, and Jeribai, and Joshaviah, the sons of Elnaam, and Ithmah the Moabite, ⁴⁷Eliel, and Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

CHAPTER 12

¹Now these are those who came to David to Ziklag while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish. And they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. ²They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow. They were of Saul�s brothers of Benjamin. ³The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah, and Jehu the Anathothite, ⁴and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty, and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite, ⁵Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, ⁶Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites, ⁷and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor. ⁸And of the Gadites there separated themselves to David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains: ⁹Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third, ¹⁰Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth, ¹¹Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh, ¹²Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth, ¹³Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh. ¹⁴These of the sons of Gad were captains of the army. He who was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand. ¹⁵These are those who went over the Jordan in the first month when it had overflowed all its banks. And they put to flight all those of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west. ¹⁶And there came of the sons of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David. ¹⁷And David went out to meet them, and answered and said to them, If ye have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit to you, but if ye be come to betray me to my adversaries, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. ¹⁸Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said, We are thine, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse. Peace, peace be to thee, and peace be to thy helpers, for thy God helps thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band. ¹⁹From Manasseh also there fell away some to David when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle. But they did not help them, for the lords of the Philistines sent him away upon advisement, saying, He will fall away to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads. ²⁰As he went to Ziklag, there came to him from Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh. ²¹And they helped David against the band of rovers, for they were all mighty men of valor, and were captains in the army. ²²For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great host, like the host of God. ²³And these are the Num of the heads of those who were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of Jehovah. ²⁴The sons of Judah who bore shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred, armed for war. ²⁵Of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war, seven thousand and one hundred. ²⁶Of the sons of Levi four thousand and six hundred. ²⁷And Jehoiada was the leader of the house of Aaron. And with him were three thousand and seven hundred, ²⁸and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father�s house twenty-two captains. ²⁹And of the sons of Benjamin, the brothers of Saul, three thousand, for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul. ³⁰And of the sons of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers� houses. ³¹And of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king. ³²And of the sons of Issachar, men who had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, the heads of them were two hundred. And all their brothers were at their commandment. ³³Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array, with all manner of instruments of war, fifty thousand, and who could order the battle array, and were not of double heart. ³⁴And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them thirty-seven thousand with shield and spear. ³⁵And of the Danites who could set the battle in array, twenty-eight thousand and six hundred. ³⁶And of Asher, such as were able to go out in the army, who could set the battle in array, forty thousand. ³⁷And on the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war for the battle, a hundred and twenty thousand. ³⁸All these being men of war, who could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel. And all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king. ³⁹And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their brothers had made preparation for them. ⁴⁰Moreover those who were near to them, even as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on donkeys, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, provisions of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance, for there was joy in Israel.

CHAPTER 13

¹And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. ²And David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you, and if it be of Jehovah our God, let us send abroad everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us. ³And let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we did not inquire from it in the days of Saul. ⁴And all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. ⁵So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor the brook of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. ⁶And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, Jehovah who sits above the cherubim that is called by the Name. ⁷And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab. And Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. ⁸And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. ⁹And when they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. ¹⁰And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him because he put forth his hand to the ark. And there he died before God. ¹¹And David was displeased, because Jehovah had broken forth upon Uzza. And he called that place Perez-uzza, to this day. ¹²And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? ¹³So David did not move the ark to him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹⁴And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And Jehovah blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.

CHAPTER 14

¹And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and masons, and carpenters, to build for him a house. ²And David perceived that Jehovah had established him king over Israel, for his kingdom was exalted on high for his people Israel�s sake. ³And David took more wives at Jerusalem, and David begot more sons and daughters. ⁴And these are the names of the children whom he had in Jerusalem: Shammua, and Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, ⁵and Ibhar, and Elishua, and Elpelet, ⁶and Nogah, and Nepheg, and Japhia, ⁷and Elishama, and Beeliada, and Eliphelet. ⁸And when the Philistines heard that David was anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them. ⁹Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the valley of Rephaim. ¹⁰And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? And will thou deliver them into my hand? And Jehovah said to him, Go up, for I will deliver them into thy hand. ¹¹So they came up to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there. And David said, God has broken my enemies by my hand like the breach of waters. Therefore they called the name of that place Baal-perazim. ¹²And they left their gods there. And David gave commandment, and they were burned with fire. ¹³And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley. ¹⁴And David inquired again of God. And God said to him, Thou shall not go up after them. Turn away from them, and come upon them opposite the mulberry trees. ¹⁵And it shall be, when thou hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shall go out to battle. For God has gone out before thee to smite the army of the Philistines. ¹⁶And David did as God commanded him, and they smote the army of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. ¹⁷And the fame of David went out into all lands. And Jehovah brought the fear of him upon all nations.

CHAPTER 15

¹And David made for him houses in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. ²Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for Jehovah has them chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister to him forever. ³And David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Jehovah to its place, which he had prepared for it. ⁴And David gathered together the sons of Aaron, and the Levites: ⁵of the sons of Kohath, Uriel the chief, and his brothers a hundred and twenty; ⁶of the sons of Merari, Asaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred and twenty; ⁷of the sons of Gershom, Joel the chief, and his brothers a hundred and thirty; ⁸of the sons of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief, and his brothers two hundred; ⁹of the sons of Hebron, Eliel the chief, and his brothers eighty; ¹⁰of the sons of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief, and his brothers a hundred and twelve. ¹¹And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹²And said to them, Ye are the heads of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brothers, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it. ¹³For because ye did not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, because we did not seek him according to the ordinance. ¹⁴So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹⁵And the sons of the Levites bore the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of Jehovah. ¹⁶And David spoke to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brothers the singers, with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding aloud and lifting up the voice with joy. ¹⁷So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel. And of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah. And of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah. ¹⁸And with them their brothers of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the porters. ¹⁹So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed with cymbals of brass to sound aloud. ²⁰And Zechariah, and Aziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth. ²¹And Mattithiah, and Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps set to the Sheminith, to lead. ²²And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was over the song. He instructed about the song because he was skilful. ²³And Berechiah and Elkanah were porters for the ark. ²⁴And Shebaniah, and Joshaphat, and Nethanel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before the ark of God. And Obed-edom and Jehiah were porters for the ark. ²⁵So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. ²⁶And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites who bore the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, that they sacrificed seven bullocks and seven rams. ²⁷And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites who bore the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers. And David had upon him an ephod of linen. ²⁸Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, sounding aloud with psalteries and harps. ²⁹And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looked out at the window, and saw king David dancing and playing. And she despised him in her heart.

CHAPTER 16

¹And they brought in the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it. And they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. ²And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of Jehovah. ³And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a portion of flesh, and a cake of raisins. ⁴And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of Jehovah, and to celebrate and to thank and praise Jehovah, the God of Israel: ⁵Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with psalteries and with harps, and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud, ⁶and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests with trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God. ⁷Then on that day David first ordained to give thanks to Jehovah by the hand of Asaph and his brothers. ⁸O give thanks to Jehovah. Call upon his name. Make known his doings among the peoples. ⁹Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Talk ye of all his marvelous works. ¹⁰Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Jehovah rejoice. ¹¹Seek ye Jehovah and his strength. Seek his face evermore. ¹²Remember his marvelous works that he has done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, ¹³O ye seed of Israel his servant, ye sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. ¹⁴He is Jehovah our God. His judgments are in all the earth. ¹⁵Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, ¹⁶the covenant which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac, ¹⁷and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, ¹⁸saying, To thee I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance, ¹⁹when ye were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and sojourners in it, ²⁰and they went about from nation to nation, and from one kingdom to another people. ²¹He allowed no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, ²²saying, Touch not my anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm. ²³Sing to Jehovah, all the earth. Show forth his salvation from day to day. ²⁴Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. ²⁵For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. ²⁶For all the gods of the peoples are idols. But Jehovah made the heavens. ²⁷Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place. ²⁸Ascribe to Jehovah, ye kindred of the peoples. Ascribe to Jehovah glory and strength. ²⁹Ascribe to Jehovah the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come before him. Worship Jehovah in holy array. ³⁰Tremble before him, all the earth. The world also is established that it cannot be moved. ³¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. And let them say among the nations, Jehovah reigns. ³²Let the sea roar, and the fullness of it. Let the field exult, and all that is therein. ³³Then shall the trees of the wood sing for joy before Jehovah, for he comes to judge the earth. ³⁴O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good, for his loving kindness is forever. ³⁵And say ye, Save us, O God of our salvation. And gather us together and deliver us from the nations, to give thanks to thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. ³⁶Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Truly, and praised Jehovah. ³⁷So he left there, before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, Asaph and his brothers, to minister before the ark continually, as every day�s work required, ³⁸and Obed-edom with their sixty-eight brothers. And Obed-edom the son of Jeduthun and Hosah were to be porters, ³⁹and Zadok the priest, and his brothers the priests, before the tabernacle of Jehovah in the high place that was at Gibeon, ⁴⁰to offer burnt offerings to Jehovah upon the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of Jehovah, which he commanded to Israel. ⁴¹And with them Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to Jehovah because his loving kindness is forever. ⁴²And with them Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and with instruments for the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun to be at the gate. ⁴³And all the people departed every man to his house. And David returned to bless his house.

CHAPTER 17

¹And it came to pass, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of Jehovah dwells under curtains. ²And Nathan said to David, Do all that is in thy heart, for God is with thee. ³And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴Go and tell David my servant, Thus says Jehovah, Thou shall not build for me a house to dwell in. ⁵For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel, to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. ⁶In all places wherein I have walked with all Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to be shepherd of my people, saying, Why have ye not built for me a house of cedar? ⁷Now therefore thus thou shall say to my servant David, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, I took thee from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, that thou should be prince over my people Israel. ⁸And I have been with thee wherever thou have gone, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee. And I will make thee a name like the name of the great ones who are on the earth. ⁹And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more. Neither shall the sons of wickedness waste them any more, as at the first, ¹⁰and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. And I will subdue all thine enemies. Moreover I tell thee that Jehovah will build for thee a house. ¹¹And it shall come to pass, when thy days are fulfilled that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will set up thy seed after thee, who shall be of thy sons. And I will establish his kingdom. ¹²He shall build for me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³I will be his father, and he shall be my son. And I will not take my loving kindness away from him as I took it from him who was before thee. ¹⁴But I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. ¹⁵According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁶Then David the king went in, and sat before Jehovah. And he said, Who am I, O Jehovah God, and what is my house, that thou have brought me thus far? ¹⁷And this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God. But thou have spoken of thy servant�s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Jehovah God. ¹⁸What can David say yet more to thee concerning the honor which is done to thy servant? For thou know thy servant. ¹⁹O Jehovah, for thy servant�s sake, and according to thine own heart, thou have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things. ²⁰O Jehovah, there is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹And what one nation on the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to himself for a people, to make thee a name by great and awesome things, in driving out nations from before thy people whom thou redeemed out of Egypt? ²²For thy people Israel thou made thine own people forever. And thou, Jehovah, became their God. ²³And now, O Jehovah, let the word that thou have spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, be established forever, and do as thou have spoken. ²⁴And let thy name be established and magnified forever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel, and the house of David thy servant is established before thee. ²⁵For thou, O my God, have revealed to thy servant that thou will build him a house. Therefore thy servant has found in his heart to pray before thee. ²⁶And now, O Jehovah, thou are God, and have promised this good thing to thy servant, ²⁷and now it has pleased thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue for ever before thee; for thou, O Jehovah, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.

CHAPTER 18

¹And after this it came to pass, that David smote the Philistines, and subdued them, and took Gath and its towns out of the hand of the Philistines. ²And he smote Moab, and the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute. ³And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah to Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates. ⁴And David took from him a thousand chariots, and seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen. And David hocked all the chariot horses, but reserved from them for a hundred chariots. ⁵And when the Syrians of Damascus came to aid Hadarezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Syrians twenty-two thousand men. ⁶Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus. And the Syrians became servants to David, and brought tribute. And Jehovah gave victory to David wherever he went. ⁷And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadarezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. ⁸And from Tibhath and from Cun, cities of Hadarezer, David took very much brass, with which Solomon made the brazen sea, and the pillars, and the vessels of brass. ⁹And when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had smitten all the army of Hadarezer king of Zobah, ¹⁰he sent Hadoram his son to king David, to salute him, and to bless him, because he had fought against Hadarezer and smitten him (for Hadarezer had wars with Tou), and he had with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass. ¹¹These also king David dedicated to Jehovah, with the silver and the gold that he carried away from all the nations: from Edom, and from Moab, and from the sons of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek. ¹²Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah smote eighteen thousand of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt. ¹³And he put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became servants to David. And Jehovah gave victory to David wherever he went. ¹⁴And David reigned over all Israel, and he executed justice and righteousness to all his people. ¹⁵And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder, ¹⁶and Zadok the son of Ahitub, and Abimelech the son of Abiathar, were priests, and Shavsha was scribe, ¹⁷and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and the sons of David were chief about the king.

CHAPTER 19

¹And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. ²And David said, I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David�s servants came into the land of the sons of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. ³But the rulers of the sons of Ammon said to Hanun, Do thou think that David honors thy father, in that he has sent comforters to thee? Have not his servants come to thee to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? ⁴So Hanun took David�s servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. ⁵And they came and informed David about the men. And he sent to meet them, for the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, Remain at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return. ⁶And when the sons of Ammon saw that they had made themselves odious to David, Hanun and the sons of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for them chariots and horsemen out of Mesopotamia, and out of Arammaacah, and out of Zobah. ⁷So they hired for them thirty-two thousand chariots, and the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. And the sons of Ammon gathered themselves together from their cities, and came to battle. ⁸And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the army of the mighty men. ⁹And the sons of Ammon came out, and put the battle in array at the gate of the city. And the kings that came were by themselves in the field. ¹⁰Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in front and behind, he chose from all the choice men of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians. ¹¹And the rest of the company he committed into the hand of Abishai his brother, and they put themselves in array against the sons of Ammon. ¹²And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shall help me, but if the sons of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will help thee. ¹³Be of good courage, and let us act the man for our people, and for the cities of our God. And Jehovah do that which seems good to him. ¹⁴So Joab and the company that were with him drew near before the Syrians to the battle, and they fled before him. ¹⁵And when the sons of Ammon saw that the Syrians had fled, they likewise fled before Abishai his brother, and entered into the city. Then Joab came to Jerusalem. ¹⁶And when the Syrians saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they sent messengers, and drew forth the Syrians that were beyond the River, with Shophach the captain of the army of Hadarezer at their head. ¹⁷And it was told David. And he gathered all Israel together, and passed over the Jordan, and came upon them, and set the battle in array against them. So when David had put the battle in array against the Syrians, they fought with him. ¹⁸And the Syrians fled before Israel. And David killed of the Syrians the men of seven thousand chariots, and forty thousand footmen, and killed Shophach the captain of the army. ¹⁹And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and served him, neither would the Syrians help the sons of Ammon any more.

CHAPTER 20

¹And it came to pass, at the time of the return of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that Joab led forth the army, and wasted the country of the sons of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah, but David remained at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and overthrew it. ²And David took the crown of their king from off his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it. And it was set upon David�s head, and he brought forth the spoil of the city, exceedingly much. ³And he brought forth the people that were therein, and cut with saws, and with harrows of iron, and with axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the sons of Ammon. And David and all the people returned to Jerusalem. ⁴And it came to pass after this, that there arose war at Gezer with the Philistines. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite killed Sippai of the sons of the giant, and they were subdued. ⁵And there was again war with the Philistines. And Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver�s beam. ⁶And there was again war at Gath, where was a man of great stature whose fingers and toes were twenty-four, six on each hand, and six on each foot. And he also was born to the giant. ⁷And when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea David�s brother killed him. ⁸These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.

CHAPTER 21

¹And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. ²And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know the sum of them. ³And Joab said, Jehovah make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord�s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel? ⁴Nevertheless the king�s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. ⁵And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. And all those of Israel were a million and a hundred thousand men who drew a sword. And Judah was four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword. ⁶But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king�s word was abominable to Joab. ⁷And God was displeased with this thing, therefore he smote Israel. ⁸And David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant, for I have done very foolishly. ⁹And Jehovah spoke to Gad, David�s seer, saying, ¹⁰Go and speak to David, saying, Thus says Jehovah, I offer thee three things. Choose thee one of them, that I may do it to thee. ¹¹So Gad came to David, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Take which thou will: ¹²either three years of famine, or three months to be consumed before thy foes while the sword of thine enemies overtakes thee, or else three days the sword of Jehovah, even pestilence in the land, and the agent of Jehovah destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me. ¹³And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait. Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Jehovah, for his mercies are very great, and let me not fall into the hand of man. ¹⁴So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. ¹⁵And God sent an agent to Jerusalem to destroy it. And as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he relented of the evil, and said to the destroying agent, It is enough. Now halt thy hand. And the agent of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the agent of Jehovah standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. ¹⁷And David said to God, Is it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is who have sinned and done very badly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let thy hand, I pray thee, O Jehovah my God, be against me, and against my father�s house, but not against thy people, that they should be plagued. ¹⁸Then the agent of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up, and rear an altar to Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁹And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Jehovah. ²⁰And Ornan turned back, and saw the agent, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. ²¹And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. ²²Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar to Jehovah. For the full price thou shall give it me, that the plague may be stopped from the people. ²³And Ornan said to David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes. Lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal offering. I give it all. ²⁴And king David said to Ornan, No, but I will truly buy it for the full price. For I will not take that which is thine for Jehovah, nor offer a burnt offering without cost. ²⁵So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. ²⁶And David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon Jehovah. And he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. ²⁷And Jehovah commanded the agent, and he put up his sword again into the sheath of it. ²⁸At that time, when David saw that Jehovah had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. ²⁹For the tabernacle of Jehovah, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. ³⁰But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid because of the sword of the agent of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 22

¹Then David said, This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel. ²And David commanded to gather together the sojourners that were in the land of Israel. And he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. ³And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the couplings, and brass in abundance without weight, ⁴and cedar trees without number. For the Sidonians and those of Tyre brought cedar trees in abundance to David. ⁵And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Jehovah must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and of glory throughout all countries. I will therefore make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death. ⁶Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for Jehovah, the God of Israel. ⁷And David said to Solomon his son, As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of Jehovah my God. ⁸But the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Thou have shed blood abundantly, and have made great wars. Thou shall not build a house to my name because thou have shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. ⁹Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be Solomon. And I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. ¹⁰He shall build a house for my name. And he shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever. ¹¹Now, my son, Jehovah be with thee, and prosper thou, and build the house of Jehovah thy God as he has spoken concerning thee. ¹²Only Jehovah give thee discretion and understanding, and give thee charge concerning Israel, so that thou may keep the law of Jehovah thy God. ¹³Then thou shall prosper, if thou observe to do the statutes and the ordinances which Jehovah charged Moses with concerning Israel. Be strong, and of good courage. Fear not, neither be dismayed. ¹⁴Now, behold, in my affliction I have prepared for the house of Jehovah a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance. Also I have prepared timber and stone, and thou may add thereto. ¹⁵Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all men who are skilful in every manner of work. ¹⁶Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise and be doing, and Jehovah be with thee. ¹⁷David also commanded all the rulers of Israel to help Solomon his son, saying, ¹⁸Is not Jehovah your God with you? And has he not given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land is subdued before Jehovah, and before his people. ¹⁹Now set your heart and your soul to seek after Jehovah your God. Arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of Jehovah God, to bring the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 23

¹Now David was old and full of days, and he made Solomon his son king over Israel. ²And he gathered together all the rulers of Israel, with the priests and the Levites. ³And the Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upward. And their number by their polls, man by man, was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴Of these, twenty-four thousand were to oversee the work of the house of Jehovah. And six thousand were officers and judges, ⁵and four thousand were porters, and four thousand praised Jehovah with the instruments which I made, David said, to praise therewith. ⁶And David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ⁷Of the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei. ⁸The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, and Zetham, and Joel, three. ⁹The sons of Shimei: Shelomoth, and Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the fathers of Ladan. ¹⁰And the sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, and Jeush, and Beriah. These four were the sons of Shimei. ¹¹And Jahath was the chief, and Zizah the second. But Jeush and Beriah had not many sons. Therefore they became a fathers� house in one reckoning. ¹²The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four. ¹³The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. And Aaron was separated that he should sanctify the most holy things, he and his sons, forever, to burn incense before Jehovah, to minister to him, and to bless in his name, forever. ¹⁴But as for Moses the man of God, his sons were named among the tribe of Levi. ¹⁵The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief. ¹⁷And the sons of Eliezer were: Rehabiah the chief. And Eliezer had no other sons, but the sons of Rehabiah were very many. ¹⁸The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief. ¹⁹The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth. ²⁰The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief, and Isshiah the second. ²¹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish. ²²And Eleazar died, and had no sons, but daughters only. And their brothers the sons of Kish took them to wife. ²³The sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jeremoth, three. ²⁴These were the sons of Levi after their fathers� houses, even the heads of the fathers of those of them that were counted, in the number of names by their polls, who did the work for the service of the house of Jehovah, from twenty years old and upward. ²⁵For David said, Jehovah, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people, and he dwells in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶And also the Levites shall no more have need to carry the tabernacle and all the vessels of it for the service of it. ²⁷For by the last words of David the sons of Levi were numbered, from twenty years old and upward. ²⁸For their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah, in the courts, and in the chambers, and in the purifying of all holy things, even the work of the service of the house of God, also ²⁹for the showbread, and for the fine flour for a meal offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in the pan, or of that which is soaked, and for all manner of measure and size. ³⁰And to stand every morning to thank and praise Jehovah, and likewise at evening. ³¹And to offer all burnt offerings to Jehovah, on the sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, in number according to the ordinance concerning them, continually before Jehovah. ³²And that they should keep the charge of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the holy place, and the charge of the sons of Aaron their brothers, for the service of the house of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 24

¹And the divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ²But Nadab and Abihu died before their father, and had no sons. Therefore Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priest�s office. ³And David with Zadok of the sons of Eleazar, and Ahimelech of the sons of Ithamar, divided them according to their ordering in their service. ⁴And there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the sons of Ithamar. And thus were they divided: of the sons of Eleazar there were sixteen heads of fathers� houses, and of the sons of Ithamar, according to their fathers� houses, eight. ⁵Thus they were divided by lot, one sort with another. For there were rulers of the sanctuary, and rulers for God, both of the sons of Eleazar, and of the sons of Ithamar. ⁶And Shemaiah the son of Nethanel the scribe, who was of the Levites, wrote them in the presence of the king, and the princes, and Zadok the priest, and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar, and the heads of the fathers of the priests and of the Levites, one fathers� house being taken for Eleazar, and one taken for Ithamar. ⁷Now the first lot came forth to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, ⁸the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, ⁹the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, ¹⁰the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, ¹¹the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, ¹²the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, ¹³the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, ¹⁴the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, ¹⁵the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, ¹⁶the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, ¹⁷the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, ¹⁸the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. ¹⁹This was the ordering of them in their service, to come into the house of Jehovah according to the ordinance given to them by Aaron their father, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, had commanded him. ²⁰And of the rest of the sons of Levi: Of the sons of Amram, Shubael. Of the sons of Shubael, Jehdeiah. ²¹Of Rehabiah: of the sons of Rehabiah, Isshiah the chief. ²²Of the Izharites, Shelomoth. Of the sons of Shelomoth, Jahath. ²³And the sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, Jekameam the fourth. ²⁴The sons of Uzziel, Micah. Of the sons of Micah, Shamir. ²⁵The brother of Micah, Isshiah. Of the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah. ²⁶The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Jaaziah: Beno. ²⁷The sons of Merari: Of Jaaziah, Beno, and Shoham, and Zaccur, and Ibri. ²⁸Of Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons. ²⁹Of Kish, the sons of Kish: Jerahmeel. ³⁰And the sons of Mushi: Mahli, and Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the sons of the Levites after their fathers� houses. ³¹These likewise cast lots even as their brothers the sons of Aaron in the presence of David the king, and Zadok, and Ahimelech, and the heads of the fathers of the priests and of the Levites, the fathers of the chief even as those of his younger brother.

CHAPTER 25

¹Moreover David and the captains of the army set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals. And the number of those who did the work according to their service was: ²of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asharelah, the sons of Asaph, under the hand of Asaph, who prophesied after the order of the king. ³Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, and Zeri, and Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun with the harp, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Jehovah. ⁴Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, and Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, and Romamtiezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, Mahazioth. ⁵All these were the sons of Heman the king�s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. And God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of Jehovah, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king. ⁷And the number of them, with their brothers who were instructed in singing to Jehovah, even all who were skilful, was two hundred eighty-eight. ⁸And they cast lots for their offices, all alike, as well the small as the great, the teacher as the scholar. ⁹Now the first lot came forth for Asaph to Joseph, the second to Gedaliah (he and his brothers and sons were twelve), ¹⁰the third to Zaccur, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹¹the fourth to Izri, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹²the fifth to Nethaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹³the sixth to Bukkiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁴the seventh to Jesharelah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁵the eighth to Jeshaiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁶the ninth to Mattaniah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁷the tenth to Shimei, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁸the eleventh to Azarel, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ¹⁹the twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁰for the thirteenth, Shubael, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²¹for the fourteenth, Mattithiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²²for the fifteenth to Jeremoth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²³for the sixteenth to Hananiah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁴for the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁵for the eighteenth to Hanani, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁶for the nineteenth to Mallothi, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁷for the twentieth to Eliathah, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁸for the twenty-first to Hothir, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ²⁹for the twenty-second to Giddalti, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ³⁰for the twenty-third to Mahazioth, his sons and his brothers, twelve; ³¹for the twenty-fourth to Romamtiezer, his sons and his brothers, twelve.

CHAPTER 26

¹For the divisions of the porters: of the Korahites, Meshelemiah the son of Kore, of the sons of Asaph. ²And Meshelemiah had sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth, ³Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, Eliehoenai the seventh. ⁴And Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, and Sacar the fourth, and Nethanel the fifth, ⁵Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth, for God blessed him. ⁶Also sons were born to Shemaiah his son, who ruled over the house of their father, for they were mighty men of valor. ⁷The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, and Rephael, and Obed, Elzabad, whose brothers were valiant men, Elihu, and Semachiah. ⁸All these were of the sons of Obed-edom, they and their sons and their brothers, able men in strength for the service, sixty-two of Obed-edom. ⁹And Meshelemiah had sons and brothers, valiant men, eighteen. ¹⁰Also Hosah, of the sons of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him chief), ¹¹Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, Zechariah the fourth. All the sons and brothers of Hosah were thirteen. ¹²Of these were the divisions of the porters, even of the chief men, having offices like their brothers to minister in the house of Jehovah. ¹³And they cast lots, the small as well as the great, according to their fathers� houses for every gate. ¹⁴And the lot eastward fell to Shelemiah. Then for Zechariah his son, a discreet counselor, they cast lots, and his lot came out northward. ¹⁵To Obed-edom southward, and to his sons the store-house. ¹⁶To Shuppim and Hosah westward, by the gate of Shallecheth, at the causeway that goes up, watch against watch. ¹⁷Eastward were six Levites, four a day northward, four a day southward, and for the store-house two by two. ¹⁸For Parbar westward, four at the highway, and two at Parbar. ¹⁹These were the divisions of the porters, of the sons of the Korahites, and of the sons of Merari. ²⁰And of the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasures of the house of God, and over the treasures of the dedicated things. ²¹The sons of Ladan, the sons of the Gershonites belonging to Ladan, the heads of the fathers belonging to Ladan the Gershonite: Jehieli. ²²The sons of Jehieli: Zetham, and Joel his brother, over the treasures of the house of Jehovah. ²³Of the Amramites, of the Izharites, of the Hebronites, of the Uzzielites: ²⁴Shebuel the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was ruler over the treasures. ²⁵And his brothers: of Eliezer came Rehabiah his son, and Jeshaiah his son, and Joram his son, and Zichri his son, and Shelomoth his son. ²⁶This Shelomoth and his brothers were over all the treasures of the dedicated things, which David the king, and the heads of the fathers, the captains over thousands and hundreds, and the captains of the army, had dedicated. ²⁷They dedicated to repair the house of Jehovah out of the spoil won in battles. ²⁸And all that Samuel the seer, and Saul the son of Kish, and Abner the son of Ner, and Joab the son of Zeruiah, had dedicated, whoever had dedicated anything, it was under the hand of Shelomoth, and of his brothers. ²⁹Of the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were for the outer business over Israel, for officers and judges. ³⁰Of the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his brothers, men of valor, a thousand and seven hundred, had the oversight of Israel beyond the Jordan westward, for all the business of Jehovah, and for the service of the king. ³¹Of the Hebronites was Jerijah the chief, even of the Hebronites, according to their generations by fathers. In the fortieth year of the reign of David they were sought for, and there were found among them mighty men of valor at Jazer of Gilead. ³²And his brothers, men of valor, were two thousand and seven hundred, heads of fathers, whom king David made overseers over the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites, for every matter pertaining to God, and for the affairs of the king.

CHAPTER 27

¹Now the sons of Israel after their number, namely, the heads of fathers and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and their officers who served the king, in any matter of the divisions which came in and went out month by month throughout all the months of the year�of every division were twenty-four thousand. ²Jashobeam the son of Zabdiel was over the first division for the first month, and in his division were twenty-four thousand. ³He was of the sons of Perez, the chief of all the captains of the army for the first month. ⁴And over the division of the second month was Dodai the Ahohite, and his division. And Mikloth was the ruler. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ⁵The third captain of the army for the third month was Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, being chief. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ⁶This is that Benaiah who was the mighty man of the thirty, and over the thirty. And of his division was Ammizabad his son. ⁷The fourth captain for the fourth month was Asahel the brother of Joab, and Zebadiah his son after him. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ⁸The fifth captain for this fifth month was Shamhuth the Izrahite. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ⁹The sixth captain for the sixth month was Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹⁰The seventh captain for the seventh month was Helez the Pelonite, of the sons of Ephraim. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹¹The eighth captain for the eighth month was Sibbecai the Hushathite, of the Zerahites. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹²The ninth captain for the ninth month was Abiezer the Anathothite, of the Benjamites. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹³The tenth captain for the tenth month was Maharai the Netophathite, of the Zerahites. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹⁴The eleventh captain for the eleventh month was Benaiah the Pirathonite, of the sons of Ephraim. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹⁵The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel. And in his division were twenty-four thousand. ¹⁶Furthermore over the tribes of Israel: of the Reubenites was Eliezer the son of Zichri the ruler; of the Simeonites, Shephatiah the son of Maacah; ¹⁷of Levi, Hashabiah the son of Kemuel; of Aaron, Zadok; ¹⁸of Judah, Elihu, one of the brothers of David; of Issachar, Omri the son of Michael; ¹⁹of Zebulun, Ishmaiah the son of Obadiah; of Naphtali, Jeremoth the son of Azriel; ²⁰of the sons of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Azaziah; of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel the son of Pedaiah; ²¹of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo the son of Zechariah; of Benjamin, Jaasiel the son of Abner; ²²of Dan, Azarel the son of Jeroham. These were the captains of the tribes of Israel. ²³But David did not take the number of them from twenty years old and under, because Jehovah had said he would increase Israel like the stars of heaven. ²⁴Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but did not finish. And wrath came for this upon Israel. Neither was the number put into the account in the chronicles of king David. ²⁵And over the king�s treasures was Azmaveth the son of Adiel. And over the treasures in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles, was Jonathan the son of Uzziah. ²⁶And over those who did the work of the field for tillage of the ground was Ezri the son of Chelub. ²⁷And over the vineyards was Shimei the Ramathite. And over the increase of the vineyards for the wine-cellars was Zabdi the Shiphmite. ²⁸And over the olive trees and the sycamore trees that were in the lowland was Baal-hanan the Gederite. And over the cellars of oil was Joash. ²⁹And over the herds that fed in Sharon was Shitrai the Sharonite. And over the herds that were in the valleys was Shaphat the son of Adlai. ³⁰And over the camels was Obil the Ishmaelite. And over the donkeys was Jehdeiah the Meronothite. And over the flocks was Jaziz the Hagrite. ³¹All these were the rulers of the substance which was king David�s. ³²Also Jonathan, David�s uncle, was a counselor, a man of understanding, and a scribe. And Jehiel the son of Hachmoni was with the king�s sons. ³³And Ahithophel was the king�s counselor. And Hushai the Archite was the king�s friend. ³⁴And after Ahithophel was Jehoiada the son of Benaiah, and Abiathar. And the captain of the king�s army was Joab.

CHAPTER 28

¹And David assembled all the rulers of Israel, the rulers of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that served the king by division, and the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, and the rulers over all the substance and possessions of the king and of his sons, with the officers, and the mighty men, even all the mighty men of valor, to Jerusalem. ²Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brothers, and my people. As for me, it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and for the footstool of our God. And I had made ready for the building. ³But God said to me, Thou shall not build a house for my name, because thou are a man of war, and have shed blood. ⁴However Jehovah, the God of Israel, chose me out of all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever. For he has chosen Judah to be ruler, and in the house of Judah, the house of my father, and among the sons of my father he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. ⁵And of all my sons (for Jehovah has given me many sons), he has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah over Israel. ⁶And he said to me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. ⁷And I will establish his kingdom forever, if he is constant to do my commandments and my ordinances, as at this day. ⁸Now therefore, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of Jehovah, and in the audience of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of Jehovah your God, that ye may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your sons after you forever. ⁹And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for Jehovah searches all hearts, and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found by thee, but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. ¹⁰Take heed now, for Jehovah has chosen thee to build a house for the sanctuary. Be strong, and do it. ¹¹Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch of the temple, and of the houses of it, and of the treasuries of it, and of the upper rooms of it, and of the inner chambers of it, and of the place of the mercy-seat, ¹²and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, for the courts of the house of Jehovah, and for all the chambers round about, for the treasuries of the house of God, and for the treasuries of the dedicated things, ¹³also for the divisions of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and for all the vessels of service in the house of Jehovah, ¹⁴of gold by weight for the vessels of gold, for all vessels of every kind of service; of silver for all the vessels of silver by weight, for all vessels of every kind of service, ¹⁵by weight also for the lampstands of gold, and for the lamps of it, of gold, by weight for every lampstand and for the lamps of it, and for the lampstands of silver, silver by weight for every lampstand and for the lamps of it, according to the use of every lampstand, ¹⁶and the gold by weight for the tables of showbread, for every table, and silver for the tables of silver, ¹⁷and the flesh-hooks, and the basins, and the cups, of pure gold, and for the golden bowls by weight for every bowl, and for the silver bowls by weight for every bowl, ¹⁸and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight, and gold for the pattern of the chariot, even the cherubim that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. ¹⁹All this, David said, I have been made to understand in writing from the hand of Jehovah, even all the works of this pattern. ²⁰And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it. Fear not, nor be dismayed, for Jehovah God, even my God, is with thee. He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until all the work for the service of the house of Jehovah be finished. ²¹And, behold, there are the courses of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God. And there shall be with thee in all manner of work every willing man who has skill, for any manner of service. Also the captains and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment.

CHAPTER 29

¹And David the king said to all the assembly, Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great, for the palace is not for man, but for Jehovah God. ²Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, onyx stones, and stones to be set, stones for inlaid work, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. ³Moreover also, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, seeing that I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the house of my God over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, ⁴even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, with which to overlay the walls of the houses, ⁵of gold for the things of gold, and of silver for the things of silver, and for all manner of work to be made by the hands of artisans. Who then offers willingly to consecrate himself this day to Jehovah? ⁶Then the rulers of the fathers, and the rulers of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers over the king�s work, offered willingly. ⁷And they gave for the service of the house of God of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand darics, and of silver ten thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and of iron a hundred thousand talents. ⁸And those with whom precious stones were found gave them to the treasure of the house of Jehovah under the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹Then the people rejoiced, because they offered willingly, because with a perfect heart they offered willingly to Jehovah. And David the king also rejoiced with great joy. ¹⁰Therefore David praised Jehovah before all the assembly. And David said, Blessed be thou, O Jehovah, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou are exalted as head above all. ¹²Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou rule over all. And in thy hand is power and might. And in thy hand it is to make great, and to give strength to all. ¹³Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name. ¹⁴But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. ¹⁵For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is no abiding. ¹⁶O Jehovah our God, all this store that we have prepared to build thee a house for thy holy name comes of thy hand, and is all thine own. ¹⁷I know also, my God, that thou try the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of my heart I have willingly offered all these things. And now I have seen with joy thy people, who are present here, offer willingly to thee. ¹⁸O Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart to thee. ¹⁹And give to Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace for thee, for which I have made provision. ²⁰And David said to all the assembly, Now praise Jehovah your God. And all the assembly praised Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and bowed down their heads, and did obeisance to Jehovah, and the king. ²¹And they sacrificed sacrifices to Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings to Jehovah on the morrow after that day, even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, ²²and ate and drank before Jehovah on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and anointed him to Jehovah to be prince, and Zadok to be priest. ²³Then Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah as king instead of David his father, and prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴And all the rulers, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves to Solomon the king. ²⁵And Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel. ²⁶Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ²⁷And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ²⁸And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his stead. ²⁹Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Samuel the seer, and in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the history of Gad the seer, ³⁰with all his reign and his might, and the times that went over him, and over Israel, and over all the kingdoms of the countries.

2ND CHRONICLES

CHAPTER 1

¹And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom. And Jehovah his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. ²And Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every ruler in all Israel, the heads of the fathers. ³So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon. For the tent of meeting of God was there, which Moses the servant of Jehovah had made in the wilderness. ⁴But the ark of God David had brought up from Kiriath-jearim to the place that David had prepared for it. For he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. ⁵Moreover the brazen altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Jehovah. And Solomon and the assembly sought to it. ⁶And Solomon went up there to the brazen altar before Jehovah, which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. ⁷In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, Ask what I shall give thee. ⁸And Solomon said to God, Thou have shown great loving kindness to David my father, and have made me king in his stead. ⁹Now, O Jehovah God, let thy promise to David my father be established. For thou have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. ¹⁰Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people. For who can judge this thy people, that is so great? ¹¹And God said to Solomon, Because this was in thy heart, and thou have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of those who hate thee, neither yet have asked long life, but have asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou may judge my people over whom I have made thee king, ¹²wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee. And I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before thee, neither shall any after thee have the like. ¹³So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel. ¹⁴And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. And he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ¹⁵And the king made silver and gold to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars he made to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. ¹⁶And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt. The king�s merchants received them in herds, each herd at a price. ¹⁷And they went after and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. And so they brought them out by their means for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria.

CHAPTER 2

¹Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom. ²And Solomon counted out seventy thousand men to bear burdens, and eighty thousand men who were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them. ³And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, As thou dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build for him a house to dwell therein, so with me. ⁴Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Jehovah my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual showbread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Jehovah our God. This is an ordinance forever to Israel. ⁵And the house which I build is great. For our God is great above all gods. ⁶But who is able to build for him a house, seeing heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build for him a house, except only to burn incense before him? ⁷Now therefore send me a man skilful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave engravings, to be with the skilful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father provided. ⁸Send to me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon. For I know that thy servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon. And, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, ⁹even to prepare for me timber in abundance. For the house which I am about to build shall be great and wonderful. ¹⁰And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil. ¹¹Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, Because Jehovah loves his people, he has made thee king over them. ¹²Huram said moreover, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endued with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Jehovah, and a house for his kingdom. ¹³And now I have sent a skilful man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father�s, ¹⁴the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan. And his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any manner of engraving, and to devise any device, that there may be a place appointed to him with thy skilful men, and with the skilful men of my lord David thy father. ¹⁵Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants. ¹⁶And we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shall need. And we will bring it to thee in floats by sea to Joppa, and thou shall carry it up to Jerusalem. ¹⁷And Solomon numbered all the aliens that were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them. And they were found a hundred and fifty-three thousand and six hundred. ¹⁸And he set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people to work.

CHAPTER 3

¹Then Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem on mount Moriah, where Jehovah appeared to David his father, which he made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ²And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign. ³Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. ⁴And the porch that was before the house, the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height a hundred and twenty. And he overlaid it inside with pure gold. ⁵And the greater house he ceiled with fir-wood, which he overlaid with fine gold, and wrought thereon palm trees and chains. ⁶And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty. And the gold was gold of Parvaim. ⁷He also overlaid the house, the beams, the thresholds, and the walls of it, and the doors of it, with gold, and engraved cherubim on the walls. ⁸And he made the most holy house; the length of it, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the breadth of it twenty cubits. And he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. ⁹And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold. ¹⁰And in the most holy house he made two cherubim of image work, and they overlaid them with gold. ¹¹And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long; the wing of the one was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub. ¹²And the wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house, and the other wing was five cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub. ¹³The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits. And they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house. ¹⁴And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and wrought cherubim thereon. ¹⁵Also he made two pillars before the house of thirty-five cubits in length, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits. ¹⁶And he made chains in the oracle, and put them on the tops of the pillars. And he made a hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains. ¹⁷And he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. And called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

CHAPTER 4

¹Moreover he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits the length of it, and twenty cubits the breadth of it, and ten cubits the height of it. ²Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass. And the height of it was five cubits, and a line of thirty cubits encompassed it round about. ³And under it was the likeness of oxen, which compassed it round about for ten cubits, encompassing the sea round about. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast. ⁴It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east. And the sea was set upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inward. ⁵And it was a handbreadth thick. And the brim of it was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily. It received and held three thousand baths. ⁶He also made ten basins, and put five on the right hand, and five on the left, to wash in them. They washed in them such things as belonged to the burnt offering, but the sea was for the priests to wash in. ⁷And he made the ten lampstands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them. And he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left. ⁸He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. And he made a hundred basins of gold. ⁹Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass. ¹⁰And he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward, toward the south. ¹¹And Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. So Huram made an end of doing the work that he wrought for king Solomon in the house of God: ¹²the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars, ¹³and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were upon the pillars. ¹⁴He also made the bases, and he made the lavers upon the bases, ¹⁵one sea, and the twelve oxen under it. ¹⁶Also the pots, and the shovels, and the flesh-hooks, and all the vessels of it, Huram his father made of bright brass for king Solomon for the house of Jehovah. ¹⁷The king cast them in the plain of the Jordan, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah. ¹⁸Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance. For the weight of the brass could not be found out. ¹⁹And Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God, also the golden altar, and the tables on which was the showbread, ²⁰and the lampstands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold, ²¹and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold, ²²and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold. And as for the entry of the house, the inner doors of it for the most holy place, and the doors of the house, namely, of the temple, were of gold.

CHAPTER 5

¹Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of Jehovah was finished. And Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God. ²Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the rulers of the fathers of the sons of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion. ³And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was in the seventh month. ⁴And all the elders of Israel came. And the Levites took up the ark. ⁵And they brought up the ark, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the tent. These the priests the Levites brought up. ⁶And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled to him, were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude. ⁷And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim. ⁸For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves of it above. ⁹And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle, but they were not seen outside. And there it is to this day. ¹⁰There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets which Moses put there at Horeb when Jehovah made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt. ¹¹And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, (for all the priests that were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their divisions. ¹²Also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and psalteries and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them a hundred and twenty priests sounding with trumpets), ¹³it came to pass, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Jehovah. And when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Jehovah, saying, For he is good. For his loving kindness is forever, that the house was then filled with a cloud, even the house of Jehovah, ¹⁴so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud. For the glory of Jehovah filled the house of God.

CHAPTER 6

¹Then Solomon spoke, Jehovah has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ²But I have built for thee a house of habitation, and a place for thee to dwell in forever. ³And the king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel. And all the assembly of Israel stood. ⁴And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying, ⁵Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in that my name might be there. Neither did I choose any man to be ruler over my people Israel. ⁶But I have chosen Jerusalem that my name might be there. And have chosen David to be over my people Israel. ⁷Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ⁸But Jehovah said to David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou did well that it was in thy heart. ⁹Nevertheless thou shall not build the house, but thy son who shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name. ¹⁰And Jehovah has performed his word that he spoke. For I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹¹And there I have set the ark in which is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with the sons of Israel. ¹²And he stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands. ¹³For Solomon had made a brazen scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court. And upon it he stood, and knelt down upon his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven, or on earth, who keep covenant and loving kindness with thy servants, who walk before thee with all their heart, ¹⁵who have kept with thy servant David my father that which thou promised him. Yea, thou spoke with thy mouth, and have fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou have promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy sons take heed to their way, to walk in my law as thou have walked before me. ¹⁷Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, let thy word be verified, which thou spoke to thy servant David. ¹⁸But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee. How much less this house which I have built! ¹⁹Yet have thou respect to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prays before thee, ²⁰that thine eyes may be open toward this house day and night, even toward the place of which thou have said that thou would put thy name there, to hearken to the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place. ²¹And hearken thou to the supplications of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place. Yea, hear thou from thy dwelling-place, even from heaven, and when thou hear forgive. ²²If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before thine altar in this house, ²³then hear thou from heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, requiting the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness. ²⁴And if thy people Israel be smitten down before the enemy because they have sinned against thee, and shall turn again and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication before thee in this house, ²⁵then hear thou from heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again to the land which thou gave to them and to their fathers. ²⁶When the heavens are shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee, if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin when thou do afflict them, ²⁷then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teach them the good way wherein they should walk, and send rain upon thy land, which thou have given to thy people for an inheritance. ²⁸If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there be, ²⁹whatever prayer and supplication be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man his own plague and his own sorrow, and shall spread forth his hands toward this house, ³⁰then hear thou from heaven thy dwelling-place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou know, (for thou, even thou only, know the hearts of the sons of men), ³¹that they may fear thee, to walk in thy ways so long as they live in the land which thou gave to our fathers. ³²Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for thy great name�s sake, and thy mighty hand, and thine outstretched arm, when they shall come and pray toward this house, ³³then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to thee for, that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as do thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name. ³⁴If thy people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way thou shall send them, and they pray to thee toward this city which thou have chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name, ³⁵then hear thou from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ³⁶If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sins not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to a land far off or near, ³⁷yet if they shall rethink themselves in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to thee in the land of their captivity, saying, We have sinned, we have done perversely, and have dealt wickedly, ³⁸if they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity where they have carried them captive, and pray toward their land, which thou gave to their fathers, and the city which thou have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name, ³⁹then hear thou from heaven, even from thy dwelling-place, their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their case, and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee. ⁴⁰Now, O my God, let, I beseech thee, thine eyes be open, and let thine ears be attendant to the prayer that is made in this place. ⁴¹Now therefore arise, O Jehovah God, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests, O Jehovah God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy sanctified rejoice in goodness. ⁴²O Jehovah God, do not turn away the face of thine anointed. Remember thy loving kindnesses to David thy servant.

CHAPTER 7

¹Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. And the glory of Jehovah filled the house. ²And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah filled Jehovah�s house. ³And all the sons of Israel looked on when the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah was upon the house. And they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped, and gave thanks to Jehovah, saying, For he is good. For his loving kindness is forever. ⁴Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before Jehovah. ⁵And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. ⁶And the priests stood according to their offices, also the Levites with instruments of music of Jehovah, which David the king had made to give thanks to Jehovah (for his loving kindness is forever) when David praised by their ministry, and the priests sounded trumpets before them. And all Israel stood. ⁷Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah. For there he offered the burnt offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar which Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offering, and the meal offering, and the fat. ⁸So Solomon held the feast at that time seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. ⁹And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly. For they kept the dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. ¹⁰And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Jehovah had shown to David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people. ¹¹Thus Solomon finished the house of Jehovah, and the king�s house. And all that came into Solomon�s heart to make in the house of Jehovah, and in his own house, he caused to prosper. ¹²And Jehovah appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. ¹³If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people, ¹⁴if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. ¹⁵Now my eyes shall be open, and my ears attend to the prayer that is made in this place. ¹⁶For now I have chosen and hallowed this house, that my name may be there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. ¹⁷And as for thee, if thou will walk before me as David thy father walked, and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and will keep my statutes and mine ordinances, ¹⁸then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. ¹⁹But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them, ²⁰then I will pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them. And this house, which I have hallowed for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. ²¹And this house, which is so high, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall say, Why has Jehovah done thus to this land, and to this house? ²²And they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah, the God of their fathers, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshiped them, and served them; therefore he has brought all this evil upon them.

CHAPTER 8

¹And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house, ²that the cities which Huram had given to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the sons of Israel to dwell there. ³And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. ⁴And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store-cities, which he built in Hamath. ⁵Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the lower, fortified cities, with walls, gates, and bars, ⁶and Baalath, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and all the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. ⁷As for all the people who were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, that were not of Israel, ⁸of their sons who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel did not consumed, of them Solomon raised a levy of bondservants to this day. ⁹But Solomon made no servants of the sons of Israel for his work, but they were men of war, and chief of his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen. ¹⁰And these were the chief officers of king Solomon, even two hundred and fifty that bore rule over the people. ¹¹And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David to the house that he had built for her. For he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy in which the ark of Jehovah has come. ¹²Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to Jehovah on the altar of Jehovah, which he had built before the porch, ¹³even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁴And he appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise, and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required, also the porters by their divisions at every gate. For so David the man of God had commanded. ¹⁵And they did not depart from the commandment of the king to the priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the treasures. ¹⁶Now all the work of Solomon was prepared from the day of the foundation of the house of Jehovah, and until it was finished. So the house of Jehovah was completed. ¹⁷Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, on the seashore in the land of Edom. ¹⁸And Huram sent ships to him by the hands of his servants, and servants who had knowledge of the sea. And they came with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and fetched from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.

CHAPTER 9

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to test Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great caravan, and camels that bore spices, and gold in abundance, and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she conversed with him of all that was in her heart. ²And Solomon answered to her all her questions. And there was not anything hid from Solomon that he did not answer her. ³And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁴and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, also his cupbearers, and their apparel, and his ascent by which he went up to the house of Jehovah, there was no more spirit in her. ⁵And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom. ⁶However I did not believe their words until I came, and my eyes had seen it. And, behold, the half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me. Thou exceed the fame that I heard. ⁷Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, who stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom. ⁸Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on his throne to be king for Jehovah thy God. Because thy God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore he made thee king over them, to do justice and righteousness. ⁹And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones. Neither was there any such spice as the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. ¹⁰And also the servants of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. ¹¹And the king made of the algum trees terraces for the house of Jehovah, and for the king�s house, and harps and psalteries for the singers. And there were none such seen before in the land of Judah. ¹²And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, besides that which she had brought to the king. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants. ¹³Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, ¹⁴besides that which the traders and merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the country brought gold and silver to Solomon. ¹⁵And king Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of beaten gold went to one buckler. ¹⁶And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. ¹⁷Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure gold. ¹⁸And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of gold, which were fastened to the throne, and supports on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the supports. ¹⁹And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. ²⁰And all king Solomon�s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; silver was accounted of nothing in the days of Solomon. ²¹For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. ²²So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. ²³And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. ²⁴And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. ²⁵And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. ²⁶And he ruled over all the kings from the River even to the land of the Philistines, and to the border of Egypt. ²⁷And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars to be as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. ²⁸And they brought horses for Solomon out of Egypt, and out of all lands. ²⁹Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? ³⁰And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. ³¹And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 10

¹And Rehoboam went to Shechem. For all Israel came to Shechem to make him king. ²And it came to pass, when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it, (for he was in Egypt, from where he had fled from the presence of king Solomon), that Jeroboam returned out of Egypt. ³And they sent and called him. And Jeroboam and all Israel came, and they spoke to Rehoboam, saying, ⁴Thy father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, lighter, and we will serve thee. ⁵And he said to them, Come again to me after three days. And the people departed. ⁶And king Rehoboam took counsel with the old men that had stood before Solomon his father while he yet lived, saying, What counsel do ye give me to return an answer to this people? ⁷And they spoke to him, saying, If thou be kind to this people, and please them, and speak good words to them, then they will be thy servants forever. ⁸But he forsook the counsel of the old men which they had given him, and took counsel with the young men that grew up with him, who stood before him. ⁹And he said to them, What counsel do ye give, that we may return an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father put upon us lighter? ¹⁰And the young men that grew up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus shall thou say to the people who spoke to thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter to us. Thus shall thou say to them, My little finger is thicker than my father�s loins. ¹¹And now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I with scorpions. ¹²So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come to me again the third day. ¹³And the king answered them roughly. And king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, ¹⁴and spoke to them after the counsel of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto. My father chastised you with whips, but I with scorpions. ¹⁵So the king did not hearken to the people. For it was brought about by God, that Jehovah might establish his word, which he spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat. ¹⁶And when all Israel saw that the king did not hearken to them, the people answered the king, saying, What portion have we in David? Neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to your tents, O Israel. Now see to thine own house, David. So all Israel departed to their tents. ¹⁷But as for the sons of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned over them. ¹⁸Then king Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was over the men subject to task work. And the sons of Israel stoned him to death with stones. And king Rehoboam made speed to get him up to his chariot, to flee to Jerusalem. ¹⁹So Israel rebelled against the house of David to this day.

CHAPTER 11

¹And when Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen men, who were warriors, to fight against Israel, to bring the kingdom again to Rehoboam. ²But the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying, ³Speak to Rehoboam the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin, saying, ⁴Thus says Jehovah, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brothers. Return every man to his house. For this thing is of me. So they hearkened to the words of Jehovah, and returned from going against Jeroboam. ⁵And Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem, and built cities for defense in Judah. ⁶He built Bethlehem, and Etam, and Tekoa, ⁷And Beth-zur, and Soco, and Adullam, ⁸and Gath, and Mareshah, and Ziph, ⁹and Adoraim, and Lachish, and Azekah, ¹⁰and Zorah, and Aijalon, and Hebron, which are in Judah and in Benjamin, fortified cities. ¹¹And he fortified the strongholds, and put captains in them, and stores of victuals, and oil and wine. ¹²And in every city he put shields and spears, and made them exceedingly strong. And Judah and Benjamin belonged to him. ¹³And the priests and the Levites who were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their border. ¹⁴For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem. For Jeroboam and his sons cast them off, that they should not execute the priest�s office to Jehovah. ¹⁵And he appointed priests for him for the high places, and for the he-goats, and for the calves which he had made. ¹⁶And after them, such as set their hearts to seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem out of all the tribes of Israel to sacrifice to Jehovah, the God of their fathers. ¹⁷So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong three years. For they walked three years in the way of David and Solomon. ¹⁸And Rehoboam took him a wife, Mahalath the daughter of Jerimoth the son of David, and of Abihail the daughter of Eliab the son of Jesse. ¹⁹And she bore sons for him: Jeush, and Shemariah, and Zaham. ²⁰And after her he took Maacah the daughter of Absalom. And she bore for him Abijah, and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. ²¹And Rehoboam loved Maacah the daughter of Absalom above all his wives and his concubines. For he took eighteen wives, and thirty concubines, and begot twenty-eight sons and thirty daughters. ²²And Rehoboam appointed Abijah the son of Maacah to be chief, the ruler among his brothers. For he intended to make him king. ²³And he dealt wisely, and dispersed all his sons throughout all the lands of Judah and Benjamin, to every fortified city. And he gave them provisions in abundance. And he sought for them many wives.

CHAPTER 12

¹And it came to pass, when the kingdom of Rehoboam was established, and he was strong, that he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him. ²And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had trespassed against Jehovah, ³with twelve hundred chariots, and thirty thousand horsemen. And the people were without number who came with him out of Egypt: the Lubim, the Sukkiim, and the Ethiopians. ⁴And he took the fortified cities which pertained to Judah, and came to Jerusalem. ⁵Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the rulers of Judah, who were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus says Jehovah, Ye have forsaken me, therefore I have also left you in the hand of Shishak. ⁶Then the rulers of Israel and the king humbled themselves, and they said, Jehovah is righteous. ⁷And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. ⁸Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries. ⁹So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king�s house; he took all away. He also took away the shields of gold which Solomon had made. ¹⁰And king Rehoboam made in their stead shields of brass, and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard that kept the door of the king�s house. ¹¹And it was so, that, as often as the king entered into the house of Jehovah, the guard came and bore them, and brought them back into the guard-chamber. ¹²And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Jehovah turned from him, so as not to destroy him altogether. And moreover in Judah there were good things. ¹³So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem, and reigned. For Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which Jehovah had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. And his mother�s name was Naamah the Ammonitess. ¹⁴And he did that which was evil, because he did not set his heart to seek Jehovah. ¹⁵Now the acts of Rehoboam, first and last, are they not written in the histories of Shemaiah the prophet and of Iddo the seer, after the manner of genealogies? And there were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. ¹⁶And Rehoboam slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. And Abijah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 13

¹In the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah. ²He reigned three years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. And there was war between Abijah and Jeroboam. ³And Abijah joined battle with an army of valiant men of war, even four hundred thousand chosen men. And Jeroboam set the battle in array against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men who were mighty men of valor. ⁴And Abijah stood up upon mount Zemaraim, which is in the hill-country of Ephraim, and said, Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel. ⁵Should ye not know that Jehovah, the God of Israel, gave the kingdom over Israel to David forever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? ⁶Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, rose up, and rebelled against his lord. ⁷And there were gathered to him worthless men, base fellows, who strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon when Rehoboam was young and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them. ⁸And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of Jehovah in the hand of the sons of David, and ye are a great multitude, and there are with you the golden calves which Jeroboam made you for gods. ⁹Have ye not driven out the priests of Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for you after the manner of the peoples of other lands? So that whoever comes to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. ¹⁰But as for us, Jehovah is our God, and we have not forsaken him. And we have priests ministering to Jehovah, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites in their work. ¹¹And they burn to Jehovah every morning and every evening burnt offerings and sweet incense. Also they set the showbread in order upon the pure table, and the lampstand of gold with the lamps of it to burn every evening. For we keep the charge of Jehovah our God, but ye have forsaken him. ¹²And, behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. O sons of Israel, fight ye not against Jehovah, the God of your fathers. For ye shall not prosper. ¹³But Jeroboam caused an ambushment to come around behind them, so they were before Judah, and the ambushment was behind them. ¹⁴And when Judah looked back, behold, the battle was before and behind them. And they cried to Jehovah, and the priests sounded with the trumpets. ¹⁵Then the men of Judah gave a shout. And as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. ¹⁶And the sons of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand. ¹⁷And Abijah and his people killed them with a great slaughter. So there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. ¹⁸Thus the sons of Israel were brought under at that time, and the sons of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon Jehovah, the God of their fathers. ¹⁹And Abijah pursued after Jeroboam, and took cities from him, Bethel with the towns of it, and Jeshanah with the towns of it, and Ephron with the towns of it. ²⁰Neither did Jeroboam recover strength again in the days of Abijah. And Jehovah smote him, and he died. ²¹But Abijah grew mighty, and took to himself fourteen wives, and begot twenty-two sons, and sixteen daughters. ²²And the rest of the acts of Abijah, and his ways, and his sayings, are written in the commentary of the prophet Iddo.

CHAPTER 14

¹So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land was quiet ten years. ²And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God. ³For he took away the foreign altars, and the high places, and broke down the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, ⁴and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. ⁵Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the sun-images. And the kingdom was quiet before him. ⁶And he built fortified cities in Judah. For the land was quiet, and he had no war in those years, because Jehovah had given him rest. ⁷For he said to Judah, Let us build these cities, and make about them walls, and towers, gates, and bars. The land is yet before us, because we have sought Jehovah our God. We have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered. ⁸And Asa had an army that bore bucklers and spears, out of Judah three hundred thousand, and out of Benjamin, that bore shields and drew bows, two hundred and eighty thousand. All these were mighty men of valor. ⁹And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an army of a million, and three hundred chariots. And he came to Mareshah. ¹⁰Then Asa went out to meet him, and they set the battle in array in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹And Asa cried to Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, there is none besides thee to help, between the mighty and him who has no strength. Help us, O Jehovah our God. For we rely on thee, and in thy name we come against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou are our God. Let not man prevail against thee. ¹²So Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah. And the Ethiopians fled. ¹³And Asa and the people who were with him pursued them to Gerar. And there fell of the Ethiopians so many that they could not recover themselves. For they were destroyed before Jehovah, and before his army. And they carried away very much booty. ¹⁴And they smote all the cities round about Gerar. For the fear of Jehovah came upon them. And they despoiled all the cities. For there was much spoil in them. ¹⁵They also smote the tents of cattle, and carried away sheep in abundance, and camels, and returned to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 15

¹And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded. ²And he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin. Jehovah is with you while ye are with him. And if ye seek him, he will be found of you, but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. ³Now for a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. ⁴But when in their distress they turned to Jehovah, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. ⁵And in those times there was no peace to him who went out, nor to him who came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the lands. ⁶And they were broken in pieces, nation against nation, and city against city. For God vexed them with all adversity. ⁷But be ye strong, and let not your hands be slack. For your work shall be rewarded. ⁸And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominations out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from the hill-country of Ephraim. And he renewed the altar of Jehovah, that was before the porch of Jehovah. ⁹And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who sojourned with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon, for they came to him out of Israel in abundance when they saw that Jehovah his God was with him. ¹⁰So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. ¹¹And they sacrificed to Jehovah in that day of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. ¹²And they entered into the covenant to seek Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul. ¹³And that whoever would not seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. ¹⁴And they swore to Jehovah with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. ¹⁵And all Judah rejoiced at the oath. For they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them. And Jehovah gave them rest round about. ¹⁶And also he removed Maacah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen, because she had made an abominable image for an Asherah. And Asa cut down her image, and made dust of it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron. ¹⁷But the high places were not taken away out of Israel. Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days. ¹⁸And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels. ¹⁹And there was no more war to the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa.

CHAPTER 16

¹In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not allow anyone to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. ²Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king�s house, and sent to Ben-hadad king of Syria, who dwelt at Damascus, saying, ³There is a league between me and thee, as between my father and thy father. Behold, I have sent thee silver and gold. Go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel that he may depart from me. ⁴And Ben-hadad hearkened to king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. And they smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abel-maim, and all the store-cities of Naphtali. ⁵And it came to pass, when Baasha heard of it, that he left off building Ramah, and let his work cease. ⁶Then Asa the king took all Judah, and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber of it, with which Baasha had built. And he built Geba and Mizpah with it. ⁷And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him, Because thou have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped out of thy hand. ⁸Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge army, with chariots and horsemen exceedingly many? Yet, because thou relied on Jehovah, he delivered them into thy hand. ⁹For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is perfect toward him. In this thou have done foolishly, for from henceforth thou shall have wars. ¹⁰Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in the prison-house. For he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. ¹¹And, behold, the acts of Asa, first and last, lo, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ¹²And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet. His disease was exceedingly great, yet in his disease he did not seek for Jehovah, but to the physicians. ¹³And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the forty-first year of his reign. ¹⁴And they buried him in his own sepulchers, which he had hewn out for himself in the city of David, and laid him in the bed which was filled with sweet odors and various kinds of spices prepared by the perfumers� art. And they made a very great burning for him.

CHAPTER 17

¹And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel. ²And he placed forces in all the fortified cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken. ³And Jehovah was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the former ways of his father David, and did not seek for the Baalim, ⁴but sought for the God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel. ⁵Therefore Jehovah established the kingdom in his hand. And all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat tribute, and he had riches and honor in abundance. ⁶And his heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah. And furthermore he took away the high places and the Asherim out of Judah. ⁷Also in the third year of his reign he sent his rulers, even Ben-hail, and Obadiah, and Zechariah, and Nethanel, and Micaiah, to teach in the cities of Judah; ⁸and with them the Levites, even Shemaiah, and Nethaniah, and Zebadiah, and Asahel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehonathan, and Adonijah, and Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, the Levites; and with them Elishama and Jehoram, the priests. ⁹And they taught in Judah, having the book of the law of Jehovah with them. And they went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught among the people. ¹⁰And the fear of Jehovah fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat. ¹¹And some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents, and silver for tribute. The Arabians also brought him flocks, seven thousand and seven hundred rams, and seven thousand and seven hundred he-goats. ¹²And Jehoshaphat grew exceedingly great. And he built in Judah castles and cities of storage. ¹³And he had many works in the cities of Judah, and men of war, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And this was the numbering of them according to their fathers� houses. Of Judah, the captains of thousands: Adnah the captain, and with him three hundred thousand mighty men of valor; ¹⁵and next to him Jehohanan the captain, and with him two hundred and eighty thousand; ¹⁶and next to him Amasiah the son of Zichri, who willingly offered himself to Jehovah, and with him two hundred thousand mighty men of valor. ¹⁷And of Benjamin: Eliada a mighty man of valor, and with him two hundred thousand armed with bow and shield; ¹⁸and next to him Jehozabad, and with him a hundred and eighty thousand ready prepared for war. ¹⁹These were those who waited on the king, besides those whom the king put in the fortified cities throughout all Judah.

CHAPTER 18

¹Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance. And he joined affinity with Ahab. ²And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people who were with him, and moved him to go up with him to Ramoth-gilead. ³And Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Will thou go with me to Ramoth-gilead? And he answered him, I am as thou are, and my people as thy people, and will be with thee in the war. ⁴And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Inquire first, I pray thee, for the word of Jehovah. ⁵Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, Shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up. For God will deliver it into the hand of the king. ⁶But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we may inquire of him? ⁷And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah, but I hate him. For he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil; the same is Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so. ⁸Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Fetch quickly Micaiah the son of Imla. ⁹Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah each sat on his throne, arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting in an open place at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. ¹⁰And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for him horns of iron, and said, Thus says Jehovah, With these thou shall push the Syrians until they be consumed. ¹¹And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper. For Jehovah will deliver it into the hand of the king. ¹²And the messenger who went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Behold, the words of the prophets are good to the king with one mouth. Let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good. ¹³And Micaiah said, As Jehovah lives, what my God says, that will I speak. ¹⁴And when he came to the king, the king said to him, Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And he said, Go ye up, and prosper, and they shall be delivered into your hand. ¹⁵And the king said to him, How many times shall I adjure thee that thou speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of Jehovah? ¹⁶And he said, I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And Jehovah said, These have no master. Let them return every man to his house in peace. ¹⁷And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil? ¹⁸And Micaiah said, Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah. I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven standing at his right hand and at his left. ¹⁹And Jehovah said, Who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. ²⁰And there came forth a spirit, and stood before Jehovah, and said, I will entice him. And Jehovah said to him, With what? ²¹And he said, I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shall entice him, and shall also prevail. Go forth, and do so. ²²Now therefore, behold, Jehovah has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets. And Jehovah has spoken evil concerning thee. ²³Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near, and smote Micaiah upon the cheek, and said, Which way did the Spirit of Jehovah go from me to speak to thee? ²⁴And Micaiah said, Behold, thou shall see on that day when thou shall go into an inner chamber to hide thyself. ²⁵And the king of Israel said, Take ye Micaiah, and carry him back to Amon the governor of the city, and to Joash the king�s son, ²⁶and say, Thus says the king, Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction, until I return in peace. ²⁷And Micaiah said, If thou return at all in peace, Jehovah has not spoken by me. And he said, Hear, ye peoples, all of you. ²⁸So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead. ²⁹And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and go into the battle, but put thou on thy robes. So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they went into the battle. ³⁰Now the king of Syria had commanded the captains of his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, except only with the king of Israel. ³¹And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, It is the king of Israel. Therefore they turned around to fight against him. But Jehoshaphat cried out. And Jehovah helped him, and God moved them from him. ³²And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. ³³And a certain man drew his bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the armor. Therefore he said to the driver of the chariot, Turn thy hand, and carry me out of the army. For I am severely wounded. ³⁴And the battle increased that day. However the king of Israel propped himself up in his chariot against the Syrians until the evening. And about the time of the going down of the sun he died.

CHAPTER 19

¹And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. ²And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Should thou help the wicked, and love those who hate Jehovah? For this thing wrath is upon thee from before Jehovah. ³Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou have put away the Asheroth out of the land, and have set thy heart to seek God. ⁴And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem. And he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill-country of Ephraim, and brought them back to Jehovah, the God of their fathers. ⁵And he set judges in the land throughout all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city, ⁶and said to the judges, Consider what ye do. For ye judge not for man, but for Jehovah, and he is with you in the judgment. ⁷Now therefore let the fear of Jehovah be upon you. Take heed and do it. For there is no iniquity with Jehovah our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of bribes. ⁸Moreover in Jerusalem Jehoshaphat set from the Levites and the priests, and from the heads of the fathers of Israel for the judgment of Jehovah, and for controversies. And they returned to Jerusalem. ⁹And he charged them, saying, Thus ye shall do in the fear of Jehovah, faithfully, and with a perfect heart. ¹⁰And whenever any controversy shall come to you from your brothers who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, ye shall warn them, that they not be guilty towards Jehovah, and so wrath come upon you and upon your brothers. Do this, and ye shall not be guilty. ¹¹And, behold, Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of Jehovah, and Zebadiah the son of Ishmael, the ruler of the house of Judah, in all the king�s matters. The Levites shall also be officers before you. Deal courageously, and Jehovah be with the good.

CHAPTER 20

¹And it came to pass after this, that the sons of Moab, and the sons of Ammon, and with them some of the Minaeans, came against Jehoshaphat to battle. ²Then there came some who told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea from Syria. And, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar (the same is En-gedi). ³And Jehoshaphat was afraid, and set himself to seek for Jehovah. And he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴And Judah gathered themselves together, to seek help from Jehovah, even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah. ⁵And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of Jehovah before the new court. ⁶And he said, O Jehovah, the God of our fathers, are thou not God in heaven? And are thou not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in thy hand is power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee. ⁷Did thou not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever? ⁸And they dwelt therein, and have built for thee a sanctuary in it for thy name, saying, ⁹If evil comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house, and before thee, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry out to thee in our affliction, and thou will hear and save. ¹⁰And now, behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir (whom thou would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned aside from them, and did not destroy them), ¹¹behold, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou have given us to inherit. ¹²O our God, will thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that comes against us. Neither do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. ¹³And all Judah stood before Jehovah, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons. ¹⁴Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of Jehovah in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat. Thus says Jehovah to you, Fear ye not, neither be dismayed because of this great multitude. For the battle is not yours, but God�s. ¹⁶Tomorrow go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the ascent of Ziz. And ye shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷Ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of Jehovah with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for Jehovah is with you. ¹⁸And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Jehovah, worshiping Jehovah. ¹⁹And the Levites, of the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise Jehovah, the God of Israel, with an exceedingly loud voice. ²⁰And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem. Believe in Jehovah your God, so shall ye be established. Believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. ²¹And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who should sing to Jehovah, and give praise in holy array, as they went out before the army, and say, Give thanks to Jehovah. For his loving kindness is forever. ²²And when they began to sing and to praise, Jehovah set an ambushment against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir who came against Judah, and they were smitten. ²³For the sons of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, to slay and destroy them utterly. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another of themselves. ²⁴And when Judah came to the watch-tower of the wilderness, they looked upon the multitude. And, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and there were none who escaped. ²⁵And when Jehoshaphat and his people came to take the spoil of them, they found among them in abundance both riches and dead bodies, and precious jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away. And they were three days in taking the spoil, it was so much. ²⁶And on the fourth day they assembled themselves in the valley of Beracah, for there they blessed Jehovah. Therefore the name of that place was called The valley of Beracah to this day. ²⁷Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with joy. For Jehovah had made them to rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets to the house of Jehovah. ²⁹And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they heard that Jehovah fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet. For his God gave him rest round about. ³¹And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he began to reign. And he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. ³²And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and did not turn aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah. ³³However the high places were not taken away. Neither as yet had the people set their hearts to the God of their fathers. ³⁴Now the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first and last, behold, they are written in the history of Jehu the son of Hanani, which is inserted in the book of the kings of Israel. ³⁵And after this Jehoshaphat king of Judah joined himself with Ahaziah king of Israel. The same did very wickedly. ³⁶And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish. And they made the ships in Ezion-geber. ³⁷Then Eliezer the son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because thou have joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah has destroyed thy works. And the ships were broken, so that they were not able to go to Tarshish.

CHAPTER 21

¹And Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Jehoram his son reigned in his stead. ²And he had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, and Jehiel, and Zechariah, and Azariah, and Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. ³And their father gave them great gifts, of silver, and of gold, and of precious things, with fortified cities in Judah. But the kingdom he gave to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn. ⁴Now when Jehoram was risen up over the kingdom of his father, and had strengthened himself, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and also various of the rulers of Israel. ⁵Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. ⁶And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab, for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. ⁷However Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons always. ⁸In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. ⁹Then Jehoram passed over with his captains, and all his chariots with him. And he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites that encompassed him around, and the captains of the chariots. ¹⁰So Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah to this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time from under his hand because he had forsaken Jehovah, the God of his fathers. ¹¹Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and made the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, and led Judah astray. ¹²And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says Jehovah, the God of David thy father, Because thou have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, ¹³but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, like the house of Ahab did, and also have slain thy brothers of thy father�s house who were better than thyself, ¹⁴behold, Jehovah will smite thy people with a great plague, and thy sons, and thy wives, and all thy substance. ¹⁵And thou shall have great sickness by disease of thy bowels until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness, day by day. ¹⁶And Jehovah stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines, and of the Arabians who are beside the Ethiopians. ¹⁷And they came up against Judah, and broke into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king�s house, and his sons also, and his wives, so that there has not been left a son to him, except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons. ¹⁸And after all this Jehovah smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. ¹⁹And it came to pass, in process of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels fell out because of his sickness, and he died of severe diseases. And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers. ²⁰He was thirty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. And he departed without being wanted. And they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchers of the kings.

CHAPTER 22

¹And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah his youngest son king in his stead, for the band of men who came with the Arabians to the camp had slain all the eldest. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah reigned. ²Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. ³He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. For his mother was his counselor to do wickedly. ⁴And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did the house of Ahab. For they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction. ⁵He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth-gilead. And the Syrians wounded Joram. ⁶And he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which they had given him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel because he was sick. ⁷Now the destruction of Ahaziah was of God, in that he went to Joram, for when he came he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom Jehovah had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab. ⁸And it came to pass, when Jehu was executing judgment upon the house of Ahab, that he found the rulers of Judah, and the sons of the brothers of Ahaziah, ministering to Ahaziah, and killed them. ⁹And he sought Ahaziah, and they caught him (now he was hiding in Samaria). And they brought him to Jehu, and killed him. And they buried him, for they said, He is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought Jehovah with all his heart. And the house of Ahaziah had no power to hold the kingdom. ¹⁰Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal seed of the house of Judah. ¹¹But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king�s sons who were slain, and put him and his nurse in the bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him. ¹²And he was with them hid in the house of God six years, and Athaliah reigned over the land.

CHAPTER 23

¹And in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself, and took the captains of hundreds, Azariah the son of Jeroham, and Ishmael the son of Jehohanan, and Azariah the son of Obed, and Maaseiah the son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat the son of Zichri, into covenant with him. ²And they went about in Judah, and gathered the Levites out of all the cities of Judah, and the heads of fathers of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said to them, Behold, the king�s son shall reign, as Jehovah has spoken concerning the sons of David. ⁴This is the thing that ye shall do: A third part of you who come in on the sabbath, of the priests and of the Levites, shall be porters of the thresholds, ⁵and a third part shall be at the king�s house, and a third part at the gate of the foundation. And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Jehovah. ⁶But let none come into the house of Jehovah except the priests, and those who minister of the Levites. They shall come in for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the charge of Jehovah. ⁷And the Levites shall encompass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand. And whoever comes into the house, let him be slain. And be ye with the king when he comes in, and when he goes out. ⁸So the Levites and all Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded. And they took every man his men, those who were to come in on the sabbath, with those who were to go out on the sabbath. For Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions. ⁹And Jehoiada the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds the spears, and bucklers, and shields, that had been king David�s, which were in the house of God. ¹⁰And he set all the people, every man with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side of the house, along by the altar and the house, by the king round about. ¹¹Then they brought out the king�s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him. And they said, Live, O king. ¹²And when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of Jehovah. ¹³And she looked, and, behold, the king stood by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpets by the king. And all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew trumpets. The singers also played on instruments of music, and led the singing of praise. Then Athaliah tore her clothes, and said, Treason! treason! ¹⁴And Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains of hundreds who were set over the army, and said to them, Have her forth between the ranks. And whoever follows her, let him be slain with the sword, for the priest said, Do not slay her in the house of Jehovah. ¹⁵So they made way for her. And she went to the entrance of the horse gate to the king�s house, and they killed her there. ¹⁶And Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, and all the people, and the king, that they should be Jehovah�s people. ¹⁷And all the people went to the house of Baal, and broke it down, and broke his altars and his images in pieces, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. ¹⁸And Jehoiada appointed the officers of the house of Jehovah under the hand of the priests the Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of Jehovah, to offer the burnt offerings of Jehovah, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David. ¹⁹And he set the porters at the gates of the house of Jehovah that no man who was unclean in anything should enter in. ²⁰And he took the captains of hundreds, and the mighty men, and the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought down the king from the house of Jehovah. And they came through the upper gate to the king�s house, and set the king upon the throne of the kingdom. ²¹So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. And they had slain Athaliah with the sword.

CHAPTER 24

¹Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Zibiah, of Beersheba. ²And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest. ³And Jehoiada took two wives for him, and he begot sons and daughters. ⁴And it came to pass after this, that Joash was minded to restore the house of Jehovah. ⁵And he gathered together the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah, and gather money from all Israel to repair the house of your God from year to year. And see that ye hasten the matter. However the Levites did not hasten it. ⁶And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said to him, Why have thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and out of Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of Jehovah, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the testimony? ⁷For the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God, and also all the dedicated things of the house of Jehovah they bestowed upon the Baalim. ⁸So the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it outside at the gate of the house of Jehovah. ⁹And they made a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in for Jehovah the tax that Moses the servant of God laid upon Israel in the wilderness. ¹⁰And all the rulers and all the people rejoiced, and brought in, and cast into the chest, until they had made an end. ¹¹And it was so, that, at what ever time the chest was brought to the king�s officers by the hand of the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, the king�s scribe and the chief priest�s officer came and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again. Thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. ¹²And the king and Jehoiada gave it to such as did the work of the service of the house of Jehovah. And they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Jehovah, and also such as wrought iron and brass to repair the house of Jehovah. ¹³So the workmen labored, and the work of repairing went forward in their hands, and they set up the house of God in its state, and strengthened it. ¹⁴And when they had made an end, they brought the rest of the money before the king and Jehoiada, from which were made vessels for the house of Jehovah, even vessels with which to minister and to offer, and spoons, and vessels of gold and silver. And they offered burnt offerings in the house of Jehovah continually all the days of Jehoiada. ¹⁵But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died. He was a hundred and thirty years old when he died. ¹⁶And they buried him in the city of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, and toward God and his house. ¹⁷Now after the death of Jehoiada the rulers of Judah came, and made obeisance to the king. Then the king hearkened to them. ¹⁸And they forsook the house of Jehovah, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols. And wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their guiltiness. ¹⁹Yet he sent prophets to them to bring them again to Jehovah. And they testified against them, but they would not give ear. ²⁰And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. And he stood above the people, and said to them, Thus says God, Why do ye transgress the commandments of Jehovah, so that ye cannot prosper? Because ye have forsaken Jehovah, he has also forsaken you. ²¹And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Jehovah. ²²Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son. And when he died, he said, Jehovah look upon it, and require it. ²³And it came to pass at the end of the year, that the army of the Syrians came up against him. And they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the rulers of the people from among the people, and sent all the spoil of them to the king of Damascus. ²⁴For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men. And Jehovah delivered a very great host into their hand because they had forsaken Jehovah, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment upon Joash. ²⁵And when they were departed from him (for they left him very sick), his own servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed, and he died. And they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the sepulchers of the kings. ²⁶And these are those who conspired against him: Zabad the son of Shimeath the Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith the Moabitess. ²⁷Now concerning his sons, and the greatness of the burdens laid upon him, and the rebuilding of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the kings. And Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 25

¹Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jehoaddan, of Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, but not with a perfect heart. ³Now it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he killed his servants who had killed the king his father. ⁴But he did not put their sons to death, but did according to that which is written in the law in the book of Moses, as Jehovah commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the sons, neither shall the sons die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. ⁵Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together, and appointed them according to their fathers� houses, for heads of thousands and heads of hundreds, even all Judah and Benjamin. And he numbered them from twenty years old and upward, and found them three hundred thousand chosen men, able to go forth to war, who could handle spear and shield. ⁶He also hired a hundred thousand mighty men of valor out of Israel for a hundred talents of silver. ⁷But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee. For Jehovah is not with Israel, namely, with all the sons of Ephraim. ⁸But if thou are going, do it. Be strong for the battle, because God will cast thee down before the enemy, for God has power to help, and to cast down. ⁹And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, Jehovah is able to give thee much more than this. ¹⁰Then Amaziah separated them, namely, the army that came to him out of Ephraim, to go home again. Therefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in fierce anger. ¹¹And Amaziah took courage, and led forth his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, and smote ten thousand of the sons of Seir. ¹²And the sons of Judah carried away ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces. ¹³But the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-horon, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil. ¹⁴Now it came to pass, after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense to them. ¹⁵Therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Amaziah. And he sent a prophet to him, who said to him, Why have thou sought after the gods of the people, which have not delivered their own people out of thy hand? ¹⁶And it came to pass, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, Have we made thee of the king�s counsel? Cease. Why should thou be smitten? Then the prophet ceased, and said, I know that God has determined to destroy thee, because thou have done this, and have not hearkened to my counsel. ¹⁷Then Amaziah king of Judah took advice, and sent to Joash, the son of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, Come, let us look each other in the face. ¹⁸And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife. And there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trampled down the thistle. ¹⁹Thou say, Lo, I have smitten Edom. And thy heart lifts thee up to boast. Remain now at home. Why should thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou should fall, even thou, and Judah with thee? ²⁰But Amaziah would not hear, for it was of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they had sought after the gods of Edom. ²¹So Joash king of Israel went up. And he and Amaziah king of Judah looked each other in the face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²²And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent. ²³And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits. ²⁴And he took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the king�s house, also the hostages, and returned to Samaria. ²⁵And Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷Now from the time that Amaziah turned away from following Jehovah they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish, and killed him there. ²⁸And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

CHAPTER 26

¹And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. ²He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. ³Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. ⁴And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ⁵And he set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God. And as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper. ⁶And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. And he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines. ⁷And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Meunim. ⁸And the Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah. And his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong. ⁹Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. ¹⁰And he built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns, for he had much cattle, also in the lowland and in the plain. And he had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields, for he loved husbandry. ¹¹Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king�s captains. ¹²The whole number of the heads of fathers, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand and six hundred. ¹³And under their hand was an army, three hundred seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. ¹⁴And Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the army, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging. ¹⁵And he made engines in Jerusalem, invented by skilful men, to be on the towers and upon the battlements, with which to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad. For he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. ¹⁶But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Jehovah his God. For he went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense. ¹⁷And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of Jehovah, who were valiant men. ¹⁸And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said to him, It does not pertain to thee, Uzziah, to burn incense to Jehovah, but to the priests the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary. For thou have trespassed, neither shall it be for thine honor from Jehovah God. ¹⁹Then Uzziah was angry. And he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah, beside the altar of incense. ²⁰And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead. And they thrust him out quickly from there. Yea, he himself also hastened to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him. ²¹And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper. For he was cut off from the house of Jehovah, and Jotham his son was over the king�s house, judging the people of the land. ²²Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. ²³So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings. For they said, He is a leper. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 27

¹Jotham was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Jerushah the daughter of Zadok. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he did not enter into the temple of Jehovah. And the people still did corruptly. ³He built the upper gate of the house of Jehovah, and on the wall of Ophel he built much. ⁴Moreover he built cities in the hill-country of Judah, and in the forests he built castles and towers. ⁵Also he fought with the king of the sons of Ammon, and prevailed against them. And the sons of Ammon gave him the same year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand measures of wheat, and ten thousand of barley. So much did the sons of Ammon render to him, in the second year also, and in the third. ⁶So Jotham became mighty, because he ordered his ways before Jehovah his God. ⁷Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars, and his ways, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. ⁹And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 28

¹Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah like David his father, ²but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and also made molten images for the Baalim. ³Moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his sons in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the sons of Israel. ⁴And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree. ⁵Therefore Jehovah his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. And they smote him, and carried away of his a great multitude of captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter. ⁶For Pekah the son of Remaliah killed in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all of them valiant men, because they had forsaken Jehovah, the God of their fathers. ⁷And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king�s son, and Azrikam the ruler of the house, and Elkanah who was next to the king. ⁸And the sons of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹But a prophet of Jehovah was there, whose name was Oded. And he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria, and said to them, Behold, because Jehovah, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he has delivered them into your hand. And ye have slain them in a rage which has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰And now ye propose to keep under the sons of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen to you. Are there not even with you trespasses of your own against Jehovah your God? ¹¹Now hear me therefore, and send back the captives that ye have taken captive of your brothers. For the fierce wrath of Jehovah is upon you. ¹²Then certain of the heads of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, and Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who came from the war, ¹³and said to them, Ye shall not bring in the captives here. For ye propose that which will bring upon us a trespass against Jehovah, to add to our sins and to our trespass. For our trespass is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel. ¹⁴So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the rulers and all the assembly. ¹⁵And the men who have been mentioned by name rose up, and took the captives, and with the spoil clothed all who were naked among them, and dressed them, and shod them, and gave them to eat and to drink, and anointed them, and carried all the feeble of them upon donkeys, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, to their brothers. Then they returned to Samaria. ¹⁶At that time king Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria to help him. ¹⁷For again the Edomites had come and smitten Judah, and carried away captives. ¹⁸The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the lowland, and of the South of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Aijalon, and Gederoth, and Soco with the towns of it, and Timnah with the towns of it, also Gimzo and the towns of it. And they dwelt there. ¹⁹For Jehovah brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had dealt wantonly in Judah, and trespassed severely against Jehovah. ²⁰And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came to him, and distressed him, but did not strengthen him. ²¹For Ahaz took away a portion out of the house of Jehovah, and out of the house of the king and of the rulers, and gave it to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him. ²²And in the time of his distress he trespassed yet more against Jehovah, this same king Ahaz. ²³For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which smote him. And he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, therefore I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. ²⁴And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of Jehovah. And he made altars for him in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵And in every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger Jehovah, the God of his fathers. ²⁶Now the rest of his acts, and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem. For they did not bring him into the sepulchers of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 29

¹Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that David his father had done. ³In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of Jehovah, and repaired them. ⁴And he brought in the priests and the Levites, and gathered them together into the broad place on the east, ⁵and said to them, Hear me, ye Levites. Now sanctify yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. ⁶For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Jehovah, and turned their backs. ⁷Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸Therefore the wrath of Jehovah was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has delivered them to be tossed to and fro, to be an astonishment, and a hissing, as ye see with your eyes. ⁹For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. ¹⁰Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with Jehovah, the God of Israel, that his fierce anger may turn away from us. ¹¹My sons, be not now negligent. For Jehovah has chosen you to stand before him, to minister to him, and that ye should be his ministers, and burn incense. ¹²Then the Levites arose: Mahath, the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel, and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; ¹³and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel, and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah, ¹⁴and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei, and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. ¹⁵And they gathered their brothers, and sanctified themselves, and went in, according to the commandment of the king by the words of Jehovah, to cleanse the house of Jehovah. ¹⁶And the priests went in to the inner part of the house of Jehovah to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of Jehovah into the court of the house of Jehovah. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad to the brook Kidron. ¹⁷Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the porch of Jehovah. And they sanctified the house of Jehovah in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end. ¹⁸Then they went in to Hezekiah the king within the palace, and said, We have cleansed all the house of Jehovah, and the altar of burnt offering with all the vessels of it, and the table of showbread with all the vessels of it. ¹⁹Moreover all the vessels, which king Ahaz in his reign cast away when he trespassed, we have prepared and sanctified. And, behold, they are before the altar of Jehovah. ²⁰Then Hezekiah the king arose early, and gathered the rulers of the city, and went up to the house of Jehovah. ²¹And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests the sons of Aaron to offer them on the altar of Jehovah. ²²So they killed the bullocks. And the priests received the blood, and sprinkled it on the altar. And they killed the rams, and sprinkled the blood upon the altar. They also killed the lambs, and sprinkled the blood upon the altar. ²³And they brought near the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly. And they laid their hands upon them, ²⁴and the priests killed them. And they made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel. ²⁵And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king�s seer, and Nathan the prophet. For the commandment was of Jehovah by his prophets. ²⁶And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. ²⁷And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of Jehovah began also, and the trumpets, together with the instruments of David king of Israel. ²⁸And all the assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this until the burnt offering was finished. ²⁹And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. ³⁰Moreover Hezekiah the king and the rulers commanded the Levites to sing praises to Jehovah with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped. ³¹Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now ye have consecrated yourselves to Jehovah. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of Jehovah. And the assembly brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. ³²And the number of the burnt offerings which the assembly brought was seventy bullocks, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to Jehovah. ³³And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. ³⁴But the priests were too few, so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore their brothers the Levites helped them till the work was ended, and until the priests had sanctified themselves. For the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests. ³⁵And also the burnt offerings were in abundance, with the fat of the peace offerings, and with the drink offerings for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order. ³⁶And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, because of that which God had prepared for the people; for the thing was done suddenly.

CHAPTER 30

¹And Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to Jehovah, the God of Israel. ²For the king had taken counsel, and his rulers, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to keep the Passover in the second month. ³For they could not keep it at that time, because the priests had not sanctified themselves in sufficient number, neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem. ⁴And the thing was right in the eyes of the king and of all the assembly. ⁵So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to Jehovah, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem. For they had not kept it in great Num in such sort as it is written. ⁶So the posts went with the letters from the king and his rulers throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye sons of Israel, turn again to Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may return to the remnant of you who escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. ⁷And be ye not like your fathers, and like your brothers, who trespassed against Jehovah, the God of their fathers, so that he gave them up to desolation, as ye see. ⁸Now be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Jehovah, and enter into his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever, and serve Jehovah your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. ⁹For if ye turn again to Jehovah, your brothers and your sons shall find compassion before those who led them captive, and shall come again into this land. For Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return to him. ¹⁰So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, even to Zebulun. But they laughed them to scorn, and mocked them. ¹¹Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem. ¹²Also the hand of God came upon Judah to give them one heart, to do the commandment of the king and of the rulers by the word of Jehovah. ¹³And many people assembled at Jerusalem to keep the feast of unleavened bread in the second month, a very great assembly. ¹⁴And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense they took away, and cast them into the brook Kidron. ¹⁵Then they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought burnt offerings into the house of Jehovah. ¹⁶And they stood in their place after their order, according to the law of Moses the man of God; the priests sprinkled the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷For there were many in the assembly who had not sanctified themselves. Therefore the Levites had charge of killing the Passovers for everyone who was not clean, to sanctify them to Jehovah. ¹⁸For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than it is written. For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, The good Jehovah pardon everyone ¹⁹who sets his heart to seek God, Jehovah, the God of his fathers, though he be not according to the purification of the sanctuary. ²⁰And Jehovah hearkened to Hezekiah, and healed the people. ²¹And the sons of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness. And the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, with loud instruments to Jehovah. ²²And Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who had good understanding in the service of Jehovah. So they ate throughout the feast for the seven days, offering sacrifices of peace offerings, and making confession to Jehovah, the God of their fathers. ²³And the whole assembly took counsel to keep another seven days. And they kept those seven days with gladness. ²⁴For Hezekiah king of Judah gave to the assembly for offerings a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep. And the rulers gave to the assembly a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep. And a great number of priests sanctified themselves. ²⁵And all the assembly of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the assembly that came out of Israel, and the sojourners who came out of the land of Israel, and who dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. ²⁶So there was great joy in Jerusalem. For since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there was not the like in Jerusalem. ²⁷Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people. And their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.

CHAPTER 31

¹Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and broke in pieces the pillars, and hewed down the Asherim, and broke down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, also in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the sons of Israel returned, every man to his possession, into their own cities. ²And Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites after their divisions, every man according to his service, both the priests and the Levites, for burnt offerings and for peace offerings, to minister, and to give thanks, and to praise in the gates of the camp of Jehovah. ³Also he appointed the king�s portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, namely, for the morning and evening burnt offerings, and the burnt offerings for the sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is written in the law of Jehovah. ⁴Moreover he commanded the people who dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the law of Jehovah. ⁵And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the sons of Israel gave in abundance the first-fruits of grain, new wine, and oil, and honey, and of all the increase of the field. And they brought in the tithe of all things abundantly. ⁶And the sons of Israel and Judah, who dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated to Jehovah their God, and laid them by heaps. ⁷In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. ⁸And when Hezekiah and the rulers came and saw the heaps, they blessed Jehovah, and his people Israel. ⁹Then Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. ¹⁰And Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him and said, Since they began to bring the oblations into the house of Jehovah, we have eaten and had enough, and have plenty left. For Jehovah has blessed his people, and that which is left is this great store. ¹¹Then Hezekiah commanded to prepare chambers in the house of Jehovah, and they prepared them. ¹²And they brought in the oblations and the tithes and the dedicated things faithfully. And Conaniah the Levite was ruler over them, and Shimei his brother was second. ¹³And Jehiel, and Azaziah, and Nahath, and Asahel, and Jerimoth, and Jozabad, and Eliel, and Ismachiah, and Mahath, and Benaiah, were overseers under the hand of Conaniah and Shimei his brother, by the appointment of Hezekiah the king, and Azariah the ruler of the house of God. ¹⁴And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the porter at the east gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of Jehovah, and the most holy things. ¹⁵And under him were Eden, and Miniamin, and Jeshua, and Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah, in the cities of the priests, in their office of trust, to give to their brothers by divisions, as well to the great as to the small, ¹⁶besides those who were reckoned by genealogy of males, from three years old and upward, even everyone that entered into the house of Jehovah, as the duty of every day required, for their service in their offices according to their divisions, ¹⁷and those who were reckoned by genealogy of the priests by their fathers� houses, and the Levites from twenty years old and upward, in their offices by their divisions, ¹⁸and those who were reckoned by genealogy of all their little ones, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, through all the congregation. For in their office of trust they sanctified themselves in holiness. ¹⁹Also for the sons of Aaron the priests, who were in the fields of the suburbs of their cities, in every city, there were men who were mentioned by name, to give portions to all the males among the priests, and to all who were reckoned by genealogy among the Levites. ²⁰And thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah. And he wrought that which was good and right and faithful before Jehovah his God. ²¹And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.

CHAPTER 32

¹After these things, and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fortified cities, and thought to win them for himself. ²And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib came, and that he intended to fight against Jerusalem, ³he took counsel with his rulers and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were outside the city. And they helped him. ⁴So there was gathered together many people. And they stopped all the fountains, and the brook that flowed through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water? ⁵And he took courage, and built up all the wall that was broken down, and raised it up to the towers, and the other wall outside, and strengthened Millo in the city of David, and made weapons and shields in abundance. ⁶And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the broad place at the gate of the city, and spoke encouragingly to them, saying, ⁷Be strong and of good courage, be not afraid nor dismayed of the king of Assyria, nor of all the multitude that is with him. For there is a greater with us than with him. ⁸With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. ⁹After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (now he was before Lachish, and all his power with him) to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying, ¹⁰Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria, On what do ye trust that ye remain in the siege in Jerusalem? ¹¹Does not Hezekiah persuade you, to give you over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, Jehovah our God will deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹²Has not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar, and upon it ye shall burn incense? ¹³Know ye not what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations of the lands in any way able to deliver their land out of my hand? ¹⁴Who was there among all the gods of those nations, which my fathers utterly destroyed, that could deliver his people out of my hand that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁵Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you after this manner, neither believe ye him. For no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less shall your God deliver you out of my hand? ¹⁶And his servants spoke yet more against Jehovah God, and against his servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He also wrote letters, to rail on Jehovah, the God of Israel, and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of the lands, which have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall the God of Hezekiah not deliver his people out of my hand. ¹⁸And they cried with a loud voice in the Jews� language to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them, and to trouble them, that they might take the city. ¹⁹And they spoke of the God of Jerusalem, as of the gods of the peoples of the earth, which are the work of men�s hands. ²⁰And Hezekiah the king, and Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, prayed because of this, and cried out to heaven. ²¹And Jehovah sent an agent who cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains, in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he came into the house of his god, those who came forth from his own bowels killed him there with the sword. ²²Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side. ²³And many brought gifts to Jehovah to Jerusalem, and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah. So that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. ²⁴In those days Hezekiah was sick even to death, and he prayed to Jehovah. And he spoke to him, and gave him a sign. ²⁵But Hezekiah did not render again according to the benefit done to him. For his heart was lifted up. Therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem. ²⁶Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Jehovah did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. ²⁷And Hezekiah had exceedingly much riches and honor. And he provided for him treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of goodly vessels, ²⁸also store-houses for the increase of grain and new wine and oil, and stalls for all manner of beasts, and flocks in folds. ²⁹Moreover he provided for him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance. For God had given him very much substance. ³⁰This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihon, and brought them straight down on the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works. ³¹However in the business of the ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart. ³²Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the ascent of the sepulchers of the sons of David. And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.

CHAPTER 33

¹Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah after the abominations of the nations whom Jehovah cast out before the sons of Israel. ³For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down. And he reared up altars for the Baalim, and made Asheroth, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them. ⁴And he built altars in the house of Jehovah, of which Jehovah said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever. ⁵And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Jehovah. ⁶He also made his sons to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. And he practiced augury, and used enchantments, and practiced sorcery, and dealt with psychics, and with wizards. He wrought much evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger. ⁷And he set the graven image of the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever, ⁸neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from off the land which I have appointed for your fathers, if only they will observe to do all that I have commanded them, even all the law and the statutes and the ordinances given by Moses. ⁹And Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did evil more than the nations did whom Jehovah destroyed before the sons of Israel. ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke to Manasseh, and to his people, but they gave no heed. ¹¹Therefore Jehovah brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. ¹²And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. ¹³And he prayed to him. And he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God. ¹⁴Now after this he built an outer wall to the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entrance at the fish gate. And he encompassed Ophel around with it, and raised it up to a very great height. And he put valiant captains in all the fortified cities of Judah. ¹⁵And he took away the foreign gods, and the idol out of the house of Jehovah, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of Jehovah, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. ¹⁶And he built up the altar of Jehovah, and offered on it sacrifices of peace offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹⁷Nevertheless the people still sacrificed in the high places, but only to Jehovah their God. ¹⁸Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, they are written among the acts of the kings of Israel. ¹⁹Also his prayer, and how God was entreated by him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places in which he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself, behold, they are written in the history of Hozai. ²⁰So Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house. And Amon his son reigned in his stead. ²¹Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. ²²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, as did Manasseh his father. And Amon sacrificed to all the graven images which Manasseh his father had made, and served them. ²³And he did not humble himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself, but this same Amon trespassed more and more. ²⁴And his servants conspired against him, and put him to death in his own house. ²⁵But the people of the land killed all those who had conspired against king Amon. And the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

CHAPTER 34

¹Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. ²And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, and walked in the ways of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. ³For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images. ⁴And they broke down the altars of the Baalim in his presence, and the sun-images that were on high above them he hewed down, and the Asherim, and the graven images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it upon the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars, and purged Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶And so also in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even to Naphtali, in their ruins round about. ⁷And he broke down the altars, and beat the Asherim and the graven images into powder, and hewed down all the sun-images throughout all the land of Israel, and returned to Jerusalem. ⁸Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God. ⁹And they came to Hilkiah the high priest, and delivered the money that was brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had gathered by the hand of Manasseh and Ephraim, and by all the remnant of Israel, and by all Judah and Benjamin, and by the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰And they delivered it into the hand of the workmen who had the oversight of the house of Jehovah. And the workmen who labored in the house of Jehovah gave it to mend and repair the house. ¹¹Even to the carpenters and to the builders they gave it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to make beams for the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed. ¹²And the men did the work faithfully. And the overseers of them were Jahath and Obadiah, the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to set it forward, and others of the Levites, all who were skilful with instruments of music. ¹³Also they were over the bearers of burdens, and set forward all who did the work in every manner of service. And of the Levites there were scribes, and officers, and porters. ¹⁴And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of Jehovah, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of Jehovah given by Moses. ¹⁵And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan. ¹⁶And Shaphan carried the book to the king, and moreover brought back word to the king, saying, All that was committed to thy servants, they are doing. ¹⁷And they have emptied out the money that was found in the house of Jehovah, and have delivered it into the hand of the overseers, and into the hand of the workmen. ¹⁸And Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest has delivered a book to me. And Shaphan read therein before the king. ¹⁹And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the law, that he tore his clothes. ²⁰And the king commanded Hilkiah, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Abdon the son of Micah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king�s servant, saying, ²¹Go ye, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found. For great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Jehovah, to do according to all that is written in this book. ²²So Hilkiah, and those whom the king had commanded, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tokhath, the son of Hasrah, keeper of the wardrobe (now she dwelt in Jerusalem in the second quarter), and they spoke to her to that effect. ²³And she said to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Tell ye the man who sent you to me, ²⁴Thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of it, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah. ²⁵Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore my wrath is poured out upon this place, and it shall not be quenched. ²⁶But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of Jehovah, thus ye shall say to him, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: As concerning the words which thou have heard, ²⁷because thy heart was tender, and thou humbled thyself before God when thou heard his words against this place, and against the inhabitants of it, and have humbled thyself before me, and have torn thy clothes, and wept before me, I also have heard thee, says Jehovah. ²⁸Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shall be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of it. And they brought back word to the king. ²⁹Then the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰And the king went up to the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, both great and small. And he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of Jehovah. ³¹And the king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book. ³²And he caused all who were found in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers. ³³And Josiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that pertained to the sons of Israel, and made all who were found in Israel to serve, even to serve Jehovah their God. All his days they did not depart from following Jehovah, the God of their fathers.

CHAPTER 35

¹And Josiah kept a Passover to Jehovah in Jerusalem. And they killed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. ²And he set the priests in their offices, and encouraged them to the service of the house of Jehovah. ³And he said to the Levites who taught all Israel, who were holy to Jehovah, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built. There shall no more be a burden upon your shoulders. Now serve Jehovah your God, and his people Israel. ⁴And prepare yourselves after your fathers� houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son. ⁵And stand in the holy place according to the divisions of the fathers� houses of your brothers the sons of the people, and the portion of a fathers� house of the Levites. ⁶And kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of Jehovah by Moses. ⁷And Josiah gave to the sons of the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all of them for the Passover offerings, to all who were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and also three thousand bullocks; these were of the king�s substance. ⁸And his rulers gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah and Zechariah and Jehiel, the rulers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings two thousand and six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen. ⁹Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel, his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen. ¹⁰So the service was prepared, and the priests stood in their place, and the Levites by their divisions, according to the king�s commandment. ¹¹And they killed the Passover, and the priests sprinkled the blood by their hand, and the Levites skinned them. ¹²And they removed the burnt offerings that they might give them according to the divisions of the fathers� houses of the sons of the people, to offer to Jehovah as it is written in the book of Moses. And so they did with the oxen. ¹³And they roasted the Passover with fire according to the ordinance. And the holy offerings they boiled in pots, and in caldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the sons of the people. ¹⁴And afterward they prepared for themselves, and for the priests, because the priests the sons of Aaron were busy in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. Therefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron. ¹⁵And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king�s seer. And the porters were at every gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them. ¹⁶So all the service of Jehovah was prepared the same day, to keep the Passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of Jehovah, according to the commandment of king Josiah. ¹⁷And the sons of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. ¹⁸And there was no Passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet. Neither did any of the kings of Israel keep such a Passover as Josiah kept, and the priests, and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel that were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁹In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept. ²⁰After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went up to fight against Carchemish by the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him. ²¹But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house with which I have war, and God has commanded me to make haste. Cease thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he not destroy thee. ²²Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself that he might fight with him. And he did not hearken to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. ²³And the archers shot at king Josiah. And the king said to his servants, Remove me, for I am severely wounded. ²⁴So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died, and was buried in the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. ²⁵And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. And all the singing men and singing women spoke of Josiah in their lamentations to this day. And they made them an ordinance in Israel, and, behold, they are written in the lamentations. ²⁶Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds, according to that which is written in the law of Jehovah, ²⁷and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

CHAPTER 36

¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father�s stead in Jerusalem. ²Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³And the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem, and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. ⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Neco took Joahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt. ⁵Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God. ⁶Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of Jehovah to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon. ⁸Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and his abominations which he did, and that which was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead. ⁹Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah. ¹⁰And at the return of the year king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the good vessels of the house of Jehovah, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem. ¹¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of Jehovah. ¹³And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart against turning to Jehovah, the God of Israel. ¹⁴Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. ¹⁵And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place. ¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no remedy. ¹⁷Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed. He gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king, and of his rulers, all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹And they burnt the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces of it with fire, and destroyed all the good vessels of it. ²⁰And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, and they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹to fulfill the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths; as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years. ²²Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, ²³Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me. And he has charged me to build a house for him in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up.

EZRA

CHAPTER 1

¹Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, ²Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah, the God of heaven, given me, and he has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. ³Whoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of Jehovah, the God of Israel (he is God), which is in Jerusalem. ⁴And whoever is left, in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. ⁵Then the heads of fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God had stirred, rose up to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem. ⁶And all those who were round about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered. ⁷Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put in the house of his gods, ⁸even those Cyrus king of Persia brought forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the ruler of Judah. ⁹And this is the number of them: thirty platters of gold, a thousand platters of silver, twenty-nine knives, ¹⁰thirty bowls of gold, four hundred and ten silver bowls of a second sort, and a thousand other vessels. ¹¹All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these Sheshbazzar brought up when those of the captivity were brought up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 2

¹Now these are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, every man to his city, ²who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ³The sons of Parosh, two thousand a hundred seventy-two. ⁴The sons of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy-two. ⁵The sons of Arah, seven hundred seventy-five. ⁶The sons of Pahath-moab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve. ⁷The sons of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty-four. ⁸The sons of Zattu, nine hundred forty-five. ⁹The sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty. ¹⁰The sons of Bani, six hundred forty-two. ¹¹The sons of Bebai, six hundred twenty-three. ¹²The sons of Azgad, a thousand two hundred twenty-two. ¹³The sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-six. ¹⁴The sons of Bigvai, two thousand fifty-six. ¹⁵The sons of Adin, four hundred fifty-four. ¹⁶The sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight. ¹⁷The sons of Bezai, three hundred twenty-three. ¹⁸The sons of Jorah, a hundred and twelve. ¹⁹The sons of Hashum, two hundred twenty-three. ²⁰The sons of Gibbar, ninety-five. ²¹The sons of Bethlehem, a hundred twenty-three. ²²The men of Netophah, fifty-six. ²³The men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty-eight. ²⁴The sons of Azmaveth, forty-two. ²⁵The sons of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three. ²⁶The sons of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. ²⁷The men of Michmas, a hundred twenty-two. ²⁸The men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred twenty-three. ²⁹The sons of Nebo, fifty-two. ³⁰The sons of Magbish, a hundred fifty-six. ³¹The sons of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty-four. ³²The sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty. ³³The sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-five. ³⁴The sons of Jericho, three hundred forty-five. ³⁵The sons of Senaah, three thousand and six hundred and thirty. ³⁶The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three. ³⁷The sons of Immer, a thousand fifty-two. ³⁸The sons of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred forty-seven. ³⁹The sons of Harim, a thousand and seventeen. ⁴⁰The Levites: the sons of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, seventy-four. ⁴¹The singers: the sons of Asaph, a hundred twenty-eight. ⁴²The sons of the porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, in all a hundred thirty-nine. ⁴³The Nethinim: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁴the sons of Keros, the sons of Siaha, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁵the sons of Lebanah, the sons of Hagabah, the sons of Akkub, ⁴⁶the sons of Hagab, the sons of Shamlai, the sons of Hanan, ⁴⁷the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, the sons of Reaiah, ⁴⁸the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, the sons of Gazzam, ⁴⁹the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah, the sons of Besai, ⁵⁰the sons of Asnah, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephisim, ⁵¹the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵²the sons of Bazluth, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵³the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁴the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha. ⁵⁵The sons of Solomon�s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Hassophereth, the sons of Peruda, ⁵⁶the sons of Jaalah, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁷the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Ami. ⁵⁸All the Nethinim and the sons of Solomon�s servants were three hundred ninety-two. ⁵⁹And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not show their fathers� houses, and their seed, whether they were of Israel: ⁶⁰the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred fifty and two. ⁶¹And of the sons of the priests: the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. ⁶²These sought their registration among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found. Therefore they were deemed polluted and put away from the priesthood. ⁶³And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim. ⁶⁴The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, ⁶⁵besides their men-servants and their maid-servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven. And they had two hundred singing men and singing women. ⁶⁶Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six, their mules, two hundred forty-five, ⁶⁷their camels, four hundred thirty-five, their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred and twenty. ⁶⁸And some of the heads of fathers, when they came to the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to set it up in its place. ⁶⁹They gave after their ability into the treasury of the work sixty-one thousand darics of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver, and one hundred priests� garments. ⁷⁰So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

CHAPTER 3

¹And when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. ²Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brothers, stood up and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. ³And they set the altar upon its base, for fear was upon them because of the peoples of the countries. And they offered burnt offerings on it to Jehovah, even burnt offerings morning and evening. ⁴And they kept the feast of tabernacles as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the ordinance, as the duty of every day required. ⁵And afterward the continual burnt offering, and the offerings of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of Jehovah that were consecrated, and of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to Jehovah. ⁶From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to Jehovah. But the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid. ⁷Also they gave money to the masons, and to the carpenters, and food, and drink, and oil, to those of Sidon, and to those of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea, to Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. ⁸Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who came out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began. And they appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of the house of Jehovah. ⁹Then Jeshua with his sons and his brothers, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, stood together to have the oversight of the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brothers the Levites. ¹⁰And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Jehovah, after the order of David king of Israel. ¹¹And they sang one to another in praising and giving thanks to Jehovah, saying, For he is good, for his loving kindness is forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid. ¹²But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers, the old men who had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, and many shouted aloud for joy. ¹³So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

CHAPTER 4

¹Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the captivity were building a temple to Jehovah, the God of Israel, ²then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers, and said to them, Let us build with you, for we seek your God, as ye do, and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria who brought us up here. ³But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers of Israel, said to them, Ye have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God, but we ourselves together will build to Jehovah, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us. ⁴Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, ⁵and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. ⁶And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. ⁷And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. And the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian character, and set forth in the Syrian tongue. ⁸Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this way. ⁹Then wrote Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, ¹⁰and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest beyond the River, and so forth. ¹¹This is a copy of the letter that they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Thy servants the men beyond the River, and so forth. ¹²Be it known to the king, that the Jews who came up from thee have come to us to Jerusalem. They are building the rebellious and the evil city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. ¹³Be it known now to the king, that, if this city be built, and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. ¹⁴Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not fitting for us to see the king�s dishonor, therefore we have sent and certified to the king, ¹⁵that search may be made in the book of the records of thy fathers. So thou shall find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces. And that they have made sedition within the same of old time, for which cause this city was laid waste. ¹⁶We certify to the king that, if this city be built, and the walls finished, by this means thou shall have no portion beyond the River. ¹⁷Then the king sent an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria, and in the rest beyond the River: Peace, and so forth. ¹⁸The letter which ye sent to us has been plainly read before me. ¹⁹And I decreed, and search has been made. And it is found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. ²⁰There have also been mighty kings over Jerusalem who have ruled over all the country beyond the River, and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid to them. ²¹Make ye now a decree to cause these men to cease, and that this city not be built until a decree shall be made by me. ²²And take heed that ye be not slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? ²³Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes� letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them cease by force and power. ²⁴Then the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

CHAPTER 5

¹Now the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, to them. ²Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, rose up and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of God, helping them. ³At the same time Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, came to them, and said thus to them, Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall? ⁴Then we told them after this manner, namely, what the names of the men were who were making this building. ⁵But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, and they did not make them cease till the matter should come to Darius, and then answer should be returned by letter concerning it. ⁶The copy of the letter that Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, and Shethar-bozenai, and his companions the Apharsachites, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king; ⁷they sent a letter to him, in which was written thus: To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸Be it known to the king, that we went into the province of Judah to the house of the great God, which is built with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls. And this work goes on with diligence and prospers in their hands. ⁹Then we asked those elders, and said to them thus: Who gave you a decree to build this house, and to finish this wall? ¹⁰Also, we asked them their names, to certify to thee, that we might write the names of the men who were at the head of them. ¹¹And thus they returned us an answer, saying, We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth. And are building the house that was built these many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹²But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven to wrath. He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon. ¹³But in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree to build this house of God. ¹⁴And also the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought into the temple of Babylon, those Cyrus the king took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazzar whom he had made governor. ¹⁵And he said to him, Take these vessels. Go put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place. ¹⁶Then the same Sheshbazzar came, and laid the foundations of the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And since that time even until now it has been in building, and yet it is not completed. ¹⁷Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let there be search made in the king�s treasure-house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made from Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.

CHAPTER 6

¹Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the archives where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. ²And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of Media, a roll, and in it was thus written for a record: ³In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king made a decree: Concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, let the house be built�the place where they offer sacrifices�and let the foundations of it be strongly laid, the height of it sixty cubits, and the breadth of it sixty cubits, ⁴with three courses of great stones, and a course of new timber. And let the expenses be given out of the king�s house. ⁵And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be restored, and brought again to the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to its place. And thou shall put them in the house of God. ⁶Now therefore, Tattenai, governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and your companions the Apharsachites, who are beyond the River, be ye far from there: ⁷Let the work of this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in its place. ⁸Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to these elders of the Jews for the building of this house of God: That of the king�s goods, even of the tribute beyond the River, expenses be given with all diligence to these men, that they not be hindered. ⁹And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, also wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the word of the priests who are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail ¹⁰that they may offer sacrifices of sweet savor to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king, and of his sons. ¹¹Also I have made a decree, that whoever shall alter this word, let a beam be pulled out from his house, and let him be lifted up and fastened thereon, and let his house be made a dunghill for this. ¹²And the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow all kings and peoples who shall put forth their hand to alter the same, to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I Darius have made a decree, let it be done with all diligence. ¹³Then Tattenai, the governor beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their companions, because of what Darius the king had sent, did accordingly with all diligence. ¹⁴And the elders of the Jews built and prospered, through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the decree of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. ¹⁵And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. ¹⁶And the sons of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the sons of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy. ¹⁷And they offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs. And for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he-goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁸And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their divisions, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. ¹⁹And the sons of the captivity kept the Passover upon the fourteenth day of the first month. ²⁰For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, all of them were pure. And they killed the Passover for all the sons of the captivity, and for their brothers the priests, and for themselves. ²¹And the sons of Israel who came again out of the captivity, and all such as had separated themselves to them from the filthiness of the nations of the land, to seek Jehovah, the God of Israel, ate, ²²and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy. For Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

CHAPTER 7

¹Now after these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, ²the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, ³the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, ⁴the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, ⁵the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest, ⁶this Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which Jehovah, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him. ⁷And some of the sons of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the Nethinim, went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. ⁸And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. ⁹For upon the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. ¹⁰For Ezra had set his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and ordinances. ¹¹Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of Jehovah, and of his statutes to Israel: ¹²Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect and so forth. ¹³I make a decree, that all those of the people of Israel, and their priests and the Levites, in my realm, who are minded of their own free will to go to Jerusalem, go with thee. ¹⁴Forasmuch as thou are sent from the king and his seven counselors, to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thy hand, ¹⁵and to carry the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose habitation is in Jerusalem, ¹⁶and all the silver and gold that thou shall find in all the province of Babylon, with the freewill offering of the people, and of the priests, offering willingly, for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Therefore thou shall with all diligence buy with this money bullocks, rams, lambs, with their meal offerings and their drink offerings, and shall offer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. ¹⁸And whatever shall seem good to thee and to thy brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, that do ye after the will of your God. ¹⁹And the vessels that are given thee for the service of the house of thy God, deliver thou before the God of Jerusalem. ²⁰And whatever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shall have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king�s treasure-house. ²¹And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers who are beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done with all diligence, ²²to a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measures of wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much. ²³Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? ²⁴Also we certify to you, that concerning any of the priests and Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God, it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, upon them. ²⁵And thou, Ezra, according to the wisdom of thy God, that is in thy hand, appoint magistrates and judges, who may judge all the people who are beyond the River, all such as know the laws of thy God, and teach ye him who does not know them. ²⁶And whoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law of the king, let judgment be executed upon him with all diligence, whether it be to death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment. ²⁷Blessed be Jehovah, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king�s heart, to beautify the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem, ²⁸and has extended loving kindness to me before the king, and his counselors, and before all the king�s mighty rulers. And I was strengthened according to the hand of Jehovah my God upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.

CHAPTER 8

¹Now these are the heads of their fathers, and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylon, in the reign of Artaxerxes the king: ²of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom; of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel; of the sons of David, Hattush; ³of the sons of Shecaniah, of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him were reckoned by genealogy of the males a hundred and fifty; ⁴of the sons of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai the son of Zerahiah, and with him two hundred males; ⁵of the sons of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred males; ⁶and of the sons of Adin, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty males; ⁷and of the sons of Elam, Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males; ⁸and of the sons of Shephatiah, Zebadiah the son of Michael, and with him eighty males; ⁹of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehiel, and with him two hundred and eighteen males; ¹⁰and of the sons of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah, and with him a hundred and sixty males; ¹¹and of the sons of Bebai, Zechariah the son of Bebai, and with him twenty-eight males; ¹²and of the sons of Azgad, Johanan the son of Hakkatan, and with him a hundred and ten males; ¹³And of the sons of Adonikam, who were the last, and these are their names: Eliphelet, Jeuel, and Shemaiah, and with them sixty males; ¹⁴and of the sons of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with them seventy males. ¹⁵And I gathered them together to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we encamped three days. And I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi. ¹⁶Then I sent for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men, also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, who were teachers. ¹⁷And I sent them forth to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say to Iddo, and his brothers the Nethinim, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God. ¹⁸And according to the good hand of our God upon us they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, and Sherebiah, with his sons and his brothers, eighteen, ¹⁹and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty, ²⁰and of the Nethinim, whom David and the rulers had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim. All of them were mentioned by name. ²¹Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek of him a straight way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. ²²For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all those who seek him, for good, but his power and his wrath are against all those who forsake him. ²³So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated by us. ²⁴Then I set apart twelve of the chiefs of the priests, even Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers with them, ²⁵and weighed to them the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, even the offering for the house of our God, which the king, and his counselors, and his rulers, and all Israel there present, had offered. ²⁶I weighed into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and a hundred talents of silver vessels, a hundred talents of gold, ²⁷and twenty bowls of gold, of a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine bright brass, precious as gold. ²⁸And I said to them, Ye are holy to Jehovah, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to Jehovah, the God of your fathers. ²⁹Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them before the chiefs of the priests and the Levites, and the rulers of the fathers of Israel, at Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of Jehovah. ³⁰So the priests and the Levites received the weight of the silver and the gold, and the vessels, to bring them to Jerusalem to the house of our God. ³¹Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushment by the way. ³²And we came to Jerusalem, and abode there three days. ³³And on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed in the house of our God into the hand of Meremoth the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phinehas, and with them was Jozabad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Binnui, the Levite, ³⁴the whole by number and by weight. And all the weight was written at that time. ³⁵The sons of the captivity, who came out of exile, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve he-goats for a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to Jehovah. ³⁶And they delivered the king�s commissions to the king�s satraps, and to the governors beyond the River. And they furthered the people and the house of God.

CHAPTER 9

¹Now when these things were done, the rulers drew near to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ²For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yea, the hand of the heads and rulers has been chief in this trespass. ³And when I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. ⁴Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel were assembled to me, because of the trespass of those of the captivity, and I sat confounded until the evening oblation. ⁵And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands to Jehovah my God, ⁶and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God, for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens. ⁷Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day. And for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. ⁸And now for a little moment grace has been shown from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. ⁹For we are bondmen, yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins of it, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. ¹⁰And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken thy commandments, ¹¹which thou have commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, to which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness. ¹²Now therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever, that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your sons forever. ¹³And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that thou our God have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant, ¹⁴shall we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples who do these abominations? Would thou not be angry with us till thou had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? ¹⁵O Jehovah, the God of Israel, thou are righteous, for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before thee in our guiltiness, for none can stand before thee because of this.

CHAPTER 10

¹Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children, for the people wept very much. ²And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. ³Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the law. ⁴Arise, for the matter belongs to thee, and we are with thee. Be of good courage, and do it. ⁵Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore. ⁶Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. And when he came there, he ate no bread, nor drank water, for he mourned because of the trespass of those of the captivity. ⁷And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the sons of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem. ⁸And that whoever did not come within three days, according to the counsel of the rulers and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity. ⁹Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month, and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. ¹⁰And Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, Ye have trespassed, and have married foreign women to increase the guilt of Israel. ¹¹Now therefore make confession to Jehovah, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women. ¹²Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, As thou have said concerning us, so must we do. ¹³But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside. Neither is this a work of one day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴Let now our rulers be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter be dispatched. ¹⁵Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. ¹⁶And the sons of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers, after their fathers� houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart. And they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. ¹⁷And they made an end with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month. ¹⁸And among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women, namely, of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. ¹⁹And they gave their hand that they would put away their wives. And being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt. ²⁰And of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah. ²¹And of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. ²²And of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah. ²³And of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. ²⁴And of the singers: Eliashib. And of the porters: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. ²⁵And of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh, Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. ²⁶And of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. ²⁷And of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. ²⁸And of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. ²⁹And of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth. ³⁰And of the sons of Pahath-moab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. ³¹And of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon, ³²Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah. ³³Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei. ³⁴Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel, ³⁵Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi, ³⁶Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib, ³⁷Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu, ³⁸and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, ³⁹and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, ⁴⁰Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai, ⁴¹Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah, ⁴²Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. ⁴³Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah. ⁴⁴All these had taken foreign wives, and some of them had wives by whom they had sons.

NEHEMIAH

CHAPTER 1

¹The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, ²that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, that were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. ³And they said to me, The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. Also the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and the gates of it are burned with fire. ⁴And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days. And I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, ⁵and said, I beseech thee, O Jehovah, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments: ⁶Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou may hearken to the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the sons of Israel thy servants while I confess the sins of the sons of Israel, which we have sinned against thee. Yea, I and my father�s house have sinned. ⁷We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which thou commanded thy servant Moses. ⁸Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commanded thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples, ⁹but if ye return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the outermost part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there. ¹⁰Now these are thy servants and thy people whom thou have redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. ¹¹O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name, and, I pray thee, prosper thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.

CHAPTER 2

¹And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not formerly been sad in his presence. ²And the king said to me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very much afraid. ³And I said to the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers� sepulchers, lies waste, and the gates of it are consumed with fire? ⁴Then the king said to me, For what do thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵And I said to the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant has found favor in thy sight, that thou would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers� sepulchers, that I may build it. ⁶And the king said to me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? And when will thou return? So it pleased the king to send me, and I set him a time. ⁷Moreover I said to the king, If it please the king, let letters be given to me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through till I come to Judah, ⁸and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king�s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertains to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. ⁹Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king�s letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen. ¹⁰And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there came a man to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel. ¹¹So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. ¹²And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me. I neither told any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem, nor was there any beast with me except the beast that I rode upon. ¹³And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the jackal�s well and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates of it were consumed with fire. ¹⁴Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king�s pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. ¹⁵Then I went up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall. And I turned back, and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. ¹⁶And the rulers did not know where I went, or what I did, neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the ranking men, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work. ¹⁷Then I said to them, Ye see the evil condition that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and the gates of it are burned with fire. Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem that we be no more a reproach. ¹⁸And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me, as also of the king�s words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for the good work. ¹⁹But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king? ²⁰Then I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us. Therefore we his servants will arise and build, but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 3

¹Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it, and set up the doors of it, even to the tower of Hammeah they sanctified it, to the tower of Hananel. ²And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built. ³And the sons of Hassenaah built the fish gate. They laid the beams of it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it. ⁴And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. ⁵And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their ranking men did not put their necks to the work of their lord. ⁶And the old gate Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired. They laid the beams of it, and set up the doors of it, and the bolts of it, and the bars of it. ⁷And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, who pertained to the throne of the governor beyond the River, repaired. ⁸Next to him Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. And next to him Hananiah one of the perfumers repaired. And they fortified Jerusalem even to the broad wall. ⁹And next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. ¹⁰And next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah repaired. ¹¹Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, and the tower of the furnaces. ¹²And next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters. ¹³Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah, repaired the valley gate. They built it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it, and a thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate. ¹⁴And Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the dung gate. He built it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it. ¹⁵And Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up the doors of it, the bolts of it, and the bars of it, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king�s garden, even to the stairs that go down from the city of David. ¹⁶After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to the place opposite the sepulchers of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men. ¹⁷After him the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani, repaired. Next to him Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. ¹⁸After him their brothers, Bavvai the son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired. ¹⁹And next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another portion opposite the ascent to the armory at the turning of the wall. ²⁰After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. ²¹After him Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another portion, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. ²²And after him the priests, the men of the Plain, repaired. ²³After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah repaired beside his own house. ²⁴After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another portion, from the house of Azariah to the turning of the wall, and to the corner. ²⁵Palal the son of Uzai repaired opposite the turning of the wall, and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh repaired. ²⁶(Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, to the place opposite the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out.) ²⁷After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, opposite the great tower that stands out, and to the wall of Ophel. ²⁸The priests repaired above the horse gate, every man opposite his own house. ²⁹After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. And after him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate, repaired. ³⁰After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another portion. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber. ³¹After him Malchijah one of the goldsmiths to the house of the Nethinim, and of the merchants, repaired opposite the gate of Hammiphkad, and to the ascent of the corner. ³²And between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

CHAPTER 4

¹But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. ²And he spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burnt? ³Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they are building, if a fox goes up he shall break down their stone wall. ⁴Hear, O our God, for we are despised, and so turn back their reproach upon their own head, and give them up for a spoil in a land of captivity, ⁵and do not cover their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. ⁶So we built the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half the height of it, for the people had a mind to work. ⁷But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very angry, ⁸and all of them together conspired to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion therein. ⁹But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. ¹⁰And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens has become feeble, and there is much rubbish, so that we are not able to build the wall. ¹¹And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the midst of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease. ¹²And it came to pass that, when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, From all places from where ye shall return to us they will be upon you. ¹³Therefore I set in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set there the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴And I looked, and rose up, and said to the ranking men, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every man to his work. ¹⁶And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants labored in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail. And the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷They all built the wall, and those who bore burdens loaded themselves, every man with one of his hands labored in the work, and with the other held his weapon, ¹⁸and the builders, every man had his sword girded by his side, and so built. And he who sounded the trumpet was by me. ¹⁹And I said to the ranking men, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. ²⁰In whatever place ye hear the sound of the trumpet, gather ye there to us, our God will fight for us. ²¹So we labored in the work, and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. ²²Likewise at the same time I said to the people, Let each with his servant lodge within Jerusalem that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day. ²³So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us put off our clothes, everyone went with his weapon to the water.

CHAPTER 5

¹Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. ²For there were who said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain that we may eat and live. ³There were some also who said, We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain because of the dearth. ⁴There were also who said, We have borrowed money for the king�s tribute upon our fields and our vineyards. ⁵Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our sons as their sons. And, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought into bondage already. Neither is it in our power to help it, for other men have our fields and our vineyards. ⁶And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. ⁷Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the ranking men and the rulers, and said to them, Ye exact usury, everyone of his brother. And I held a great assembly against them. ⁸And I said to them, According to our ability we have redeemed our brothers the Jews, who were sold to the nations, and would ye even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us? Then they were silent, and found not a word. ⁹Also I said, The thing that ye do is not good. Ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies? ¹⁰And I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. I pray you, let us leave off this usury. ¹¹Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. ¹²Then they said, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them, so will we do, even as thou say. Then I called the priests, and took an oath from them that they would do according to this promise. ¹³Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who does not perform this promise, even thus be he shaken out and emptied. And all the assembly said, Truly, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise. ¹⁴Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. ¹⁵But the former governors who were before me charged the people, and took bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Yes, even their servants bore rule over the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God. ¹⁶Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither did we buy any land. And all my servants were gathered there to the work. ¹⁷Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, a hundred and fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were round about us. ¹⁸Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep, also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this I did not demand the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. ¹⁹Remember to me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

CHAPTER 6

¹Now it came to pass, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it, (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), ²that Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. ³And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it, and come down to you? ⁴And they sent to me four times after this sort, and I answered them after the same manner. ⁵Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand ⁶in which was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel, for which cause thou are building the wall. And thou would be their king according to these words. ⁷And thou have also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah. And now it shall be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. ⁸Then I sent to him, saying, There are no such things done as thou say, but thou imagine them out of thine own heart. ⁹For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work that it not be done. But now, O God, strengthen thou my hands. ¹⁰And I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up, and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple. For they will come to kill thee, yea, they will come to kill thee in the night. ¹¹And I said, Should such a man as I flee? And who is there, that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. ¹²And I discerned, and, lo, God had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me, and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³For this cause he was hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. ¹⁴Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, who would have put me in fear. ¹⁵So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard of it, that all the nations that were around us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. ¹⁷Moreover in those days the ranking men of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. ¹⁸For there were many in Judah sworn to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah to wife. ¹⁹Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

CHAPTER 7

¹Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, ²that I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. ³And I said to them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot, and while they stand on guard, let them shut the doors, and bar ye them. And appoint watchmen of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his watch, and everyone to be opposite his house. ⁴Now the city was wide and large, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not built. ⁵And my God put into my heart to gather together the ranking men, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up at the first. And I found written therein: ⁶These are the sons of the province who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judah, everyone to his city, ⁷who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: ⁸the sons of Parosh, two thousand a hundred and seventy-two; ⁹the sons of Shephatiah, three hundred seventy and two; ¹⁰the sons of Arah, six hundred fifty-two; ¹¹the sons of Pahath-moab, of the sons of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand and eight hundred and eighteen; ¹²the sons of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty-four; ¹³the sons of Zattu, eight hundred forty-five; ¹⁴the sons of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty; ¹⁵the sons of Binnui, six hundred forty-eight; ¹⁶the sons of Bebai, six hundred twenty-eight; ¹⁷the sons of Azgad, two thousand three hundred twenty-two; ¹⁸the sons of Adonikam, six hundred sixty-seven; ¹⁹the sons of Bigvai, two thousand sixty-seven; ²⁰the sons of Adin, six hundred fifty-five; ²¹the sons of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight; ²²the sons of Hashum, three hundred twenty-eight; ²³the sons of Bezai, three hundred twenty-four; ²⁴the sons of Hariph, a hundred and twelve; ²⁵the sons of Gibeon, ninety-five; ²⁶the men of Bethlehem and Netophah, a hundred eighty-eight; ²⁷the men of Anathoth, a hundred twenty-eight; ²⁸the men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two; ²⁹the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred forty-three; ³⁰the men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one; ³¹the men of Michmas, a hundred and twenty-two; ³²the men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred twenty-three; ³³the men of the other Nebo, fifty-two; ³⁴the sons of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty-four; ³⁵the sons of Harim, three hundred and twenty; ³⁶the sons of Jericho, three hundred forty-five; ³⁷the sons of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred twenty-one; ³⁸the sons of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty. ³⁹The priests: the sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy-three; ⁴⁰the sons of Immer, a thousand fifty-two; ⁴¹the sons of Pashhur, a thousand two hundred forty-seven; ⁴²the sons of Harim, a thousand and seventeen. ⁴³The Levites: the sons of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodevah, seventy-four. ⁴⁴The singers: the sons of Asaph, a hundred forty-eight. ⁴⁵The porters: the sons of Shallum, the sons of Ater, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akkub, the sons of Hatita, the sons of Shobai, a hundred thirty-eight. ⁴⁶The Nethinim: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth, ⁴⁷the sons of Keros, the sons of Sia, the sons of Padon, ⁴⁸the sons of Lebana, the sons of Hagaba, the sons of Salmai, ⁴⁹the sons of Hanan, the sons of Giddel, the sons of Gahar, ⁵⁰the sons of Reaiah, the sons of Rezin, the sons of Nekoda, ⁵¹the sons of Gazzam, the sons of Uzza, the sons of Paseah. ⁵²The sons of Besai, the sons of Meunim, the sons of Nephushesim, ⁵³the sons of Bakbuk, the sons of Hakupha, the sons of Harhur, ⁵⁴the sons of Bazlith, the sons of Mehida, the sons of Harsha, ⁵⁵the sons of Barkos, the sons of Sisera, the sons of Temah, ⁵⁶the sons of Neziah, the sons of Hatipha. ⁵⁷The sons of Solomon�s servants: the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sophereth, the sons of Perida, ⁵⁸the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darkon, the sons of Giddel, ⁵⁹the sons of Shephatiah, the sons of Hattil, the sons of Pochereth-hazzebaim, the sons of Amon. ⁶⁰All the Nethinim and the sons of Solomon�s servants, were three hundred ninety-two. ⁶¹And these were those who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they could not show their fathers� house, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel: ⁶²The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred forty-two. ⁶³And of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. ⁶⁴These sought their registration among those who were reckoned by genealogy, but it was not found. Therefore they were deemed polluted and put from the priesthood. ⁶⁵And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thummim. ⁶⁶The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, ⁶⁷besides their men-servants and their maid-servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven. And they had two hundred forty-five singing men and singing women. ⁶⁸Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six, their mules, two hundred forty-five, ⁶⁹their camels, four hundred thirty-five, their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred and twenty. ⁷⁰And some from among the heads of fathers gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury a thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests� garments. ⁷¹And some of the heads of fathers gave into the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand and two hundred pounds of silver. ⁷²And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priests� garments. ⁷³So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities. And when the seventh month came, the sons of Israel were in their cities.

CHAPTER 8

¹And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate. And they spoke to Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Jehovah had commanded to Israel. ²And Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women, and all who could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. ³And he read in it before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. ⁴And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand, and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. ⁵And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people (for he was above all the people), and when he opened it, all the people stood up. ⁶And Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great God. And all the people answered, Truly, Truly, with the lifting up of their hands. And they bowed their heads, and worshiped Jehovah with their faces to the ground. ⁷Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law. And the people stood in their place. ⁸And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly, and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. ⁹And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to Jehovah your God; do not mourn nor weep. For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. ¹⁰Then he said to them, Go your way, eat fat things, and drink sweet things, and send portions to him for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord; neither be ye grieved, for the joy of Jehovah is your strength. ¹¹So the Levites quieted all the people, saying, Be silent, for the day is holy, neither be ye grieved. ¹²And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. ¹³And on the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, to Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law. ¹⁴And they found written in the law how that Jehovah had commanded by Moses that the sons of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month, ¹⁵and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth to the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. ¹⁶So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, each one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷And all the assembly of those who came again out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in the booths, for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun to that day the sons of Israel had not done so. And there was very great gladness. ¹⁸Also day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days, and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance.

CHAPTER 9

¹Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them. ²And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. ³And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of Jehovah their God a fourth part of the day, and another fourth part they confessed, and worshiped Jehovah their God. ⁴Then Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, and cried with a loud voice to Jehovah their God. ⁵Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless Jehovah your God from everlasting to everlasting. And blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶Thou are Jehovah, even thou alone, thou have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are on it, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preserve them all. And the host of heaven worships thee. ⁷Thou are Jehovah, the God who chose Abram, and brought him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gave him the name of Abraham, ⁸and found his heart faithful before thee, and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, to give it to his seed, and have performed thy words, for thou are righteous. ⁹And thou saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea, ¹⁰and showed signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land, for thou knew that they dealt proudly against them, and got thee a name, as it is this day. ¹¹And thou divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land. And thou cast their pursuers into the depths as a stone into the mighty waters. ¹²Moreover in a pillar of cloud thou led them by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light in the way in which they should go. ¹³Thou also came down upon mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, ¹⁴and made known to them thy holy sabbath, and commanded them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by Moses thy servant. ¹⁵And thou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger, and brought forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commanded them that they should go in to possess the land which thou had sworn to give them. ¹⁶But they and our fathers dealt proudly and stiffened their neck, and did not hearken to thy commandments, ¹⁷and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou did among them, but stiffened their neck. And in their rebellion they appointed a captain to return to their bondage. But thou are a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and did not forsake them. ¹⁸Yea, when they had made a molten calf for them, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations, ¹⁹yet thou in thy manifold mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not depart from over them by day to lead them in the way, neither the pillar of fire by night to show them light, and the way in which they should go. ²⁰Thou also gave thy good Spirit to instruct them, and did not withhold thy manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. ²¹Yea, forty years thou sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes did not grow old, and their feet did not swell. ²²Moreover thou gave them kingdoms and peoples, which thou allotted after their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan. ²³Their sons thou also multiplied as the stars of heaven, and brought them into the land concerning which thou said to their fathers that they should go in to possess it. ²⁴So the sons went in and possessed the land. And thou subdued the inhabitants of the land before them, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. ²⁵And they took fortified cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. ²⁶Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and killed thy prophets who testified against them to turn them again to thee, and they wrought great provocations. ²⁷Therefore thou delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. And in the time of their trouble, when they cried to thee, thou heard from heaven, and according to thy manifold mercies thou gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. ²⁸But after they had rest, they again did evil before thee. Therefore thou left them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them. Yet when they returned, and cried to thee, thou heard from heaven, and many times thou delivered them according to thy mercies, ²⁹and testified against them, that thou might bring them again to thy law. Yet they dealt proudly, and did not hearken to thy commandments, but sinned against thine ordinances (which if a man does, he shall live in them), and withdrew the shoulder, and stiffened their neck, and would not hear. ³⁰Yet many years thou bore with them, and testified against them by thy Spirit through thy prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore thou gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. ³¹Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou did not make a full end of them, nor forsake them, for thou are a gracious and merciful God. ³²Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness, let not all the travail seem little before thee, that has come upon us, on our kings, on our rulers, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria to this day. ³³However thou are just in all that has come upon us, for thou have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly, ³⁴neither have our kings, our rulers, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened to thy commandments and thy testimonies with which thou testified against them. ³⁵For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gave them, and in the large and fat land which thou gave before them, neither did they turn from their wicked works. ³⁶Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that thou gave to our fathers to eat the fruit of it and the good of it, behold, we are servants in it. ³⁷And it yields much increase to the kings whom thou have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. ³⁸And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it, and our rulers, our Levites, and our priests, seal to it.

CHAPTER 10

¹Now those who sealed were: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, ²Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the priests. ⁹And the Levites: namely, Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel, ¹⁰and their brothers, Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹²Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. ¹⁴The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani, ¹⁵Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur, ¹⁸Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹Hariph, Anathoth, Nobai, ²⁰Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²²Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub, ²⁴Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek, ²⁵Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶and Ahiah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷Malluch, Harim, Baanah. ²⁸And the rest of the people�the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding� ²⁹they clung to their brothers, their ranking men, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God�s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Jehovah our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes. ³⁰And that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons. ³¹And if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the sabbath, or on a holy day. And that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt. ³²Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God, ³³for the showbread, and for the continual meal offering, and for the continual burnt offering, for the sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. ³⁴And we cast lots, the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers� houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as it is written in the law, ³⁵and to bring the first-fruits of our ground, and the first-fruits of all fruit of all manner of trees, year by year, to the house of Jehovah, ³⁶also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, ³⁷and that we should bring the first-fruits of our dough, and our heave offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithes of our ground to the Levites, for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. ³⁸And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites when the Levites take tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure-house. ³⁹For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the heave offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers. And we will not forsake the house of our God.

CHAPTER 11

¹And the rulers of the people dwelt in Jerusalem. The rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. ²And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. ³Now these are the chiefs of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem. But in the cities of Judah everyone dwells in his possession in their cities, namely, Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinim, and the sons of Solomon�s servants. ⁴And in Jerusalem certain of the sons of Judah, and of the sons of Benjamin dwelt. Of the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez; ⁵and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite. ⁶All the sons of Perez who dwelt in Jerusalem were four hundred sixty-eight valiant men. ⁷And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah. ⁸And after him Gabbai, Sallai, nine hundred twenty-eight. ⁹And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second over the city. ¹⁰Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin, ¹¹Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, the ruler of the house of God, ¹²and their brothers who did the work of the house, eight hundred twenty-two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah, ¹³and his brothers, chiefs of fathers, two hundred forty-two; and Amashsai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, ¹⁴and their brothers, mighty men of valor, a hundred twenty-eight, and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of Haggedolim. ¹⁵And of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni, ¹⁶and Shabbethai and Jozabad of the chiefs of the Levites who had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God, ¹⁷and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the chief to begin the thanksgiving in prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brothers, and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. ¹⁸All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred eighty-four. ¹⁹Moreover the porters, Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers, who kept watch at the gates, were a hundred seventy-two. ²⁰And the rest of Israel, of the priests, the Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance. ²¹But the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel. And Ziha and Gishpa were over the Nethinim. ²²The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over the business of the house of God. ²³For there was a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled provision for the singers, as every day required. ²⁴And Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the sons of Zerah the son of Judah, was at the king�s hand in all matters concerning the people. ²⁵And as for the villages, with their fields, some of the sons of Judah dwelt in Kiriath-arba and the towns of it, and in Dibon and the towns of it, and in Jekabzeel and the villages of it, ²⁶and in Jeshua, and in Moladah, and Beth-pelet, ²⁷and in Hazar-shual, and in Beersheba and the towns of it, ²⁸and in Ziklag, and in Meconah and in the towns of it, ²⁹and in En-rimmon, and in Zorah, and in Jarmuth, ³⁰Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages, Lachish and the fields of it, Azekah and the towns of it. So they encamped from Beersheba to the valley of Hinnom. ³¹The sons of Benjamin also dwelt from Geba onward, at Michmash and Aija, and at Bethel and the towns of it, ³²at Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah, ³³Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim, ³⁴Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat, ³⁵Lod, and Ono, the valley of craftsmen. ³⁶And of the Levites, certain courses in Judah were joined to Benjamin.

CHAPTER 12

¹Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah. ⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua. ⁸Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brothers. ⁹Also Bakbukiah and Unno, their brothers, were opposite them according to their offices. ¹⁰And Jeshua begot Joiakim, and Joiakim begot Eliashib, and Eliashib begot Joiada, ¹¹and Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua. ¹²And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers: of Seraiah, Meraiah, of Jeremiah, Hananiah, ¹³of Ezra, Meshullam, of Amariah, Jehohanan, ¹⁴of Malluchi, Jonathan, of Shebaniah, Joseph, ¹⁵of Harim, Adna, of Meraioth, Helkai, ¹⁶of Iddo, Zechariah, of Ginnethon, Meshullam, ¹⁷of Abijah, Zichri, of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai, ¹⁸of Bilgah, Shammua, of Shemaiah, Jehonathan, ¹⁹and of Joiarib, Mattenai, of Jedaiah, Uzzi, ²⁰of Sallai, Kallai, of Amok, Eber, ²¹of Hilkiah, Hashabiah, of Jedaiah, Nethanel. ²²As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, there were recorded the heads of fathers, also the priests, in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³The sons of Levi, heads of fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, to praise and give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch next to watch. ²⁵Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the watch at the store-houses of the gates. ²⁶These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest the scribe. ²⁷And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. ²⁸And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites, ²⁹also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built for them villages round about Jerusalem. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. ³¹Then I brought up the rulers of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession, one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate, ³²and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the rulers of Judah, ³³and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, ³⁵and certain of the priests� sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph, ³⁶and his brothers, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe was ahead of them. ³⁷And by the fountain gate, and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even to the water gate eastward. ³⁸And the other company of those who gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with the half of the people, upon the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even to the broad wall, ³⁹and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even to the sheep gate. And they stood still in the gate of the guard. ⁴⁰So stood the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me, ⁴¹and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets, ⁴²and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. ⁴³And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy. And the women also and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. ⁴⁴And on that day men were appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave offerings, for the first-fruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites who served. ⁴⁵And they kept the charge of their God, and the charge of the purification, and also the singers and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. ⁴⁶For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters as every day required. And they set apart that which was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

CHAPTER 13

¹On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people, and in it was found written that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, ²because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them. However our God turned the curse into a blessing. ³And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. ⁴Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah, ⁵had prepared for him a great chamber, where formerly they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and the heave offerings for the priests. ⁶But in all this time I was not at Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after certain days I asked leave of the king, ⁷and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. ⁸And it grieved me greatly. Therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. ⁹Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers. And there I brought again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal offerings and the frankincense. ¹⁰And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each one to his field. ¹¹Then I contended with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. ¹²Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the treasuries. ¹³And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah, and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah. For they were counted faithful, and their business was to distribute to their brothers. ¹⁴Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances of it. ¹⁵In those days I saw in Judah some men treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys therewith, as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day in which they sold foods. ¹⁶There dwelt men of Tyre also in it who brought in fish, and all manner of wares, and sold on the sabbath to the sons of Judah, and in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then I contended with the ranking men of Judah, and said to them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath. ¹⁹And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the sabbath. And I set some of my servants over the gates that there should be no burden brought in on the sabbath day. ²⁰So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹Then I testified against them, and said to them, Why do ye lodge outside the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the sabbath. ²²And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember to me, O my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy loving kindness. ²³In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. ²⁴And their sons spoke half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews� language, but according to the language of each people. ²⁵And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves. ²⁶Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet there was no king like him among many nations, and he was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. ²⁷Shall we then hearken to you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying foreign women? ²⁸And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. ²⁹Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the Levites. ³⁰Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed charges for the priests and for the Levites, each one in his work, ³¹and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first-fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

ESTHER

CHAPTER 1

¹Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus (this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia over a hundred and twenty-seven provinces), ²that in those days, when king Ahasuerus sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in Shushan the palace, ³in the third year of his reign, he made a feast to all his rulers and his servants, the power of Persia and Media, the ranking men and rulers of the provinces, being before him ⁴when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the honor of his excellent majesty many days, even a hundred and eighty days. ⁵And when these days were fulfilled, the king made a feast to all the people who were present in Shushan the palace, both great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king�s palace. ⁶There were hangings of white cloth, of green, and of blue, fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble. The couches were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red and white and yellow and black marble. ⁷And they gave them drink in vessels of gold (the vessels being diverse one from another), and royal wine in abundance according to the bounty of the king. ⁸And the drinking was according to the law, none could compel. For so the king had appointed to all the officers of his house, that they should do according to every man�s pleasure. ⁹Also Vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king Ahasuerus. ¹⁰On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, and Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven chamberlains who ministered in the presence of Ahasuerus the king, ¹¹to bring Vashti the queen before the king with the royal crown to show the peoples and the rulers her beauty, for she was fair to look on. ¹²But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king�s commandment by the chamberlains. Therefore the king was very angry, and his fury burned in him. ¹³Then the king said to the wise men who knew the times (for so was the king�s manner toward all who knew law and judgment, ¹⁴and next to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven rulers of Persia and Media who saw the king�s face, and sat first in the kingdom), ¹⁵What shall we do to queen Vashti according to law, because she has not done the bidding of king Ahasuerus by the chamberlains? ¹⁶And Memucan answered before the king and the rulers, Vashti the queen has not done wrong only to the king, but also to all the rulers, and to all the peoples that are in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus. ¹⁷For this deed of the queen will come abroad to all women, to make their husbands contemptible in their eyes when it shall be reported, King Ahasuerus commanded Vashti the queen to be brought in before him, but she did not come. ¹⁸And this day the ladies of Persia and Media who have heard of the deed of the queen will say the like to all the king�s rulers. So there will arise much contempt and wrath. ¹⁹If it please the king, let there go forth a royal commandment from him, and let it be written among the laws of the Persians and the Medes, that it be not altered, that Vashti come no more before king Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal estate to another who is better than she. ²⁰And when the king�s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give to their husbands honor, both to great and small. ²¹And the saying pleased the king and the rulers, and the king did according to the word of Memucan. ²²For he sent letters into all the king�s provinces, into every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language, that every man should bear rule in his own house, and should speak according to the language of his people.

CHAPTER 2

¹After these things, when the wrath of king Ahasuerus was pacified, he remembered Vashti, and what she had done, and what was decreed against her. ²Then the king�s servants who ministered to him said, Let there be fair young virgins sought for the king. ³And let the king appoint officers in all the provinces of his kingdom, that they may gather together all the fair young virgins to Shushan the palace, to the house of the women, to the custody of Hegai the king�s chamberlain, keeper of the women. And let their things for purification be given them, ⁴and let the maiden who pleases the king be queen instead of Vashti. And the thing pleased the king, and he did so. ⁵There was a certain Jew in Shushan the palace whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, ⁶who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captives who had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away. ⁷And he brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle�s daughter. For she had neither father nor mother, and the maiden was fair and beautiful. And when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter. ⁸So it came to pass, when the king�s commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together to Shushan the palace to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was taken into the king�s house to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. ⁹And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness from him. And he quickly gave her things for purification, with her portions, and the seven maidens who were suitable to be given her out of the king�s house. And he removed her and her maidens to the best place of the house of the women. ¹⁰Esther had not made known her people nor her kindred, for Mordecai had charged her that she should not make it known. ¹¹And Mordecai walked every day before the court of the women�s house to know how Esther did, and what would become of her. ¹²Now when the turn of every maiden came to go in to king Ahasuerus, after it had been done to her according to the law for the women twelve months (for so were the days of their purifications accomplished, namely, six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with sweet odors and with the things for the purifying of the women), ¹³then the maiden came to the king in this way: Whatever she desired was given her to go with her out of the house of the women to the king�s house. ¹⁴In the evening she went, and on the morrow she returned into the second house of the women to the custody of Shaashgaz, the king�s chamberlain, who kept the concubines. She came in to the king no more unless the king delighted in her, and she was called by name. ¹⁵Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king�s chamberlain, the keeper of the women, appointed. And Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked upon her. ¹⁶So Esther was taken to king Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign. ¹⁷And the king loved Esther above all the women. And she obtained favor and kindness in his sight more than all the virgins, so that he set the royal crown upon her head, and made her queen instead of Vashti. ¹⁸Then the king made a great feast to all his rulers and his servants, even Esther�s feast, and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts according to the bounty of the king. ¹⁹And when the virgins were gathered together the second time, then Mordecai was sitting in the king�s gate. ²⁰Esther had not yet made known her kindred nor her people, as Mordecai had charged her. For Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, as when she was brought up with him. ²¹In those days, while Mordecai was sitting in the king�s gate, two of the king�s chamberlains, Bigthan and Teresh, of those who kept the threshold, were angry, and sought to lay hands on king Ahasuerus. ²²And the thing became known to Mordecai, who showed it to Esther the queen, and Esther told the king of it in Mordecai�s name. ²³And when inquiry was made of the matter, and it was found to be so, they were both hanged on a tree. And it was written in the book of the chronicles before the king.

CHAPTER 3

¹After these things king Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the rulers that were with him. ²And all the king�s servants, who were in the king�s gate, bowed down, and did reverence to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai did not bow down, nor do him reverence. ³Then the king�s servants, who were in the king�s gate, said to Mordecai, Why do thou transgress the king�s commandment? ⁴Now it came to pass, when they spoke daily to him, and he did not hearken to them, that they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai�s matters would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew. ⁵And when Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down, nor do him reverence, then Haman was full of wrath. ⁶But he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai. ⁷In the first month, which is the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day, and from month to month, to the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. ⁸And Haman said to king Ahasuerus, There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws are diverse from those of every people, nor do they keep the king�s laws. Therefore it is not for the king�s profit to endure them. ⁹If it please the king, let it be written that they be destroyed. And I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who have the charge of the king�s business, to bring it into the king�s treasuries. ¹⁰And the king took his ring from his hand, and gave it to Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the Jews� enemy. ¹¹And the king said to Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seems good to thee. ¹²Then the king�s scribes were called in the first month, on the thirteenth day of it. And there was written according to all that Haman commanded to the king�s satraps, and to the governors who were over every province, and to the rulers of every people, to every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language, in the name of king Ahasuerus it was written. And it was sealed with the king�s ring. ¹³And letters were sent by posts into all the king�s provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little sons and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, and to take the spoil of them for a prey. ¹⁴A copy of the writing that the decree should be given out in every province was published to all the peoples, that they should be ready against that day. ¹⁵The posts went forth in haste by the king�s commandment, and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace. And the king and Haman sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

CHAPTER 4

¹Now when Mordecai knew all that was done, Mordecai tore his clothes, and put on sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and cried with a loud and a bitter cry. ²And he came even before the king�s gate, for none might enter inside the king�s gate clothed with sackcloth. ³And in every province, wherever the king�s commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing, and many lay in sackcloth and ashes. ⁴And Esther�s maidens and her chamberlains came and told it to her. And the queen was exceedingly grieved. And she sent raiment to clothe Mordecai, and to take his sackcloth from off him, but he did not receive it. ⁵Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king�s chamberlains whom he had appointed to attend upon her, and charged him to go to Mordecai, to know what this was, and why it was. ⁶So Hathach went forth to Mordecai to the broad place of the city, which was before the king�s gate. ⁷And Mordecai told him of all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of the money that Haman had promised to pay to the king�s treasuries for the Jews to destroy them. ⁸Also he gave him the copy of the writing of the decree that was given out in Shushan to destroy them, to show it to Esther, and to declare it to her, and to charge her that she should go in to the king to make supplication to him, and to make request before him for her people. ⁹And Hathach came and told Esther the words of Mordecai. ¹⁰Then Esther spoke to Hathach, and gave him a message to Mordecai saying, ¹¹All the king�s servants, and the people of the king�s provinces, know, that whoever, whether man or woman, shall come to the king into the inner court, who is not called, there is one law for him, that he be put to death, except those to whom the king shall hold out the golden scepter that he may live. But I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days. ¹²And they told Esther�s words to Mordecai. ¹³Then Mordecai bade them return answer to Esther, Think not with thyself that thou shall escape in the king�s house more than all the Jews. ¹⁴For if thou altogether keep quiet at this time, then relief and deliverance will arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father�s house will perish. And who knows whether thou have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? ¹⁵Then Esther bade them return answer to Mordecai, ¹⁶Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I also and my maidens will fast in like manner. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. ¹⁷So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

CHAPTER 5

¹Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king�s house, opposite the king�s house. And the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, opposite the entrance of the house. ²And it was so, when the king saw Esther the queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight, and the king held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter. ³Then the king said to her, What will thou, queen Esther? And what is thy request? It shall be given thee even to the half of the kingdom. ⁴And Esther said, If it seems good to the king, let the king and Haman come this day to the banquet that I have prepared for him. ⁵Then the king said, Cause Haman to make haste that it may be done as Esther has said. So the king and Haman came to the banquet that Esther had prepared. ⁶And the king said to Esther at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition? And it shall be granted thee. And what is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. ⁷Then Esther answered, and said, My petition and my request is, ⁸if I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king has said. ⁹Then Haman went forth that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king�s gate, that he did not stand up nor move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. ¹⁰Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home, and he sent and fetched his friends and Zeresh his wife. ¹¹And Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his sons, and all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the rulers and servants of the king. ¹²Haman said moreover, Yea, Esther the queen let no man come in with the king to the banquet that she had prepared but myself, and tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. ¹³Yet all this avails me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king�s gate. ¹⁴Then Zeresh his wife and all his friends said to him, Let a gallows be made fifty cubits high, and in the morning speak thou to the king that Mordecai may be hanged on it. Then go thou in merrily with the king to the banquet. And the thing pleased Haman, and he caused the gallows to be made.

CHAPTER 6

¹On that night the king could not sleep. And he commanded to bring the book of records of the chronicles, and they were read before the king. ²And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king�s chamberlains, of those who kept the threshold, who had sought to lay hands on king Ahasuerus. ³And the king said, What honor and dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this? Then the king�s servants who ministered to him said, There is nothing done for him. ⁴And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman came into the outward court of the king�s house to speak to the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵And the king�s servants said to him, Behold, Haman stands in the court. And the king said, Let him come in. ⁶So Haman came in. And the king said to him, What shall be done to the man whom the king delights to honor? Now Haman said in his heart, To whom would the king delight to do honor more than to myself? ⁷And Haman said to the king, For the man whom the king delights to honor, ⁸let royal apparel be brought which the king uses to wear, and the horse that the king rides upon, and on the head of which a royal crown is set. ⁹And let the apparel and the horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king�s most noble rulers, that they may array the man therewith whom the king delights to honor, and cause him to ride on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. ¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou have said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, who sits at the king�s gate. Let nothing fail of all that thou have spoken. ¹¹Then Haman took the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and caused him to ride through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delights to honor. ¹²And Mordecai came again to the king�s gate. But Haman hastened to his house, mourning and having his head covered. ¹³And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai, before whom thou have begun to fall, be of the seed of the Jews, thou shall not prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him. ¹⁴While they were yet talking with him, the king�s chamberlains came, and hastened to bring Haman to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

CHAPTER 7

¹So the king and Haman came to banquet with Esther the queen. ²And the king said again to Esther on the second day at the banquet of wine, What is thy petition, queen Esther? And it shall be granted thee. And what is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed. ³Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in thy sight, O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request. ⁴For we are sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I would have held my peace, although the adversary could not have compensated for the king�s damage. ⁵Then king Ahasuerus spoke and said to Esther the queen, Who is he, and where is he, who dares presume in his heart to do so? ⁶And Esther said, An adversary and an enemy, even this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen. ⁷And the king arose in his wrath from the banquet of wine and went into the palace garden. And Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen, for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king. ⁸Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine, and Haman was fallen upon the couch on which Esther was. Then the king said, Will he even force the queen before me in the house? As the word went out of the king�s mouth, they covered Haman�s face. ⁹Then Harbonah, one of the chamberlains who were before the king said, Behold also, the gallows fifty cubits high, which Haman has made for Mordecai, who spoke good for the king, stands in the house of Haman. And the king said, Hang him on it. ¹⁰So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king�s wrath was pacified.

CHAPTER 8

¹On that day king Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman the Jews� enemy to Esther the queen. And Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told what he was to her. ²And the king took off his ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman. ³And Esther spoke yet again before the king, and fell down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews. ⁴Then the king held out to Esther the golden scepter. So Esther arose, and stood before the king. ⁵And she said, If it please the king, and if I have found favor in his sight, and the thing seem right before the king, and I be pleasing in his eyes, let it be written to reverse the letters devised by Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews that are in all the king�s provinces. ⁶For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come to my people? Or how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred? ⁷Then the king Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen and to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews. ⁸Write ye also to the Jews, as it pleases you, in the king�s name, and seal it with the king�s ring, for the writing which is written in the king�s name, and sealed with the king�s ring, may no man reverse. ⁹Then the king�s scribes were called at that time, in the third month Sivan, on the twenty-third day of it. And it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, and to the satraps, and the governors and rulers of the provinces which are from India to Ethiopia, a hundred twenty-seven provinces, to every province according to the writing of it, and to every people after their language, and to the Jews according to their writing, and according to their language. ¹⁰And he wrote the name of king Ahasuerus, and sealed it with the king�s ring, and sent letters by post on horseback, riding on swift steeds that were used in the king�s service bred of the stud, ¹¹in which the king granted the Jews that were in every city to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province who would assault them, their little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey, ¹²upon one day in all the provinces of king Ahasuerus, namely, upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, which is the month Adar. ¹³A copy of the writing, that the decree should be given out in every province, was published to all the peoples, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. ¹⁴So the posts that rode upon swift steeds that were used in the king�s service went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king�s commandment, and the decree was given out in Shushan the palace. ¹⁵And Mordecai went forth from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a robe of fine linen and purple. And the city of Shushan shouted and was glad. ¹⁶The Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor. ¹⁷And in every province, and in every city, wherever the king�s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had gladness and joy, a feast and a good day. And many from among the peoples of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews was fallen upon them.

CHAPTER 9

¹Now in the twelfth month, which is the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king�s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution on the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have rule over them (whereas it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over those who hated them), ²the Jews gathered themselves together in their cities throughout all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, to lay hand on such as sought their hurt. And no man could withstand them, for the fear of them fell upon all the peoples. ³And all the rulers of the provinces, and the satraps, and the governors, and those who did the king�s business, helped the Jews, because the fear of Mordecai fell upon them. ⁴For Mordecai was great in the king�s house, and his fame went forth throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai grew greater and greater. ⁵And the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and with slaughter and destruction, and did what they would to those who hated them. ⁶And in Shushan the palace the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men. ⁷And they killed Parshandatha, and Dalphon, and Aspatha, ⁸and Poratha, and Adalia, and Aridatha, ⁹and Parmashta, and Arisai, and Aridai, and Vaizatha, ¹⁰the ten sons of Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Jew�s enemy, but they did not lay their hand on the spoil. ¹¹On that day the number of those who were slain in Shushan the palace was brought before the king. ¹²And the king said to Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman. What then have they done in the rest of the king�s provinces! Now what is thy petition? And it shall be granted thee, or what is thy request further? And it shall be done. ¹³Then Esther said, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews who are in Shushan to do tomorrow also according to this day�s decree, and let Haman�s ten sons be hanged upon the gallows. ¹⁴And the king commanded it so to be done. And a decree was given out in Shushan, and they hanged Haman�s ten sons. ¹⁵And the Jews who were in Shushan gathered themselves together on the fourteenth day also of the month Adar, and killed three hundred men in Shushan, but they did not lay their hand on the spoil. ¹⁶And the other Jews who were in the king�s provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and had rest from their enemies, and killed seventy-five thousand of those who hated them. But they did not lay their hand on the spoil. ¹⁷This was done on the thirteenth day of the month Adar. And on the fourteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁸But the Jews who were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day of it, and on the fourteenth of it, and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹Therefore the Jews of the villages, who dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. ²⁰And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, yearly, ²²as the days in which the Jews had rest from their enemies. And the month which was turned to them from sorrow to gladness, and from mourning into a good day, that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another, and gifts to the poor. ²³And the Jews undertook to do as they had begun, and as Mordecai had written to them, ²⁴because Haman the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and had cast Pur, that is the lot, to consume them, and to destroy them. ²⁵But when the matter came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. ²⁶Therefore they called these days Purim, after the name of Pur. Therefore because of all the words of this letter, and of that which they had seen concerning this matter, and that which had come to them, ²⁷the Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves to them, so that it should not fail, that they would keep these two days according to the writing of it, and according to the appointed time of it, every year. ²⁸And that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, every family, every province, and every city, and that these days of Purim should not fail from among the Jews, nor the remembrance of them perish from their seed. ²⁹Then Esther the queen, the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew, wrote with all authority to confirm this second letter of Purim. ³⁰And he sent letters to all the Jews, to the hundred twenty-seven provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth, ³¹to confirm these days of Purim in their appointed times, according as Mordecai the Jew and Esther the queen had enjoined them, and as they had ordained for themselves and for their seed in the matter of the fastings and their cry. ³²And the commandment of Esther confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.

CHAPTER 10

¹And king Ahasuerus laid a tribute upon the land, and upon the isles of the sea. ²And all the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to what the king advanced him, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³For Mordecai the Jew was next to king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.

JOB

CHAPTER 1

¹There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil. ²And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters. ³His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-donkeys, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the sons of the east. ⁴And his sons went and held a feast in the house of each one upon his day, and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them. ⁵And it was so, when the days of their feasting were completed, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts. Thus Job did continually. ⁶Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan also came among them. ⁷And Jehovah said to Satan, From where do thou come? Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it. ⁸And Jehovah said to Satan, Have thou considered my servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. ⁹Then Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Does Job fear God for nothing? ¹⁰Have thou not made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he has, on every side? Thou have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. ¹¹But put forth thy hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce thee to thy face. ¹²And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in thy power, only upon himself do not put forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah. ¹³And it fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother�s house, ¹⁴that there came a messenger to Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵and the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away. Yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee. ¹⁶While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God fell from heaven, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee. ¹⁷While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have taken them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee. ¹⁸While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother�s house. ¹⁹And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead, and only I alone have escaped to tell thee. ²⁰Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped. ²¹And he said, Naked I came out of my mother�s womb, and naked I shall return there. Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away, blessed be the name of Jehovah. ²²In all this Job did not sin, nor foolishly accuse God.

CHAPTER 2

¹Again it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before Jehovah, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Jehovah. ²And Jehovah said to Satan, From where did thou come? And Satan answered Jehovah, and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it. ³And Jehovah said to Satan, Have thou considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. And he still holds fast his integrity, although thou moved me against him, to destroy him without cause. ⁴And Satan answered Jehovah, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce thee to thy face. ⁶And Jehovah said to Satan, Behold, he is in thy hand, only spare his life. ⁷So Satan went forth from the presence of Jehovah, and smote Job with severe boils from the sole of his foot to his crown. ⁸And he took a potsherd for him to scrape himself with it, and he sat among the ashes. ⁹Then his wife said to him, Do thou still hold fast thine integrity? Renounce God, and die. ¹⁰But he said to her, Thou speak as one of the foolish women speaks. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. ¹¹Now when Job�s three friends heard of all this evil that came upon him, they came each one from his own place�Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite�and they made an appointment together to come to bemoan him and to comfort him. ¹²And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and did not recognize him, they lifted up their voice, and wept. And each one tore his robe, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. ¹³So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights. And none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

CHAPTER 3

¹After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day. ²And Job answered and said, ³Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night which said, There is a man-child conceived. ⁴Let that day be darkness. Let not God from above seek for it, nor let the light shine upon it. ⁵Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell upon it. Let blackness come upon it. ⁶As for that night, let thick darkness seize upon it. Let it not rejoice among the days of the year. Let it not come into the number of the months. ⁷Lo, let that night be barren. Let no joyful voice come in it. ⁸Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up leviathan. ⁹Let the stars of the twilight of it be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, nor let it behold the eyelids of the morning. ¹⁰Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother�s womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. ¹¹Why did I not die from the womb? Why did I not give up the spirit when my mother bore me? ¹²Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast, that I should suck? ¹³For now I should have lain down and been quiet. I should have slept. Then I would have been at rest ¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth, who built waste places for themselves, ¹⁵or with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. ¹⁶Or I should have been as a hidden untimely birth, as infants that never saw light. ¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. ¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together. They do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. ¹⁹The small and the great are there. And the servant is free from his master. ²⁰Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, ²¹who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hid treasures, ²²who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they can find the grave? ²³Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God has hedged in? ²⁴For my sighing comes before I eat, and my groanings are poured out like water. ²⁵For the thing which I fear comes upon me, and that which I am afraid of comes to me. ²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet, neither have I rest, but trouble comes.

CHAPTER 4

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said, ²If a man tries to converse with thee, will thou be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking? ³Behold, thou have instructed many, and thou have strengthened the weak hands. ⁴Thy words have upheld him who was falling, and thou have made firm the feeble knees. ⁵But now it comes to thee, and thou faint. It touches thee, and thou are troubled. ⁶Is not thy fear of God thy confidence, the integrity of thy ways thy hope? ⁷Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off? ⁸According as I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same. ⁹By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed. ¹⁰The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. ¹¹The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad. ¹²Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it. ¹³In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, ¹⁴fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. ¹⁵Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. ¹⁶It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance of it. A form was before my eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, ¹⁷Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? ¹⁸Behold, he puts no trust in his servants, and he charges his agents with folly. ¹⁹How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! ²⁰Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it. ²¹Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.

CHAPTER 5

¹Call now, is there any who will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones will thou turn? ²For vexation kills the foolish man, and jealousy slays the silly one. ³I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. ⁴His sons are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, ⁵whose harvest the hungry eat up, and takes it even out of the thorns, and the snare gapes for their substance. ⁶For affliction does not come forth from the dust, nor does trouble spring out of the ground, ⁷but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. ⁸But as for me, I would seek to God. And to God I would commit my cause, ⁹who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number, ¹⁰who gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields, ¹¹so that he sets up on high those who are low, and those who mourn are exalted to safety. ¹²He frustrates the devices of the crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. ¹³He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. ¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night. ¹⁵But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty. ¹⁶So a poor man has hope, and iniquity stops her mouth. ¹⁷Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise thou the chastening of the Almighty. ¹⁸For he injures, and binds up. He wounds, and his hands make whole. ¹⁹He will deliver thee in six troubles. Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. ²⁰In famine he will redeem thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue. Neither shall thou be afraid of destruction when it comes. ²²At destruction and dearth thou shall laugh, nor shall thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. ²³For thou shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. ²⁴And thou shall know that thy tent is in peace, and thou shall visit thy fold, and shall miss nothing. ²⁵Thou shall know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. ²⁶Thou shall come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season. ²⁷Lo this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

CHAPTER 6

¹Then Job answered and said, ²O that my grief were but weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! ³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas. Therefore my words have been rash. ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison of which my spirit drinks up. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me. ⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or the ox moo over his fodder? ⁶Can that which has no savor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? ⁷My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me. ⁸O that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! ⁹Even that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! ¹⁰And be it still my consolation, yea, let me exult (in pain that does not spare), that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. ¹¹What is my strength that I should wait? And what is my end that I should be patient? ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? ¹³Is it not that I have no help in me, and that wisdom is driven quite from me? ¹⁴To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be from his friend, even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. ¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away, ¹⁶which are black because of the ice, in which the snow hides itself. ¹⁷What time they grow warm, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. ¹⁸The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish. ¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked, the companies of Sheba waited for them. ²⁰They were put to shame because they had hoped. They came there, and were confounded. ²¹For now ye are nothing. Ye see a terror, and are afraid. ²²Did I say, Give to me? Or, Offer a present for me from your substance? ²³Or, Deliver me from the adversary�s hand? Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors? ²⁴Teach me, and I will be quiet. And cause me to understand how I have erred. ²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove? ²⁶Do ye think to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of a man who is desperate are as wind? ²⁷Yea, ye would cast lots upon the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend. ²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look upon me, for truly I shall not lie to your face. ²⁹Return, I pray you, let there be no injustice. Yea, return again, my cause is righteous. ³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern mischievous things?

CHAPTER 7

¹Is there not a warfare to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling? ²As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, and as a hireling who looks for his wages, ³so I am made to possess months of misery, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. ⁴When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro to the dawning of the day. ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh. ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver�s shuttle, and are spent without hope. ⁷O remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good. ⁸The eye of him who sees me shall behold me no more. Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be. ⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more. ¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, nor shall his place know him any more. ¹¹Therefore I will not refrain my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. ¹²Am I a sea, or a sea-monster, that thou set a watch over me? ¹³When I say, My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint. ¹⁴Then thou scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions, ¹⁵so that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than these my bones. ¹⁶I loathe my life. I would not live always. Let me alone, for my days are vanity. ¹⁷What is man, that thou should magnify him, and that thou should set thy mind upon him, ¹⁸and that thou should visit him every morning, and try him every moment? ¹⁹How long will thou not look away from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? ²⁰If I have sinned, what do I do to thee, O thou watcher of men? Why have thou set me as a mark for thee, so that I am a burden to myself? ²¹And why do thou not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie down in the dust, and thou will seek me diligently, but I shall not be.

CHAPTER 8

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said, ²How long will thou speak these things? And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a mighty wind? ³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? ⁴If thy sons have sinned against him, and he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression, ⁵if thou would seek diligently to God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty, ⁶if thou were pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous. ⁷And though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end would greatly increase. ⁸For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out ⁹(for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow). ¹⁰Shall they not teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart? ¹¹Can the rush grow up without mire? Can a reed grow without water? ¹²While it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb. ¹³So are the paths of all who forget God. And the hope of the profane man shall perish, ¹⁴whose confidence shall break apart, and whose trust is a spider�s web. ¹⁵He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand. He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure. ¹⁶He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden. ¹⁷His roots are wrapped around the stone heap. He beholds the place of stones. ¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee. ¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth others shall spring. ²⁰Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, nor will he uphold the evildoers. ²¹He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, and thy lips with shouting. ²²Those who hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

CHAPTER 9

¹Then Job answered and said, ²Of a truth I know that it is so. But how can man be just with God? ³If he is pleased to contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. ⁴He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him, and prospered? ⁵He who removes the mountains, and they do not know it when he overturns them in his anger, ⁶who shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars of it tremble, ⁷who commands the sun, and it does not rise, and seals up the stars, ⁸who alone stretches out the heavens, and treads upon the waves of the sea, ⁹who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south, ¹⁰who does great things past finding out, yea, marvelous things without number. ¹¹Lo, he goes by me, and I do not see him. He also passes on, but I do not perceive him. ¹²Behold, he seizes; who can hinder him? Who will say to him, What are thou doing? ¹³God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. ¹⁴How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him? ¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, yet I would not answer. I would make supplication to my judge. ¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I would not believe that he hearkened to my voice. ¹⁷For he breaks me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause. ¹⁸He will not allow me to take my breath, but fills me with bitterness. ¹⁹If of strength, lo, he is mighty! And if of justice, who will summon me? ²⁰Though I be righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse. ²¹Though I were perfect, I do not regard myself. I despise my life. ²²It is all one thing. Therefore I say, He destroys the perfect and the wicked. ²³If the scourge kills suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of the judges of it. If not he, who then is it? ²⁵Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good, ²⁶They are passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. ²⁷If I say, I will forget my complaint. I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer, ²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou will not hold me innocent. ²⁹I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? ³⁰If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands ever so clean, ³¹yet thou will plunge me in the ditch, and my own clothes shall abhor me. ³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. ³³There is no umpire between us who might lay his hand upon us both. ³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his terror make me afraid. ³⁵Then I would speak, and not be afraid of him, for I am not so in myself.

CHAPTER 10

¹My soul is weary of my life. I will give free reign to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. ²I will say to God, Do not condemn me. Show me why thou contend with me. ³Is it good to thee that thou should oppress, that thou should despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? ⁴Have thou eyes of flesh? Or do thou see as man sees? ⁵Are thy days as the days of man, or thy years as man�s days, ⁶that thou inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin, ⁷although thou know that I am not wicked. And there is none that can deliver out of thy hand? ⁸Thy hands have made me and fashioned me together round about, yet thou destroy me. ⁹Remember, I beseech thee, that thou have fashioned me as clay. And will thou bring me into dust again? ¹⁰Have thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese? ¹¹Thou have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. ¹²Thou have granted me life and loving kindness, and thy visitation has preserved my spirit. ¹³Yet these things thou hid in thy heart. I know that this is with thee. ¹⁴If I sin, then thou mark me. And thou will not acquit me from my iniquity. ¹⁵If I be wicked, woe to me. And if I be righteous, yet I shall not lift up my head, being filled with shame, and looking upon my affliction. ¹⁶And if my head exalts itself, thou hunt me as a lion. And again thou show thyself marvelous upon me. ¹⁷Thou renew thy witnesses against me, and increase thine indignation upon me. Changes and warfare are with me. ¹⁸Why then have thou brought me forth out of the womb? I would have given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me. ¹⁹I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. ²⁰Are not my days few? Cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little ²¹before I go where I shall not return, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death, ²²the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as midnight.

CHAPTER 11

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, and said, ²Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be justified? ³Should thy boastings make men hold their peace? And when thou mock, shall no man make thee ashamed? ⁴For thou say, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in thine eyes. ⁵But O that God would speak, and open his lips against thee, ⁶and that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know therefore that God exacts of thee less than thine iniquity deserves. ⁷Can thou find out God by searching? Can thou find out the Almighty to perfection? ⁸It is high as heaven; what can thou do? Deeper than Sheol; what can thou know? ⁹The measure of it is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. ¹⁰If he passes through, and shuts up, and all to judgment, then who can hinder him? ¹¹For he knows false men. He also sees iniquity. Will he not then consider it? ¹²But vain man is void of understanding. Yea, man is born as a wild donkey�s colt. ¹³If thou set thy heart aright, and stretch out thy hands toward him, ¹⁴if iniquity is in thy hand, put it far away, and let not unrighteousness dwell in thy tents. ¹⁵Surely then thou shall lift up thy face without spot. Yea, thou shall be steadfast, and shall not fear. ¹⁶For thou shall forget thy misery. Thou shall remember it as waters that are passed away. ¹⁷And thy life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning. ¹⁸And thou shall be secure, because there is hope. Yea, thou shall search about thee, and shall take thy rest in safety. ¹⁹Also thou shall lie down, and none shall make thee afraid. Yea, many shall correspond with thee. ²⁰But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, and they shall have no way to flee. And their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.

CHAPTER 12

¹Then Job answered and said, ²No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. ³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who does not know such things as these? ⁴I am as a man who is a laughing-stock to his neighbor. I who called upon God, and he answered. The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock. ⁵In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for calamity. It is ready for those whose foot slips. ⁶The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure. Into whose hand God brings abundantly. ⁷But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee. ⁸Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare to thee. ⁹Who does not know in all these, that the hand of Jehovah has wrought this, ¹⁰in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all man? ¹¹Does not the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food? ¹²With aged men is wisdom, and in length of days understanding. ¹³With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding. ¹⁴Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again. He shuts up a man, and there can be no opening. ¹⁵Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth. ¹⁶With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his. ¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes judges fools. ¹⁸He loosens the bond of kings, and he binds their loins with a belt. ¹⁹He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty. ²⁰He removes the speech of the trustworthy, and takes away the understanding of the elders. ²¹He pours contempt upon rulers, and weakens the strength of the strong. ²²He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death. ²³He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive. ²⁴He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. ²⁵They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.

CHAPTER 13

¹Lo, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it. ²What ye know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. ³Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. ⁴But ye are forgers of lies. Ye are all physicians of no value. ⁵O that ye would altogether be silent! And it would be your wisdom. ⁶Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips. ⁷Will ye speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him? ⁸Will ye show partiality to him? Will ye contend for God? ⁹Is it good that he should search you out? Or as deceiving a man, will ye deceive him? ¹⁰He will surely reprove you if ye secretly show partiality. ¹¹Shall not his majesty make you afraid, and his dread fall upon you? ¹²Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay. ¹³Be quiet. Let me alone that I may speak, and let come on me what will. ¹⁴Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand? ¹⁵Behold, he will kill me; I have no hope. Nevertheless I will maintain my ways before him. ¹⁶This also shall be my salvation, that a profane man shall not come before him. ¹⁷Hear diligently my speech, and let my declaration be in your ears. ¹⁸Behold now, I have set my case in order. I know that I am righteous. ¹⁹Who is he who will contend with me? For then I would keep silent and give up the spirit. ²⁰Only do not do two things to me, then I will not hide myself from thy face: ²¹Withdraw thy hand far from me, and do not let thy dread make me afraid. ²²Then call thou, and I will answer, or let me speak, and answer thou me. ²³How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and my sin. ²⁴Why do thou hide thy face, and reckon me for thine enemy? ²⁵Will thou harass a driven leaf? And will thou pursue the dry stubble? ²⁶For thou write bitter things against me, and make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth. ²⁷Thou also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. Thou set a bound to the soles of my feet. ²⁸Though I am like a rotten thing that decays, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

CHAPTER 14

¹Man, who is born of a woman, is of few days, and full of trouble. ²He comes forth like a flower, and is cut down. He too flees as a shadow, and does not continue. ³And do thou open thine eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with thee? ⁴Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. ⁵Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with thee, and thou have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass, ⁶look away from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day. ⁷For there is hope of a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch of it will not cease. ⁸Though the root of it grows old in the earth, and the trunk of it dies in the ground, ⁹yet through the scent of water it will bud, and put forth boughs like a plant. ¹⁰But man dies, and is laid low. Yea, man gives up the spirit, and where is he? ¹¹As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes away and dries up, ¹²so man lies down and does not rise. Till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be roused out of their sleep. ¹³O that thou would hide me in Sheol, that thou would keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou would appoint for me a set time, and remember me! ¹⁴If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare I would wait till my release should come. ¹⁵Thou would call, and I would answer thee. Thou would have a desire to the work of thy hands. ¹⁶But now thou number my steps. Do thou not watch over my sin? ¹⁷My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou fasten up my iniquity. ¹⁸But the falling mountain comes to nothing, and the rock is removed out of its place. ¹⁹The waters wear the stones. The overflowings of it wash away the dust of the earth. So thou destroy the hope of man. ²⁰Thou prevail forever against him, and he passes. Thou change his countenance, and send him away. ²¹His sons come to honor, and he does not know it, and they are brought low, but he does not perceive it of them. ²²But his flesh upon him has pain, and his soul within him mourns.

CHAPTER 15

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said, ²Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? ³Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good? ⁴Yea, thou do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God. ⁵For thine iniquity teaches thy mouth. And thou choose the tongue of the crafty. ⁶Thine own mouth condemns thee, and not I. Yes, thine own lips testify against thee. ⁷Are thou the first man who was born? Or were thou brought forth before the hills? ⁸Have thou heard the secret counsel of God? And do thou limit wisdom to thyself? ⁹What do thou know, that we do not know? What do thou understand, which is not in us? ¹⁰With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than thy father. ¹¹Are the consolations of God too small for thee, even the word that is gentle toward thee? ¹²Why does thy heart carry thee away? And why do thine eyes flash, ¹³that against God thou turn thy spirit, and let words go out of thy mouth? ¹⁴What is man, that he should be clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? ¹⁵Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. ¹⁶How much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water! ¹⁷I will show thee. Hear thou me, and that which I have seen I will declare, ¹⁸which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it, ¹⁹to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them: ²⁰The wicked man travails with pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. ²¹A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. ²²He does not believe that he shall return out of darkness. And he is awaited by the sword. ²³He wanders abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. ²⁴Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him as a king ready to the battle. ²⁵Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty. ²⁶He runs upon him with a stiff neck, with the thick studs of his bucklers, ²⁷because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat upon his loins. ²⁸And he has dwelt in desolate cities, in houses which no man inhabited, which were ready to become heaps. ²⁹He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth. ³⁰He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of God�s mouth he shall go away. ³¹Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself. For vanity shall be his recompense. ³²It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. ³³He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree. ³⁴For the company of the hypocrites shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery. ³⁵They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, and their heart prepares deceit.

CHAPTER 16

¹Then Job answered, and said, ²I have heard many such things. Miserable comforters are ye all. ³Shall vain words have an end? Or what provokes thee that thou answer? ⁴I also could speak as ye do, if your soul were in my soul�s stead. I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you. ⁵But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your grief. ⁶Though I speak, my grief is not assuaged, and though I forbear, what am I eased? ⁷But now he has made me weary. Thou have made desolate all my company. ⁸And thou have laid fast hold on me, which is a witness against me. And my leanness rises up against me; it testifies to my face. ⁹He has torn me in his wrath, and persecuted me. He has gnashed upon me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes upon me. ¹⁰They have gaped upon me with their mouth. They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me. ¹¹God delivers me to the perverse, and casts me into the hands of the wicked. ¹²I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yea, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his mark. ¹³His archers encompass me round about. He splits my reins apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall upon the ground. ¹⁴He breaks me with breach upon breach. He runs upon me like a giant. ¹⁵I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my horn in the dust. ¹⁶My face is red with weeping, and the shadow of death is on my eyelids, ¹⁷although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. ¹⁸O earth, do not cover thou my blood, and let my cry have no resting place. ¹⁹Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who vouches for me is on high. ²⁰My friends scoff at me. My eye pours out tears to God ²¹that he would maintain the right of a man with God, and of a son of man with his neighbor! ²²For when a few years are come, I shall go the way where I shall not return.

CHAPTER 17

¹My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me. ²Surely there are mockers with me, and my eye dwells upon their provocation. ³Give now a pledge, be surety for me with thyself. Who is there that will strike hands with me? ⁴For thou have hid their heart from understanding. Therefore thou shall not exalt them. ⁵He who denounces his friends for a prey, even the eyes of his sons shall fail. ⁶But he has made me a byword of the people, and they spit in my face. ⁷My eye also is dim because of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow. ⁸Upright men shall be astonished at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the profane. ⁹Yet the righteous shall hold on his way. And he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger. ¹⁰But as for you all, come on now again, and I shall not find a wise man among you. ¹¹My days are past. My purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart. ¹²They change the night into day. The light, they say, is near to the darkness. ¹³If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness, ¹⁴if I have said to corruption, Thou are my father, to the worm, My mother, and my sister, ¹⁵where then is my hope? And as for my hope, who shall see it? ¹⁶It shall go down to the bars of Sheol when once there is rest in the dust.

CHAPTER 18

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said, ²How long will ye hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak. ³Why are we counted as beasts, and have become unclean in your eyes? ⁴Thou who tear thyself in thine anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place? ⁵Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. ⁶The light shall be dark in his tent, and his lamp above him shall be put out. ⁷The steps of his strength shall be restricted, and his own counsel shall cast him down. ⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon the toils. ⁹A trap shall take him by the heel. A snare shall lay hold on him. ¹⁰A noose is hid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way. ¹¹Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels. ¹²His strength shall be weakened by hunger, and calamity shall be ready at his side. ¹³The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his body-parts. ¹⁴He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts, and he shall be brought to the king of terrors. ¹⁵There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation. ¹⁶His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off. ¹⁷His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. ¹⁸He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. ¹⁹He shall have neither son nor son�s son among his people, nor any remaining where he sojourned. ²⁰Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened. ²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, and this is the place of him who does not know God.

CHAPTER 19

¹Then Job answered, and said, ²How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? ³These ten times ye have reproached me. Ye are not ashamed that ye deal hardly with me. ⁴And be it indeed that I have erred, my error remains with myself. ⁵If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach, ⁶know now that God has subverted me, and has encompassed me with his net. ⁷Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice. ⁸He has walled up my way that I cannot pass, and has set darkness in my paths. ⁹He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. ¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. And he has plucked up my hope like a tree. ¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me. And he considers me to him as his adversaries. ¹²His troops come on together, and cast up their way against me, and encamp round about my tent. ¹³He has put my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me. ¹⁴My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me. ¹⁵Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, reckon me for a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. ¹⁶I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I entreat him with my mouth. ¹⁷My breath is strange to my wife, and my supplication to the sons of my own mother. ¹⁸Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me. ¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me, and those whom I loved are turned against me. ²⁰My bone cleaves to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth. ²¹Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. ²²Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh? ²³O that my words were now written! O that they were inscribed in a book, ²⁴that they were engraved in the rock forever with an iron pen and lead! ²⁵But as for me I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand up upon the earth. ²⁶And after my skin, this body, is destroyed, then outside my flesh I shall see God, ²⁷whom I, even I, shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger. My heart is consumed within me. ²⁸If ye say, How we will persecute him! And that the root of the matter is found in me, ²⁹be ye afraid of the sword. For wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

CHAPTER 20

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered, and said, ²Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, even because of my haste that is in me. ³I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame, and the spirit of my understanding answers me. ⁴Know thou this of old time, since man was placed upon earth, ⁵that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the profane but for a moment? ⁶Though his height mounts up to the heavens, and his head reaches to the clouds, ⁷yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, Where is he? ⁸He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. ⁹The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more behold him. ¹⁰His sons shall seek the favor of the poor, and his hands shall give back his wealth. ¹¹His bones are full of his youth, but it shall lie down with him in the dust. ¹²Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, ¹³though he spares it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth, ¹⁴yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is the gall of asps within him. ¹⁵He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly. ¹⁶He shall suck the poison of asps. The viper�s tongue shall kill him. ¹⁷He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter. ¹⁸That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice. ¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up. ²⁰Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save any of that in which he delights. ²¹There was nothing left that he did not devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure. ²²In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come upon him. ²³When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath upon him, and will rain it upon him while he is eating. ²⁴He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of brass shall strike him through. ²⁵He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body, yea, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors are upon him. ²⁶All darkness is laid up for his treasures. A fire not blown shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent. ²⁷The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him. ²⁸The increase of his house shall depart, flowed away in the day of his wrath. ²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.

CHAPTER 21

¹Then Job answered, and said, ²Hear diligently my speech, And let this be your consolations. ³Allow me, and I also will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. ⁴As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient? ⁵Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. ⁶Even when I remember, I am troubled, and horror takes hold on my flesh. ⁷Why do the wicked live, become old, yea, grow mighty in power? ⁸Their seed is established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. ⁹Their houses are safe from fear, nor is the rod of God upon them. ¹⁰Their bull breeds, and does not fail. Their cow brings forth safely, and does not miscarry. ¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. ¹²They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. ¹³They spend their days in prosperity, and in a moment they go down to Sheol. ¹⁴And they say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of thy ways. ¹⁵What is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if we pray to him? ¹⁶Lo, is their prosperity not in their hand. (The counsel of the wicked is far from me.) ¹⁷How often is it that the lamp of the profane is put out, that their calamity comes upon them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger, ¹⁸that they are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away? ¹⁹Ye say, God lays up his iniquity for his sons. Let him recompense it to himself that he may know it. ²⁰Let his own eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. ²¹For what does he care for his house after him when the number of his months is cut off? ²²Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing he judges those who are high? ²³One man dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. ²⁴His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moistened. ²⁵And another man dies in bitterness of soul, and never tastes of good. ²⁶They lie down alike in the dust, and the worm covers them. ²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices with which ye would wrong me. ²⁸For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt? ²⁹Have ye not asked wayfaring men? And do ye not know their evidences, ³⁰that the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath? ³¹Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he has done? ³²Yet he shall be borne to the grave, and men shall keep watch over the tomb. ³³The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. And all men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him. ³⁴How then ye comfort me in vain, seeing in your answers there remains falsehood?

CHAPTER 22

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, and said, ²Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. ³Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou are righteous? Or is it gain to him that thou make thy ways perfect? ⁴Is it for thy fear of him that he reproves thee, that he enters with thee into judgment? ⁵Is not thy wickedness great? Neither is there any end to thine iniquities. ⁶For thou have taken pledges from thy brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. ⁷Thou have not given water to the weary to drink, and thou have withheld bread from the hungry. ⁸But as for the mighty man, he had the land. And the honorable man, he dwelt in it. ⁹Thou have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. ¹⁰Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubles thee, ¹¹or darkness, so that thou cannot see, and abundance of waters cover thee. ¹²Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are! ¹³And thou say, What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? ¹⁴Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven. ¹⁵Will thou keep the old way which wicked men have trodden? ¹⁶Who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, ¹⁷who said to God, Depart from us, and, What can the Almighty do for us? ¹⁸Yet he filled their houses with good things. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. ¹⁹The righteous see it, and are glad. And the innocent laugh them to scorn, ²⁰Saying, Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, and the remnant of them, the fire has consumed. ²¹Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace. By this good shall come to thee. ²²Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thy heart. ²³If thou return to the Almighty, thou shall be built up, thou put away unrighteousness far from thy tents. ²⁴Then thou shall lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. ²⁵Yea, the Almighty will be thy treasure, and precious silver to thee. ²⁶For then shall thou delight thyself in the Almighty, and shall lift up thy face to God. ²⁷Thou shall make thy prayer to him, and he will hear thee, and thou shall pay thy vows. ²⁸Thou shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established to thee. And light shall shine upon thy ways. ²⁹When they cast thee down, thou shall say, There is lifting up, and he will save the humble man. ³⁰He will deliver even him who is not innocent. Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.

CHAPTER 23

¹Then Job answered and said, ²Even today my complaint is rebellious. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. ³O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat! ⁴I would set my case in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. ⁶Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would give heed to me. ⁷There the upright might reason with him. So I should be delivered forever from my judge. ⁸Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him, ⁹on the left hand, when he works, but I cannot behold him. He hides himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. ¹⁰But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. ¹¹My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned aside. ¹²I have not gone back from the commandment of his lips, I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. ¹³But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? And what his soul desires, even that he does. ¹⁴For he performs that which is appointed for me. And many such things are with him. ¹⁵Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him. ¹⁶For God has made my heart faint, and the Almighty has terrified me, ¹⁷because I was not cut off before the darkness, nor did he cover the thick darkness from my face.

CHAPTER 24

¹Why are times not laid up by the Almighty? And why do those who know him not see his days? ²There are men who remove the landmarks. They take away flocks violently, and feed them. ³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless. They take the widow�s ox for a pledge. ⁴They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. ⁵Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their sons. ⁶They cut their provender in the field, and they glean the vintage of the wicked. ⁷They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. ⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. ⁹There are men who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, ¹⁰so that they go about naked without clothing, and being hungry they carry the sheaves. ¹¹They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. ¹²From out of the populous city men groan, and the soul of the wounded cries out. Yet God does not regard the folly. ¹³These are of those who rebel against the light. They do not know the ways of it, nor abide in the paths of it. ¹⁴The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. And in the night he is as a thief. ¹⁵The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me. And he disguises his face. ¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They do not know the light. ¹⁷For the morning is to all of them as thick darkness. For they know the terrors of the thick darkness. ¹⁸Swiftly they pass away upon the face of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards. ¹⁹Drought and heat consume the snow waters, and Sheol those who have sinned. ²⁰The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. And unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree. ²¹He devours the barren who do not bear, and does no good to the widow. ²²Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life. ²³God gives them to be in security, and they rest in it. And his eyes are upon their ways. ²⁴They are exalted. Yet a little while, and they are gone. Yea, they are brought low. They are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. ²⁵And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?

CHAPTER 25

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, and said, ²Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places. ³Is there any number of his armies? And upon whom does his light not arise? ⁴How then can man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of a woman? ⁵Behold, even the moon has no brightness. And the stars are not pure in his sight. ⁶How much less man, who is a worm! And the son of man, who is a worm!

CHAPTER 26

¹Then Job answered, and said, ²How thou have helped him who is without power! How thou have saved the arm that has no strength! ³How thou have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! ⁴To whom have thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee? ⁵Those who are deceased tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants of it. ⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. ⁷He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth upon nothing. ⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them. ⁹He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud upon it. ¹⁰He has described a boundary upon the face of the waters, to the confines of light and darkness. ¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. ¹²He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smites through Rahab. ¹³By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent. ¹⁴Lo, these are but the periphery of his ways. And how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?

CHAPTER 27

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said, ²As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has vexed my soul. ³(For my life is yet whole in me. And the spirit of God is in my nostrils.) ⁴Surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, nor shall my tongue utter deceit. ⁵Far be it from me that I should justify you. Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. ⁶I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go. My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. ⁷Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. ⁸For what is the hope of the profane, though he gets him gain, when God takes away his soul? ⁹Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him? ¹⁰Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times? ¹¹I will teach you concerning the hand of God. That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal. ¹²Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it. Why then have ye become altogether vain? ¹³This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty. ¹⁴If his sons be multiplied, it is for the sword. And his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread. ¹⁵Those who remain of him shall be buried in death, and his widows shall make no lamentation. ¹⁶Though he heaps up silver as the dust, and prepares raiment as the clay, ¹⁷he may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. ¹⁸He builds his house as the moth, and as a booth which the keeper makes. ¹⁹He lies down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers. He opens his eyes, and he is not. ²⁰Terrors overtake him like waters. A tempest steals him away in the night. ²¹The east wind carries him away, and he departs, and it sweeps him out of his place. ²²For God shall hurl at him, and not spare. He would gladly flee out of his hand. ²³Men shall clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out of his place.

CHAPTER 28

¹Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold which they refine. ²Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is molten out of the stone. ³Man sets an end to darkness, and searches out to the furthest bound the stones of obscurity and of thick darkness. ⁴He breaks open a shaft away from where men sojourn, paths forgotten by the foot. They hang afar from men; they swing to and fro. ⁵As for the earth, out of it comes bread, and underneath it is turned up as it were by fire. ⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. ⁷No bird of prey knows that path, nor has the falcon�s eye seen it. ⁸The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed thereby. ⁹He puts forth his hand upon the flinty rock. He overturns the mountains by the roots. ¹⁰He cuts out channels among the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. ¹¹He binds the streams that they not trickle. And the thing that is hid he brings forth to light. ¹²But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? ¹³Man does not know the price of it, nor is it found in the land of the living. ¹⁴The deep says, It is not in me. And the sea says, It is not with me. ¹⁵It cannot be gotten for gold, nor shall silver be weighed for the price of it. ¹⁶It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire. ¹⁷Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor shall it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. ¹⁸No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. Yea, the price of wisdom is above rubies. ¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, nor shall it be valued with pure gold. ²⁰Where then does wisdom come from? And where is the place of understanding? ²¹Since it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept closed from the birds of the heavens. ²²Destruction and Death say, We have heard a rumor of it with our ears. ²³God understands the way of it, and he knows the place of it. ²⁴For he looks to the ends of the earth, and sees under the whole heaven, ²⁵to make a weight for the wind. Yea, he distributes the waters by measure. ²⁶When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder, ²⁷then he saw it, and declared it. He established it, yea, and searched it out. ²⁸And to man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding.

CHAPTER 29

¹And Job again took up his discourse, and said, ²O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, ³when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, ⁴as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, ⁵when the Almighty was yet with me, and my sons were about me, ⁶when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil to me, ⁷when I went forth to the gate to the city, when I prepared my seat in the street. ⁸The young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged rose up and stood. ⁹The rulers refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. ¹⁰The voice of the ranking men was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. ¹²Because I delivered the poor who cried, also the fatherless who had none to help him. ¹³The blessing of him who was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow�s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and I was feet to the lame. ¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the case of him whom I did not know. ¹⁷And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth. ¹⁸Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. ¹⁹My root is spread out to the waters, and the dew lays all night upon my branch. ²⁰My glory is fresh in me, and my bow is renewed in my hand. ²¹To me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel. ²²After my words they spoke not again, and my speech distilled upon them. ²³And they waited for me as for the rain. And they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. ²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and they did not cast down the light of my countenance. ²⁵I chose out their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as a man who comforts the mourners.

CHAPTER 30

¹But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. ²Yea, the strength of their hands, to what should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished. ³They are gaunt with want and famine. They gnaw the dry ground in the gloom of waste and desolation. ⁴They pluck mallows by the bushes, and the roots of the juniper are their food. ⁵They are driven forth from the midst of men. They cry out after them as after a thief, ⁶so that they dwell in frightful valleys, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. ⁷Among the bushes they bray, under the nettles they are gathered together. ⁸They are sons of fools, yea, sons of base men. They were scourged out of the land. ⁹And now I have become their song, Yea, I am a byword to them. ¹⁰They abhor me. They stand aloof from me, and do not spare to spit in my face. ¹¹For he has loosed his cord, and afflicted me. And they have cast off the bridle before me. ¹²Upon my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction. ¹³They mar my path. They set forward my calamity, even men who have no helper. ¹⁴As through a wide breach they come. In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves upon me. ¹⁵Terrors are turned upon me. They chase my honor as the wind, and my welfare is passed away as a cloud. ¹⁶And now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold upon me. ¹⁷In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest. ¹⁸By the great force my garment is disfigured. It binds me about as the collar of my coat. ¹⁹He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. ²⁰I cry to thee, and thou do not answer me. I stand up, and thou gaze at me. ²¹Thou have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of thy hand thou persecute me. ²²Thou lift me up to the wind. Thou cause me to ride upon it, and thou disintegrate me in the storm. ²³For I know that thou will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. ²⁴However does not a man stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help? ²⁵Did I not weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? ²⁶When I looked for good, then evil came. And when I waited for light, there came darkness. ²⁷My heart is troubled, and does not rest. Days of affliction have come upon me. ²⁸I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. ²⁹I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches. ³⁰My skin is black, and falls from me. And my bones are burned with heat. ³¹Therefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

CHAPTER 31

¹I made a covenant with my eyes. How then should I look upon a virgin? ²For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high? ³Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, and disaster to the workers of iniquity? ⁴Does he not see my ways, and number all my steps? ⁵If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit ⁶(let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know my integrity); ⁷if my step has turned out of the way, and my heart walked after my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands, ⁸then let me sow, and let another eat, yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out. ⁹If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor�s door, ¹⁰then let my wife grind to another, and let others bow down upon her. ¹¹For that is a heinous crime, yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges. ¹²For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase. ¹³If I have despised the case of my man-servant or of my maid-servant when they contended with me, ¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up? And when he visits, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb? ¹⁶If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it ¹⁸(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and her I have guided from my mother�s womb); ¹⁹if I have seen any perish for lack of clothing, or that the needy had no covering; ²⁰if his loins have not blessed me, and if he has not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep; ²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate, ²²then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and my arm be broken from the bone. ²³For calamity from God is a terror to me, and I can do nothing because of his majesty. ²⁴If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, Thou are my confidence; ²⁵if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; ²⁶if I have beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness, ²⁷and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand ²⁸(this also is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have denied the God that is above); ²⁹if I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him ³⁰(yea, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse); ³¹if the men of my tent have not said, Who can find one who has not been filled with his food? ³²(the sojourner has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler); ³³if like Adam I have covered my transgressions by hiding my iniquity in my bosom ³⁴because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence, and did not go out of the door� ³⁵O that I had someone to hear me (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me), and that I had the indictment which my adversary has written! ³⁶Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder. I would bind it to me as a crown. ³⁷I would declare to him the number of my steps. I would go near to him as a prince. ³⁸If my land cries out against me, and the furrows of it weep together; ³⁹if I have eaten the fruits of it without money, or have caused the owners of it to lose their lives, ⁴⁰let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

CHAPTER 32

¹So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²Then the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled. His anger was kindled against Job because he justified himself rather than God. ³His anger was also kindled against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. ⁴Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. ⁵And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his anger was kindled. ⁶And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old. Therefore I held back, and dared not show you my opinion. ⁷I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. ⁸But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. ⁹It is not the great who are wise, nor the aged who understand justice. ¹⁰Therefore I said, Hearken to me, I also will show my opinion. ¹¹Behold, I waited for your words, I listened for your reasonings, while ye searched out what to say. ¹²Yea, I attended to you. And, behold, there was none who convinced Job, or who answered his words among you. ¹³Beware lest ye say, We have found wisdom. God may vanquish him, not man. ¹⁴For he has not directed his words against me. Neither will I answer him with your speeches. ¹⁵They are amazed, they answer no more. They have not a word to say. ¹⁶And shall I wait because they do not speak, because they stand still, and answer no more? ¹⁷I also will answer my part. I also will show my opinion, ¹⁸for I am full of words. The spirit within me compels me. ¹⁹Behold, my breast is as wine which has no vent. Like new wine-skins it is ready to burst. ²⁰I will speak that I may be refreshed. I will open my lips and answer. ²¹Let me not, I pray you, respect any man�s person. Neither will I give flattering titles to any man. ²²For I know not to give flattering titles, else my maker would soon take me away.

CHAPTER 33

¹However, Job, I pray thee, hear my speech, and hearken to all my words. ²Behold now, I have opened my mouth. My tongue has spoken in my mouth. ³My words shall utter the uprightness of my heart, and that which my lips know they shall speak sincerely. ⁴The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. ⁵If thou can, answer thou me. Set thy words in order before me. Stand forth. ⁶Behold, I am toward God even as thou are. I also am formed out of the clay. ⁷Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, nor shall my pressure be heavy upon thee. ⁸Surely thou have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying, ⁹I am clean, without transgression. I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. ¹⁰Thou say, Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy. ¹¹He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths. ¹²Behold, I will answer thee. In this thou are not just, for God is greater than man. ¹³Why do thou strive against him because he does not give account of any of his matters? ¹⁴For God speaks once, yea twice, though man does not regard it. ¹⁵In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumberings upon the bed. ¹⁶Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction ¹⁷that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. ¹⁸He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. ¹⁹He also is chastened with pain upon his bed, and with continual strife in his bones, ²⁰so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. ²¹His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen. And his bones that were not seen stick out. ²²Yea, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers. ²³If there be with him an agent, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him, ²⁴then God is gracious to him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom. ²⁵His flesh shall be fresher than a child�s. He returns to the days of his youth. ²⁶He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy, and he restores to man his righteousness. ²⁷He sings before men, and says, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it did not profit me. ²⁸He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit, and my life shall behold the light. ²⁹Lo, all these things God works twice, yea thrice, with a man, ³⁰to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of the living. ³¹Mark well, O Job, hearken to me. Keep silent, and I will speak. ³²If thou have anything to say, answer me. Speak, for I desire to justify thee. ³³If not, hearken thou to me. Keep silent, and I will teach thee.

CHAPTER 34

¹Moreover Elihu answered, and said, ²Hear my words, ye wise men, and give ear to me, ye who have knowledge. ³For the ear tries words as the palate tastes food. ⁴Let us choose for us that which is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good. ⁵For Job has said, I am righteous, and God has taken away my right. ⁶Notwithstanding my right I am accounted a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression. ⁷What man is like Job, who drinks up scorning like water, ⁸saying, I have not sinned, nor committed unrighteousness, nor had fellowship with workers of iniquity to go with the profane. ⁹For thou should not say, There shall be no visitation to a man, whereas visitation is to him from the Lord. ¹⁰Therefore hearken to me, ye men of understanding. Far be it from me to sin before the Lord, and pervert righteousness before the Almighty. ¹¹For the work of a man he will render to him, and cause every man to find according to his ways. ¹²Yea, certainly God will not do wrong. Neither will the Almighty pervert justice. ¹³Who gave him a charge over the earth? Or who has disposed the whole world? ¹⁴If he sets his heart upon himself, if he gathers his spirit and his breath to himself, ¹⁵all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again to dust. ¹⁶If now thou be understanding, hear this. Hearken to the voice of words. ¹⁷Behold thou him who hates lawlessness, and who destroys evil men, who is forever righteousness, ¹⁸him who says to a king, Thou are vile, to ranking men, Ye are wicked, ¹⁹who does not respect the persons of rulers, nor regards the rich more than the poor. For they all are the work of his hands. ²⁰In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away, and the mighty are taken away without hand. ²¹For his eyes are upon the ways of a man, and he sees all his goings. ²²There is no darkness, nor thick gloom where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. ²³For he needs no further to consider a man, that he should go before God in judgment. ²⁴He breaks in pieces mighty men in ways past finding out, and sets others in their stead. ²⁵Therefore he takes knowledge of their works, and he overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed. ²⁶He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others ²⁷because they turned aside from following him, and would not have regard in any of his ways, ²⁸so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him, and he heard the cry of the afflicted. ²⁹When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? And when he hides his face, who then can behold him? It is the same whether to a nation, or to a man, ³⁰that the profane man not reign, that there be none to ensnare the people. ³¹For has any said to God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more. ³²Teach thou me that which I do not see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more? ³³Shall his recompense be as thou desire, that thou refuse it? For thou must choose, and not I. Therefore speak what thou know. ³⁴Men of understanding will say to me, yes, every wise man who hears me, ³⁵Job speaks without knowledge, and his words are without wisdom. ³⁶But surely not. Learn thou Job not to still give an answer like the foolish, ³⁷so that we may not add to our sins, and lawlessness will be reckoned against us, speaking many words before the Lord.

CHAPTER 35

¹Moreover Elihu answered, and said, ²What is this thou think in judgment? Who are thou that thou said, I am righteousness before the Lord? ³That thou said, What advantage will it be to thee? And, What profit shall I have more than if I had sinned? ⁴I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. ⁵Look to the heavens, and see. And behold the skies, which are higher than thou. ⁶If thou have sinned, what do thou effect against him? And if thy transgressions be multiplied, what do thou to him? ⁷If thou be righteous, what do thou give him? Or what does he receive of thy hand? ⁸Thy wickedness is a man as thou are, and thy righteousness is a son of man. ⁹Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out. They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty. ¹⁰But none says, Where is God my maker who gives songs in the night, ¹¹who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens? ¹²There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³Surely God will not hear an empty cry, nor will the Almighty regard it. ¹⁴How much less when thou say thou do not behold him. The case is before him, and thou wait for him! ¹⁵But now, because he has not visited in his anger, nor does he greatly regard folly, ¹⁶so Job opens his mouth in vanity. He multiplies words without knowledge.

CHAPTER 36

¹Elihu also proceeded, and said, ²Allow me a little, and I will show thee. For I have yet somewhat to say on God�s behalf. ³I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my maker. ⁴(For truly my words are not false.) He who is perfect in knowledge is with thee. ⁵Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise. He is mighty in strength of understanding. ⁶He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives to the afflicted their right. ⁷He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but he sets them forever with kings upon the throne, and they are exalted. ⁸And if they be bound in fetters, and be taken in the cords of afflictions, ⁹then he shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly. ¹⁰He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity. ¹¹If they hearken and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. ¹²But if they do not hearken, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge. ¹³But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They do not cry for help when he binds them. ¹⁴They die in youth, and their life perishes among the unclean. ¹⁵He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression. ¹⁶Yea, he would have allured thee out of distress into a broad place, where there is no confinement, and that which is set on thy table would be full of fatness. ¹⁷But thou have fulfilled the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold, ¹⁸and there shall be wrath upon the impious because of the ungodliness of bribes which the unrighteous receive. ¹⁹Will thy cry not avail in distress, or all the forces of strength? ²⁰Do not desire the night, when peoples are cut off in their place. ²¹Take heed. Do not turn to iniquity, for thou have fixed on this because of affliction. ²²Behold, God does loftily in his power. Who is a teacher like him? ²³Who has enjoined him his way? Or who can say, Thou have wrought unrighteousness? ²⁴Remember that thou magnify his work, of which men have sung. ²⁵All men have looked on it. Man beholds it afar off. ²⁶Behold, God is great, and we do not know him. The number of his years is unsearchable. ²⁷For he draws up the drops of water, which distil in rain from his vapor, ²⁸which the skies pour down and drop upon man abundantly. ²⁹Yea, can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion? ³⁰Behold, he spreads his light around him, and he covers the bottom of the sea. ³¹For by these he judges the peoples. He gives food in abundance. ³²He covers his hands with the lightning, and gives it a command that it strike the mark. ³³The noise of it tells concerning him. The cattle also concerning the storm that comes up.

CHAPTER 37

¹Yea, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place. ²Hear, O, hear the noise of his voice, and the sound that goes out of his mouth. ³He sends it forth under the whole heaven, and his lightning to the ends of the earth. ⁴After it a voice roars. He thunders with the voice of his majesty, and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. ⁵God thunders marvelously with his voice. He does great things which we cannot comprehend. ⁶For he says to the snow, Fall thou on the earth, likewise to the shower of rain, and to the showers of his mighty rain. ⁷He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it. ⁸Then the beasts go into coverts, and remain in their dens. ⁹Out of the chamber of the south comes the storm, and cold out of the north. ¹⁰By the breath of God ice is given, and the breadth of the waters is narrowed. ¹¹Yea, he loads the thick cloud with moisture. He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning, ¹²and it is turned round about by his guidance, that they may do whatever he commands them upon the face of the habitable world. ¹³He causes it to come, whether it be for correction, or for his land, or for loving kindness. ¹⁴Hearken to this, O Job. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. ¹⁵Do thou know how God lays his charge upon them, and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine? ¹⁶Do thou know the balancing of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge? ¹⁷How thy garments are warm when the earth is still because of the south wind? ¹⁸Can thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong as a molten mirror? ¹⁹Teach us what we shall say to him. We cannot set in array because of darkness. ²⁰Shall it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up? ²¹And now men do not see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them. ²²Out of the north comes golden splendor. God has upon him awesome majesty. ²³O the Almighty, we cannot find him out. He is excellent in power. And in justice and abundant righteousness he will not afflict. ²⁴Men therefore fear him. He does not regard any who are wise of heart.

CHAPTER 38

¹Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, ²Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ³Gird up now thy loins like a man, for I will demand of thee, and declare thou to me. ⁴Where were thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if thou have understanding. ⁵Who determined the measures of it, if thou know? Or who stretched the line upon it? ⁶Upon what were the foundations of it fastened? Or who laid the cornerstone of it ⁷when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? ⁸Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth, like it had issued out of the womb, ⁹when I made clouds the garment of it, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, ¹⁰and marked out for it my bound, and set bars and doors, ¹¹and said, This far thou shall come, but no farther, and here thy proud waves shall be stayed? ¹²Have thou commanded the morning since thy days began, and caused the dayspring to know its place ¹³that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it? ¹⁴It is changed as clay under the seal, and all things stand forth as a garment. ¹⁵And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the high arm is broken. ¹⁶Have thou entered into the springs of the sea? Or have thou walked in the recesses of the deep? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to thee? Or have thou seen the gates of the shadow of death? ¹⁸Have thou comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if thou know it all. ¹⁹Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And as for darkness, where is the place of it ²⁰that thou should take it to the bound of it, and that thou should discern the paths to the house of it? ²¹Thou know, for thou were born then, and the number of thy days is great! ²²Have thou entered the treasuries of the snow, or have thou seen the treasures of the hail, ²³which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? ²⁴By what way is the light divided, or the east wind scattered upon the earth? ²⁵Who has cleft a channel for the water flood, or the way for the lightning of the thunder, ²⁶to cause it to rain on a land where no man is, on the wilderness, in which there is no man, ²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, and to cause the tender grass to spring forth? ²⁸Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? ²⁹Out of whose womb came the ice? And the hoary frost of heaven, who has engendered it? ³⁰The waters hide themselves and become like stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. ³¹Can thou bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? ³²Can thou lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season? Or can thou guide the Bear with her train? ³³Do thou know the ordinances of the heavens? Can thou establish the dominion of it on the earth? ³⁴Can thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? ³⁵Can thou send forth lightnings, that they may go, and say to thee, Here we are? ³⁶Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? ³⁷Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven ³⁸when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods cleave fast together? ³⁹Can thou hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions ⁴⁰when they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait? ⁴¹Who provides for the raven his prey when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

CHAPTER 39

¹Do thou know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? Or can thou mark when the hinds do calve? ²Can thou number the months that they fulfill? Or do thou know the time when they bring forth? ³They bow themselves. They bring forth their young. They cast out their pains. ⁴Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go forth, and return not again. ⁵Who has sent out the wild donkey free? Or who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey ⁶whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling-place? ⁷He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shoutings of the driver. ⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. ⁹Will the wild-ox be content to serve thee? Or will he abide by thy crib? ¹⁰Can thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? ¹¹Will thou trust him because his strength is great? Or will thou leave to him thy labor? ¹²Will thou confide in him that he will bring home thy seed, and gather the grain of thy threshing-floor? ¹³The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? ¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust. ¹⁵And she forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may trample them. ¹⁶She deals hardly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear, ¹⁷because God has deprived her of wisdom, nor has he imparted understanding to her. ¹⁸The time she lifts up herself on high she scorns the horse and his rider. ¹⁹Have thou given the horse his might? Have thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane? ²⁰Have thou made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome. ²¹He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men. ²²He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed. Neither does he turn back from the sword. ²³The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin. ²⁴He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage, nor does he believe that it is the voice of the trumpet. ²⁵As often as the trumpet sounds he says, Aha! And he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. ²⁶Is it by thy wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south? ²⁷Is it at thy command that the eagle mounts up, and makes her nest on high? ²⁸She dwells on the cliff, and makes her home upon the point of the cliff and the stronghold. ²⁹From there she spies out the prey. Her eyes behold it afar off. ³⁰Her young ones also suck up blood. And where the slain are, there is she.

CHAPTER 40

¹Moreover Jehovah answered Job, and said, ²Shall he who quibbles contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it. ³Then Job answered Jehovah, and said, ⁴Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer thee? I lay my hand upon my mouth. ⁵I have spoken once, and I will not answer, yes, twice, but I will proceed no further. ⁶Then Jehovah answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, ⁷Gird up thy loins now like a man. I will demand of thee, and declare thou to me. ⁸Will thou even annul my judgment? Will thou condemn me, that thou may be justified? ⁹Or have thou an arm like God? And can thou thunder with a voice like him? ¹⁰Deck thyself now with excellency and dignity, and array thyself with honor and majesty. ¹¹Pour forth the overflowings of thine anger, and look upon everyone who is proud, and abase him. ¹²Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low, and tread down the wicked where they stand. ¹³Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place. ¹⁴Then I will also confess of thee that thine own right hand can save thee. ¹⁵Behold now behemoth, which I made as well as thee. He eats grass as an ox. ¹⁶Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together. ¹⁸His bones are as tubes of brass. His limbs are like bars of iron. ¹⁹He is a beginning of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword. ²⁰Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play. ²¹He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the fen. ²²The lotus trees cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook encompass him about. ²³Behold, if a river overflows, he does not tremble. He is confident though a Jordan swell even to his mouth. ²⁴Shall any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?

CHAPTER 41

¹Can thou draw out leviathan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? ²Can thou put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook? ³Will he make many supplications to thee? Or will he speak soft words to thee? ⁴Will he make a covenant with thee, that thou should take him for a servant forever? ⁵Will thou play with him as with a bird? Or will thou bind him for thy maidens? ⁶Will the bands make traffic of him? Will they part him among the merchants? ⁷Can thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish-spears? ⁸Lay thy hand upon him. Remember the battle, and do so no more. ⁹Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Will not a man be cast down even at the sight of him? ¹⁰None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? ¹¹Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Under the whole heaven is mine. ¹²I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame. ¹³Who can strip off his outer garment? Who shall come within his jaws? ¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror. ¹⁵His strong scales are his pride, shut up together like a close seal. ¹⁶One is so near to another that no air can come between them. ¹⁷They are joined one to another. They stick together, so that they cannot be parted. ¹⁸His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. ¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning torches, and sparks of fire leap forth. ²⁰Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot and burning rushes. ²¹His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth. ²²In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him. ²³The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm upon him. They cannot be moved. ²⁴His heart is as firm as a stone, Yea, firm as the nether millstone. ²⁵When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid. Because of consternation they are beside themselves. ²⁶If a man lays at him with the sword it cannot avail, nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft. ²⁷He counts iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. ²⁸The arrow cannot make him flee. Sling-stones are turned into stubble with him. ²⁹Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin. ³⁰His underparts are like sharp potsherds. He spreads out as a threshing-wagon upon the mire. ³¹He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. ³²He makes a path to shine after him. A man would think the deep to be hoary. ³³Upon earth there is not his like who is made without fear. ³⁴He beholds everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.

CHAPTER 42

¹Then Job answered Jehovah, and said, ²I know that thou can do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be restrained. ³Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak, I will ask of thee, and declare thou to me. ⁵I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee. ⁶Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes. ⁷And it was so, that, after Jehovah had spoken these words to Job, Jehovah said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends. For ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸Now therefore, take to you seven bullocks and seven rams. And go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for him I will accept, that I not deal with you after your folly. For ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did according as Jehovah commanded them, and Jehovah accepted Job. ¹⁰And Jehovah turned back the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. And Jehovah gave Job twice as much as he had before. ¹¹Then there came to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they bemoaned him, and comforted him concerning all the evil that Jehovah had brought upon him. Each man also gave him a piece of money, and each one a ring of gold. ¹²So Jehovah blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-donkeys. ¹³He had also seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴And he called the name of the first, Jemimah, and the name of the second, Keziah, and the name of the third, Keren-happuch. ¹⁵And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job. And their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. ¹⁶And after this Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons� sons, even four generations. ¹⁷So Job died, being old and full of days.

PSALMS

CHAPTER 1

¹Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, ²but his delight is in the law of Jehovah, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. And whatever he does shall prosper. ⁴The wicked are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. ⁵Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. ⁶For Jehovah knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.

CHAPTER 2

¹Why do the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things? ²The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying, ³Let us break their bonds apart, and cast away their cords from us. ⁴He who sits in the heavens will laugh. The Lord will have them in derision. ⁵Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and vex them in his great displeasure. ⁶Yet I have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. ⁷I will tell of the decree. Jehovah said to me, Thou are my Son, this day I have begotten thee. ⁸Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the outermost parts of the earth for thy possession. ⁹Thou shall break them with a rod of iron, thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter�s vessel. ¹⁰Now therefore be wise, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. ¹¹Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. ¹²Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish in the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.

CHAPTER 3

¹Jehovah, how my adversaries are increased! Many are those who rise up against me. ²Many there are who say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. ³But thou, O Jehovah, are a shield about me, my glory and he who lifts up of my head. ⁴I cry to Jehovah with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill. Selah. ⁵I laid down and slept. I awoke, for Jehovah sustains me. ⁶I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people who have set themselves against me round about. ⁷Arise, O Jehovah. Save me, O my God. For thou have smitten all my enemies upon the cheek bone. Thou have broken the teeth of the wicked. ⁸Salvation belongs to Jehovah. Thy blessing be upon thy people. Selah.

CHAPTER 4

¹Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou have enlarged me in distress. Have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer. ²O ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be turned into dishonor? Will ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood? Selah. ³But know that Jehovah has set apart for himself him who is holy. Jehovah will hear when I call to him. ⁴Stand in awe, and sin not. Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. ⁵Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in Jehovah. ⁶Many there are who say, Who will show us good? Jehovah, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. ⁷Thou have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and their new wine are increased. ⁸In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for thou, Jehovah, alone make me dwell in safety.

CHAPTER 5

¹Give ear to my words, O Jehovah, Consider my meditation. ²Hearken to the voice of my cry, my King, and my God, for to thee do I pray. ³O Jehovah, in the morning thou shall hear my voice. In the morning I will direct to thee, and will keep watch. ⁴For thou are not a God who has pleasure in wickedness. Evil shall not sojourn with thee. ⁵The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hate all workers of iniquity. ⁶Thou will destroy those who speak lies. Jehovah abhors the blood-thirsty and deceitful man. ⁷But as for me, in the abundance of thy loving kindness I will come into thy house. In thy fear I will worship toward thy holy temple. ⁸Lead me, O Jehovah, in thy righteousness because of my enemies. Make thy way straight before my face. ⁹For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongue they deceive. ¹⁰Hold them guilty, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions. For they have rebelled against thee. ¹¹But let all those who take refuge in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy, because thou defend them. Let those also who love thy name be joyful in thee. ¹²For thou will bless the righteous man, O Jehovah. Thou will encompass him with favor as with a shield. Selah.

CHAPTER 6

¹O Jehovah, rebuke me not in thine anger, nor chasten me in thy hot displeasure. ²Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am withered away. O Jehovah, heal me, for my bones are troubled. ³My soul also is greatly troubled. And thou, O Jehovah, how long? ⁴Return, O Jehovah, deliver my soul. Save me for thy loving kindness� sake. ⁵For in death there is no remembrance of thee. In Sheol who shall give thee thanks? ⁶I am weary with my groaning. Every night I make my bed to swim. I water my couch with my tears. ⁷My eye wastes away because of grief. It grows old because of all my adversaries. ⁸Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for Jehovah has heard the voice of my weeping. ⁹Jehovah has heard my supplication. Jehovah will receive my prayer. ¹⁰All my enemies shall be put to shame and greatly troubled. They shall turn back. They shall be put to shame suddenly.

CHAPTER 7

¹O Jehovah my God, in thee do I take refuge. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, ²lest they tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. ³O Jehovah my God, if I have done this, if there be iniquity in my hands, ⁴if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me, (yea, I have delivered him without cause who was my adversary), ⁵let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it. Yea, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah. ⁶Arise, O Jehovah, in thine anger. Lift up thyself against the rage of my adversaries, and awake for me the justice thou have commanded. ⁷And let the congregation of the peoples encompass thee about, and return thou on high over them. ⁸Jehovah shall judge the peoples. Judge me, O Jehovah, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me. ⁹O let the wickedness of the wicked man come to an end, but establish thou the righteous man. For the righteous God tries the minds and hearts. ¹⁰My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart. ¹¹God is a righteous judge. Yea, a God who has indignation every day. ¹²If a man does not repent, he will whet his sword. He has bent his bow, and made it ready. ¹³He has also prepared for him the instruments of death. He makes his arrows fiery. ¹⁴Behold the wicked man, he travails with iniquity. Yea, he has conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood. ¹⁵He has made a pit, and dug it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. ¹⁶His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violence shall come down upon his own scalp. ¹⁷I will give thanks to Jehovah according to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of Jehovah Most High.

CHAPTER 8

¹O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth, who has set thy glory upon the heavens! ²Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou have perfected praise, because of thine adversaries, that thou might still the enemy and the avenger. ³When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou have ordained, ⁴what is man that thou remember him? And the son of man that thou succor him? ⁵For thou have made him but little lower than agents, and crowned him with glory and honor. ⁶Thou make him to have dominion over the works of thy hands. Thou have put all things under his feet. ⁷All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, ⁸the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the seas. ⁹O Jehovah, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

CHAPTER 9

¹I will give thanks to Jehovah with my whole heart. I will show forth all thy marvelous works. ²I will be glad and exult in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O thou Most High. ³When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish at thy presence. ⁴For thou have maintained my right and my cause. Thou sit in the throne judging righteously. ⁵Thou have rebuked the nations. Thou have destroyed the wicked. Thou have blotted out their name forever and ever. ⁶The enemy have come to an end. They are desolate forever, and the cities which thou have overthrown. The very memory of them is perished, ⁷but Jehovah will endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment, ⁸and he will judge the world in righteousness. He will minister justice to the peoples in uprightness. ⁹Jehovah will also be a high tower for the oppressed, a high tower in times of trouble. ¹⁰And those who know thy name will put their trust in thee, for thou, Jehovah, have not forsaken those who seek thee. ¹¹Sing praises to Jehovah, who dwells in Zion. Declare among the people his doings. ¹²For he who makes inquiry for blood remembers them. He does not forget the cry of the poor. ¹³Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah. Behold my affliction from those who hate me, thou who lifts me up from the gates of death ¹⁴that I may show forth all thy praise. In the gates of the daughter of Zion I will rejoice in thy salvation. ¹⁵The nations are sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken. ¹⁶Jehovah has made himself known. He has executed justice. The wicked man is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah. ¹⁷Wicked men shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God. ¹⁸For a needy man shall not always be forgotten, nor the expectation of the poor perish forever. ¹⁹Arise, O Jehovah, let not man prevail. Let the nations be judged in thy sight. ²⁰Put them in fear, O Jehovah. Let the nations know themselves to be but men. Selah.

CHAPTER 10

¹Why do thou stand afar off, O Jehovah? Why do thou hide thyself in times of trouble? ²In the pride of the wicked man the poor man is hotly pursued. Let them be taken in the devices that they have conceived. ³For the wicked man boasts of his heart�s desire. And the greedy man renounces, yea, despises Jehovah. ⁴The wicked man, in the pride of his countenance, says, He will not require it. All his thoughts are, There is no God. ⁵His ways are profane at all times. Thy judgments are far above out of his sight. As for all his adversaries, he puffs at them. ⁶He says in his heart, I shall not be moved. To all generations I shall not be in adversity. ⁷His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression. Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity. ⁸He sits in the lurking-places of the villages. In the covert places he murders the innocent man. His eyes are secretly set against the poor man. ⁹He lurks in secret as a lion in his covert. He lies in wait to catch the poor man. He catches the poor man when he draws him in his net. ¹⁰He crouches, he bows down, and helpless men fall by his strong men. ¹¹He says in his heart, God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it. ¹²Arise, O Jehovah, O God, lift up thy hand. Do not forget the poor. ¹³Why does the wicked man despise God, and say in his heart, Thou will not require it? ¹⁴Thou have seen. For thou behold mischief and spite, to repay with thy hand. The poor man commits himself to thee. Thou have been the helper of the fatherless. ¹⁵Break thou the arm of the sinner and the evil man. His wickedness shall be sought, and shall not be found. ¹⁶Jehovah is King forever and ever. The nations have perished out of his land. ¹⁷Jehovah, thou have heard the desire of the humble. Thou will prepare their heart, thou will cause thine ear to hear, ¹⁸to judge the fatherless and the oppressed, that man who is of the earth may no more be terrible.

CHAPTER 11

¹In Jehovah I take refuge. How will ye say to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain. ²For, lo, the wicked bend the bow. They make ready their arrow upon the string that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. ³If the foundations be destroyed, what can a righteous man do? ⁴Jehovah is in his holy temple. Jehovah�s throne is in heaven. His eyes, behold, his eyelids try, the sons of men. ⁵Jehovah tries the righteous man, but his soul hates the wicked man and him who loves violence. ⁶He will rain snares upon sinners. Fire and brimstone and burning wind shall be the portion of their cup. ⁷For Jehovah is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright man shall behold his face.

CHAPTER 12

¹Help, Jehovah, for the holy man ceases, for the faithful fail from among the sons of men. ²They speak falsehood everyone with his neighbor. With flattering lip, and with a double heart, they speak. ³Jehovah will cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that speaks great things, ⁴who have said, With our tongue will we prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us? ⁵Because of the oppression of the poor, because of the sighing of the needy, now I will arise, says Jehovah. I will set him in the safety he gasps for. ⁶The words of Jehovah are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace on the earth, purified seven times. ⁷Thou will keep them, O Jehovah. Thou will preserve them from this generation forever. ⁸The wicked walk on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

CHAPTER 13

¹How long, O Jehovah? Will thou forget me forever? How long will thou hide thy face from me? ²How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? ³Consider and answer me, O Jehovah my God. Lighten my eyes, lest I sleep the death, ⁴lest my enemy say, I have prevailed against him, lest my adversaries rejoice when I am moved. ⁵But I have trusted in thy loving kindness. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. ⁶I will sing to Jehovah because he has dealt bountifully with me.

CHAPTER 14

¹The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that does good. ²Jehovah looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there were any who understood, who sought after God. ³They are all gone aside. They are together become filthy. There is none who does good, no, not one. ⁴Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon Jehovah? ⁵There they were in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous. ⁶Ye put to shame the counsel of the poor because Jehovah is his refuge. ⁷O that the salvation of Israel came out of Zion! When Jehovah brings back the captivity of his people, then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

CHAPTER 15

¹Jehovah, who shall sojourn in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? ²He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart, ³he who does no slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor takes up a reproach against his neighbor, ⁴in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear Jehovah, he that swears to his own hurt, and changes not, ⁵he who puts not his money out to interest, nor takes a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be moved.

CHAPTER 16

¹Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I take refuge. ²Thou my soul have said to Jehovah, Thou are my Lord. I have no good beyond thee. ³As for the sanctified who are in the earth, they are the excellent in whom is all my delight. ⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts for another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names upon my lips. ⁵Jehovah is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintain my lot. ⁶The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places. Yea, I have a fine heritage. ⁷I will bless Jehovah, who has given me counsel. Yea, my heart instructs me in the night seasons. ⁸I beheld Jehovah always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. ⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall dwell in hope. ¹⁰For thou will not leave my soul to Sheol, nor will thou allow thy Holy man to see corruption. ¹¹Thou made known to me the path of life. Thou will fill me of joy with thy countenance.

CHAPTER 17

¹Hear the right, O Jehovah, attend to my cry. Give ear to my prayer, that goes not out of feigned lips. ²Let my justice come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes look upon equity. ³Thou have proved my heart. Thou have visited me in the night. Thou have tried me, and find nothing. I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. ⁴As for the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept from the ways of a violent man. ⁵My steps have held fast to thy paths. My feet have not slipped. ⁶I have called upon thee, for thou will answer me, O God. Incline thine ear to me, and hear my speech. ⁷Show thy marvelous loving kindness, O thou who saves by thy right hand those who take refuge from those who rise up. ⁸Keep me as the apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy wings, ⁹from the wicked who oppress me, my deadly enemies, who encompass me around. ¹⁰They are enclosed in their own fat. With their mouth they speak proudly. ¹¹They have now encompassed us in our steps. They set their eyes to cast down to the earth. ¹²He is like a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. ¹³Arise, O Jehovah, confront him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked by thy sword, ¹⁴from men by thy hand, O Jehovah, from men of the world whose portion is in this life, and whose belly thou fill with thy treasure. They are satisfied with sons, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes. ¹⁵As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy form.

CHAPTER 18

¹I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength. ²Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower. ³I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be praised. So I shall be saved from my enemies. ⁴The cords of death encompassed me, and the floods of lawlessness made me afraid. ⁵The cords of Sheol were round about me. The snares of death came upon me. ⁶In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry before him came into his ears. ⁷Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken because he was angry. ⁸There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. ⁹He also bowed the heavens, and came down, and thick darkness was under his feet. ¹⁰And he rode upon a cherub, and flew. Yea, he soared upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹He made darkness his hiding-place, his pavilion round about him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. ¹²At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire. ¹³Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. ¹⁴And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them, Yea, lightnings manifold, and discomfited them. ¹⁵Then the channels of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at thy rebuke, O Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. ¹⁶He sent from on high, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. ¹⁸They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah was my stay. ¹⁹He also brought me forth into a large place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. ²⁰Jehovah has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands he has recompensed me. ²¹For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²²For all his ordinances were before me, and I put not away his statutes from me. ²³I was also perfect with him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁴Therefore Jehovah has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. ²⁵With the merciful thou will show thyself merciful. With the perfect man thou will show thyself perfect. ²⁶With the pure thou will show thyself pure. And with the perverse thou will show thyself contrary. ²⁷For thou will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes thou will bring down. ²⁸For thou will light my lamp. Jehovah my God will lighten my darkness. ²⁹For by thee I run upon a troop, and by my God I leap over a wall. ³⁰As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Jehovah is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him. ³¹For who is God, except Jehovah? And who is a rock, besides our God, ³²the God who girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect? ³³He makes my feet like hinds� feet, and sets me upon my high places. ³⁴He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of brass. ³⁵Thou have also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand has held me up, and thy gentleness has made me great. ³⁶Thou have enlarged my steps under me, and my feet have not slipped. ³⁷I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again till they are consumed. ³⁸I will smite them through, so that they shall not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet. ³⁹For thou have girded me with strength to the battle. Thou have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴⁰Thou have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. ⁴¹They cried, but there was none to save, even to Jehovah, but he answered them not. ⁴²Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets. ⁴³Thou have delivered me from the strivings of the people. Thou have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me. ⁴⁴As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me. ⁴⁵The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places. ⁴⁶Jehovah lives, and blessed be my rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation, ⁴⁷even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me. ⁴⁸He rescues me from my enemies. Yea, thou lift me up above those who rise up against me. Thou deliver me from the violent man. ⁴⁹Therefore I will give thanks to thee, O Jehovah, among the Gentiles, and will sing praises to thy name. ⁵⁰He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, for evermore.

CHAPTER 19

¹The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork. ²Day to day utters speech, and night to night shows knowledge. ³There is no speech nor language in which their voice is not heard. ⁴Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tabernacle for the sun, ⁵which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run his course. ⁶His going forth is from the end of the heavens, and his circuit to the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat of it. ⁷The law of Jehovah is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of Jehovah is sure, making a simple man wise. ⁸The precepts of Jehovah are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of Jehovah is pure, enlightening the eyes. ⁹The fear of Jehovah is clean, enduring forever. The ordinances of Jehovah are true, and righteous altogether. ¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the droppings of the honeycomb. ¹¹Moreover by them thy servant is warned. In keeping them there is great reward. ¹²Who can discern his errors? Clear thou me from hidden faults. ¹³Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be upright, and I shall be clear from great transgression. ¹⁴Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer.

CHAPTER 20

¹Jehovah answer thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob set thee up on high, ²send thee help from the sanctuary, and strengthen thee out of Zion, ³remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt-sacrifice ⁴grant thee thy heart�s desire, and fulfill all thy counsel. ⁵We will triumph in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners. Jehovah fulfill all thy petitions. ⁶Now I know that Jehovah saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. ⁷Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will make mention of the name of Jehovah our God. ⁸They are bowed down and fallen, but we are risen, and stand upright. ⁹Save, Jehovah! Let the King answer us when we call.

CHAPTER 21

¹The king shall joy in thy strength, O Jehovah. And in thy salvation how greatly he shall rejoice! ²Thou have given him his heart�s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah. ³For thou meet him with the blessings of goodness. Thou set a crown of fine gold on his head. ⁴He asked life from thee. Thou gave it him, even length of days forever and ever. ⁵His glory is great in thy salvation. Honor and majesty thou do lay upon him. ⁶For thou make him most blessed forever. Thou make him glad with joy in thy presence. ⁷For the king trusts in Jehovah. And through the loving kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved. ⁸Thy hand will find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand will find out those who hate thee. ⁹Thou will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of thine anger. Jehovah will swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. ¹⁰Thou will destroy their fruit from the earth, and their seed from among the sons of men. ¹¹For they intended evil against thee. They conceived a device which they are not able to perform. ¹²For thou will make them turn their back. Thou will make ready with thy bowstrings against their face. ¹³Be thou exalted, O Jehovah, in thy strength. We will sing and praise thy power.

CHAPTER 22

¹My God, my God, why have thou forsaken me, far from helping me, and the words of my groaning? ²O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou answer not, and in the night season, and I am not silent. ³But thou are holy, O thou who inhabit the praises of Israel. ⁴Our fathers trusted in thee. They trusted, and thou delivered them. ⁵They cried to thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were not put to shame. ⁶But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised by the people. ⁷All those who see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake the head, saying, ⁸He trusted on Jehovah. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him, since he delights in him. ⁹But thou are he who took me out of the womb. Thou made me trust upon my mother�s breasts. ¹⁰I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou are my God since my mother bore me. ¹¹Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. ¹²Many bulls have encompassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me around. ¹³They gape upon me with their mouth, as a ravening and a roaring lion. ¹⁴I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me. ¹⁵My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to my jaws, and thou have brought me into the dust of death. ¹⁶For dogs have encompassed me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. ¹⁷I may count all my bones. They look and stare upon me. ¹⁸They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture do they cast a lot. ¹⁹But be thou not far off, O Jehovah. O thou my succor, hasten thee to help me. ²⁰Deliver my soul from the sword, the only one of me from the power of the dog. ²¹Save me from the lion�s mouth, yea, from the horns of the wild-oxen. Thou have answered me. ²²I will declare thy name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will praise thee. ²³Ye who fear Jehovah, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all ye the seed of Israel. ²⁴For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hid his face from him, but when he cried to him, he heard. ²⁵From thee comes my praise in the great assembly. I will pay my vows before those who fear him. ²⁶The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise Jehovah who seek after him. Let your heart live forever. ²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Jehovah, and all the kinfolk of the nations shall worship before thee. ²⁸For the kingdom is Jehovah�s, and he is the ruler over the nations. ²⁹All the fat ones of the earth shall eat and worship. All those who go down to the dust shall bow before him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive. ³⁰A seed shall serve him. It shall be told of the Lord to the next generation. ³¹They shall come and shall declare his righteousness to a people that shall be born, that he has done it.

CHAPTER 23

¹Jehovah is my shepherd, I shall not want. ²He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. ³He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his name�s sake. ⁴Yea, tho I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou are with me, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. ⁵Thou prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thou have anointed my head with oil. My cup runs over. ⁶Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of Jehovah forever.

CHAPTER 24

¹The earth is Jehovah�s, and the fullness thereof, the world, and those who dwell therein. ²For he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. ³Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall stand in his holy place? ⁴He who has clean hands, and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully. ⁵He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. ⁶This is the generation of those who seek after him, who seek thy face, even Jacob. Selah. ⁷Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in. ⁸Who is the King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. ⁹Lift up your heads, O ye gates. Yea, lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory will come in. ¹⁰Who is this King of glory? Jehovah of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.

CHAPTER 25

¹To thee, O Jehovah, do I lift up my soul. ²O my God, in thee I have trusted. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies triumph over me. ³Yea, none who wait for thee shall be put to shame. They shall be put to shame who deal treacherously without cause. ⁴Show me thy ways, O Jehovah. Teach me thy paths. ⁵Guide me in thy truth, and teach me. For thou are the God of my salvation. For thee do I wait all the day. ⁶Remember, O Jehovah, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindness. For they have been ever of old. ⁷Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. According to thy loving kindness remember thou me, for thy goodness� sake, O Jehovah. ⁸Good and upright is Jehovah. Therefore he will instruct sinners in the way. ⁹The meek he will guide in justice, and the meek he will teach his way. ¹⁰All the paths of Jehovah are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. ¹¹For thy name�s sake, O Jehovah, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. ¹²What man is he who fears Jehovah? Him he shall instruct in the way that he shall choose. ¹³His soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the land. ¹⁴The friendship of Jehovah is with those who fear him, and he will show them his covenant. ¹⁵My eyes are ever toward Jehovah, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. ¹⁶Turn thee to me, and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted. ¹⁷The troubles of my heart are enlarged. O bring thou me out of my distresses. ¹⁸Consider my affliction and my travail, and forgive all my sins. ¹⁹Consider my enemies, for they are many. And they hate me with cruel hatred. ²⁰O keep my soul, and deliver me. Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in thee. ²¹Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for thee. ²²Redeem Israel, O God, out of all of his troubles.

CHAPTER 26

¹Judge me, O Jehovah, for I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in Jehovah without wavering. ²Examine me, O Jehovah, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind. ³For thy loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in thy truth. ⁴I have not sat with men of falsehood, nor will I go in with dissemblers. ⁵I hate the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked. ⁶I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will encompass thine altar, O Jehovah, ⁷that I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and tell of all thy wondrous works. ⁸Jehovah, I love the habitation of thy house, and the place where thy glory dwells. ⁹Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with men of blood, ¹⁰in whose hands is wickedness, and their right hand is full of bribes. ¹¹But as for me, I will walk in my integrity. Redeem me, and be merciful to me. ¹²My foot stands in an even place. In the congregations I will bless Jehovah.

CHAPTER 27

¹Jehovah is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? Jehovah is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? ²When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, even my adversaries and my foes, they stumbled and fell. ³Though an army should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, even then I will be confident. ⁴One thing I have asked of Jehovah, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to inquire in his temple. ⁵For in the day of trouble he will hide me in his pavilion. In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me. He will lift me up upon a rock. ⁶And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies round about me. And I will offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises to Jehovah. ⁷Hear, O Jehovah, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. ⁸My heart said to thee, I have sought thy face. O Jehovah, I will seek thy face. ⁹Hide not thy face from me. Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou have been my help. Cast me not off, nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. ¹⁰When my father and my mother forsake me, then Jehovah will take me up. ¹¹Teach me thy way, O Jehovah, and lead me in a plain path, because of my enemies. ¹²Deliver me not over to the will of my adversaries. For false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. ¹³I believe that I shall see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. ¹⁴Wait for Jehovah. Be strong, and let thy heart take courage. Yea, wait thou for Jehovah.

CHAPTER 28

¹To thee, O Jehovah, I will call. My rock, be not thou deaf to me, lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. ²Hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. ³Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts. ⁴Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them after the operation of their hands. Render to them their recompense, ⁵because they regard not the works of Jehovah, nor the operation of his hands. He will break them down and not build them up. ⁶Blessed be Jehovah, because he has heard the voice of my supplications. ⁷Jehovah is my strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise him. ⁸Jehovah is their strength, and he is a stronghold of salvation to his anointed. ⁹Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.

CHAPTER 29

¹Ascribe to Jehovah, O ye sons of the mighty, ascribe to Jehovah glory and strength. ²Ascribe to Jehovah the glory due to his name. Worship Jehovah in holy array. ³The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders, even Jehovah upon many waters. ⁴The voice of Jehovah is powerful. The voice of Jehovah is full of majesty. ⁵The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars. Yea, Jehovah breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. ⁶He makes them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox. ⁷The voice of Jehovah splits the flames of fire. ⁸The voice of Jehovah shakes the wilderness. Jehovah shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. ⁹The voice of Jehovah makes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. And in his temple everything says, Glory. ¹⁰Jehovah sat as King at the Flood. Yea, Jehovah sits as King forever. ¹¹Jehovah will give strength to his people. Jehovah will bless his people with peace.

CHAPTER 30

¹I will extol thee, O Jehovah, for thou have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me. ²O Jehovah my God, I cried to thee, and thou have healed me. ³O Jehovah, thou have brought up my soul from Sheol. Thou have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. ⁴Sing praise to Jehovah, O ye sanctified of his, and give thanks to his holiness. ⁵For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy is in the morning. ⁶As for me, I said in my prosperity, I shall never be moved. ⁷Thou, Jehovah, of thy favor had made my mountain to stand strong. Thou hid thy face; I was troubled. ⁸I cried to thee, O Jehovah, and to Jehovah I made supplication. ⁹What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? Shall it declare thy truth? ¹⁰Hear, O Jehovah, and have mercy upon me. Jehovah, be thou my helper. ¹¹Thou have turned for me my mourning into dancing. Thou have loosed my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness, ¹²to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks to thee forever.

CHAPTER 31

¹In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. Deliver me in thy righteousness. ²Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be thou to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me. ³For thou are my rock and my fortress. Therefore for thy name�s sake lead me and guide me. ⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for thou are my stronghold. ⁵Into thy hand I commend my spirit. Thou have redeemed me, O Jehovah, thou God of truth. ⁶I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in Jehovah. ⁷I will be glad and rejoice in thy loving kindness, for thou have seen my affliction. Thou have known my soul in adversities, ⁸and thou have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. Thou have set my feet in a large place. ⁹Have mercy upon me, O Jehovah, for I am in distress. My eye wastes away with grief, yea, my soul and my body. ¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, and my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones are wasted away. ¹¹I have become a reproach because of all my adversaries, yea, to my neighbors exceedingly, and a fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me outside fled from me. ¹²I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. ¹³For I have heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side, while they took counsel together against me. They devised to take away my life. ¹⁴But I trusted in thee, O Jehovah. I said, Thou are my God. ¹⁵My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. ¹⁶Make thy face to shine upon thy servant. Save me in thy loving kindness. ¹⁷Let me not be put to shame, O Jehovah, for I have called upon thee. Let the wicked be put to shame. Let them be silent in Sheol. ¹⁸Let the lying lips be dumb, which speak against the righteous man insolently, with pride and contempt. ¹⁹O how great is thy goodness, which thou have laid up for those who fear thee, which thou have wrought for those who take refuge in thee before the sons of men! ²⁰In the covert of thy presence thou will hide them from the plotting of man. Thou will keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. ²¹Blessed be Jehovah, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city. ²²As for me, I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless thou heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to thee. ²³O love Jehovah, all ye his sanctified. Jehovah preserves the faithful, and plentifully repays him who deals proudly. ²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all ye who hope in Jehovah.

CHAPTER 32

¹Blessed are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ²Blessed is the man to whom Jehovah does not impute sin, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all the day long. ⁴For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture was changed as with the drought of summer. Selah. ⁵I acknowledged my sin to thee, and I did not hide my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to Jehovah, and thou forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. ⁶For this let everyone who is devout pray to thee in a time when thou may be found. Surely when the great waters overflow they shall not reach to him. ⁷Thou are my hiding-place. Thou will preserve me from trouble. Thou will encompass me around with songs of deliverance. Selah. ⁸I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shall go. I will counsel thee with my eye upon thee. ⁹Become ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding, whose trappings must be bit and bridle to hold them in, else they will not come near to thee. ¹⁰Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he who trusts in Jehovah, loving kindness shall encompass him about. ¹¹Be glad in Jehovah, and rejoice, ye righteous. And shout for joy, all ye who are upright in heart.

CHAPTER 33

¹Rejoice in Jehovah, O ye righteous. Praise is comely for the upright. ²Give thanks to Jehovah with the harp. Sing praises to him with the psaltery of ten strings. ³Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a loud noise. ⁴For the word of Jehovah is right, and all his work is done in faithfulness. ⁵He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of Jehovah. ⁶By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. ⁷He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap. He lays up the deeps in store-houses. ⁸Let all the earth fear Jehovah. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. ⁹For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. ¹⁰Jehovah brings the counsel of the nations to naught. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect. ¹¹The counsel of Jehovah stands fast forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. ¹²Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. ¹³Jehovah looks from heaven. He beholds all the sons of men. ¹⁴From the place of his habitation he looks forth upon all the inhabitants of the earth; ¹⁵he who fashions the hearts of them all, who considers all their works. ¹⁶There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. ¹⁷A horse is a vain thing for safety, nor does he deliver any by his great power. ¹⁸Behold, the eye of Jehovah is upon those who fear him, upon those who hope in his loving kindness, ¹⁹to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. ²⁰Our soul has waited for Jehovah. He is our help and our shield. ²¹For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trusted in his holy name. ²²Let thy loving kindness, O Jehovah, be upon us, according as we have hoped in thee.

CHAPTER 34

¹I will bless Jehovah at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. ²My soul shall make its boast in Jehovah. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad. ³O magnify Jehovah with me, and let us exalt his name together. ⁴I sought Jehovah, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears. ⁵They looked to him, and were radiant, and their faces shall never be confounded. ⁶This poor man cried, and Jehovah heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. ⁷The agent of Jehovah encamps round about those who fear him, and delivers them. ⁸O taste and see that Jehovah is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. ⁹O fear Jehovah, ye his sanctified, for there is no want to those who fear him. ¹⁰The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Jehovah shall not want any good thing. ¹¹Come, ye children, hearken to me. I will teach you the fear of Jehovah. ¹²What man is he who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good? ¹³Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking deceit. ¹⁴Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, and pursue it. ¹⁵The eyes of Jehovah are toward the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. ¹⁶(The face of Jehovah is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.) ¹⁷They cried, and Jehovah heard, and delivered them out of all their troubles. ¹⁸Jehovah is near to those who are of a broken heart, and saves such as are of a contrite spirit. ¹⁹Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Jehovah delivers him out of them all. ²⁰He keeps all his bones. Not one of them is broken. ²¹Evil shall kill the wicked, and those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. ²²Jehovah redeems the soul of his servants, and none of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.

CHAPTER 35

¹Strive thou, O Jehovah, with those who strive with me. Fight thou against those who fight against me. ²Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for my help. ³Draw out the spear also, and stop the way against those who pursue me. Say to my soul, I am thy salvation. ⁴Let them be put to shame and brought to dishonor who seek after my soul. Let them be turned back and confounded who devise my hurt. ⁵Let them be as chaff before the wind, and the agent of Jehovah driving them on. ⁶Let their way be dark and slippery, and the agent of Jehovah pursuing them. ⁷For without cause they have hid their net for me in a pit. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul. ⁸Let destruction come upon him unawares, and let his net that he has hid catch himself. Let him fall in it with destruction. ⁹And my soul shall be joyful in Jehovah. It shall rejoice in his salvation. ¹⁰All my bones shall say, Jehovah, who is like thee, who delivers a poor man from him who is too strong for him, yea, a poor and needy man from him who robs him? ¹¹Unrighteous witnesses rise up, they ask me of things that I know not. ¹²They reward me evil for good, to the bereaving of my soul. ¹³But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into my own bosom. ¹⁴I behaved myself as though it had been my friend or my brother. I bowed down mourning, as he who bewails his mother. ¹⁵But in my adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together. The wretches gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not. They tore me, and ceased not. ¹⁶Like the profane mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth. ¹⁷Lord, how long will thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions. ¹⁸I will give thee thanks in the great assembly. I will praise thee among much people. ¹⁹Let not those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me. Neither let them wink with the eye who hate me without a cause. ²⁰For they speak not peace, but they devise deceitful words against those who are quiet in the land. ²¹Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me. They said, Aha, aha, our eye has seen it. ²²Thou have seen it, O Jehovah. Keep not silence. O Lord, be not far from me. ²³Stir up thyself, and awake to the justice to me, to my cause, my God and my Lord. ²⁴Judge me, O Jehovah my God, according to thy righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me. ²⁵Let them not say in their heart, Aha, so would we have it. Let them not say, We have swallowed him up. ²⁶Let them be put to shame and confounded together who rejoice at my hurt. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves against me. ²⁷Let them shout for joy, and be glad, who favor my righteous cause. Yea, let them say continually, Jehovah be magnified, who has pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. ²⁸And my tongue shall talk of thy righteousness and of thy praise all the day long.

CHAPTER 36

¹The transgression of the wicked man says within my heart, There is no fear of God before his eyes. ²For he flatters himself in his own eyes, that his iniquity will not be found out and be hated. ³The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. ⁴He devises iniquity upon his bed. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He does not abhor evil. ⁵Thy loving kindness, O Jehovah, is in the heavens, thy faithfulness to the skies. ⁶Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God. Thy judgments are a great deep. O Jehovah, thou preserve man and beast. ⁷How precious is thy loving kindness, O God, and the sons of men take refuge under the shadow of thy wings. ⁸They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and thou will make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. ⁹For with thee is the fountain of life. In thy light we shall see light. ¹⁰O continue thy loving kindness to those who know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. ¹¹Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of sinners drive me away. ¹²There are the workers of iniquity fallen. They are thrust down, and shall not be able to rise.

CHAPTER 37

¹Fret not thyself because of evildoers, nor be thou envious against those who work unrighteousness. ²For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. ³Trust in Jehovah, and do good. Dwell in the land, and feed on his faithfulness. ⁴Delight thyself also in Jehovah, and he will give thee the desires of thy heart. ⁵Commit thy way to Jehovah. Trust also in him, and he will bring it to pass. ⁶And he will make thy righteousness to go forth as the light, and thy justice as the noon-day. ⁷Rest in Jehovah, and wait patiently for him. Fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass. ⁸Cease from anger, and forsake wrath. Fret not thyself, it tends only to evil-doing. ⁹For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for Jehovah, they shall inherit the land. ¹⁰For yet a little while, and the wicked man shall not be. Yea, thou shall diligently consider his place, and he shall not be. ¹¹But the meek shall inherit the land, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace. ¹²The wicked man plots against the righteous man, and gnashes upon him with his teeth. ¹³The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming. ¹⁴The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, to kill such as are upright in the way. ¹⁵Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. ¹⁶Better is a little that the righteous man has than the abundance of many wicked men. ¹⁷For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Jehovah upholds the righteous. ¹⁸Jehovah knows the days of the perfect, and their inheritance shall be forever. ¹⁹They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. ²⁰But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of Jehovah is as the fat of lambs: they shall disintegrate; they shall disintegrate away into smoke. ²¹The wicked man borrows, and pays not again, but the righteous man deals graciously, and gives. ²²For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land, and those who are cursed by him shall be cut off. ²³A man�s goings are established by Jehovah, and he delights in his way. ²⁴Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for Jehovah upholds him with his hand. ²⁵I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen a righteous man forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. ²⁶All the day long he deals graciously, and lends, and his seed is blessed. ²⁷Depart from evil, and do good, and dwell for evermore. ²⁸For Jehovah loves justice, and forsakes not his sanctified. They are preserved forever, but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. ²⁹The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell in it forever. ³⁰The mouth of a righteous man talks of wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. ³¹The law of his God is in his heart. None of his steps shall slide. ³²A wicked man watches a righteous man, and seeks to kill him. ³³Jehovah will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged. ³⁴Wait for Jehovah, and keep his way, and he will exalt thee to inherit the land. When sinners are cut off, thou shall see it. ³⁵I have seen a wicked man in great power, and spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. ³⁶But I passed by, and, lo, he was not. Yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. ³⁷Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for there is a happy end to the man of peace. ³⁸As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together. The end of the wicked shall be cut off. ³⁹But the salvation of the righteous is of Jehovah. He is their stronghold in the time of trouble, ⁴⁰and Jehovah helps them, and rescues them. He rescues them from sinners, and saves them, because they have taken refuge in him.

CHAPTER 38

¹O Jehovah, rebuke me not in thy wrath, nor chasten me in thy hot displeasure. ²For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presses me severely. ³There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine indignation, nor is there any health in my bones because of my sin. ⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head. As a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. ⁵My wounds are loathsome and corrupt, because of my foolishness. ⁶I am pained and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all the day long. ⁷For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh. ⁸I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned because of the disquietness of my heart. ⁹Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from thee. ¹⁰My heart throbs, my strength fails me. As for the light of my eyes, it also is gone from me. ¹¹Those I love and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my kinsmen stand afar off. ¹²Those also who seek after my life lay snares for me. And those who seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all the day long. ¹³But I, as a deaf man, hear not. And I am as a mute man who opens not his mouth. ¹⁴Yea, I am as a man who hears not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs. ¹⁵For in thee, O Jehovah, do I hope. Thou will answer, O Lord my God. ¹⁶For I said, Lest they rejoice over me. When my foot slips, they magnify themselves against me. ¹⁷For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me. ¹⁸For I will declare my iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. ¹⁹But my enemies are energetic, and are strong, and those who hate me wrongfully are multiplied. ²⁰They also who render evil for good are adversaries to me, because I follow the thing that is good. ²¹Forsake me not, O Jehovah. O my God, be not far from me. ²²Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation.

CHAPTER 39

¹I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked man is before me. ²I was mute with silence. I held my peace, even from good, and my sorrow was stirred. ³My heart was hot within me. While I was musing the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue: ⁴Jehovah, make me to know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is. Let me know how frail I am. ⁵Behold, thou have made my days as handbreadths, and my life-time is as nothing before thee. Surely every man at his best condition is altogether vanity. Selah. ⁶Surely every man walks in a shadow. Surely they are disquieted in vain. He heaps up, and knows not who shall gather them. ⁷And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in thee. ⁸Deliver me from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the foolish. ⁹I was mute. I opened not my mouth, because thou did it. ¹⁰Remove thy stroke away from me. I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. ¹¹When thou have corrected man with rebukes for iniquity, thou make his beauty to disintegrate like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Selah. ¹²Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and give ear to my cry. Keep not silent at my tears, for I am a stranger with thee, a sojourner, as all my fathers were. ¹³O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go from here, and be no more.

CHAPTER 40

¹I waited patiently for Jehovah, and he inclined to me, and heard my cry. ²He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. ³And he has put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. Many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in Jehovah. ⁴Blessed is the man who makes Jehovah his trust, and respects not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. ⁵Many, O Jehovah my God, are the wonderful works which thou have done, and thy thoughts which are toward us. They cannot be set in order to thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. ⁶Sacrifice and offering thou did not desire, but a body thou have prepared for me. Whole burnt offering and sacrifice for sin thou did not require. ⁷Then I said, Lo, I have come. In the volume of a book it is written of me. ⁸I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. ⁹I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly. Lo, I will not refrain my lips. O Jehovah, thou know. ¹⁰I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great assembly. ¹¹Withhold thou not thy tender mercies from me, O Jehovah. Let thy loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me, ¹²for innumerable evils have encompassed me around. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed me. ¹³Be pleased, O Jehovah, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Jehovah. ¹⁴Let them be put to shame and confounded together who seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. ¹⁵Let them be desolate because of their shame who say to me, Aha, aha. ¹⁶Let all those who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified. ¹⁷But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinks upon me. Thou are my help and my deliverer. Make no delay, O my God.

CHAPTER 41

¹Blessed is he who considers a poor man. Jehovah will deliver him in the day of evil. ²Jehovah will preserve him, and keep him alive, and he shall be blessed upon the earth. And thou do not deliver him to the will of his enemies. ³Jehovah will support him upon the bed of languishing. Thou will make all his bed in his sickness. ⁴I said, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me. Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee. ⁵My enemies speak evil against me, saying, When will he die, and his name perish? ⁶And if he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood. His heart gathers iniquity to itself. When he goes abroad, he tells it. ⁷All who hate me whisper together against me. Against me they devise my hurt. ⁸An evil disease, they say, clings firm to him. And now that he lies he shall rise up no more. ⁹Yea, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. ¹⁰But thou, O Jehovah, have mercy upon me, and raise me up that I may requite them. ¹¹By this I know that thou delight in me, because my enemy does not triumph over me. ¹²And as for me, thou uphold me in my integrity, and set me before thy face forever. ¹³Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting. Truly, and Truly.

CHAPTER 42

¹As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after thee, O God. ²My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? ³My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, Where is thy God? ⁴These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I went with the throng, and led them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping holyday. ⁵Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. ⁶O my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore I remember thee from the land of the Jordan, and the Hermons, from the hill Mizar. ⁷Deep calls to deep at the noise of thy waterfalls. All thy waves and thy billows have gone over me. ⁸Yet Jehovah will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, even a prayer to the God of my life. ⁹I will say to God my rock, Why have thou forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? ¹⁰As with a sword in my bones, my adversaries reproach me; while they continually say to me, Where is thy God? ¹¹Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance, and my God.

CHAPTER 43

¹Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against a profane nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. ²For thou are the God of my strength. Why have thou cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? ³O send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles. ⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise thee upon the harp, O God, my God. ⁵Why are thou cast down, O my soul? And why are thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him, the help of my countenance, and my God.

CHAPTER 44

¹We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou did in their days, in the days of old. ²Thou drove out the nations with thy hand, but thou planted them. Thou afflicted the peoples, but thou spread them abroad. ³For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them, but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou were favorable to them. ⁴Thou are my King, O God. Command deliverance for Jacob. ⁵Through thee we will push down our adversaries. Through thy name we will tread them under who rise up against us. ⁶For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me. ⁷But thou have saved us from our adversaries, and have put them to shame who hate us. ⁸In God we have made our boast all the day long, and we will give thanks to thy name forever. Selah. ⁹But now thou have cast off, and brought us to dishonor, and go not forth with our armies. ¹⁰Thou make us to turn back from the adversary. And those who hate us take spoil for themselves. ¹¹Thou have made us like sheep for food, and have scattered us among the nations. ¹²Thou sell thy people for nothing, and have not increased by their price. ¹³Thou make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and a derision to those who are round about us. ¹⁴Thou make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. ¹⁵All the day long my dishonor is before me, and the shame of my face has covered me, ¹⁶for the voice of him who reproaches and blasphemes, because of the enemy and the avenger. ¹⁷All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten thee, nor have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. ¹⁸Our heart is not turned back, nor have our steps declined from thy way, ¹⁹that thou have greatly broken us in the place of jackals, and covered us with the shadow of death. ²⁰If we have forgotten the name of our God, or spread forth our hands to a strange god, ²¹will not God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart. ²²Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. ²³Awake, why do thou sleep, O Lord? Arise, cast not off forever. ²⁴Why do thou hide thy face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? ²⁵For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our body clings to the ground. ²⁶Rise up for our help, and redeem us for thy loving kindness� sake.

CHAPTER 45

¹My heart overflows with a good matter. I speak the things which I have made concerning the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. ²Thou are fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured into thy lips. Therefore God has blessed thee forever. ³Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one, thy glory and thy majesty. ⁴And in thy majesty ride on prosperously because of truth and gentleness and righteousness. And thy right hand shall teach thee awesome things. ⁵Thine arrows are sharp. The peoples fall under thee. They are in the heart of the king�s enemies. ⁶Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of straightness is the scepter of thy kingdom. ⁷Thou have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy companions. ⁸All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia. Out of ivory palaces stringed instruments have made thee glad. ⁹Kings� daughters are among thy honorable women. At thy right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. ¹⁰Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear. Forget also thine own people, and thy father�s house. ¹¹So will the king desire thy beauty, for he is thy lord, and reverence thou him. ¹²And the daughter of Tyre shall adore him with a gift. The rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. ¹³Inside, the king�s daughter is all glorious. Her clothing is embroidered with gold. ¹⁴She shall be led to the king in broidered work. The virgins, her companions who follow her, shall be brought to thee. ¹⁵With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led. They shall enter into the king�s palace. ¹⁶Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons, whom thou shall make rulers in all the earth. ¹⁷I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations. Therefore the peoples shall give thee thanks forever and ever.

CHAPTER 46

¹God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. ²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth changes, and though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas, ³though the waters of it roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with the swelling of it. Selah. ⁴There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. ⁵God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her, and that right early. ⁶The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. ⁷Jehovah of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. ⁸Come, behold the works of Jehovah, what desolations he has made in the earth. ⁹He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots in the fire. ¹⁰Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. ¹¹Jehovah of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

CHAPTER 47

¹O clap your hands, all ye peoples. Shout to God with the voice of triumph. ²For Jehovah Most High is awesome. He is a great King over all the earth. ³He subdues peoples under us, and nations under our feet. ⁴He chooses our inheritance for us, the glory of Jacob whom he loved. Selah. ⁵God has gone up with a shout, Jehovah with the sound of a trumpet. ⁶Sing praise to God, sing praises. Sing praises to our King, sing praises. ⁷For God is the King of all the earth. Sing ye praises with understanding. ⁸God reigns over the nations. God sits upon his holy throne. ⁹The nobles of the peoples are gathered together, the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God. He is greatly exalted.

CHAPTER 48

¹Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. ²Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. ³God has made himself known in her palaces for a refuge. ⁴For, lo, the kings assembled themselves. They passed by together. ⁵They saw it, then were they amazed. They were dismayed, they hastened away. ⁶Trembling took hold of them there, pain, as of a woman in travail. ⁷With the east wind thou break the ships of Tarshish. ⁸As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of Jehovah of hosts, in the city of our God, God will establish it forever. Selah. ⁹We have thought on thy loving kindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. ¹⁰As is thy name, O God, so is thy praise to the ends of the earth. Thy right hand is full of righteousness. ¹¹Let mount Zion be glad. Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of thy judgments. ¹²Walk about Zion, and go round about her. Number the towers of it, ¹³mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, that ye may tell it to the generation following. ¹⁴For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.

CHAPTER 49

¹Hear this, all ye peoples. Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world, ²both low and high, rich and poor together. ³My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. ⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will open my dark saying upon the harp. ⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels encompasses me about? ⁶Those who trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches, ⁷none can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him ⁸(for the redemption of their life is costly, and it fails forever), ⁹that he should still live always, that he should not see corruption. ¹⁰For he shall see it. Wise men die. The fool and the brutish alike perish, and leave their wealth to others. ¹¹Their inward thought is that their houses are forever, their dwelling-places to all generations. They call their lands after their own names. ¹²Even a man in splendor does not abide. He is like the beasts that perish. ¹³This their way is their folly. Yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah. ¹⁴They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd, and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, that there be no habitation for it. ¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah. ¹⁶Be not thou afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased. ¹⁷For when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. ¹⁸Though while he lived he blessed his soul (and men praise thee, when thou do well for thyself), ¹⁹he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light. ²⁰A man who is in splendor, and understands not, is like the beasts that perish.

CHAPTER 50

¹The Mighty One, God, Jehovah, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof. ²Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth. ³Our God comes, and does not keep silence. A fire devours before him, and it is very tempestuous round about him. ⁴He calls to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. ⁵Gather my sanctified together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. ⁶And the heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself. Selah. ⁷Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify to thee, I am God, even thy God. ⁸I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, and thy burnt offerings being continually before me. ⁹I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy folds. ¹⁰For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. ¹¹I know all the birds of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. ¹²If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. ¹³Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? ¹⁴Offer to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay thy vows to the Most High. ¹⁵And call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify me. ¹⁶But to the wicked man God says, What have thou to do to declare my statutes, and that thou have taken my covenant in thy mouth, ¹⁷since thou hate instruction, and cast my words behind thee? ¹⁸When thou saw a thief, thou consented with him, and have been partaker with adulterers. ¹⁹Thou give thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frames deceit. ²⁰Thou sit and speak against thy brother; thou slander thine own mother�s son. ²¹These things thou have done, and I kept silence. Thou thought that I was altogether such a one as thyself. But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. ²²Now consider this, ye who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver: ²³Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me. And to him who orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God.

CHAPTER 51

¹Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. ²Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. ³For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. ⁴Against thee, thee only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, that thou may be justified when thou speak, and may prevail when thou are criticized. ⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. ⁶Behold, thou desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou will make me to know wisdom. ⁷Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which thou have broken may rejoice. ⁹Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. ¹¹Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me. ¹²Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. ¹³Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall be converted to thee. ¹⁴Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation. And my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. ¹⁵O Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. ¹⁶For thou delight not in sacrifice, else I would give it. Thou have no pleasure in burnt offering. ¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, thou will not despise. ¹⁸Do good in thy good pleasure to Zion. Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹Then thou will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness, in burnt offering and in whole burnt offering. Then they will offer bullocks upon thine altar.

CHAPTER 52

¹Why boast thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? The loving kindness of God is continual. ²Thy tongue devises wickedness, like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. ³Thou love evil more than good, and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. ⁴Thou love all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. ⁵God will likewise destroy thee forever. He will take thee up, and pluck thee out of thy tent, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah. ⁶The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him, saying, ⁷Lo, this is the man who did not make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness. ⁸But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the loving kindness of God forever and ever. ⁹I will give thee thanks forever, because thou have done it. And I will hope in thy name in the presence of thy sanctified, for it is good.

CHAPTER 53

¹The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity. There is none who does good. ²God looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there were any who understood, who seek after God. ³Every one of them has gone back. They have together become filthy. There is none who does good, no, not one. ⁴Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon God? ⁵There they were in great fear, where no fear was, for God has scattered the bones of him who encamps against thee. Thou have put them to shame because God has rejected them. ⁶O that the salvation of Israel came out of Zion! When God brings back the captivity of his people, then Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

CHAPTER 54

¹Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me in thy might. ²Hear my prayer, O God. Give ear to the words of my mouth. ³For strangers are risen up against me, and violent men have sought after my soul. They have not set God before them. Selah. ⁴Behold, God is my helper. The Lord is of those who uphold my soul. ⁵He will requite the evil to my enemies. Destroy thou them in thy truth. ⁶With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to thee. I will give thanks to thy name, O Jehovah, for it is good. ⁷For he has delivered me out of all trouble, and my eye has seen it upon my enemies.

CHAPTER 55

¹Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. ²Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan, ³because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they cast iniquity upon me, and in anger they persecute me. ⁴My heart is greatly pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. ⁵Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me. ⁶And I said, O that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest. ⁷Lo, then I would wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah. ⁸I would hasten myself to a shelter from the stormy wind and tempest. ⁹Destroy, O Lord, divide their tongue, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. ¹⁰Day and night they go about it, upon the walls of it. Iniquity and mischief also are in the midst of it. ¹¹Wickedness is in the midst of it. Oppression and deceit depart not from its streets. ¹²For it was not an enemy who reproached me. Then I could have borne it. Neither was it he who hated me that magnified himself against me. Then I would have hid myself from him. ¹³But it was thou, a man my equal, my companion, and my familiar friend. ¹⁴We took sweet counsel together. We walked in the house of God with the throng. ¹⁵Let death come suddenly upon them. Let them go down alive into Sheol. For wickedness is in their dwelling, in the midst of them. ¹⁶As for me, I will call upon God, and Jehovah will save me. ¹⁷Evening, and morning, and at noonday, I will complain and moan. And he will hear my voice. ¹⁸He has redeemed my soul in peace from the battle that was against me, for there were many by me. ¹⁹God will hear, and respond to them, (even he who abides of old), Selah, men who have no changes, and who fear not God. ²⁰He has put forth his hands against such as were at peace with him. He has profaned his covenant. ²¹His mouth was smooth as butter, but his heart was war. His words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. ²²(Cast thy burden upon Jehovah, and he will sustain thee. He will never allow the righteous man to be moved.) ²³But thou, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in thee.

CHAPTER 56

¹Be merciful to me, O God, for man would swallow me up. Fighting all the day long he oppresses me. ²My enemies would swallow me up all the day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me. ³What time I am afraid, I will put my trust in thee. ⁴In God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? ⁵All the day long they wrest my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. ⁶They gather themselves together. They hide themselves. They mark my steps, even as they have waited for my soul. ⁷Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God. ⁸Thou number my wanderings. Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? ⁹Then shall my enemies turn back in the day that I call. This I know, that God is for me. ¹⁰In God I will praise his word. In Jehovah I will praise his word. ¹¹In God I have put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? ¹²Thy vows are upon me, O God. I will render thank offerings to thee. ¹³For thou have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

CHAPTER 57

¹Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings I will take refuge until calamities be passed by. ²I will cry to God Most High, to God who performs for me. ³He will send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him who would swallow me up. Selah. God will send forth his loving kindness and his truth. ⁴My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. ⁵Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, thy glory above all the earth. ⁶They have prepared a net for my steps. My soul is bowed down. They have dug a pit before me. They are fallen into the midst of it themselves. Selah. ⁷My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed. I will sing, yea, I will sing praises. ⁸Awake up, my glory. Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake right early. ⁹I will give thanks to thee, O Lord, among the peoples. I will sing praises to thee among the nations. ¹⁰For thy loving kindness is great to the heavens, and thy truth to the skies. ¹¹Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, thy glory above all the earth.

CHAPTER 58

¹Do ye indeed speak righteousness in silence? Do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? ²No! In heart ye work wickedness. Ye weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth. ³The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. ⁴Their poison is like the poison of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops her ear, ⁵which hearkens not to the voice of charmers, charming ever so wisely. ⁶Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth. Break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Jehovah. ⁷Let them melt away as water that runs with haste. When he aims his arrows, let them be as though they were cut off, ⁸as a snail which melts and passes away, as the untimely birth of a woman, that has not seen the sun. ⁹Before your pots can feel the thorns, he will take them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike. ¹⁰A righteous man shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked, ¹¹so that men shall say, Truly there is a reward for the righteous man. Truly there is a God who judges in the earth.

CHAPTER 59

¹Deliver me from my enemies, O my God. Set me on high from those who rise up against me. ²Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the bloodthirsty men. ³For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah. ⁴They run and prepare themselves without my fault. Awake thou to help me, and behold. ⁵Even thou, O Jehovah God of hosts, the God of Israel, arise to visit all the nations. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. ⁶They return at evening. They howl like a dog, and go round about the city. ⁷Behold, they belch out with their mouth. Swords are in their lips, for they say, Who hears? ⁸But thou, O Jehovah, will laugh at them. Thou will have all the nations in derision. ⁹O my strength, I will give heed to thee, for God is my high tower. ¹⁰My God with his loving kindness will meet me. God will let me look upon my enemies. ¹¹Kill them not, lest my people forget. Scatter them by thy power, and bring them down, O Lord our shield, ¹²for the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips. Let them even be taken in their pride, and for cursing and lying which they speak. ¹³Consume them in wrath, consume them, so that they shall be no more. And let them know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth. Selah. ¹⁴And at evening let them return, let them howl like a dog, and go round about the city. ¹⁵They shall wander up and down for food, and tarry all night if they be not satisfied. ¹⁶But I will sing of thy strength. Yea, I will sing aloud of thy loving kindness in the morning. For thou have been my high tower, and a refuge in the day of my distress. ¹⁷To thee, O my strength, I will sing praises. For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.

CHAPTER 60

¹O God thou have cast us off. Thou have broken us down. Thou have been angry. O restore us again. ²Thou have made the land to tremble. Thou have torn it. Heal the breaking of it, for it shakes. ³Thou have shown thy people hard things. Thou have made us to drink the wine of staggering. ⁴Thou have given a banner to those who fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. ⁵That thy beloved ones may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and answer us. ⁶God has spoken in his holiness. I will exult. I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. ⁷Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter. ⁸Moab is my wash pot. Upon Edom I will cast my shoe. Philistia, shout thou because of me. ⁹Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edom? ¹⁰Have not thou, O God, cast us off? And thou go not forth, O God, with our armies. ¹¹Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man. ¹²Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is who will tread down our adversaries.

CHAPTER 61

¹Hear my cry, O God. Attend to my prayer. ²From the end of the earth I will call to thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. ³For thou have been a refuge for me, a strong tower from the enemy. ⁴I will dwell in thy tabernacle forever. I will take refuge in the covert of thy wings. Selah. ⁵For thou, O God, have heard my vows. Thou have given me the heritage of those who fear thy name. ⁶Thou will prolong the king�s life. His years shall be as many generations. ⁷He shall abide before God forever. O prepare loving kindness and truth that they may preserve him. ⁸So I will sing praise to thy name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.

CHAPTER 62

¹My soul waits in silence for God only. From him is my salvation. ²He only is my rock and my salvation, my high tower. I shall not be greatly moved. ³How long will ye set upon a man, that ye may kill, all of you, like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? ⁴They only consult to thrust him down from his dignity. They delight in lies. They bless with their mouth, but they curse inwardly. Selah. ⁵My soul, wait thou in silence for God only, for my expectation is from him. ⁶He only is my rock and my salvation, my high tower. I shall not be moved. ⁷With God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. ⁸Trust in him at all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah. ⁹Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than vanity. ¹⁰Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery. If riches increase, set not your heart on it. ¹¹God has spoken once, twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God. ¹²Also to thee, O Lord, belongs loving kindness, for thou render to every man according to his work.

CHAPTER 63

¹O God, thou are my God. I will earnestly seek thee. My soul thirsts for thee, my flesh longs for thee, in a dry and weary land, where is no water. ²So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary to see thy power and thy glory. ³Because thy loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. ⁴So I will bless thee while I live. I will lift up my hands in thy name. ⁵My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips ⁶when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches. ⁷For thou have been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings I will rejoice. ⁸My soul follows close after thee. Thy right hand upholds me. ⁹But those who seek my soul, to destroy it, shall go into the lower parts of the earth. ¹⁰They shall be given over to the power of the sword. They shall be a portion for foxes. ¹¹But the king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him shall glory, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped.

CHAPTER 64

¹Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. ²Hide me from the secret counsel of evildoers, from the tumult of the workers of iniquity, ³who have whet their tongue like a sword, and have aimed their arrows, even bitter words, ⁴that they may shoot in secret places at a blameless man. Suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. ⁵They encourage themselves in an evil purpose. They converse of laying snares secretly. They say, Who will see them? ⁶They search out iniquities, saying, We have accomplished a diligent search. And the inward part of man and the heart are deep. ⁷But God will shoot at them. With an arrow they shall suddenly be wounded. ⁸So they shall be made to stumble, their own tongue being against them. All who see them shall wag the head. ⁹And all men shall fear. And they shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely consider of his doing. ¹⁰A righteous man shall be glad in Jehovah, and shall take refuge in him. And all the upright in heart shall glory.

CHAPTER 65

¹Praise waits for thee, O God, in Zion. And to thee the vow shall be performed. ²O thou who hear prayer, to thee all flesh shall come. ³Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou will forgive them. ⁴Blessed is the man whom thou choose and cause to approach, that he may dwell in thy courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, thy holy temple. ⁵By awesome things thou will answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, thou who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of those who are afar off upon the sea, ⁶who by his strength sets firm the mountains, being girded about with might, ⁷who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. ⁸They also who dwell in the outermost parts are afraid at thy signs. Thou make the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice. ⁹Thou visit the earth, and water it; thou greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. Thou provide them grain when thou have so prepared the earth. ¹⁰Thou water its furrows abundantly. Thou settle the ridges of it. Thou make it soft with showers. Thou bless the springing of it. ¹¹Thou crown the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness. ¹²They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and the hills are girded with joy. ¹³The pastures are clothed with flocks. The valleys also are covered over with grain. They shout for joy; they also sing.

CHAPTER 66

¹Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth. ²Sing forth the glory of his name. Make his praise glorious. ³Say to God, How awesome are thy works! Through the greatness of thy power thine enemies shall submit themselves to thee. ⁴All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing to thee. They shall sing to thy name. Selah. ⁵Come, and see the works of God, awesome in actions toward the sons of men. ⁶He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There we rejoiced in him. ⁷He rules by his might forever. His eyes observe the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. ⁸O bless our God, ye peoples, and make the voice of his praise to be heard, ⁹who holds our soul in life, and does not allow our feet to be moved. ¹⁰For thou, O God, have proved us. Thou have tried us as silver is tried. ¹¹Thou brought us into the net. Thou laid a great burden upon our loins. ¹²Thou caused men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water. But thou brought us out into a wealthy place. ¹³I will come into thy house with burnt offerings. I will pay thee my vows, ¹⁴which my lips uttered, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress. ¹⁵I will offer to thee burnt offerings of fatlings, with the incense of rams. I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah. ¹⁶Come, and hear, all ye who fear God, and I will declare what he has done for my soul. ¹⁷I cried to him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue. ¹⁸If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear. ¹⁹But truly God has heard. He has attended to the voice of my prayer. ²⁰Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.

CHAPTER 67

¹God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us ²that thy way may be known upon earth, thy salvation among all nations. ³Let the peoples praise thee, O God. Let all the peoples praise thee. ⁴O let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For thou will judge the peoples with equity, and govern the nations upon earth. Selah. ⁵Let the peoples praise thee, O God. Let all the peoples praise thee. ⁶The earth has yielded its increase. God, even our own God, will bless us. ⁷God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.

CHAPTER 68

¹Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered. Let also those who hate him flee before him. ²As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. ³But let the righteous be glad. Let them exult before God. Yea, let them rejoice with gladness. ⁴Sing to God, sing praises to his name. Cast up a highway for him who rides through the deserts. His name is Jehovah, and exult ye before him. ⁵A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. ⁶God sets the lonely in families. He brings out the prisoners into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land. ⁷O God, when thou went forth before thy people, when thou marched through the wilderness ⁸the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God, Sinai at the presence of God, the God of Israel. ⁹Thou, O God, sent a plentiful rain. Thou confirmed thine inheritance when it was weary. ¹⁰Thy congregation dwelt in it. Thou, O God, prepared for the poor from thy goodness. ¹¹The Lord gave the word. Great was the company of those who published it. ¹²Kings of armies fled quickly, and she who remained at home divided the spoil. ¹³Though ye lie between two boundaries, it is as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her pinions with yellow gold. ¹⁴When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was as it snows in Zalmon. ¹⁵A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a high mountain is the mountain of Bashan. ¹⁶Why look ye askance, ye high mountains, at the mountain which God has desired for his abode? Yea, Jehovah will dwell in it forever. ¹⁷The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands upon thousands. The Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the sanctuary. ¹⁸Thou have ascended on high. Thou have led captivity captive. Thou have received gifts among men, yea, among the rebellious also, that Jehovah God might dwell with them. ¹⁹Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burden daily, even the God who is our salvation. Selah. ²⁰God is to us a God of deliverances, and escape from death belongs to Jehovah the Lord. ²¹But God will smite through the head of his enemies, the hairy scalp of him who still goes in his guiltiness. ²²The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan. I will bring again from the depths of the sea, ²³that thou may dash thy foot in blood, that the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion from enemies. ²⁴They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. ²⁵The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, in the midst of the damsels playing with timbrels. ²⁶Bless ye God in the congregations, the lord of the fountain of Israel. ²⁷There is little Benjamin their ruler, the rulers of Judah and their council, the rulers of Zebulun, the rulers of Naphtali. ²⁸Thy God has commanded thy strength. Strengthen, O God, that which thou have wrought for us. ²⁹Because of thy temple at Jerusalem kings shall bring presents to thee. ³⁰Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the peoples, trampling under foot the pieces of silver. He has scattered the peoples that delight in war. ³¹Rulers shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. ³²Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth. O sing praises to the Lord ³³to him who rides upon the heaven of heavens, which are of old. Lo, he utters his voice, a mighty voice. ³⁴Ascribe ye strength to God. His excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the skies. ³⁵O God, awesome out of thy holy places, the God of Israel, he gives strength and power to his people. Blessed be God.

CHAPTER 69

¹Save me, O God, for the waters have come in to my soul. ²I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. ³I am weary with my crying. My throat is dried. My eyes fail while I wait for my God. ⁴Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Those who would cut me off, being my enemies wrongfully, are mighty. That which I took not away I have to restore. ⁵O God, thou know my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. ⁶Let not those who wait for thee be put to shame through me, O lord Jehovah of hosts. Let not those who seek thee be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. ⁷Because for thy sake I have borne reproach, shame has covered my face. ⁸I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother�s sons. ⁹For the zeal of thy house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach thee have fallen upon me. ¹⁰When I wept in my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. ¹¹When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. ¹²Those who sit in the gate talk of me, and I am the song of the drunkards. ¹³But as for me, my prayer is to thee, O Jehovah. In an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of thy loving kindness, answer me in the truth of thy salvation. ¹⁴Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. ¹⁵Let not the water flood overwhelm me, nor let the deep swallow me up. And let not the pit shut its mouth upon me. ¹⁶Answer me, O Jehovah, for thy loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of thy tender mercies turn thou to me, ¹⁷and hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily. ¹⁸Draw near to my soul, and redeem it. Ransom me because of my enemies. ¹⁹Thou know my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor. My adversaries are all before thee. ²⁰Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. And I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. ²¹They also gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. ²²Let their table before them become a snare, and when they are in peace, a trap, and for a stumbling block, and for a retribution to them. ²³Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see, and bow down their back continually. ²⁴Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let the fierceness of thine anger overtake them. ²⁵Let their habitation be desolate. Let none dwell in their tents. ²⁶For they persecute him whom thou have smitten, and they tell of the sorrow of those whom thou have wounded. ²⁷Add iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness. ²⁸Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. ²⁹But I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high. ³⁰I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving, ³¹and it will please Jehovah better than an ox, or a bullock that has horns and hoofs. ³²The meek have seen it, and are glad. Ye who seek after God, let your heart live. ³³For Jehovah hears the needy, and does not despise his prisoners. ³⁴Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moves therein. ³⁵For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. And they shall abide there, and have it in possession. ³⁶The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell therein.

CHAPTER 70

¹Hasten, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Jehovah. ²Let them be put to shame and confounded who seek after my soul. Let them be turned backward and brought to dishonor who delight in my hurt. ³Let them be turned back because of their shame who say, Aha, aha. ⁴Let all those who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee. And let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified. ⁵But I am poor and needy. Make haste to me, O God. Thou are my help and my deliverer, O Jehovah. Delay thou not.

CHAPTER 71

¹In thee, O Jehovah, do I take refuge. Let me never be put to shame. ²Deliver me in thy righteousness, and rescue me. Bow down thine ear to me, and save me. ³Be thou to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually resort. Thou have given commandment to save me, for thou are my rock and my fortress. ⁴Rescue me, O my God, out of the hand of a wicked man, out of the hand of an unrighteous and cruel man. ⁵For thou are my hope, O lord Jehovah, my trust from my youth. ⁶By thee I have been held up from the womb. Thou are he who took me out of my mother�s bowels. My praise shall be continually of thee. ⁷I am as a wonder to many, but thou are my strong refuge. ⁸My mouth shall be filled with thy praise, and with thy honor all the day. ⁹Cast me not off in the time of old age. Forsake me not when my strength fails. ¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me, and those who watch for my soul take counsel together, ¹¹saying, God has forsaken him. Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver. ¹²O God, be not far from me. O my God, make haste to help me. ¹³Let them be put to shame and consumed who are adversaries to my soul. Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor who seek my hurt. ¹⁴But I will hope continually, and will praise thee yet more and more. ¹⁵My mouth shall tell of thy righteousness, of thy salvation all the day, for I know not the Num. ¹⁶I will come with the mighty acts of the lord Jehovah. I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. ¹⁷O God, thou have taught me from my youth, and I have declared thy wondrous works until now. ¹⁸Yea, even when I am old and gray headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have declared thy strength to a generation, thy might to everyone who is to come. ¹⁹Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, thou who have done great things. O God, who is like thee? ²⁰Thou, who have shown us many and great troubles, will revive us again, and will bring us up again from the depths of the earth. ²¹Increase thou my greatness, and turn again and comfort me. ²²I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God. To thee I will sing praises with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel. ²³My lips shall shout for joy when I sing praises to thee, and my soul, which thou have redeemed. ²⁴My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long. For they are put to shame, for they are confounded, who seek my hurt.

CHAPTER 72

¹Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness to the king�s son. ²He will judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with justice. ³The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, in righteousness. ⁴He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the sons of the needy, and will break in pieces the oppressor. ⁵They shall fear thee while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations. ⁶He will come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. ⁷In his days righteousness shall flourish, and abundance of peace, till the moon is no more. ⁸He shall also have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. ⁹Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. ¹⁰The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall render tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. ¹¹Yea, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. ¹²For he will deliver a needy man when he cries, and a poor man, who has no helper. ¹³He will have pity on a poor and needy man, and he will save the souls of the needy. ¹⁴He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. And their blood will be precious in his sight, ¹⁵and they shall live. And to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. And men shall pray for him continually. They shall bless him all the day long. ¹⁶There shall be abundance of grain in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit of it shall shake like Lebanon. And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. ¹⁷His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. ¹⁸Blessed be Jehovah God, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. ¹⁹And blessed be his glorious name forever. And let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Truly, and Truly. ²⁰The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

CHAPTER 73

¹Surely God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart. ²But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. ³For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. ⁵They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. ⁶Therefore pride is as a chain around their neck. Violence covers them as a garment. ⁷Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could wish. ⁸They scoff, and in wickedness utter oppression. They speak loftily. ⁹They have set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth. ¹⁰Therefore his people return here, and waters of a full cup are drained by them. ¹¹And they say, How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High? ¹²Behold, these are the wicked, and those who always prosper. They have possessed wealth. ¹³Surely in vain I have cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocence, ¹⁴for all the day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. ¹⁵If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have dealt treacherously with the generation of thy sons. ¹⁶When I thought how I might understand this, it was too painful for me, ¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God, and considered their latter end. ¹⁸Surely thou set them in slippery places. Thou cast them down to destruction. ¹⁹How they have become a desolation in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. ²⁰As a dream from awakening, O Lord, when thou waken, thou will despise their form. ²¹For my soul was grieved, and I was pricked in my heart. ²²So I was brutish, and ignorant. I was a beast before thee. ²³Nevertheless I am continually with thee. Thou have held my right hand. ²⁴Thou will guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵Whom have I in heaven? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. ²⁶My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ²⁷For, lo, those who are far from thee shall perish. Thou have destroyed all those who go a whoring from thee. ²⁸But it is good for me to draw near to God. I have made the lord Jehovah my refuge, that I may tell of all thy works.

CHAPTER 74

¹O God, why have thou cast off forever? Why does thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? ²Remember thy congregation, which thou have gotten of old, which thou have redeemed to be the tribe of thine inheritance, and mount Zion, at which thou have dwelt. ³Lift up thy feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary. ⁴Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of thine assembly. They have set up their ensigns for signs. ⁵They seemed as men who lifted up axes upon a thicket of trees. ⁶And now they break down all the carved work of it with hatchet and hammers. ⁷They have set thy sanctuary on fire. They have profaned the dwelling-place of thy name to the ground. ⁸They said in their heart, Let us make havoc of them altogether. They have burned up all the meeting-places of God in the land. ⁹We do not see our signs. There is no more any prophet, nor is there among us he who knows how long. ¹⁰How long, O God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? ¹¹Why do thou draw back thy hand, even thy right hand? Remove it from the midst of thy bosom. ¹²Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. ¹³Thou divided the sea by thy strength. Thou break the heads of the sea-monsters in the waters. ¹⁴Thou break the heads of leviathan in pieces. Thou gave him to be food to the people inhabiting the wilderness. ¹⁵Thou split fountain and flood. Thou dried up mighty rivers. ¹⁶The day is thine; the night is also thine. Thou have prepared the light and the sun. ¹⁷Thou have set all the borders of the earth. Thou have made summer and winter. ¹⁸Remember this, that the enemy has reproached, O Jehovah, and that a foolish people has blasphemed thy name. ¹⁹O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove to the wild beast. Forget not the life of thy poor forever. ²⁰Have respect to the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of violence. ²¹O let not he who is oppressed return ashamed. Let a poor and needy man praise thy name. ²²Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproaches thee all the day. ²³Forget not the voice of thine adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against thee ascends continually.

CHAPTER 75

¹We give thanks to thee, O God. We give thanks, for thy name is near. Men tell of thy wondrous works. ²When I shall find the set time, I will judge uprightly; ³when the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved. I have set up the pillars of it. Selah. ⁴I said to the arrogant, Deal not arrogantly, and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn. ⁵Lift not up your horn on high. Speak not with a stiff neck. ⁶For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the south, comes lifting up. ⁷But God is the judge. He put one down, and lifts another up. ⁸For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine foams. It is full of mixture, and he pours out of the same, surely to the dregs of it. All the wicked of the earth shall drain them, and drink them. ⁹But I will declare forever. I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. ¹⁰All the horns of the wicked I will also cut off, but the horns of a righteous man shall be lifted up.

CHAPTER 76

¹In Judah God is known. His name is great in Israel. ²In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling-place in Zion. ³There he broke the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah. ⁴Thou are more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey. ⁵The stouthearted are made a spoil. They have slept their sleep, and none of the men of might have found their hands. ⁶At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep. ⁷Thou, even thou, are to be feared. And who may stand in thy sight when once thou are angry? ⁸Thou caused sentence to be heard from heaven. The earth feared and was still ⁹when God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. ¹⁰Surely the inward thought of man shall praise thee, even the residue of inward thought will observe a festival to thee. ¹¹Vow, and pay to Jehovah your God. Let all who are round about him bring presents to him who ought to be feared. ¹²He will cut off the spirit of rulers. He is fearful to the kings of the earth.

CHAPTER 77

¹I will cry to God with my voice, even to God with my voice, and he will give ear to me. ²In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and slacked not. My soul refused to be comforted. ³I remember God, and am disquieted. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah. ⁴Thou have held my eyelids watching. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. ⁵I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times. ⁶I call to remembrance my song in the night. I commune with my own heart, and my spirit makes diligent search. ⁷Will the Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more? ⁸Has his loving kindness entirely gone forever? Does his promise fail for evermore? ⁹Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah. ¹⁰And I said, This is my infirmity, the change of the right hand of the Most High. ¹¹I will make mention of the deeds of Jehovah, for I will remember thy wonders of old. ¹²I will meditate also upon all thy work, and muse on thy doings. ¹³Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is a great god like God? ¹⁴Thou are the God who does wonders. Thou have made known thy strength among the peoples. ¹⁵With thine arm thou have redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. ¹⁶The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee. They were afraid. The depths also trembled. ¹⁷The clouds poured out water. The skies sent out a sound. Thine arrows also went abroad. ¹⁸The voice of thy thunder was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook. ¹⁹Thy way was in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters. And thy footsteps were not known. ²⁰Thou led thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

CHAPTER 78

¹Give ear, O my people, to my law. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. ²I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter dark sayings of old, ³which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. ⁴We will not hide them from their sons, telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, and his strength, and his wondrous works that he has done. ⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their sons, ⁶that the generation to come might know, even the sons who should be born, who should arise and tell to their sons, ⁷that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, ⁸and might not be as their fathers: a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God. ⁹The sons of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law. ¹¹And they forgot his doings, and his wondrous works that he had shown them. ¹²He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. ¹³He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through. And he made the waters to stand as a heap. ¹⁴In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. ¹⁵He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. ¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers. ¹⁷Yet they went on to still sin against him, to rebel against the Most High in the desert. ¹⁸And they challenged God in their heart by asking food according to their desire. ¹⁹Yea, they spoke against God. They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰Behold, he smote the rock, so that waters gushed out, and streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Will he provide flesh for his people? ²¹Therefore Jehovah heard, and was angry. And a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also went up against Israel, ²²because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in his salvation. ²³Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven, ²⁴and he rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them food from heaven. ²⁵Man ate the bread of the mighty. He sent them food to the full. ²⁶He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he guided the south wind. ²⁷He also rained flesh upon them as the dust, and winged birds as the sand of the seas. ²⁸And he let it fall in the midst of their camp round about their habitations. ²⁹So they ate, and were well filled, and he gave them their own desire. ³⁰They were not estranged from that which they desired. Their food was yet in their mouths ³¹when the anger of God went up against them, and killed of the fattest of them, and smote down the young men of Israel. ³²For all this they still sinned, and did not believe in his wondrous works. ³³Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror. ³⁴When he killed them, then they inquired after him, and they returned and sought God earnestly. ³⁵And they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their redeemer. ³⁶But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue. ³⁷For their heart was not right with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant. ³⁸But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and destroyed not. Yea, many a time he turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. ³⁹And he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and comes not again. ⁴⁰How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert! ⁴¹And they turned again and challenged God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. ⁴²They did not remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary, ⁴³how he set his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan, ⁴⁴and turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink. ⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. ⁴⁶He also gave their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. ⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. ⁴⁸He also gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. ⁴⁹He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, a band of agents of evil. ⁵⁰He made a path for his anger. He spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence, ⁵¹and smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham. ⁵²But he led forth his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. ⁵³And he led them safely, so that they feared not, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. ⁵⁴And he brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had gotten. ⁵⁵He also drove out the nations before them, and allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. ⁵⁶Yet they challenged and rebelled against the Most High God, and kept not his testimonies, ⁵⁷but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. ⁵⁸For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. ⁵⁹When God heard, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel, ⁶⁰so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, ⁶¹and delivered their strength into captivity, and their glory into the adversary�s hand. ⁶²He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance. ⁶³Fire devoured their young men, and their virgins had no marriage-song. ⁶⁴Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. ⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts because of wine. ⁶⁶And he smote his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach. ⁶⁷Moreover he refused the tent of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, ⁶⁸but chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved. ⁶⁹And he built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which he has established forever. ⁷⁰He also chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. ⁷¹He brought him from following the ewes that have their young, to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. ⁷²So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

CHAPTER 79

¹O God, the nations have come into thine inheritance. They have defiled thy holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. ²They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be food to the birds of the heavens, the flesh of thy sanctified to the beasts of the earth. ³They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them. ⁴We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those who are round about us. ⁵How long, O Jehovah? Will thou be angry forever? Shall thy jealousy burn like fire? ⁶Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that do not know thee, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name. ⁷For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his habitation. ⁸Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers. Let thy tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are brought very low. ⁹Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name. And deliver us, and forgive our sins, for thy name�s sake. ¹⁰Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed be known among the nations in our sight. ¹¹Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee. According to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those who are appointed to death, ¹²and render to our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom their reproach with which they have reproached thee, O Lord, ¹³so we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks forever. We will show forth thy praise to all generations.

CHAPTER 80

¹Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who lead Joseph like a flock. Thou who sit above the cherubim, shine forth. ²Stir up thy might before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, and come to save us. ³Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. ⁴O Jehovah God of hosts, how long will thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? ⁵Thou have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure. ⁶Thou make us hatred to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves. ⁷Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. ⁸Thou brought a vine out of Egypt. Thou drove out the nations, and planted it. ⁹Thou prepared place before it, and it took deep root, and filled the land. ¹⁰The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs of it were like cedars of God. ¹¹It sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River. ¹²Why have thou broken down its walls, so that all those who pass by the way pluck it? ¹³The boar out of the wood ravages it, and the wild beasts of the field feed on it. ¹⁴Turn again, we beseech thee, O God of hosts. Look down from heaven, and, behold, and visit this vine, ¹⁵and the stock which thy right hand planted, and the branch that thou made strong for thyself. ¹⁶It is burned with fire, it is cut down. They perish at the rebuke of thy countenance. ¹⁷Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou made strong for thyself, ¹⁸so shall we not go back from thee. Revive thou us, and we will call upon thy name. ¹⁹Turn us again, O Jehovah God of hosts, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved.

CHAPTER 81

¹Sing aloud to God our strength. Make a joyful noise to the God of Jacob. ²Raise a song, and bring here the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. ³Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast-day. ⁴For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. ⁵He appointed it in Joseph for a testimony when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard a language that I knew not. ⁶I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket. ⁷Thou called in trouble, and I delivered thee. I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. I proved thee at the waters of Meribah. Selah. ⁸Hear, O my people, and I will testify to thee, O Israel, if thou would hearken to me! ⁹There shall no strange god be in thee, nor shall thou worship any foreign god. ¹⁰I am Jehovah thy God who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. ¹¹But my people hearkened not to my voice, and Israel would none of me. ¹²So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels. ¹³O that my people would hearken to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! ¹⁴I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their adversaries. ¹⁵(The haters of Jehovah feign obedience to him, but their time is forever.) ¹⁶He would feed them also with the finest of the wheat. And I would satisfy thee with honey out of the rock.

CHAPTER 82

¹God stands in the congregation of God. He judges among the gods. ²How long will ye judge unjustly, and respect the persons of the wicked? Selah. ³Judge the poor man and the orphan. Do justice to the afflicted and destitute man. ⁴Rescue the poor and needy man. Deliver from the hand of the wicked man. ⁵They know not, nor do they understand. They walk to and fro in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. ⁶I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. ⁷Nevertheless ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the rulers. ⁸Arise, O God, judge the earth, for thou shall inherit all the nations.

CHAPTER 83

¹O God, keep thou not silence. Hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. ²For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult, and those who hate thee have lifted up the head. ³They take crafty counsel against thy people, and consult together against thy hidden ones. ⁴They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. ⁵For they have consulted together with one consent. They make a covenant against thee: ⁶the tents of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, Moab, and the Hagarenes, ⁷Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre, ⁸Assyria also is joined with them; they have helped the sons of Lot. Selah. ⁹Do thou to them as to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon, ¹⁰who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth. ¹¹Make their ranking men like Oreb and Zeeb, yea, all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, ¹²who said, Let us take to ourselves in possession the habitations of God. ¹³O my God, make them like the whirling dust, as stubble before the wind, ¹⁴as the fire that burns the forest, and as the flame that sets the mountains on fire. ¹⁵So pursue them with thy tempest, and terrify them with thy storm. ¹⁶Fill their faces with confusion, that they may seek thy name, O Jehovah. ¹⁷Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever. Yea, let them be confounded and perish, ¹⁸that they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, are the Most High over all the earth.

CHAPTER 84

¹How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah of hosts! ²My soul longs, yea, even faints for the courts of Jehovah. My heart and my flesh cry out to the living God. ³Yea, the sparrow has found her a house, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, even thine altars, O Jehovah of hosts, my King and my God. ⁴Blessed are those who dwell in thy house. They will still be praising thee. Selah. ⁵Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. ⁶Passing through the valley of weeping they make it a place of springs. Yea, the early rain covers it with blessings. ⁷They go from strength to strength; each one of them appears before God in Zion. ⁸O Jehovah God of hosts, hear my prayer. Give ear, O God of Jacob. Selah. ⁹Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed. ¹⁰For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. ¹¹For Jehovah God is a sun and a shield. Jehovah will give grace and glory. He will withhold no good thing from those who walk uprightly. ¹²O Jehovah of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in thee.

CHAPTER 85

¹Jehovah, thou have been favorable to thy land. Thou have brought back the captivity of Jacob. ²Thou have forgiven the iniquity of thy people. Thou have covered all their sin. Selah. ³Thou have taken away all thy wrath. Thou have turned from the fierceness of thine anger. ⁴Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine indignation toward us to cease. ⁵Will thou be angry with us forever? Will thou draw out thine anger to all generations? ⁶Will thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? ⁷Show us thy loving kindness, O Jehovah, and grant us thy salvation. ⁸I will hear what God, Jehovah, will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, and to his sanctified. But let them not turn again to folly. ⁹Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. ¹⁰Mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. ¹¹Truth springs out of the earth, and righteousness has looked down from heaven. ¹²Yea, Jehovah will give that which is good, and our land shall yield its increase. ¹³Righteousness shall go before him, and shall make his footsteps a path.

CHAPTER 86

¹Bow down thine ear, O Jehovah, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. ²Preserve my soul, for I am devout. O thou my God, save thy servant who trusts in thee. ³Be merciful to me, O Lord, for to thee do I cry all the day long. ⁴Rejoice the soul of thy servant, for to thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. ⁵For thou, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in loving kindness to all those who call upon thee. ⁶Give ear, O Jehovah, to my prayer, and hearken to the voice of my supplications. ⁷In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou will answer me. ⁸There is none like thee among the gods, O Lord, nor like thy works. ⁹All nations whom thou have made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and they shall glorify thy name. ¹⁰For thou are great, and do wondrous things. Thou alone are God. ¹¹Teach me thy way, O Jehovah, I will walk in thy truth. Unite my heart to fear thy name. ¹²I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify thy name for evermore. ¹³For great is thy loving kindness toward me, and thou have delivered my soul from the lowest Sheol. ¹⁴O God, the proud have risen up against me, and a company of violent men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before them. ¹⁵But thou, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth. ¹⁶O turn to me, and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength to thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid. ¹⁷Show me a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it, and be put to shame, because thou, Jehovah, have helped me, and comforted me.

CHAPTER 87

¹His foundation is in the holy mountains. ²Jehovah loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. ³Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah. ⁴I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon as among those who know me. Behold, Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia: This man was born there. ⁵Yea, of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her. ⁶Jehovah will count when he writes up the peoples: This man was born there. Selah. ⁷Those who sing as well as those who dance shall say, All my fountains are in thee.

CHAPTER 88

¹O Jehovah, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. ²Let my prayer enter into thy presence. Incline thine ear to my cry. ³For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol. ⁴I am reckoned with those who go down into the pit. I am as a man who has no help, ⁵cast off among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom thou remember no more, and they are cut off from thy hand. ⁶Thou have laid me in the lowest pit, in dark places, in the deeps. ⁷Thy wrath lays hard upon me, and thou have afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah. ⁸Thou have put my acquaintances far from me. Thou have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. ⁹My eye wastes away because of affliction. I have called daily upon thee, O Jehovah, I have spread forth my hands to thee. ¹⁰Will thou show wonders to the dead? Shall those who are deceased arise and praise thee? Selah. ¹¹Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave, or thy faithfulness in destruction? ¹²Shall thy wonders be known in the dark, and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ¹³But to thee, O Jehovah, I have cried, and in the morning my prayer shall come before thee. ¹⁴Jehovah, why do thou cast off my soul? Why do thou hide thy face from me? ¹⁵I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer thy terrors I am confounded. ¹⁶Thy fierce wrath has gone over me. Thy terrors have cut me off. ¹⁷They came round about me like water all the day long. They encompassed me around together. ¹⁸Thou have put beloved and friend far from me, and my acquaintances into darkness.

CHAPTER 89

¹I will sing of the loving kindness of Jehovah forever. With my mouth I will make known thy faithfulness to all generations. ²For I have said, Mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness thou will establish in the very heavens. ³I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to David my servant: ⁴Thy seed I will establish forever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. ⁵And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Jehovah, thy faithfulness also in the assembly of the sanctified. ⁶For who in the clouds can be compared to Jehovah? Who among the sons of the mighty is like Jehovah, ⁷a God very awesome in the council of the holy ones, and to be feared above all those who are round about him? ⁸O Jehovah God of hosts, who is a mighty one like thee, O Jehovah? And thy faithfulness is round about thee. ⁹Thou rule the pride of the sea. When the waves of it arise, thou still them. ¹⁰Thou have broken Rahab in pieces, as a wounded man. Thou have scattered thine enemies with the arm of thy strength. ¹¹The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine, the world and the fullness of it; thou have founded them. ¹²The north and the south, thou have created them. Tabor and Hermon rejoice in thy name. ¹³Thou have a mighty arm. Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. ¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of thy throne. Loving kindness and truth go before thy face. ¹⁵Blessed is the people who know the joyful sound. They walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance. ¹⁶In thy name do they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness are they exalted. ¹⁷For thou are the glory of their strength, and in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. ¹⁸For our shield belongs to Jehovah, and our king to the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁹Then thou spoke in a vision to thy sanctified, and said, I have laid help upon a mighty man. I have exalted a chosen man out of the people. ²⁰I have found David my servant. With my holy oil I have anointed him, ²¹with whom my hand shall be established. My arm also shall strengthen him. ²²The enemy shall not exact from him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. ²³And I will beat down his adversaries before him, and smite those who hate him, ²⁴but my faithfulness and my loving kindness shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. ²⁵I will also set his hand on the sea, and his right hand on the rivers. ²⁶He shall cry to me, Thou are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. ²⁷I also will make him firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸I will keep my loving kindness for him for evermore. And my covenant shall stand fast with him. ²⁹I will also make his seed to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰If his sons forsake my law, and walk not in my ordinances, ³¹if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, ³²then I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes, ³³but my loving kindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow my faithfulness to fail. ³⁴I will not break my covenant, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. ³⁵I have sworn once by my holiness; I will not lie to David. ³⁶His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. ³⁷It shall be established forever as the moon, and as the faithful witness in the sky. Selah. ³⁸But thou have cast off and rejected. Thou have been angry with thine anointed. ³⁹Thou have abhorred the covenant of thy servant. Thou have profaned his crown to the ground. ⁴⁰Thou have broken down all his hedges. Thou have brought his strongholds to ruin. ⁴¹All who pass by the way rob him. He has become a reproach to his neighbors. ⁴²Thou have exalted the right hand of his adversaries. Thou have made all his enemies to rejoice. ⁴³Yea, thou turn back the edge of his sword, and have not made him to stand in the battle. ⁴⁴Thou have made his brightness to cease, and cast his throne down to the ground. ⁴⁵The days of his youth thou have shortened. Thou have covered him with shame. Selah. ⁴⁶How long, O Jehovah? Will thou hide thyself forever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? ⁴⁷O remember how short my time is, for what vanity thou have created all the sons of men! ⁴⁸What man is he who shall live and not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. ⁴⁹Lord, where are thy former loving kindnesses, which thou swore to David in thy faithfulness? ⁵⁰Remember, Lord, the reproach of thy servants, how I bear in my bosom all the mighty peoples, ⁵¹with which thine enemies have reproached, O Jehovah, with which they have reproached the footsteps of thine anointed. ⁵²Blessed be Jehovah for evermore. Truly, and Truly.

CHAPTER 90

¹Lord, thou have been our dwelling-place in all generations. ²Before the mountains were brought forth, or thou had ever formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou are God. ³Thou turn man to destruction, and say, Return, ye sons of men. ⁴For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night. ⁵Thou carry them away as with a flood. They are as a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up. ⁶In the morning it flourishes, and grows up. In the evening it is cut down, and withers. ⁷For we are consumed in thine anger, and in thy wrath are we troubled. ⁸Thou have set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance. ⁹For all our days are passed away in thy wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh. ¹⁰The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it is soon gone, and we fly away. ¹¹Who knows the power of thine anger, and thy wrath according to the fear that is due to thee? ¹²So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom. ¹³Return, O Jehovah. How long? And relent concerning thy servants. ¹⁴O satisfy us in the morning with thy loving kindness, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. ¹⁵Make us glad according to the days in which thou have afflicted us, and the years in which we have seen evil. ¹⁶Let thy work appear to thy servants, and thy glory upon their sons. ¹⁷And let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us. And establish thou the work of our hands upon us, yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.

CHAPTER 91

¹He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. ²I will say of Jehovah, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. ³For he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence. ⁴He will cover thee with his pinions, and under his wings shall thou take refuge. His truth is a shield and a buckler. ⁵Thou shall not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flies by day, ⁶for the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday. ⁷A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not come near thee. ⁸Thou shall only behold with thine eyes, and see the reward of the wicked. ⁹For thou, O Jehovah, are my refuge! Thou have made the Most High thy habitation. ¹⁰There shall no evil befall thee, nor shall any plague come near thy tent, ¹¹for he will give his agents charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. ¹²They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. ¹³Thou shall tread upon the lion and adder. The young lion and the serpent thou shall trample under foot. ¹⁴Because he has set his love upon me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high because he has known my name. ¹⁵He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him, and honor him. ¹⁶I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.

CHAPTER 92

¹It is a good thing to give thanks to Jehovah, and to sing praises to thy name, O Most High, ²to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, ³with an instrument of ten strings, and with the psaltery, with a solemn sound upon the harp. ⁴For thou, Jehovah, have made me glad through thy work. I will triumph in the works of thy hands. ⁵How great are thy works, O Jehovah! Thy thoughts are very deep. ⁶A brutish man knows not, nor does a fool understand this. ⁷When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed forever, ⁸but thou, O Jehovah, are on high for evermore. ⁹For, lo, thine enemies, O Jehovah, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish. All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. ¹⁰But thou have exalted my horn like the wild ox�s. I am anointed with fresh oil, ¹¹and my eye has seen my enemies. My ears have heard of the evildoers who rise up against me. ¹²A righteous man shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. ¹³Men who are planted in the house of Jehovah shall flourish in the courts of our God. ¹⁴They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be full of sap and green ¹⁵to show that Jehovah is upright. He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

CHAPTER 93

¹Jehovah reigns! He is clothed with majesty. Jehovah is clothed with strength; he has girded himself with it. The world also is established that it cannot be moved. ²Thy throne is established of old. Thou are from everlasting. ³The floods have lifted up, O Jehovah, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their waves. ⁴Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Jehovah on high is mighty. ⁵Thy testimonies are very sure. Holiness befits thy house, O Jehovah, for evermore.

CHAPTER 94

¹O Jehovah, thou God to whom vengeance belongs, thou God to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth. ²Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth. Render to the proud a recompense. ³Jehovah, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? ⁴They prate, they speak arrogantly. All the workers of iniquity boast themselves. ⁵They break in pieces thy people, O Jehovah, and afflict thy heritage. ⁶They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless. ⁷And they say, Jehovah will not see, nor will the God of Jacob consider. ⁸Consider, ye brutish among the people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise? ⁹He who planted the ear, shall he not hear? He who formed the eye, shall he not see? ¹⁰He who chastises the nations, shall he not correct, even he who teaches man knowledge? ¹¹Jehovah knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity. ¹²Blessed is the man whom thou chasten, O Jehovah, and teach out of thy law, ¹³that thou may give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit is dug for a wicked man. ¹⁴For Jehovah will not cast off his people, nor will he forsake his inheritance. ¹⁵For judgment shall return to righteousness, and all the upright in heart shall follow it. ¹⁶Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? ¹⁷Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul would have soon dwelt in silence. ¹⁸When I said, My foot slips, thy loving kindness, O Jehovah, held me up. ¹⁹In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. ²⁰Shall the throne of wickedness have fellowship with thee, which frames mischief by statute? ²¹They gather themselves together against the soul of a righteous man, and condemn innocent blood. ²²But Jehovah has been my high tower, and my God the rock of my refuge. ²³And he has brought upon them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Jehovah our God will cut them off.

CHAPTER 95

¹O come, let us sing to Jehovah. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. ²Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with psalms. ³For Jehovah is a great God, and a great King above all gods. ⁴In his hand are the deep places of the earth. The heights of the mountains are also his. ⁵The sea is his, and he made it. And his hands formed the dry land. ⁶O come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before Jehovah our maker. ⁷For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, O that ye would hear his voice! ⁸Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, as the day of trial in the wilderness, ⁹where your fathers challenged me, proved me, and saw my work. ¹⁰Forty years long I was grieved with that generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. ¹¹Therefore I swore in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

CHAPTER 96

¹O sing to Jehovah a new song. Sing to Jehovah, all the earth. ²Sing to Jehovah, bless his name. Show forth his salvation from day to day. ³Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. ⁴For great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. ⁵For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Jehovah made the heavens. ⁶Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. ⁷Ascribe to Jehovah, ye kindred of the peoples. Ascribe to Jehovah glory and strength. ⁸Ascribe to Jehovah the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come into his courts. ⁹O worship Jehovah in holy array. Tremble before him, all the earth. ¹⁰Say among the nations, Jehovah reigns! The world also is established that it cannot be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity. ¹¹Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof. ¹²Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the wood shall sing for joy ¹³before Jehovah, for he comes. For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with his truth.

CHAPTER 97

¹Jehovah reigns! Let the earth rejoice. Let the multitude of isles be glad. ²Clouds and darkness are round about him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. ³A fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries round about. ⁴His lightnings lightened the world. The earth saw, and trembled. ⁵The mountains melted like wax at the presence of Jehovah, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. ⁶The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the peoples have seen his glory. ⁷Let all those be put to shame who serve graven images, who boast themselves of idols. Bow yourselves to him, all ye gods. ⁸Zion heard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced, because of thy judgments, O Jehovah. ⁹For thou, Jehovah, are most high above all the earth. Thou are exalted far above all gods. ¹⁰O ye who love Jehovah, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his sanctified. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. ¹¹Light is sown for the righteous man, and gladness for the upright in heart. ¹²Be glad in Jehovah, ye righteous, and give thanks to the memory of his holiness.

CHAPTER 98

¹O sing to Jehovah a new song, for he has done marvelous things. His right hand, and his holy arm, has wrought salvation for him. ²Jehovah has made known his salvation. He has openly shown his righteousness in the sight of the nations. ³He has remembered his loving kindness and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ⁴Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth. Break forth and sing for joy, yea, sing praises. ⁵Sing praises to Jehovah with the harp. With the harp and the voice of melody, ⁶with trumpets and sound of cornet, make a joyful noise before the King�Jehovah. ⁷Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof, the world, and those who dwell in it. ⁸Let the floods clap their hands. Let the hills sing for joy together ⁹before Jehovah, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.

CHAPTER 99

¹Jehovah reigns! Let the peoples tremble. He sits above the cherubim, let the earth be moved. ²Jehovah is great in Zion, and he is high above all the peoples. ³Let them praise thy great and awesome name. Holy is he. ⁴The king�s strength also loves justice. Thou establish equity. Thou execute justice and righteousness in Jacob. ⁵Exalt ye Jehovah our God, and worship at his footstool. Holy is he. ⁶Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name, they called upon Jehovah, and he answered them. ⁷He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the statute that he gave them. ⁸Thou answered them, O Jehovah our God. Thou were a God who forgave them, though thou took vengeance on their doings. ⁹Exalt ye Jehovah our God, and worship at his holy hill. For Jehovah our God is holy.

CHAPTER 100

¹Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all ye lands. ²Serve Jehovah with gladness. Come before his presence with singing. ³Know ye that Jehovah, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. ⁴Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him, and bless his name. ⁵For Jehovah is good. His loving kindness is forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

CHAPTER 101

¹I will sing of loving kindness and justice. To thee, O Jehovah, I will sing praises. ²I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when will thou come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. ³I will set no base thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. ⁴A perverse heart shall depart from me. I will know no evil thing. ⁵He who slanders his neighbor secretly, him I will destroy. He who has a high look and a proud heart I will not endure. ⁶My eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me. He who walks in a perfect way, he shall minister to me. ⁷He who works deceit shall not dwell within my house. He who speaks falsehood shall not be established before my eyes. ⁸Morning by morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, to cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 102

¹Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and let my cry come to thee. ²Hide not thy face from me in the day of my distress. Incline thine ear to me. In the day when I call answer me speedily. ³For my days consume away like smoke, and my bones are burned as a firebrand. ⁴My heart is smitten like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread. ⁵Because of the voice of my groaning my bones cling to my flesh. ⁶I am like a pelican of the wilderness. I have become as an owl of the waste places. ⁷I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone upon the house-top. ⁸My enemies reproach me all the day. Those who are mad against me do curse by me. ⁹For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, ¹⁰because of thine indignation and thy wrath. For thou have taken me up, and cast me away. ¹¹My days are like a shadow that declines, and I am withered like grass. ¹²But thou, O Jehovah, will abide forever, and thy memorial to all generations. ¹³Thou will arise, and have mercy upon Zion, for it is time to have pity upon her, yea, the set time has come. ¹⁴For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and have pity upon her dust. ¹⁵So the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, and all the kings of the earth thy glory. ¹⁶For Jehovah has built up Zion. He has appeared in his glory. ¹⁷He has regarded the prayer of the destitute, and has not despised their prayer. ¹⁸This shall be written for the generation to come. And a people which shall be created shall praise Jehovah. ¹⁹For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary. From heaven Jehovah beheld the earth, ²⁰to hear the sighing of the prisoner, to loose those who are appointed to death, ²¹that men may declare the name of Jehovah in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem, ²²when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve Jehovah. ²³He weakened my strength in the way. He shortened my days. ²⁴I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Thy years are throughout all generations. ²⁵Of old thou laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of thy hands. ²⁶They shall perish, but thou shall endure. Yea, all of them shall grow old like a garment. As a vesture thou shall change them, and they shall be changed, ²⁷but thou are the same, and thy years shall have no end. ²⁸The sons of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.

CHAPTER 103

¹Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. ²Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, ³who forgives all thine iniquities, who heals all thy diseases, ⁴who redeems thy life from destruction, who crowns thee with loving kindness and tender mercies, ⁵who satisfies thy desire with good things, and thy youth is renewed like the eagle. ⁶Jehovah executes righteous acts, and judgments for all who are oppressed. ⁷He made known his ways to Moses, his doings to the sons of Israel. ⁸Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness. ⁹He will not always chide, nor will he keep it forever. ¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. ¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. ¹³Like as a father pities his sons, So Jehovah pities those who fear him. ¹⁴For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. ¹⁵As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. ¹⁶For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and the place thereof shall know it no more. ¹⁷But the loving kindness of Jehovah is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him, and his righteousness to son�s sons, ¹⁸to such as keep his covenant, and to those who remember his precepts to do them. ¹⁹Jehovah has established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all. ²⁰Bless Jehovah, ye his agents, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, hearkening to the voice of his word. ²¹Bless Jehovah, all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his, who do his pleasure. ²²Bless Jehovah, all ye his works in all places of his dominion. Bless Jehovah, O my soul.

CHAPTER 104

¹Bless Jehovah, O my soul. O Jehovah my God, thou are very great. Thou are clothed with honor and majesty, ²who covers thyself with light as with a garment, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, ³who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks upon the wings of the wind, ⁴who makes his agents spirits, his ministers a flame of fire, ⁵who laid the foundations of the earth that it should not be moved forever. ⁶Thou covered it with the deep as with a vesture. The waters stood above the mountains. ⁷At thy rebuke they fled. At the voice of thy thunder they hastened away. ⁸The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which thou had founded for them. ⁹Thou have set a bound that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth. ¹⁰He sends forth springs into the valleys. They run among the mountains. ¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. ¹²By them the birds of the heavens have their habitation. They sing among the branches. ¹³He waters the mountains from his chambers. The earth is filled with the fruit of thy works. ¹⁴He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herbage for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth, ¹⁵and wine that makes glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man�s heart. ¹⁶The trees of Jehovah are full, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted, ¹⁷where the birds make their nests. As for the stork, the fir trees are her house. ¹⁸The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the conies. ¹⁹He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows his going down. ²⁰Thou make darkness, and it is night, during which all the beasts of the forest creep forth. ²¹The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. ²²The sun arises; they get away, and lie down in their dens. ²³Man goes forth to his work and to his labor until the evening. ²⁴O Jehovah, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom have thou made them all. The earth is full of thy riches. ²⁵Yonder is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts. ²⁶There go the ships. There is leviathan, whom thou have formed to play in it. ²⁷These all wait for thee, that thou may give them their food in due season. ²⁸Thou give to them, they gather. Thou open thy hand, they are satisfied with good. ²⁹Thou hide thy face, they are troubled. Thou take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. ³⁰Thou send forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renew the face of the ground. ³¹Let the glory of Jehovah endure forever. Let Jehovah rejoice in his works, ³²who looks on the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke. ³³I will sing to Jehovah as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. ³⁴Let thy meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in Jehovah. ³⁵Let sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 105

¹O give thanks to Jehovah, call upon his name. Make known among the peoples his doings. ²Sing to him, sing praises to him. Talk ye of all his marvelous works. ³Glory ye in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Jehovah rejoice. ⁴Seek ye Jehovah and his strength. Seek his face evermore. ⁵Remember his marvelous works that he has done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, ⁶O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye sons of Jacob, his chosen. ⁷He is Jehovah our God. His judgments are in all the earth. ⁸He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, ⁹which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac, ¹⁰and confirmed the same to Jacob for a statute, to Israel for an everlasting covenant, ¹¹saying, To thee I will give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance, ¹²when they were but a few men in number, yea, very few, and sojourners in it. ¹³And they went about from nation to nation, From one kingdom to another people. ¹⁴He allowed no man to do them wrong. Yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, ¹⁵saying, Touch not my anointed men, and do my prophets no harm. ¹⁶And he called for a famine upon the land. He broke the whole staff of bread. ¹⁷He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a servant. ¹⁸They hurt his feet with fetters. He was placed in iron. ¹⁹Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of Jehovah tried him. ²⁰The king sent and released him, even the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. ²¹He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance, ²²to bind his rulers at his pleasure, and teach his elders wisdom. ²³Israel also came into Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. ²⁴And he increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their adversaries. ²⁵He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. ²⁶He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen. ²⁷They set among them his signs and wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸He sent darkness, and made it dark. And they rebelled against his words. ²⁹He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish. ³⁰Their land swarmed with frogs in the chambers of their kings. ³¹He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and lice in all their borders. ³²He gave them hail for rain, and flaming fire in their land. ³³He also smote their vines and their fig trees, and broke the trees of their borders. ³⁴He spoke, and the locust came, and the grasshopper, and that without number, ³⁵and ate up every herb in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. ³⁶He also smote all the firstborn in their land, the chief of all their strength. ³⁷And he brought them forth with silver and gold, and there was not a feeble soul among his tribes. ³⁸Egypt was glad when they departed, for the fear of them had fallen upon them. ³⁹He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night. ⁴⁰They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. ⁴¹He opened the rock, and waters gushed out. They ran in the dry places like a river. ⁴²For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham his servant. ⁴³And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with singing. ⁴⁴And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took the labor of the peoples in possession, ⁴⁵that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 106

¹Praise ye Jehovah. O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good, for his loving kindness is forever. ²Who can utter the mighty acts of Jehovah, or show forth all his praise? ³Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who does righteousness at all times. ⁴Remember me, O Jehovah, with the favor that thou bear to thy people. O visit me with thy salvation, ⁵that I may see the prosperity of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may glory with thine inheritance. ⁶We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. we have done wickedly. ⁷Our fathers did not understand thy wonders in Egypt. They did not remember the multitude of thy loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. ⁸Nevertheless he saved them for his name�s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. ⁹He also rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up. So he led them through the depths as through a wilderness. ¹⁰And he saved them from the hand of him who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. ¹¹And the waters covered their adversaries; there was not one of them left. ¹²Then they believed his words. They sang his praise. ¹³They soon forgot his works. They did not wait for his counsel, ¹⁴but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and challenged God in the desert. ¹⁵And he gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul. ¹⁶They also envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the sanctified of Jehovah. ¹⁷The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. ¹⁸And a fire was kindled in their company. The flame burned up the wicked men. ¹⁹They made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰Thus they changed their glory for the likeness of an ox that eats grass. ²¹They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, ²²wondrous works in the land of Ham, and fearful things by the Red Sea. ²³Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy. ²⁴Yea, they despised the pleasant land. They did not believe his word, ²⁵but murmured in their tents, and did not hearken to the voice of Jehovah. ²⁶Therefore he swore to them, that he would overthrow them in the wilderness, ²⁷and that he would overthrow their seed among the nations, and scatter them in the lands. ²⁸They also joined themselves to Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. ²⁹Thus they provoked him to anger with their doings, and the plague broke in upon them. ³⁰Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, and so the plague was stayed. ³¹And that was reckoned to him for righteousness to all generations for evermore. ³²They also angered him at the waters of Meribah, so that it went ill with Moses because of them, ³³because they were rebellious against his spirit, and he spoke ill-advisedly with his lips. ³⁴They did not destroy the peoples, as Jehovah commanded them, ³⁵but mingled themselves with the nations, and learned their works, ³⁶and served their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons, ³⁸and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with blood. ³⁹Thus they were defiled with their works, and played the harlot in their doings. ⁴⁰Therefore the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹And he gave them into the hand of the nations. And those who hated them ruled over them. ⁴²Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand. ⁴³Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity. ⁴⁴Nevertheless he regarded their distress when he heard their cry. ⁴⁵And he remembered his covenant for them, and relented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ⁴⁶He also made them to be pitied by all those who carried them captive. ⁴⁷Save us, O Jehovah our God, and gather us from among the nations, to give thanks to thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. ⁴⁸Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And let all the people say, Truly. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 107

¹O give thanks to Jehovah, For he is good, for his loving kindness is forever. ²Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary, ³and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. ⁴They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city of habitation. ⁵Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. ⁶Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. ⁷He also led them by a straight way, that they might go to a city of habitation. ⁸O that men would praise Jehovah for his loving kindness, and for his wonderful works to the sons of men! ⁹For he satisfies the longing soul, and he fills the hungry soul with good, ¹⁰even those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, ¹¹because they rebelled against the words of God, and scorned the counsel of the Most High. ¹²Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was none to help. ¹³Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. ¹⁴He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bonds apart. ¹⁵O that men would praise Jehovah for his loving kindness, and for his wonderful works to the sons of men! ¹⁶For he has broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron apart. ¹⁷Fools are afflicted because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities. ¹⁸Their soul abhors all manner of food, and they draw near to the gates of death. ¹⁹Then they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, and he saves them out of their distresses. ²⁰He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their destructions. ²¹O that men would praise Jehovah for his loving kindness, and for his wonderful works to the sons of men! ²²And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with singing. ²³Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters, ²⁴these men see the works of Jehovah, and his wonders in the deep. ²⁵For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of it. ²⁶They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. ²⁷They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits� end. ²⁸Then they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distresses. ²⁹He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves of it are still. ³⁰Then they are glad because they are quiet, so he brings them to their desired haven. ³¹O that men would praise Jehovah for his loving kindness, and for his wonderful works to the sons of men! ³²Let them also exalt him in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders. ³³He turns rivers into a wilderness, and water springs into a thirsty ground, ³⁴a fruitful land into a salt desert, for the wickedness of those who dwell therein. ³⁵He turns a wilderness into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs. ³⁶And there he makes the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city of habitation, ³⁷and sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get fruits of increase. ³⁸He also blesses them, so that they are multiplied greatly, and he does not allow their cattle to decrease. ³⁹Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow. ⁴⁰He pours contempt upon rulers, and causes them to wander in the waste, where there is no way. ⁴¹Yet he sets a needy man on high from affliction, and makes him families like a flock. ⁴²The upright shall see it, and be glad. And all iniquity shall stop her mouth. ⁴³He who is wise will give heed to these things, and they will consider the loving kindnesses of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 108

¹My heart is fixed, O God, I will sing, yea, I will sing praises, even with my glory. ²Awake, psaltery and harp. I myself will awake right early. ³I will give thanks to thee, O Jehovah, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to thee among the nations. ⁴For thy loving kindness is great above the heavens, and thy truth is to the skies. ⁵Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth. ⁶That thy beloved may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and answer us. ⁷God has spoken in his holiness. I will exult. I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. ⁸Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter. ⁹Moab is my wash pot. Upon Edom I will cast my shoe. Over Philistia I will shout. ¹⁰Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who has led me to Edom? ¹¹Have thou not cast us off, O God? And thou go not forth, O God, with our armies. ¹²Give us help against the adversary, for vain is the help of man. ¹³Through God we shall do valiantly, for he it is who will tread down our adversaries.

CHAPTER 109

¹Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise, ²for they have opened against me the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of deceit. They have spoken to me with a lying tongue. ³They have also encompassed me about with words of hatred, and fought against me without a cause. ⁴For my love they are my adversaries, but I make prayer. ⁵And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. ⁶Set thou a wicked man over him, and let an adversary stand at his right hand. ⁷When he is judged, let him come forth guilty, and let his prayer be turned into sin. ⁸Let his days be few, and let another take his office. ⁹Let his sons be fatherless, and his wife a widow. ¹⁰Let his sons be vagabonds, and beg, and let them seek out of their desolate places. ¹¹Let a creditor exact all that he has, and let strangers make spoil of his labor. ¹²Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor let there be any to have pity on his fatherless sons. ¹³Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out. ¹⁴Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with Jehovah, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. ¹⁵Let them be before Jehovah continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth, ¹⁶because he did not remember to show kindness, but persecuted the poor and needy man, and the broken in heart, to kill. ¹⁷Yea, he loved cursing, and it came to him. And he did not delight in blessing, and it was far from him. ¹⁸He also clothed himself with cursing as with his garment, and it came into his inward parts like water, and like oil into his bones. ¹⁹Let it be to him as the raiment with which he covers himself, and for the belt with which he is girded continually. ²⁰This is the reward of my adversaries from Jehovah, and of those who speak evil against my soul. ²¹But deal thou with me, O Jehovah the Lord, for thy name�s sake. Because thy loving kindness is good, deliver thou me, ²²for I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me. ²³I am gone like the shadow when it declines. I am tossed up and down as the locust. ²⁴My knees are weak through fasting, and my flesh fails of fatness. ²⁵I also have become a reproach to them. When they see me, they shake their head. ²⁶Help me, O Jehovah my God. O save me according to thy loving kindness, ²⁷that they may know that this is thy hand, that thou, Jehovah, have done it. ²⁸Let them curse, but bless thou. When they arise, they shall be put to shame, but thy servant shall rejoice. ²⁹Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor, and let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe. ³⁰I will give great thanks to Jehovah with my mouth. Yea, I will praise him among the multitude. ³¹For he will stand at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who judge his soul.

CHAPTER 110

¹Jehovah says to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. ²Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. ³Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning thou have the dew of thy youth. ⁴Jehovah has sworn, and will not repent. Thou are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. ⁵The Lord at thy right hand will strike through kings in the day of his wrath. ⁶He will judge among the nations. He will fill with dead bodies. He will strike through the head in many countries. ⁷He will drink of the brook in the way, therefore he will lift up the head.

CHAPTER 111

¹Praise ye Jehovah. I will give thanks to Jehovah with my whole heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation. ²The works of Jehovah are great, sought out by all those who have pleasure in it. ³His work is honor and majesty, and his righteousness endures forever. ⁴He has made his wonderful works to be remembered. Jehovah is gracious and merciful. ⁵He has given food to those who fear him. He will ever be mindful of his covenant. ⁶He has shown his people the power of his works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. ⁷The works of his hands are truth and justice. All his precepts are sure. ⁸They are established forever and ever. They are done in truth and uprightness. ⁹He has sent redemption to his people. He has commanded his covenant forever. Holy and reverend is his name. ¹⁰The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, and all who act accordingly have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.

CHAPTER 112

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah, who delights greatly in his commandments. ²His seed shall be mighty upon earth. The generation of the upright shall be blessed. ³Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. ⁴To the upright there arises light in the darkness. He is gracious, and merciful, and righteous. ⁵It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He shall maintain his cause in judgment, ⁶for he shall never be moved. A righteous man shall be had in everlasting remembrance. ⁷He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in Jehovah. ⁸His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, even until he looks over his adversaries. ⁹He has scattered, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn shall be exalted with honor. ¹⁰A wicked man shall see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of wicked men shall perish.

CHAPTER 113

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Praise, O ye servants of Jehovah. Praise the name of Jehovah. ²Blessed be the name of Jehovah from this time forth and for evermore. ³From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same Jehovah�s name is to be praised. ⁴Jehovah is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens. ⁵Who is like Jehovah our God who has his seat on high, ⁶and yet looks upon the low things in heaven and in the earth. ⁷He raises up a poor man out of the dust, and lifts up a needy man from the dunghill, ⁸that he may set him with rulers, even with the rulers of his people. ⁹He makes the barren woman to keep house, a joyful mother of sons. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 114

¹When Israel went forth out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, ²Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. ³The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back. ⁴The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs. ⁵What ails thee, O thou sea, that thou flee? Thou Jordan, that thou turn back? ⁶Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams, ye little hills, like lambs? ⁷Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, ⁸who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

CHAPTER 115

¹Not to us, O Jehovah, not to us, but to thy name give glory. For thy loving kindness, and for thy truth�s sake. ²Why should the nations say, Where is now their God? ³But our God is in the heavens. He has done whatever he pleased. ⁴Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men�s hands. ⁵They have mouths, but they speak not. They have eyes, but they see not. ⁶They have ears, but they hear not. They have noses, but they smell not. ⁷They have hands, but they handle not. They have feet, but they walk not, nor do they speak through their throat. ⁸Those who make them shall be like them. Yea, everyone who trusts in them. ⁹O Israel, trust thou in Jehovah. He is their help and their shield. ¹⁰O house of Aaron, trust ye in Jehovah. He is their help and their shield. ¹¹Ye who fear Jehovah, trust in Jehovah. He is their help and their shield. ¹²Jehovah has been mindful of us. He will bless, he will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. ¹³He will bless those who fear Jehovah, both small and great. ¹⁴Jehovah increase you more and more, you and your sons. ¹⁵Blessed are ye of Jehovah who made heaven and earth. ¹⁶The heavens are the heavens of Jehovah, but the earth he has given to the sons of men. ¹⁷The dead do not praise Jehovah, nor any who go down into silence, ¹⁸but we will bless Jehovah from this time forth and for evermore. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 116

¹I love Jehovah because he hears my voice and my supplications. ²Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call as long as I live. ³The cords of death encompassed me, and the pains of Sheol got hold upon me. I found trouble and sorrow. ⁴Then I called upon the name of Jehovah. O Jehovah, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. ⁵Gracious is Jehovah, and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful. ⁶Jehovah preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me. ⁷Return to thy rest, O my soul, for Jehovah has dealt bountifully with thee. ⁸For thou have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from falling. ⁹I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living. ¹⁰I believed, therefore I have spoken, but I was greatly afflicted. ¹¹I said in my haste, All men are liars. ¹²What shall I render to Jehovah for all his benefits toward me? ¹³I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of Jehovah. ¹⁴I will pay my vows to Jehovah, yea, in the presence of all his people. ¹⁵Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his sanctified. ¹⁶O Jehovah, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid. Thou have loosed my bonds. ¹⁷I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of Jehovah. ¹⁸I will pay my vows to Jehovah, yea, in the presence of all his people, ¹⁹in the courts of Jehovah�s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 117

¹O praise Jehovah, all ye Gentiles, laud him, all ye peoples. ²For his loving kindness is great toward us, and the truth of Jehovah is forever. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 118

¹O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good, for his loving kindness is forever. ²Let Israel now say that his loving kindness is forever. ³Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness is forever. ⁴Let those now who fear Jehovah say that his loving kindness is forever. ⁵Out of my distress I called upon Jehovah. Jehovah answered me upon a large place. ⁶Jehovah is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me? ⁷Jehovah is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I shall look upon those who hate me. ⁸It is better to take refuge in Jehovah than to put confidence in man. ⁹It is better to take refuge in Jehovah than to put confidence in rulers. ¹⁰All nations encompassed me around. In the name of Jehovah I will cut them off. ¹¹They encompassed me around, yea, they encompassed me around. In the name of Jehovah I will cut them off. ¹²They encompassed me around like bees. They are quenched as the fire of thorns. In the name of Jehovah I will cut them off. ¹³Thou thrusted greatly at me that I might fall, but Jehovah helped me. ¹⁴Jehovah is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. ¹⁵The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. The right hand of Jehovah does valiantly. ¹⁶The right hand of Jehovah is exalted. The right hand of Jehovah does valiantly. ¹⁷I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of Jehovah. ¹⁸Jehovah has chastened me greatly, but he has not given me over to death. ¹⁹Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Jehovah. ²⁰This is the gate of Jehovah. The righteous shall enter into it. ²¹I will give thanks to thee, for thou have answered me, and have become my salvation. ²²The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. ²³This is Jehovah�s doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. ²⁴This is the day which Jehovah has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. ²⁵Save now, we beseech thee, O Jehovah. O Jehovah, we beseech thee, send now prosperity. ²⁶Blessed be he who comes in the name of Jehovah. We have blessed you out of the house of Jehovah. ²⁷Jehovah is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar. ²⁸Thou are my God, and I will give thanks to thee. Thou are my God, I will exalt thee. ²⁹O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good, for his loving kindness is forever.

CHAPTER 119

¹Blessed are those who are perfect in the way, who walk in the law of Jehovah. ²Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, that seek him with the whole heart. ³Yea, they do no unrighteousness. They walk in his ways. ⁴Thou have commanded thy precepts, that we should observe them diligently. ⁵O that my ways were established to observe thy statutes! ⁶Then I shall not be put to shame when I have respect for all thy commandments. ⁷I will give thanks to thee with uprightness of heart when I learn thy righteous judgments. ⁸I will observe thy statutes. O forsake me not utterly. ⁹With what shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word. ¹⁰With my whole heart I have sought thee. O let me not wander from thy commandments. ¹¹I have laid thy word up in my heart that I might not sin against thee. ¹²Blessed are thou, O Jehovah. Teach me thy statutes. ¹³With my lips I have declared all the ordinances of thy mouth. ¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. ¹⁵I will meditate on thy precepts, and have respect for thy ways. ¹⁶I will delight myself in thy statutes. I will not forget thy word. ¹⁷Deal bountifully with thy servant that I may live, so I will observe thy word. ¹⁸Open thou my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. ¹⁹I am a sojourner in the earth. Hide not thy commandments from me. ²⁰My soul breaks for the longing that it has to thine ordinances at all times. ²¹Thou have rebuked the proud, who are cursed, who wander from thy commandments. ²²Take away from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept thy testimonies. ²³Rulers also sat and talked against me, but thy servant meditated on thy statutes. ²⁴Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. ²⁵My soul clings to the dust. Enliven thou me according to thy word. ²⁶I declared my ways, and thou answered me. Teach me thy statutes. ²⁷Make me to understand the way of thy precepts, so I shall meditate on thy wondrous works. ²⁸My soul melts for heaviness. Strengthen thou me according to thy word. ²⁹Remove from me the way of falsehood, and grant me thy law graciously. ³⁰I have chosen the way of faithfulness. I have set thine ordinances. ³¹I cling to thy testimonies. O Jehovah, put me not to shame. ³²I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shall enlarge my heart. ³³Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it to the end. ³⁴Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. ³⁵Make me to go in the path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight. ³⁶Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. ³⁷Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity, and enliven me in thy ways. ³⁸Confirm to thy servant thy word, which is for the fear of thee. ³⁹Turn away my reproach of which I am afraid, for thine ordinances are good. ⁴⁰Behold, I have longed after thy precepts. Enliven me in thy righteousness. ⁴¹Let thy loving kindnesses also come to me, O Jehovah, even thy salvation, according to thy word. ⁴²So I shall have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in thy word. ⁴³And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for I have hoped in thine ordinances. ⁴⁴So shall I observe thy law continually forever and ever. ⁴⁵And I shall walk at liberty, for I have sought thy precepts. ⁴⁶I also will speak of thy testimonies before kings, and shall not be put to shame. ⁴⁷And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. ⁴⁸I will also lift up my hands to thy commandments, which I have loved, and I will meditate on thy statutes. ⁴⁹Remember the word to thy servant, because thou have made me to hope. ⁵⁰This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word has revived me. ⁵¹The proud have had me greatly in derision, yet I have not swerved from thy law. ⁵²I have remembered thine ordinances of old, O Jehovah, and have comforted myself. ⁵³Hot indignation has taken hold upon me because of the wicked who forsake thy law. ⁵⁴Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage. ⁵⁵I have remembered thy name, O Jehovah, in the night, and have observed thy law. ⁵⁶This I have had because I have kept thy precepts. ⁵⁷Jehovah is my portion; I have said that I would observe thy words. ⁵⁸I entreated thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to thy word. ⁵⁹I thought on my ways, and turned my feet to thy testimonies. ⁶⁰I made haste, and delayed not, to observe thy commandments. ⁶¹The cords of the wicked have wrapped me around, but I have not forgotten thy law. ⁶²At midnight I will rise to give thanks to thee because of thy righteous ordinances. ⁶³I am a companion of all those who fear thee, and of those who observe thy precepts. ⁶⁴The earth, O Jehovah, is full of thy loving kindness. Teach me thy statutes. ⁶⁵Thou have dealt well with thy servant, O Jehovah, according to thy word. ⁶⁶Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I have believed in thy commandments. ⁶⁷Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I observe thy word. ⁶⁸Thou are good, and do good. Teach me thy statutes. ⁶⁹The proud have forged a lie against me. With my whole heart I will keep thy precepts. ⁷⁰Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. ⁷¹It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes. ⁷²The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver. ⁷³Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments. ⁷⁴Those who fear thee shall see me and be glad, because I have hoped in thy word. ⁷⁵I know, O Jehovah, that thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness thou have afflicted me. ⁷⁶Let, I pray thee, thy loving kindness be for my comfort according to thy word to thy servant. ⁷⁷Let thy tender mercies come to me that I may live, for thy law is my delight. ⁷⁸Let the proud be put to shame, for they have overthrown me wrongfully. I will meditate on thy precepts. ⁷⁹Let those who fear thee turn to me, and they shall know thy testimonies. ⁸⁰Let my heart be perfect in thy statutes that I be not put to shame. ⁸¹My soul faints for thy salvation. I hope in thy word. ⁸²My eyes fail for thy word, while I say, When will thou comfort me? ⁸³For I have become like a wine-skin in the smoke. Yet I do not forget thy statutes. ⁸⁴How many are the days of thy servant? When will thou execute judgment on those who persecute me? ⁸⁵The proud have dug pits for me, who are not according to thy law. ⁸⁶All thy commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help thou me. ⁸⁷They had almost consumed me upon earth, but I did not forsake thy precepts. ⁸⁸Revive me according to thy loving kindness, so I shall observe the testimony of thy mouth. ⁸⁹Forever, O Jehovah, thy word is settled in heaven. ⁹⁰Thy faithfulness is to all generations. Thou have established the earth, and it abides. ⁹¹They abide this day according to thine ordinances, for all things are thy servants. ⁹²Unless thy law had been my delight, I should then have perished in my affliction. ⁹³I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou have enlivened me. ⁹⁴I am thine. Save me, for I have sought thy precepts. ⁹⁵The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me. I will consider thy testimonies. ⁹⁶I have seen an end of all perfection. Thy commandment is exceedingly broad. ⁹⁷O how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day. ⁹⁸Thy commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. ⁹⁹I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰I understand more than the aged because I have kept thy precepts. ¹⁰¹I have restrained my feet from every evil way, that I might observe thy word. ¹⁰²I have not turned aside from thine ordinances, for thou have taught me. ¹⁰³How sweet are thy words to my taste, than honey to my mouth! ¹⁰⁴Through thy precepts I get understanding. Therefore I hate every false way. ¹⁰⁵Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and light to my path. ¹⁰⁶I have sworn, and have confirmed it, that I will observe thy righteous ordinances. ¹⁰⁷I am afflicted very much. Revive me, O Jehovah, according to thy word. ¹⁰⁸Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Jehovah, and teach me thine ordinances. ¹⁰⁹My soul is continually in my hand, yet I do not forget thy law. ¹¹⁰The wicked have laid a snare for me, yet I have not gone astray from thy precepts. ¹¹¹I have taken thy testimonies as a heritage forever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart. ¹¹²I have inclined my heart to perform thy statutes forever, even to the end. ¹¹³I hate those who are of a double mind, but I love thy law. ¹¹⁴Thou are my hiding place and my shield. I hope in thy word. ¹¹⁵Depart from me, ye evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God. ¹¹⁶Uphold me according to thy word, that I may live, and let me not be ashamed of my hope. ¹¹⁷Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe, and shall have respect for thy statutes continually. ¹¹⁸Thou have set at nothing all those who err from thy statutes, for their deceit is falsehood. ¹¹⁹Thou put away all the wicked of the earth like dross. Therefore I love thy testimonies. ¹²⁰My flesh trembles for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments. ¹²¹I have done justice and righteousness. Leave me not to my oppressors. ¹²²Be surety for thy servant for good. Let not the proud oppress me. ¹²³My eyes fail for thy salvation, and for thy righteous word. ¹²⁴Deal with thy servant according to thy loving kindness, and teach me thy statutes. ¹²⁵I am thy servant. Give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies. ¹²⁶It is time for Jehovah to work. They have made void thy law. ¹²⁷Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. ¹²⁸Therefore I esteem all precepts concerning all things to be right. I hate every false way. ¹²⁹Thy testimonies are wonderful, therefore my soul keeps them. ¹³⁰The opening of thy words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple. ¹³¹I opened wide my mouth, and panted, for I longed for thy commandments. ¹³²Turn thee to me, and have mercy upon me, as thou used to do to those who love thy name. ¹³³Establish my footsteps in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. ¹³⁴Redeem me from the oppression of man, so I will observe thy precepts. ¹³⁵Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, and teach me thy statutes. ¹³⁶Streams of water run down my eyes, because they do not observe thy law. ¹³⁷Thou are righteous, O Jehovah, and upright are thy judgments. ¹³⁸Thou have commanded thy testimonies in righteousness and exceeding faithfulness. ¹³⁹My zeal has consumed me, because my adversaries have forgotten thy words. ¹⁴⁰Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loves it. ¹⁴¹I am small and despised. I do not forget thy precepts. ¹⁴²Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is truth. ¹⁴³Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me. Thy commandments are my delight. ¹⁴⁴Thy testimonies are righteous forever. Give me understanding, and I shall live. ¹⁴⁵I have called with my whole heart. Answer me, O Jehovah. I will keep thy statutes. ¹⁴⁶I have called to thee. Save me, and I shall observe thy testimonies. ¹⁴⁷I anticipated the dawning of the morning, and cried. I hoped in thy words. ¹⁴⁸My eyes anticipated the night-watches that I might meditate on thy word. ¹⁴⁹Hear my voice according to thy loving kindness. Enliven me, O Jehovah, according to thine ordinances. ¹⁵⁰They draw near who follow after wickedness. They are far from thy law. ¹⁵¹Thou are near, O Jehovah, and all thy commandments are truth. ¹⁵²Of old I have known from thy testimonies that thou have founded them forever. ¹⁵³Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I do not forget thy law. ¹⁵⁴Plead thou my cause, and redeem me. Enliven me according to thy word. ¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked, for they seek not thy statutes. ¹⁵⁶Great are thy tender mercies, O Jehovah. Enliven me according to thine ordinances. ¹⁵⁷Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I have not swerved from thy testimonies. ¹⁵⁸I beheld the treacherous, and was grieved because they do not observe thy word. ¹⁵⁹Consider how I love thy precepts. Enliven me, O Jehovah, according to thy loving kindness. ¹⁶⁰The sum of thy word is truth, and every one of thy righteous ordinances is forever. ¹⁶¹Rulers have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart stands in awe of thy words. ¹⁶²I rejoice at thy word, as he who finds great spoil. ¹⁶³I hate and abhor falsehood. I love thy law. ¹⁶⁴Seven times a day I praise thee because of thy righteous ordinances. ¹⁶⁵Great peace have those who love thy law, and they have no occasion of stumbling. ¹⁶⁶I have hoped for thy salvation, O Jehovah, and have done thy commandments. ¹⁶⁷My soul has observed thy testimonies, and I love them exceedingly. ¹⁶⁸I have observed thy precepts and thy testimonies, for all my ways are before thee. ¹⁶⁹Let my cry come near before thee, O Jehovah. Give me understanding according to thy word. ¹⁷⁰Let my supplication come before thee. Deliver me according to thy word. ¹⁷¹Let my lips utter praise, for thou teach me thy statutes. ¹⁷²Let my tongue sing of thy word, for all thy commandments are righteousness. ¹⁷³Let thy hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen thy precepts. ¹⁷⁴I have longed for thy salvation, O Jehovah, and thy law is my delight. ¹⁷⁵Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee. And let thine ordinances help me. ¹⁷⁶I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not forget thy commandments.

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¹In my distress I cried to Jehovah, and he answered me. ²Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. ³What shall be given to thee, and what shall be done more to thee, thou deceitful tongue? ⁴Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. ⁵Woe is me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar! ⁶My soul has long had her dwelling with him who hates peace. ⁷I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

CHAPTER 121

¹I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where shall my help come? ²My help is from Jehovah, who made heaven and earth. ³He will not allow thy foot to be moved. He who keeps thee will not slumber. ⁴Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. ⁵Jehovah is thy keeper. Jehovah is thy shade upon thy right hand. ⁶The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. ⁷Jehovah will keep thee from all evil. He will keep thy soul. ⁸Jehovah will keep thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and for evermore.

CHAPTER 122

¹I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of Jehovah. ²Our feet are standing inside thy gates, O Jerusalem. ³Jerusalem, that is built as a city that is compact together, ⁴where the tribes go up, even the tribes of Jehovah, for an ordinance for Israel, to give thanks to the name of Jehovah. ⁵For there thrones are set for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. ⁶Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper who love thee. ⁷Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. ⁸For my brothers and companions� sakes I will now say, Peace be within thee. ⁹For the sake of the house of Jehovah our God I will seek thy good.

CHAPTER 123

¹To thee do I lift up my eyes, O thou who sit in the heavens. ²Behold, as the eyes of servants to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes are to Jehovah our God, until he has mercy upon us. ³Have mercy upon us, O Jehovah, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. ⁴Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.

CHAPTER 124

¹If it had not been Jehovah who was on our side, let Israel now say, ²if it had not been Jehovah who was on our side when men rose up against us, ³then they would have swallowed us up alive when their wrath was kindled against us, ⁴then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul, ⁵then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. ⁶Blessed be Jehovah, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. ⁷Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken, and we have escaped. ⁸Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who made heaven and earth.

CHAPTER 125

¹Those who trust in Jehovah are as mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. ²As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so Jehovah is round about his people from this time forth and for evermore. ³For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous, that the righteous not put forth their hands to iniquity. ⁴Do good, O Jehovah, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts. ⁵But as for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, Jehovah will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel.

CHAPTER 126

¹When Jehovah brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream. ²Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, Jehovah has done great things for them. ³Jehovah has done great things for us. We are glad. ⁴Turn again our captivity, O Jehovah, as the streams in the South. ⁵Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. ⁶He who goes forth and weeps, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with joy, bringing his sheaves.

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¹Unless Jehovah builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Jehovah guards the city, the watchman wake but in vain. ²It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of toil, for so he gives sleep to his beloved. ³Lo, sons are a heritage of Jehovah, and the fruit of the womb is a reward. ⁴As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of youth. ⁵Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them. They shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

CHAPTER 128

¹Blessed are all who fear Jehovah, who walk in his ways. ²For thou shall eat the labor of thy hands. Happy thou shall be, and it shall be well with thee. ³Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of thy house, thy sons like olive plants round about thy table. ⁴Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears Jehovah. ⁵Jehovah bless thee out of Zion, and see thou the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. ⁶Yea, see thou thy son�s sons. Peace be upon Israel.

CHAPTER 129

¹Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say, ²Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me. ³The plowers plowed upon my back. They made long their furrows. ⁴Jehovah is righteous. He has cut apart the cords of the wicked. ⁵Let them be put to shame and turned backward, all those who hate Zion. ⁶Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withers before it grows up, ⁷with which the reaper fills not his hand, nor he who binds sheaves, his bosom. ⁸Neither do those who go by say, The blessing of Jehovah be upon you. We bless you in the name of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 130

¹Out of the depths I have cried to thee, O Jehovah. ²Lord, hear my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. ³If thou, Jehovah, should note iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou may be feared. ⁵I wait for Jehovah. My soul waits, and in his word do I hope, ⁶my soul for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, watchmen for the morning. ⁷O Israel, hope in Jehovah, for with Jehovah there is loving kindness, and with him is plentiful redemption. ⁸And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

CHAPTER 131

¹Jehovah, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in grand matters, or in things too wonderful for me. ²Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child with his mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within me. ³O Israel, hope in Jehovah from this time forth and for evermore.

CHAPTER 132

¹Jehovah, remember for David all his affliction, ²how he swore to Jehovah, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: ³Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed, ⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, ⁵until I find out a place for Jehovah, a tabernacle for the Mighty One of Jacob. ⁶Lo, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of the wood. ⁷We will go into his tabernacles. We will worship at his footstool. ⁸Arise, O Jehovah, into thy resting-place, thou, and the ark of thy strength. ⁹Let thy priest be clothed with righteousness, and let thy sanctified shout for joy. ¹⁰For thy servant David�s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. ¹¹Jehovah has sworn to David in truth. He will not turn from it: From the fruit of thy body I will set upon thy throne. ¹²If thy sons will keep my covenant and my testimony that I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit upon thy throne for evermore. ¹³For Jehovah has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his habitation. ¹⁴This is my resting place forever. Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. ¹⁵I will abundantly bless her provision. I will satisfy her poor with bread. ¹⁶I will also clothe her priests with salvation, and her sanctified shall shout aloud for joy. ¹⁷There I will make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed. ¹⁸I will clothe his enemies with shame, but upon himself his crown shall flourish.

CHAPTER 133

¹Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! ²It is like the precious oil upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron�s beard, that came down upon the skirt of his garments, ³like the dew of Hermon, that comes down upon the mountains of Zion. For there Jehovah commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

CHAPTER 134

¹Behold, bless ye Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, who stand by night in the house of Jehovah. ²Lift up your hands to the sanctuary, and bless ye Jehovah. ³Jehovah bless thee out of Zion, even he who made heaven and earth.

CHAPTER 135

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Praise ye the name of Jehovah. Praise, O ye servants of Jehovah, ²ye who stand in the house of Jehovah, in the courts of the house of our God. ³Praise ye Jehovah, for Jehovah is good. Sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant. ⁴For Jehovah has chosen Jacob to himself, Israel for his own possession. ⁵For I know that Jehovah is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. ⁶Whatever Jehovah pleased, that he has done, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps, ⁷who causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain, who brings forth the wind out of his treasuries, ⁸who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast, ⁹who sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his servants, ¹⁰who smote many nations, and killed mighty kings� ¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan� ¹²and gave their land for a heritage, a heritage to Israel his people. ¹³Thy name, O Jehovah, is forever, thy memorial, O Jehovah, throughout all generations. ¹⁴For Jehovah will judge his people, and will relent concerning his servants. ¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men�s hands. ¹⁶They have mouths, but they speak not. They have eyes, but they see not. ¹⁷They have ears, but they hear not, nor is there any breath in their mouths. ¹⁸Those who make them shall be like them, yea, everyone who trusts in them. ¹⁹O house of Israel, bless ye Jehovah. O house of Aaron, bless ye Jehovah. ²⁰O house of Levi, bless ye Jehovah. Ye who fear Jehovah, bless ye Jehovah. ²¹Blessed be Jehovah out of Zion, who dwells at Jerusalem. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 136

¹O give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good, for his loving kindness is forever. ²O give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness is forever. ³O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness is forever, ⁴to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness is forever, ⁵to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness is forever, ⁶to him who spread forth the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness is forever, ⁷to him who made great lights, for his loving kindness is forever, ⁸the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness is forever, ⁹the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁰to him who smote Egypt in their firstborn, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹¹and brought out Israel from among them, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹²with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹³to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁴and made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁵but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁶to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁷to him who smote great kings, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁸and killed famous kings, for his loving kindness is forever, ¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness is forever, ²⁰and Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness is forever, ²¹and gave their land for a heritage, for his loving kindness is forever, ²²even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness is forever, ²³who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness is forever, ²⁴and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness is forever, ²⁵who gives food to all flesh, for his loving kindness is forever. ²⁶O give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness is forever.

CHAPTER 137

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. ²Upon the willows in the midst of it we hung up our harps. ³For there those who led us captive required of us songs, and those who wasted us, mirth, saying, Sing for us one of the songs of Zion. ⁴How shall we sing Jehovah�s song in a foreign land? ⁵If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget. ⁶Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee, if I do not prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy. ⁷Remember, O Jehovah, the day of Jerusalem against the sons of Edom, who said, Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. ⁸O daughter of Babylon, who is to be destroyed, happy shall he be who rewards thee as thou have served us. ⁹Happy shall he be who takes and dashes thy little ones against the rock.

CHAPTER 138

¹I will give thee thanks with my whole heart. I will sing praises to thee before the gods. ²I will worship toward thy holy temple, and give thanks to thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. For thou have magnified thy word above all thy name. ³Thou answered me in the day that I called. Thou encouraged me with strength in my soul. ⁴All the kings of the earth shall give thee thanks, O Jehovah, for they have heard the words of thy mouth. ⁵Yea, they shall sing of the ways of Jehovah, for great is the glory of Jehovah. ⁶For though Jehovah is high, yet he has respect to the lowly. But he knows the haughty from afar. ⁷Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou will revive me. Thou will stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies, and thy right hand will save me. ⁸Jehovah will perfect that which concerns me. Thy loving kindness, O Jehovah, is forever. Forsake not the works of thine own hands.

CHAPTER 139

¹O Jehovah, thou have searched me, and known. ²Thou know my sitting down and my rising up. Thou understand my thought afar off. ³Thou search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Jehovah, thou know it altogether. ⁵Thou have beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me. ⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain to it. ⁷Where shall I go from thy Spirit? Or where shall I flee from thy presence? ⁸If I ascend up into heaven, thou are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou are there. ⁹If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the outermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. ¹¹If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, and the light around me shall be night, ¹²even the darkness hides not from thee, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. ¹³For thou formed my inward parts. Thou covered me in my mother�s womb. ¹⁴I will give thanks to thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are thy works, and that my soul knows right well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from thee, when I was made in secret, curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁶Thine eyes saw my unformed substance, and in thy book they were all written, even the days that were ordained, when as yet there was none of them. ¹⁷How precious also are thy thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! ¹⁸I count them; they are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with thee. ¹⁹Surely thou will kill the wicked, O God. Depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men. ²⁰For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take it in vain. ²¹Do I not hate them, O Jehovah, who hate thee? And am I not grieved with those who rise up against thee? ²²I hate them with perfect hatred. They have become my enemies. ²³Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts, ²⁴and see if there is any wicked way in me. And lead me in the way everlasting.

CHAPTER 140

¹Deliver me, O Jehovah, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent man, ²and men who devise mischievous things in their heart. They gather themselves continually together for war. ³They have sharpened their tongue like a serpent. Adders� poison is under their lips. Selah. ⁴Keep me, O Jehovah, from the hands of a wicked man. Preserve me from violent men, who have purposed to thrust aside my steps. ⁵The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords. They have spread a net by the wayside. They have set snares for me. Selah. ⁶I said to Jehovah, Thou are my God. Give ear to the voice of my supplications, O Jehovah. ⁷O Jehovah the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou have covered my head in the day of battle. ⁸Grant not, O Jehovah, the desires of the wicked man. Do not further his evil device. They exalt themselves. Selah. ⁹As for the head of those who encompass me around, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. ¹⁰Let burning coals fall upon them. Let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, from where they shall not rise. ¹¹An evil speaker shall not be established in the earth. Evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. ¹²I know that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted man, and justice for the needy. ¹³Surely the righteous shall give thanks to thy name. The upright shall dwell in thy presence.

CHAPTER 141

¹Jehovah, I have called upon thee. Make haste to me. Give ear to my voice when I call to thee. ²Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. ³Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. ⁴Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who work iniquity. And let me not eat of their dainties. ⁵Let a righteous man smite me, as a kindness. And let him reprove me, as oil upon the head. Let not my head refuse it. For even in their wickedness my prayer shall continue. ⁶Their judges are thrown down by the sides of the rock. And they shall hear my words, for they are sweet. ⁷Like plowing and furrowing the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol. ⁸For my eyes are to thee, O Jehovah the Lord. In thee do I take refuge. Leave not my soul destitute. ⁹Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity. ¹⁰Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass over.

CHAPTER 142

¹I cry with my voice to Jehovah. With my voice to Jehovah I make supplication. ²I pour out my complaint before him. I show my trouble before him. ³When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, thou knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have hidden a snare for me. ⁴Look on my right hand, and see, for there is no man who knows me. Refuge has failed me. No man cares for my soul. ⁵I cried to thee, O Jehovah. I said, Thou are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. ⁶Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. ⁷Bring my soul out of prison that I may give thanks to thy name. The righteous shall encompass me around, for thou will deal bountifully with me.

CHAPTER 143

¹Hear my prayer, O Jehovah. Give ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. ²And enter not into judgment with thy servant. For in thy sight no man living is righteous. ³For the enemy has persecuted my soul. He has smitten my life down to the ground. He has made me to dwell in dark places as those who have been long dead. ⁴Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. ⁵I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy doings. I muse on the work of thy hands. ⁶I spread forth my hands to thee. My soul is as a weary land for thee. Selah. ⁷Make haste to answer me, O Jehovah, my spirit fails. Hide not thy face from me, lest I become like those who go down into the pit. ⁸Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to thee. ⁹Deliver me, O Jehovah, from my enemies. I flee to thee to hide me. ¹⁰Teach me to do thy will, for thou are my God. Thy Spirit is good, lead me in the land of uprightness. ¹¹Revive me, O Jehovah, for thy name�s sake. In thy righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. ¹²And in thy loving kindness cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am thy servant.

CHAPTER 144

¹Blessed be Jehovah, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight, ²my loving kindness, and my fortress, my high tower, and my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me. ³Jehovah, what is man, that thou take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that thou make account of him? ⁴Man is like vanity. His days are as a shadow that passes away. ⁵Bow thy heavens, O Jehovah, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they shall smoke. ⁶Cast forth lightning, and scatter them. Send out thine arrows, and discomfit them. ⁷Stretch forth thy hand from above. Rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hand of aliens, ⁸whose mouth speaks deceit, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. ⁹I will sing a new song to thee, O God. Upon a psaltery of ten strings I will sing praises to thee. ¹⁰Thou are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David his servant from the hurtful sword. ¹¹Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hand of aliens, whose mouth speaks deceit, and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. ¹²That our sons shall be as plants grown up in their youth, and our daughters as cornerstones hewn according to the fashion of a palace, ¹³our garners are full, affording all manner of store, our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields, ¹⁴our oxen are well laden, no breaking in, and no going forth, and no outcry in our streets, ¹⁵blessed are the people who are in such a case. Blessed are the people whose God is Jehovah.

CHAPTER 145

¹I will extol thee, my God, O King, and I will bless thy name forever and ever. ²Every day I will bless thee, and I will praise thy name forever and ever. ³Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. ⁴One generation shall laud thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. ⁵I will meditate on the glorious majesty of thine honor, and of thy wondrous works. ⁶And men shall speak of the might of thy fearful acts, and I will declare thy greatness. ⁷They shall utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. ⁸Jehovah is gracious, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness. ⁹Jehovah is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. ¹⁰All thy works shall give thanks to thee, O Jehovah, and thy sanctified shall bless thee. ¹¹They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power, ¹²to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glory of the majesty of his kingdom. ¹³Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion is throughout all generations. ¹⁴Jehovah upholds all who fall, and raises up all those who are bowed down. ¹⁵The eyes of all wait for thee, and thou give them their food in due season. ¹⁶Thou open thy hand, and satisfy the desire of every living thing. ¹⁷Jehovah is righteous in all his ways, and gracious in all his works. ¹⁸Jehovah is near to all those who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. ¹⁹He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry and will save them. ²⁰Jehovah preserves all those who love him, but he will destroy all the wicked. ²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah. And let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

CHAPTER 146

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Praise Jehovah, O my soul. ²While I live I will praise Jehovah. I will sing praises to my God while I have any being. ³Put not your trust in rulers, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. ⁴His breath goes forth, he returns to his earth. In that very day his thoughts perish. ⁵Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God, ⁶who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps truth forever, ⁷who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. Jehovah releases the prisoners. ⁸Jehovah opens the eyes of the blind. Jehovah raises up those who are bowed down. Jehovah loves the righteous. ⁹Jehovah preserves the sojourners. He upholds the fatherless and widow. But the way of the wicked he turns upside down. ¹⁰Jehovah will reign forever, thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 147

¹Praise ye Jehovah, for it is good to sing praises to our God. For it is pleasant, and praise is comely. ²Jehovah builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. ³He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. ⁴He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by names. ⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite. ⁶Jehovah upholds the meek. He brings the wicked down to the ground. ⁷Sing to Jehovah with thanksgiving. Sing praises upon the harp to our God, ⁸who covers the heavens with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow upon the mountains. ⁹He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry. ¹⁰He does not delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. ¹¹Jehovah takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness. ¹²Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem. Praise thy God, O Zion. ¹³For he has strengthened the bars of thy gates. He has blessed thy sons within thee. ¹⁴He makes peace in thy borders. He fills thee with the finest of the wheat. ¹⁵He sends out his commandment upon earth. His word runs very swiftly. ¹⁶He gives snow like wool. He scatters the hoar-frost like ashes. ¹⁷He casts forth his ice like morsels. Who can stand before his cold? ¹⁸He sends out his word, and melts them. He causes his wind to blow, and the waters flow. ¹⁹He shows his word to Jacob, his statutes and his ordinances to Israel. ²⁰He has not dealt so with any nation. And as for his ordinances, they have not known them. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 148

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah from the heavens. Praise him in the heights. ²Praise ye him, all his agents. Praise ye him, all his host. ³Praise ye him, sun and moon. Praise him, all ye stars of light. ⁴Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens. ⁵Let them praise the name of Jehovah. For he commanded, and they were created. ⁶He has also established them forever and ever. He has made a decree which shall not pass away. ⁷Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye sea-monsters, and all deeps, ⁸fire and hail, snow and vapor, stormy wind, fulfilling his word, ⁹mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars, ¹⁰beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds, ¹¹kings of the earth and all peoples, rulers and all judges of the earth, ¹²both young men and virgins, old men and sons. ¹³Let them praise the name of Jehovah, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and the heavens. ¹⁴And he has lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his sanctified, even of the sons of Israel, a people near to him. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 149

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Sing to Jehovah a new song, and his praise in the assembly of the sanctified. ²Let Israel rejoice in him who made him. Let the sons of Zion be joyful in their King. ³Let them praise his name in the dance. Let them sing praises to him with timbrel and harp. ⁴For Jehovah takes pleasure in his people. He will beautify the meek with salvation. ⁵Let the sanctified exult in glory. Let them sing for joy upon their beds. ⁶The high praises of God are in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand ⁷to execute vengeance upon the nations, and punishments upon the peoples, ⁸to bind their kings with chains, and their ranking men with fetters of iron, ⁹to execute upon them the judgment written. All his sanctified have this honor. Praise ye Jehovah.

CHAPTER 150

¹Praise ye Jehovah. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in the firmament of his power. ²Praise him for his mighty acts. Praise him according to his excellent greatness. ³Praise him with trumpet sound. Praise him with psaltery and harp. ⁴Praise him with timbrel and dance. Praise him with stringed instruments and pipe. ⁵Praise him with loud cymbals. Praise him with high sounding cymbals. ⁶Let everything that has breath praise Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah.

PROVERBS

CHAPTER 1

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, ²to know wisdom and instruction, to discern the words of understanding, ³to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness and justice and equity, ⁴to give prudence to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion, ⁵that the wise man may hear, and increase in learning, and that the man of understanding may attain to sound counsels, ⁶to understand a proverb, and a figure, the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. ⁷The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge. The foolish despise wisdom and instruction. ⁸My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. ⁹For they shall be a garland of grace to thy head, and chains about thy neck. ¹⁰My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. ¹¹If they say, Come with us. Let us lay wait for blood. Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause. ¹²Let us swallow them up alive as Sheol, and whole, as those who go down into the pit. ¹³We shall find all precious substance. We shall fill our houses with spoil. ¹⁴Thou shall cast thy lot among us. We will all have one bag. ¹⁵My son, walk not thou in the way with them. Restrain thy foot from their path. ¹⁶For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood. ¹⁷For in vain is the net spread in the sight of any bird, ¹⁸and these lay wait for their own blood. They lurk secretly for their own lives. ¹⁹So are the ways of everyone who is greedy of gain. It takes away the life of the owners of it. ²⁰Wisdom cries aloud in the street. She utters her voice in the broad places. ²¹She cries in the chief place of concourse, at the entrance of the gates, in the city. She utters her words: ²²How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? And scoffers delight them in scoffing, and fools hate knowledge? ²³Turn back at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make my words known to you. ²⁴Because I have called, and ye have refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man has regarded, ²⁵but ye have made all my counsel void, and want none of my reproof, ²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear comes, ²⁷when your fear comes as a storm, and your calamity comes on as a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. ²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, ²⁹because they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Jehovah. ³⁰They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof. ³¹Therefore they shall eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. ³²For the backsliding of the simple shall kill them, and the careless ease of fools shall destroy them. ³³But he who hearkens to me shall dwell securely, and shall be quiet without fear of evil.

CHAPTER 2

¹My son, if thou will receive my words, and lay up my commandments with thee, ²so as to incline thine ear to wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding, ³yea, if thou cry after discernment, and lift up thy voice for understanding, ⁴if thou seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, ⁵then thou shall understand the fear of Jehovah, and find the knowledge of God. ⁶For Jehovah gives wisdom. Out of his mouth is knowledge and understanding. ⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright, a shield to those who walk in integrity, ⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his sanctified. ⁹Then thou shall understand righteousness and justice and equity, yea, every good path. ¹⁰For wisdom shall enter into thy heart, and knowledge shall be pleasant to thy soul, ¹¹discretion shall watch over thee, understanding shall keep thee, ¹²to deliver thee from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things, ¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, ¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil, ¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths, ¹⁶to deliver thee from the interloping woman, even from the stranger who flatters with her words, ¹⁷who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God ¹⁸(for her house inclines to death, and her paths to the dead; ¹⁹none who go to her return again, nor do they attain to the paths of life), ²⁰that thou may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous. ²¹For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it. ²²But the wicked shall be cut off from the land, and the treacherous shall be rooted out of it.

CHAPTER 3

¹My son, do not forget my law, but let thy heart keep my commandments. ²For length of days, and years of life, and peace, they will add to thee. ³Let not kindness and truth forsake thee. Bind them about thy neck, write them upon the tablet of thy heart, ⁴so thou shall find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man. ⁵Trust in Jehovah with all thy heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding. ⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy paths. ⁷Be not wise in thine own eyes. Fear Jehovah, and depart from evil. ⁸It will be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. ⁹Honor Jehovah with thy substance, and with the first-fruits of all thine increase, ¹⁰so thy barns shall be filled with plenty, and thy vats shall overflow with new wine. ¹¹My son, despise not the chastening of Jehovah, nor be weary of his reproof. ¹²For whom Jehovah loves he reproves, and he whips every son whom he receives. ¹³Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gets understanding. ¹⁴For the gain of it is better than the gain of silver, and the profit of it than fine gold. ¹⁵She is more precious than rubies, and none of the things thou can desire are to be compared to her. ¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor. ¹⁷Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. ¹⁸She is a tree of life to those who lay hold upon her. And happy is everyone who retains her. ¹⁹Jehovah by wisdom founded the earth. By understanding he established the heavens. ²⁰By his knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. ²¹My son, let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, ²²so they shall be life to thy soul, and grace to thy neck. ²³Then thou shall walk in thy way securely, and thy foot shall not stumble. ²⁴When thou lie down, thou shall not be afraid. Yea, thou shall lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. ²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, nor of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes. ²⁶For Jehovah will be thy confidence, and will keep thy foot from being taken. ²⁷Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it. ²⁸Do not say to thy neighbor, Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give, when thou have it by thee. ²⁹Do not devise evil against thy neighbor, since he dwells securely by thee. ³⁰Do not strive with a man without cause, if he has done thee no harm. ³¹Do not envy thou the man of violence, and choose none of his ways. ³²For the perverse man is an abomination to Jehovah, but his friendship is with the upright. ³³The curse of Jehovah is in the house of a wicked man, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous. ³⁴Surely the Lord is opposed to the arrogant, but he gives grace to the lowly. ³⁵The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

CHAPTER 4

¹Hear, ye sons, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding. ²For I give you good doctrine. Forsake ye not my law. ³For I was a son to my father, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. ⁴And he taught me, and said to me, Let thy heart retain my words. Keep my commandments, and live. ⁵Get wisdom, get understanding. Do not forget, nor decline from the words of my mouth. ⁶Do not forsake her, and she will preserve thee. Love her, and she will keep thee. ⁷Wisdom is the principal thing. Get wisdom, yea, with all thy getting get understanding. ⁸Exalt her, and she will promote thee. She will bring thee to honor when thou embrace her. ⁹She will give to thy head a garland of grace, a crown of beauty she will deliver to thee. ¹⁰Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many. ¹¹I have taught thee in the way of wisdom. I have led thee in paths of uprightness. ¹²When thou go, thy steps shall not be restricted. And if thou run, thou shall not stumble. ¹³Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is thy life. ¹⁴Enter not into the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil men. ¹⁵Avoid it. Do not pass by it. Turn from it, and pass on. ¹⁶For they do not sleep unless they do evil. And their sleep is taken away unless they cause to fall. ¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. ¹⁸But the path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shines more and more to the perfect day. ¹⁹The way of the wicked is as darkness. They know not at what they stumble. ²⁰My son, attend to my words. Incline thine ear to my sayings. ²¹Let them not depart from thine eyes. Keep them in the midst of thy heart. ²²For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh. ²³Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. ²⁴Put away from thee a wayward mouth, and put perverse lips far from thee. ²⁵Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. ²⁶Make the path of thy feet level, and let all thy ways be established. ²⁷Turn not to the right hand nor to the left. Remove thy foot from evil.

CHAPTER 5

¹My son, attend to my wisdom. Incline thine ear to my understanding, ²that thou may preserve discretion, and that thy lips may keep knowledge. ³For the lips of an interloping woman drop honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil. ⁴But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. ⁵Her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on Sheol, ⁶so that she does not find the level path of life. Her ways are unstable, and she does not know. ⁷Now therefore, ye sons, hearken to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. ⁸Remove thy way far from her, and do not come near the door of her house, ⁹lest thou give thine honor to others, and thy years to the cruel, ¹⁰lest strangers be filled with thy strength, and thy labors be in the house of an alien, ¹¹and thou mourn at thy latter end when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, ¹²and say, How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof. ¹³Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! ¹⁴I was almost in all evil in the midst of the assembly and congregation. ¹⁵Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well. ¹⁶Should thy springs be dispersed abroad, and streams of water in the streets? ¹⁷Let them be for thyself alone, and not for strangers with thee. ¹⁸Let thy fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of thy youth: ¹⁹a loving hind and a pleasant doe. Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times, and be thou ravished always with her love. ²⁰For why should thou, my son, be ravished with an interloping woman, and embrace the bosom of a stranger? ²¹For the ways of man are before the eyes of Jehovah, and he makes level all his paths. ²²His own iniquities shall take a wicked man, and he shall be held with the cords of his sin. ²³He shall die for lack of instruction. And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.

CHAPTER 6

¹My son, if thou have become surety for thy neighbor, if thou have struck thy hands for a stranger, ²thou are snared with the words of thy mouth, thou are taken with the words of thy mouth. ³Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, since thou have come into the hand of thy neighbor. Go, humble thyself, and importune thy neighbor. ⁴Do not give sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. ⁵Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler. ⁶Go to the ant, thou sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise. ⁷Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, ⁸provides her bread in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. ⁹How long will thou sleep, O sluggard? When will thou arise out of thy sleep? ¹⁰A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, ¹¹so thy poverty shall come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man. ¹²A worthless person, a man of iniquity, is he who walks with a perverse mouth, ¹³who winks with his eyes, who speaks with his feet, who makes signs with his fingers, ¹⁴in whose heart is perverseness, who devises evil continually, who sows discord. ¹⁵Therefore his calamity shall come suddenly. Suddenly he shall be broken, and that without remedy. ¹⁶There are six things which Jehovah hates, yea, seven which are an abomination to him: ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked purposes, feet that are swift in running to mischief, ¹⁹a false witness who utters lies, and he who sows discord among brothers. ²⁰My son, keep the commandment of thy father, and do not forsake the law of thy mother. ²¹Bind them continually upon thy heart. Tie them about thy neck. ²²When thou walk, it shall lead thee. When thou sleep, it shall watch over thee. And when thou awake, it shall talk with thee. ²³For the commandment is a lamp, and the law is light, and reproofs of instruction are the way of life, ²⁴to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the stranger�s tongue. ²⁵Do not lust after her beauty in thy heart, nor let her take thee with her eyelids. ²⁶For the price of a harlot is as much as a piece of bread, but the adulteress hunts for the precious life. ²⁷Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? ²⁸Or can a man walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be scorched? ²⁹So is he who goes in to his neighbor�s wife. Whoever touches her shall not be unpunished. ³⁰Men do not despise a thief, if he steals to satisfy himself when he is hungry. ³¹Yet if he is found, he shall restore sevenfold. He shall give all the substance of his house. ³²He who commits adultery with a woman is void of understanding. He who would destroy his own soul does it. ³³Wounds and dishonor he shall get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away. ³⁴For jealousy is a man�s fury, and he will not spare in the day of vengeance. ³⁵He will not regard any ransom, nor will he be satisfied, though thou give many gifts.

CHAPTER 7

¹My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. ²Keep my commandments and live, and my law as the apple of thine eye. ³Bind them upon thy fingers. Write them upon the tablet of thy heart. ⁴Say to wisdom, Thou are my sister, and call understanding thy kinswoman, ⁵that they may keep thee from the interloping woman, from the stranger who flatters with her words. ⁶For at the window of my house I looked forth through my lattice, ⁷and I beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding ⁸passing through the street near her corner. And he went the way to her house, ⁹in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. ¹⁰And, behold, there met him a woman attired like a harlot, and wily of heart. ¹¹She is loud and headstrong. Her feet abide not in her house. ¹²Now she is in the streets, now in the broad places, and lies in wait at every corner. ¹³So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him, ¹⁴Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. I have paid my vows this day. ¹⁵Therefore I came forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. ¹⁶I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. ¹⁷I have perfumed my bed With myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. ¹⁸Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning. Let us solace ourselves with love. ¹⁹For the man is not at home. He has gone a long journey. ²⁰He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon. ²¹With her much fair speech she causes him to yield. With the flattering of her lips she forces him along. ²²He goes after her straightaway, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, ²³till an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare. And he does not know that it is for his life. ²⁴Now therefore, ye sons, hearken to me, and attend to the words of my mouth. ²⁵Let not thy heart decline to her ways. Go not astray in her paths. ²⁶For she has cast down many wounded. Yea, all her slain are a mighty host. ²⁷Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

CHAPTER 8

¹Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding put forth her voice? ²On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands. ³Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors, she cries aloud: ⁴To you, O men, I call. And my voice is to the sons of men. ⁵O ye simple, understand prudence, and, ye fools, be of an understanding heart. ⁶Hear, for I will speak excellent things. And the opening of my lips shall be right things. ⁷For my mouth shall utter truth. And wickedness is an abomination to my lips. ⁸All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them. ⁹They are all plain to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge. ¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold. ¹¹For wisdom is better than rubies, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it. ¹²I, wisdom, have made prudence my dwelling, and find out knowledge and discretion. ¹³The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil. Pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, and the perverse mouth, do I hate. ¹⁴Counsel is mine, and sound knowledge. I am understanding, I have might. ¹⁵By me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. ¹⁶By me rulers rule, and ranking men, even all the judges of the earth. ¹⁷I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently shall find me. ¹⁸Riches and honor are with me, durable wealth and righteousness. ¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold, and my revenue than choice silver. ²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice, ²¹that I may cause those who love me to inherit substance, and that I may fill their treasuries. ²²Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. ²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was, ²⁴when there were no depths. I was brought forth when there were no fountains abounding with water, ²⁵before the mountains were settled, before the hills. I was brought forth ²⁶while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. ²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle upon the face of the deep, ²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when the fountains of the deep became strong, ²⁹when he gave to the sea its bound that the waters should not transgress his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, ³⁰then I was by him, a master workman. And I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, ³¹rejoicing in his habitable earth. And my delight was with the sons of men. ³²Now therefore, ye sons, hearken to me. For blessed are those who keep my ways. ³³Hear instruction, and be wise, and do not refuse it. ³⁴Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. ³⁵For he who finds me finds life, and shall obtain favor of Jehovah. ³⁶But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.

CHAPTER 9

¹Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn out her seven pillars. ²She has killed her beasts. She has mingled her wine. She has also furnished her table. ³She has sent forth her maidens. She cries out upon the highest places of the city: ⁴He who is simple, let him turn in here. As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, ⁵Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled. ⁶Forsake ye simpleness, and live, and walk in the way of understanding. ⁷He who corrects a scoffer gets himself reviling. And he who reproves a wicked man gets himself a bruise. ⁸Reprove not a scoffer, lest he hate thee. Reprove a wise man, and he will love thee. ⁹Give opportunity to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser. Teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. ¹⁰The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. ¹¹For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. ¹²If thou are wise, thou are wise for thyself. And if thou scoff, thou alone shall bear it. ¹³The foolish woman is clamorous, simple, and knows nothing. ¹⁴And she sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, ¹⁵to call to those who pass by, who go right on their ways: ¹⁶He who is simple, let him turn in here. And as for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, ¹⁷Stolen waters are sweet, and bread in secret is pleasant. ¹⁸But he knows not that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

CHAPTER 10

¹The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. ²Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death. ³Jehovah will not allow the soul of a righteous man to famish, but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked. ⁴He who works with a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. ⁵He who gathers in summer is a wise son. He who sleeps in harvest is a son who causes shame. ⁶Blessings are upon the head of a righteous man, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. ⁷The memory of a righteous man is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. ⁸The wise in heart will receive commandments, but a prating fool shall fall. ⁹He who walks uprightly walks securely, but he who perverts his ways shall be known. ¹⁰He who winks with the eye causes sorrow. And a prating fool shall fall. ¹¹The mouth of a righteous man is a fountain of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. ¹²Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions. ¹³In the lips of him who has discernment wisdom is found, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding. ¹⁴Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of a foolish man is a present destruction. ¹⁵The rich man�s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty. ¹⁶The labor of a righteous man produces life. The fruit of a wicked man is to sin. ¹⁷He is in the way of life who heeds correction, but he who forsakes reproof errs. ¹⁸He who hides hatred is of lying lips. And he who utters a slander is a fool. ¹⁹Transgression is not lacking in the multitude of words, but he who refrains his lips does wisely. ²⁰The tongue of a righteous man is choice silver. The heart of the wicked is little worth. ²¹The lips of a righteous man feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding. ²²The blessing of Jehovah, it makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. ²³It is as sport to a fool to do mischief, and so is wisdom to a man of understanding. ²⁴The fear of a wicked man shall come upon him. And the desire of the righteous shall be granted. ²⁵When the whirlwind passes, the wicked man is no more, but the righteous man is an everlasting foundation. ²⁶As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. ²⁷The fear of Jehovah prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. ²⁸The hope of the righteous is gladness, but the expectation of the wicked shall perish. ²⁹The way of Jehovah is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity. ³⁰A righteous man shall never be removed, but the wicked shall not dwell in the land. ³¹The mouth of a righteous man brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue shall be cut off. ³²The lips of a righteous man knows what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked is perverseness.

CHAPTER 11

¹A false balance is an abomination to Jehovah, but a just weight is his delight. ²When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the lowly is wisdom. ³The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perverseness of the treacherous shall destroy them. ⁴Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death. ⁵The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way, but the wicked man shall fall by his own wickedness. ⁶The righteousness of the upright shall deliver them, but the treacherous shall be taken in their own iniquity. ⁷When a wicked man dies, his expectation shall perish, and the hope of iniquity perishes. ⁸A righteous man is delivered out of trouble, and a wicked man comes in his stead. ⁹The hypocrite destroys his neighbor with his mouth, but the righteous shall be delivered through knowledge. ¹⁰When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices. And when the wicked perish, there is shouting. ¹¹By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked. ¹²He who despises his neighbor is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding holds his peace. ¹³He who goes around as a tale-bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter. ¹⁴Where no wise guidance is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety. ¹⁵He who is surety for a stranger shall smart for it, but he who hates suretyship is secure. ¹⁶A gracious woman obtains honor, and aggressive men obtain riches. ¹⁷The merciful man does good to his own soul, but he who is cruel troubles his own flesh. ¹⁸A wicked man earns deceitful wages, but he who sows righteousness has a sure reward. ¹⁹He who is steadfast in righteousness comes to life, and he who pursues evil comes to his own death. ²⁰Those who are perverse in heart are an abomination to Jehovah, but such as are perfect in their way are his delight. ²¹Hand in hand, the evil man shall not be unpunished, but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered. ²²A ring of gold in a swine�s snout, is a beautiful woman who is without discretion. ²³The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath. ²⁴There is he who scatters, and increases yet more, and there he is who withholds more than is proper, but only to want. ²⁵The generous soul shall be made prosperous, and he who waters shall also be watered himself. ²⁶The people shall curse him who withholds grain, but a blessing shall be upon the head of him who sells it. ²⁷He who diligently seeks good seeks favor, but he who searches after evil, it shall come to him. ²⁸He who trusts in his riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf. ²⁹He who troubles his own house shall inherit the wind. And a foolish man shall be servant to a wise man of heart. ³⁰The fruit of a righteous man is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. ³¹Behold, a righteous man shall be recompensed in the earth, how much more the wicked man and the sinner!

CHAPTER 12

¹He who loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is brutish. ²A good man shall obtain favor of Jehovah, but he will condemn a man of wicked devices. ³A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved. ⁴A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, but she who makes ashamed is as rottenness in his bones. ⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just. The counsels of the wicked are deceit. ⁶The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright shall deliver them. ⁷The wicked are overthrown, and are not, but the house of the righteous shall stand. ⁸A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he who is of a perverse heart shall be despised. ⁹Better is he who is lightly esteemed, and has a servant, than he who honors himself, and lacks bread. ¹⁰A righteous man regards the life of his beast, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. ¹¹He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who pursues vanities is void of understanding. ¹²A wicked man desires the net of evil men, but the root of the righteous gives. ¹³A wicked man is snared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble. ¹⁴A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the actions of a man�s hands shall be rendered to him. ¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise hearkens to counsel. ¹⁶A fool�s vexation is instantly known, but a prudent man conceals shame. ¹⁷He who utters truth shows forth righteousness, but a false witness, deceit. ¹⁸There is he who speaks rashly like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise is health. ¹⁹The lips of truth shall be established forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment. ²⁰Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, but joy is to the counselors of peace. ²¹There shall no mischief happen to a righteous man, but the wicked shall be filled with evil. ²²Lying lips are an abomination to Jehovah, but those who deal truly are his delight. ²³A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the heart of fools proclaims foolishness. ²⁴The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be put under task work. ²⁵Heaviness in the heart of a man makes it droop, but a good word makes it glad. ²⁶A righteous man is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked causes them to err. ²⁷The slothful man roasts not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man is precious. ²⁸Life is in the way of righteousness, and in the pathway thereof there is no death.

CHAPTER 13

¹A wise son hears his father�s instruction, but a scoffer listens not to rebuke. ²A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth, but the soul of the treacherous, violence. ³He who guards his mouth keeps his life. He who opens wide his lips shall have destruction. ⁴The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing, but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat. ⁵A righteous man hates lying, but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame. ⁶Righteousness guards him who is upright in the way, but wickedness overthrows the sinner. ⁷There is he who makes himself rich, yet has nothing, and he who makes himself poor, yet has great wealth. ⁸The ransom of a man�s life is his riches, but the poor hears no threatening. ⁹The light of the righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out. ¹⁰Through pride a vain man causes contention, but wisdom is with the well-advised. ¹¹Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he who gathers by labor shall have increase. ¹²Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. ¹³He who despises the word brings destruction on himself, but he who fears the commandment shall be rewarded. ¹⁴The law of a wise man is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. ¹⁵Good understanding gives favor, but the way of the transgressor is hard. ¹⁶Every prudent man works with knowledge, but a fool flaunts folly. ¹⁷A wicked messenger falls into evil, but a faithful ambassador is health. ¹⁸Poverty and shame are to him who refuses correction, but he who regards reproof shall be honored. ¹⁹The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul, but it is an abomination to fools to depart from evil. ²⁰Walk with wise men, and thou shall be wise. But the companion of fools shall smart for it. ²¹Evil pursues sinners, but the righteous shall be recompensed with good. ²²A good man leaves an inheritance to his son�s sons, and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous. ²³Much food is in the tillage of the poor, but there is that is consumed because of injustice. ²⁴He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him chastens him promptly. ²⁵A righteous man eats to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly of the wicked shall want.

CHAPTER 14

¹Every wise woman builds her house, but a foolish woman plucks it down with her own hands. ²He who walks in his uprightness fears Jehovah, but he who is perverse in his ways despises him. ³In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. ⁴Where no oxen are, the crib is clean, but by the strength of the ox is much increase. ⁵A faithful witness will not lie, but a false witness utters lies. ⁶A scoffer seeks wisdom, and finds it not, but knowledge is easy to him who has understanding. ⁷Go into the presence of a foolish man, and thou shall not perceive the lips of knowledge. ⁸The wisdom of a prudent man is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit. ⁹Fools mock at sin, but among the upright there is good will. ¹⁰The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not intermeddle with its joy. ¹¹The house of the wicked shall be overthrown, but the tent of the upright shall flourish. ¹²There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. ¹³Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of mirth is heaviness. ¹⁴The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways, and a good man from his own fruits. ¹⁵A simple man believes every word, but the prudent man looks well to his going. ¹⁶A wise man fears, and departs from evil, but the fool bears himself insolently, and is confident. ¹⁷He who is soon angry will deal foolishly. And a man of wicked devices is hated. ¹⁸The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge. ¹⁹The evil bow down before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous. ²⁰The poor man is regarded inferior even by his own neighbor, but the rich man has many friends. ²¹He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has pity on the poor, happy is he. ²²Do they not err who devise evil? But mercy and truth are to those who devise good. ²³In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tends only to poverty. ²⁴The crown of the wise is their riches. The foolishness of fools is folly. ²⁵A true witness delivers souls, but he who utters lies causes deceit. ²⁶In the fear of Jehovah is strong confidence, and his sons shall have a place of refuge. ²⁷The fear of Jehovah is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death. ²⁸In the multitude of people is the king�s glory, but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince. ²⁹He who is slow to anger is of great understanding, but he who is hasty of spirit exalts folly. ³⁰A tranquil heart is the life of the flesh, but envy is the rottenness of the bones. ³¹He who oppresses a poor man reproaches his maker, but he who has mercy on a needy man honors him. ³²An evil man is thrust down in his evil-doing, but a righteous man has hope in his death. ³³Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, but what is in the inward part of fools is made known. ³⁴Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. ³⁵The king�s favor is toward a servant who deals wisely, but his wrath will be to him who causes shame.

CHAPTER 15

¹A soft answer turns away wrath, but a grievous word stirs up anger. ²The tongue of the wise utters knowledge rightly, but the mouth of fools pours out folly. ³The eyes of Jehovah are in every place, keeping watch upon the evil and the good. ⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it is a breaking of the spirit. ⁵A fool despises his father�s correction, but he who regards reproof gets prudence. ⁶In the house of a righteous man is much treasure, but in the revenues of a wicked man is trouble. ⁷The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, but the heart of the foolish, not so. ⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright is his delight. ⁹The way of a wicked man is an abomination to Jehovah, but he loves him who follows after righteousness. ¹⁰There is grievous correction for him who forsakes the way. He who hates reproof shall die. ¹¹Sheol and Abaddon are before Jehovah. How much more then the hearts of the sons of men! ¹²A scoffer does not like to be reproved. He will not go to the wise. ¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. ¹⁴The heart of him who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly. ¹⁵All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he who is of a cheerful heart has a continual feast. ¹⁶Better is little with the fear of Jehovah, than great treasure and trouble with it. ¹⁷Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted ox and hatred with it. ¹⁸A wrathful man stirs up contention, but he who is slow to anger appeases strife. ¹⁹The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is made a highway. ²⁰A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish man despises his mother. ²¹Folly is joy to him who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding makes his going straight. ²²Where there is no counsel, plans are disappointed, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. ²³A man has joy in the answer of his mouth, and a word in due season, how good it is! ²⁴To the wise man the way of life is upward, that he may depart from Sheol beneath. ²⁵Jehovah will root up the house of the proud, but he will establish the border of the widow. ²⁶Evil devices are an abomination to Jehovah, but pleasant words are pure. ²⁷He who is greedy of gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes shall live. ²⁸The heart of a righteous man meditates to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. ²⁹Jehovah is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous. ³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news make the bones fat. ³¹The ear that hearkens to the reproof of life shall abide among the wise. ³²He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who hearkens to reproof gets understanding. ³³The fear of Jehovah is the instruction of wisdom, and before honor is humility.

CHAPTER 16

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from Jehovah. ²All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but Jehovah weighs the spirits. ³Commit thy works to Jehovah, and thy purposes shall be established. ⁴Jehovah has made everything for its own end, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. ⁵Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Jehovah. Hand in hand, he shall not be unpunished. ⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of Jehovah men depart from evil. ⁷When a man�s ways please Jehovah, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. ⁸Better is a little, with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice. ⁹A man�s heart devises his way, but Jehovah directs his steps. ¹⁰A divine sentence is in the lips of the king. His mouth shall not transgress in judgment. ¹¹A just balance and scales are Jehovah�s. All the weights of the bag are his work. ¹²It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness, for the throne is established by righteousness. ¹³Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love him who speaks right. ¹⁴The wrath of a king is messengers of death, but a wise man will pacify it. ¹⁵In the light of the king�s countenance is life, and his favor is as a cloud of the latter rain. ¹⁶How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yea, to get understanding is rather to be chosen than silver. ¹⁷The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul. ¹⁸Pride is before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. ¹⁹Better it is to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the spoil with the proud. ²⁰He who gives heed to the word shall find good, and whoever trusts in Jehovah, happy is he. ²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent, and the sweetness of the lips increases learning. ²²Understanding is a well-spring of life to him who has it, but the correction of fools is folly. ²³The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips. ²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb: Sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. ²⁵There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. ²⁶The appetite of the laboring man labors for him, for his mouth urges him. ²⁷A worthless man devises mischief, and in his lips there is as a scorching fire. ²⁸A perverse man scatters abroad strife, and a whisperer separates chief friends. ²⁹A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good. ³⁰He who shuts his eyes devises perverse things. He who moves his lips brings evil to pass. ³¹The hoary head is a crown of glory. It shall be found in the way of righteousness. ³²He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city. ³³The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 17

¹Better is a dry morsel, and quietness with it, than a house full of feasting with strife. ²A servant who deals wisely shall have rule over a son who causes shame, and shall have part in the inheritance among the brothers. ³The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Jehovah tries the hearts. ⁴An evildoer gives heed to wicked lips. A liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. ⁵He who mocks a poor man reproaches his maker. He who is glad at calamity shall not be unpunished. ⁶Son�s sons are the crown of old men, and the glory of sons are their fathers. ⁷Excellent speech is not appropriate to a fool, much less lying lips to a prince. ⁸A bribe is a precious stone in the eyes of him who has it; wherever it turns, it prospers. ⁹He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates chief friends. ¹⁰A rebuke enters deeper into him who has understanding than a hundred stripes into a fool. ¹¹An evil man seeks only rebellion. Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. ¹²Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly. ¹³He who rewards evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house. ¹⁴The beginning of strife is like letting out water. Therefore leave off contention, before there is quarrelling. ¹⁵He who justifies a wicked man, and he who condemns a righteous man, both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah. ¹⁶Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom, since he has no understanding? ¹⁷A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. ¹⁸A man void of understanding strikes hands, and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbor. ¹⁹He loves transgression who loves strife. He who raises high his gate seeks destruction. ²⁰He who has a wayward heart finds no good, and he who has a perverse tongue falls into mischief. ²¹He who begets a fool it is to his sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy. ²²A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. ²³A wicked man receives a bribe out of the bosom, to pervert the ways of justice. ²⁴Wisdom is before the face of him who has understanding, but the eyes of a fool are in the ends of the earth. ²⁵A foolish son is a grief to his father, and bitterness to her who bore him. ²⁶Also to punish a righteous man is not good, nor to smite nobles for uprightness. ²⁷He who spares his words has knowledge, and he who is of a cool spirit is a man of understanding. ²⁸Even a fool, when he holds his peace, is considered wise. When he shuts his lips, he is prudent.

CHAPTER 18

¹He who desires to separate himself seeks excuses, and rages against all sound wisdom. ²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only that his heart may reveal itself. ³When a wicked man comes, contempt also comes, and with disgrace, reproach. ⁴The words of a man�s mouth are deep waters. The wellspring of wisdom is a flowing brook. ⁵To respect the person of a wicked man is not good, nor to turn aside a righteous man in judgment. ⁶A fool�s lips enter into contention, and his mouth calls for stripes. ⁷A fool�s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul. ⁸The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts. ⁹He also that is slack in his work is brother to him that is a destroyer. ¹⁰The name of Jehovah is a strong tower. A righteous man runs into it, and is safe. ¹¹The rich man�s wealth is his strong city, and as a high wall in his own imagination. ¹²Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility. ¹³He who gives answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him. ¹⁴The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a broken spirit who can bear? ¹⁵The heart of a prudent man gets knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge. ¹⁶A man�s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. ¹⁷He who pleads his case first seems just, but his neighbor comes and searches him out. ¹⁸The lot causes contentions to cease, and decides between the mighty. ¹⁹A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city, and such contentions are like the bars of a castle. ²⁰A man�s belly shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the increase of his lips he shall be satisfied. ²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it shall eat the fruit of it. ²²He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from Jehovah. ²³A poor man uses entreaties, but a rich man answers roughly. ²⁴He who makes many friends does it to his own destruction, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

CHAPTER 19

¹Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity than he who is perverse in his lips and is a fool. ²Also, that the soul be without knowledge is not good. And he who hastens with his feet sins. ³The foolishness of a man subverts his way, and his heart rages against Jehovah. ⁴Wealth adds many friends, but a poor man is separated from his friend. ⁵A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he who utters lies shall not escape. ⁶Many will entreat the favor of a generous man, and every man is a friend to him who gives gifts. ⁷All the brothers of a poor man regard him inferior, how much more do his friends go far from him! He pursues with words, but they are gone. ⁸He who gets wisdom loves his own soul. He who keeps understanding shall find good. ⁹A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he who utters lies shall perish. ¹⁰Luxurious living is not fitting for a fool, much less for a servant to have rule over rulers. ¹¹The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to pass over a transgression. ¹²The king�s wrath is as the roaring of a lion, but his favor is as dew upon the grass. ¹³A foolish son is the calamity of his father, and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. ¹⁴House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from Jehovah. ¹⁵Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and the idle soul shall suffer hunger. ¹⁶He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul. He who is careless of his ways shall die. ¹⁷He who has pity upon a poor man lends to Jehovah, and he will repay him his good deed. ¹⁸Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying. ¹⁹A man of great wrath shall bear the penalty, for if thou deliver him, thou must do it yet again. ²⁰Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou may be wise in thy latter end. ²¹There are many devices in a man�s heart, but the counsel of Jehovah, that shall stand. ²²That which makes a man to be desired is his kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar. ²³The fear of Jehovah is life to a man, and he shall abide satisfied. He shall not be visited with evil. ²⁴The sluggard buries his hand in the dish, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again. ²⁵Smite a scoffer, and a simple man will learn prudence. And reprove him who has understanding, and he will understand knowledge. ²⁶He who does violence to his father, and chases away his mother, is a son that causes shame and brings reproach. ²⁷To err from the words of knowledge, cease, my son, to hear instruction. ²⁸A worthless witness mocks at justice, and the mouth of the wicked swallows iniquity. ²⁹Judgments are prepared for scoffers, and stripes for the back of fools.

CHAPTER 20

¹Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever errs thereby is not wise. ²The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger sins against his own life. ³It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarrelling. ⁴The sluggard will not plow because of the winter. Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing. ⁵Purpose in the heart of man is deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. ⁶Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness, but a faithful man who can find? ⁷A righteous man who walks in his integrity, blessed are his sons after him. ⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes. ⁹Who can say, I have made my heart clean. I am pure from my sin? ¹⁰Diverse weights, and diverse measures, both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah. ¹¹Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. ¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, Jehovah has made even both of them. ¹³Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty. Open thine eyes, and thou shall be satisfied with bread. ¹⁴It is bad, it is bad, says the buyer, but when he is gone his way, then he boasts. ¹⁵There is gold, and abundance of rubies, but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. ¹⁶Take his garment who is surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge for foreigners. ¹⁷Bread of falsehood is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. ¹⁸Every purpose is established by counsel, and by wise guidance make thou war. ¹⁹He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets. Therefore do not associate with him who opens wide his lips. ²⁰He who curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness. ²¹An inheritance gotten hastily at the beginning shall not be blessed in the end. ²²Say thou not, I will recompense evil. Wait for Jehovah, and he will save thee. ²³Diverse weights are an abomination to Jehovah, and a false balance is not good. ²⁴A man�s goings are of Jehovah, how then can man understand his way? ²⁵It is a snare to a man to say rashly, It is holy. And to make inquiry after vows. ²⁶A wise king winnows the wicked, and brings the wheel over them. ²⁷The spirit of man is the lamp of Jehovah, searching all his innermost parts. ²⁸Kindness and truth preserve the king, and his throne is upheld by kindness. ²⁹The glory of young men is their strength, and the beauty of old men is the hoary head. ³⁰Stripes that wound cleanse away evil, and strokes, the innermost parts.

CHAPTER 21

¹The king�s heart is in the hand of Jehovah as streams of water. He turns it wherever he will. ²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but Jehovah weighs the hearts. ³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice. ⁴A high look, and a proud heart, even the lamp of the wicked, is sin. ⁵The thoughts of a diligent man lead only to abundance, but everyone who is hasty, only to want. ⁶The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vapor driven to and fro by those who seek death. ⁷The violence of the wicked shall sweep them away, because they refuse to do justice. ⁸The way of him who is laden with guilt is exceedingly crooked, but as for a pure man, his work is right. ⁹It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman in a wide house. ¹⁰The soul of a wicked man desires evil. His neighbor finds no favor in his eyes. ¹¹When a scoffer is punished, a simple man is made wise, and when a wise man is instructed, he receives knowledge. ¹²A righteous man considers the house of the wicked: the wicked are overthrown to ruin. ¹³He who stops his ears at the cry of a poor man, he also shall cry, but shall not be heard. ¹⁴A gift in secret pacifies anger, and a present in the bosom, strong wrath. ¹⁵It is joy to the righteous to do justice, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity. ¹⁶The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the dead. ¹⁷He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil shall not be rich. ¹⁸A wicked man is a ransom for a righteous man, and the treacherous dealer for the upright. ¹⁹It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman. ²⁰There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of a wise man, but a foolish man swallows it up. ²¹He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor. ²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of the confidence of it. ²³He who keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles. ²⁴The proud and haughty man, scoffer is his name. He works in the arrogance of pride. ²⁵The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. ²⁶There is he who covets greedily all the day long, but the righteous gives and does not withhold. ²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination. How much more when he brings it with a wicked mind! ²⁸A false witness shall perish, but the man who hears shall speak so as to endure. ²⁹A wicked man hardens his face, but as for an upright man, he establishes his ways. ³⁰There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against Jehovah. ³¹The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but victory is from Jehovah.

CHAPTER 22

¹A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold. ²The rich and the poor meet together. Jehovah is the maker of them all. ³A prudent man sees the evil, and hides himself, but the simple pass on, and suffer for it. ⁴The reward of humility and the fear of Jehovah is riches and honor and life. ⁵Thorns and snares are in the way of a perverse man. He who keeps his soul shall be far from them. ⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it. ⁷The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender. ⁸He who sows iniquity shall reap calamity, and the rod of his wrath shall fail. ⁹He who has a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor. ¹⁰Cast out the scoffer, and contention will go out, yea, strife and reproach will cease. ¹¹He who loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips, the king will be his friend. ¹²The eyes of Jehovah preserve knowledge, but he overthrows the words of the treacherous man. ¹³The sluggard says, There is a lion outside. I shall be slain in the streets. ¹⁴The mouth of interloping women is a deep pit. He who is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall in it. ¹⁵Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. ¹⁶He who oppresses a poor man to his increase, and he who gives to a rich man, comes only to want. ¹⁷Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thy heart to my knowledge. ¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee, if they be established together upon thy lips. ¹⁹That thy trust may be in Jehovah, I have made them known to thee this day, even to thee. ²⁰Have I not written to thee excellent things of counsels and knowledge, ²¹to make thee know the certainty of the words of truth, that thou may carry back words of truth to those who send thee? ²²Do not rob a poor man, because he is poor, nor oppress an afflicted man in the gate. ²³For Jehovah will plead their cause, and despoil of life those who despoil them. ²⁴Make no friendship with a man who is given to anger, and thou shall not go with a wrathful man, ²⁵lest thou learn this ways, and get a snare to thy soul. ²⁶Be thou not one of those who strike hands, or of those who are sureties for debts. ²⁷If thou have not wherewith to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee? ²⁸Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. ²⁹See thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before obscure men.

CHAPTER 23

¹When thou sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently him who is before thee, ²and put a knife to thy throat if thou be a man given to appetite. ³Be not desirous of his dainties, since they are deceitful food. ⁴Weary not thyself to be rich. Out of thine own wisdom, cease. ⁵Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For it certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward heaven. ⁶Eat thou not the bread of an evil eye, nor desire thou his dainties. ⁷For as he thinks within himself, so is he. Eat and drink, he says to thee, but his heart is not with thee. ⁸The morsel which thou have eaten thou shall vomit up, and lose thy sweet words. ⁹Speak not in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of thy words. ¹⁰Remove not the ancient landmark. And enter not into the fields of the fatherless, ¹¹for their Redeemer is strong. He will plead their cause against thee. ¹²Apply thy heart to instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge. ¹³Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beat him with the rod, he will not die. ¹⁴Thou shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from Sheol. ¹⁵My son, if thy heart be wise, my heart will be glad, even mine. ¹⁶Yea, my heart will rejoice when thy lips speak right things. ¹⁷Let not thy heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of Jehovah all the day long. ¹⁸For surely there is a reward, and thy hope shall not be cut off. ¹⁹Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thy heart in the way. ²⁰Be not among winebibbers, among gluttonous eaters of flesh. ²¹For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags. ²²Hearken to thy father who begot thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old. ²³Buy the truth, and do not sell it, yea, wisdom, and instruction, and understanding. ²⁴The father of a righteous man will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise son will have joy of him. ²⁵Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and let her who bore thee rejoice. ²⁶My son, give me thy heart, and let thine eyes delight in my ways. ²⁷For a harlot is a deep ditch, and an interloping woman is a narrow pit. ²⁸Yea, she lies in wait as a robber, and increases the treacherous among men. ²⁹Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? ³⁰Those who tarry long at the wine. Those who go to seek out mixed wine. ³¹Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. ³²At the end it bites like a serpent, and stings like an adder. ³³Thine eyes shall behold strange things, and thy heart shall utter perverse things. ³⁴Yea, thou shall be as he who lies down in the midst of the sea, or as he who lies upon the top of a mast. ³⁵They have stricken me, thou shall say, and I was not hurt. They have beaten me, and I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.

CHAPTER 24

¹Be not thou envious against evil men, nor desire to be with them. ²For their heart meditates oppression, and their lips talk of mischief. ³Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established, ⁴and by knowledge the chambers are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ⁵A wise man is strong, yea, a man of knowledge increases might. ⁶For by wise guidance thou shall make thy war, and in the multitude of counselors there is safety. ⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool. He opens not his mouth in the gate. ⁸He who devises to do evil, men shall call him a mischief-maker. ⁹The thought of folly is sin. And the scoffer is an abomination to men. ¹⁰If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. ¹¹Deliver those who are carried away to death, and hold thou back those who are ready to be slain. ¹²If thou say, Behold, we did not know this, Does not he who weighs the hearts consider it? And he who keeps thy soul, does he not know it? And shall not he render to every man according to his work? ¹³My son, eat thou honey, for it is good, and the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to thy taste, ¹⁴so the knowledge of wisdom is to thy soul. If thou have found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy hope shall not be cut off. ¹⁵Lay not in wait, O wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Do not destroy his resting place. ¹⁶For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity. ¹⁷Rejoice not when thine enemy falls, and let not thy heart be glad when he is overthrown, ¹⁸lest Jehovah see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. ¹⁹Fret not thyself because of evildoers, nor be thou envious at the wicked. ²⁰For there shall be no reward to the evil man. The lamp of the wicked shall be put out. ²¹My son, fear thou Jehovah and the king, and do not associate with those who are given to change. ²²For their calamity shall rise suddenly, and the destruction from them both, who knows it? ²³These also are from the wise: To have respect of persons in judgment is not good. ²⁴He who says to a wicked man, Thou are righteous, peoples shall curse him, nations shall abhor him. ²⁵But to those who rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. ²⁶He who gives a right answer kisses the lips. ²⁷Prepare thy work outside, and make it ready for thee in the field, and afterwards build thy house. ²⁸Be not a witness against thy neighbor without cause, and deceive not with thy lips. ²⁹Say not, I will do so to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work. ³⁰I went by the field of the sluggard, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding. ³¹And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns. The face of it was covered with nettles, and the stone wall of it was broken down. ³²Then I beheld, and considered well. I saw, and received instruction: ³³Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep, ³⁴so thy poverty shall come as a robber, and thy want as an armed man.

CHAPTER 25

¹These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. ²It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. ³As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable. ⁴Take away the dross from the silver, and there comes forth a vessel for the refiner. ⁵Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness. ⁶Put not thyself forward in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men. ⁷For it is better that it be said to thee, Come up here, than that thou should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom thine eyes have seen. ⁸Go not forth hastily to strive. What will thou do in the end of it when thy neighbor has put thee to shame? ⁹Debate thy case with thy neighbor himself, and disclose not the secret of another, ¹⁰lest he who hears it revile thee, and thine infamy turn not away. ¹¹A word fitly spoken is apples of gold in a network of silver. ¹²An earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear. ¹³As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters. ¹⁴Clouds and wind without rain, is he who boasts himself of his gifts falsely. ¹⁵By long-suffering a ruler is persuaded, and a soft tongue breaks the bone. ¹⁶Have thou found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled with it, and vomit it. ¹⁷Let thy foot be seldom in thy neighbor�s house, lest he be weary of thee, and hate thee. ¹⁸A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow. ¹⁹Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint. ²⁰As he who takes off a garment in cold weather, and vinegar upon soda, so is he who sings songs to a heavy heart. ²¹If thine enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. ²²For thou will heap coals of fire upon his head, and Jehovah will reward thee. ²³The north wind brings forth rain. So does a backbiting tongue, an angry countenance. ²⁴It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman in a wide house. ²⁵As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. ²⁶A troubled fountain, and a corrupted spring, is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked. ²⁷It is not good to eat much honey, so for men to search out their own glory is grievous. ²⁸He whose spirit is without restraint is a city that is broken down and without walls.

CHAPTER 26

¹As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool. ²As the sparrow in her wandering, as the swallow in her flying, so the curse that is causeless does not alight. ³A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools. ⁴Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like to him. ⁵Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. ⁶He who sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off the feet, and drinks injury. ⁷The legs of a lame man hang loose. So is a proverb in the mouth of fools. ⁸As he who binds a stone in a sling, so is he who gives honor to a fool. ⁹As a thorn that goes up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a proverb in the mouth of fools. ¹⁰As an archer who wounds all, so is he who hires a fool, and he who hires those who pass by. ¹¹As a dog who returns to his vomit, is a fool who repeats his folly. ¹²See thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope for a fool than of him. ¹³The sluggard says, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. ¹⁴The door turns upon its hinges, so does the sluggard upon his bed. ¹⁵The sluggard buries his hand in the dish. It wearies him to bring it again to his mouth. ¹⁶The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men who can render a reason. ¹⁷He who passes by, and meddles with strife not his, is like he who takes a dog by the ears. ¹⁸As a madman who casts firebrands, arrows, and death, ¹⁹so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, Am I not in sport? ²⁰For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention ceases. ²¹As coals are to hot embers, and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to inflame strife. ²²The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, and they go down into the innermost parts. ²³Fervent lips and a wicked heart are an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross. ²⁴He who hates masquerades with his lips, but he lays up deceit within him. ²⁵When he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart. ²⁶Though his hatred cover itself with guile, his wickedness shall be openly shown before the assembly. ²⁷He who digs a pit shall fall in it, and he who rolls a stone, it shall return upon him. ²⁸A lying tongue hates those whom it has wounded, and a flattering mouth works ruin.

CHAPTER 27

¹Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou know not what a day may bring forth. ²Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth, a stranger, and not thine own lips. ³A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but a fool�s vexation is heavier than both. ⁴Wrath is cruel, and anger is overwhelming, but who is able to stand before jealousy? ⁵Better is open rebuke than love that is hidden. ⁶Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are profuse. ⁷The full soul loathes a honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. ⁸As a bird that wanders from her nest, so is a man who wanders from his place. ⁹Oil and perfume rejoice the heart, so too the sweetness of a man�s friend by hearty counsel. ¹⁰Forsake not thine own friend, and thy father�s friend. And go not to thy brother�s house in the day of thy calamity. Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far off. ¹¹My son, be wise, and make my heart glad, that I may answer him who reproaches me. ¹²A prudent man sees the evil, and hides himself. The simple pass on, and suffer for it. ¹³Take his garment who is surety for a stranger, and hold him in pledge who is surety for a strange woman. ¹⁴He who blesses his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be considered a curse to him. ¹⁵A continual dropping in a very rainy day, and a contentious woman are alike. ¹⁶He who would restrain her restrains the wind, and his right hand encounters oil. ¹⁷Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. ¹⁸He who keeps the fig tree shall eat the fruit of it, and he who regards his master shall be honored. ¹⁹As in water face is to face, so the heart of a man is to a man. ²⁰Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and the eyes of man are never satisfied. ²¹The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, and a man is tried by his praise. ²²Though thou should pound a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him. ²³Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds. ²⁴For riches are not forever. And does the crown endure to all generations? ²⁵The hay is carried, and the tender grass shows itself, and the herbs of the mountains are gathered in. ²⁶The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the cost of the field. ²⁷And then will be goats� milk enough for thy food; for the food of thy household, and maintenance for thy maidens.

CHAPTER 28

¹A wicked man flees when no man pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion. ²For the transgression of a land many are the rulers of it. But by men of understanding and knowledge the state shall be prolonged. ³A needy man who oppresses the poor is a sweeping rain which leaves no food. ⁴Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but such as keep the law contend with them. ⁵Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek Jehovah understand all things. ⁶Better is the poor man who walks in his integrity, than he who is perverse in his ways, though he be rich. ⁷He who keeps the law is a wise son, but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father. ⁸He who augments his substance by interest and increase, gathers it for him who has pity on the poor. ⁹He who turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. ¹⁰He who causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit. But the perfect shall inherit good. ¹¹The rich man is wise in his own conceit, but a poor man who has understanding searches him out. ¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves. ¹³He who covers his transgressions shall not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them shall obtain mercy. ¹⁴Happy is the man who fears always, but he who hardens his heart shall fall into mischief. ¹⁵A roaring lion, and a ranging bear, is a wicked ruler over a poor people. ¹⁶The ruler who lacks understanding is also a great oppressor, but he who hates covetousness shall prolong his days. ¹⁷A man who is laden with the blood of any person shall flee to the pit. Let no man stay him. ¹⁸He who walks uprightly shall be delivered, but he who is perverse in his ways shall fall at once. ¹⁹He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who follows after vanity shall have poverty enough. ²⁰A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich shall not be unpunished. ²¹To have respect of persons is not good, nor that a man should transgress for a piece of bread. ²²He who has an evil eye hastens after riches, and does not know that want shall come upon him. ²³He who rebukes a man shall afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue. ²⁴He who robs his father or his mother, and says, It is no transgression, the same is the companion of a destroyer. ²⁵He who is of a greedy spirit stirs up strife, but he who puts his trust in Jehovah shall be made fat. ²⁶He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely, he shall be delivered. ²⁷He who gives to the poor shall not lack, but he who hides his eyes shall have many a curse. ²⁸When the wicked rise, men hide themselves, but when they perish, the righteous increase.

CHAPTER 29

¹He who, being often reproved, hardens his neck shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. ²When the righteous are increased, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man bears rule, the people sigh. ³He who loves wisdom delights his father, but he who keeps company with harlots wastes his substance. ⁴By justice the king establishes the land, but he who exacts gifts overthrows it. ⁵A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his steps. ⁶In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare, but a righteous man sings and rejoices. ⁷A righteous man takes knowledge of the cause of the poor. A wicked man has no such understanding to know. ⁸Scoffers set a city in a flame, but wise men turn away wrath. ⁹If a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, whether he be angry or laugh, there will be no rest. ¹⁰Bloodthirsty men hate him who is perfect, but the upright seek his soul. ¹¹A fool utters all his anger, but a wise man keeps it back and calms it. ¹²If a ruler hearkens to falsehood, all his servants are wicked. ¹³The poor man and the oppressor meet together. Jehovah enlightens the eyes of them both. ¹⁴The king who faithfully judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever. ¹⁵The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother. ¹⁶When the wicked are increased, transgression increases, but the righteous shall look upon their fall. ¹⁷Correct thy son, and he will give thee rest, yea, he will give delight to thy soul. ¹⁸Where there is no vision, the people cast off restraint, but he who keeps the law, happy is he. ¹⁹A servant will not be corrected by words, for though he understands, he will not give heed. ²⁰See thou a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. ²¹He who brings up his servant gently from childhood shall have him become a son at the last. ²²An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in transgression. ²³A man�s pride shall bring him low, but he who is of a lowly spirit shall obtain honor. ²⁴He who is partner with a thief hates his own soul; he hears the adjuration and utters nothing. ²⁵The fear of man brings a snare, but he who puts his trust in Jehovah shall be safe. ²⁶Many seek the ruler�s favor, but a man�s justice is from Jehovah. ²⁷An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and he who is upright in the way is an abomination to a wicked man.

CHAPTER 30

¹The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle. The man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: ²Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man, ³and I have not learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy. ⁴Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son�s name, if thou know? ⁵Every word of God is tried. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him. ⁶Add thou not to his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. ⁷Two things I have asked of thee, deny me not before I die: ⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, ⁹lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor, and steal, and use the name of my God profanely. ¹⁰Slander not a servant to his master, lest he curse thee, and thou be held guilty. ¹¹There is a generation who curses their father, and does not bless their mother. ¹²There is a generation who are pure in their own eyes, and yet are not washed from their filthiness. ¹³There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes, and their eyelids are lifted up. ¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are swords, and their jaw teeth, knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. ¹⁵The leach has two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four that do not say, Enough: ¹⁶Sheol, and the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire that does not say, Enough. ¹⁷The eye that mocks at his father, and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. ¹⁸There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: ¹⁹The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maiden. ²⁰So is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no iniquity. ²¹For three things the earth trembles, and for four, which it cannot bear: ²²For a servant when he is king, and a fool when he is filled with food, ²³for a hateful woman when she is married, and a handmaid that is heir to her mistress. ²⁴There are four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: ²⁵The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer, ²⁶the conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks, ²⁷the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands, ²⁸the lizard takes hold with her hands, yet she is in kings� palaces. ²⁹There are three things which are stately in their march, yea, four which are stately in going: ³⁰The lion, which is mightiest among beasts, and turns not away from any, ³¹the greyhound, also the he-goat, and the king against whom there is no rising up. ³²If thou have done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou have thought evil, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. ³³For the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood, so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife.

CHAPTER 31

¹The words of king Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him. ²What, my son? And what, O son of my womb? And what, O son of my vows? ³Give not thy strength to women, nor thy ways to that which destroys kings. ⁴It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for rulers to say, Where is strong drink? ⁵Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the justice due to any who is afflicted. ⁶Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish, and wine to the bitter in soul. ⁷Let him drink, and forget his need, and remember his misery no more. ⁸Open thy mouth for the mute, in the cause of all such as are left desolate. ⁹Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and minister justice to the poor and needy. ¹⁰A worthy woman who can find? For her price is far above rubies. ¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he shall have no lack of gain. ¹²She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. ¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works willingly with her hands. ¹⁴She is like the merchant ships: she brings her bread from afar. ¹⁵She also rises while it is yet night, and gives food to her household, and their task to her maidens. ¹⁶She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. ¹⁷She girds her loins with strength, and makes strong her arms. ¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out by night. ¹⁹She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. ²⁰She stretches out her hand to the poor, yea, she reaches forth her hands to the needy. ²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household, for all her household are clothed with scarlet. ²²She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple. ²³Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. ²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers girdles to the merchant. ²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. ²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the law of kindness is on her tongue. ²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. ²⁸Her sons rise up, and call her blessed. Her husband also, and he praises her. ²⁹Many daughters have done worthily, but thou excel them all. ³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears Jehovah, she shall be praised. ³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

ECCLESIATES

CHAPTER 1

¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. ²Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. ³What profit has man from all his labor in which he labors under the sun? ⁴One generation goes, and another generation comes, but the earth abides forever. ⁵The sun also arises, and the sun goes down and hastens to its place where it arises. ⁶The wind goes toward the south, and turns around to the north. It turns around continually in its course, and the wind returns again to its circuits. ⁷All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full. To the place from where the rivers come, there they go again. ⁸All things are full of weariness, man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. ⁹That which has been is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done. And there is no new thing under the sun. ¹⁰Is there a thing of which it may be said, See, this is new? It has been long ago, in the ages which were before us. ¹¹There is no remembrance of the former things, nor shall there be any remembrance of the latter that are to come, among those who shall come after. ¹²I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem. ¹³And I applied my heart to seek and to search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven. It is a great tribulation that God has given to the sons of men to be exercised therewith. ¹⁴I have seen all the works that are done under the sun, and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind. ¹⁵That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered. ¹⁶I communed with my own heart, saying, Lo, I have gotten for me great wisdom above all who were before me in Jerusalem. Yea, my heart has had great experience of wisdom and knowledge. ¹⁷And I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also was a striving after wind. ¹⁸For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.

CHAPTER 2

¹I said in my heart, Come now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure. And, behold, this also was vanity. ²I said of laughter, It is mad, and of mirth, What does it do? ³I searched in my heart how to cheer my flesh with wine (my heart yet guiding me with wisdom), and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what it was good for the sons of men that they should do under heaven all the days of their life. ⁴I made for me great works. I built for me houses. I planted for me vineyards. ⁵I made for me gardens and parks, and I planted trees in them of all kinds of fruit. ⁶I made for me pools of water, to water from there the forest where trees were reared. ⁷I bought men-servants and maid-servants, and had servants born in my house. I also had great possessions of herds and flocks, above all who were before me in Jerusalem. ⁸I also gathered for me silver and gold, and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for me men-singers and women-singers, and the luxuries of the sons of men, and a wife and wives. ⁹So I was great, and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. ¹⁰And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them. I did not withhold my heart from any joy. For my heart rejoiced because of all my labor, and this was my portion from all my labor. ¹¹Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labor that I had labored to do, and, behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was no profit under the sun. ¹²And I turned myself to behold wisdom and madness and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Even that which has been done long ago. ¹³Then I saw that wisdom excels folly as far as light excels darkness. ¹⁴The wise man�s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness. And yet I perceived that one event happens to them all. ¹⁵Then I said in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me, and why then was I more wise? Then I said in my heart that this also is vanity. ¹⁶For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no remembrance forever, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. And how the wise man dies even as the fool! ¹⁷So I hated life, because the work that is wrought under the sun was grievous to me. For all is vanity and a striving after wind. ¹⁸And I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who shall be after me. ¹⁹And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have rule over all my labor in which I have labored, and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. ²⁰Therefore I turned about to cause my heart to despair concerning all the labor in which I had labored under the sun. ²¹For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with skillfulness, yet he shall leave it to a man who has not labored in it for his portion. This also is vanity and a great evil. ²²For what has a man of all his labor, and of the striving of his heart in which he labors under the sun? ²³For all his days are but sorrows, and his travail is grief, yea, even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity. ²⁴There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it is from the hand of God. ²⁵For who can eat, or who can have enjoyment, without him? ²⁶For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

CHAPTER 3

¹For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: ²a time to be born, and a time to die, a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted, ³a time to kill, and a time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up, ⁴a time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance, ⁵a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing, ⁶a time to seek, and a time to lose, a time to keep, and a time to cast away, ⁷a time to tear, and a time to sew, a time to keep silence, and a time to speak, ⁸a time to love, and a time to hate, a time for war, and a time for peace. ⁹What profit has he who works in that in which he labors? ¹⁰I have seen the travail which God has given to the sons of men to be employed therewith. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has set eternity in their heart, yet so that man cannot find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end. ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them, than to rejoice, and to do good as long as they live. ¹³And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy good in all his labor. It is the gift of God. ¹⁴I know that, whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it. And God has done it that men should fear before him. ¹⁵That which is, has been long ago, and that which is to be, has long ago been. And God seeks again that which has passed away. ¹⁶And moreover I saw under the sun, in the place of justice, that wickedness was there, and in the place of righteousness, that wickedness was there. ¹⁷I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous man and the wicked man, for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work. ¹⁸I said in my heart, It is because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are beasts. ¹⁹For that which befalls the sons of men befalls beasts, even one thing befalls them; as the one dies, so dies the other. Yea, they all have one breath, and man has no preeminence above the beasts; for all is vanity. ²⁰All go to one place. All are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. ²¹Who knows the spirit of man, whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast, whether it goes downward to the earth? ²²Therefore I saw that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his works, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him back to see what shall be after him?

CHAPTER 4

¹Then I returned and saw all the oppressions that are done under the sun. And, behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter. And on the side of their oppressors there was power, but they had no comforter. ²Therefore I praised the dead who have long been dead more than the living who are yet alive. ³Yea, better than them both is him who has not yet been, who has not seen the evil work that is done under the sun. ⁴Then I saw all labor and every skilful work, that for this a man is envied by his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. ⁵The fool folds his hands together, and eats his own flesh. ⁶Better is a handful, with quietness, than two handfuls with labor and striving after wind. ⁷Then I returned and saw vanity under the sun. ⁸There is one man who is alone, and he has not a second, yea, he has neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end of all his labor, nor are his eyes satisfied with riches. For whom then, he says, do I labor, and deprive my soul of good? This also is vanity, yea, it is a great travail. ⁹Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. ¹⁰For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow, but woe to him who is alone when he falls, and has not another to lift him up. ¹¹Again, if two lie together, then they have warmth, but how can one be warm alone? ¹²And if a man prevails against him who is alone, two shall withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken. ¹³Better is a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who does not know how to receive admonition any more. ¹⁴For he came forth out of prison to be king, yea, even in his kingdom he was born poor. ¹⁵I saw all the living who walk under the sun, that they were with the youth, the second, who stood up in his stead. ¹⁶There was no end of all the people, even of all those over whom he was. Yet those who come after shall not rejoice in him. Surely this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

CHAPTER 5

¹Keep thy foot when thou go to the house of God, for to draw near to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools. For they know not that they do evil. ²Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God. For God is in heaven, and thou upon earth. Therefore let thy words be few. ³For a dream comes with a multitude of business, and a fool�s voice with a multitude of words. ⁴When thou vow a vow to God, defer not to pay it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay that which thou vow. ⁵Better is it that thou should not vow, than that thou should vow and not pay. ⁶Do not allow thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin, nor say thou before the agent, that is was an error. Why should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands? ⁷For in the multitude of dreams there are vanities, and in many words. But fear thou God. ⁸If thou see the oppression of a poor man, and the violent wresting of justice and righteousness in a province, marvel not at the matter. For a man higher than the high is observing, and there are higher men than they. ⁹Moreover the abundance of the land is for all. The king himself is served by the field. ¹⁰He who loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance, with increase. This also is vanity. ¹¹When goods increase, they are increased who eat them. And what advantage is there to the owner of it, except the beholding of them with his eyes? ¹²The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but the fullness of the rich will not allow him to sleep. ¹³There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: Riches were kept by the owner of it to his hurt. ¹⁴And those riches perish in a bad venture. And if he has begotten a son, there is nothing in his hand. ¹⁵As he came forth from his mother�s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand. ¹⁶And this also is a grievous evil, that in all points as he came, so shall he go. And what profit has he that he labored for the wind? ¹⁷All his days also he eats in gloom, and he is greatly troubled, and has depression and anger. ¹⁸Behold, that which I have seen to be good and to be fitting is for a man to eat and to drink, and to enjoy good in all his labor in which he labors under the sun all the days of his life which God has given him, for this is his portion. ¹⁹Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor�this is the gift of God. ²⁰For he shall not much remember the days of his life, because God answers him in the joy of his heart.

CHAPTER 6

¹There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, and it is heavy upon men: ²A man to whom God gives riches, wealth, and honor, so that he lacks nothing for his soul of all that he desires, yet God does not give him power to eat of it, but an alien eats it. This is vanity, and it is an evil disease. ³If a man begets a hundred sons, and lives many years so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good, and moreover he has no burial, I say, that an untimely birth is better than he. ⁴For it comes in vanity, and departs in darkness, and the name of it is covered with darkness. ⁵Moreover it has not seen the sun nor known it, this one has rest rather than the other. ⁶Yea, though he lives a thousand years twice told, and yet enjoys no good, do not all go to one place? ⁷All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. ⁸For what advantage has the wise man more than the fool? What has the poor man, who knows how to walk before the living? ⁹Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the desire. This also is vanity and a striving after wind. ¹⁰Whatever has been, the name of it was given long ago, and it is know what man is. Neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he. ¹¹Since there are many things that increase vanity, what is man the better? ¹²For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which he spends as a shadow? For who can tell a man what shall be after him under the sun?

CHAPTER 7

¹A good name is better than precious oil, and the day of death, than the day of birth. ²It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting. For that is the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. ³Sorrow is better than laughter, for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made glad. ⁴The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. ⁵It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man, than for a man to hear the song of fools. ⁶For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool. This also is vanity. ⁷Surely oppression makes the wise man foolish, and a bribe destroys the understanding. ⁸Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it. The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit. ⁹Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools. ¹⁰Say thou not, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou do not inquire wisely concerning this. ¹¹Wisdom is as good as an inheritance, yea, it is more excellent for those who see the sun. ¹²For wisdom is a defense, even as money is a defense. But the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it. ¹³Consider the work of God. For who can make that straight, which he has made crooked? ¹⁴In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider. Yea, God has made the one side by side with the other, to the end that man should not find out anything after him. ¹⁵All this I have seen in my days of vanity. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evil-doing. ¹⁶Be not over-righteous, nor show thyself too wise. Why should thou destroy thyself? ¹⁷Do not much wrong, nor be thou a fool. Why should thou die before thy time? ¹⁸It is good that thou should take hold of this, yea, also from that withdraw not thy hand. For he who fears God shall come forth from them all. ¹⁹Wisdom is a strength to the wise man more than ten rulers that are in a city. ²⁰Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth that does good, and sins not. ²¹Also do not take heed to all words that are spoken, lest thou hear thy servant curse thee. ²²For many times also thine own heart knows that thou thyself likewise have cursed others. ²³All this I have proved in wisdom. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. ²⁴That which is, is far off and exceedingly deep. Who can find it out? ²⁵I turned about, and my heart was set to know and to search out, and to seek wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly, and that foolishness is madness. ²⁶And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be taken by her. ²⁷Behold, I have found this, says the Preacher, laying one thing to another, to find out the account, ²⁸which my soul still seeks, but I have not found: among a thousand I have found one man, but among all those I have not found a woman. ²⁹Behold, this only I have found: That God made man upright, but they have sought out many contrivances.

CHAPTER 8

¹Who is as the wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man�s wisdom makes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed. ²I say, Keep the king�s command, and that because of the oath of God. ³Be not hasty to go out of his presence. Persist not in an evil matter, for he does whatever pleases him. ⁴For the king�s word has power, and who may say to him, What are thou doing? ⁵He who keeps a commandment shall know no evil thing. And a wise man�s heart discerns the time and decision. ⁶For to every purpose there is a time and decision, although the distress of man is great upon him. ⁷For he knows not that which shall be, for who can tell him how it shall be? ⁸There is no man who has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, nor has he power over the day of death. And there is no discharge in war. Neither shall wickedness deliver him who is given to it. ⁹All this I have seen, and applied my heart to every work that is done under the sun. There is a time in which one man has power over another to his hurt. ¹⁰So I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were praised in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity. ¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. ¹²Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and prolongs his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with those who fear God, who fear before him. ¹³But it shall not be well with a wicked man, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he did not fear before God. ¹⁴There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked, again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity. ¹⁵Then I commended joy, because a man has no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be cheerful. For that shall abide with him in his labor all the days of his life which God has given him under the sun. ¹⁶When I applied my heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth (for also there is he who sees sleep with his eyes neither day nor night), ¹⁷then I beheld all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. Because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he shall not find it. Yea moreover, though a wise man thinks to know it, yet he shall not be able to find it.

CHAPTER 9

¹For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God. No man understands, either love or hatred. All is before them. ²All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous man and to the wicked man, to the good man, and to the clean man, and to the unclean man, to him who sacrifices and to him who does not sacrifice, as is the good man, so is the sinner, and he who swears, as he who fears an oath. ³This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all. Yea also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead. ⁴Because to him who is joined with all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion. ⁵For the living know that they shall die, but the dead know not anything, nor have they any more a reward, for the memory of them is forgotten. ⁶As well their love, as their hatred and their envy, has perished long ago, nor have they any more a portion forever in anything that is done under the sun. ⁷Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart, for God has already accepted thy works. ⁸Let thy garments be always white, and let not thy head lack oil. ⁹Live joyfully with the wife whom thou love all the days of thy life of vanity, which he has given thee under the sun, all thy days of vanity. For that is thy portion in life, and in thy labor in which thou labor under the sun. ¹⁰Whatever thy hand finds to do, do with thy might, for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where thou go. ¹¹I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill, but time and chance happens to them all. ¹²For man also does not know his time. As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time when it falls suddenly upon them. ¹³I have also seen wisdom under the sun this way, and it seemed great to me: ¹⁴There was a little city, and few men within it. And there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it. ¹⁵Now there was found in it a poor wise man. And he by his wisdom delivered the city, yet no man remembered that same poor man. ¹⁶Then I said, Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man�s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard. ¹⁷The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the cry of him who rules among fools. ¹⁸Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

CHAPTER 10

¹Dead flies cause the oil of the perfumer to send forth an evil odor, so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. ²A wise man�s heart is at his right hand, but a fool�s heart at his left. ³Yea also, when the fool walks by the way, his understanding fails him, and he says to everyone that he is a fool. ⁴If the spirit of the ruler rises up against thee, leave not thy place, for deference allays great offenses. ⁵There is an evil which I have seen under the sun, as it were an error which proceeds from the ruler: ⁶Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place. ⁷I have seen servants upon horses, and rulers walking like servants upon the earth. ⁸He who digs a pit shall fall into it, and he who breaks through a wall, a serpent shall bite him. ⁹He who hews out stones shall be hurt therewith, and he who splits wood is endangered thereby. ¹⁰If the iron be blunt, and he does not whet the edge, then he must increase strength. But wisdom is advantageous to make right. ¹¹If the serpent bites before it is charmed, then is there no advantage in the charmer. ¹²The words of a wise man�s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool will swallow himself up. ¹³The beginning of the words of his mouth is foolishness, and the end of his talk is mischievous madness. ¹⁴A fool also multiplies words; yet man knows not what shall be, and that which shall be after him, who can tell him? ¹⁵The labor of fools wearies every one of them, for he knows not how to go to the city. ¹⁶Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child, and thy rulers feast in the morning! ¹⁷Happy are thou, O land, when thy king is the son of noble men, and thy rulers feast in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness! ¹⁸By slothfulness the roof sinks in, and through idleness of the hands the house leaks. ¹⁹A feast is made for laughter, and wine makes glad the life, and money answers all things. ²⁰Revile not the king, no, not in thy thought, and revile not the rich in thy bedchamber. For a bird of the heavens shall carry the voice, and that which has wings shall tell the matter.

CHAPTER 11

¹Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shall find it after many days. ²Give a portion to seven, yea, even to eight, for thou know not what evil shall be upon the earth. ³If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and if a tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there shall it be. ⁴He who observes the wind shall not sow, and he who regards the clouds shall not reap. ⁵As thou know not what is the way of the wind, nor how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, even so thou know not the work of God who does all. ⁶In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand, for thou know not which shall prosper, whether this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. ⁷Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun. ⁸Yea, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all. But let him remember the days of darkness, for they shall be many. All that comes is vanity. ⁹Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy heart, and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment. ¹⁰Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

CHAPTER 12

¹Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth, before the evil days come, and the years draw nigh, when thou shall say, I have no pleasure in them, ²before the sun, and the light, and the moon, and the stars, are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain, ³in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look out of the windows shall be darkened, ⁴and the doors shall be shut in the street, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of a bird, and all the daughters of music shall be brought low, ⁵yea, they shall be afraid of height, and terrors shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall blossom, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail, because man goes to his everlasting home, and the mourners go about the streets, ⁶before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, ⁷and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. ⁸Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, all is vanity. ⁹And further, because the Preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yea, he pondered, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. ¹⁰The Preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written uprightly�words of truth. ¹¹The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies. They have been given from one shepherd. ¹²And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. ¹³This is the end of the matter, all has been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments, for this is the whole of man. ¹⁴For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

SONG OF SONGS

CHAPTER 1

¹The Song of songs, which is Solomon�s. ²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy love is better than wine. ³Thine oils have a good fragrance. Thy name is oil poured forth. Therefore the virgins love thee. ⁴Draw me, we will run after thee. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will make mention of thy love more than of wine. Rightly do they love thee. ⁵I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. ⁶Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, because the sun has scorched me. My mother�s sons were incensed against me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept. ⁷Tell me, O thou whom my soul loves, where thou feed thy flock, where thou make it to rest at noon. For why should I be as she who is veiled beside the flocks of thy companions? ⁸If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds� tents. ⁹I have compared thee, O my love, to a steed in Pharaoh�s chariots. ¹⁰Thy cheeks are comely with plaits of hair, thy neck with strings of jewels. ¹¹We will make thee plaits of gold with studs of silver. ¹²While the king sat at his table, my spikenard sent forth its fragrance. ¹³My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh that lies between my breasts. ¹⁴My beloved is to me a cluster of henna-flowers in the vineyards of En-gedi. ¹⁵Behold, thou are fair, my love, behold thou are fair. Thine eyes are doves. ¹⁶Behold, thou are fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant. Also our couch is green. ¹⁷The beams of our house are cedars, our rafters are firs.

CHAPTER 2

¹I am a rose of Sharon. A lily of the valleys. ²As a lily among thorns, So is my love among the daughters. ³As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. ⁴He brought me to the banquet house, and his banner over me was love. ⁵Sustain ye me with raisins, refresh me with apples, for I am sick from love. ⁶His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me. ⁷I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake love, until it please. ⁸The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. ⁹My beloved is like a roe or a young hart. Behold, he stands behind our wall. He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice. ¹⁰My beloved spoke, and said to me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. ¹¹For, lo, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone. ¹²The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. ¹³The fig tree ripens her green figs, and the vines are in blossom. They give forth their fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. ¹⁴O my dove, who are in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place, let me see thy countenance; let me hear thy voice. For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. ¹⁵Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards. For our vineyards are in blossom. ¹⁶My beloved is mine, and I am his. He feeds among the lilies. ¹⁷Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

CHAPTER 3

¹By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him. ²I said, I will rise now, and go around the city. In the streets and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but I did not find him. ³The watchmen who go about the city found me. I said, Did ye see him whom my soul loves? ⁴It was but a little that I passed from them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother�s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me. ⁵I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake love, until it please. ⁶Who is this who comes up from the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? ⁷Behold, it is the litter of Solomon. Sixty mighty men are around it, of the mighty men of Israel. ⁸They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night. ⁹King Solomon made himself a palanquin of the wood of Lebanon. ¹⁰He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the seat thereof of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem. ¹¹Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

CHAPTER 4

¹Behold, thou are fair, my love, behold, thou are fair. Thine eyes are doves behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that lie along the side of mount Gilead. ²Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn, which have come up from the washing, of which every one has twins, and none is bereaved among them. ³Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely. Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil. ⁴Thy neck is like the tower of David built for an armory, on which there hang a thousand bucklers, all the shields of the mighty men. ⁵Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe, which feed among the lilies. ⁶Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. ⁷Thou are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in thee. ⁸Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions� dens, from the mountains of the leopards. ⁹Thou have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. Thou have ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. ¹⁰How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride! How much better is thy love than wine, and the fragrance of thine oils than all manner of spices! ¹¹Thy lips, O my bride, drop the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. ¹²A garden shut up is my sister, my bride, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. ¹³Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants, ¹⁴spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices. ¹⁵Thou are a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon. ¹⁶Awake, O north wind, and come, thou south, blow upon my garden, that the spices of it may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his precious fruits.

CHAPTER 5

¹I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice. I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, O friends. Drink, yea. Drink abundantly, O beloved. ²I was asleep, but my heart awoke. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled. For my head is filled with dew, my locks with the drops of the night. ³I have put off my garment, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them? ⁴My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my heart was moved for him. ⁵I rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands drops with myrrh, and my fingers with liquid myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt. ⁶I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone. My soul had failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. ⁷The watchmen who go about the city found me. They smote me, they wounded me. The keepers of the walls took away my mantle from me. ⁸I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick from love. ⁹What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou do so adjure us? ¹⁰My beloved is white and ruddy, the chief among ten thousand. ¹¹His head is the most fine gold. His locks are bushy, black as a raven. ¹²His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks, washed with milk, fitly set. ¹³His cheeks are as a bed of spices, banks of sweet herbs. His lips are lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. ¹⁴His hands are rings of gold set with beryl. His body is ivory work overlaid with sapphires. ¹⁵His legs are pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold. His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. ¹⁶His mouth is most sweet. Yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 6

¹Where has thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Where has thy beloved turned, that we may seek him with thee? ²My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. ³I am my beloved�s, and my beloved is mine. He feeds among the lilies. ⁴Thou are fair, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, sublime as an army with banners. ⁵Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me. Thy hair is as a flock of goats that lie along the side of Gilead. ⁶Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, which have come up from the washing, of which every one has twins, and none is bereaved among them. ⁷Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil. ⁸There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number. ⁹My dove, my undefiled, is but one. She is the only one of her mother. She is the choice one of her who bore her. The daughters saw her, and called her blessed, yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. ¹⁰Who is she who looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, sublime as an army with banners? ¹¹I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the green plants of the valley, to see whether the vine budded, and the pomegranates were in flower. ¹²Before I was aware, my soul set me among the chariots of my princely people. ¹³Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon thee. Why will ye look upon the Shulammite, as upon the dance of two armies?

CHAPTER 7

¹How beautiful are thy feet in sandals, O prince�s daughter! Thy rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a skilful workman. ²Thy body is a round goblet, no mingled wine is wanting. Thy waist is a heap of wheat set about with lilies. ³Thy two breasts are like two fawns that are twins of a roe. ⁴Thy neck is like the tower of ivory. Thine eyes, the pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Thy nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward Damascus. ⁵Thy head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thy head like purple. The king is held captive in the tresses. ⁶How fair and how pleasant thou are, O love, for delights! ⁷This thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to its clusters. ⁸I said, I will climb up into the palm tree. I will take hold of the branches of it. Let thy breasts be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy breath like apples, ⁹and thy mouth like the best wine, that goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding through the lips and teeth. ¹⁰I am my beloved�s, and his desire is toward me. ¹¹Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field. Let us lodge in the villages. ¹²Let us get up early to the vineyards. Let us see whether the vine has budded, its blossom is open, the pomegranates are in flower. There I will give thee my love. ¹³The mandrakes give forth fragrance. And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

CHAPTER 8

¹Oh that thou were as my brother, who sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee outside, I would kiss thee. Yes, and none would despise me. ²I would lead thee, and bring thee into my mother�s house, who would instruct me. I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. ³His left hand under my head, and his right hand should embrace me. ⁴I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake love, until it please. ⁵Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I awoke thee. There thy mother was in travail with thee. There she who brought thee forth was in travail. ⁶Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thine arm. For love is strong as death, jealousy is cruel as Sheol. The flashes of it are flashes of fire, a most vehement flame. ⁷Many waters cannot quench love, nor can floods drown it. If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned. ⁸We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for? ⁹If she is a wall, we will build upon her a turret of silver. And if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. ¹⁰I am a wall, and my breasts like the towers. Then I was in his eyes as one who found peace. ¹¹Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon. He let out the vineyard to keepers. Every one for the fruit of it was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. ¹²My vineyard, which is mine, is before me. Thou, O Solomon, shall have the thousand, and those who keep the fruit of it, two hundred. ¹³Thou who dwell in the gardens, the companions hearken for thy voice. Cause me to hear it. ¹⁴Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.

ISAIAH

CHAPTER 1

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. ²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for Jehovah has spoken. I have nourished and brought up sons, and they have rebelled against me. ³The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master�s crib, but Israel does not know; my people does not consider. ⁴Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Jehovah. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have gone away backward. ⁵Why will ye still be stricken, that ye revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises, and fresh stripes. They have not been closed nor bound up nor soothed with oil. ⁷Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Your land�strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers. ⁸And the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard, as a shed in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. ⁹Unless Jehovah of hosts had left to us a seed, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like Gomorrah. ¹⁰Hear the word of Jehovah, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. ¹¹What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says Jehovah. I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts. And I do not delight in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats. ¹²When ye come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand�to trample my courts? ¹³Bring no more vain oblations. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies�I cannot bear iniquity and the solemn meeting. ¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They are a trouble to me. I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. ¹⁷Learn to do good. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. ¹⁸Come now, and let us reason together, says Jehovah, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. ¹⁹If ye are willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. ²⁰But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword, for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it. ²¹How the faithful city has become a harlot! She who was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. ²²Thy silver has become dross, thy wine mixed with water. ²³Thy rulers are rebellious, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They judge not the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come to them. ²⁴Therefore says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of my adversaries, and avenge me of my enemies. ²⁵And I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy tin. ²⁶And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning. Afterward thou shall be called the city of righteousness, a faithful town. ²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. ²⁸But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and those who forsake Jehovah shall be consumed. ²⁹For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. ³⁰For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water. ³¹And the strong man shall be as flax, and his work as a spark. And they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

CHAPTER 2

¹The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. ²And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah�s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow to it. ³And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. ⁴And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ⁵O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah. ⁶For thou have forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled with things from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines. And they strike hands with the children of foreigners. ⁷And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land is also full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots. ⁸Their land is also full of idols. They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made, ⁹and so the common man bows down, and the great man degrades himself. Therefore do not forgive them. ¹⁰Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty. ¹¹The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. ¹²For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low, ¹³and upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, ¹⁴and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, ¹⁵and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fortified wall, ¹⁶and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant imagery. ¹⁷And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. ¹⁸And the idols shall utterly pass away. ¹⁹And men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. ²⁰In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats, ²¹to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily. ²²Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for how is he to be accounted of?

CHAPTER 3

¹For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and staff, the whole support of bread, and the whole support of water, ²the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder, ³the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the expert craftsman, and the skilful enchanter. ⁴And I will give sons to be their rulers, and babes shall rule over them. ⁵And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor. The child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable. ⁶When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, Thou have clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand, ⁷in that day he shall lift up his voice, saying, I will not be a healer, for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. Ye shall not make me ruler of the people. ⁸For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory. ⁹The show of their countenance witnesses against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have done evil to themselves. ¹⁰Say ye of the righteous, that it is well, for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. ¹¹Woe to the wicked! It is ill with him, for what his hands have done shall be done to him. ¹²As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, those who lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. ¹³Jehovah stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples. ¹⁴Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the rulers of it. It is ye who have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of a poor man is in your houses. ¹⁵What do ye mean that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁶Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet, ¹⁷therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts. ¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the hair nets, and the crescents, ¹⁹the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, ²⁰the bonnets, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets, ²¹the rings, and the nose-jewels, ²²the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels, ²³the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils. ²⁴And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a rope, and instead of well set hair, baldness, and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth, branding instead of beauty. ²⁵Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. ²⁶And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she shall be desolate and sit upon the ground.

CHAPTER 4

¹And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel. Only let us be called by thy name; take thou away our reproach. ²In that day the branch of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be excellent and comely for those who have escaped from Israel. ³And it shall come to pass, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem, ⁴when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst of it, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning. ⁵And Jehovah will create over the whole habitation of mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory, a covering. ⁶And there shall be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

CHAPTER 5

¹Let me sing for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in a very fruitful hill. ²And he dug it, and gathered out the stones of it, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. ³And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. ⁴What could have been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, it brought forth wild grapes? ⁵And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge of it, and it shall be eaten up. I will break down the wall of it, and it shall be trodden down. ⁶And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor hoed, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. ⁷For the vineyard of Jehovah of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. And he looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry. ⁸Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, till there is no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land! ⁹In my ears says Jehovah of hosts, of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. ¹⁰For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah. ¹¹Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them! ¹²And the harp and the lute, the tambourine and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts, but they do not regard the work of Jehovah, nor have they considered the operation of his hands. ¹³Therefore my people have gone into captivity for lack of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst. ¹⁴Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure. And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. ¹⁵And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is debased, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled, ¹⁶but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. ¹⁷Then the lambs shall feed as in their pasture, and wanderers shall eat the waste places of the fat ones. ¹⁸Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope, ¹⁹who say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it. And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it! ²⁰Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! ²¹Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! ²²Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, ²³who justify the wicked for rewards, and take away the justice of the righteous man from him! ²⁴Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. ²⁵Therefore the anger of Jehovah is kindled against his people, and he has stretched forth his hand against them, and has smitten them. And the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ²⁶And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will whistle for them from the end of the earth, and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly. ²⁷None shall be weary nor stumble among them. None shall slumber nor sleep, nor shall the belt of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken, ²⁸whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses� hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind. ²⁹Their roaring shall be like a lioness. They shall roar like young lions. Yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver. ³⁰And they shall roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. And if a man looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress, and the light is darkened in the clouds of it.

CHAPTER 6

¹In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings, with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory. ⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who cried, and the house was filled with vapor. ⁵Then I said, Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts. ⁶Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. ⁷And he touched my mouth with it, and said, Lo, this has touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin forgiven. ⁸And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Lo, send me. ⁹And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but do not understand, and see ye indeed, but do not perceive. ¹⁰Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and be healed. ¹¹Then I said, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until cities be waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land become utterly waste, ¹²and Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places be many in the midst of the land. ¹³And if there be yet a tenth in it, it also shall in turn be eaten up. As a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled, so the holy seed is the stock of it.

CHAPTER 7

¹And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it. ²And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. And his heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind. ³Then Jehovah said to Isaiah, Go forth now to meet Ahaz, thou, and Shear-jashub thy son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, in the highway of the fuller�s field. ⁴And say to him, Take heed, and be quiet. Fear not, nor let thy heart be faint, because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah. ⁵Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have purposed evil against thee, saying, ⁶Let us go up against Judah, and vex it, and let us make a breach in it for us, and set up a king in the midst of it, even the son of Tabeel, ⁷thus says the lord Jehovah: It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. ⁸For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that is shall not be a people. ⁹And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah�s son. If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established. ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke again to Ahaz, saying, ¹¹Ask thee a sign of Jehovah thy God, ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. ¹²But Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I test Jehovah. ¹³And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David. Is it a small thing for you to weary men, that ye will weary my God also? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. ¹⁵Butter and honey shall he eat, when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings thou abhor shall be forsaken. ¹⁷Jehovah will bring upon thee, and upon thy people, and upon thy father�s house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah�even the king of Assyria. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will whistle for the fly that is in the outermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹And they shall come, and shall rest all of them in the desolate valleys, and in the clefts of the rocks, and upon all thorn-hedges, and upon all pastures. ²⁰In that day the Lord will shave with a razor what is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet, and it shall also consume the beard. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that a man shall keep alive a young cow and two sheep. ²²And it shall come to pass, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter. For everyone who is left in the midst of the land shall eat butter and honey. ²³And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver coins, shall be for briers and thorns. ²⁴Men shall come there with arrows and with bow, because all the land shall be briers and thorns. ²⁵And all the hills that were dug with the mattock, thou shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep.

CHAPTER 8

¹And Jehovah said to me, Take thee a great tablet, and write upon it with the pen of a man, For Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And I will take to me faithful witnesses to record, Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah. ³And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Jehovah said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ⁴For before the child shall have knowledge to cry, My father, and, My mother, the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be carried away before the king of Assyria. ⁵And Jehovah spoke to me yet again, saying, ⁶Inasmuch as this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah�s son, ⁷now therefore, behold, the Lord brings up upon them the waters of the River, strong and many, even the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it shall come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks, ⁸and it shall sweep onward into Judah. It shall overflow and pass through; it shall reach even to the neck. And the stretching out of its wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel. ⁹Make an uproar, O ye peoples, and be broken in pieces. And give ear, all ye of far countries. Gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and be broken in pieces. ¹⁰Take counsel together, and it shall be brought to nothing. Speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us. ¹¹For Jehovah spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, ¹²Say ye not, A conspiracy, concerning all of which this people shall say, A conspiracy, nor fear ye their fear, nor be in dread of it. ¹³Jehovah of hosts, him ye shall sanctify, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴And he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offense to both the houses of Israel, for a net and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵And many shall stumble on it, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. ¹⁶Bind thou up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples. ¹⁷And I will wait for Jehovah, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will be a man who has trusted in him. ¹⁸Behold, I and the children whom Jehovah has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Jehovah of hosts, who dwells in mount Zion. ¹⁹And when they shall say to you, Seek for those who have familiar spirits and for the wizards, who chirp and who mutter, should not a people seek for their God? On behalf of the living seek to the dead? ²⁰Seek to the law and to the testimony! If they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them. ²¹And they shall pass through it, greatly distressed and hungry. And it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse by their king and by their God, and turn their faces upward. ²²And they shall look to the earth, and, behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and into thick darkness to be driven away.

CHAPTER 9

¹But there shall be no gloom to her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. ²The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light has shone. ³Thou have multiplied the nation. Thou have increased their joy. They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. ⁴For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou have broken as in the day of Midian. ⁵For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire. ⁶For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. ⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this. ⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel. ⁹And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart, ¹⁰The bricks are fallen, but we will build with hewn stone, the sycamores are cut down, but we will put cedars in their place. ¹¹Therefore Jehovah will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies, ¹²the Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ¹³Yet the people have not turned to him who smote them, nor have they sought Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁴Therefore Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm-branch and rush, in one day. ¹⁵The elder and the honorable man, he is the head. And the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail. ¹⁶For those who lead this people cause them to err, and those who are led by them are destroyed. ¹⁷Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, nor will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows. For everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ¹⁸For wickedness burns as the fire. It devours the briers and thorns. Yea, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke. ¹⁹Through the wrath of Jehovah of hosts is the land burnt up, and the people are as the fuel of fire; no man spares his brother. ²⁰And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry. And he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied. They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm� ²¹Manasseh, Ephraim, and Ephraim, Manasseh, and together they shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

CHAPTER 10

¹Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write perverseness, ²to turn aside the needy from justice, and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey! ³And what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory? ⁴They shall only bow down under the prisoners, and shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. ⁵Ho, Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! ⁶I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath. I will give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. ⁷However he does not so reason, nor does his heart so think, but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few. ⁸For he says, Are not my rulers all of them kings? ⁹Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpad? Is not Samaria as Damascus? ¹⁰As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose graven images excelled those of Jerusalem and of Samaria, ¹¹shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols? ¹²Therefore it shall come to pass, that, when the Lord has performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. ¹³For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding. And I have removed the bounds of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. And like a valiant man I have brought down those who sit on thrones. ¹⁴And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the peoples. And like a gathering of eggs that are forsaken, I have gathered all the earth. And there was none that moved the wing, or that opened the mouth, or chirped. ¹⁵Shall the axe boast itself against him who hews with it? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him who is not wood. ¹⁶Therefore will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, send among his fat ones, leanness, and under his glory there shall be kindled a burning like the burning of fire. ¹⁷And the light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame, and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day. ¹⁸And he will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. And it shall be as when a standard-bearer faints. ¹⁹And the remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child may write them. ²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and those who are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him who smote them, but shall lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For though thy people, Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For a full end, and that determined, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, will make in the midst of all the earth. ²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, O my people who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian, though he smites thee with the rod, and lifts up his staff against thee, according to the manner of Egypt. ²⁵For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall be accomplished, and my anger is to his destruction. ²⁶And Jehovah of hosts will stir up against him a scourge as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up according to the manner of Egypt. ²⁷And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall depart from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of fatness. ²⁸He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he lays up his baggage. ²⁹They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled. ³⁰Cry aloud with thy voice, O daughter of Gallim! Hearken, O Laishah! O thou poor Anathoth! ³¹Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety. ³²This very day he shall halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. ³³Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, will lop off the boughs with terror. And the high of stature shall be hewn down, and the lofty shall be brought low. ³⁴And he will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

CHAPTER 11

¹And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse. And a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit. ²And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah. ³And his delight shall be in the fear of Jehovah. And he shall not judge according to the sight of his eyes, nor decide according to the hearing of his ears, ⁴but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. ⁵And righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. ⁶And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. ⁷And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together. And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder�s den. ⁹They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea. ¹⁰And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he who arises to rule over the Gentiles. In him shall the Gentiles hope, and his resting-place shall be glorious. ¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, who shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. ¹²And he will set up an ensign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. ¹³Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who vex Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. ¹⁴And they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines on the west. Together they shall despoil the sons of the east. They shall put forth their hand upon Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon shall obey them. ¹⁵And Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea. And with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will smite it into seven streams, and cause men to march over dry shod. ¹⁶And there shall be a highway for the remnant of his people, who shall remain, from Assyria, like as there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

CHAPTER 12

¹And in that day thou shall say, I will give thanks to thee, O Jehovah, for though thou were angry with me. Thine anger is turned away and thou comfort me. ²Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid, for Jehovah, even Jehovah, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. ³Therefore with joy ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation. ⁴And in that day ye shall say, Give thanks to Jehovah. Call upon his name. Declare his doings among the peoples. Make mention that his name is exalted. ⁵Sing to Jehovah, for he has done excellent things. Let this be known in all the earth. ⁶Cry aloud and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great in the midst of thee is the Holy One of Israel.

CHAPTER 13

¹The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. ²Set ye up an ensign upon the bare mountain. Lift up the voice to them. Wave the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles. ³I have commanded my consecrated ones, yea, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones. ⁴The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as of a great people! The noise of a tumult of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Jehovah of hosts is mustering the army for the battle. ⁵They come from a far country, from the outermost part of heaven, even Jehovah, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. ⁶Wail ye, for the day of Jehovah is at hand. It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. ⁷Therefore all hands shall be feeble, and every heart of man shall melt. ⁸And they shall be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows shall take hold. They shall be in pain as a woman in travail. They shall look in amazement one at another, their faces, faces of flame. ⁹Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. ¹⁰For the stars of heaven and the constellations of it shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in its going forth, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine. ¹¹And I will punish the world for the evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. ¹²I will make a man more rare than fine gold, even a man than the pure gold of Ophir. ¹³Therefore I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. ¹⁴And it shall come to pass, that as the chased roe, and as sheep that no man gathers, they shall turn every man to his own people, and shall flee every man to his own land. ¹⁵Everyone who is found shall be thrust through, and everyone who is taken shall fall by the sword. ¹⁶Their infants also shall be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses shall be rifled, and their wives ravished. ¹⁷Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who shall not regard silver, and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. ¹⁸And their bows shall dash the young men in pieces. And they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. ¹⁹And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans� pride, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²⁰It shall never be inhabited, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. Neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, nor shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there. ²¹But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures. And ostriches shall dwell there, and wild goats shall dance there. ²²And wolves shall cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. And her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

CHAPTER 14

¹For Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. And the sojourner shall join himself with them, and they shall cling to the house of Jacob. ²And the peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place. And the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and for handmaids. And they shall take them captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. ³And it shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard service in which thou were made to serve, ⁴that thou shall take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, How has the oppressor ceased, the golden city ceased! ⁵Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, ⁶who smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained. ⁷The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break forth into singing. ⁸Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou are laid low, no hewer has come up against us. ⁹Sheol from beneath is moved for thee, to meet thee at thy coming. It stirs up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. ¹⁰They shall all answer and say to thee, Have thou also become weak as we? Have thou become like us? ¹¹Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, and the noise of thy viols. The worm is spread under thee, and worms cover thee. ¹²How thou are fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! How thou are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low! ¹³And thou said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of congregation, in the outermost parts of the north. ¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. ¹⁵Yet thou shall be brought down to Sheol, to the utmost parts of the pit. ¹⁶Those who see thee shall gaze at thee. They shall consider thee, saying, Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms, ¹⁷who made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities of it, who did not let loose his prisoners to their home? ¹⁸All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, each one in his own house. ¹⁹But thou are cast forth away from thy sepulcher like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, as a dead body trodden under foot. ²⁰Thou shall not be joined with them in burial, because thou have destroyed thy land. Thou have slain thy people. The seed of evildoers shall not be named forever. ²¹Prepare ye slaughter for his sons for the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up, and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities. ²²And I will rise up against them, says Jehovah of hosts, and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son�s son, says Jehovah. ²³I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. And I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says Jehovah of hosts. ²⁴Jehovah of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, as I have thought, so shall it come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, ²⁵that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot upon my mountains. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulder. ²⁶This is the purpose that is purposed upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out upon all the nations. ²⁷For Jehovah of hosts has purposed, and who shall annul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back? ²⁸In the year that king Ahaz died was this burden. ²⁹Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken. For out of the serpent�s root shall come forth an adder, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. ³⁰And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety. And I will kill thy root with famine, and thy remnant shall be slain. ³¹Howl, O gate, cry, O city. Thou are melted away, O Philistia, all of thee. For there comes a smoke out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks. ³²What then shall a man answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah has founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge.

CHAPTER 15

¹The burden of Moab. For in a night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. For in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing. ²They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo, and over Medeba. On all their heads is baldness. Every beard is cut off. ³In their streets they gird themselves with sackcloth. On their housetops, and in their broad places, everyone wails, weeping abundantly. ⁴And Heshbon cries out, and Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. His soul trembles within him. ⁵My heart cries out for Moab. Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishi-yah. For they go up with weeping by the ascent of Luhith. For they raise up a cry of destruction in the way of Horonaim. ⁶For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate, for the grass is withered away. The tender grass fails. There is no green thing. ⁷Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, they shall carry away over the brook of the willows. ⁸For the cry has gone round about the borders of Moab, the wailing of it to Eglaim, and the wailing of it to Beer-elim. ⁹For the waters of Dimon are full of blood. For I will bring yet more upon Dimon, a lion upon those of Moab who escape, and upon the remnant of the land.

CHAPTER 16

¹Send ye the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mount of the daughter of Zion. ²For it shall be that, as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so shall the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon. ³Give counsel, execute justice, make thy shade as the night in the midst of the noonday. Hide the outcasts. Do not betray the fugitive. ⁴Let my outcasts dwell with thee. As for Moab, be thou a covert to him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land. ⁵And a throne shall be established in loving kindness, and he shall sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness. ⁶We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud, even of his arrogance, and his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing. ⁷Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab, everyone shall wail. Ye shall mourn for the raisin-cakes of Kir-hareseth, utterly stricken. ⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down the choice branches of it, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea. ⁹Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh. for upon thy summer fruits and upon thy harvest the battle shout has fallen. ¹⁰And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field. And in the vineyards there shall be no singing nor joyful noise. No treader shall tread out wine in the presses. I have made the vintage shout to cease. ¹¹Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir-heres. ¹²And it shall come to pass, when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, and shall come to his sanctuary to pray, that he shall not prevail. ¹³This is the word that Jehovah spoke concerning Moab in time past. ¹⁴But now Jehovah has spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude. And the remnant shall be very small and of no account.

CHAPTER 17

¹The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. ²The cities of Aroer are forsaken. They shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid. ³And the fortress shall cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus. And the remnant of Syria, they shall be as the glory of the sons of Israel, says Jehovah of hosts. ⁴And it shall come to pass in that day, that the glory of Jacob shall be made thin, and the fatness of his flesh shall grow lean. ⁵And it shall be as when the harvestman gathers the standing grain, and his arm reaps the ears. Yea, it shall be as when he gleans ears in the valley of Rephaim. ⁶Yet there shall be gleanings left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree�two or three berries in the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outmost branches of a fruitful tree, says Jehovah, the God of Israel. ⁷In that day men shall look to their maker, and their eyes shall have respect for the Holy One of Israel. ⁸And they shall not look to the altars, the work of their hands, nor shall they have respect for that which their fingers have made, either the Asherim, or the sun-images. ⁹In that day their strong cities shall be as the forsaken places in the woodland and on the mountain top, which were forsaken from before the sons of Israel, and it shall be a desolation. ¹⁰For thou have forgotten the God of thy salvation, and have not been mindful of the rock of thy strength. Therefore thou plant pleasant plants, and set it with foreign slips. ¹¹In the day of thy planting thou hedge it in, and in the morning thou make thy seed to blossom. But the harvest flees away in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow. ¹²Ah, the uproar of many peoples, who roar like the roaring of the seas, and the rushing of nations, that rush like the rushing of mighty waters! ¹³The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters, but he shall rebuke them. And they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm. ¹⁴At eventide, behold, terror, and before the morning they are not. This is the portion of those who despoil us, and the lot of those who rob us.

CHAPTER 18

¹Ah, the land of the rustling of wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, ²that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus upon the waters, saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people fearful from their beginning onward, a nation that metes out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide! ³All ye inhabitants of the world, and ye dwellers on the earth, when an ensign is lifted up on the mountains, see ye, and when the trumpet is blown, hear ye. ⁴For thus Jehovah has said to me, I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling-place, like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. ⁵For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the sprigs with pruning-hooks, and he will take away and cut down the spreading branches. ⁶They shall be left together to the ravenous birds of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth. And the ravenous birds shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them. ⁷In that time a present shall be brought to Jehovah of hosts from a people tall and smooth, even from a people fearful from their beginning onward, a nation that metes out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide, to the place of the name of Jehovah of hosts, the mount Zion.

CHAPTER 19

¹The burden of Egypt. Behold, Jehovah rides upon a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. And the idols of Egypt shall tremble at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. ²And I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they shall fight each one against his brother, and each one against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. ³And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst of it, and I will destroy the counsel of it. And they shall seek for the idols, and for the charmers, and for those who have familiar spirits, and for the wizards. ⁴And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. And a fierce king shall rule over them, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. ⁵And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and become dry. ⁶And the rivers shall become foul. The streams of Egypt shall be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags shall wither away. ⁷The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, shall become dry, be driven away, and be no more. ⁸And the fishermen shall lament, and all those who cast a hook into the Nile shall mourn, and those who spread nets upon the waters shall languish. ⁹Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, shall be confounded. ¹⁰And the pillars of Egypt shall be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire shall be grieved in soul. ¹¹The rulers of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become brutish. How will ye say to Pharaoh, I am the son of wise men, the son of ancient kings? ¹²Where then are thy wise men? And let them tell thee now, and let them know what Jehovah of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt. ¹³The rulers of Zoan have become fools. The rulers of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, the chief of her tribes. ¹⁴Jehovah has mingled a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her, and they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work of it, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. ¹⁵Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm-branch or rush, may do. ¹⁶In that day the Egyptians shall be like women, and they shall tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of Jehovah of hosts, which he shakes over them. ¹⁷And the land of Judah shall become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it shall be afraid because of the purpose of Jehovah of hosts, which he purposes against it. ¹⁸In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah of hosts. One shall be called The city of destruction. ¹⁹In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at the border of it. ²⁰And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to Jehovah of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they shall cry to Jehovah because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior, and a defender, and he will deliver them. ²¹And Jehovah shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day. Yea, they shall worship with sacrifice and oblation, and shall vow a vow to Jehovah, and shall perform it. ²²And Jehovah will smite Egypt, smiting and healing, and they shall return to Jehovah. And he will be entreated by them, and will heal them. ²³In that day there shall be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria. And the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians. ²⁴In that day Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵in that Jehovah of hosts has blessed them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.

CHAPTER 20

¹In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it, ²at that time Jehovah spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put thy shoe from off thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. ³And Jehovah said, Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia, ⁴so shall the king of Assyria lead away the captives of Egypt, and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. ⁵And they shall be dismayed and confounded because of Ethiopia their confidence, and of Egypt their glory. ⁶And the inhabitant of this coastland shall say in that day, Behold, such is our trust, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how shall we escape?

CHAPTER 21

¹The burden of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the South sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from a terrible land. ²A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, O Elam. Besiege, O Media, all the sighing of it I have made to cease. ³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish. Pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail. I am pained so that I cannot hear. I am dismayed so that I cannot see. ⁴My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling to me. ⁵They prepare the table, they set the watch, they eat, they drink. Rise up, ye rulers, anoint the shield. ⁶For thus has the Lord said to me, Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees. ⁷and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed. ⁸And he cried out as a lion, O Lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and am set in my ward whole nights, ⁹and, behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs. And he answered and said, Fallen, fallen is Babylon. And all the graven images of her gods are broken to the ground. ¹⁰O my threshing, and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you. ¹¹The burden of Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? ¹²The watchman said, The morning comes, and also the night. If ye will inquire, inquire ye; turn ye back, come. ¹³The burden upon Arabia. In the forest in Arabia ye shall lodge, O ye caravans of Dedanites. ¹⁴To him who was thirsty they brought water. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread. ¹⁵For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. ¹⁶For thus the Lord has said to me, Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Kedar shall fail. ¹⁷And the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, shall be few. For Jehovah, the God of Israel, has spoken it.

CHAPTER 22

¹The burden of the valley of vision. What troubles thee now, that thou have wholly gone up to the housetops? ²O thou that are full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous town. Thy slain are not slain with the sword, nor are they dead in battle. ³All thy rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found of thee were bound together; they fled afar off. ⁴Therefore I said, Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Labor not to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁵For it is a day of trouble, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, in the valley of vision, a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains. ⁶And Elam bore the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield. ⁷And it came to pass, that thy choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate. ⁸And he took away the covering of Judah, and thou looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest. ⁹And ye saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many. And to fortify the wall, ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰and ye numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and ye broke down the houses. ¹¹Ye also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But ye did not look to him who had done this, nor had ye respect to him who purposed it long ago. ¹²And in that day the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, called for weeping, and for mourning, and for baldness, and for girding with sackcloth. ¹³And, behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die. ¹⁴And Jehovah of hosts revealed himself in my ears, Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till ye die, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁵Thus says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, Go, get thee to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say, ¹⁶What are thou doing here? And whom have thou here, that thou have hewed thee out here a sepulcher? Hewing him out a sepulcher on high, carving a habitation for himself in the rock! ¹⁷Behold, Jehovah, like a strong man, will hurl thee away violently. Yea, he will wrap thee up closely. ¹⁸He will surely wind thee round and round, tossing like a ball into a large country. There thou shall die, and there the chariots of thy glory shall be, thou shame of thy lord�s house. ¹⁹And I will thrust thee from thine office, and thou shall be pulled down from thy station. ²⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. ²¹And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy belt. And I will commit thy government into his hand, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to his father�s house. ²⁴And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father�s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the flagons. ²⁵In that day, says Jehovah of hosts, the nail that was fastened in a sure place shall give way, and it shall be hewn down, and fall. And the burden that was upon it shall be cut off, for Jehovah has spoken it.

CHAPTER 23

¹The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in. It is revealed to them from the land of Kittim. ²Be still, ye inhabitants of the coast, thou whom the merchants of Sidon, who pass over the sea, have replenished. ³And on great waters the seed of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue, and she was the mart of nations. ⁴Be thou ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, nor brought forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins. ⁵When the report comes to Egypt, they shall be greatly pained at the report of Tyre. ⁶Pass ye over to Tarshish. Wail, ye inhabitants of the coast. ⁷Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days, whose feet carried her afar off to sojourn? ⁸Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants are rulers, whose traders are the honored of the earth? ⁹Jehovah of hosts has purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth. ¹⁰Pass through thy land as the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish, there is no restraint any more. ¹¹He has stretched out his hand over the sea. He has shaken the kingdoms. Jehovah has given commandment concerning Canaan, to destroy the strongholds of it. ¹²And he said, Thou shall no more rejoice, O thou oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Arise, pass over to Kittim, even there shall thou have no rest. ¹³Behold, the land of the Chaldeans. This people once was not. The Assyrian founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness. They set up their towers. They raised up the palaces of it. Then they made it a ruin. ¹⁴Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste. ¹⁵And it shall come to pass in that day, that Tyre shall be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it shall be to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: ¹⁶Take a harp, go about the city, thou harlot who has been forgotten. Make sweet melody, sing many songs, that thou may be remembered. ¹⁷And it came to pass after the end of seventy years, that Jehovah examined Tyre, and she has repented of her gift, that she play the harlot with all the kingdoms of the world upon the face of the earth. ¹⁸And her merchandise and her pay shall be holiness to Jehovah. It shall not be treasured nor laid up, for her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before Jehovah, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing.

CHAPTER 24

¹Behold, Jehovah makes the earth empty, and makes it waste, and turns it upside down, and scatters abroad the inhabitants of it. ²And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master, as with the maid, so with her mistress, as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the creditor, so with the debtor, as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. ³The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly laid waste, for Jehovah has spoken this word. ⁴The earth mourns and fades away. The world languishes and fades away. The lofty people of the earth languish. ⁵The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants of it, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. ⁶Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are found guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. ⁷The new wine mourns. The vine languishes. All the merry-hearted do sigh. ⁸The mirth of tambourine ceases. The noise of those who rejoice ends. The joy of the harp ceases. ⁹They shall not drink wine with a song. Strong drink shall be bitter to those who drink it. ¹⁰The waste city is broken down. Every house is shut up, that no man may come in. ¹¹There is a crying in the streets because of the wine. All joy is darkened. The mirth of the land is gone. ¹²Desolation is left in the city, and the gate is smitten with destruction. ¹³For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done. ¹⁴These shall lift up their voice. They shall shout. For the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. ¹⁵Therefore glorify ye Jehovah in the east, even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea. ¹⁶From the outermost part of the earth we have heard songs. Glory to the righteous. But I said, I pine away, I pine away. Woe is me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously, yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously. ¹⁷Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. ¹⁹The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently. ²⁰The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock. And the transgression of it shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. ²²And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison. And after many days they shall be visited. ²³Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, for Jehovah of hosts will reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem. And glory shall be before his elders.

CHAPTER 25

¹O Jehovah, thou are my God. I will exalt thee. I will praise thy name. For thou have done wonderful things, even counsels of old, in faithfulness and truth. ²For thou have made of a city a heap, of a fortified city a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It shall never be built. ³Therefore a strong people shall glorify thee, a city of oppressive nations shall fear thee. ⁴For thou have been a stronghold to a poor man, a stronghold to a needy man in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the oppressors is as a storm against the wall. ⁵As the heat in a dry place thou will bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the oppressors shall be brought low. ⁶And in this mountain Jehovah of hosts will make to all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the dregs, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the dregs well refined. ⁷And he will destroy on this mountain the face of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. ⁸He will swallow up death in victory, and the lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces. And he will take away the reproach of his people from off all the earth. For Jehovah has spoken it. ⁹And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for him, and he will save us. This is Jehovah. We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. ¹⁰For the hand of Jehovah will rest on this mountain. And Moab shall be trodden down in his place, even as straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill. ¹¹And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of it as he who swims spreads forth his hands to swim. But Jehovah will lay low his pride together with the craft of his hands. ¹²And the high fortress of thy walls he has brought down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

CHAPTER 26

¹In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city. He will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. ²Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keeps faith may enter in. ³Thou will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee. ⁴Trust ye in Jehovah forever, for in Jehovah, even Jehovah, is an everlasting rock. ⁵For he has brought down those who dwell on high. The lofty city, he lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust. ⁶The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. ⁷The way of the just is uprightness. Thou who are upright directs the path of the just. ⁸Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for thee, to thy name. Even to thy memorial, is the desire of our soul. ⁹With my soul I have desired thee in the night. Yea, with my spirit within me I will seek thee earnestly. For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. ¹⁰Let favor be shown to a wicked man, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah. ¹¹Jehovah, thy hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they shall see thy zeal for the people, and be put to shame. Yea, fire shall devour thine adversaries. ¹²Jehovah, thou will ordain peace for us, for thou have also wrought all our works for us. ¹³O Jehovah our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only we will make mention of thy name. ¹⁴Being dead, they shall not live. Being deceased, they shall not rise. Therefore thou have visited and destroyed them, and made all remembrance of them to perish. ¹⁵Thou have increased the nation, O Jehovah, thou have increased the nation. Thou are glorified. Thou have enlarged all the borders of the land. ¹⁶Jehovah, in trouble they have visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. ¹⁷As a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs, so we have been before thee, O Jehovah. ¹⁸We have been with child. We have been in pain. We have as it were brought forth wind. We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen. ¹⁹Thy dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye who dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead. ²⁰Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors around thee. Hide thyself for a little moment until the indignation be passed over. ²¹For, behold, Jehovah comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.

CHAPTER 27

¹In that day Jehovah with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the swift serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, and he will kill the monster that is in the sea. ²In that day is a vineyard of wine. Sing ye to it. ³I Jehovah am its keeper, I will water it every moment. Lest any hurt it, I will guard it night and day. ⁴Wrath is not in me. Would that the briers and thorns were against me in battle! I would march upon them. I would burn them together. ⁵Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Yea, let him make peace with me. ⁶In days to come Jacob shall take root; Israel shall blossom and bud. And they shall fill the face of the world with fruit. ⁷Has he smitten them as he smote those who smote them? Or are they slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by them? ⁸In measure, in sending it forth, thou contend with it. He has removed with his rough blast in the day of the east wind. ⁹Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob shall be forgiven. And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten apart, so that the Asherim and the sun-images shall rise no more. ¹⁰For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken like the wilderness. There the calf shall feed, and there he shall lie down, and consume the branches of it. ¹¹When the boughs of it are withered, they shall be broken off. The women shall come, and set them on fire, for it is a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion upon them, and he who formed them will show them no favor. ¹²And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will beat off his fruit, from the flood of the River to the brook of Egypt. And ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye sons of Israel. ¹³And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great trumpet shall be blown. And they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt. And they shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 28

¹Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley of those who are overcome with wine! ²Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. As a tempest of hail, a destroying storm, as a tempest of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast down to the earth with the hand. ³The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden under foot. ⁴And the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be as the first-ripe fig before the summer, which, when he who looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand, he eats it up. ⁵In that day Jehovah of hosts will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people, ⁶and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. ⁷And even these reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up of wine. They stagger with strong drink; they err in vision; they stumble in judgment. ⁸For all tables are full of vomit, filthiness, no place clean. ⁹Whom will he teach knowledge? And whom will he make to understand the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts? ¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little. ¹¹No, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue he will speak to this people, ¹²to whom he said, This is the rest. Give ye rest to him who is weary. And this is the refreshing. Yet they would not hear. ¹³Therefore the word of Jehovah shall be to them precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little, that they may go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. ¹⁴Therefore hear the word of Jehovah, ye scoffers, who rule this people that is in Jerusalem. ¹⁵Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we are at agreement with Sheol. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through it shall not come to us, for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hid ourselves under falsehood. ¹⁶Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation. He who believes in him shall, no, not be shamed. ¹⁷And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet. And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding-place. ¹⁸And your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. ¹⁹As often as it passes though, it shall take you. For morning by morning it shall pass through, by day and by night. And it shall be nothing but terror to understand the report. ²⁰For the bed is shorter than what a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering narrower than what he can wrap himself in it. ²¹For Jehovah will rise up as in mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act. ²²Now therefore be ye not scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong. For I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, upon the whole earth. ²³Give ye ear, and hear my voice, hearken, and hear my speech. ²⁴Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? ²⁵When he has leveled the face of it, does he not cast abroad the chick-peas, and scatter the cummin, and put in the wheat in rows, and the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in the border of it? ²⁶For his God instructs him aright, and teaches him. ²⁷For the chick-peas are not threshed with a sharp instrument, nor is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin, but the chick-peas are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod. ²⁸Bread grain is ground, for he will not be always threshing it. And though the wheel of his cart and his horses scatter it, he does not grind it. ²⁹This also comes forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

CHAPTER 29

¹Ho Ariel, Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add ye year to year. Let the feasts come round. ²Then I will distress Ariel, and there shall be mourning and lamentation, and she shall be to me as Ariel. ³And I will encamp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with posted troops. And I will raise siege works against thee. ⁴And thou shall be brought down, and shall speak out of the ground. And thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of he who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground. And thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. ⁵But the multitude of thy foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passes away. Yea, it shall be in an instant suddenly. ⁶She shall be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. ⁷And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her stronghold, and that distress her, shall be as a dream, a vision of the night. ⁸And it shall be as when a hungry man dreams, and, behold, he eats. But he awakes, and his soul is empty. Or as when a thirsty man dreams, and, behold, he drinks. But he awakes, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul has appetite. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against mount Zion. ⁹Tarry ye and wonder, take your pleasure and be blind. They are drunken, but not with wine. They stagger, but not with strong drink. ¹⁰For Jehovah has poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes. The prophets, and your heads, the seers, he has covered. ¹¹And all vision has become to you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to a man who is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee. And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. ¹²And the book is delivered to him who is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee. And he says, I am not learned. ¹³And the Lord said, Inasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but have removed their heart far from me, but in vain they worship me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men. ¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder. I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden. ¹⁵Woe to those who hide deep their counsel from Jehovah, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, Who sees us? and, Who knows us? ¹⁶Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay, that the thing made should say of him who made it, He did not make me, or the thing formed say of him who formed it, He has no understanding? ¹⁷Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? ¹⁸And in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. ¹⁹The meek also shall increase their joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. ²⁰For the terrible one is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases. And all those who watch for iniquity are cut off, ²¹who make a man an offender in his cause, and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate, and turn aside the just with a thing of nothing. ²²Therefore thus says Jehovah, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: Jacob shall not now be ashamed, nor shall his face now grow pale. ²³But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name. Yea, they shall sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall stand in awe of the God of Israel. ²⁴They also who err in spirit shall come to understanding, and those who murmur shall receive instruction.

CHAPTER 30

¹Woe to the rebellious sons, says Jehovah, who take counsel, but not of me, and who make a league, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin, ²who set out to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to take refuge in the shadow of Egypt! ³Therefore the strength of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and the refuge in the shadow of Egypt your confusion. ⁴For their rulers are at Zoan, and their ambassadors have come to Hanes. ⁵They shall all be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them, who are not a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach. ⁶The burden of the beasts of the South. Through the land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people who shall not profit them. ⁷For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose. Therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still. ⁸Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it on a scroll, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever. ⁹For it is a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who will not hear the law of Jehovah, ¹⁰who say to the seers, Do not see, and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to us right things. Speak to us smooth things. Prophesy deceits. ¹¹Get you out of the way. Turn aside out of the path. Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. ¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and rely on it, ¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant. ¹⁴And he shall break it as a potter�s vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing, so that there shall not be found among the pieces of it a shard with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern. ¹⁵For thus said the lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, Ye shall be saved in returning and rest. Your strength shall be in quietness and in confidence. And ye would not, ¹⁶but ye said, No, for we will flee upon horses. Therefore ye shall flee. And ye said, We will ride upon the swift. Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift. ¹⁷One thousand shall flee at the threat of one. Ye shall flee at the threat of five, till ye are left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill. ¹⁸And therefore Jehovah will wait, that he may be gracious to you. And therefore he will be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you, for Jehovah is a God of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for him. ¹⁹For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear, he will answer thee. ²⁰And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet thy teachers shall not be hidden anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers. ²¹And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. ²²And ye shall defile the overlaying of thy graven images of silver, and the plating of thy molten images of gold. Thou shall cast them away as an unclean thing. Thou shall say to it, Get thee away. ²³And he will give the rain for thy seed, with which thou shall sow the ground, and bread of the increase of the ground, and it shall be fat and plenteous. In that day thy cattle shall feed in large pastures. ²⁴Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that till the ground shall eat savory provender, which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fork. ²⁵And there shall be upon every lofty mountain, and upon every high hill, brooks and streams of waters, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. ²⁶Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that Jehovah binds up the hurt of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound. ²⁷Behold, the name of Jehovah comes from far, burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke. His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is as a devouring fire, ²⁸and his breath is as an overflowing stream that reaches even to the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction. And a bridle that causes to err shall be in the jaws of the peoples. ²⁹Ye shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as he who goes with a pipe to come to the mountain of Jehovah, to the Rock of Israel. ³⁰And Jehovah will cause his glorious voice to be heard, and will show the coming down of his arm with the indignation of his anger, and the flame of a devouring fire, with a blast and tempest and hailstones. ³¹For through the voice of Jehovah the Assyrian shall be dismayed. With his rod he will smite him. ³²And every stroke of the appointed staff, which Jehovah shall lay upon him, shall be with the sound of tambourine and harps. And he will fight with them in battles with the brandishing of his arm. ³³For a Topheth is prepared of old, yea, it is made ready for the king. He has made it deep and large. The pile of it is fire and much wood. The breath of Jehovah kindles it, like a stream of brimstone.

CHAPTER 31

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and rely on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are very strong, but they look not to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Jehovah! ²Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. ³Now the Egyptians are men, and not God, and their horses flesh, and not spirit. And when Jehovah shall stretch out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they shall all be consumed together. ⁴For thus says Jehovah to me, As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, even if a multitude of shepherds are called forth against him, he will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them, so Jehovah of hosts will come down to fight upon mount Zion, and upon the hill of it. ⁵As birds hovering, so Jehovah of hosts will protect Jerusalem. He will protect and deliver. He will pass over and preserve. ⁶Turn ye to him from whom ye have deeply revolted, O sons of Israel. ⁷For in that day they shall cast away every man his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made to you for a sin. ⁸And the Assyrian shall fall by the sword, not of man, and the sword, not of men, shall devour him. But he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall become subject to task work. ⁹And his rock shall pass away because of terror, and his rulers shall be dismayed at the ensign, says Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.

CHAPTER 32

¹Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and rulers shall rule in justice. ²And a man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, as streams of water in a dry place, as the shade of a great rock in a weary land. ³And the eyes of those who see shall not be dim, and the ears of those who hear shall hearken. ⁴And the heart of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly. ⁵The fool shall no more be called noble, nor the churl said to be bountiful. ⁶For the fool will speak folly, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice profaneness, and to utter error against Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail. ⁷And the instruments of the churl are evil. He devises wicked devices to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks right. ⁸But a noble man devises noble things, and in noble things he shall continue. ⁹Rise up, ye women who are at ease. Hear my voice, ye careless daughters. Give ear to my speech. ¹⁰For ye shall be troubled days beyond a year, ye careless women. For the vintage shall fail; the ingathering shall not come. ¹¹Tremble, ye women who are at ease. Be troubled, ye careless ones. Strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins. ¹²They shall beat upon the breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine. ¹³Thorns and briers shall come up on the land of my people, yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city. ¹⁴For the palace shall be forsaken. The populous city shall be deserted. The hill and the watch-tower shall be for dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks, ¹⁵until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest. ¹⁶Then justice shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness shall abide in the fruitful field. ¹⁷And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever. ¹⁸And my people shall abide in a peaceable habitation, and in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. ¹⁹But it shall hail in the downfall of the forest, and the city shall be utterly laid low. ²⁰Blessed are ye who sow beside all waters, who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey.

CHAPTER 33

¹Woe to thee who destroys, and thou were not destroyed, and deal treacherously, and they did not deal treacherously with thee! When thou have ceased to destroy, thou shall be destroyed, and when thou have made an end of dealing treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. ²O Jehovah, be gracious to us, we have waited for thee. Be thou our arm every morning, also our salvation in the time of trouble. ³At the noise of the tumult the peoples have fled. At the lifting up of thyself the nations are scattered. ⁴And your spoil shall be gathered as the caterpillar gathers. As locusts leap, men shall leap upon it. ⁵Jehovah is exalted, for he dwells on high. He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. ⁶And there shall be stability in thy times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge. The fear of Jehovah is thy treasure. ⁷Behold, their valiant ones cry outside. The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly. ⁸The highways lie waste. The wayfaring man ceases. The enemy has broken the covenant. He has despised the cities. He does not regard man. ⁹The land mourns and languishes. Lebanon is confounded and withers away. Sharon is like a desert, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. ¹⁰Now I will arise, says Jehovah. Now I will lift up myself. Now I will be exalted. ¹¹Ye shall conceive chaff. Ye shall bring forth stubble. Your breath is a fire that shall devour you. ¹²And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down that are burned in the fire. ¹³Hear, ye who are far off, what I have done, and ye who are near, acknowledge my might. ¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized the profane. Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? ¹⁵He who walks righteously, and speaks uprightly. He who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes away his hands from taking a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of blood, and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil. ¹⁶He shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks. His bread shall be given. His waters shall be sure. ¹⁷Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty. They shall behold a land that reaches afar. ¹⁸Thy heart shall muse on the terror. Where is he who counted? Where is he who weighed the tribute? Where is he who counted the towers? ¹⁹Thou shall not see the fierce people, a people of a deep speech that thou cannot comprehend, of a strange tongue that thou cannot understand. ²⁰Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities. Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed. The stakes of which shall never be plucked up, nor shall any of the cords of it be broken. ²¹But Jehovah will be with us there in majesty. A place of broad rivers and streams, in which shall go no galley with oars, nor shall a gallant ship pass thereby. ²²For Jehovah is our judge. Jehovah is our lawgiver. Jehovah is our king, he will save us. ²³Thy tacklings are loosed. They could not strengthen the foot of their mast. They could not spread the sail. Then the prey of a great spoil was divided. The lame took the prey. ²⁴And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick. The people who dwell in it shall be forgiven their iniquity.

CHAPTER 34

¹Come near, ye nations, to hear. And hearken, ye peoples. Let the earth hear, and the fullness thereof, the world, and all things that come forth from it. ²For Jehovah has indignation against all the nations, and wrath against all their host. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. ³Their slain also shall be cast out. And the stench of their dead bodies shall come up, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. ⁴And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll. And all their host shall fade away as the leaf fades from off the vine, and as a fading leaf from the fig tree. ⁵For my sword has drunk its fill in heaven. Behold, it shall come down upon Edom, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. ⁶The sword of Jehovah is filled with blood. It is made fat with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams, for Jehovah has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. ⁷And the wild oxen shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls. And their land shall be drunken with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. ⁸For Jehovah has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. ⁹And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and the dust of it into brimstone. And the land thereof shall become burning pitch. ¹⁰It shall not be quenched night nor day. The smoke of it shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste. None shall pass through it forever and ever. ¹¹But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it. And the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And he will stretch over it the line of confusion, and the plummet of emptiness. ¹²They shall call the nobles of it to the kingdom, but none shall be there. And all its rulers shall be nothing. ¹³And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in the fortresses of it. And it shall be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches. ¹⁴And the wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the wolves. And the wild goat shall cry to his fellow. Yea, the screech owl shall settle there, and shall find her a place of rest. ¹⁵There the dart-snake shall make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shade. Yea, there the vultures shall be gathered, each one with her mate. ¹⁶Seek ye out of the book of Jehovah, and read. No one of these shall be missing. None shall want her mate. For my mouth, it has commanded, and his Spirit, it has gathered them. ¹⁷And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them by line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation they shall dwell therein.

CHAPTER 35

¹The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. ²It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God. ³Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. ⁴Say to those who are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. ⁵Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. ⁶Then the lame man shall leap as a hart, and the tongue of the mute shall sing. For waters in the wilderness shall break out, and streams in the desert. ⁷And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. In the habitation of jackals, where they lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. ⁸And a highway shall be there, and a way. And it shall be called The way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for the redeemed, the wayfaring men. Yea fools shall not err in it. ⁹No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up in it. They shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. ¹⁰And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing to Zion. And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy. And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

CHAPTER 36

¹Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah, and took them. ²And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller�s field. ³Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came forth to him, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder. ⁴And Rabshakeh said to them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this in which thou trust? ⁵I say, thy counsel and strength for the war are but vain words. Now on whom do thou trust that thou have rebelled against me? ⁶Behold, thou trust upon the staff of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand, and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust on him. ⁷But if thou say to me, We trust in Jehovah our God. Is that not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, Ye shall worship before this altar? ⁸Now therefore, I pray thee, give pledges to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. ⁹How then can thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master�s servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? ¹⁰And have I now come up without Jehovah against this land to destroy it? Jehovah said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it. ¹¹Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray thee, to thy servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it. And speak not to us in the Jews� language, in the ears of the people who are on the wall. ¹²But Rabshakeh said, Has my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit upon the wall, to eat their own dung, and to drink their own urine with you? ¹³Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews� language, and said, Hear ye the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. ¹⁴Thus says the king, Let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. ¹⁵Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in Jehovah, saying, Jehovah will surely deliver us. This city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹⁶Hearken not to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria, Make your peace with me, and come out to me, and eat ye everyone of his vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink ye everyone the waters of his own cistern, ¹⁷until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, Jehovah will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? ²¹But they held their peace, and answered him not a word. For the king�s commandment was, saying, Answer him not. ²²Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah came, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

CHAPTER 37

¹And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it, that he tore his clothes, and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of Jehovah. ²And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³And they said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy, for the sons have come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. ⁴It may be Jehovah thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria his master has sent to defy the living God, and will rebuke the words which Jehovah thy God has heard. Therefore lift up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. ⁵So the servants of king Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall ye say to your master, Thus says Jehovah: Be not afraid of the words that thou have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. ⁷Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he shall hear news, and shall return to his own land. And I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land. ⁸So Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah, for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. ⁹And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, He has come out to fight against thee. And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trust deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. ¹¹Behold, thou have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly. And shall thou be delivered? ¹²Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena, and Ivvah? ¹⁴And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of Jehovah, and spread it before Jehovah. ¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah, saying, ¹⁶O Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, who sit above the cherubim, thou are the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear. Open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib, who has sent to defy the living God. ¹⁸Of a truth, Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the countries, and their land, ¹⁹and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men�s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they have destroyed them. ²⁰Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou are Jehovah, even thou only. ²¹Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Whereas thou have prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²²this is the word which Jehovah has spoken concerning him: The virgin daughter of Zion has despised thee and laughed thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee. ²³Whom have thou defied and blasphemed? And against whom have thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the Holy One of Israel. ²⁴By thy servants thou have defied the Lord, and have said, With the multitude of my chariots I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon. And I will cut down the tall cedars of it, and the choice fir trees of it, and I will enter into its farthest height, the forest of its fruitful field. ²⁵I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I will dry up all the rivers of Egypt. ²⁶Have thou not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it of ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be thine to lay waste fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ²⁷Therefore their inhabitants were of small power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were as the grass of the field, and as the green herb. As the grass on the housetops, and as a field of grain before it is grown up. ²⁸But I know thy sitting down, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy raging against me. ²⁹Because of thy raging against me, and because thine arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou came. ³⁰And this shall be the sign to thee. Ye shall eat this year that which grows of itself, and in the second year that which springs of the same, and in the third year sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of it. ³¹And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. ³²For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and out of mount Zion those who shall escape. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this. ³³Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come to this city, nor shoot an arrow there. Neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast up a mound against it. ³⁴By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come to this city, says Jehovah. ³⁵For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake, and for my servant David�s sake. ³⁶And the agent of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh. ³⁸And it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons smote him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son reigned in his stead.

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¹In those days Hezekiah was sick to death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah, Set thy house in order, for thou shall die, and not live. ²Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall, and prayed to Jehovah, ³and said, Remember now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept greatly. ⁴Then the word of Jehovah came to Isaiah, saying, ⁵Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus says Jehovah, the God of David thy father. I have heard thy prayer. I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add to thy days fifteen years. ⁶And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. ⁷And this shall be the sign to thee from Jehovah, that Jehovah will do this thing that he has spoken: ⁸Behold, I will cause the shadow on the steps, which has gone down on the dial of Ahaz with the sun, to return backward ten steps. So the sun returned ten steps on the dial on which it had gone down. ⁹The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness: ¹⁰I said, In the noontide of my days I shall go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years. ¹¹I said, I shall not see Jehovah, even Jehovah in the land of the living. I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. ¹²My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me as a shepherd�s tent. I have rolled up, like a weaver, my life. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night thou will make an end of me. ¹³I quieted myself until morning. As a lion, so he breaks all my bones. From day even to night will thou make an end of me. ¹⁴Like a swallow or a crane, so I chattered. I moaned as a dove. My eyes fail with looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed, be thou my surety. ¹⁵What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and himself has done it. I shall go softly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul. ¹⁶O Lord, by these things men live, and wholly therein is the life of my spirit. Therefore recover thou me, and make me to live. ¹⁷Behold, for peace I had great bitterness. But thou have by love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption. For thou have cast all my sins behind thy back. ¹⁸For Sheol cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee. Those who go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. ¹⁹The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day. The father to the sons shall make known thy truth. ²⁰Jehovah is ready to save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of Jehovah. ²¹Now Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. ²²Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah?

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¹At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick, and was recovered. ²And Hezekiah was glad of them, and showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oil, and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. There was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah did not show them. ³Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and said to him, What did these men say? And from where did they come to thee? And Hezekiah said, They have come from a far country to me, even from Babylon. ⁴Then he said, What have they seen in thy house? And Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. ⁵Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, Hear the word of Jehovah of hosts: ⁶Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in thy house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says Jehovah. ⁷And of thy sons who shall issue from thee, whom thou shall beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. ⁸Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, The word of Jehovah which thou have spoken is good. He said moreover, For there shall be peace and truth in my days.

CHAPTER 40

¹Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God. ²Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare has been completed, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Jehovah�s hand double for all her sins. ³The voice of a man crying out in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. And the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places smooth. ⁵And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it. ⁶The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness of it is as the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of Jehovah blows upon it. Surely the people is grass. ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God shall stand forever. ⁹O thou who tell good news to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain. O thou who tell good news to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up, be not afraid, say to the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! ¹⁰Behold, the lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead those who have their young. ¹²Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? ¹³Who has known the mind of Jehovah, or being his counselor has taught him? ¹⁴With whom did he take counsel. And who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice. And taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding? ¹⁵Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are accounted as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing. ¹⁶And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts of it sufficient for a burnt offering. ¹⁷All the nations are as nothing before him. They are accounted by him as less than nothing, and vanity. ¹⁸To whom then will ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare to him? ¹⁹The image, a workman has cast it, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts for it silver chains. ²⁰He who is too impoverished for such an oblation chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks for him a skilful workman to set up a graven image that shall not be moved. ²¹Have ye not known? Have yet not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? ²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in, ²³who brings rulers to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth as vanity. ²⁴Yea, they have not been planted. Yea, they have not been sown. Yea, their stock has not taken root in the earth. Moreover he blows upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble. ²⁵To whom then will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? says the Holy One. ²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their host by number. He calls them all by name, by the greatness of his might. And because he is strong in power, not one is lacking. ²⁷Why do thou say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from Jehovah. And the justice due to me is passed away from my God? ²⁸Have thou not known? Have thou not heard? The everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, nor is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. ²⁹He gives power to the faint. And to him who has no might he increases strength. ³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. ³¹But those who wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run, and not be weary. They shall walk, and not faint.

CHAPTER 41

¹Keep silence before me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come near, then let them speak. Let us come near together to judgment. ²Who raised up the righteous man from the east, calls him to his foot, gives nations before him, and makes him rule over kings? He gives them as the dust to his sword, as the driven stubble to his bow. ³He pursues them, and passes on safely, even by a way that he had not gone with his feet. ⁴Who has wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first, and with the last, I am he. ⁵The isles have seen, and fear. The ends of the earth tremble, they draw near, and come. ⁶They help every man his neighbor, and says to his brother, Be of good courage. ⁷So the carpenter encourages the goldsmith, he who smoothes with the hammer, him who smites the anvil, saying of the soldering, It is good, and he fastens it with nails, that it should not be moved. ⁸But thou, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend, ⁹thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof, and said to thee, Thou are my servant, I have chosen thee and not cast thee away. ¹⁰Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. Yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. ¹¹Behold, all those who are incensed against thee shall be put to shame and confounded. Those who strive with thee shall be as nothing, and shall perish. ¹²Thou shall seek them, and shall not find them, even those who contend with thee. Those who war against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. ¹³For I, Jehovah thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying to thee, Fear not, I will help thee. ¹⁴Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel. I will help thee, says Jehovah, and thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵Behold, I have made thee as a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth. Thou shall thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shall make the hills as chaff. ¹⁶Thou shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them. And thou shall rejoice in Jehovah. Thou shall glory in the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁷The poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst. I, Jehovah, will answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. ¹⁸I will open rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water. ¹⁹I will put in the wilderness the cedar, the acacia, and the myrtle, and the oil tree. I will set in the desert the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, ²⁰that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. ²¹Produce your case, says Jehovah. Bring forth your strong reasons, says the King of Jacob. ²²Let them bring forth, and declare to us what shall happen. Declare ye the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them, or show us things to come. ²³Declare the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods. Yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. ²⁴Behold, ye are of nothing, and your work is of naught. An abomination is he who chooses you. ²⁵I have raised up him from the north, and he has come, him who calls upon my name from the rising of the sun. And he shall come upon rulers as upon mortar, and as the potter treads clay. ²⁶Who has declared it from the beginning, that we may know, and beforetime, that we may say, He is right? Yea, there is none who declares. Yea, there is none who shows. Yea, there is none who hears your words. ²⁷First to Zion. Behold, behold them, and I will give to Jerusalem him who brings good news. ²⁸And when I look, there is no man. Even among them there is no counselor, that, when I ask of them, can answer a word. ²⁹Behold, all of them, their works are vanity and nothing. Their molten images are wind and confusion.

CHAPTER 42

¹Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. ²He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. ³A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench, but he will bring forth justice in truth. ⁴He will not fail nor be discouraged till he has set justice in the earth. And in his name Gentiles will hope. ⁵Thus says God, Jehovah, he who created the heavens, and stretched them forth, he who spread abroad the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk in it, ⁶I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, ⁷to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison-house. ⁸I am Jehovah. That is my name, and I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to graven images. ⁹Behold, the former things have come to pass, and I declare new things. Before they spring forth I tell you of them. ¹⁰Sing to Jehovah a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye who go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. ¹¹Let the wilderness and the cities of it lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing. Let them shout from the top of the mountains. ¹²Let them give glory to Jehovah, and declare his praise in the islands. ¹³Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man. He will stir up his zeal like a man of war. He will cry, yea, he will shout aloud. He will do mightily against his enemies. ¹⁴I have for a long time held my peace. I have been still, and refrained myself. Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will gasp and pant together. ¹⁵I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs. And I will make the rivers islands, and will dry up the pools. ¹⁶And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not. I will lead them in paths that they know not. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do, and I will not forsake them. ¹⁷They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, who trust in graven images, who say to molten images, Ye are our gods. ¹⁸Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see. ¹⁹Who is blind, but my servant, or deaf, as my messenger that I send? Who is blind as he who is at peace with me, and blind as Jehovah�s servant? ²⁰Thou see many things, but thou do not observe. His ears are open, but he does not hear. ²¹It pleased Jehovah, for his righteousness� sake, to magnify the law, and make it honorable. ²²But this is a people robbed and plundered. They are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses. They are for a prey, and none delivers, for a spoil, and none says, Restore. ²³Who is there among you that will give ear to this, that will hearken and hear for the time to come? ²⁴Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not Jehovah? He against whom we have sinned, and in whose ways they would not walk, nor were they obedient to his law. ²⁵Therefore he poured upon him the fierceness of his anger, and the strength of battle. And it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not. And it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.

CHAPTER 43

¹But now thus says Jehovah who created thee, O Jacob, and he who formed thee, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name, Thou are mine. ²When thou pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walk through the fire, thou shall not be burned, nor shall the flame kindle upon thee. ³For I am Jehovah thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. I have given Egypt as thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in thy stead. ⁴Since thou have been precious in my sight, and honorable, and I have loved thee, therefore I will give men in thy stead, and peoples instead of thy life. ⁵Fear not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west. ⁶I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth, ⁷everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yea, whom I have made. ⁸Bring forth the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. ⁹Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled. Who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring their witnesses that they may be justified, or let them hear, and say, It is truth. ¹⁰Ye are my witnesses, says Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after me. ¹¹I, even I, am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior. ¹²I have declared, and I have saved, and I have shown, and there was no strange god among you. Therefore ye are my witnesses, says Jehovah, and I am God. ¹³Yea, since the day was I am he, and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it? ¹⁴Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. ¹⁵I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. ¹⁶Thus says Jehovah, who makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters, ¹⁷who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together; they shall not rise; they are extinct; they are quenched as a wick): ¹⁸Do not remember ye the former things, nor consider the things of old. ¹⁹Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. ²⁰The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, ²¹the people whom I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise. ²²Yet thou have not called upon me, O Jacob, but thou have been weary of me, O Israel. ²³Thou have not brought me from thy sheep for burnt offerings, nor have thou honored me with thy sacrifices. I have not burdened thee with offerings, nor wearied thee with frankincense. ²⁴Thou have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices. But thou have burdened me with thy sins. Thou have wearied me with thine iniquities. ²⁵I, even I, am he who blots out thy transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember thy sins. ²⁶Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Set thou forth thy case that thou may be justified. ²⁷Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. ²⁸Therefore I will profane the rulers of the sanctuary, and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel a reviling.

CHAPTER 44

¹Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant, and Israel, whom I have chosen. ²Thus says Jehovah who made thee, and formed thee from the womb, who will help thee: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen. ³For I will pour water upon him who is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring. ⁴And they shall spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses. ⁵One shall say, I am Jehovah�s, and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob, and another shall subscribe with his hand to Jehovah, and surname himself by the name of Israel. ⁶Thus says Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. ⁷And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I established the ancient people? And let them declare the things that are coming, and that shall come to pass. ⁸Fear ye not, nor be afraid. Have I not declared to thee of old, and shown it? And ye are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Yea, there is no Rock. I know not any. ⁹Those who fashion a graven image are all of them vanity. And the things that they delight in shall not profit. And their own witnesses see not, nor know, that they may be put to shame. ¹⁰Who has fashioned a god, or molded an image that is profitable for nothing? ¹¹Behold, all his fellows shall be put to shame, and the workmen. They are of men. Let them all be gathered together. Let them stand up. They shall fear. They shall be put to shame together. ¹²The smith makes an axe, and works in the coals, and fashions it with hammers, and works it with his strong arm. Yea, he is hungry, and his strength fails. He drinks no water, and is faint. ¹³The carpenter stretches out a line. He marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes. And he marks it out with the compasses, and shapes it after the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ¹⁴He hews down cedars for him, and takes the holm tree and the oak, and strengthens for himself one among the trees of the forest. He plants a fir tree, and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵Then it shall be for a man to burn. And he takes of it, and warms himself. Yea, he kindles it, and bakes bread. Yea, he makes a god, and worships it. He makes it a graven image, and falls down to it. ¹⁶He burns part of it in the fire. With part of it he eats flesh. He roasts roast, and is satisfied. Yea, he warms himself, and says, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire. ¹⁷And the residue of it he makes a god, even his graven image. He falls down to it and worships, and prays to it, and says, Deliver me, for thou are my god. ¹⁸They do not know, nor do they consider. For he has shut their eyes, that they cannot see, and their hearts, that they cannot understand. ¹⁹And none calls to mind, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire. Yea, I have also baked bread upon the coals of it. I have roasted flesh and eaten it. And shall I make the residue of it an abomination? Shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? ²⁰He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside. And he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? ²¹Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for thou are my servant. I have formed thee. Thou are my servant, O Israel, thou shall not be forgotten by me. ²²I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed thee. ²³Sing, O ye heavens, for Jehovah has done it. Shout, ye lower parts of the earth. Break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein. For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and will glorify himself in Israel. ²⁴Thus says Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he who formed thee from the womb: I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches forth the heavens alone, who spreads abroad the earth (who is with me?), ²⁵who frustrates the signs of the liars, and makes diviners mad, who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolish, ²⁶who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places of it, ²⁷who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers, ²⁸who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built, and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

CHAPTER 45

¹Thus says Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him. And I will loose the loins of kings to open the doors before him. And the gates shall not be shut. ²I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth. I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut apart the bars of iron. ³And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou may know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel. ⁴For Jacob my servant�s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou have not known me. ⁵I am Jehovah, and there is none else. Besides me there is no God. I will gird thee, though thou have not known me, ⁶that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else. ⁷I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create evil. I am Jehovah who does all these things. ⁸Distil, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together. I, Jehovah, have created it. ⁹Woe to him who strives with his maker, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him that fashions it, What are thou making? or thy work, He has no hands? ¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, What are thou begetting? or to a woman, With what are thou travailing? ¹¹Thus says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel and his maker: Ask me of the things that are to come concerning my sons. And command ye me concerning the work of my hands. ¹²I have made the earth, and created man upon it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. ¹³I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁴Thus says Jehovah: The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to thee, and they shall be thine. They shall go after thee. In chains they shall come over, and they shall fall down to thee. They shall make supplication to thee, saying, Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, no God. ¹⁵Verily thou are a God who hides thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior. ¹⁶They shall be put to shame, yea, confounded, all of them. They shall go into confusion together who are makers of idols. ¹⁷But Israel shall be saved by Jehovah with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be put to shame nor confounded world without end. ¹⁸For thus says Jehovah who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and did not create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah, and there is none else. ¹⁹I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain. I, Jehovah, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right. ²⁰Assemble yourselves and come, draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray to a god that cannot save. ²¹Declare ye, and bring it forth. Yea, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Have not I, Jehovah? And there is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is none besides me. ²²Look to me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. ²³By myself I have sworn, the word has gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess to God. ²⁴Only in Jehovah, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength. Even to him men shall come, and all those who were incensed against him shall be put to shame. ²⁵In Jehovah all the seed of Israel shall be justified, and shall glory.

CHAPTER 46

¹Bel bows down, Nebo stoops, their idols are upon the beasts, and upon the cattle. The things that ye carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary beast. ²They stoop, they bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. ³Hearken to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from their birth, who have been carried from the womb. ⁴And even to old age I am he, and even to hoar hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear, yea, I will carry, and will deliver. ⁵To whom will ye liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike? ⁶Such as lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down, yea, they worship. ⁷They bear it upon the shoulder. They carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands. From its place it shall not remove. Yea, he may cry to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him out of his trouble. ⁸Remember this, and show yourselves men. Bring it again to mind, O ye transgressors. ⁹Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure, ¹¹calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken. I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed. I will also do it. ¹²Hearken to me, ye stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness: ¹³I bring near my righteousness. It shall not be far off. And my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

CHAPTER 47

¹Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon. Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. For thou shall no more be called tender and delicate. ²Take the millstones, and grind meal. Remove thy veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. ³Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy shame shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and will spare no man. ⁴Our Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shall no more be called The mistress of kingdoms. ⁶I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into thy hand. Thou showed them no mercy. Upon the aged thou have laid thy yoke very heavily. ⁷And thou said, I shall be mistress forever, so that thou did not lay these things to thy heart, nor remembered the latter end of it. ⁸Now therefore hear this, thou who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know the loss of sons. ⁹But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day: the loss of sons, and widowhood. In their full measure they shall come upon thee, in the multitude of thy sorceries, and the great abundance of thine enchantments. ¹⁰For thou have trusted in thy wickedness. Thou have said, None sees me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it has perverted thee. And thou have said in thy heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. ¹¹Therefore evil shall come upon thee. Thou shall not know the dawning of it. And mischief shall fall upon thee. Thou shall not be able to put it away. And desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou know not. ¹²Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou have labored from thy youth, if so be thou shall be able to profit, if so be thou may prevail. ¹³Thou are wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from the things that shall come upon thee. ¹⁴Behold, they shall be as stubble. The fire shall burn them. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. It shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before. ¹⁵Thus shall be the things to thee, in which thou have labored. Those who have trafficked with thee from thy youth shall wander each one to his quarter. There shall be none to save thee.

CHAPTER 48

¹Hear ye this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of Jehovah, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness ²(for they call themselves of the holy city, and steady themselves upon the God of Israel, Jehovah of hosts is his name): ³I have declared the former things from of old. Yea, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them. Suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. ⁴Because I knew that thou are obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass, ⁵therefore I have declared it to thee from of old. Before it came to pass I showed it to thee, lest thou should say, My idol has done them. And my graven image, and my molten image, has commanded them. ⁶Thou have heard it, behold all this, and ye, will ye not declare it? I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, which thou have not known. ⁷They are created now, and not from of old. And thou have not heard them before this day, lest thou should say, Behold, I knew them. ⁸Yea, thou heard not. Yea, thou knew not. Yea, from of old thine ear was not opened. For I knew that thou dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb. ⁹For my name�s sake I will defer my anger, and for my praise I will refrain for thee, that I not cut thee off. ¹⁰Behold, I have refined thee, but not as silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. ¹¹For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it. For how should my name be profaned? And I will not give my glory to another. ¹²Hearken to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he. I am the first. I also am the last. ¹³Yea, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens. When I call to them, they stand up together. ¹⁴Assemble yourselves, all ye, and hear: Who among them has declared these things? He whom Jehovah loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm, the Chaldeans. ¹⁵I, even I, have spoken, yea, I have called him. I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. ¹⁶Come ye near to me, hear ye this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret. From the time that it was, there I am. And now the lord Jehovah and his Spirit has sent me. ¹⁷Thus says Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Jehovah thy God, who teaches thee to profit, who leads thee by the way that thou should go. ¹⁸Oh that thou had hearkened to my commandments! Then thy peace would have been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea. ¹⁹Thy seed also would have been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the grains of it. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me. ²⁰Go ye forth from Babylon. Flee ye from the Chaldeans. With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth. Say ye, Jehovah has redeemed his servant Jacob. ²¹And they did not thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them. He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out. ²²There is no peace, says Jehovah, to the wicked.

CHAPTER 49

¹Listen, O isles, to me, and hearken, ye peoples from far. Jehovah has called me from the womb. From the bowels of my mother he has made mention of my name. ²And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hid me in the shadow of his hand, and he has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver. ³And he said to me, Thou are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified. ⁴But I said, I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely the justice due to me is with Jehovah, and my recompense with my God. ⁵And now says Jehovah who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God has become my strength), ⁶yea, he says, It is too light a thing that thou should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou may be my salvation to the end of the earth. ⁷Thus says Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers. Kings shall see and arise, rulers, and they shall worship, because of Jehovah who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen thee. ⁸Thus says Jehovah, In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in a day of salvation I have helped thee. And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages, ⁹saying to those who are bound, Go forth; to those who are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pasture shall be on all bare heights. ¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them. For he who has mercy on them will lead them. He will guide them even by springs of water. ¹¹And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. ¹²Lo, these shall come from far, and, lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim. ¹³Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains. For Jehovah has comforted his people, and will have compassion upon his afflicted. ¹⁴But Zion said, Jehovah has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. ¹⁵Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet I will not forget thee. ¹⁶Behold, I have engraved thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually before me. ¹⁷Thy sons make haste. Thy destroyers and those who made thee waste shall go forth from thee. ¹⁸Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold. All these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, says Jehovah, thou shall surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and gird thyself with them, like a bride. ¹⁹For, as for thy waste and thy desolate places, and thy land that has been destroyed, surely now thou shall be too narrow for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed thee up shall be far away. ²⁰The sons of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too narrow for me. Give a place to me that I may dwell. ²¹Then thou shall say in thy heart, Who has begotten these for me, seeing I have been bereaved of my sons, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? And who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone, these, where were they? ²²Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples. And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. ²³And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet. And thou shall know that I am Jehovah, and those who wait for me shall not be put to shame. ²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? ²⁵But thus says Jehovah, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him who contends with thee, and I will save thy sons. ²⁶And I will feed those who oppress thee with their own flesh. And they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

CHAPTER 50

¹Thus says Jehovah, Where is the bill of your mother�s divorcement, with which I have put her away? Or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities ye were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was put away. ²Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst. ³I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. ⁴The lord Jehovah has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He awakens morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught. ⁵The lord Jehovah has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, nor turned away backward. ⁶I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting. ⁷For the lord Jehovah will help me. Therefore I have not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. ⁸He is near who justifies me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. ⁹Behold, the lord Jehovah will help me. Who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall grow old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. ¹⁰Who is among you that fears Jehovah, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and rely upon his God. ¹¹Behold, all ye who kindle a fire, who gird yourselves about with firebrands, walk ye in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that ye have kindled. This ye shall have from my hand. Ye shall lie down in sorrow.

CHAPTER 51

¹Hearken to me, ye who follow after righteousness, ye who seek Jehovah. Look to the rock from where ye were hewn, and to the hold of the pit from where ye were dug. ²Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you. For when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many. ³For Jehovah has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. ⁴Attend to me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my nation. For a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples. ⁵My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone forth, and my arms shall judge the peoples. The isles shall wait for me, and on my arm they shall trust. ⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it shall die in like manner. But my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. ⁷Hearken to me, ye who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Fear ye not the reproach of men, nor be ye dismayed at their revilings. ⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. But my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations. ⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah. Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Is it not thou who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster? ¹⁰Is it not thou who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? ¹¹And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing to Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. ¹²I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are thou, that thou are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass, ¹³and have forgotten Jehovah thy maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? ¹⁴The captive exile shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die in the pit, nor shall his bread fail. ¹⁵For I am Jehovah thy God, who stirs up the sea so that the waves of it roar. Jehovah of hosts is his name. ¹⁶And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, Thou are my people. ¹⁷Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, who have drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath. Thou have drunk the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it. ¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth, nor is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons that she has brought up. ¹⁹These two things have befallen thee (Who shall bemoan thee?): Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword. How shall I comfort thee? ²⁰Thy sons have fainted. They lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net. They are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God. ²¹Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine. ²²Thus says thy lord Jehovah, and thy God who pleads the cause of his people: Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath. Thou shall no more drink it again. ²³And I will put it into the hand of those who afflict thee, who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over, and thou have laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to those who go over.

CHAPTER 52

¹Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion. Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city. For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. ²Shake thyself from the dust. Arise, sit up, O Jerusalem. Loose thyself from the bonds of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion. ³For thus says Jehovah: Ye were sold for nothing, and ye shall be redeemed without money. ⁴For thus says the lord Jehovah, My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there. And the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause. ⁵Now therefore, what do I do here, says Jehovah, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them howl, says Jehovah, and because of you my name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles. ⁶Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks, Behold, it is I. ⁷How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, Thy God reigns! ⁸The voice of thy watchmen! They lift up the voice; they sing together. For they shall see eye to eye, when Jehovah returns to Zion. ⁹Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for Jehovah has comforted his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem. ¹⁰Jehovah has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ¹¹Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from there. Touch no unclean thing. Go ye out of the midst of her. Cleanse yourselves, ye who bear the vessels of Jehovah. ¹²For ye shall not go out in haste, nor shall ye go by flight. For Jehovah will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rearward. ¹³Behold, my servant shall deal wisely. He shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high. ¹⁴Just as many were astonished at thee (his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men), ¹⁵so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths at him. For that which had not been told them they shall see, and that which they had not heard they shall understand.

CHAPTER 53

¹Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of Jehovah been revealed? ²For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness. And when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³He was despised, and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And as him from whom men hide their face he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. ⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and Jehovah has laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he opened not his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that is mute before its shearers, so he opened not his mouth. ⁸In his humiliation his justice was taken away. And as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? ⁹And they made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death. Although he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. ¹⁰Yet it pleased Jehovah to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When thou shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of Jehovah shall prosper in his hand. ¹¹He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. By the knowledge of himself shall my righteous servant justify many, and he shall bear their iniquities. ¹²Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

CHAPTER 54

¹Sing, O barren, thou who did not bear. Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou who did not travail with child. For more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married woman, says Jehovah. ²Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations. Spare not. Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. ³For thou shall spread abroad on the right hand and on the left. And thy seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. ⁴Fear not, for thou shall not be ashamed. Neither be thou confounded, for thou shall not be put to shame. For thou shall forget the shame of thy youth. And the reproach of thy widowhood thou shall remember no more. ⁵For thy maker is thy husband. Jehovah of hosts is his name. And the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer. He shall be called the God of the whole earth. ⁶For Jehovah has called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth when she is cast off, says thy God. ⁷For a small moment I have forsaken thee, but with great mercies I will gather thee. ⁸In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness I will have mercy on thee, says Jehovah thy Redeemer. ⁹For this is as the waters of Noah to me. For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with thee, nor rebuke thee. ¹⁰For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed, but my loving kindness shall not depart from thee, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says Jehovah who has mercy on thee. ¹¹O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will set thy stones in fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. ¹²And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy border of precious stones. ¹³And all thy sons shall be taught of Jehovah, and great shall be the peace of thy sons. ¹⁴Thou shall be established in righteousness. Thou shall be far from oppression, for thou shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. ¹⁵Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee. ¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and brings forth a weapon for his work. And I have created the waster to destroy. ¹⁷No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness which is of me, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 55

¹Ho, everyone who thirsts, come ye to the waters. And he who has no money, come ye, buy, and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. ²Why do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. ³Incline your ear, and come to me. Hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the faithful holy things of David. ⁴Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. ⁵Behold, thou shall call a nation that thou do not know. And a nation that does not know thee shall run to thee because of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified thee. ⁶Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. ⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. And let him return to Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says Jehovah. ⁹For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. ¹⁰For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and returns not there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, and gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater, ¹¹so shall my word be that goes forth out of my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall prosper in the thing to which I sent it. ¹²For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands. ¹³Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

CHAPTER 56

¹Thus says Jehovah, Keep ye justice, and do righteousness. For my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. ²Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. ³Neither let the foreigner, who has joined himself to Jehovah, speak, saying, Jehovah will surely separate me from his people, nor let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. ⁴For thus says Jehovah of the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast my covenant: ⁵To them I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. ⁶Also the foreigners who join themselves to Jehovah, to minister to him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, ⁷even them I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. ⁸The lord Jehovah, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, Yet I will gather to him, besides his own who are gathered. ⁹All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. ¹⁰His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. ¹¹Yea, the dogs are greedy; they can never have enough. And these are shepherds who cannot understand. They have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, from every quarter. ¹²Come ye, they say, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow shall be as this day, great beyond measure.

CHAPTER 57

¹The righteous man perishes, and no man lays it to heart. And merciful men are taken away; none considering that the righteous man is taken away from the evil. ²He enters into peace. They rest in their beds, each one who walks in his uprightness. ³But draw near here, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the harlot. ⁴Against whom do ye sport yourselves, against whom ye make a wide mouth, and put out the tongue? Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, ⁵ye who inflame yourselves among the oaks, under every green tree, who kill the children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? ⁶Among the smooth stones of the valley is thy portion. They, they are thy lot, even to them thou have poured a drink offering; thou have offered an oblation. Shall I be appeased for these things? ⁷Upon a high and lofty mountain thou have set thy bed. Thou also went up there to offer sacrifice. ⁸And behind the doors and the posts thou have set up thy memorial. For thou have uncovered thyself to another than me, and have gone up. Thou have enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them. Thou loved their bed where thou saw it. ⁹And thou went to the king with oil, and increased thy perfumes, and sent thine ambassadors far off, and debased thyself even to Sheol. ¹⁰Thou were wearied with the length of thy way, yet thou did not say, It is in vain. Thou found a quickening of thy strength, therefore thou were not faint. ¹¹And of whom have thou been afraid and in fear, that thou lie, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? Have I not held my peace even of long time, and thou do not fear me? ¹²I will declare thy righteousness. And as for thy works, they shall not profit thee. ¹³When thou cry, let those whom thou have gathered deliver thee. But the wind shall take them; a breath shall carry them all away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain. ¹⁴And he will say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way. Take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people. ¹⁵For thus says the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry, for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls that I have made. ¹⁷For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry, and smote him. I hid my face and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. ¹⁸I have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. ¹⁹I create the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near, says Jehovah, and I will heal him. ²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters cast up mire and dirt. ²¹There is no peace, says my God, to the wicked.

CHAPTER 58

¹Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare to my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. ²Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways. As a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God, they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ³Why have we fasted, they say, and thou see not? We have afflicted our soul, and thou take no knowledge. Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact from all your laborers. ⁴Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye do not fast this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. ⁵Is such the fast that I have chosen, the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to Jehovah? ⁶Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? ⁷Is it not to deal thy bread to a hungry man, and that thou bring the poor who are cast out to thy house, when thou see a naked man, that thou cover him, and that thou not hide thyself from thine own flesh? ⁸Then thy light shall break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily. And thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward. ⁹Then thou shall call, and Jehovah will answer, thou shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take the yoke away from the midst of thee, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly, ¹⁰and if thou draw out thy soul to a hungry man, and satisfy an afflicted soul, then thy light shall rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday. ¹¹And Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in dry places, and make strong thy bones. And thou shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. ¹²And those who shall be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. ¹³If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy of Jehovah honorable, and shall honor it, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: ¹⁴then thou shall delight thyself in Jehovah, and I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it.

CHAPTER 59

¹Behold, Jehovah�s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that it cannot hear. ²But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you so that he will not hear. ³For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue mutters wickedness. ⁴No man sues in righteousness, and no man pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. ⁵They hatch adders� eggs, and weave the spider�s web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. ⁶Their webs shall not become garments, nor shall they cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. ⁷Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths. ⁸They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their goings. They have made them crooked paths. Whoever goes in it does not know peace. ⁹Therefore justice is far from us, nor does righteousness overtake us. We look for light, but behold, darkness, for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. ¹⁰We grope for the wall like the blind. Yea, we grope as those who have no eyes. We stumble at noonday as in the twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places. ¹¹We all roar like bears, and moan greatly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us. ¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: ¹³transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. ¹⁴And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness stands afar off. For truth has fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. ¹⁵Yea, truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. And Jehovah saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. ¹⁶And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore his own arm brought salvation to him. And his righteousness, it upheld him. ¹⁷And he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head. And he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a mantle. ¹⁸According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, wrath to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies. He will repay recompense to the islands. ¹⁹So they shall fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. For he will come as a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah drives. ²⁰And he who redeems will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says Jehovah. ²¹And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says Jehovah: My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed�s seed, says Jehovah, from henceforth and forever.

CHAPTER 60

¹Arise, shine, for thy light has come, and the glory of Jehovah has risen upon thee. ²For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples. But Jehovah will arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. ³And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. ⁴Lift up thine eyes round about, and see. They all gather themselves together. They come to thee. Thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be carried in the arms. ⁵Then thou shall see and be radiant, and thy heart shall thrill and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to thee. The wealth of the nations shall come to thee. ⁶The multitude of camels shall cover thee. The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah. ⁷All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to thee. The rams of Nebaioth shall minister to thee. They shall come up with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. ⁸Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? ⁹Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified thee. ¹⁰And foreigners shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister to thee. For in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor I have had mercy on thee. ¹¹Thy gates also shall be open continually. They shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to thee the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive. ¹²For that nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish. Yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. ¹³The glory of Lebanon shall come to thee, the fir tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary. And I will make the place of my feet glorious. ¹⁴And the sons of those who afflicted thee shall come bending to thee. And all those who despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet. And they shall call thee The city of Jehovah, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵Whereas thou have been forsaken and hated, so that no man passed through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. ¹⁶Thou shall also suck the milk of the nations, and shall suck the breast of kings. And thou shall know that I, Jehovah, am thy Savior, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. ¹⁷For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron. I will also make thy officers peace, and thine overseers righteousness. ¹⁸Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, desolation nor destruction within thy borders, but thou shall call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. ¹⁹The sun shall no more be thy light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to thee, but Jehovah will be to thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. ²⁰Thy sun shall no more go down, nor shall thy moon withdraw itself, for Jehovah will be thine everlasting light. And the days of thy mourning shall be ended. ²¹Thy people also shall all be righteous. They shall inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. ²²The little one shall become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, Jehovah, will hasten it in its time.

CHAPTER 61

¹The Spirit of the lord Jehovah is upon me, because Jehovah has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, and the opening of bonds to those who are bound, ²to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, ³to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, that he may be glorified. ⁴And they shall build the old wastes. They shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations. ⁵And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. ⁶But ye shall be named the priests of Jehovah. Men shall call you the ministers of our God. Ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory ye shall boast yourselves. ⁷Instead of your shame ye shall have double, and instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double. Everlasting joy shall be to them. ⁸For I, Jehovah, love justice. I hate robbery with iniquity. And I will give them their recompense in truth. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them. ⁹And their seed shall be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah has blessed. ¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in Jehovah. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the lord Jehovah will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

CHAPTER 62

¹For Zion�s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem�s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns. ²And the nations shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. ³Thou shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. ⁴Thou shall no more be termed Forsaken, nor shall thy land any more be termed Desolate. But thou shall be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah, for Jehovah delights in thee, and thy land shall be married. ⁵For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. ⁶I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem. They shall never keep silent day nor night. Ye who are Jehovah�s reminders, take ye no rest, ⁷and give him no rest, till he establishes, and till he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth. ⁸Jehovah has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy grain to be food for thine enemies, and foreigners shall not drink thy new wine, for which thou have labored. ⁹But those who have garnered it shall eat it, and praise Jehovah. And those who have gathered it shall drink it in the courts of my sanctuary. ¹⁰Go through, go through the gates. Prepare ye the way of the people. Cast up, cast up the highway. Gather out the stones. Lift up an ensign for the peoples. ¹¹Behold, Jehovah has proclaimed to the end of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation comes. Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. ¹²And they shall call them The holy people, The redeemed of Jehovah. And thou shall be called Sought out, A city not forsaken.

CHAPTER 63

¹Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this who is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. ²Why are thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him who treads in the wine vat? ³I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no man with me. Yea, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath, and their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. ⁴For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed has come. ⁵And I looked, and there was none to help. And I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore my own arm brought salvation to me. And my wrath, it upheld me. ⁶And I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth. ⁷I will make mention of the loving kindnesses of Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according to all that Jehovah has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ⁸For he said, Surely, they are my people, sons that will not deal falsely. So he was their Savior. ⁹In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the agent of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. And he bore them, and carried them all the days of old. ¹⁰But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. ¹¹Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put his holy Spirit in the midst of them, ¹²who caused his glorious arm to go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name, ¹³who led them through the depths, as a horse in the wilderness, so that they stumbled not? ¹⁴As the cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of Jehovah caused them to rest. So thou led thy people to make thyself a glorious name. ¹⁵Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory. Where are thy zeal and thy mighty acts? The yearning of thy heart and thy compassions are restrained toward me. ¹⁶For thou are our Father, though Abraham knows us not, and Israel does not acknowledge us, thou, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is thy name. ¹⁷O Jehovah, why do thou make us to err from thy ways, and harden our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants� sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. ¹⁸Thy holy people possessed it but a little while. Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. ¹⁹We have become as those over whom thou never bore rule, as those who were not called by thy name.

CHAPTER 64

¹Oh that thou would rend the heavens, that thou would come down, that the mountains might quake at thy presence, ²as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! ³When thou did fearful things which we did not look for, thou came down; the mountains quaked at thy presence. ⁴For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he has prepared for him who waits for him. ⁵Thou meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou were angry, and we sinned. Therefore we have erred. ⁶For we have all become as unclean, and all our righteous acts are as a polluted garment. And we all fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. ⁷And there is none who calls upon thy name, who stirs himself up to take hold of thee. For thou have hid thy face from us, and have consumed us through our iniquities. ⁸But now, O Jehovah, thou are our Father. We are the clay, and thou our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand. ⁹Be not angry very severely, O Jehovah, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold, look, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. ¹⁰Thy holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. ¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant places are laid waste. ¹²Will thou restrain thyself for these things, O Jehovah? Will thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very severely?

CHAPTER 65

¹I was manifested by those who did not ask for me. I am found by those who did not seek me. I said, Behold me, behold me, to a nation that was not called by my name. ²I have spread out my hands all the day to a disobedient and rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts, ³a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense upon bricks, ⁴who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places, who eat swine�s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels, ⁵who say, Stand by thyself, do not come near to me, for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day. ⁶Behold, it is written before me. I will not keep silence, but will recompense. Yea, I will recompense into their bosom ⁷your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, says Jehovah, those who have burned incense upon the mountains, and blasphemed me upon the hills. Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom. ⁸Thus says Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and a man says, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it, so I will do for my servants� sake, that I may not destroy them all. ⁹And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains. And my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there. ¹⁰And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me. ¹¹But ye who forsake Jehovah, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mingled wine to Destiny, ¹²I will destine you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter. Because when I called, ye did not answer, when I spoke, ye did not hear, but ye did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight. ¹³Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry. Behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty. Behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be put to shame. ¹⁴Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for vexation of spirit. ¹⁵And ye shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen, and the lord Jehovah will kill thee. And he will call his servants by another name, ¹⁶so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth, and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth. Because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from my eyes. ¹⁷For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. ¹⁸But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. ¹⁹And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people. And there shall no more be heard in her the voice of weeping and the voice of crying. ²⁰There shall be no more from there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days. For the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. ²¹And they shall build houses, and inhabit them. And they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. ²²They shall not build, and another inhabit. They shall not plant, and another eat. For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. ²³They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity. For they are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. ²⁴And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. ²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent�s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 66

¹Thus says Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What manner of house will ye build to me, and what place shall be my rest? ²For all these things my hand has made, and all these things came to be, says Jehovah. But to this man I will look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. ³He who slaughters an ox is as he who kills a man. He who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog�s neck. He who offers an oblation, as swine�s blood. He who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations. ⁴I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them. Because when I called, none answered. When I spoke, they did not hear. But they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight. ⁵Hear the word of Jehovah, ye who tremble at his word: Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name�s sake, have said, Let Jehovah be glorified, that we may see your joy. But it is those who shall be put to shame. ⁶A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Jehovah who renders recompense to his enemies. ⁷Before she travailed, she brought forth. Before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child. ⁸Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her sons. ⁹Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says Jehovah. Shall I who cause to bring forth shut the womb? says thy God. ¹⁰Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye who love her. Rejoice for joy with her, all ye who mourn over her, ¹¹that ye may nurse and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations, that ye may get milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. ¹²For thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream. And ye shall nurse thereof. Ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees. ¹³As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And ye shall see, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass. And the hand of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants, and he will have indignation against his enemies. ¹⁵For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind, to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. ¹⁶For by fire Jehovah will execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh, and the slain of Jehovah shall be many. ¹⁷Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating swine�s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, says Jehovah. ¹⁸For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes, that I will gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come, and shall see my glory. ¹⁹And I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off, who have not heard my fame, nor have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰And they shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an oblation to Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Jehovah, as the sons of Israel bring their oblation in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah. ²¹And of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says Jehovah. ²²For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. ²³And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says Jehovah. ²⁴And they shall go forth, and look upon the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, nor shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh.

JEREMIAH

CHAPTER 1

¹The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, ²to whom the word of Jehovah came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. ³It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the carrying away captive of Jerusalem in the fifth month. ⁴Now the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁵Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou came forth out of the womb I sanctified thee. I have appointed thee a prophet to the nations. ⁶Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Behold, I know not how to speak, for I am a child. ⁷But Jehovah said to me, Say not, I am a child. For to whomever I shall send thee thou shall go, and whatever I shall command thee thou shall speak. ⁸Be not afraid because of them, for I am with thee to deliver thee, says Jehovah. ⁹Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And Jehovah said to me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. ¹⁰See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. ¹¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Jeremiah, what do thou see? And I said, I see a rod of an almond tree. ¹²Then Jehovah said to me, Thou have well seen. For I watch over my word to perform it. ¹³And the word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, What do thou see? And I said, I see a boiling caldron, and the face of it is from the north. ¹⁴Then Jehovah said to me, Out of the north evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says Jehovah. And they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls of it round about, and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶And I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, in that they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak to them all that I command thee. Be not dismayed at them, lest I dismay thee before them. ¹⁸For, behold, I have made thee this day a fortified city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the rulers of it, against the priests of it, and against the people of the land. ¹⁹And they shall fight against thee. But they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, says Jehovah, to deliver thee.

CHAPTER 2

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah, I remember for thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, how thou went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. ³Israel was holiness to Jehovah, the first-fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come upon them, says Jehovah. ⁴Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says Jehovah: What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain? ⁶Nor did they say, Where is Jehovah who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt? ⁷And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it. But when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. ⁸The priests did not say, Where is Jehovah? And those who handle the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me. And the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. ⁹Therefore I will yet contend with you, says Jehovah, and I will contend with your son�s sons. ¹⁰For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see, and send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. ¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. ¹²Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, says Jehovah. ¹³For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. ¹⁴Is Israel a servant? Is he a homebred one? Why has he become a prey? ¹⁵The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled, and they have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. ¹⁶The sons also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head. ¹⁷Have thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou have forsaken Jehovah thy God when he led thee by the way? ¹⁸And now what have thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? ¹⁹Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou have forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts. ²⁰For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot. ²¹Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? ²²For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, says the lord Jehovah. ²³How can thou say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after the Baalim? See thy way in the valley. Know what thou have done, a swift dromedary traversing her ways, ²⁴a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs up the wind in her desire. In her time of estrus who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month they shall find her. ²⁵Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst. But thou said, It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and after them I will go. ²⁶As the thief is shamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel shamed, they, their kings, their rulers, and their priests, and their prophets, ²⁷who say to a block of wood, Thou are my father, and to a stone, Thou have brought me forth. For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. ²⁸But where are thy gods that thou have made thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble. For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. ²⁹Why will ye contend with me? Ye have all transgressed against me, says Jehovah. ³⁰In vain I have smitten your sons. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. ³¹O generation, see ye the word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, We have broken loose. We will come no more to thee? ³²Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number. ³³How thou trim thy way to seek love! Therefore even the wicked women thou have taught thy ways. ³⁴Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. Thou did not find them breaking in. But it is because of all these things. ³⁵Yet thou said, I am innocent. Surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou say, I have not sinned. ³⁶Why do thou gad about so much to change thy way? Thou shall be ashamed of Egypt also, as thou were ashamed of Assyria. ³⁷Thou shall also go forth from there with thy hands upon thy head. For Jehovah has rejected those in whom thou trust. And thou shall not prosper with them.

CHAPTER 3

¹They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man�s, will he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return again to me, says Jehovah. ²Lift up thine eyes to the bare heights, and see. Where have thou not been lain with? By the ways thou have sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness, and thou have polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. ³Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. Yet thou have a harlot�s forehead; thou refused to be ashamed. ⁴Will thou not from this time cry to me, My Father, thou are the guide of my youth? ⁵Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou have spoken, and have done evil things, and have had thy way. ⁶Moreover Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have thou seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot. ⁷And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me, but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not, but she also went and played the harlot. ⁹And it came to pass through the frivolity of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. ¹⁰And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says Jehovah. ¹¹And Jehovah said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, says Jehovah, I will not look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says Jehovah. I will not keep anger forever. ¹³Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou have transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and have scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, says Jehovah. ¹⁴Return, O backsliding sons, says Jehovah, for I am a husband to you. And I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah, nor shall it come to mind. Neither shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it. Neither shall it be made any more. ¹⁷At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. ¹⁸In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers. ¹⁹But I said, How I will put thee among the sons, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! And I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. ²⁰Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so ye have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. ²¹A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel, because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten Jehovah their God. ²²Return, ye backsliding sons, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come to thee, for thou are Jehovah our God. ²³Truly it is in vain from the heights, the multitude on the mountains. Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us, for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.

CHAPTER 4

¹If thou will return, O Israel, says Jehovah, if thou will return to me, and if thou will put away thine abominations out of my sight, then thou shall not be removed. ²And thou shall swear, As Jehovah lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness. And the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him they shall glory. ³For thus says Jehovah to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. ⁴Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. ⁵Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem, and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land. Cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities. ⁶Set up a standard toward Zion. Flee for safety, do not stay. For I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. ⁷A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations. He is on his way, he has gone forth from his place, to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, without inhabitant. ⁸For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of Jehovah is not turned back from us. ⁹And it shall come to pass at that day, says Jehovah, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the rulers, and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. ¹⁰Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Surely thou have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace, whereas the sword reaches to the life. ¹¹At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow, nor to cleanse, ¹²a full wind from these shall come for me. Now I will also utter judgments against them. ¹³Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined. ¹⁴O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness, that thou may be saved. How long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? ¹⁵For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes evil from the hills of Ephraim: ¹⁶Make ye mention to the nations. Behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷They are as keepers of a field against her round about, because she has been rebellious against me, says Jehovah. ¹⁸Thy way and thy doings have procured these things to thee. This is thy wickedness, for it is bitter, for it reaches to thy heart. ¹⁹My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart. My heart is disquieted in me. I cannot hold my peace, because thou have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, and my curtains in a moment. ²¹How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²²For my people are foolish. They do not know me. They are sottish sons, and they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. ²³I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void, and the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. ²⁵I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. ²⁶I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger. ²⁷For thus says Jehovah: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end. ²⁸For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, nor will I turn back from it. ²⁹Every city flees for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks. Every city is forsaken, and not a man dwells in it. ³⁰And thou, when thou are made desolate, what will thou do? Though thou clothe thyself with scarlet, though thou deck thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlarge thine eyes with paint, in vain thou make thyself fair. Thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life. ³¹For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her who brings forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, who gasps for breath, who spreads her hands, saying, Woe is me now! For my soul faints before the murderers.

CHAPTER 5

¹Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places of it, if ye can find a man, if there is any who does justly, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her. ²And though they say, As Jehovah lives, surely they swear falsely. ³O Jehovah, do not thine eyes look upon truth? Thou have stricken them, but they were not grieved. Thou have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock. They have refused to return. ⁴Then I said, Surely these are poor, they are foolish, for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God. ⁵I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of Jehovah, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds. ⁶Therefore a lion out of the forest shall kill them; a wolf of the evenings shall destroy them; a leopard shall watch against their cities. Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. ⁷How can I pardon thee? Thy sons have forsaken me, and sworn by those who are no gods. When I had fed them to the full, they committed adultery, and assembled themselves in troops at the harlots� houses. ⁸They were as fed horses roaming at large; everyone neighed after his neighbor�s wife. ⁹Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. And shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? ¹⁰Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy, but make not a full end. Take away her branches, for they are not Jehovah�s. ¹¹For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says Jehovah. ¹²They have denied Jehovah, and said, It is not he. Neither shall evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword nor famine. ¹³And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them. ¹⁴Therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts: Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. ¹⁵Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says Jehovah. It is a mighty nation. It is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou know not, nor understand what they say. ¹⁶Their quiver is an open sepulcher. They are all mighty men. ¹⁷And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat. They shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds. They shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees. They shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trust, with the sword. ¹⁸But even in those days, says Jehovah, I will not make a full end with you. ¹⁹And it shall come to pass, when ye shall say, Why has Jehovah our God done all these things to us? Then thou shall say to them, Just as ye have forsaken me, and served foreign gods in your land, so ye shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours. ²⁰Declare ye this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, ²¹Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding, who have eyes, and see not, who have ears, and hear not: ²²Do ye not fear me? says Jehovah. Will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it? And though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet they cannot prevail, though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. ²³But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart. They have revolted and gone. ²⁴Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now fear Jehovah our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves to us the appointed weeks of the harvest. ²⁵Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good from you. ²⁶For among my people are found wicked men. They watch as fowlers lie in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. ²⁷As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit. Therefore they have become great, and grown rich. ²⁸They have grown fat. They shine. Yea, they overflow in deeds of wickedness. They do not plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper. And they do not judge the right of the needy. ²⁹Shall I not visit for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? ³⁰An astonishing and horrible thing has come to pass in the land. ³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so. And what will ye do in the end thereof?

CHAPTER 6

¹Flee for safety, ye sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem. And blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise up a signal on Beth-haccherem. For evil looks forth from the north, and a great destruction. ²The comely and delicate one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off. ³Shepherds with their flocks shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her round about. They shall feed every one in his place. ⁴Prepare ye war against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us! For the day declines; for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. ⁵Arise, and let us go up by night, and let us destroy her palaces. ⁶For thus has Jehovah of hosts said: Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be visited. She has oppression completely in the midst of her. ⁷As a well casts forth its waters, so she casts forth her wickedness. Violence and destruction is heard in her. Continually before me is sickness and wounds. ⁸Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be alienated from thee, lest I make thee a desolation, a land not inhabited. ⁹Thus says Jehovah of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine. Turn again thy hand as a grape gatherer into the baskets. ¹⁰To whom shall I speak and testify, that they may hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of Jehovah has become to them a reproach; they have no delight in it. ¹¹Therefore I am full of the wrath of Jehovah. I am weary with holding in. Pour it out upon the sons in the street, and upon the assembly of young men together. For even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him who is full of days. ¹²And their houses shall be turned to others, their fields and their wives together. For I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, says Jehovah. ¹³For from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. ¹⁴They have also lightly healed the hurt of my people, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. ¹⁵Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, says Jehovah. ¹⁶Thus says Jehovah, Stand ye in the ways and see. And ask for the old paths where is the good way. And walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk. ¹⁷And I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken. ¹⁸Therefore hear, ye nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. ¹⁹Hear, O earth: Behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened to my words. And as for my law, they have rejected it. ²⁰To what purpose does there come to me frankincense from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices pleasing to me. ²¹Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish. ²²Thus says Jehovah, Behold, a people comes from the north country, and a great nation shall be stirred up from the outermost parts of the earth. ²³They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses. Each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Zion. ²⁴We have heard the report of it. Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, and pangs as of a woman in travail. ²⁵Go not forth into the field, nor walk by the way, for the sword of the enemy, and terror, are on every side. ²⁶O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning, as for an only son, a most bitter lamentation. For the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us. ²⁷I have made thee a prover and a fortress among my people, that thou may know and try their way. ²⁸They are all grievous revolters, going about with slanders. They are brass and iron. They all of them deal corruptly. ²⁹The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed of the fire. In vain do they go on refining, for the wicked are not plucked away. ³⁰Waste silver, men shall call them, because Jehovah has rejected them.

CHAPTER 7

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Stand in the gate of Jehovah�s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, all ye of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Jehovah. ³Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. ⁴Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these. ⁵For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor, ⁶if ye do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own hurt, ⁷then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers from of old even for evermore. ⁸Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. ⁹Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known, ¹⁰and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered, that ye may do all these abominations? ¹¹Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Jehovah. ¹²But go ye now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. ¹³And now, because ye have done all these works, says Jehovah. And I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not, and I called you, but ye answered not, ¹⁴therefore I will do to the house, which is called by my name, in which ye trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim. ¹⁶Therefore pray thou not for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them. Neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear thee. ¹⁷Do thou not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. ¹⁹Do they provoke me to anger? says Jehovah, and not themselves, to the confusion of their own faces? ²⁰Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground. And it shall burn, and shall not be quenched. ²¹Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat ye flesh. ²²For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. ²³But this thing I commanded them, saying, Hearken to my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people. And walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you. ²⁴But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels, in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward. ²⁵Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. ²⁶Yet they hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff. They did worse than their fathers. ²⁷And thou shall speak all these words to them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou shall also call to them, but they will not answer thee. ²⁸And thou shall say to them, This is the nation that has not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah their God, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth. ²⁹Cut off thy hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights. For Jehovah has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. ³⁰For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Jehovah. They have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³¹And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind. ³²Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter. For they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no place to bury. ³³And the dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall frighten them away. ³⁴Then I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall become a waste.

CHAPTER 8

¹At that time, says Jehovah, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his rulers, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves. ²And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved, and which they have served, and after which they have walked, and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They shall not be gathered, nor be buried. They shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. ³And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue that remain of this evil family, that remain in all the places where I have driven them, says Jehovah of hosts. ⁴Moreover thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah: Shall men fall, and not rise up again? Shall he turn away, and not return? ⁵Why then has this people of Jerusalem slid back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold firm deceit. They refuse to return. ⁶I hearkened and heard, but they did not speak aright. No man repents of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his course as a horse that rushes headlong in the battle. ⁷Yea, the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times, and the turtledove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the law of Jehovah. ⁸How can ye say, We are wise, and the law of Jehovah is with us? But behold, the false pen of the scribes has wrought falsely. ⁹The wise men are put to shame. They are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of Jehovah, and what manner of wisdom is in them? ¹⁰Therefore I will give their wives to others, and their fields to those who shall possess them. For everyone from the least even to the greatest is given to covetousness. From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely. ¹¹And they have lightly healed the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace. ¹²Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. In the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, says Jehovah. ¹³I will utterly consume them, says Jehovah. There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade, and things I have given them shall pass away from them. ¹⁴Why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the fortified cities, and let us be silent there. For Jehovah our God has put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against Jehovah. ¹⁵We looked for peace, but no good came, for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay! ¹⁶The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land trembles. For they have come, and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those who dwell therein. ¹⁷For, behold, I will send serpents, adders, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, says Jehovah. ¹⁸Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me. ¹⁹Behold, the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people from a land that is very far off: Is not Jehovah in Zion? Is not her King in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with foreign vanities? ²⁰The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. ²¹For the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt. I mourn. Dismay has taken hold on me. ²²Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

CHAPTER 9

¹Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! ²Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men, that I might leave my people, and go from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. ³And they bend their tongue�their bow�for falsehood, and they have grown strong in the land, but not for truth. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says Jehovah. ⁴Take ye heed each one of his neighbor, and trust ye not in any brother, for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about with slanders. ⁵And they will deceive each one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies. They weary themselves to commit iniquity. ⁶Thy habitation is in the midst of deceit. Through deceit they refuse to know me, says Jehovah. ⁷Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will melt them, and try them, for how else should I do, because of the daughter of my people? ⁸Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. He speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, but in his heart he lies wait for him. ⁹Shall I not visit them for these things? says Jehovah. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? ¹⁰For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they are burned up, so that none passes through, nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; they are gone. ¹¹And I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. ¹²Who is the wise man, who may understand this, and he to whom the mouth of Jehovah has spoken, that he may declare it? Why has the land perished and burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through? ¹³And Jehovah says, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked in it, ¹⁴but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them. ¹⁵Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. ¹⁶I will scatter them also among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. ¹⁷Thus says Jehovah of hosts, Consider ye, and call for the mourning women, that they may come, and send for the skilful women, that they may come. ¹⁸And let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. ¹⁹For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How we are ruined! We are greatly confounded, because we have forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. ²⁰Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O ye women, and let your ear receive the word of his mouth, and teach your daughters wailing, and each one her neighbor lamentation. ²¹For death has come up into our windows. It has entered into our palaces, to cut off the sons from outside, the young men from the streets. ²²Speak, Thus says Jehovah: The dead bodies of men shall fall as dung upon the open field, and as the handful after the harvestman, and none shall gather. ²³Thus says Jehovah: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory in his riches, ²⁴but let him who boasts boast in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Jehovah who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth. For in these things I delight, says Jehovah. ²⁵Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in their uncircumcision: ²⁶Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, who dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

CHAPTER 10

¹Hear ye the word which Jehovah speaks to you, O house of Israel. ²Thus says Jehovah: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the nations are dismayed at them. ³For the customs of the peoples are vanity. For a man cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe. ⁴They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it not move. ⁵They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and do not speak. They must be carried, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good. ⁶There is none like thee, O Jehovah. Thou are great, and thy name is great in might. ⁷Who should not fear thee, O King of the nations? For to thee it appertains, inasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is none like thee. ⁸But they are together brutish and foolish, the instruction of idols! It is but a block of wood. ⁹There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer and of the hands of the goldsmith, blue and purple for their clothing. They are all the work of skilful men. ¹⁰But Jehovah is the true God. He is the living God, and an everlasting King. At his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations are not able to abide his indignation. ¹¹Thus ye shall say to them: The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the earth, and from under the heavens. ¹²He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens. ¹³When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. ¹⁴Every man has become brutish, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his graven image. For his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁵They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁶The portion of Jacob is not like these. For he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of hosts is his name. ¹⁷Gather up thy wares out of the land, O thou who abides in the siege. ¹⁸For thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it. ¹⁹Woe is me because of my hurt! My wound is grievous, but I said, Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it. ²⁰My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My sons have gone forth from me, and they are not. There is none to spread my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. ²¹For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered. ²²The voice of news. Behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling-place of jackals. ²³O Jehovah, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps. ²⁴O Jehovah, correct me, but in measure, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. ²⁵Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name. For they have devoured Jacob. Yea, they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.

CHAPTER 11

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ³and say thou to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant, ⁴which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you, so ye shall be my people, and I will be your God, ⁵that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day. Then I answered, and said, Truly, O Jehovah. ⁶And Jehovah said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them. ⁷For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice. ⁸Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not. ⁹And Jehovah said to me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁰They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers. ¹¹Therefore thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape. And they shall cry to me, but I will not hearken to them. ¹²Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall go and cry to the gods to which they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. ¹³For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem ye have set up altars to the shameful thing, even altars to burn incense to Baal. ¹⁴Therefore do not pray thou for this people, nor lift up cry nor prayer for them, for I will not hear them in the time that they cry to me because of their trouble. ¹⁵What has my beloved to do in my house, seeing she has wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh has passed from thee? When thou do evil, then thou rejoice. ¹⁶Jehovah called thy name, A green olive tree, fair with goodly fruit. With the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. ¹⁷For Jehovah of hosts, who planted thee, has pronounced evil against thee because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have wrought for themselves in provoking me to anger by offering incense to Baal. ¹⁸And Jehovah gave me knowledge of it, and I knew it. Then thou showed me their doings. ¹⁹But I was like a gentle lamb that is led to the slaughter. And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit of it. And let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may no more be remembered. ²⁰But, O Jehovah of hosts, who judges righteously, who tries the heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them, for to thee I have revealed my case. ²¹Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek thy life, saying, Thou shall not prophesy in the name of Jehovah, that thou not die by our hand. ²²Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, ²³and there shall be no remnant to them. For I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.

CHAPTER 12

¹Thou are righteous, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee. Yet I would reason the case with thee. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all those at ease who deal very treacherously? ²Thou have planted them. Yea, they have taken root, they grow. Yea, they bring forth fruit. Thou are near in their mouth, and far from their heart. ³But thou, O Jehovah, know me. Thou see me, and try my heart toward thee. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. ⁴How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of the whole country wither? For the wickedness of those who dwell therein, the beasts are consumed, and the birds, because they said, He shall not see our latter end. ⁵If thou have run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how can thou contend with horses? And though in a land of peace thou are secure, yet how will thou do in the pride of the Jordan? ⁶For even thy brothers, and the house of thy father, even they have dealt treacherously with thee, even they have cried aloud after thee. Believe them not, though they speak fair words to thee. ⁷I have forsaken my house. I have cast off my heritage. I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. ⁸My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest. She has uttered her voice against me. Therefore I have hated her. ⁹Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her round about? Go ye, assemble all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour. ¹⁰Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. ¹¹They have made it a desolation. It mourns to me, being desolate. The whole land is made desolate, because no man lays it to heart. ¹²Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness. For the sword of Jehovah devours from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land. No flesh has peace. ¹³They have sown wheat, and have reaped thorns. They have put themselves to pain, and profit nothing. And ye shall be ashamed of your fruits, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. ¹⁴Thus says Jehovah against all my evil neighbors, who touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit: Behold, I will pluck them up from off their land, and will pluck up the house of Judah from among them. ¹⁵And it shall come to pass, after I have plucked them up, I will return and have compassion on them. And I will bring them again, each man to his heritage, and each man to his land. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, As Jehovah lives, even as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they shall be built up in the midst of my people. ¹⁷But if they will not hear, then I will pluck up that nation, plucking up and destroying it, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 13

¹Thus says Jehovah to me, Go, and buy thee a linen sash, and put it upon thy loins, and do not put it in water. ²So I bought a sash according to the word of Jehovah, and put it upon my loins. ³And the word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, ⁴Take the sash that thou have bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. ⁵So I went, and hid it by the Euphrates, as Jehovah commanded me. ⁶And it came to pass after many days, that Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the sash from there, which I commanded thee to hide there. ⁷Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the sash from the place where I had hid it. And, behold, the sash was rotten. It was good for nothing. ⁸Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁹Thus says Jehovah, After this manner I will mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this sash, which is good for nothing. ¹¹For as the sash clings to the loins of a man, so I have caused to cling to me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, says Jehovah, that they may be to me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory, but they would not hear. ¹²Therefore thou shall speak to them this word. Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Every bottle shall be filled with wine. And they shall say to thee, Do we not certainly know that every bottle shall be filled with wine? ¹³Then thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit upon David�s throne, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, with drunkenness. ¹⁴And I will dash them one against another, even the fathers and the sons together, says Jehovah. I will not pity, nor spare, nor have compassion, that I should not destroy them. ¹⁵Hear ye, and give ear, be not proud, for Jehovah has spoken. ¹⁶Give glory to Jehovah your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains. And, while ye look for light, he turns it into the shadow of death, and makes it gross darkness. ¹⁷But if ye will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret for your pride. And my eye shall weep greatly, and run down with tears, because Jehovah�s flock is taken captive. ¹⁸Say thou to the king and to the queen-mother: Humble yourselves. Sit down, for your coronets have come down, even the crown of your glory. ¹⁹The cities of the South are shut up, and there is none to open them. Judah is carried away captive, all of it. It is wholly carried away captive. ²⁰Lift up your eyes, and behold those who come from the north. Where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock? ²¹What will thou say when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou thyself have taught to be friends to thee? Shall not sorrows take hold of thee as of a woman in travail? ²²And if thou say in thy heart, Why have these things come upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity thy skirts are uncovered, and thy heels suffer violence. ²³Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Then ye also may do good, who are accustomed to do evil. ²⁴Therefore I will scatter them as the stubble that passes away by the wind of the wilderness. ²⁵This is thy lot, the portion measured to thee from me, says Jehovah, because thou have forgotten me, and trusted in falsehood. ²⁶Therefore I will also uncover thy skirts upon thy face, and thy shame shall appear. ²⁷I have seen thine abominations, even thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, on the hills, in the field. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem! Thou will not be made clean. How long shall it yet be?

CHAPTER 14

¹The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought. ²Judah mourns, and the gates thereof languish. They sit in black upon the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. ³And their ranking men send their little ones to the waters. They come to the cisterns, and find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are put to shame and confounded, and cover their heads, ⁴because of the ground which is cracked. Because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are put to shame; they cover their heads. ⁵Yea, the hind also in the field calves, and forsakes it because there is no grass. ⁶And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no herbage. ⁷Though our iniquities testify against us, work thou for thy name�s sake, O Jehovah. For our backslidings are many. We have sinned against thee. ⁸O thou hope of Israel, the Savior of it in the time of trouble, why should thou be as a sojourner in the land, and as a wayfaring man who turns aside to tarry for a night? ⁹Why should thou be as a man frightened, as a mighty man who cannot save? Yet thou, O Jehovah, are in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name. Do not leave us. ¹⁰Thus says Jehovah to this people: Even so they have loved to wander. They have not restrained their feet. Therefore Jehovah does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. ¹¹And Jehovah said to me, Pray not for this people for good. ¹²When they fast, I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt offering and meal offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. ¹³Then I said, Ah, lord Jehovah! Behold, the prophets say to them, Ye shall not see the sword, nor shall ye have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. ¹⁴Then Jehovah said to me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name. I did not send them, nor have I commanded them, nor did I speak to them. They prophesy to you a lying vision, and divination, and a thing of naught, and the deceit of their own heart. ¹⁵Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, and I did not send them, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. ¹⁶And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword, and they shall have none to bury them�them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will pour their wickedness upon them. ¹⁷And thou shall say this word to them: Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous wound. ¹⁸If I go forth into the field, then, behold, the slain with the sword! And if I enter into the city, then, behold, those who are sick with famine! For both the prophet and the priest go about in the land, and have no knowledge. ¹⁹Have thou utterly rejected Judah? Has thy soul loathed Zion? Why have thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but no good came, and for a time of healing, and, behold, dismay! ²⁰We acknowledge, O Jehovah, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against thee. ²¹Do not abhor us. For thy name�s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory. Remember, do not break thy covenant with us. ²²Are there any among the vanities of the nations that can cause rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are not thou he, O Jehovah our God? Therefore we will wait for thee, for thou have made all these things.

CHAPTER 15

¹Then Jehovah said to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not be toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth. ²And it shall come to pass, when they say to thee, Where shall we go forth? Then thou shall tell them, Thus says Jehovah: Such as are for death, to death, and such as are for the sword, to the sword, and such as are for the famine, to the famine, and such as are for captivity, to captivity. ³And I will appoint over them four kinds, says Jehovah: the sword to kill, and the dogs to tear, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and to destroy. ⁴And I will cause them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem. ⁵For who will have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan thee? Or who will turn aside to ask of thy welfare? ⁶Thou have rejected me, says Jehovah. Thou have gone backward. Therefore I have stretched out my hand against thee, and destroyed thee. I am weary with relenting. ⁷And I have winnowed them with a fan in the gates of the land. I have bereaved them of sons. I have destroyed my people. They did not return from their ways. ⁸Their widows have increased to me above the sand of the seas. I have brought upon them, against the mother of the young men, a destroyer at noonday. I have caused anguish and terrors to fall upon her suddenly. ⁹She who has borne seven, languishes. She has given up the spirit. Her sun has gone down while it was yet day. She has been put to shame and confounded. And the residue of them I will deliver to the sword before their enemies, says Jehovah. ¹⁰Woe is me, my mother, that thou have bore me, a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have not lent, nor have men lent to me, yet every one of them curses me. ¹¹Jehovah said, Truly I will strengthen thee for good. Truly I will cause the enemy to make supplication to thee in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. ¹²Can a man break iron, even iron from the north, and brass? ¹³Thy substance and thy treasures I will give for a spoil without price. And that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders. ¹⁴And I will make them to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou know not. For a fire is kindled in my anger, which shall burn upon you. ¹⁵O Jehovah, thou know. Remember me, and visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy longsuffering. Know that for thy sake I have suffered reproach. ¹⁶Thy words were found, and I ate them. And thy words were to me a joy and the rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by thy name, O Jehovah, God of hosts. ¹⁷I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because of thy hand, for thou have filled me with indignation. ¹⁸Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will thou indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail? ¹⁹Therefore thus says Jehovah: If thou return, then I will bring thee again that thou may stand before me. And if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shall be as my mouth. They shall return to thee, but thou shall not return to them. ²⁰And I will make thee to this people a fortified brazen wall. And they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, says Jehovah. ²¹And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

CHAPTER 16

¹The word of Jehovah came also to me, saying, ²Thou shall not take thee a wife, nor shall thou have sons or daughters, in this place. ³For thus says Jehovah concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers who bore them, and concerning their fathers who begot them in this land: ⁴They shall die grievous deaths. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the ground. And they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine. And their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. ⁵For thus says Jehovah, Enter not into the house of mourning, nor go to lament, nor bemoan them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, says Jehovah, even loving kindness and tender mercies. ⁶Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, nor shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them, ⁷nor shall men break bread for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead, nor shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother. ⁸And thou shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and to drink. ⁹For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. ¹⁰And it shall come to pass, when thou shall show this people all these words, and they shall say to thee, Why has Jehovah pronounced all this great evil against us? Or what is our iniquity? Or what is our sin that we have committed against Jehovah our God? ¹¹Then thou shall say to them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, says Jehovah, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law. ¹²And ye have done evil more than your fathers, for, behold, ye walk each one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not to me. ¹³Therefore I will cast you forth out of this land into the land that ye have not known, neither ye nor your fathers, and there ye shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor. ¹⁴Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah lives who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, ¹⁵but, As Jehovah lives who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the countries where he had driven them. And I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers. ¹⁶Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says Jehovah, and they shall fish them up. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷For my eyes are upon all their ways. They are not hid from my face, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations. ¹⁹O Jehovah, my strength, and my stronghold, and my refuge in the day of affliction, to thee the nations shall come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, even vanity and things in which there is no profit. ²⁰Shall a man make to himself gods, which yet are no gods? ²¹Therefore, behold, I will cause them to know, this once I will cause them to know my hand and my might, and they shall know that my name is Jehovah.

CHAPTER 17

¹The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars, ²while their sons remember their altars and their Asherim by the green trees upon the high hills. ³O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures for a spoil, and thy high places, because of sin, throughout all thy borders. ⁴And thou, even of thyself, shall discontinue from thy heritage that I gave thee, and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou know not. For ye have kindled a fire in my anger which shall burn forever. ⁵Thus says Jehovah: Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Jehovah. ⁶For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. ⁷Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah, and whose trust Jehovah is. ⁸For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat comes, but its leaf shall be green, and shall not be worried in the year of drought, nor shall cease from yielding fruit. ⁹The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? ¹⁰I, Jehovah, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. ¹¹As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the midst of his days they shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool. ¹²A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary. ¹³O Jehovah, the hope of Israel, all who forsake thee shall be put to shame. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. ¹⁴Heal me, O Jehovah, and I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved, for thou are my praise. ¹⁵Behold, they say to me, Where is the word of Jehovah? Let it come now. ¹⁶As for me, I have not hastened from being a shepherd after thee, nor have I desired the woeful day. Thou know. That which came out of my lips was before thy face. ¹⁷Be not a terror to me. Thou are my refuge in the day of evil. ¹⁸Let them be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame. Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction. ¹⁹Thus Jehovah said to me, Go, and stand in the gate of the sons of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰And say to them, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter in by these gates. ²¹Thus says Jehovah: Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, nor do ye any work. But hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. ²³But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction. ²⁴And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken to me, says Jehovah, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to hallow the sabbath day, to do no work in it, ²⁵then there shall enter in by the gates of this city kings and rulers sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their rulers, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever. ²⁶And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places round about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the lowland, and from the hill-country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, and sacrifices, and meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing things of thanksgiving, to the house of Jehovah. ²⁷But if ye will not hearken to me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in the gates of it, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.

CHAPTER 18

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Arise, and go down to the potter�s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. ³Then I went down to the potter�s house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. ⁴And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it another vessel again, as seemed good to the potter to make it. ⁵Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁶O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter�s hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷At that instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it, ⁸if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will relent of the evil that I thought to do to them. ⁹And at that instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will relent of the good with which I said I would benefit them. ¹¹Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. ¹²But they say, It is in vain. For we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone according to the stubbornness of his evil heart. ¹³Therefore thus says Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, Who has heard such things? The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. ¹⁴Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? Or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? ¹⁵For my people have forgotten me. They have burned incense to false gods. And they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up, ¹⁶to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing, everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shake his head. ¹⁷I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity. ¹⁸Then they said, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. ¹⁹Give heed to me, O Jehovah, and hearken to the voice of those who contend with me. ²⁰Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have dug a pit for my soul. Remember how I stood before thee to speak good for them, to turn away thy wrath from them. ²¹Therefore deliver up their sons to the famine, and give them over to the power of the sword, and let their wives become childless, and widows, and let their men be slain of death, and their young men smitten of the sword in battle. ²²Let a cry be heard from their houses when thou shall bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have dug a pit to take me, and hid snares for my feet. ²³Yet, Jehovah, thou know all their counsel against me to kill me. Do not forgive their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee. Deal thou with them in the time of thine anger.

CHAPTER 19

¹Thus said Jehovah: Go, and buy a potter�s earthen bottle, and take of the elders of the people, and of the elders of the priests, ²and go forth to the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate Harsith, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee. ³And say, Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, which whoever hears, his ears shall tingle. ⁴Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it to other gods that they knew not, they and their fathers and the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ⁵and have built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons in the fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither did it come into my mind. ⁶Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that this place shall no more be called Topheth, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter. ⁷And I will make void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place. And I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. And I will give their dead bodies to be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth. ⁸And I will make this city an astonishment, and a hissing. Everyone who passes by it shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues of it. ⁹And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. And they shall eat each one the flesh of his friend, in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies, and those who seek their life, shall distress them. ¹⁰Then thou shall break the bottle in the sight of the men who go with thee, ¹¹and shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Even so I will break this people and this city, as a potter�s vessel is broken, that cannot be made whole again. And they shall bury in Topheth till there be no place to bury. ¹²Thus I will do to this place, says Jehovah, and to the inhabitants of it, even making this city as Topheth. ¹³And the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses of the kings of Judah, which are defiled, shall be as the place of Topheth, even all the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink offerings to other gods. ¹⁴Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Jehovah had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Jehovah�s house, and said to all the people, ¹⁵Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have made their neck stiff, that they may not hear my words.

CHAPTER 20

¹Now Pashhur, the son of Immer the priest, who was chief officer in the house of Jehovah, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. ²Then Pashhur smote Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in the house of Jehovah. ³And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashhur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, Jehovah has not called thy name Pashhur, but Magor-missabib. ⁴For thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends. And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall kill them with the sword. ⁵Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all the gains of it, and all the precious things of it, yea, all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies. And they shall make them a prey, and take them, and carry them to Babylon. ⁶And thou, Pashhur, and all who dwell in thy house shall go into captivity. And thou shall come to Babylon, and there thou shall die, and there thou shall be buried, thou, and all thy friends, to whom thou have prophesied falsely. ⁷O Jehovah, thou have persuaded me, and I was persuaded. Thou are stronger than I, and have prevailed. I have become a laughing-stock all the day; everyone mocks me. ⁸For as often as I speak, I cry out. I cry, Violence and destruction! Because the word of Jehovah is made a reproach to me, and a derision, all the day. ⁹And if I say, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot. ¹⁰For I have heard the defaming of many, terror on every side. Denounce, and we will denounce him, say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. ¹¹But Jehovah is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be utterly put to shame, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which shall never be forgotten. ¹²But, O Jehovah of hosts, who tries the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance on them, for to thee I have revealed my cause. ¹³Sing to Jehovah. Praise ye Jehovah, for he has delivered the soul of the needy man from the hand of evildoers. ¹⁴Cursed be the day in which I was born. Let not the day in which my mother bore me be blessed. ¹⁵Cursed be the man who brought news to my father, saying, A man-child is born to thee, making him very glad. ¹⁶And let that man be as the cities which Jehovah overthrew, and did not relent. And let him hear a cry in the morning, and shouting at noontime, ¹⁷because he did not kill me from the womb, and so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb always great. ¹⁸Why did I come forth out of the womb to see labor and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?

CHAPTER 21

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when king Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, saying, ²Inquire, I pray thee, of Jehovah for us. For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon makes war against us. Perhaps Jehovah will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us. ³Then Jeremiah said to them, Thus ye shall say to Zedekiah: ⁴Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, outside the walls. And I will gather them into the midst of this city. ⁵And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation. ⁶And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. They shall die of a great pestilence. ⁷And afterward, says Jehovah, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, even such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword. He shall not spare them, nor have pity, nor have mercy. ⁸And thou shall say to this people, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. ⁹He who abides in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence. But he who goes out, and passes over to the Chaldeans who besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey. ¹⁰For I have set my face upon this city for evil, and not for good, says Jehovah. It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ¹¹And concerning the house of the king of Judah, hear ye the word of Jehovah. ¹²O house of David, thus says Jehovah: Execute justice in the morning, and deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn so that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. ¹³Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain, says Jehovah, you who say, Who shall come down against us? Or who shall enter into our habitations? ¹⁴And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says Jehovah. And I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall devour all that is round about her.

CHAPTER 22

¹Thus said Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, ²and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in by these gates. ³Thus says Jehovah: Execute ye justice and righteousness. And deliver him who is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor. And do no wrong. Do no violence to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if ye do this thing indeed, then there shall enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. ⁵But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, says Jehovah, that this house shall become a desolation. ⁶For thus says Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou are Gilead to me, and the head of Lebanon, yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, cities which are not inhabited. ⁷And I will prepare destroyers against thee, each one with his weapons, and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire. ⁸And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say each man to his neighbor, Why has Jehovah done thus to this great city? ⁹Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them. ¹⁰Weep ye not for him who is dead, nor bemoan him. But weep greatly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. ¹¹For thus says Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and who went forth out of this place: He shall not return there any more. ¹²But in the place where they have led him captive, there he shall die, and he shall see this land no more. ¹³Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor�s service without wages, and gives him not his hire, ¹⁴who says, I will build me a wide house and spacious chambers, and cuts out windows for himself, and it is overlaid with cedar, and painted with vermilion. ¹⁵Shall thou reign, because thou strive to excel in cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do justice and righteousness? Then it was well with him. ¹⁶He judged the cause of the poor and needy man, then it was well. Was not this to know me? says Jehovah. ¹⁷But thine eyes and thy heart are not but for thy covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for violence, to do it. ¹⁸Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah. They shall not lament for him, saying, Ah my brother! or, Ah sister! They shall not lament for him, saying Ah lord! or, Ah his glory! ¹⁹He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem. ²⁰Go up to Lebanon, and cry. And lift up thy voice in Bashan, and cry from Abarim. For all thy lovers are destroyed. ²¹I spoke to thee in thy prosperity, but thou said, I will not hear. This has been thy manner from thy youth, that thou obeyed not my voice. ²²The wind shall feed all thy shepherds, and thy loved ones shall go into captivity. Surely then thou shall be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness. ²³O inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes thy nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied thou shall be when pangs come upon thee, the pain as of a woman in travail! ²⁴As I live, says Jehovah, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the signet upon my right hand, yet I would pluck thee from there, ²⁵and I will give thee into the hand of those who seek thy life, and into the hand of those of whom thou are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶And I will cast thee out, and thy mother who bore thee, into another country where ye were not born, and there ye shall die. ²⁷But to the land to which their soul longs to return, there they shall not return. ²⁸Is this man Coniah a despised broken vessel? Is he a vessel in which none delights? Why are they cast out, he and his seed, and are cast into the land which they know not? ²⁹O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of Jehovah. ³⁰Thus says Jehovah: Write ye this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days. For no more shall a man of his seed prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling in Judah.

CHAPTER 23

¹Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Jehovah. ²Therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people: Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, says Jehovah. ³And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. ⁴And I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them. And they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed. Neither shall any be lacking, says Jehovah. ⁵Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will raise to David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name by which he shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness. ⁷Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that they shall no more say, As Jehovah lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt, ⁸but, As Jehovah lives, who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them. And they shall dwell in their own land. ⁹Concerning the prophets: My heart within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of Jehovah, and because of his holy words. ¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers. For because of swearing the land mourns. The pastures of the wilderness are dried up. And their course is evil, and their might is not right. ¹¹For both prophet and priest are profane. Yea, in my house I have found their wickedness, says Jehovah. ¹²Therefore their way shall be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They shall be driven on, and fall in it. For I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, says Jehovah. ¹³And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria. They prophesied by Baal, and caused my people Israel to err. ¹⁴In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible thing. They commit adultery, and walk in lies. And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that none returns from his wickedness. They have all of them become to me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah. ¹⁵Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts concerning the prophets: Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall. For from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land. ¹⁶Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Hearken not to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They teach you vanity. They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of Jehovah. ¹⁷They say continually to those who despise me, Jehovah has said, Ye shall have peace. And to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart they say, No evil shall come upon you. ¹⁸For who has stood in the council of Jehovah, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has marked my word, and heard it? ¹⁹Behold, the tempest of Jehovah, wrath, has gone forth, yea, a whirling tempest. It shall burst upon the head of the wicked. ²⁰The anger of Jehovah shall not return until he has executed, and till he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly. ²¹I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. ²²But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. ²³Am I a God at hand, says Jehovah, and not a God afar off? ²⁴Can any man hide himself in secret places so that I shall not see him? says Jehovah. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says Jehovah. ²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. ²⁶How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? ²⁷Who think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal. ²⁸The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat? says Jehovah. ²⁹Is not my word like fire? says Jehovah, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says Jehovah, who steal my words each one from his neighbor. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets, says Jehovah, who use their tongues, and say, He says. ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says Jehovah, and tell them. And cause my people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting. Yet I sent them not, nor commanded them, neither do they profit this people at all, says Jehovah. ³³And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of Jehovah? Then thou shall say to them, What burden! I will cast you off, says Jehovah. ³⁴And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, who shall say, The burden of Jehovah, I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵Thus ye shall say each one to his neighbor, and each one to his brother: What has Jehovah answered? and, What has Jehovah spoken? ³⁶And the burden of Jehovah ye shall mention no more, for every man�s own word shall be his burden. For ye have perverted the words of the living God, of Jehovah of hosts our God. ³⁷Thus thou shall say to the prophet: What has Jehovah answered thee? and, What has Jehovah spoken? ³⁸But if ye say, The burden of Jehovah, therefore thus says Jehovah: Because ye say this word, The burden of Jehovah, and I have sent to you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of Jehovah, ³⁹therefore, behold, I will utterly forget you. And I will cast you off, and the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my presence. ⁴⁰And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

CHAPTER 24

¹Jehovah showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jehovah, after Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the rulers of Judah, with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. ²One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe, and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten they were so bad. ³Then Jehovah said to me, What do thou see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs. The good figs, very good, and the bad, very bad, that cannot be eaten they are so bad. ⁴And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁵Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good. ⁶For I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land. And I will build them, and not pull them down, and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. ⁷And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Jehovah. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart. ⁸And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten they are so bad, surely thus says Jehovah: So will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his rulers, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. ⁹I will even give them up to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. ¹⁰And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers.

CHAPTER 25

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (the same was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon), ²which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ³From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of Jehovah has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking. But ye have not hearkened. ⁴And Jehovah has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, (but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear), ⁵saying, Return ye now each one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that Jehovah has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even for evermore. ⁶And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the work of your hands. And I will do you no hurt. ⁷Yet ye have not hearkened to me, says Jehovah, that ye may provoke me to anger with the work of your hands to your own hurt. ⁸Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts: Because ye have not heard my words, ⁹behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Jehovah, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about. And I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. ¹⁰Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp. ¹¹And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. ¹²And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, says Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it desolate forever. ¹³And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. ¹⁴For many nations and great kings shall make bondmen of them, even of them, and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands. ¹⁵For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to me: Take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. ¹⁶And they shall drink, and reel to and fro, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them. ¹⁷Then I took the cup at Jehovah�s hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom Jehovah had sent me: ¹⁸Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings of it, and the rulers of it, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as it is this day, ¹⁹Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his rulers, and all his people, ²⁰and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of the Uz, and all the kings of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Gaza, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod, ²¹Edom, and Moab, and the sons of Ammon, ²²and all the kings of Tyre, and all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea, ²³Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all who have the corners of their hair cut off, ²⁴and all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mixed people who dwell in the wilderness, ²⁵and all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes, ²⁶and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth. And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. ²⁷And thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you. ²⁸And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thy hand to drink, then thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Ye shall surely drink. ²⁹For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished. For I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, says Jehovah of hosts. ³⁰Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say to them, Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. ³¹A noise shall come even to the end of the earth, for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into judgment with all flesh. As for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, says Jehovah. ³²Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the outermost parts of the earth. ³³And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They shall not be lamented, nor gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground. ³⁴Wail, ye shepherds, and cry. And wallow, ye principal men of the flock. For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and ye shall fall like a goodly vessel. ³⁵And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal men of the flock to escape. ³⁶A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal men of the flock! For Jehovah lays waste their pasture. ³⁷And the peaceable folds are brought to silence because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. ³⁸He has left his covert as the lion. For their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword, and because of his fierce anger.

CHAPTER 26

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word from Jehovah came, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah�s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah�s house, all the words that I command thee to speak to them, diminish not a word. ³It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may relent of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of the evil of their doings. ⁴And thou shall say to them, Thus says Jehovah: If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, ⁵to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but ye have not hearkened, ⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. ⁷And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Jehovah. ⁸And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, Thou shall surely die. ⁹Why have thou prophesied in the name of Jehovah, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant? And all the people were gathered to Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah. ¹⁰And when the rulers of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king�s house to the house of Jehovah, and they sat in the entry of the new gate of Jehovah�s house. ¹¹Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the rulers and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. ¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the rulers and to all the people, saying, Jehovah sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard. ¹³Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah your God, and Jehovah will relent of the evil that he has pronounced against you. ¹⁴But as for me, behold, I am in your hand. Do with me as is good and right in your eyes. ¹⁵Only know ye for certain that, if ye put me to death, ye will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants of it. For of a truth Jehovah has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. ¹⁶Then the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets. This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of Jehovah our God. ¹⁷Then certain of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, ¹⁸Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest. ¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear Jehovah, and entreat the favor of Jehovah. And Jehovah relented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we commit great evil against our own souls. ²⁰And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim. And he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. ²¹And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men, and all the rulers, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and went into Egypt. ²²And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt, ²³and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. ²⁴But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

CHAPTER 27

¹In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah to me: Make thee bonds and bars, and put them upon thy neck. ³And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the sons of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴And give them a charge to their masters, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus ye shall say to your masters: ⁵I have made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whom it seems right to me. ⁶And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. And the beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him. ⁷And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son�s son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman. ⁸And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says Jehovah, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. ⁹But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. ¹⁰For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. ¹¹But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, that nation I will let remain in their own land, says Jehovah, and they shall till it, and dwell therein. ¹²And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. ¹³Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴And hearken not to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you. ¹⁵For I have not sent them, says Jehovah, but they prophesy falsely in my name, that I may drive you out, and that ye may perish, ye, and the prophets who prophesy to you. ¹⁶Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Hearken not to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of Jehovah�s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon, for they prophesy a lie to you. ¹⁷Hearken not to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a desolation? ¹⁸But if they are prophets, and if the word of Jehovah is with them, let them now make intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, not go to Babylon. ¹⁹For thus says Jehovah of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the stands, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. ²¹Yea, thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: ²²They shall be carried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that I visit them, says Jehovah. Then I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.

CHAPTER 28

¹And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of Jehovah, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, ²Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of Jehovah�s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon. ⁴And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon, says Jehovah, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. ⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of Jehovah, ⁶even the prophet Jeremiah said, Truly! Jehovah do so. Jehovah perform thy words which thou have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of Jehovah�s house, and all those of the captivity, from Babylon to this place. ⁷Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people: ⁸The prophets who have been before me and before thee of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. ⁹The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then the prophet shall be known that Jehovah has truly sent him. ¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah�s neck, and broke it. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way. ¹²Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ¹³Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says Jehovah: Thou have broken the bars of wood, but I have made in their stead bars of iron. ¹⁴For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him. And I have given him the beasts of the field also. ¹⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah. Jehovah has not sent thee, but thou make this people to trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says Jehovah, Behold, I will send thee away from off the face of the earth. This year thou shall die because thou have spoken rebellion against Jehovah. ¹⁷So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.

CHAPTER 29

¹Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the residue of the elders of the captivity, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon, ²(after Jeconiah the king, and the queen-mother, and the eunuchs, and the rulers of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem), ³by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), saying, ⁴Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captivity whom I have caused to be carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ⁶Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters. And take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply ye there, and be not diminished. ⁷And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to Jehovah for it, for in the peace of it ye shall have peace. ⁸For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Let not your prophets who are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you, nor hearken ye to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. ⁹For they prophesy falsely to you in my name. I have not sent them, says Jehovah. ¹⁰For thus says Jehovah, After seventy years are accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place. ¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end. ¹²And ye shall call upon me, and ye shall go and pray to me, and I will hearken to you. ¹³And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴And I will be found by you, says Jehovah, and I will turn again your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places where I have driven you, says Jehovah, and I will bring you again to the place from where I caused you to be carried away captive. ¹⁵Because ye have said, Jehovah has raised us up prophets in Babylon, ¹⁶thus says Jehovah concerning the king who sits upon the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who have not gone forth with you into captivity, ¹⁷thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten they are so bad. ¹⁸And I will pursue after them with the sword, with the famine, and with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth, to be an execration, and an astonishment, and a hissing, and a reproach, among all the nations where I have driven them, ¹⁹because they have not hearkened to my words, says Jehovah, with which I sent to them my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them. But ye would not hear, says Jehovah. ²⁰Hear ye therefore the word of Jehovah, all ye of the captivity whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. ²¹Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who prophesy a lie to you in my name. Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall kill them before your eyes. ²²And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captives of Judah that are in Babylon, saying, Jehovah make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, ²³because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors� wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I did not command them. And I am he who knows, and am witness, says Jehovah. ²⁴And concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite thou shall speak, saying, ²⁵Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou have sent letters in thine own name to all the people who are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶Jehovah has made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in the house of Jehovah, for every man who is mad, and makes himself a prophet, that thou should put him in the stocks and in shackles. ²⁷Now therefore, why have thou not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who makes himself a prophet to you, ²⁸inasmuch as he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, It is long. Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them? ²⁹And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. ³⁰Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, ³¹Send to all those of the captivity, saying, Thus says Jehovah concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, and I did not send him, and he has caused you to trust in a lie, ³²therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite, and his seed. He shall not have a man to dwell among this people, nor shall he behold the good that I will do to my people, says Jehovah, because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah.

CHAPTER 30

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Thus speaks Jehovah, the God of Israel, saying, Write thee all the words that I have spoken to thee in a book. ³For, lo, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, says Jehovah, and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it. ⁴And these are the words that Jehovah spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. ⁵For thus says Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. ⁶Ask ye now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? ⁷Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob�s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. ⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds. And strangers shall no more make him their bondman, ⁹but they shall serve Jehovah their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up to them. ¹⁰Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. ¹¹For I am with thee, says Jehovah, to save thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee. But I will correct thee in measure, and will in no way leave thee unpunished. ¹²For thus says Jehovah, Thy hurt is incurable, and thy wound grievous. ¹³There is none to plead thy cause, that thou may be bound up; thou have no healing medicines. ¹⁴All who love thee have forgotten thee; they seek thee not. For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased. ¹⁵Why do thou cry for thy hurt? Thy pain is incurable, for the greatness of thine iniquity. Because thy sins were increased, I have done these things to thee. ¹⁶Therefore all those who devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity. And those who despoil thee shall be a spoil, and all who prey upon thee I will give for a prey. ¹⁷For I will restore health to thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, says Jehovah, because they have called thee an outcast, saying, It is Zion, whom no man seeks after. ¹⁸Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will turn again the captivity of Jacob�s tents, and have compassion on his dwelling-places. And the city shall be built upon its own hill, and the palace shall be inhabited after its own manner. ¹⁹And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry. And I will multiply them, and they shall not be few. I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. ²⁰Their sons also shall be as formerly, and their congregation shall be established before me. And I will punish all who oppress them. ²¹And their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from the midst of them. And I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me. For who is he who has had boldness to approach to me? says Jehovah. ²²And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²³Behold, the tempest of Jehovah�wrath�has gone forth, a sweeping tempest. It shall burst upon the head of the wicked. ²⁴The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return until he has executed, and till he has performed the intents of his heart. In the latter days ye shall understand it.

CHAPTER 31

¹At that time, says Jehovah, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. ²Thus says Jehovah: The people who were left of the sword found favor in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. ³Jehovah appeared of old to me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn thee. ⁴Again I will build thee, and thou shall be built, O virgin of Israel. Again thou shall be adorned with thy tambourine, and shall go forth in the dances of those who make merry. ⁵Again thou shall plant vineyards upon the mountains of Samaria. The planters shall plant, and shall enjoy it. ⁶For there shall be a day that the watchmen upon the hills of Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion to Jehovah our God. ⁷For thus says Jehovah: Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish ye, praise ye, and say, O Jehovah, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. ⁸Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the outermost parts of the earth, and with them the blind man and the lame man, the woman with child, and she who travails with child together. They shall return here a great company. ⁹They shall come with weeping. And I will lead them with supplications. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. ¹⁰Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock. ¹¹For Jehovah has ransomed Jacob, and redeemed him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. ¹²And they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow to the goodness of Jehovah, to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. And their soul shall be as a watered garden, and they shall not sorrow any more at all. ¹³Then the virgin shall rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old together, for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. ¹⁴And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, says Jehovah. ¹⁵Thus says Jehovah: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping. Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted for her children, because they are not. ¹⁶Thus says Jehovah: Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, says Jehovah, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷And there is hope for thy latter end, says Jehovah, and thy sons shall come again to their own border. ¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself saying, Thou have chastised me, and I was chastised as a calf unaccustomed to the yoke. Turn thou me back, and I shall be turned back, for thou are Jehovah my God. ¹⁹Surely after that I was turned back. I repented, and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth. ²⁰Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, says Jehovah. ²¹Set thee up road marks. Make thee guideposts. Set thy heart toward the highway, even the way by which thou went. Turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities. ²²How long will thou go here and there, O thou backsliding daughter? For Jehovah has created a new thing in the earth: a woman shall encompass a man. ²³Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Yet again they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof when I shall bring again their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness. ²⁴And Judah and all the cities thereof shall dwell in there together, the husbandmen, and those who go about with flocks. ²⁵For I have satiated the weary soul, and every sorrowful soul I have replenished. ²⁶Upon this I awoke, and beheld, and my sleep was sweet to me. ²⁷Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass that, just as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says Jehovah. ²⁹In those days they shall no more say, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the son�s teeth are set on edge. ³⁰But everyone shall die for his own iniquity. Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. ³¹Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, ³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says Jehovah. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Jehovah: I will give my laws into their mind, and I will write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says Jehovah. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. ³⁵Thus says Jehovah, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar. Jehovah of hosts is his name. ³⁶If these ordinances depart from before me, says Jehovah, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever. ³⁷Thus says Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says Jehovah. ³⁸Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the city shall be built to Jehovah from the tower of Hananel to the gate of the corner. ³⁹And the measuring line shall go out further straight onward to the hill Gareb, and shall turn about to Goah. ⁴⁰And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields, to the brook Kidron, to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, shall be holy to Jehovah. It shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever.

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¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ²Now at that time the king of Babylon�s army was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard, which was in the king of Judah�s house. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Why do thou prophesy, and say, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ⁴And Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him mouth to mouth, and his eyes shall behold his eyes. ⁵And he shall bring Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall be until I visit him, says Jehovah. Though ye fight with the Chaldeans, ye shall not prosper? ⁶And Jeremiah said, The word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come to thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth. For the right of redemption is thine to buy it. ⁸So Hanamel my uncle�s son came to me in the court of the guard according to the word of Jehovah, and said to me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin. For the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine. Buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of Jehovah. ⁹And I bought the field that was in Anathoth of Hanamel my uncle�s son, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰And I signed the deed, and sealed it, and called witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances. ¹¹So I took the deed of the purchase, both that which was sealed, according to the law and custom, and that which was open, ¹²and I delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle�s son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of the purchase, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the guard. ¹³And I charged Baruch before them, saying, ¹⁴Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, this deed of the purchase which is sealed, and this deed which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel that they may continue many days. ¹⁵For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall yet again be bought in this land. ¹⁶Now after I had delivered the deed of the purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to Jehovah, saying, ¹⁷Ah lord Jehovah! Behold, thou have made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for thee, ¹⁸who show loving kindness to thousands, and recompense the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, the great, the mighty God. Jehovah of hosts is his name, ¹⁹great in counsel, and mighty in work, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings, ²⁰who set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even to this day, both in Israel and among other men, and made thee a name, as at this day, ²¹and brought forth thy people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs, and with wonders, and with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror, ²²and gave them this land, which thou swore to their fathers to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³And they came in, and possessed it, but they obeyed not thy voice, nor walked in thy law. They have done nothing of all that thou commanded them to do. Therefore thou have caused all this evil to come upon them. ²⁴Behold, the mounds. They have come to the city to take it. And the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence. And what thou have spoken has come to pass, and, behold, thou see it. ²⁵And thou have said to me, O lord Jehovah, Buy thee the field for money, and call witnesses, whereas the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁷Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ²⁹And the Chaldeans, who fight against this city, shall come and set this city on fire, and burn it, with the houses upon whose roofs they have offered incense to Baal, and poured out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have done only that which was evil in my sight from their youth. For the sons of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, says Jehovah. ³¹For this city has been to me a provocation of my anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even to this day, that I should remove it from before my face, ³²because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and of the sons of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their rulers, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³And they have turned the back to me, and not the face. And though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. ³⁴But they set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. ³⁶And now therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning this city, of which ye say, It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: ³⁷Behold, I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, and in my wrath, and in great indignation. And I will bring them again to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. ³⁸And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them, and of their sons after them. ⁴⁰And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from following them, to do them good. And I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may not depart from me. ⁴¹Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good. And I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. ⁴²For thus says Jehovah: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. ⁴³And fields shall be bought in this land, of which ye say, It is desolate, without man or beast. It is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. ⁴⁴Men shall buy fields for money, and sign the deeds, and seal them, and call witnesses, in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, and in the cities of the hill-country, and in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South. For I will cause their captivity to return, says Jehovah.

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¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the guard, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah who does it, Jehovah who forms it to establish it; Jehovah is his name: ³Call to me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou know not. ⁴For thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to defend against the mounds and against the sword, ⁵while men come to fight with the Chaldeans, and to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in my anger and in my wrath, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city: ⁶Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them. And I will reveal to them abundance of peace and truth. ⁷And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first. ⁸And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against me. And I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me, and by which they have transgressed against me. ⁹And this city shall be to me for a name of joy, for a praise and for a glory, before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do to them, and shall fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I procure to it. ¹⁰Thus says Jehovah: Yet again there shall be heard in this place�of which ye say, It is waste, without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast� ¹¹the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, Give thanks to Jehovah of hosts, for Jehovah is good, for his loving kindness is forever, and of those who bring thanksgiving into the house of Jehovah. For I will cause the captivity of the land to return as at the first, says Jehovah. ¹²Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Yet again there shall be in this place, which is waste, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. ¹³In the cities of the hill-country, in the cities of the lowland, and in the cities of the South, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, the flocks shall again pass under the hands of him who Num them, says Jehovah. ¹⁴Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah. ¹⁵In those days, and at that time, I will cause a Branch of righteousness to grow up to David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ¹⁶In those days Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby she shall be called: Jehovah our righteousness. ¹⁷For thus says Jehovah: David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel, ¹⁸neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to burn meal offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. ¹⁹And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰Thus says Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, so that there shall not be day and night in their season, ²¹then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he shall not have a son to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. ²²As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister to me. ²³And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴Consider thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Jehovah chose, he has cast them off? Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. ²⁵Thus says Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, ²⁶then I will also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.

CHAPTER 34

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ³And thou shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand. And thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shall go to Babylon. ⁴Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says Jehovah concerning thee, Thou shall not die by the sword; ⁵thou shall die in peace. And with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee. And they shall lament thee, saying, Ah lord! For I have spoken the word, says Jehovah. ⁶Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷when the king of Babylon�s army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah, fortified cities. ⁸The word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that none should make bondmen of them, namely, of a Jew his brother. ¹⁰And all the rulers and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his man-servant, and everyone his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more. They obeyed, and let them go. ¹¹But afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. ¹²Therefore the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ¹³Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to thee, and has served thee six years. Thou shall let him go free from thee. But your fathers hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear. ¹⁵And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor. And ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name. ¹⁶But ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return. And ye brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids. ¹⁷Therefore thus says Jehovah: Ye have not hearkened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Jehovah�to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. And I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it, ¹⁹the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf, ²⁰I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon�s army that has gone away from you. ²²Behold, I will command, says Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.

CHAPTER 35

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ²Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of Jehovah, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. ³Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. ⁴And I brought them into the house of Jehovah, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the rulers, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. ⁵And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink ye wine. ⁶But they said, We will drink no wine. For Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, forever. ⁷Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any, but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land in which ye sojourn. ⁸And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹nor to build houses for us to dwell in. Neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed, ¹⁰but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem. ¹²Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? says Jehovah. ¹⁴The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed. And to this day they drink none, for they obey their father�s commandment. But I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened to me. ¹⁵I have also sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me. ¹⁶Inasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not hearkened to me, ¹⁷therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard, and I have called to them, but they have not answered. ¹⁸And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.

CHAPTER 36

¹And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ²Take thee a roll of a book, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to thee, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. ³It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. ⁴Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken to him, upon a roll of a book. ⁵And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of Jehovah. ⁶Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou have written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah�s house upon the fast-day. And also thou shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of their cities. ⁷It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return each one from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that Jehovah has pronounced against this people. ⁸And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in Jehovah�s house. ⁹Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah. ¹⁰Then Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah�s house, in the ears of all the people. ¹¹And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah, ¹²he went down into the king�s house, into the scribe�s chamber. And, lo, all the rulers were sitting there: Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the rulers. ¹³Then Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. ¹⁴Therefore all the rulers sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll from which thou have read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came to them. ¹⁵And they said to him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. ¹⁶Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said to Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. ¹⁷And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How did thou write all these words at his mouth? ¹⁸Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. ¹⁹Then the rulers said to Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye are. ²⁰And they went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and they told all the words in the ears of the king. ²¹So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the rulers who stood beside the king. ²²Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month, and the brazier was burning before him. ²³And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. ²⁴And they were not afraid, nor tore their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words. ²⁵Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them. ²⁶And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king�s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Jehovah hid them. ²⁷Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, ²⁸Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. ²⁹And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah thou shall say, Thus says Jehovah: Thou have burned this roll, saying, Why have thou written in it, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and beast? ³⁰Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David. And his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. ³¹And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity. And I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they did not hearken. ³²Then Jeremiah took another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire, and there were added besides to them many like words.

CHAPTER 37

¹And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. ²But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, hearkened to the words of Jehovah, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. ³And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now to Jehovah our God for us. ⁴Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison. ⁵And Pharaoh�s army came forth out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke away from Jerusalem. ⁶Then the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ⁷Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh�s army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. ⁸And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and they shall take it, and burn it with fire. ⁹Thus says Jehovah: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us. For they shall not depart. ¹⁰For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yea they would rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. ¹¹And it came to pass that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken away from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh�s army, ¹²then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there in the midst of the people. ¹³And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou are falling away to the Chaldeans. ¹⁴Then Jeremiah said, It is false. I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not hearken to him. So Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the rulers. ¹⁵And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made that the prison. ¹⁶When Jeremiah came into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, ¹⁷then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him. And the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. He also said, Thou shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. ¹⁸Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, How have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? ¹⁹Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? ²⁰And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king. Let my supplication, I pray thee, be presented before thee, that thou not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there. ²¹Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. And they gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers� street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

CHAPTER 38

¹And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah: He who abides in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he shall live. ³Thus says Jehovah: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it. ⁴Then the rulers said to the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death, inasmuch as he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them. For this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. ⁵And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand, for the king is not he who can do anything against you. ⁶Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king�s son, that was in the court of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire. ⁷Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king�s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin), ⁸Ebed-melech went forth out of the king�s house, and spoke to the king, saying, ⁹My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the dungeon. And he is likely to die in the place where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city. ¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies. ¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹²And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Now put these rags and worn-out garments under thine armpits under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. ¹³So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. ¹⁴Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet to him into the third entry that is in the house of Jehovah. And the king said to Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me. ¹⁵Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I declare it to thee, will thou not surely put me to death? And if I give thee counsel, thou will not hearken to me. ¹⁶So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah lives, who made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, nor will I give thee into the hand of these men who seek thy life. ¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, Thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel. If thou will go forth to the king of Babylon�s rulers, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and thou shall live, and thy house. ¹⁸But if thou will not go forth to the king of Babylon�s rulers, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shall not escape out of their hand. ¹⁹And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have fallen away to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me. ²⁰But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak to thee, so it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. ²¹But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that Jehovah has shown me: ²²Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah�s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon�s rulers. And those women shall say, Thy familiar friends have set upon thee, and have prevailed over thee. Since thy feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned back away. ²³And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy sons to the Chaldeans. And thou shall not escape out of their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And thou shall cause this city to be burned with fire. ²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shall not die. ²⁵But if the rulers hear that I have talked with thee, and they come to thee, and say to thee, Declare to us now what thou have said to the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death, also what the king said to thee, ²⁶then thou shall say to them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan�s house to die there. ²⁷Then all the rulers came to Jeremiah, and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived. ²⁸So Jeremiah abode in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

CHAPTER 39

¹And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. ²In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³And all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate, to wit, Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, with all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. ⁴And it came to pass that, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king�s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and he went out toward the Arabah. ⁵But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him. ⁶Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes. Also the king of Babylon killed all the nobles of Judah. ⁷Moreover he put out Zedekiah�s eyes, and bound him in fetters to carry him to Babylon. ⁸And the Chaldeans burned the king�s house, and the houses of the people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into Babylon the residue of the people that remained in the city, the deserters also that fell away to him, and the residue of the people that remained. ¹⁰But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the people, that had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. ¹¹Now Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ¹²Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm, but do to him even as he shall say to thee. ¹³So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and Nergal-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon. ¹⁴And they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he dwelt among the people. ¹⁵Now the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying, ¹⁶Go, and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before thee in that day. ¹⁷But I will deliver thee in that day, says Jehovah, and thou shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou are afraid. ¹⁸For I will surely save thee, and thou shall not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey to thee, because thou have put thy trust in me, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 40

¹The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him being bound in chains among all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were carried away captive to Babylon. ²And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, Jehovah thy God pronounced this evil upon this place, ³and Jehovah has brought it, and done according as he spoke. Because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴And now, behold, I loose thee this day from the chains which are upon thy hand. If it seem good to thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well to thee, but if it seems ill to thee to come with me into Babylon, forbear. Behold, all the land is before thee, where it seems good and right to thee to go, there go. ⁵Now while he was not yet gone back, he said, Go back then to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people, or go wherever it seems right to thee to go. So the captain of the guard gave him food and a present, and let him go. ⁶Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land. ⁷Now when all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and sons, and of the poorest of the land, of those who were not carried away captive to Babylon, ⁸then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. ⁹And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan swore to them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. ¹⁰As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans who shall come to us. But ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken. ¹¹Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the sons of Ammon, and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ¹²then all the Jews returned out of all places where they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, to Mizpah, and gathered very much wine and summer fruits. ¹³Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, ¹⁴and said to him, Do thou know that Baalis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take thy life? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. ¹⁵Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it. Why should he take thy life, that all the Jews who are gathered to thee should be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish? ¹⁶But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shall not do this thing, for thou speak falsely of Ishmael.

CHAPTER 41

¹Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and there they ate bread together in Mizpah. ²Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. ³Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with him, namely, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war. ⁴And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it, ⁵that men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even eighty men, having their beards shaven and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with meal offerings and frankincense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Jehovah. ⁶And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went. And it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. ⁷And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men who were with him. ⁸But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, Kill us not, for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he held back, and did not kill them among their brothers. ⁹Now the pit in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain by the side of Gedaliah (the same was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel), Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were slain. ¹⁰Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people who were in Mizpah, even the king�s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the sons of Ammon. ¹¹But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, ¹²then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. ¹³Now it came to pass that, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad. ¹⁴So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. ¹⁵But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the sons of Ammon. ¹⁶Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, namely, the men of war, and the women, and the sons, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. ¹⁷And they departed, and dwelt in Geruth Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt ¹⁸because of the Chaldeans, for they were afraid of them because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

CHAPTER 42

¹Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, came near, ²and said to Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we pray thee, our supplication be presented before thee, and pray for us to Jehovah thy God, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us, ³that Jehovah thy God may show us the way in which we should walk, and the thing that we should do. ⁴Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to Jehovah your God according to your words, and it shall come to pass that whatever thing Jehovah shall answer you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you. ⁵Then they said to Jeremiah, Jehovah be a true and faithful witness amongst us, if we do not according to all the word with which Jehovah thy God shall send thee to us. ⁶Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God, to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of Jehovah our God. ⁷And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah. ⁸Then he called Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, ⁹and said to them, Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him: ¹⁰If ye will still abide in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up, for I relent of the evil that I have done to you. ¹¹Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid. Be not afraid of him, says Jehovah, for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand. ¹²And I will grant you mercy, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land. ¹³But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, so that ye do not obey the voice of Jehovah your God, ¹⁴saying, No, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread, and we will dwell there� ¹⁵Now therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah. Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: If ye indeed set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there, ¹⁶then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye fear, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, of which ye are afraid, shall follow hard after you there in Egypt, and there ye shall die. ¹⁷So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there. They shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them. ¹⁸For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: As my anger and my wrath has been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so shall my wrath be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt. And ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. And ye shall see this place no more. ¹⁹Jehovah has spoken concerning you, O remnant of Judah, Go ye not into Egypt. Know certainly that I have testified to you this day. ²⁰For ye have dealt deceitfully against your own souls. For ye sent me to Jehovah your God, saying, Pray for us to Jehovah our God, and according to all that Jehovah our God shall say, so declare to us, and we will do it. ²¹And I have this day declared it to you. But ye have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah your God in anything for which he has sent me to you. ²²Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place where ye desire to go to sojourn there.

CHAPTER 43

¹And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking to all the people all the words of Jehovah their God, with which Jehovah their God had sent him to them, even all these words, ²then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, spoke, saying to Jeremiah, Thou speak falsely. Jehovah our God has not sent thee to say, Ye shall not go into Egypt to sojourn there. ³But Baruch the son of Neriah set upon thee against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon. ⁴So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, did not obey the voice of Jehovah, to dwell in the land of Judah. ⁵But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who were returned from all the nations where they had been driven to sojourn in the land of Judah, ⁶the men, and the women, and the sons, and the king�s daughters, and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah, ⁷and they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah. And they came to Tahpanhes. ⁸Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, ⁹Take great stones in thy hand, and hide them in mortar in the brickwork, which is at the entry of Pharaoh�s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, ¹⁰and say to them, Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid, and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them. ¹¹And he shall come, and shall smite the land of Egypt, such as are for death, to death, and such as are for captivity, to captivity, and such as are for the sword, to the sword. ¹²And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them, and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go forth from there in peace. ¹³He shall also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh that is in the land of Egypt. And the houses of the gods of Egypt he shall burn with fire.

CHAPTER 44

¹The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwelt in the land of Egypt, who dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Memphis, and in the country of Pathros, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah. And, behold, this day they are a desolation. And no man dwells therein ³because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, that they knew not, neither they, nor ye, nor your fathers. ⁴However I sent all my servants the prophets to you, rising up early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate. ⁵But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense to other gods. ⁶Therefore my wrath and my anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they are wasted and desolate, as it is this day. ⁷Therefore now thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why do ye commit this great evil against your own souls, to cut off from you man and woman, infant and suckling, out of the midst of Judah, to leave you none remaining, ⁸in that ye provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where ye have gone to sojourn, that ye may be cut off, and that ye may be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth? ⁹Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives which they committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁰They are not humbled even to this day. Neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. ¹¹Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, even to cut off all Judah. ¹²And I will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed. In the land of Egypt they shall fall. They shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die, from the least even to the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach. ¹³For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, ¹⁴so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or be left to return into the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return to dwell there. For none shall return except such as shall escape. ¹⁵Then all the men who knew that their wives burned incense to other gods, and all the women who stood by, a great assembly, even all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, ¹⁶As for the word that thou have spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, we will not hearken to thee. ¹⁷But we will certainly perform every word that has gone forth out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our rulers, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and were well, and saw no evil. ¹⁸But since we left off burning incense to the queen of heaven, and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. ¹⁹And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make her cakes to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her, without our husbands? ²⁰Then Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, and to the women, even to all the people who had given him that answer, saying, ²¹The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your rulers, and the people of the land, did Jehovah not remember them, and did it not come into his mind? ²²So that Jehovah could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which ye have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is this day. ²³Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies, therefore this evil has happened to you, as it is this day. ²⁴Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of Jehovah, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt: ²⁵Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and with your hands have fulfilled it, saying, We will surely perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her. Establish then your vows, and perform your vows. ²⁶Therefore hear ye the word of Jehovah, all Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says Jehovah, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, As the lord Jehovah lives. ²⁷Behold, I watch over them for evil, and not for good. And all the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there is an end of them. ²⁸And those who escape the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, few in number. And all the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know whose word shall stand, mine, or theirs. ²⁹And this shall be the sign to you, says Jehovah, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: ³⁰Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, who was his enemy, and sought his life.

CHAPTER 45

¹The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these word in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to thee, O Baruch: ³Thou said, Woe is me now! For Jehovah has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest. ⁴Thus thou shall say to him, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, that which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, and this in the whole land. ⁵And do thou seek great things for thyself? Seek them not, for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, says Jehovah, but thy life I will give to thee for a prey in all places where thou go.

CHAPTER 46

¹The word of Jehovah which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations. ²Of Egypt, concerning the army of Pharaoh-neco king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ³Prepare ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. ⁴Harness the horses, and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets. Furbish the spears. Put on the coats of mail. ⁵Why have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned backward. And their mighty ones are beaten down, and have fled apace, and do not look back. Terror is on every side, says Jehovah. ⁶Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape. In the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. ⁷Who is this that rises up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers? ⁸Egypt rises up like the Nile, and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. And he says, I will rise up. I will cover the earth. I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof. ⁹Go up, ye horses, and rage, ye chariots. And let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow. ¹⁰For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries. And the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood, for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. ¹¹Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain do thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee. ¹²The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry. For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; they are fallen, both of them together. ¹³The word that Jehovah spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. ¹⁴Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes. Say ye, Stand forth, and prepare thee, for the sword has devoured round about thee. ¹⁵Why are thy strong ones swept away? They stood not, because Jehovah drove them. ¹⁶He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another. And they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. ¹⁷They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise. He has let the appointed time pass by. ¹⁸As I live, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts, surely like Tabor among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. ¹⁹O thou daughter who dwells in Egypt, prepare thyself to go into captivity. For Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up, without inhabitant. ²⁰Egypt is a very fair heifer, but destruction out of the north has come, it has come. ²¹Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall, for they also are turned back. They have fled away together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their visitation. ²²The sound thereof shall go like the serpent, for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. ²³They shall cut down her forest, says Jehovah, though it cannot be searched because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. ²⁴The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame. She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. ²⁵Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, says, Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. ²⁶And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. And afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, says Jehovah. ²⁷But fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, nor be dismayed, O Israel. For, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity. And Jacob shall return, and shall be quiet and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. ²⁸Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, says Jehovah, for I am with thee. For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee. But I will correct thee in measure, and will in no way leave thee unpunished.

CHAPTER 47

¹The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza. ²Thus says Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and those who dwell therein. And the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall wail ³at the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels. The fathers do not look back to their sons for feebleness of hands, ⁴because of the day that comes to destroy all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains. For Jehovah will destroy the Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. ⁵Baldness has come upon Gaza. Ashkelon is brought to naught, the remnant of their valley. How long will thou cut thyself? ⁶O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard. Rest, and be still. ⁷How can thou be quiet, since Jehovah has given thee a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore. He has appointed it there.

CHAPTER 48

¹Of Moab. Thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Woe to Nebo! For it is laid waste. Kiriathaim is put to shame; it is taken. Misgab is put to shame and broken down. ²The praise of Moab is no more. In Heshbon they have devised evil against her: Come, and let us cut her off from being a nation. Thou also, O madmen, shall be brought to silence. The sword shall pursue thee. ³The sound of a cry from Horonaim: Desolation and great destruction! ⁴Moab is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. ⁵For they shall go up by the ascent of Luhith with continual weeping, for at the descent of Horonaim they have heard the distress of the cry of destruction. ⁶Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness. ⁷For, because thou have trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou also shall be taken. And Chemosh shall go forth into captivity, his priests and his rulers together. ⁸And the destroyer shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as Jehovah has spoken. ⁹Give wings to Moab, that she may fly and get her away. And her cities shall become a desolation, without any to dwell therein. ¹⁰Cursed be he who does the work of Jehovah negligently, and cursed be he who keeps back his sword from blood. ¹¹Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, nor has he gone into captivity. Therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed. ¹²Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will send to him those who pour off, and they shall pour him off. And they shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles in pieces. ¹³And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence. ¹⁴How can ye say, We are mighty men, and valiant men for the war? ¹⁵Moab is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities. And his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁶The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hastens fast. ¹⁷All ye who are round about him, bemoan him, and all ye who know his name, say, How the strong staff has broken, the beautiful rod! ¹⁸O thou daughter who dwells in Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against thee. He has destroyed thy strongholds. ¹⁹O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes. Say, What has been done? ²⁰Moab is put to shame, for it is broken down. Wail and cry, tell ye it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. ²¹And judgment has come upon the plain country: upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath, ²²and upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-diblathaim, ²³and upon Kiriathaim, and upon Beth-gamul, and upon Beth-meon, ²⁴and upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near. ²⁵The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, says Jehovah. ²⁶Make ye him drunken, for he magnified himself against Jehovah. And Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision. ²⁷For was not Israel a derision to thee? Was he found among thieves? For as often as thou speak of him, thou wag the head. ²⁸O ye inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of an abyss. ²⁹We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud, his loftiness, and his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart. ³⁰I know his wrath, says Jehovah, that it is nothing. His boastings have wrought nothing. ³¹Therefore I will wail for Moab, yea, I will cry out for all Moab. For they shall mourn the men of Kir-heres. ³²With more than the weeping of Jazer I will weep for thee, O vine of Sibmah. Thy branches passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage. ³³And gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of Moab. And I have caused wine to cease from the winepresses. None shall tread with shouting. The shouting shall be no shouting. ³⁴From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh, even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice, from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For the waters of Nimrim also shall become desolate. ³⁵Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, says Jehovah, him who offers in the high place, and him who burns incense to his gods. ³⁶Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like pipes, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten is perished. ³⁷For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. Upon all the hands are cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth. ³⁸On all the housetops of Moab and in the streets thereof there is lamentation everywhere. For I have broken Moab like a vessel of which none delights, says Jehovah. ³⁹How it is broken down! How they do wail! How Moab has turned the back with shame! So Moab shall become a derision and a horror to all who are round about him. ⁴⁰For thus says Jehovah: Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab. ⁴¹Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized, and the heart of the mighty men of Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. ⁴²And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against Jehovah. ⁴³Fear and the pit and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, says Jehovah. ⁴⁴He who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare. For I will bring upon him, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says Jehovah. ⁴⁵Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon. For a fire has gone forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones. ⁴⁶Woe to thee, O Moab! The people of Chemosh is undone, for thy sons are taken away captive, and thy daughters into captivity. ⁴⁷Yet I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, says Jehovah. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

CHAPTER 49

¹Concerning the sons of Ammon. Thus says Jehovah: Has Israel no sons? Has he no heir? Why then does Malcam possess Gad, and his people dwell in the cities thereof? ²Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and it shall become a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire. Then Israel shall possess those who possessed him, says Jehovah. ³Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste. Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah. Gird you with sackcloth. Lament, and run to and fro among the fences. For Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his rulers together. ⁴Why do thou glory in the valleys, thy flowing valley? O backsliding daughter, who trusted in her treasures, saying, Who shall come to me? ⁵Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, from all who are round about thee. And ye shall be driven out every man straight forth, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives. ⁶But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the sons of Ammon, says Jehovah. ⁷Of Edom. Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Is wisdom no more in Teman? Has counsel perished from the prudent? Has their wisdom vanished? ⁸Flee ye, turn back, dwell in the depths, O inhabitants of Dedan. For I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I shall visit him. ⁹If grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? If thieves by night, would they not destroy till they had enough? ¹⁰But I have made Esau bare. I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself. His seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors, and he is not. ¹¹Leave thy fatherless sons; I will preserve them alive. And let thy widows trust in me. ¹²For thus says Jehovah: Behold, those to whom it did not pertain to drink of the cup shall assuredly drink. And are thou he who shall go altogether unpunished? Thou shall not go unpunished, but thou shall surely drink. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, says Jehovah, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. ¹⁴I have heard news from Jehovah. And an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. ¹⁵For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, and despised among men. ¹⁶As for thy formidableness, the pride of thy heart has deceived thee, O thou who dwells in the clefts of the rock, who holds the height of the hill. Though thou should make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from there, says Jehovah. ¹⁷And Edom shall become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues of it. ¹⁸As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, says Jehovah, no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in it. ¹⁹Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation. For I will suddenly make them run away from it. And he who is chosen, him I will appoint over it. For who is like me, and who will appoint a time for me, and who is the shepherd who will stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah that he has taken against Edom, and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them. ²¹The earth trembles at the noise of their fall. There is a cry; the noise of it is heard in the Red Sea. ²²Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah. And the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. ²³Of Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad, for they have heard evil news. They are melted away. There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet. ²⁴Damascus has grown feeble. She turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized on her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail. ²⁵How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of my joy? ²⁶Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Jehovah of hosts. ²⁷And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. ²⁸Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote. Thus says Jehovah: Arise ye. Go up to Kedar, and destroy the sons of the east. ²⁹They shall take their tents and their flocks. They shall carry away for themselves their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels. And they shall cry to them, Terror on every side! ³⁰Flee ye. Wander far off. Dwell in the depths, O ye inhabitants of Hazor, says Jehovah. For Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a purpose against you. ³¹Arise, get you up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without worry, says Jehovah, that has neither gates nor bars, that dwells alone. ³²And their camels shall be a booty, and the multitude of their cattle a spoil. And I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their hair cut off. And I will bring their calamity from every side of them, says Jehovah. ³³And Hazor shall be a dwelling-place of jackals, a desolation forever. No man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn therein. ³⁴The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, ³⁵Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. ³⁶And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds. And there shall be no nation where the outcasts of Elam shall not come. ³⁷And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life. And I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, says Jehovah. And I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. ³⁸And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy from there king and rulers, says Jehovah. ³⁹But it shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring back the captivity of Elam, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 50

¹The word that Jehovah spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet. ²Declare ye among the nations and publish, and set up a standard, publish, and conceal not. Say, Babylon is taken. Bel is put to shame. Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame; her idols are dismayed. ³For out of the north there comes up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate, and none shall dwell therein. They are fled. They are gone, both man and beast. ⁴In those days, and in that time, says Jehovah, the sons of Israel shall come, they and the sons of Judah together. They shall go on their way weeping, and shall seek Jehovah their God. ⁵They shall inquire concerning Zion with their faces toward it, saying, Come ye, and join yourselves to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten. ⁶My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have caused them to go astray. They have turned them away on the mountains. They have gone from mountain to hill. They have forgotten their resting-place. ⁷All who found them have devoured them, and their adversaries said, We are not guilty, because they have sinned against Jehovah, the habitation of righteousness, even Jehovah, the hope of their fathers. ⁸Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth out of the land of the Chaldeans, and be as the he-goats before the flocks. ⁹For, lo, I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country, and they shall set themselves in array against her. From there she shall be taken. Their arrows shall be as of an expert mighty man; none shall return in vain. ¹⁰And Chaldea shall be a prey. All who prey upon her shall be satisfied, says Jehovah. ¹¹Because ye are glad, because ye rejoice, O ye who plunder my heritage, because ye are wanton as a heifer that treads out the grain, and neigh as strong horses, ¹²your mother shall be utterly put to shame. She who bore you shall be confounded. Behold, she shall be the hindermost of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. ¹³Because of the wrath of Jehovah she shall not be inhabited, but she shall be wholly desolate. Everyone who goes by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues. ¹⁴Set yourselves in array against Babylon round about, all ye who bend the bow. Shoot at her; spare no arrows. For she has sinned against Jehovah. ¹⁵Shout against her round about. She has submitted herself. Her bulwarks are fallen. Her walls are thrown down. For it is the vengeance of Jehovah. Take vengeance upon her. As she has done, do to her. ¹⁶Cut off the sower from Babylon, and him who handles the sickle in the time of harvest. For fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn each one to his people, and they shall flee each one to his own land. ¹⁷Israel is a hunted sheep, the lions have driven him away. First, the king of Assyria devoured him, and now at last Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. ¹⁸Therefore thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. ¹⁹And I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead. ²⁰In those days, and in that time, says Jehovah, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found. For I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant. ²¹Go up against the land of Merathaim, even against it, and against the inhabitants of Pekod. Kill and utterly destroy after them, says Jehovah, and do according to all that I have commanded thee. ²²A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. ²³How the hammer of the whole earth is cut apart and broken! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! ²⁴I have laid a snare for thee, and thou are also taken, O Babylon, and thou were not aware. Thou are found, and also caught, because thou have striven against Jehovah. ²⁵Jehovah has opened his armory, and has brought forth the weapons of his indignation, for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, has a work in the land of the Chaldeans. ²⁶Come against her from the utmost border. Open her store-houses. Cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly; let nothing of her be left. ²⁷Kill all her bullocks. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation. ²⁸The voice of those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance of his temple. ²⁹Call together the archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp against her round about; let none thereof escape. Recompense her according to her work. According to all that she has done, do to her. For she has been proud against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. ³⁰Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all her men of war shall be brought to silence in that day, says Jehovah. ³¹Behold, I am against thee, O thou proud one, says the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, for thy day has come, the time that I will visit thee. ³²And the proud one shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all who are round about him. ³³Thus says Jehovah of hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah are oppressed together, and all who took them captive hold them firm; they refuse to let them go. ³⁴Their Redeemer is strong. Jehovah of hosts is his name. He will thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the earth, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. ³⁵A sword is upon the Chaldeans, says Jehovah, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her rulers, and upon her wise men. ³⁶A sword is upon the boasters, and they shall become fools. A sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dismayed. ³⁷A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mixed people who are in the midst of her, and they shall become as women. A sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be robbed. ³⁸A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and they are mad over idols. ³⁹Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein. And it shall no more be inhabited forever, nor shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. ⁴⁰As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, says Jehovah, so shall no man dwell there, nor shall any son of man sojourn in it. ⁴¹Behold, a people comes from the north, and a great nation and many kings shall be stirred up from the outermost parts of the earth. ⁴²They lay hold on bow and spear. They are cruel, and have no mercy. Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride upon horses, each one set in array, as a man to the battle, against thee, O daughter of Babylon. ⁴³The king of Babylon has heard the news of them, and his hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. ⁴⁴Behold, the enemy shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation. For I will suddenly make them run away from it, and he who is chosen, him I will appoint over it. For who is like me, and who will appoint a time for me, and who is the shepherd who can stand before me? ⁴⁵Therefore hear ye the counsel of Jehovah, that he has taken against Babylon, and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely they shall drag them away, even the little ones of the flock. Surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them. ⁴⁶At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations.

CHAPTER 51

¹Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against those who dwell in Leb-kamai, a destroying wind. ²And I will send strangers to Babylon, who shall winnow her, and they shall empty her land. For in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. ³Against him who bends let the archer bend his bow, and against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail. And spare ye not her young men. Destroy ye utterly all her host. ⁴And they shall fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans, and thrust through in her streets. ⁵For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, of his God, of Jehovah of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel. ⁶Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every man his life. Be not cut off in her iniquity, for it is the time of Jehovah�s vengeance; he will render to her a recompense. ⁷Babylon has been a golden cup in Jehovah�s hand, that made all the earth drunken. The nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad. ⁸Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed. Wail for her. Take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. ⁹We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her, and let us go each one into his own country. For her judgment reaches to heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies. ¹⁰Jehovah has brought forth our righteousness. Come, and let us declare in Zion the work of Jehovah our God. ¹¹Make sharp the arrows. Hold firm the shields. Jehovah has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose is against Babylon, to destroy it. For it is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of his temple. ¹²Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon. Make the watch strong. Set the watchmen. Prepare the ambushes. For Jehovah has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon. ¹³O thou who dwell upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end has come, the measure of thy covetousness. ¹⁴Jehovah of hosts has sworn by himself, saying, Surely I will fill thee with men as with the canker-worm, and they shall lift up a shout against thee. ¹⁵He has made the earth by his power. He has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding he has stretched out the heavens. ¹⁶When he utters his voice, there is a tumult of waters in the heavens, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain, and brings forth the wind out of his treasuries. ¹⁷Every man has become brutish, without knowledge. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his image, for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. ¹⁸They are vanity, a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they shall perish. ¹⁹The portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the former of all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. Jehovah of hosts is his name. ²⁰Thou are my battle-axe and weapons of war. And with thee I will break in pieces the nations, and with thee I will destroy kingdoms, ²¹and with thee I will break in pieces the horse and his rider, ²²and with thee I will break in pieces the chariot and him who rides in it, and with thee I will break in pieces man and woman, and with thee I will break in pieces the old man and the youth, and with thee I will break in pieces the young man and the virgin, ²³and with thee I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock, and with thee I will break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen, and with thee I will break in pieces governors and deputies. ²⁴And I will render to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, says Jehovah. ²⁵Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, says Jehovah, which destroys all the earth. And I will stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. ²⁶And they shall not take from thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shall be desolate forever, says Jehovah. ²⁷Set ye up a standard in the land. Blow the trumpet among the nations. Prepare the nations against her. Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her. Cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm. ²⁸Prepare against her the nations, the kings of the Medes, the governors of it, and all the deputies of it, and all the land of their dominion. ²⁹And the land trembles and is in pain, for the purposes of Jehovah against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant. ³⁰The mighty men of Babylon have ceased fighting; they remain in their strongholds. Their might has failed. They have become as women. Her dwelling-places are set on fire. Her bars are broken. ³¹One post shall run to meet another, and one messenger to met another, to show the king of Babylon that his city is taken on every quarter. ³²And the passages are seized, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are frightened. ³³For thus says Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor at the time when it is trodden. Yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come for her. ³⁴Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me. He has crushed me. He has made me an empty vessel. He has, like a monster, swallowed me up. He has filled his stomach with my delicacies. He has cast me out. ³⁵The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, the inhabitant of Zion shall say. And, My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, Jerusalem shall say. ³⁶Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee. And I will dry up her sea, and make her fountain dry. ³⁷And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwelling-place for jackals, an astonishment, and a hissing, without inhabitant. ³⁸They shall roar together like young lions. They shall growl as lions� whelps. ³⁹When they are heated, I will make their feast. And I will make them drunken, that they may rejoice, and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says Jehovah. ⁴⁰I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. ⁴¹How Sheshach is taken, and the praise of the whole earth seized! How Babylon has become a desolation among the nations! ⁴²The sea has come up upon Babylon. She is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. ⁴³Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land, and a desert, a land in which no man dwells, nor does any son of man pass thereby. ⁴⁴And I will execute judgment upon Bel in Babylon, and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up. And the nations shall not flow any more to him. Yea, the wall of Babylon shall fall. ⁴⁵My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and save yourselves each man from the fierce anger of Jehovah. ⁴⁶And let not your heart faint. Neither fear ye for the news that shall be heard in the land. For news shall come one year, and after that in another year, news, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler. ⁴⁷Therefore, behold, the days come, that I will execute judgment upon the graven images of Babylon. And her whole land shall be confounded, and all her slain shall fall in the midst of her. ⁴⁸Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is therein, shall sing for joy over Babylon. For the destroyers shall come to her from the north, says Jehovah. ⁴⁹As Babylon has caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the land. ⁵⁰Ye who have escaped the sword, go ye; do not stand still. Remember Jehovah from afar, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. ⁵¹We are confounded, because we have heard reproach. Confusion has covered our faces. For strangers have come into the sanctuaries of Jehovah�s house. ⁵²Therefore, behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that I will execute judgment upon her graven images, and through all her land the wounded shall groan. ⁵³Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me destroyers shall come to her, says Jehovah. ⁵⁴The sound of a cry from Babylon, and of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! ⁵⁵For Jehovah lays Babylon waste, and destroys the great voice out of her, and their waves roar like many waters; the noise of their voice is uttered. ⁵⁶For the destroyer has come upon her, even upon Babylon, and her mighty men are taken. Their bows are broken in pieces. For Jehovah is a God of recompenses; he will surely requite. ⁵⁷And I will make drunk her rulers and her wise men, her governors and her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, says the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts. ⁵⁸Thus says Jehovah of hosts: The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. And the peoples shall labor for vanity, and the nations for the fire, and they shall be weary. ⁵⁹The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Now Seraiah was chief chamberlain. ⁶⁰And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. ⁶¹And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou come to Babylon, then see that thou read all these words. ⁶²And say, O Jehovah, thou have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, that none shall dwell therein, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate forever. ⁶³And it shall be, when thou have made an end of reading this book, that thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates. ⁶⁴And thou shall say, Thus Babylon shall sink, and shall not rise again because of the evil that I will bring upon her, and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

CHAPTER 52

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother�s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ²And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. ³For it came to pass through the anger of Jehovah, in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. ⁴And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem, and encamped against it. And they built forts against it round about. ⁵So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. ⁶In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. ⁷Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king�s garden, (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about), and they went toward the Arabah. ⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. ⁹Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him. ¹⁰And the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. He also killed all the rulers of Judah in Riblah. ¹¹And he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. And the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death. ¹²Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, came into Jerusalem. ¹³And he burned the house of Jehovah, and the king�s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Even every great house, he burned with fire. ¹⁴And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem round about. ¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude. ¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. ¹⁷And the pillars of brass that were in the house of Jehovah, and the bases and the brazen sea that were in the house of Jehovah, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon. ¹⁸The pots also, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered, they took away. ¹⁹And the cups, and the fire pans, and the basins, and the pots, and the lampstands, and the spoons, and the bowls�that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver�the captain of the guard took away. ²⁰The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve brazen bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of Jehovah�the brass of all these vessels was without weight. ²¹And as for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a line of twelve cubits encompassed it, and the thickness of it was four fingers; it was hollow. ²²And a capital of brass was upon it. And the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates upon the capital round about, all of brass. And the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates. ²³And there were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides. All the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network round about. ²⁴And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. ²⁵And from the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war, and seven men of those who saw the king�s face, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. ²⁶And Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. ²⁷And the king of Babylon smote them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. ²⁸This is the people whom Nebuchadrezzar carried away captive: In the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews. ²⁹In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons. ³⁰In the twenty-third year of Nebuchadrezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons. All the persons were four thousand six hundred. ³¹And it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison. ³²And he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, ³³and changed his prison garments. And he ate bread before him continually all the days of his life. ³⁴And for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

LAMENTATIONS

CHAPTER 1

¹How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become tributary! ²She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her loved ones she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies. ³Judah has gone into captivity because of affliction. And because of great servitude she dwells among the nations. She finds no rest. All her persecutors overtook her in the distress. ⁴The ways of Zion mourn, because none come to the solemn assembly. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness. ⁵Her adversaries have become the head. Her enemies prosper. For Jehovah has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions. Her young sons have gone into captivity before the adversary. ⁶And from the daughter of Zion all her majesty is departed. Her rulers have become like harts that find no pasture. And they have gone without strength before the pursuer. ⁷Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that were from the days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and none helped her, the adversaries saw her; they mocked at her desolations. ⁸Jerusalem has grievously sinned, therefore she has become as an unclean thing. All who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. Yea, she sighs, and turns backward. ⁹Her filthiness was in her skirts. She did not think of her latter end. Therefore she has come down astonishingly. She has no comforter. Behold, O Jehovah, my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself. ¹⁰The adversary has spread out his hand upon all her pleasant things. For she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom thou commanded that they should not enter into thine assembly. ¹¹All her people sigh. They seek bread. They have given their pleasant things for food to refresh the soul. See, O Jehovah, and, behold, for I have become abject. ¹²Is it nothing to you, all ye who pass by? Behold, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought upon me. Therewith Jehovah has afflicted in the day of his fierce anger. ¹³From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it prevails against them. He has spread a net for my feet. He has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day. ¹⁴The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand. They are knit together. They have come up upon my neck. He has made my strength to fail. The Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand. ¹⁵The Lord has trodden under foot all my mighty men in the midst of me. He has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden the virgin daughter of Judah as in a winepress. ¹⁶For these things I weep. My eye, my eye runs down with water, because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My sons are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed. ¹⁷Zion spreads forth her hands. There is none to comfort her. Jehovah has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are round about him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing. ¹⁸Jehovah is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Hear, I pray you, all ye peoples, and behold my sorrow. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. ¹⁹I called for my loved ones, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders gave up the spirit in the city, while they sought food for themselves to refresh their souls. ²⁰Behold, O Jehovah, for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart is turned within me. For I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaves; at home there is as death. ²¹They have heard that I sigh. There is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble. They are glad that thou have done it. Thou will bring the day that thou have proclaimed, and they shall be like me. ²²Let all their wickedness come before thee, and do to them, as thou have done to me for all my transgressions. For my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.

CHAPTER 2

¹How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down the beauty of Israel from heaven to the earth, and has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. ²The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied. In his wrath he has thrown down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground. He has profaned the kingdom and the rulers thereof. ³In fierce anger he has cut off all the horn of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand from before the enemy. And he has burned up Jacob like a flaming fire which devours round about. ⁴He has bent his bow like an enemy. He has stood with his right hand as an adversary, and has slain all who were pleasant to the eye. He has poured out his wrath like fire in the tent of the daughter of Zion. ⁵The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. And he has multiplied mourning and lamentation in the daughter of Judah. ⁶And he has taken away his tabernacle violently, as a garden. He has destroyed his place of assembly. Jehovah has caused solemn assembly and sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. And in the indignation of his anger has despised the king and the priest. ⁷The Lord has cast off his altar. He has abhorred his sanctuary. He has given up the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have made a noise in the house of Jehovah, as in the day of a solemn assembly. ⁸Jehovah has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line. He has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. And he has made the rampart and wall to lament, they languish together. ⁹Her gates are sunk into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her rulers are among the nations where the law is not. Yea, her prophets find no vision from Jehovah. ¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground. They keep silence. They have cast up dust upon their heads. They have girded themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground. ¹¹My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young sons and the sucklings faint in the streets of the city. ¹²They say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? when they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, when their soul is poured out into their mothers� bosom. ¹³What shall I testify to thee? What shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea; who can heal thee? ¹⁴Thy prophets have seen false and foolish visions for thee. And they have not uncovered thine iniquity, to bring back thy captivity, but have seen for thee false oracles and causes of banishment. ¹⁵All who pass by clap their hands at thee. They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth? ¹⁶All thine enemies have opened their mouth wide against thee. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found, we have seen it. ¹⁷Jehovah has done that which he purposed. He has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. And he has caused the enemy to rejoice over thee. He has exalted the horn of thine adversaries. ¹⁸Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give thyself no respite. Let not the apple of thine eye cease. ¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out thy heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young sons, who faint for hunger at the head of every street. ²⁰See, O Jehovah, and behold to whom thou have done thus! Shall the women eat their fruit, the sons who are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? ²¹The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets. My virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. Thou have slain them in the day of thine anger. Thou have slaughtered, and not pitied. ²²Thou have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. And there was none who escaped or remained in the day of Jehovah�s anger. My enemy has consumed those whom I have dandled and brought up.

CHAPTER 3

¹I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. ²He has led me and caused me to walk in darkness, and not in light. ³Surely he turns his hand against me, again and again all the day. ⁴He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones. ⁵He has built against me, and encompassed me with gall and travail. ⁶He has made me to dwell in dark places, as those who have long been dead. ⁷He has walled me around, that I cannot go forth. He has made my chain heavy. ⁸Yea, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer. ⁹He has walled up my ways with hewn stone. He has made my paths crooked. ¹⁰He is to me as a bear lying in wait, as a lion in concealed places. ¹¹He has turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces. He has made me desolate. ¹²He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. ¹³He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my reins. ¹⁴I have become a derision to all my people, and their song all the day. ¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness. He has sated me with wormwood. ¹⁶He has also broken my teeth with gravel stones. He has covered me with ashes. ¹⁷And thou have removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot prosperity. ¹⁸And I said, My strength is perished, and my expectation from Jehovah. ¹⁹Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. ²⁰My soul still has them in remembrance, and is bowed down within me. ²¹This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope: ²²It is of Jehovah�s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions do not fail. ²³They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. ²⁴Jehovah is my portion, says my soul, therefore I will hope in him. ²⁵Jehovah is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ²⁶It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah. ²⁷It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. ²⁸Let him sit alone and keep silence, because he has laid it upon him. ²⁹Let him put his mouth in the dust, if so be there may be hope. ³⁰Let him give his cheek to him who smites him. Let him be filled full with reproach. ³¹For the Lord will not cast off forever. ³²For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ³³For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the sons of men. ³⁴To crush under foot all the prisoners of the earth, ³⁵to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, ³⁶to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord does not approve. ³⁷Who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord does not command it? ³⁸Out of the mouth of the Most High does there not come evil and good? ³⁹Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? ⁴⁰Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Jehovah. ⁴¹Let us lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens. ⁴²We have transgressed and have rebelled. Thou have not pardoned. ⁴³Thou have covered with anger and pursued us. Thou have slain; thou have not pitied. ⁴⁴Thou have covered thyself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵Thou have made us an off-scouring and refuse in the midst of the peoples. ⁴⁶All our enemies have opened their mouth wide against us. ⁴⁷Fear and the pit have come upon us, devastation and destruction. ⁴⁸My eye runs down with streams of water, for the destruction of the daughter of my people. ⁴⁹My eye pours down, and does not cease, without any intermission, ⁵⁰till Jehovah looks down, and beholds from heaven. ⁵¹My eye stirs my soul, because of all the daughters of my city. ⁵²They have chased me grievously like a bird, those who are my enemies without cause. ⁵³They have cut off my life in the dungeon, and have cast a stone upon me. ⁵⁴Waters flowed over my head. I said, I am cut off. ⁵⁵I called upon thy name, O Jehovah, out of the lowest dungeon. ⁵⁶Thou heard my voice. Hide not thine ear at my breathing, at my cry. ⁵⁷Thou drew near in the day that I called upon thee. Thou said, Fear not. ⁵⁸O Lord, thou have pleaded the causes of my soul. Thou have redeemed my life. ⁵⁹O Jehovah, thou have seen my wrong. Judge thou my cause. ⁶⁰Thou have seen all their vengeance and all their devices against me. ⁶¹Thou have heard their reproach, O Jehovah, and all their devices against me, ⁶²the lips of those who rose up against me, and their device against me all the day. ⁶³Behold thou their sitting down, and their rising up. I am their song. ⁶⁴Thou will render to them a recompense, O Jehovah, according to the work of their hands. ⁶⁵Thou will give them hardness of heart, thy curse to them. ⁶⁶Thou will pursue them in anger, and destroy them from under the heavens of Jehovah.

CHAPTER 4

¹How the gold has become dim, the most pure gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out at the head of every street. ²The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! ³Even the jackals draw out the breast; they give suck to their young ones. The daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. ⁴The tongue of the sucking child clings to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young sons ask bread, and no man breaks it to them. ⁵Those who fed luxuriously are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. ⁶For the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, that was overthrown as in a moment, and no hands were laid upon her. ⁷Her ranking men were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was as of sapphire. ⁸Their visage is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become like a stick. ⁹Those who are slain with the sword are better than those who are slain with hunger, for these pine away, stricken through, for want of the fruits of the field. ¹⁰The hands of the pitiful women have boiled their own children. They were their food in the destruction of the daughter of my people. ¹¹Jehovah has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger, and he has kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured the foundations thereof. ¹²The kings of the earth did not believe, nor all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy would enter into the gates of Jerusalem. ¹³It is because of the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, who have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. ¹⁴They wander as blind men in the streets. They are polluted with blood, so that men cannot touch their garments. ¹⁵Depart ye, they cried to them. Unclean! Depart, depart, do not touch! When they fled away and wandered, men said among the nations, They shall no more sojourn here. ¹⁶The anger of Jehovah has scattered them. He will no more regard them. They did not respect the persons of the priests. They did not favor the elders. ¹⁷Our eyes do yet fail in looking for our vain help. In our watching we have watched for a nation that could not save. ¹⁸They hunt our steps, so that we cannot go in our streets. Our end is near, our days are fulfilled, for our end has come. ¹⁹Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens. They chased us upon the mountains. They laid wait for us in the wilderness. ²⁰The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits, of whom we said, Under his shadow we shall live among the nations. ²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, who dwells in the land of Uz. Yet the cup shall pass through to thee also. Thou shall be drunken, and shall make thyself naked. ²²The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion. He will no more carry thee away into captivity. He will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom. He will uncover thy sins.

CHAPTER 5

¹Remember, O Jehovah, what has come upon us. Behold, and see our reproach. ²Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. ³We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows. ⁴We have drunken our water for money. Our wood is sold to us. ⁵Our pursuers are upon our necks. We are weary, and have no rest. ⁶We have given the hand to the Egyptians, and to the Assyrians, to be satisfied with bread. ⁷Our fathers sinned, and are not, and we have borne their iniquities. ⁸Servants rule over us. There is none to deliver us out of their hand. ⁹We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness. ¹⁰Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine. ¹¹They ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah. ¹²Rulers were hanged up by their hand. The faces of elders were not honored. ¹³The young men bore the mill, and the sons stumbled under the wood. ¹⁴The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. ¹⁵The joy of our heart is ceased, our dance is turned into mourning. ¹⁶The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us! For we have sinned. ¹⁷For this our heart is faint. For these things our eyes are dim, ¹⁸for the mountain of Zion, which is desolate. The foxes walk upon it. ¹⁹Thou, O Jehovah, abide forever. Thy throne is from generation to generation. ²⁰Why do thou forget us forever, and forsake us so long time? ²¹Turn thou us back to thee, O Jehovah, and we shall be turned back. Renew our days as of old. ²²But thou have utterly rejected us. Thou are very angry against us.

EZEKIEL

CHAPTER 1

¹Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. ²In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin�s captivity, ³the word of Jehovah came expressly to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar, and the hand of Jehovah was there upon him. ⁴And I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud, with a fire enfolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst of it, as it were glowing metal, out of the midst of the fire. ⁵And out of the midst of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance. They had the likeness of a man. ⁶And each one had four faces, and each one of them had four wings. ⁷And their feet were straight feet, and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf�s foot, and they sparkled like burnished brass. ⁸And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides. And those four had their faces and their wings thus: ⁹Their wings were joined one to another. They did not turn when they went; they went each one straight forward. ¹⁰As for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man. And those four had the face of a lion on the right side, and those four had the face of an ox on the left side, those four also had the face of an eagle. ¹¹And their faces and their wings were separate above, two wings of each one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies. ¹²And they went each one straight forward. Where the spirit was to go, they went. They did not turn when they went. ¹³As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches. It went up and down among the living creatures, and the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. ¹⁴And the living creatures ran and returned as the appearance of a flash of lightning. ¹⁵Now as I beheld the living creatures, behold, one wheel was upon the earth beside the living creatures, for each of the four faces of it. ¹⁶The appearance of the wheels and their work was like a beryl. And those four had one likeness, and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel within a wheel. ¹⁷When they went, they went in their four directions. They did not turn when they went. ¹⁸As for their rims, they were high and fearful. And those four had their rims full of eyes round about. ¹⁹And when the living creatures went, the wheels went beside them. And when the living creatures were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up. ²⁰Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there the spirit was to go. And the wheels were lifted up beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. ²¹When those went, these went, and when those stood, these stood, and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up beside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. ²²And over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of a firmament, like awesome crystal to look upon, stretched forth over their heads above. ²³And under the firmament their wings were straight, the one toward the other. Each one had two which covered their bodies on this side, and each one had two which covered on that side. ²⁴And when they went, I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a noise of tumult like the noise of a host. When they stood, they let down their wings. ²⁵And there was a voice above the firmament that was over their heads. When they stood, they let down their wings. ²⁶And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. And upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. ²⁷And I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward. And from the appearance of his loins and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire. And there was brightness round about him. ²⁸As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice speaking.

CHAPTER 2

¹And he said to me, Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak with thee. ²And the Spirit entered into me when he spoke to me, and set me upon my feet. And I heard him who spoke to me. ³And he said to me, Son of man, I send thee to the sons of Israel, to nations that are rebellious, which have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day. ⁴And the sons are impudent and stiff hearted. I send thee to them, and thou shall say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah. ⁵And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear (for they are a rebellious house), yet shall know that there has been a prophet among them. ⁶And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with thee, and thou dwell among scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ⁷And thou shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious. ⁸But thou, son of man, hear what I say to thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth, and eat that which I give thee. ⁹And when I looked, behold, a hand was put forth to me, and, lo, a roll of a book was in it, ¹⁰And he spread it before me, and it was written inside and outside. And there were written in it lamentations and mourning and woe.

CHAPTER 3

¹And he said to me, Son of man, eat that which thou find. Eat this roll, and go, speak to the house of Israel. ²So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. ³And he said to me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. ⁴And he said to me, Son of man, go, get thee to the house of Israel, and speak to them with my words. ⁵For thou are not sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel, ⁶not to many peoples of a strange speech, and of a hard language, whose words thou cannot understand. Surely, if I sent thee to them, they would hearken to thee. ⁷But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee, for they will not hearken to me. For all the house of Israel are of a hard forehead and of a stiff heart. ⁸Behold, I have made thy face hard against their faces, and thy forehead hard against their foreheads. ⁹As an adamant, harder than flint, I have made thy forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ¹⁰Moreover he said to me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak to thee, receive in thy heart, and hear with thine ears. ¹¹And go, get thee to those of the captivity, to the sons of thy people, and speak to them, and tell them, Thus says the lord Jehovah, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. ¹²Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me the voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of Jehovah from his place. ¹³And I heard the noise of the wings of the living creatures as they touched each other, and the noise of the wheels beside them, even the noise of a great rushing. ¹⁴So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away. And I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me. ¹⁵Then I came to those of the captivity at Tel-abib, who dwelt by the river Chebar, and to where they dwelt. And I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days. ¹⁶And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁷Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. ¹⁸When I say to a wicked man, Thou shall surely die, and thou give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked man from his wicked way, to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. ¹⁹Yet if thou warn the wicked man, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou have delivered thy soul. ²⁰Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because thou have not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered, but I will require his blood at thy hand. ²¹Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous man not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and thou have delivered thy soul. ²²And the hand of Jehovah was there upon me, and he said to me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will talk with thee there. ²³Then I arose, and went forth into the plain. And, behold, the glory of Jehovah stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river Chebar, and I fell on my face. ²⁴Then the Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet. And he spoke with me, and said to me, Go, shut thyself within thy house. ²⁵But thou, son of man, behold, they shall lay bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shall not escape from them. ²⁶And I will make thy tongue cling to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shall be mute, and shall not be a reprover to them, for they are a rebellious house. ²⁷But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shall say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah. He who hears, let him hear, and he who forbears, let him forbear, for they are a rebellious house.

CHAPTER 4

¹Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, even Jerusalem. ²And lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it, and plant battering rams against it round about. ³And take thou to thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city. And set thy face toward it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shall lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. ⁴Moreover lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. According to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon it, thou shall bear their iniquity. ⁵For I have appointed the years of their iniquity to be a number of days to thee, even three hundred and ninety days. So thou shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁶And again, when thou have accomplished these, thou shall lie on thy right side, and shall bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days, each day for a year. I have appointed it to thee. ⁷And thou shall set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with thine arm uncovered, and thou shall prophesy against it. ⁸And, behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shall not turn thee from one side to the other, till thou have accomplished the days of thy siege. ⁹Also take thou to thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread of it, according to the number of the days that thou shall lie upon thy side, even three hundred and ninety days, thou shall eat of it. ¹⁰And thy food which thou shall eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day. Thou shall eat it from time to time. ¹¹And thou shall drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin. Thou shall drink from time to time. ¹²And thou shall eat it as barley cakes, and thou shall bake it in their sight with dung that comes out of man. ¹³And Jehovah said, Even thus shall the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will drive them. ¹⁴Then I said, Ah lord Jehovah! Behold, my soul has not been polluted. For from my youth up even till now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of beasts, neither has abominable flesh come into my mouth. ¹⁵Then he said to me, See, I have given thee cow�s dung for man�s dung, and thou shall prepare thy bread of it. ¹⁶Moreover he said to me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they shall eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness, and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay, ¹⁷that they may lack bread and water, and be dismayed one with another, and pine away in their iniquity.

CHAPTER 5

¹And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp sword. As a barber�s razor thou shall take it to thee, and shall cause it to pass upon thy head and upon thy beard. Then take thee balances to weigh and divide the hair. ²A third part thou shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are fulfilled, and thou shall take a third part, and smite with the sword round about it, and a third part thou shall scatter to the wind. And I will draw out a sword after them. ³And thou shall take from it a few in number, and bind them in thy skirts. ⁴And of these again thou shall take, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire. From there a fire shall come forth into all the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her. ⁶And she has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are round about her, for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them. ⁷Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because ye are more disorderly than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, nor have kept my ordinances, no, ye have not even done according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you, ⁸therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and I will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations. ⁹And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and of which I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. ¹⁰Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers. And I will execute judgments on thee, and I will scatter to all the winds the whole remnant of thee. ¹¹Therefore, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, surely, because thou have defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore I also will diminish thee, nor shall my eye spare. And I also will have no pity. ¹²A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and they shall be consumed with famine in the midst of thee, and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, and a third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them. ¹³Thus my anger shall be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I shall be comforted. And they shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath upon them. ¹⁴Moreover I will make thee a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all who pass by. ¹⁵So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, a lesson and an astonishment, to the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments on thee in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes�I, Jehovah, have spoken it� ¹⁶when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. And I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread. ¹⁷And I will send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee. And pestilence and blood shall pass through thee. And I will bring the sword upon thee. I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

CHAPTER 6

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy to them, ³and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of lord Jehovah. Thus says the lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴And your altars shall become desolate, and your sun-images shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. ⁵And I will lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones round about your altars. ⁶In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your sun-images may be hewn down, and your works may be abolished. ⁷And the slain shall fall in the midst of you. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁸Yet I will leave a remnant, in that ye shall have some who escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries. ⁹And those of you who escape shall remember me among the nations where they shall be carried captive, how I have broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols. And they shall loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. ¹⁰And they shall know that I am Jehovah. I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them. ¹¹Thus says the lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence. ¹²He who is far off shall die of the pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged shall die by the famine. Thus I will accomplish my wrath upon them. ¹³And ye shall know that I am Jehovah when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the places where they offered sweet savor to all their idols. ¹⁴And I will stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 7

¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²And thou, son of man, thus says the lord Jehovah to the land of Israel: An end. The end has come upon the four corners of the land. ³Now the end is upon thee, and I will send my anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways. And I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. ⁴And my eye shall not spare thee, nor will I have pity. But I will bring thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah: An evil, an only evil, behold, it comes. ⁶An end has come. The end has come. It awakens against thee. Behold, it comes. ⁷Thy doom has come to thee, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come. The day is near, tumult, and not joyful shouting, upon the mountains. ⁸Now I will shortly pour out my wrath upon thee, and accomplish my anger against thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways. And I will bring upon thee all thine abominations. ⁹And my eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. I will bring upon thee according to thy ways. And thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee. And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, do smite. ¹⁰Behold, the day, behold, it comes. Thy doom has gone forth. The rod has blossomed; pride has budded. ¹¹Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness. None of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. Neither shall there be eminency among them. ¹²The time has come; the day draws near. Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all the multitude of it. ¹³For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they be yet alive, for the vision is concerning the whole multitude of it. None shall return, nor shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. ¹⁴They have blown the trumpet, and have made all ready, but none goes to the battle, for my wrath is upon all the multitude of it. ¹⁵The sword is outside, and the pestilence and the famine inside. He who is in the field shall die with the sword, and he who is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. ¹⁶But those of them who escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys. All of them moaning, each one in his iniquity. ¹⁷All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water. ¹⁸They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them. And shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. ¹⁹They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah. They shall not satisfy their souls, nor fill their bowels, because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity. ²⁰As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty, but they made the images of their abominations, and their detestable things in it. Therefore I have made it as an unclean thing to them. ²¹And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil, and they shall profane it. ²²I will also turn my face from them, and they shall profane my secluded place. And robbers shall enter into it, and profane it. ²³Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. ²⁴Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease, and their holy places shall be profaned. ²⁵Destruction comes. And they shall seek peace, and there shall be none. ²⁶Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor. And they shall seek a vision of the prophet, but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders. ²⁷The king shall mourn, and the ruler shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled. I will do to them according to their way, and according to their deserts I will judge them. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 8

¹And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house, and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the lord Jehovah fell there upon me. ²Then I beheld, and, lo, a likeness as the appearance of fire, from the appearance of his loins and downward, fire, and from his loins and upward, as the appearance of brightness, as it were glowing metal. ³And he put forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head. And the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court that looks toward the north, where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which provokes to jealousy. ⁴And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, according to the appearance that I saw in the plain. ⁵Then he said to me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up my eyes the way toward the north, and, behold, northward of the gate of the altar was this image of jealousy in the entry. ⁶And he said to me, Son of man, see thou what they do, even the great abominations that the house of Israel commit here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? But thou shall again see yet other great abominations. ⁷And he brought me to the door of the court. And when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸Then he said to me, Son of man, dig now in the wall. And when I had dug in the wall, behold, a door. ⁹And he said to me, Go in, and see the wicked abominations that they do here. ¹⁰So I went in and saw, and, behold, every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. ¹¹And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel. And in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, each man with his censer in his hand, and the odor of the cloud of incense went up. ¹²Then he said to me, Son of man, have thou seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each man in his chambers of imagery? For they say, Jehovah does not see us. Jehovah has forsaken the land. ¹³He also said to me, Thou shall again see yet other great abominations which they do. ¹⁴Then he brought me to the door of the gate of Jehovah�s house which was toward the north. And, behold, there sat the women weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵Then he said to me, Have thou seen this, O son of man? Thou shall again see yet greater abominations than these. ¹⁶And he brought me into the inner court of Jehovah�s house. And, behold, at the door of the temple of Jehovah, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. ¹⁷Then he said to me, Have thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence, and have turned again to provoke me to anger. And, lo, they put the branch to their nose. ¹⁸Therefore I will also deal in wrath. My eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them.

CHAPTER 9

¹Then he cried in my ears with a loud voice, saying, Cause ye those who have charge over the city to draw near, each man with his destroying weapon in his hand. ²And, behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which lies toward the north, each man with his slaughter weapon in his hand, and one man in the midst of them clothed in linen, with a writer�s case by his side. And they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar. ³And the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub, upon which it was, to the threshold of the house, and he called to the man clothed in linen who had the writer�s case by his side. ⁴And Jehovah said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst of it. ⁵And to the others he said in my hearing, Go ye through the city after him, and smite. Let not your eye spare, nor have ye pity. ⁶Kill utterly the old man, the young man, and the virgin, and little sons, and women, but come not near any man upon whom is the mark. And begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men who were before the house. ⁷And he said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Go ye forth. And they went forth, and smote in the city. ⁸And it came to pass, while they were smiting, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah lord Jehovah! Will thou destroy all the residue of Israel in thy pouring out of thy wrath upon Jerusalem? ⁹Then he said to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness. For they say, Jehovah has forsaken the land, and Jehovah does not see. ¹⁰And as for me also, my eye shall not spare, nor will I have pity, but I will bring their way upon their head. ¹¹And, behold, the man clothed in linen, who had the writing case by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou have commanded me.

CHAPTER 10

¹Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament that was over the head of the cherubim there appeared above them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne. ²And he spoke to the man clothed in linen, and said, Go in between the whirling wheels, even under the cherub, and fill both thy hands with coals of fire from between the cherubim, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight. ³Now the cherubim stood on the right side of the house when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner court. ⁴And the glory of Jehovah mounted up from the cherub, over the threshold of the house. And the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of Jehovah�s glory. ⁵And the sound of the wings of the cherubim was heard even to the outer court, as the voice of God Almighty when he speaks. ⁶And it came to pass, when he commanded the man clothed in linen, saying, Take fire from between the whirling wheels, from between the cherubim, that he went in, and stood beside a wheel. ⁷And the cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubim to the fire that was between the cherubim, and took, and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. ⁸And there appeared in the cherubim the form of a man�s hand under their wings. ⁹And I looked, and, behold, four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub, and another wheel beside another cherub. And the appearance of the wheels was like a beryl stone. ¹⁰And as for their appearance, those four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been within a wheel. ¹¹When they went, they went in their four directions. They did not turn as they went, but to the place where the head looked they followed it. They did not turn as they went. ¹²And their whole body, and their backs, and their hands, and their wings, and the wheels, were full of eyes round about, even the wheels that those four had. ¹³As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, O wheel. ¹⁴And each one had four faces. The first face was the face of the cherub, and the second face was the face of a man, and the third face the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. ¹⁵And the cherubim mounted up. This is the living creature that I saw by the river Chebar. ¹⁶And when the cherubim went, the wheels went beside them. And when the cherubim lifted up their wings to mount up from the earth, the wheels also did not turn from beside them. ¹⁷When they stood, these stood, and when they mounted up, these mounted up with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them. ¹⁸And the glory of Jehovah went forth from over the threshold of the house, and stood over the cherubim. ¹⁹And the cherubim lifted up their wings, and mounted up from the earth in my sight when they went forth, and the wheels beside them. And they stood at the door of the east gate of Jehovah�s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. ²⁰This is the living creature that I saw under the God of Israel by the river Chebar, and I knew that they were cherubim. ²¹Each one had four faces, and each one four wings. And the likeness of the hands of a man was under their wings. ²²And as for the likeness of their faces, they were the faces which I saw by the river Chebar, their appearances and themselves. They went each one straight forward.

CHAPTER 11

¹Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Jehovah�s house, which looks eastward. And, behold, at the door of the gate twenty-five men. And I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, rulers of the people. ²And he said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city, ³who say, The time is not near to build houses. This city is the caldron, and we are the flesh. ⁴Therefore prophesy against them. Prophesy, O son of man. ⁵And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Jehovah: Thus ye have said, O house of Israel, for I know the things that come into your mind. ⁶Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain. ⁷Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron, but ye shall be brought forth out of the midst of it. ⁸Ye have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, says the lord Jehovah. ⁹And I will bring you forth out of the midst of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you. ¹⁰Ye shall fall by the sword. I will judge you in the border of Israel, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹¹This city shall not be your caldron, nor shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof. I will judge you in the border of Israel, ¹²and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. For ye have not walked in my statutes, nor have ye executed my ordinances, but have done according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you. ¹³And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah lord Jehovah! Will thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? ¹⁴And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁵Son of man, thy brothers, even thy brothers, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from Jehovah. This land is given to us for a possession. ¹⁶Therefore say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet I will be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they have come. ¹⁷Therefore say, Thus says the lord Jehovah. I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. ¹⁸And they shall come there, and they shall take away from there all the detestable things of it and all the abominations of it. ¹⁹And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, ²⁰that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²¹But as for those whose heart walks according to the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, says the lord Jehovah. ²²Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, and the wheels were beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above. ²³And the glory of Jehovah went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. ²⁴And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to those of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵Then I spoke to those of the captivity all the things that Jehovah had shown me.

CHAPTER 12

¹The word of Jehovah also came to me, saying, ²Son of man, thou dwell in the midst of the rebellious house, that have eyes to see, and see not, that have ears to hear, and hear not, for they are a rebellious house. ³Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for moving, and move by day in their sight. And thou shall move from thy place to another place in their sight. It may be they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. ⁴And thou shall bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for moving. And thou shall go forth thyself at evening in their sight, as when men go forth into exile. ⁵Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out by that. ⁶Thou shall bear it upon thy shoulder in their sight, and carry it forth in the dark. Thou shall cover thy face, that thou not see the land. For I have set thee for a sign to the house of Israel. ⁷And I did so as I was commanded. I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for moving, and in the evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought it forth in the dark, and bore it upon my shoulder in their sight. ⁸And in the morning the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁹Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to thee, What are thou doing? ¹⁰Say thou to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: This burden concerns the ruler in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel among whom they are. ¹¹Say, I am your sign. Just as I have done, so shall it be done to them. They shall go into exile, into captivity. ¹²And the ruler who is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the dark, and shall go forth. They shall dig through the wall to carry out by it. He shall cover his face, because he shall not see the land with his eyes. ¹³I will also spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans, yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. ¹⁴And I will scatter toward every wind all who are round about him to help him, and all his groups. And I will draw out the sword after them. ¹⁵And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall disperse them among the nations, and scatter them through the countries. ¹⁶But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, that they may declare all their abominations among the nations where they come. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁷Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁸Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with fearfulness. ¹⁹And say to the people of the land, Thus says the lord Jehovah concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate of all that is in it, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein. ²⁰And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ²¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²²Son of man, what is this proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision fails? ²³Tell them therefore, Thus says the lord Jehovah: I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel, but say to them, The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. ²⁴For there shall no more be any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. ²⁵For I am Jehovah. I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall be performed. It shall be no more deferred. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word, and will perform it, says the lord Jehovah. ²⁶Again the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²⁷Son of man, behold, those of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many day to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off. ²⁸Therefore say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: There shall none of my words be deferred any more, but the word which I shall speak shall be performed, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 13

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say thou to those who prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah. ³Thus says the lord Jehovah: Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! ⁴O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in the waste places. ⁵Ye have not gone up into the gaps, nor built up the wall for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah. ⁶They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, Jehovah says, but Jehovah has not sent them. And they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed. ⁷Have ye not seen a false vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, in that ye say, Jehovah says, albeit I have not spoken? ⁸Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because ye have spoken falsehood, and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you, says the lord Jehovah. ⁹And my hand shall be against the prophets who see false visions, and who divine lies. They shall not be in the council of my people, nor shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the lord Jehovah. ¹⁰Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace, and there is no peace, and when a man builds up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar, ¹¹say to those who daub it with untempered mortar, that it shall fall. There shall be an overflowing shower, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall rend it. ¹²Lo, when the wall has fallen, shall it not be said to you, Where is the daubing with which ye have daubed it? ¹³Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my wrath, and there shall be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it. ¹⁴So I will break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be uncovered. And it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst of it. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁵Thus I will accomplish my wrath upon the wall, and upon those who have daubed it with untempered mortar. And I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who daubed it, ¹⁶namely, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁷And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their own heart, and prophesy thou against them. ¹⁸And say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Woe to the women who sew pillows upon all elbows, and make headdresses for the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves? ¹⁹And ye have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies. ²⁰Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against your pillows, with which ye hunt the souls there to make fly, and I will tear them from your arms. And I will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make fly. ²¹I will also tear your headdresses, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall no more be in your hand to be hunted. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ²²Because with lies ye have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad, and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive. ²³Therefore ye shall no more see false visions, nor divine divinations. And I will deliver my people out of your hand. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 14

¹Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me, and sat before me. ²And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ³Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them? ⁴Therefore speak to them, and say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I Jehovah will answer him in it according to the multitude of his idols, ⁵that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. ⁶Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷For everyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, that separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to inquire for himself of me, I Jehovah will answer him by myself. ⁸And I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb. And I will cut him off from the midst of my people. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁹And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet. And I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰And they shall bear their iniquity. The iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of him who seeks him, ¹¹that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor defile themselves any more with all their transgressions, but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, says the lord Jehovah. ¹²And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹³Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, ¹⁴though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶though these three men were in it, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, they only would be delivered, but the land would be desolate. ¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off from it man and beast, ¹⁸though these three men were in it, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only would be delivered themselves. ¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, they would deliver neither son nor daughter, they would but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. ²¹For thus says the lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²²Yet, behold, there shall be left a remnant in it that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth to you, and ye shall see their way and their doings. And ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it. ²³And they shall comfort you when ye see their way and their doings. And ye shall know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 15

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³Shall wood be taken of it to make any work? Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? ⁴Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire has devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work? ⁵Behold, when it was whole, it was fit for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be fit for any work! ⁶Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ⁷And I will set my face against them. They shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah when I set my face against them. ⁸And I will make the land desolate because they have committed a trespass, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 16

¹Again the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, ³and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is from the land of the Canaanite. The Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was a Hittite. ⁴And as for thy nativity, in the day thou were born thy navel was not cut, nor were thou washed in water to cleanse thee. Thou were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. ⁵No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things to thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou were cast out in the open field. For thy person was abhorred, in the day that thou were born. ⁶And when I passed by thee, and saw thee weltering in thy blood, I said to thee, in thy blood, Live! Yea, I said to thee, in thy blood, Live! ⁷I caused thee to multiply as that which grows in the field, and thou increased and grew great. And thou attained to excellent ornament, thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair was grown. Yet thou were naked and bare. ⁸Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore to thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, says the lord Jehovah, and thou became mine. ⁹Then I washed thee with water. Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. ¹⁰I also clothed thee with embroidered work, and shod thee with a certain skin. And I girded thee around with fine linen, and covered thee with silk. ¹¹And I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. ¹²And I put a ring upon thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. ¹³Thus thou were decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work. Thou ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And thou were very beautiful, and thou prospered to royalty. ¹⁴And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty. For it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put upon thee, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵But thou trusted in thy beauty, and played the harlot because of thy renown, and poured out thy whoredoms on everyone who passed by; his it was. ¹⁶And thou took of thy garments, and made high places for thee, decked with various colors, and played the harlot upon them, things which should not come, nor should it be. ¹⁷Thou also took thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and made for thee images of men, and played the harlot with them. ¹⁸And thou took thy embroidered garments, and covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹My bread also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and honey, with which I fed thee, thou even set it before them for a sweet savor, and thus it was, says the lord Jehovah. ²⁰Moreover thou have taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou have borne to me, and thou have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter, ²¹that thou have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them? ²²And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou have not remembered the days of thy youth when thou were naked and bare, and were weltering in thy blood. ²³And it has come to pass according to all thy wickedness, (woe, woe to thee! says the lord Jehovah), ²⁴that thou have built thyself a vaulted place, and have made thee a lofty place in every street. ²⁵Thou have built thy lofty place at the head of every way, and have made thy beauty an abomination. And have opened thy feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied thy whoredom. ²⁶Thou have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, great of flesh, and have multiplied thy whoredom, to provoke me to anger. ²⁷Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thy portion, and delivered thee to the will of those who hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of thy lewd way. ²⁸Thou have played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because thou were insatiable. Yea, thou have played the harlot with them, and yet thou were not satisfied. ²⁹Thou have moreover multiplied thy whoredom to the land of traffic, to Chaldea, and yet thou were not satisfied with this. ³⁰How weak is thy heart, says the lord Jehovah, seeing thou do all these things, the work of an impudent harlot, ³¹in that thou build thy vaulted place at the head of every way, and make thy lofty place in every street. And have not even been as a harlot, in that thou scorn hire. ³²A wife who commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³They give gifts to all harlots, but thou give thy gifts to all thy lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to thee on every side for thy whoredoms. ³⁴And thou are different from other women in thy whoredoms, in that none follows thee to play the harlot. And whereas thou give a wage, and no wage is given to thee, therefore thou are different. ³⁵Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. ³⁶Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness uncovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and because of all the idols of thy abominations, and for the blood of thy sons, that thou gave to them, ³⁷therefore, behold, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou have taken pleasure, and all those whom thou have loved, with all those whom thou have hated, I will even gather them against thee on every side. And I will uncover thy nakedness to them, that they may see all thy nakedness. ³⁸And I will judge thee, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged. And I will bring upon thee the blood of wrath and jealousy. ³⁹I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy vaulted place, and break down thy lofty places. And they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and take thy fair jewels, and they shall leave thee naked and bare. ⁴⁰They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. ⁴¹And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women. And I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou shall also give no wage any more. ⁴²So I will cause my wrath toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will no more be angry. ⁴³Because thou have not remembered the days of thy youth, but have raged against me in all these things, therefore, behold, I also will bring thy way upon thy head, says the lord Jehovah. And thou shall not commit this lewdness with all thine abominations. ⁴⁴Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. ⁴⁵Thou are the daughter of thy mother, who loathes her husband and her sons. And thou are the sister of thy sisters, who loathed their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶And thine elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at thy left hand, she and her daughters. And thy younger sister, who dwells at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. ⁴⁷Yet thou have not walked in their ways, nor done according to their abominations, but, like it was a very little thing, thou were more corrupt than they in all thy ways. ⁴⁸As I live, says the lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as thou have done, thou and thy daughters. ⁴⁹Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of a poor and needy man. ⁵⁰And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away as I saw fit. ⁵¹Neither has Samaria committed half of thy sins, but thou have multiplied thine abominations more than they, and have justified thy sisters by all thine abominations which thou have done. ⁵²Thou also, bear thou thine own shame, in that thou have given judgment for thy sisters, through thy sins that thou have committed more abominable than they. They are more righteous than thou. Yea, be thou also confounded, and bear thy shame, in that thou have justified thy sisters. ⁵³And I will turn back again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them, ⁵⁴that thou may bear thine own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that thou have done, in that thou are a comfort to them. ⁵⁵And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. ⁵⁶For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, ⁵⁷before thy wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to thee round about. ⁵⁸Thou have borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, says Jehovah. ⁵⁹For thus says the lord Jehovah: I will also deal with thee as thou have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant. ⁶¹Then thou shall remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shall receive thy sisters, thine elder sisters and thy younger, and I will give them to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. ⁶²And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shall know that I am Jehovah, ⁶³that thou may remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou have done, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 17

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, put forth a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel, ³and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: A great eagle with great wings and long pinions, full of feathers, which had various colors, came to Lebanon, and took the top of the cedar. ⁴He cropped off the topmost of the young twigs of it, and carried it to a land of merchandise. He set it in a city of merchants. ⁵He took also of the seed of the land, and planted it in a fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree. ⁶And it grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and the roots of it were under him. So it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and shot forth sprigs. ⁷There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. And, behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot forth its branches toward him, from the beds of its plantation, that he might water it. ⁸It was planted in a good soil by many waters that it might bring forth branches, and that it might bear fruit that it might be a goodly vine. ⁹Say thou, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Shall it flourish? Shall he not pull up the roots of it, and cut off the fruit of it, that it may wither? It shall wither in all its fresh springing leaves, even without great power or many people to pluck it up by the roots of it. ¹⁰Yea, behold, being planted, shall it flourish? Shall it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It shall wither in the beds where it grew. ¹¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹²Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? Tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took the king of it, and the rulers of it, and brought them to him to Babylon. ¹³And he took of the seed royal, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land, ¹⁴that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. ¹⁵But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt that they might give him horses and many people. Shall he prosper? Shall he escape who does such things? Shall he break the covenant, and yet escape? ¹⁶As I live, says the lord Jehovah, surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. ¹⁷Nor shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company help him in the war when they cast up mounds and build forts to cut off many persons. ¹⁸For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant. And, behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things. He shall not escape. ¹⁹Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it upon his own head. ²⁰And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me. ²¹And all his fugitives in all his groups shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be scattered toward every wind. And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it. ²²Thus says the lord Jehovah: I will also take of the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it. I will crop off a tender one from the topmost of its young twigs, and I will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain. ²³I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel, and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar. And all birds of every wing shall dwell under it; they shall dwell in the shade of the branches thereof. ²⁴And all the trees of the field shall know that I, Jehovah, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done it.

CHAPTER 18

¹The word of Jehovah came to me again, saying, ²What do ye mean, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the son�s teeth are set on edge? ³As I live, says the lord Jehovah, ye shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. ⁴Behold, all souls are mine, as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul that sins, it shall die. ⁵But if a man be just, and does that which is lawful and right, ⁶and has not eaten upon the mountains, nor has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, nor has defiled his neighbor�s wife, nor has come near to a woman in her impurity, ⁷and has not wronged any man, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to a hungry man, and has covered a naked man with a garment, ⁸he who has not given forth upon interest, nor has taken any increase, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man, ⁹has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly, he is just. He shall surely live, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁰If he begets a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, and who does any one of these things, ¹¹and who does not do any of those duties, but has even eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbor�s wife, ¹²has wronged the poor and needy man, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination, ¹³has given forth upon interest, and has taken increase, shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood shall be upon him. ¹⁴Now, lo, if he begets a son, who sees all his father�s sins, which he has done, and fears, and does not do such like, ¹⁵who has not eaten upon the mountains, nor has lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, has not defiled his neighbor�s wife, ¹⁶nor has wronged any man, has not taken anything to pledge, nor has taken by robbery, but has given his bread to a hungry man, and has covered a naked man with a garment, ¹⁷who has withdrawn his hand from a poor man, who has not received interest nor increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes, he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live. ¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he shall die in his iniquity. ¹⁹Yet ye say, Why does not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he shall surely live. ²⁰The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of a righteous man shall be upon him, and the wickedness of a wicked man shall be upon him. ²¹But if a wicked man turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²²None of his transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done he shall live. ²³Have I any pleasure in the death of a wicked man? says the lord Jehovah, and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? ²⁴But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, shall he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die. ²⁵Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equitable. Hear now, O house of Israel. Is not my way equitable? Are not your ways inequitable? ²⁶When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in it, in his iniquity that he has done, he shall die. ²⁷Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. ²⁸Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ²⁹Yet the house of Israel says, The way of the Lord is not equitable. O house of Israel, are not my ways equitable? Are not your ways inequitable? ³⁰Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each one according to his ways, says the lord Jehovah. Return ye, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. ³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions, by which ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit. For why will ye die, O house of Israel? ³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies, says the lord Jehovah, therefore turn yourselves back, and live.

CHAPTER 19

¹Moreover, take thou up a lamentation for the rulers of Israel, ²and say, What was thy mother? A lioness. She couched among lions. In the midst of the young lions she nourished her whelps. ³And she brought up one of her whelps. He became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey. He devoured men. ⁴The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. ⁵Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. ⁶And he went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey. He devoured men. ⁷And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities. And the land was desolate, and the fullness of it, because of the noise of his roaring. ⁸Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and they spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit. ⁹And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁰Thy mother was like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches because of many waters. ¹¹And it had strong twigs for the scepters of those who bore rule. And their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches. ¹²But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong twigs were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them. ¹³And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land. ¹⁴And fire has gone out of the twigs of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is no strong twig in it to be a scepter to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

CHAPTER 20

¹And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Jehovah, and sat before me. ²And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ³Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Is it to inquire of me that ye have come? As I live, says the lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you. ⁴Will thou judge them, son of man, will thou judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers, ⁵and say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: In the day when I chose Israel, and swore to the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am Jehovah your God, ⁶I swore to them in that day, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands. ⁷And I said to them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God. ⁸But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken to me. They did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. ⁹But I worked for my name�s sake (that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them) in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. ¹¹And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my ordinances, which if a man does, he shall live in them. ¹²Moreover I also gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah who sanctifies them. ¹³But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. And they greatly profaned my sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. ¹⁴But I worked for my name�s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out. ¹⁵Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, ¹⁶because they rejected my ordinances, and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths, for their heart went after their idols. ¹⁷Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them, nor did I make a full end of them in the wilderness. ¹⁸And I said to their sons in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers. Neither observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹I am Jehovah your God. Walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them, ²⁰and hallow my sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am Jehovah your God. ²¹But the sons rebelled against me. They did not walk in my statutes, nor kept my ordinances to do them, which if a man does, he shall live in them. They profaned my sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. ²²Nevertheless I withdrew my hand, and worked for my name�s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them forth. ²³Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries, ²⁴because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes, and had profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers� idols. ²⁵Moreover I also gave them statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they will not live. ²⁶And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that opens the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Jehovah. ²⁷Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: In this moreover your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. ²⁸For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering. There also they made their sweet savor, and they poured out there their drink offerings. ²⁹Then I said to them, What does the high place to which ye go mean? So the name of it is called Bamah to this day. ³⁰Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Do ye pollute yourselves according to the manner of your fathers, and play ye the harlot according to their abominations? ³¹And when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, do ye pollute yourselves with all your idols to this day? And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, says the lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you. ³²And that which comes into your mind shall not be at all, in that ye say, We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone. ³³As I live, says the lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I will be king over you. ³⁴And I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries in which ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, ³⁵and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples. And there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. ³⁶Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, says the lord Jehovah. ³⁷And I will cause you to pass under the rod. And I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. ³⁸And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and those who transgress against me. I will bring them forth out of the land where they sojourn, but they shall not enter into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ³⁹As for you, O house of Israel, thus says the lord Jehovah: Go ye. Serve each one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken to me. But ye shall no more profane my holy name with your gifts, and with your idols. ⁴⁰For in my holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, says the lord Jehovah, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them, serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings, and the first-fruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. ⁴¹I will accept you as a sweet savor when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries in which ye have been scattered. And I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. ⁴²And ye shall know that I am Jehovah when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country which I swore to give to your fathers. ⁴³And there ye shall remember your ways, and all your doings, by which ye have polluted yourselves. And ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. ⁴⁴And ye shall know that I am Jehovah when I have dealt with you for my name�s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, says the lord Jehovah. ⁴⁵And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁴⁶Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South. ⁴⁷And say to the forest of the South, Hear the word of Jehovah. Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree. The flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burnt by it. ⁴⁸And all flesh shall see that I, Jehovah, have kindled it. It shall not be quenched. ⁴⁹Then I said, Ah lord Jehovah! They say of me, Is he not a speaker of parables?

CHAPTER 21

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel. ³And say to the land of Israel, Thus says Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee. And will draw forth my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked. ⁴Seeing then that I will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword shall go forth out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north. ⁵And all flesh shall know that I, Jehovah, have drawn forth my sword out of its sheath. It shall not return any more. ⁶Sigh therefore, thou son of man. With the breaking of thy loins and with bitterness thou shall sigh before their eyes. ⁷And it shall be, when they say to thee, Why do thou sigh? That thou shall say, Because of the news. For it comes, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the lord Jehovah. ⁸And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ⁹Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says Jehovah: Say, A sword, a sword. It is sharpened, and also furbished. ¹⁰It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter. It is polished that it may be as lightning. Shall we then make mirth? It scorns the scepter of my son, every tree. ¹¹And it is given to be polished, that it may be handled. The sword, it is sharpened, yea, it is polished, to give it into the hand of the slayer. ¹²Cry and wail, son of man, for it is upon my people. It is upon all the rulers of Israel. They are delivered over to the sword with my people. Smite therefore upon thy thigh. ¹³For there is a trial, and what if even the rod that scorns shall be no more? says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁴Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thy hands together. And let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the deadly wounded. It is the sword of the great man who is deadly wounded, which enters into their chambers. ¹⁵I have set the threatening sword against all their gates, that their heart may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter. ¹⁶Gather thee together. Go to the right. Set thyself in array. Go to the left, wherever thy face is set. ¹⁷I will also smite my hands together, and I will cause my wrath to rest. I, Jehovah, have spoken it. ¹⁸The word of Jehovah came to me again, saying, ¹⁹Also, thou son of man, appoint thee two ways that the sword of the king of Babylon may come. Those two shall come forth out of one land. And mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of the way to the city. ²⁰Thou shall appoint a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the sons of Ammon, and to Judah in Jerusalem the fortified. ²¹For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways, to use divination. He shook the arrows to and fro. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. ²²In his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts. ²³And it shall be to them as a false divination in their sight, who have sworn oaths to them. But he brings iniquity to remembrance, that they may be taken. ²⁴Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear, because ye have come to remembrance, ye shall be taken with the hand. ²⁵And thou, O deadly wounded wicked man, the ruler of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end, ²⁶thus says the lord Jehovah: Remove the miter, and take off the crown. This shall be no more the same. Exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high. ²⁷I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also shall be no more, until he comes whose right it is. And I will give it. ²⁸And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah concerning the sons of Ammon, and concerning their reproach. And say thou, A sword, a sword is drawn. It is polished for the slaughter, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning, ²⁹while they see for thee false visions, while they divine lies to thee, to lay thee upon the necks of the wicked who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end. ³⁰Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where thou were created, in the land of thy birth, I will judge thee. ³¹And I will pour out my indignation upon thee. I will blow upon thee with the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver thee into the hand of brutish men, skilful to destroy. ³²Thou shall be for fuel to the fire. Thy blood shall be in the midst of the land. Thou shall no more be remembered. For I, Jehovah, have spoken it.

CHAPTER 22

¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²And thou, son of man, will thou judge, will thou judge the bloody city? Then cause her to know all her abominations. ³And thou shall say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: A city that sheds blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and who makes idols against herself to defile her! ⁴Thou have become guilty in thy blood that thou have shed, and are defiled in thine idols which thou have made. And thou have caused thy days to draw near, and have come even to thy years. Therefore I have made thee a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries. ⁵Those that are near, and those that are far from thee, shall mock thee, thou infamous one, full of tumult. ⁶Behold, the rulers of Israel, each one according to his power, have been in thee to shed blood. ⁷In thee they have made light of father and mother. In the midst of thee they have dealt with the sojourner by oppression. In thee they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. ⁸Thou have despised my holy things, and have profaned my sabbaths. ⁹Slanderous men have been in thee to shed blood, and in thee they have eaten upon the mountains. In the midst of thee they have committed lewdness. ¹⁰In thee they have uncovered their fathers� nakedness. In thee they have humbled her who was unclean in her impurity. ¹¹And one has committed abomination with his neighbor�s wife, and another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, and another in thee has humbled his sister, his father�s daughter. ¹²In thee they have taken bribes to shed blood. Thou have taken interest and increase. And thou have greedily gained from thy neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the lord Jehovah. ¹³Behold, therefore, I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain which thou have made, and at thy blood which has been in the midst of thee. ¹⁴Can thy heart endure, or can thy hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and will do it. ¹⁵And I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee through the countries, and I will consume thy filthiness out of thee. ¹⁶And thou shall be profaned in thyself, in the sight of the nations. And thou shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁷And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁸Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. ¹⁹Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because ye have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem ²⁰as they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it. So I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will lay you there, and melt you. ²¹Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst of it. ²²As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so ye shall be melted in the midst of it. And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have poured out my wrath upon you. ²³And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²⁴Son of man, say to her, Thou are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. ²⁵There is a conspiracy by her prophets in the midst of it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made her widows many in the midst thereof. ²⁶Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, nor have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. ²⁷Her rulers in the midst of it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain. ²⁸And her prophets have daubed for them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the lord Jehovah, when Jehovah has not spoken. ²⁹The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery. Yea, they have vexed the poor and needy man, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully. ³⁰And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. ³¹Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way upon their heads, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 23

¹The word of Jehovah came again to me, saying, ²Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. ³And they played the harlot in Egypt. They played the harlot in their youth. There their breasts were pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity. ⁴And the names of them were Oholah the elder, and Oholibah her sister. And they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah. ⁵And Oholah played the harlot when she was mine, and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, ⁶who were clothed with blue, governors and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. ⁷And she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them. And on whomever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself. ⁸Neither has she left her whoredoms since Egypt. For in her youth they lie with her, and they handled the bosom of her virginity, and they poured out their whoredom upon her. ⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. ¹⁰These uncovered her nakedness. They took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. And she became a byword among women, for they executed judgments upon her. ¹¹And her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt in her doting than she, and in her whoredoms which were more than the whoredoms of her sister. ¹²She doted upon the Assyrians, governors and rulers, her neighbors, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. ¹³And I saw that she was defiled. They both took one way. ¹⁴And she increased her whoredoms, for she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, ¹⁵girded with belts upon their loins, with flowing turbans upon their heads, all of them rulers to look upon, according to the likeness of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their nativity. ¹⁶And as soon as she saw them she doted upon them, and sent messengers to them into Chaldea. ¹⁷And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love. And they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them. ¹⁸So she uncovered her whoredoms, and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul was alienated from her, just as my soul was alienated from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, remembering the days of her youth in which she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. ²⁰And she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. ²¹Thus thou called to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in the handling of thy bosom by the Egyptians for the breasts of thy youth. ²²Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side: ²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and rulers all of them, rulers and men of renown, all of them riding upon horses. ²⁴And they shall come against thee with weapons, chariots, and wagons, and with a company of peoples. They shall set themselves against thee with buckler and shield and helmet round about. And I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments. ²⁵And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal with thee in fury. They shall take away thy nose and thine ears, and thy residue shall fall by the sword. They shall take thy sons and thy daughters, and thy residue shall be devoured by the fire. ²⁶They shall also strip thee of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels. ²⁷Thus I will make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom from the land of Egypt, so that thou shall not lift up thine eyes to them, nor remember Egypt any more. ²⁸For thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of those whom thou hate, into the hand of those from whom thy soul is alienated. ²⁹And they shall deal with thee in hatred, and shall take away all thy labor, and shall leave thee naked and bare. And the nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be uncovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. ³⁰These things shall be done to thee, because thou have played the harlot after the nations, and because thou are polluted with their idols. ³¹Thou have walked in the way of thy sister, therefore I will give her cup into thy hand. ³²Thus says the lord Jehovah: Thou shall drink of thy sister�s cup, which is deep and large. Thou shall be laughed to scorn and had in derision. It contains much. ³³Thou shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria. ³⁴Thou shall even drink it and drain it out. And thou shall gnaw the shards of it, and shall tear thy breasts, for I have spoken it, says the lord Jehovah. ³⁵Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because thou have forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore thou also bear thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. ³⁶Jehovah said moreover to me, Son of man, will thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. ³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. And with their idols they have committed adultery. And they have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire for them to be devoured. ³⁸Moreover they have done this to me: They have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. ³⁹For when they had slain their sons to their idols, then they came the same day into my sanctuary to profane it, and, lo, thus they have done in the midst of my house. ⁴⁰And furthermore ye have sent for men who come from far, to whom a messenger was sent. And, lo, they came, for whom thou washed thyself, painted thine eyes, and decked thyself with ornaments, ⁴¹and sat upon a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon thou did set my incense and my oil. ⁴²And the voice of a multitude being at ease was with her. And with men of the common sort, were brought drunkards from the wilderness, and they put bracelets upon the hands of those two women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads. ⁴³Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, Now they will play the harlot with her, and she with them. ⁴⁴And they went in to her, as they go in to a harlot. So they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. ⁴⁵And righteous men, they shall judge them with the judgment of adulteresses, and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. ⁴⁶For thus says the lord Jehovah: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed to and fro and robbed. ⁴⁷And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire. ⁴⁸Thus I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land, that all women may be taught not to do according to your lewdness. ⁴⁹And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ye shall bear the sins of your idols. And ye shall know that I am the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 24

¹Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this selfsame day; the king of Babylon drew close to Jerusalem this selfsame day. ³And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Set on the caldron. Set it on, and also pour water into it. ⁴Gather the pieces of it into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. ⁵Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron. Make it boil well, yea, let the bones of it be boiled in the midst of it. ⁶Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city, to the caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust has not gone out of it! Take out of it piece after piece. No lot has fallen upon it. ⁷For her blood is in the midst of her. She set it upon the bare rock. She did not pour it upon the ground to cover it with dust. ⁸That it may cause wrath to come up to take vengeance, I have set her blood upon the bare rock, that it should not be covered. ⁹Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great. ¹⁰Heap on the wood; make the fire hot. Boil the flesh well, and make the broth thick. And let the bones be burned. ¹¹Then set it empty upon the coals of it, that it may be hot, and the brass of it may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed. ¹²She has wearied herself with toil, yet her great scum does not go forth out of her, her scum by fire. ¹³In thy filthiness is lewdness. Because I have cleansed thee and thou were not cleansed, thou shall not be cleansed from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my wrath toward thee to rest. ¹⁴I, Jehovah, have spoken it. It shall come to pass, and I will do it. I will not go back. I will neither spare, nor will I relent. According to thy ways, and according to thy doings, they shall judge thee, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵Also the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁶Son of man, behold, I take the desire of thine eyes away from thee with a stroke. Yet thou shall neither mourn nor weep. Neither shall thy tears run down. ¹⁷Sigh, but not aloud. Make no mourning for the dead. Bind thy headdress upon thee, and put thy shoes upon thy feet. And do not cover thy lips, and do not eat the bread of men. ¹⁸So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And I did in the morning as I was commanded. ¹⁹And the people said to me, Will thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou do so? ²⁰Then I said to them, The word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²¹Speak to the house of Israel, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul has compassion. And your sons and your daughters whom ye have left behind shall fall by the sword. ²²And ye shall do as I have done. Ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men. ²³And your coverings shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet. Ye shall not mourn nor weep, but ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another. ²⁴Thus Ezekiel shall be to you a sign, according to all that he has done ye shall do. When this comes, then ye shall know that I am the lord Jehovah. ²⁵And thou, son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that upon which they set their heart�their sons and their daughters� ²⁶that in that day he who escapes shall come to thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? ²⁷In that day thy mouth shall be opened to him who is escaped, and thou shall speak, and no more be mute. So thou shall be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 25

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face toward the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them. ³And say to the sons of Ammon, Hear the word of the lord Jehovah. Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because thou said, Aha, against my sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity, ⁴therefore, behold, I will deliver thee to the sons of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in thee, and make their dwellings in thee. They shall eat thy fruit, and they shall drink thy milk. ⁵And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the sons of Ammon a couching-place for flocks. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁶For thus says the lord Jehovah: Because thou have clapped thy hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the spite of thy soul against the land of Israel, ⁷therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand upon thee, and will deliver thee for a spoil to the nations. And I will cut thee off from the peoples, and I will cause thee to perish out of the countries. I will destroy thee, and thou shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁸Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because Moab and Seir say, Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations, ⁹therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country�Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim� ¹⁰open to the sons of the east, against the sons of Ammon. And I will give them for a possession, that the sons of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations. ¹¹And I will execute judgments upon Moab, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹²Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them, ¹³therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: I will stretch out my hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it, and I will make it desolate. From Teman, even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. ¹⁴And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath. And they shall know my vengeance, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with spite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity, ¹⁶therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will stretch out my hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷And I will execute great vengeance upon them with wrathful rebukes. And they shall know that I am Jehovah when I shall lay my vengeance upon them.

CHAPTER 26

¹And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken, the gate of the peoples. She has turned around to me. I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste. ³Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causes its waves to come up. ⁴And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers. I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock. ⁵She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken it, says the lord Jehovah. And she shall become a spoil to the nations, ⁶and her daughters who are in the field shall be slain with the sword. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁷For thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and many people. ⁸He shall kill thy daughters in the field with the sword. And he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mound against thee, and raise up the buckler against thee. ⁹And he shall set his battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. ¹⁰Because of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee. Thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city in which a breach is made. ¹¹With the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy streets. He shall kill thy people with the sword, and the pillars of thy strength shall go down to the ground. ¹²And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise. And they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses, and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters. ¹³And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease, and the sound of thy harps shall no more be heard. ¹⁴And I will make thee a bare rock; thou shall be a place for the spreading of nets. Thou shall be built no more, for I Jehovah have spoken it, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee? ¹⁶Then all the rulers of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lie aside their robes, and strip off their broidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling. They shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at thee. ¹⁷And they shall take up a lamentation over thee, and say to thee, How thou are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city that was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who dwelt there! ¹⁸Now the isles shall tremble in the day of thy fall. Yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be dismayed at thy departure. ¹⁹For thus says the lord Jehovah: When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and the great waters shall cover thee, ²⁰then I will bring thee down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make thee to dwell in the nether parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that thou not be inhabited. And I will set glory in the land of the living. ²¹I will make thee a horror, and thou shall no more have any being. Though thou be sought for, yet thou shall never be found again, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 27

¹The word of Jehovah came again to me, saying, ²And thou, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre, ³and say to Tyre, O thou that dwells at the entry of the sea, that is the merchant of the peoples to many isles, thus says the lord Jehovah: Thou, O Tyre, have said, I am perfect in beauty. ⁴Thy borders are in the heart of the seas. Thy builders have perfected thy beauty. ⁵They have made all thy planks of fir trees from Senir. They have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for thee. ⁶Of the oaks of Bashan they have made thine oars. They have made thy benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the isles of Kittim. ⁷Of fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was thy sail, that it might be to thee for an ensign. Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was thine awning. ⁸The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers. Thy wise men, O Tyre, were in thee; they were thy pilots. ⁹The old men of Gebal and the wise men thereof were thy caulkers in thee. All the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to deal in thy merchandise. ¹⁰Persia and Lud and Put were in thine army, thy men of war. They hung the shield and helmet in thee. They set forth thy comeliness. ¹¹The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and valorous men were in thy towers. They hung their shields upon thy walls round about. They have perfected thy beauty. ¹²Tarshish was thy merchant because of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with silver, iron, tin, and lead. They traded for thy wares. ¹³Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants. They traded the persons of men, and vessels of brass for thy merchandise. ¹⁴Those of the house of Togarmah traded for thy wares with horses and war-horses and mules. ¹⁵The men of Dedan were thy merchants. Many isles were the mart of thy hand. They brought thee in exchange horns of ivory and ebony. ¹⁶Syria was thy merchant because of the multitude of thy handiworks. They traded for thy wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies. ¹⁷Judah, and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants. They traded for thy merchandise wheat of Minnith, and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm. ¹⁸Damascus was thy merchant for the multitude of thy handiworks, because of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool. ¹⁹Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for thy wares. Bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among thy merchandise. ²⁰Dedan was thy merchant in precious cloths for riding. ²¹Arabia, and all the rulers of Kedar, they were the merchants of thy hand, in lambs, and rams, and goats. In these they were thy merchants. ²²The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants. They traded for thy wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. ²³Haran and Canneh and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were thy merchants. ²⁴These were thy merchants in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords and made of cedar, among thy merchandise. ²⁵The ships of Tarshish were thy caravans for thy merchandise. And thou were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. ²⁶Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters. The east wind has broken thee in the heart of the seas. ²⁷Thy riches, and thy wares, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy caulkers, and the dealers in thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, who are in thee, with all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy ruin. ²⁸At the sound of the cry of thy pilots the suburbs shall shake. ²⁹And all who handled the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships. They shall stand upon the land, ³⁰and shall cause their voice to be heard over thee, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads. They shall wallow themselves in the ashes. ³¹And they shall make themselves bald for thee, and gird with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning. ³²And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and lament over thee, saying, Who is there like Tyre, like her that is brought to silence in the midst of the sea? ³³When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filled many peoples. Thou enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy riches and of thy merchandise. ³⁴In the time that thou were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, thy merchandise and all thy company fell in the midst of thee. ³⁵All the inhabitants of the isles are astonished at thee, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their countenance. ³⁶The merchants among the peoples hiss at thee. Thou have become a horror, and thou shall nevermore have any being.

CHAPTER 28

¹The word of Jehovah came again to me, saying, ²Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou have said, I am a god. I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas. Yet thou are man, and not God, though thou did set thy heart as the heart of God. ³Behold, thou are wiser than Daniel. There is no secret that is hidden from thee. ⁴By thy wisdom and by thine understanding thou have gotten thee riches, and have gotten gold and silver into thy treasures. ⁵By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic thou have increased thy riches. And thy heart is lifted up because of thy riches. ⁶Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Because thou have set thy heart as the heart of God, ⁷therefore, behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations, and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. ⁸They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shall die the death of those who are slain, in the heart of the seas. ⁹Will thou yet say before him who slays thee, I am God? But thou are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds thee. ¹⁰Thou shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of strangers. For I have spoken it, says the lord Jehovah. ¹¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹²Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Thou seal up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. ¹³Thou were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold. The workmanship of thy tambourine and of thy pipes was in thee. In the day that thou were created they were prepared. ¹⁴Thou were the anointed cherub who covers. And I set thee, so that thou were upon the holy mountain of God. Thou have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁵Thou were perfect in thy ways from the day that thou were created, till unrighteousness was found in thee. ¹⁶By the abundance of thy commerce they filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou have sinned. Therefore I have cast thee out of the mountain of God as profane, and I have destroyed thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. ¹⁷Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty. Thou have corrupted thy wisdom because of thy brightness. I have cast thee to the ground. I have laid thee before kings, that they may behold thee. ¹⁸By the multitude of thine iniquities, in the unrighteousness of thy commerce, thou have profaned thy sanctuaries. Therefore I have brought forth a fire from the midst of thee. It has devoured thee, and I have turned thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all those who behold thee. ¹⁹All those who know thee among the peoples shall be astonished at thee. Thou have become a horror, and thou shall nevermore have any being. ²⁰And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²¹Son of man, set thy face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it, ²²and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon. And I will be glorified in the midst of thee. And they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her. ²³For I will send pestilence into her, and blood into her streets. And the wounded shall fall in the midst of her, with the sword upon her on every side. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. ²⁴And there shall no more be a pricking brier to the house of Israel, nor a hurting thorn of any who are round about them, who did spite to them. And they shall know that I am the lord Jehovah. ²⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob. ²⁶And they shall dwell securely therein. Yea, they shall build houses, and plant vineyards, and shall dwell securely, when I have executed judgments upon all those who do them spite round about them. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God.

CHAPTER 29

¹In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt. ³Speak, and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers, that has said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself. ⁴And I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, with all the fish of thy rivers which stick to thy scales. ⁵And I will cast thee forth into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers. Thou shall fall upon the open field. Thou shall not be brought together, nor gathered. I have given thee for food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the heavens. ⁶And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. ⁷When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou broke, and tore all their shoulders. And when they leaned upon thee, thou broke, and made all their loins to be at a stand still. ⁸Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and will cut off from thee man and beast. ⁹And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. Because he has said, The river is mine, and I have made it, ¹⁰therefore, behold, I am against thee, and against thy rivers. And I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it. Neither shall it be inhabited forty years. ¹²And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate. And her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation forty years. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. ¹³For thus says the lord Jehovah: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples where they were scattered, ¹⁴and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their birth. And they shall be a base kingdom there. ¹⁵It shall be the basest of the kingdoms, nor shall it lift itself up any more above the nations. And I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. ¹⁶And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance, when they turn to look after them. And they shall know that I am the lord Jehovah. ¹⁷And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁸Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn, yet he had no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. ¹⁹Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall carry off her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey. And it shall be the wages for his army. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he served, because they worked for me, says the lord Jehovah. ²¹In that day I will cause a horn to bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 30

¹The word of Jehovah came again to me, saying, ²Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Wail ye, Alas for the day! ³For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near. It shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. ⁴And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. ⁵Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all the mixed people, and Cub, and the sons of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. ⁶Thus says Jehovah: They also who uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her power shall come down. From the tower of Seveneh they shall fall in it by the sword, says the lord Jehovah. ⁷And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. ⁸And they shall know at I am Jehovah when I have set a fire in Egypt, and all her helpers are destroyed. ⁹In that day messengers shall go forth from before me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and there shall be anguish upon them, as in the day of Egypt, for, lo, it comes. ¹⁰Thus says the lord Jehovah: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. ¹¹He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land. And they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. ¹²And I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men. And I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers. I, Jehovah, have spoken it. ¹³Thus says the lord Jehovah: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis. And there shall no more be a ruler from the land of Egypt. And I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. ¹⁴And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set a fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments upon No. ¹⁵And I will pour my wrath upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and I will cut off the multitude of No. ¹⁶And I will set a fire in Egypt. Sin shall be in great anguish, and No shall be broken up, and Memphis shall have adversaries in the daytime. ¹⁷The young men of Aven and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword, and these cities shall go into captivity. ¹⁸At Tehaphnehes also the day shall withdraw itself when I shall break the yokes of Egypt there, and the pride of her power shall cease in her. As for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. ¹⁹Thus I will execute judgments upon Egypt, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. ²⁰And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²¹Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And, lo, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it be strong to hold the sword. ²²Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. And I will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken, and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. ²³And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. ²⁴And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a mortally wounded man. ²⁵And I will hold up the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down. And they shall know that I am Jehovah when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. ²⁶And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 31

¹And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude, Whom are thou like in thy greatness? ³Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a forest-like shade, and of high stature, and its top was among the thick boughs. ⁴The waters nourished it. The deep made it to grow. The rivers of it ran round about its plantation, and it sent out its channels to all the trees of the field. ⁵Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field, and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long because of many waters, when it shot them forth. ⁶All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs, and under its branches all the beasts of the field brought forth their young, and under its shadow dwelt all great nations. ⁷Thus it was beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was by many waters. ⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not dim it. The fir trees were not like its boughs, and the plane trees were not as its branches, nor was any tree in the garden of God like it in its beauty. ⁹I made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches, so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied it. ¹⁰Therefore thus said the lord Jehovah: Because thou are exalted in stature, and he has set his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height, ¹¹I will even deliver him into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He shall surely deal with him; I have driven him out for his wickedness. ¹²And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him. Upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the watercourses of the land. And all the peoples of the earth have gone down from his shadow, and have left him. ¹³All the birds of the heavens shall dwell upon his ruin, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches, ¹⁴to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves in their stature, neither set their top among the thick boughs, nor that their mighty ones stand up on their height, even all that drink water. For they are all delivered to death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the sons of men, with those who go down to the pit. ¹⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah: In the day when he went down to Sheol I caused a mourning. I covered the deep for him. And I restrained the rivers of it, and the great waters were stayed. And I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. ¹⁶I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall when I cast him down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the nether parts of the earth. ¹⁷They also went down into Sheol with him to those who are slain by the sword, yea, those who were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the nations. ¹⁸To whom are thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Yet thou shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the nether parts of the earth. Thou shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 32

¹And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, Thou were compared to a young lion of the nations. Yet thou are as a monster in the seas, and thou broke forth with thy rivers, and troubled the waters with thy feet, and fouled their rivers. ³Thus says the lord Jehovah: I will spread out my net upon thee with a company of many peoples, and they shall bring thee up in my net. ⁴And I will leave thee upon the land. I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle upon thee, and I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with thee. ⁵And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. ⁶I will also water the land, in which thou swim, with thy blood, even to the mountains. And the watercourses shall be full of thee. ⁷And when I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens, and make the stars of it dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. ⁸All the bright lights of heaven I will make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, says the lord Jehovah. ⁹I will also vex the hearts of many peoples when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou have not known. ¹⁰Yea, I will make many peoples amazed at thee. And their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee when I shall brandish my sword before them. And they shall tremble at every moment, each man for his own life, in the day of thy fall. ¹¹For thus says the lord Jehovah: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. ¹²By the swords of the mighty I will cause thy multitude to fall. They are all the terrible of the nations. And they shall bring to nothing the pride of Egypt, and all the multitude of it shall be destroyed. ¹³I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside many waters. Neither the foot of man shall trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. ¹⁴Then I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate and waste, a land destitute of that of which it was full, when I shall smite all those who dwell therein, then they shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁶This is the lamentation with which they shall lament. The daughters of the nations shall lament with that over Egypt, and over all her multitude. They shall lament with that, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁷It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁸Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, to the nether parts of the earth, with those who go down into the pit. ¹⁹Whom do thou pass in beauty? Go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. ²⁰They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. She is delivered to the sword. Draw her away and all her multitudes. ²¹The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those who help him. They have gone down. They lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword. ²²Asshur is there and all her company. Her graves are round about her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, ²³whose graves are set in the outermost parts of the pit. And her company is round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living. ²⁴There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. ²⁵They have set a bed for her in the midst of the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are round about her, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. For their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. He is put in the midst of those who are slain. ²⁶There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitude. Their graves are round about them, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, for they caused their terror in the land of the living. ²⁷And they shall not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the uncircumcised, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads. But their iniquities are upon their bones, for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. ²⁸But thou shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shall lie with those who are slain by the sword. ²⁹There is Edom, its kings and all its rulers, who in their might are laid with those who are slain by the sword. They shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the pit. ³⁰There are the rulers of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain. In the terror which they caused by their might they are put to shame. And they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. ³¹Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, says the lord Jehovah. ³²For I have put his terror in the land of the living, and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 33

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman, ³if, when he sees the sword come upon the land, he blows the trumpet, and warns the people, ⁴then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and takes no warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. ⁵He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took no warning; his blood shall be upon him. Whereas if he had taken warning, he would have delivered his soul. ⁶But if the watchman sees the sword come, and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at the watchman�s hand. ⁷So thou, son of man, I have set thee a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. ⁸When I say to the wicked man, O wicked man, thou shall surely die, and thou do not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but I will require his blood at thy hand. ⁹Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked man of his way to turn from it, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou have delivered thy soul. ¹⁰And thou, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus ye speak, saying, Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them. How then can we live? ¹¹Say to them, As I live, says the lord Jehovah, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but that the wicked man turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? ¹²And thou, son of man, say to the sons of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. And as for the wickedness of the wicked man, he shall not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness, nor shall he who is righteous be able to live by it in the day that he sins. ¹³When I say to the righteous man, that he shall surely live, if he trusts his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his iniquity that he has committed, in it he shall die. ¹⁴Again, when I say to the wicked man, Thou shall surely die, if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right, ¹⁵if the wicked man restores the pledge, gives again that which he had taken by robbery, walks in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ¹⁶None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. ¹⁷Yet the sons of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equitable. But as for them, their way is not equitable. ¹⁸When the righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, he shall even die in it. ¹⁹And when the wicked man turns from his wickedness, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. ²⁰Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equitable. O house of Israel, I will judge you everyone according to his ways. ²¹And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, in the fifth day of the month, that a man who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, The city is smitten. ²²Now the hand of Jehovah had been upon me in the evening, before he who escaped came. And he had opened my mouth until he came to me in the morning. And my mouth was opened, and I was no more mute. ²³And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²⁴Son of man, those who inhabit those waste places in the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land, but we are many; the land is given us for inheritance. ²⁵Therefore say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. And shall ye possess the land? ²⁶Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every man his neighbor�s wife. And shall ye possess the land? ²⁷Thus shall thou say to them. Thus says the lord Jehovah: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword, and he who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. ²⁸And I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment. And the pride of her power shall cease. And the mountains of Israel shall be desolate, so that none shall pass through. ²⁹Then they shall know that I am Jehovah when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed. ³⁰And as for thee, son of man, the sons of thy people talk of thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, each one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that comes forth from Jehovah. ³¹And they come to thee as the people come, and they sit before thee as my people. And they hear thy words, but do not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goes after their gain. ³²And, lo, thou are to them as a very lovely song of he who has a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument. For they hear thy words, but they do not do them. ³³And when this comes to pass, (behold, it comes), then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

CHAPTER 34

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep? ³Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe yourselves with the wool. Ye kill the fatlings, but ye do not feed the sheep. ⁴Ye have not strengthened the diseased, nor have ye healed that which was sick, nor have ye bound up that which was broken, nor have ye brought back that which was driven away, nor have ye sought that which was lost, but ye have ruled over them with force and with rigor. ⁵And they were scattered because there was no shepherd. And they became food to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. ⁶My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill. Yea, my sheep were scattered upon all the face of the earth, and there was none who searched or sought. ⁷Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah: ⁸As I live, says the lord Jehovah, surely inasmuch as my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and did not feed my sheep, ⁹therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah. ¹⁰Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. Neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more, and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them. ¹¹For thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock, in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep, and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. ¹³And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them upon the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴I will feed them with good pasture, and their fold shall be upon the mountains of the height of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold, and on fat pasture they shall feed upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁶I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice. ¹⁷And as for you, O my flock, thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the he-goats. ¹⁸Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed upon the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture, and to have drunk of the clear waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹And as for my sheep, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. ²⁰Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah to them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Because ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad, ²²therefore I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. ²⁴And I, Jehovah, will be their God, and my servant David ruler among them. I, Jehovah, have spoken it. ²⁵And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. ²⁶And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing, and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am Jehovah when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made bondmen of them. ²⁸And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the earth devour them, but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. ²⁹And I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they shall no more be consumed with famine in the land, nor bear the shame of the nations any more. ³⁰And they shall know that I, Jehovah, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the lord Jehovah. ³¹And ye my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 35

¹Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it. ³And say to it, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee a desolation and an astonishment. ⁴I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shall be desolate. And thou shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁵Because thou have had a perpetual enmity, and have given over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end, ⁶therefore, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, I will prepare thee to blood, and blood shall pursue thee. Since thou have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue thee. ⁷Thus I will make mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation, and I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. ⁸And I will fill its mountains with its slain. In thy hills and in thy valleys and in all thy watercourses they shall fall who are slain with the sword. ⁹I will make thee a perpetual desolation, and thy cities shall not be inhabited. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹⁰Because thou have said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it, whereas Jehovah was there, ¹¹therefore, as I live, says the lord Jehovah, I will do according to thine anger, and according to thine envy which thou have shown out of thy hatred against them. And I will make myself known among them when I shall judge thee. ¹²And thou shall know that I, Jehovah, have heard all thy revilings which thou have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate. They are given us to devour. ¹³And ye have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me. I have heard it. ¹⁴Thus says the lord Jehovah: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make thee desolate. ¹⁵As thou rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will do to thee. Thou shall be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it, and they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 36

¹And thou, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of Jehovah. ²Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because the enemy has said against you, Aha! and, The ancient high places are ours in possession, ³therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that ye might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people, ⁴therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the lord Jehovah. Thus says the lord Jehovah to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which have become a prey and derision to the residue of the nations that are round about, ⁵therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, who have appointed my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their heart, with spite of soul, to cast it out for a prey. ⁶Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my wrath, because ye have borne the shame of the nations. ⁷Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: I have sworn, saying, Surely the nations that are round about you, they shall bear their shame. ⁸But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel, for they are at hand to come. ⁹For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn into you, and ye shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it, and the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built. ¹¹And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and be fruitful. And I will cause you to be inhabited according to your former estate, and will do better to you than at your beginnings. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ¹²Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel, and they shall possess thee, and thou shall be their inheritance, and thou shall no more henceforth bereave them of sons. ¹³Thus says the lord Jehovah: Because they say to you, Thou O land are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of thy nation, ¹⁴therefore thou shall no more devour men, nor bereave thy nation any more, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁵Neither will I let thee hear any more the shame of the nations, nor shall thou bear the reproach of the peoples any more, nor shall thou cause thy nation to stumble any more, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁶Moreover the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁷Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings. Their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸Therefore I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood which they had poured out upon the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹And I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. I judged them according to their way and according to their doings. ²⁰And when they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, These are the people of Jehovah, and have gone forth out of his land. ²¹But I had regard for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. ²²Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the lord Jehovah: I do this not for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations where ye went. ²³And I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which ye have profaned in the midst of them. And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, says the lord Jehovah, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. ²⁴For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols. ²⁶I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my ordinances, and do them. ²⁸And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹And I will save you from all your uncleannesses. And I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine upon you. ³⁰And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye may no more receive the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹Then ye shall remember your evil ways, and your doings that were not good. And ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. ³²I do this not for your sake, says the lord Jehovah; be it known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. ³³Thus says the lord Jehovah: In the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built. ³⁴And the land that was desolate shall be tilled, whereas it was a desolation in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵And they shall say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. And the waste and desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited. ³⁶Then the nations that are left round about you shall know that I, Jehovah, have built the ruined places, and planted that which was desolate. I, Jehovah, have spoken it, and I will do it. ³⁷Thus says the lord Jehovah: For this, moreover, I will be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. I will increase them with men like a flock. ³⁸As the flock for sacrifice, as the flock of Jerusalem in her appointed feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 37

¹The hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Jehovah, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. ²And he caused me to pass by them round about. And, behold, there were very many in the open valley, and, lo, they were very dry. ³And he said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O lord Jehovah, thou know. ⁴Again he said to me, Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah. ⁵Thus says the lord Jehovah to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live. ⁶And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, behold, an earthquake, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above, but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. ¹¹Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are clean cut off. ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel. ¹³And ye shall know that I am Jehovah when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people. ¹⁴And I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live. And I will place you in your own land. And ye shall know that I, Jehovah, have spoken it and performed it, says Jehovah. ¹⁵The word of Jehovah came again to me, saying, ¹⁶And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the sons of Israel his companions. Then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions. ¹⁷And join them one to another into one stick for thyself, that they may become one in thy hand. ¹⁸And when the sons of thy people shall speak to thee, saying, Will thou not show us what thou mean by these? ¹⁹say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will put them with it, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. ²⁰And the sticks on which thou write shall be in thy hand before their eyes. ²¹And say to them, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. ²²And I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all. And they shall no more be two nations, nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. ²³Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions, but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. So they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ²⁴And my servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. ²⁵And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers dwelt. And they shall dwell therein, they, and their sons, and their son�s sons, forever. And David my servant shall be their ruler forever. ²⁶Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. ²⁷My tabernacle shall also be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ²⁸And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

CHAPTER 38

¹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ²Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him. ³And say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ⁴And I will turn thee about, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed in full armor, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them handling swords, ⁵Persia, Cush, and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet, ⁶Gomer, and all his hordes, the house of Togarmah in the outermost parts of the north, and all his hordes, even many peoples with thee. ⁷Be thou prepared. Yea, prepare thyself, thou, and all thy companies that are assembled to thee, and be thou a guard to them. ⁸After many days thou shall be visited. In the latter years thou shall come into the land that is brought back from the sword, that is gathered out of many peoples, upon the mountains of Israel, which have been a continual waste, but it is brought forth out of the peoples, and they shall dwell securely, all of them. ⁹And thou shall ascend. Thou shall come like a storm. Thou shall be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy hordes, and many peoples with thee. ¹⁰Thus says the lord Jehovah: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy mind, and thou shall devise an evil plan. ¹¹And thou shall say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to those who are at rest, who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, ¹²to take the spoil and to take the prey, to turn thy hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered out of the nations, who have gotten cattle and goods, who dwell in the middle of the earth. ¹³Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions of it, shall say to thee, Have thou come to take the spoil? Have thou assembled thy company to take the prey, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take great spoil? ¹⁴Therefore, son of man, prophesy, and say to Gog, Thus says the lord Jehovah: In that day when my people Israel dwell securely, shall thou not know it? ¹⁵And thou shall come from thy place out of the outermost parts of the north, thou, and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company and a mighty army. ¹⁶And thou shall come up against my people Israel, as a cloud to cover the land. It shall come to pass in the latter days, that I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. ¹⁷Thus says the lord Jehovah: Are thou he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring thee against them? ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the lord Jehovah, that my wrath shall come up into my nostrils. ¹⁹For I have spoken in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath. Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel, ²⁰so that the fishes of the sea, and the birds of the heavens, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men who are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. ²¹And I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains, says the lord Jehovah. Every man�s sword shall be against his brother. ²²And I will enter into judgment with him with pestilence and with blood. And I will rain upon him, and upon his hordes, and upon the many peoples who are with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ²³And I will magnify myself, and sanctify myself, and I will make myself known in the eyes of many nations. And they shall know that I am Jehovah.

CHAPTER 39

¹And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus says the lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, ruler of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. ²And I will turn thee about, and will lead thee on, and will cause thee to come up from the outermost parts of the north, and I will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel. ³And I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thy right hand. ⁴Thou shall fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy hordes, and the peoples who are with thee. I will give thee to the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured. ⁵Thou shall fall upon the open field, for I have spoken it, says the lord Jehovah. ⁶And I will send a fire on Magog, and on those who dwell securely in the isles. And they shall know that I am Jehovah. ⁷And I will make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel, nor will I allow my holy name to be profaned any more. And the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the lord Jehovah. This is the day of which I have spoken. ⁹And those who dwell in the cities of Israel shall go forth, and shall make fires of the weapons and burn them, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and the arrows, and the hand staves, and the spears. And they shall make fires of them seven years, ¹⁰so that they shall take no wood out of the field, nor cut down any out of the forests, for they shall make fires of the weapons. And they shall plunder those who plundered them, and rob those who robbed them, says the lord Jehovah. ¹¹And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel: the valley of those who pass through on the east of the sea. And it shall stop those who pass through, and they shall bury Gog and all his multitude there. And they shall call it The valley of Hamon-gog. ¹²And the house of Israel shall be burying them seven months, that they may cleanse the land. ¹³Yea, all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I shall be glorified, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁴And they shall set apart men of continual employment, who shall pass through the land. And, with those who pass through, those that bury those who remain upon the face of the land, to cleanse it, after the end of seven months they shall search. ¹⁵And those who pass through the land shall pass through, and when any man sees a man�s bone, then he shall set up a sign by it till the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog. ¹⁶And Hamonah shall also be the name of a city. Thus they shall cleanse the land. ¹⁷And thou, son of man, thus says the lord Jehovah: Speak to the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come. Gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. ¹⁹And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. ²⁰And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, says the lord Jehovah. ²¹And I will set my glory among the nations. And all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. ²²So the house of Israel shall know that I am Jehovah their God, from that day and forward. ²³And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they trespassed against me, and I hid my face from them. So I gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they fell all of them by the sword. ²⁴I did to them according to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions. And I hid my face from them. ²⁵Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: Now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel. And I will be jealous for my holy name. ²⁶And they shall bear their shame, and all their trespasses by which they have trespassed against me, when they shall dwell securely in their land. And none shall make them afraid ²⁷when I have brought them back from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies� lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations. ²⁸And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, in that I caused them to go into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them to their own land. And I will leave none of them any more there, ²⁹nor will I hide my face any more from them. For I have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 40

¹In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, in the selfsame day, the hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me there. ²He brought me in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, upon which was as it were the frame of a city on the south. ³And he brought me there, and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed. And he stood in the gate. ⁴And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee. For thou are brought here to the intent that I may show them to thee. Declare all that thou see to the house of Israel. ⁵And, behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man�s hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed, and the height, one reed. ⁶Then he came to the gate which looks toward the east, and went up the steps of it. And he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad, and the other threshold, one reed broad. ⁷And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad, and the space between the little chambers was five cubits. And the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed. ⁸He also measured the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed. ⁹Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits, and the posts thereof, two cubits. And the porch of the gate was toward the house. ¹⁰And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; those three were of one measure. And the posts had one measure on this side and on that side. ¹¹And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits, and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits, ¹²and a border before the little chambers, one cubit on this side, and a border, one cubit on that side, and the little chambers, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. ¹³And he measured the gate from the roof of the one little chamber to the roof of the other, a breadth of twenty-five cubits, door against door. ¹⁴He also made posts, sixty cubits. And the court reached to the posts, round about the gate. ¹⁵And from the forefront of the gate at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits. ¹⁶And there were closed windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches. And windows were round about inward, and upon each post were palm trees. ¹⁷Then he brought me into the outer court. And, lo, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about; thirty chambers were upon the pavement. ¹⁸And the pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable to the length of the gates, even the lower pavement. ¹⁹Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate to the forefront of the inner court outside, a hundred cubits, both on the east and on the north. ²⁰And the gate of the outer court whose view is toward the north, he measured the length of it and the breadth of it. ²¹And the little chambers of it were three on this side and three on that side. And the posts of it and the arches of it were according to the measure of the first gate: the length of it was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. ²²And the windows of it, and the arches of it, and the palm trees of it, were according to the measure of the gate whose view is toward the east. And they went up to it by seven steps, and the arches of it were before them. ²³And there was a gate to the inner court opposite the other gate, both on the north and on the east, and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. ²⁴And he led me toward the south. And, behold, a gate toward the south. And he measured the posts of it and the arches of it according to these measures. ²⁵And there were windows in it, and in the arches of it round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. ²⁶And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches of it were before them. And it had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts of it. ²⁷And there was a gate to the inner court toward the south. And he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits. ²⁸Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate. And he measured the south gate according to these measures, ²⁹and the little chambers of it, and the posts of it, and the arches of it, according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in the arches of it round about. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. ³⁰And there were arches round about, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad. ³¹And the arches of it were toward the outer court, and palm trees were upon the posts of it. And the ascent to it had eight steps. ³²And he brought me into the inner court toward the east. And he measured the gate according to these measures, ³³and the little chambers of it, and the posts of it, and the arches of it, according to these measures. And there were windows in it and in the arches of it round about. It was fifty cubits long, and twenty-five cubits broad. ³⁴And the arches of it were toward the outer court, and palm trees were upon the posts of it, on this side, and on that side. And the ascent to it had eight steps. ³⁵And he brought me to the north gate. And he measured it according to these measures, ³⁶the little chambers of it, the posts of it, and the arches of it. And there were windows in it round about. The length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. ³⁷And the posts of it were toward the outer court, and palm trees were upon the posts of it, on this side, and on that side. And the ascent to it had eight steps. ³⁸And a chamber with the door of it was by the posts at the gates. There they washed the burnt offering. ³⁹And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to kill on it the burnt offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering. ⁴⁰And on the one side outside, at the going up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables, and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables. ⁴¹Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate, eight tables, upon which they killed the sacrifices. ⁴²And there were four tables for the burnt offering, of hewn stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high, upon which they laid the instruments of which they killed the burnt offering and the sacrifice. ⁴³And the hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened inside round about. And upon the tables was the flesh of the oblation. ⁴⁴And outside the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate, and their view was toward the south, one at the side of the east gate having the view toward the north. ⁴⁵And he said to me, This chamber, whose view is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house. ⁴⁶And the chamber whose view is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Jehovah to minister to him. ⁴⁷And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare. And the altar was before the house. ⁴⁸Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side. And the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. ⁴⁹The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits, even by the steps by which they went up to it. And there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

CHAPTER 41

¹And he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle. ²And the breadth of the entrance was ten cubits. And the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side. And he measured the length of it, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits. ³Then he went inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits, and the entrance, six cubits, and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits. ⁴And he measured the length of it, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple. And he said to me, This is the most holy place. ⁵Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits, and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits, round about the house on every side. ⁶And the side-chambers were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order. And they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side-chambers round about, that they might be attached to it, and not be attached to the wall of the house. ⁷And the side-chambers were broader as they circled the house higher and higher, for the circling of the house went higher and higher round about the house. Therefore the breadth of the house continued upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the middle chamber. ⁸I also saw that the house had a raised basement round about. The foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six great cubits. ⁹The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chambers, on the outside, was five cubits. And that which was left was the place of the side-chambers that belonged to the house. ¹⁰And between the chambers was a breadth of twenty cubits round about the house on every side. ¹¹And the doors of the side-chambers were toward the place that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south. And the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits round about. ¹²And the building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad, and the wall of the building was five cubits thick round about, and the length of it ninety cubits. ¹³So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long, and the separate place, and the building, with the walls of it, a hundred cubits long, ¹⁴also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, a hundred cubits. ¹⁵And he measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at the back of it, and the galleries of it on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits, and the inner temple, and the porches of the court, ¹⁶the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries round about on their three stories, opposite the threshold, paneled with wood round about, and from the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered), ¹⁷to the space above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall round about inside and outside, by measure. ¹⁸And it was made with cherubim and palm trees, and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub. And every cherub had two faces, ¹⁹so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side, made through all the house round about. ²⁰Cherubim and palm trees were made from the ground to above the door. Thus was the wall of the temple. ²¹As for the temple, the door-posts were squared. And as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance was as the appearance of the temple. ²²The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and the length of it two cubits, and the corners of it, and the length of it, and the walls of it, were of wood. And he said to me, This is the table that is before Jehovah. ²³And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors. ²⁴And the doors had two leaves apiece, two turning leaves, two for the one door, and two leaves for the other. ²⁵And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, just as were made upon the walls. And there was a threshold of wood upon the face of the porch outside. ²⁶And there were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch. Thus were the side-chambers of the house, and the thresholds.

CHAPTER 42

¹Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north. And he brought me into the chamber that was opposite the separate place, and which was opposite the building toward the north. ²In front was the north door, the length of a hundred cubits, and the breadth was fifty cubits. ³Opposite the twenty which belonged to the inner court, and opposite the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story. ⁴And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits� breadth inward, a way of one cubit, and their doors were toward the north. ⁵Now the upper chambers were shorter, for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building. ⁶For they were in three stories, and they did not have pillars as the pillars of the courts. Therefore the uppermost was narrowed more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground. ⁷And the wall that was outside by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length of it was fifty cubits. ⁸For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits. And, lo, of those on the front of the temple were a hundred cubits. ⁹And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as going into them from the outer court. ¹⁰In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were chambers. ¹¹And the way before them was like the appearance of the way of the chambers which were toward the north. According to their length so was their breadth. And all their exits were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors. ¹²And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as entering into them. ¹³Then he said to me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests that are near to Jehovah shall eat the most holy things. There they shall lay the most holy things, and the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering, for the place is holy. ¹⁴When the priests enter in, then they shall not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but they shall lay their garments there in which they minister, for they are holy. And they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertains to the people. ¹⁵Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose view is toward the east, and measured it round about. ¹⁶He measured on the east side with the measuring reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁷He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about. ¹⁸He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ¹⁹He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed. ²⁰He measured it on the four sides. It had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

CHAPTER 43

¹Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looks toward the east. ²And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. And his voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory. ³And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city. And the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar. And I fell upon my face. ⁴And the glory of Jehovah came into the house by the way of the gate whose view is toward the east. ⁵And the Spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house. ⁶And I heard speaking to me out of the house, and a man stood by me. ⁷And he said to me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings in their high places, ⁸in their setting of their threshold by my threshold, and their door-post beside my door-post, and there was but the wall between me and them. And they have defiled my holy name by their abominations which they have committed. Therefore I have consumed them in my anger. ⁹Now let them put away their whoredom, and the dead bodies of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them forever. ¹⁰Thou, son of man, show the house to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern. ¹¹And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, make known to them the form of the house, and the fashion of it, and the exits of it, and the entrances of it, and all the forms of it, and all the ordinances of it, and all the forms of it, and all the laws of it. And write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form of it, and all the ordinances of it, and do them. ¹²This is the law of the house. Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit of it round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house. ¹³And these are the measures of the altar by cubits (the cubit is a cubit and a handbreadth). The bottom shall be a cubit, and the breadth a cubit, and the border of it by the edge of it round about a span. And this shall be the base of the altar. ¹⁴And from the bottom upon the ground to the lower ledge shall be two cubits, and the breadth one cubit. And from the lesser ledge to the greater ledge shall be four cubits, and the breadth a cubit. ¹⁵And the upper altar shall be four cubits. And from the altar hearth and upward there shall be four horns. ¹⁶And the altar hearth shall be twelve long by twelve broad, square in the four sides of it. ¹⁷And the ledge shall be fourteen long by fourteen broad in the four sides of it. And the border about it shall be half a cubit, and the bottom of it shall be a cubit round about. And the steps of it shall look toward the east. ¹⁸And he said to me, Son of man, thus says the lord Jehovah: These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings on it, and to sprinkle blood on it. ¹⁹Thou shall give to the priests the Levites who are of the seed of Zadok, who are near to me, to minister to me, says the lord Jehovah, a young bullock for a sin offering. ²⁰And thou shall take of the blood of it, and put it on the four horns of it, and on the four corners of the ledge, and upon the border round about. Thus thou shall cleanse it and make atonement for it. ²¹Thou shall also take the bullock of the sin offering, and it shall be burnt in the appointed place of the house, outside the sanctuary. ²²And on the second day thou shall offer a he-goat without blemish for a sin offering. And they shall cleanse the altar, as they cleansed it with the bullock. ²³When thou have made an end of cleansing it, thou shall offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish. ²⁴And thou shall bring them near before Jehovah, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering to Jehovah. ²⁵Seven days thou shall prepare each day a goat for a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bullock, and a ram out of the flock, without blemish. ²⁶Seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it. So they shall consecrate it. ²⁷And when they have accomplished the days, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings. And I will accept you, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 44

¹Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east. And it was shut. ²And Jehovah said to me, This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, nor shall any man enter in by it, for Jehovah, the God of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. ³As for the ruler, he shall sit in it as ruler to eat bread before Jehovah. He shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same. ⁴Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house. And I looked, and, behold, the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah. And I fell upon my face. ⁵And Jehovah said to me, Son of man, mark well, and behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears all that I say to thee concerning all the ordinances of the house of Jehovah, and all the laws of it. And mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary. ⁶And thou shall say to the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the lord Jehovah: O ye house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations, ⁷in that ye have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood. And they have broken my covenant, to add to all your abominations. ⁸And ye have not kept the charge of my holy things, but ye have set keepers of my charge in my sanctuary for yourselves. ⁹Thus says the lord Jehovah: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners that are among the sons of Israel. ¹⁰But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity. ¹¹Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. ¹²Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up my hand against them, says the lord Jehovah, and they shall bear their iniquity. ¹³And they shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy, but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed. ¹⁴Yet I will make them keepers of the charge of the house, for all the service of it, and for all that shall be done in it. ¹⁵But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me. And they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the lord Jehovah: ¹⁶they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. ¹⁷And it shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within. ¹⁸They shall have linen headdresses upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins. They shall not gird themselves with anything that causes sweat. ¹⁹And when they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy chambers. And they shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments. ²⁰Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long. They shall only cut off the hair of their heads. ²¹Neither shall any of the priests drink wine when they enter into the inner court. ²²Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away, but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest. ²³And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. ²⁴And in a controversy they shall stand to judge. They shall judge it according to my ordinances. And they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts, and they shall hallow my sabbaths. ²⁵And they shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves. But for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves. ²⁶And after he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days. ²⁷And in the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, says the lord Jehovah. ²⁸And they shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance. And ye shall give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. ²⁹They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering. And every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. ³⁰And the first of all the first-fruits of every thing, and every oblation of everything, of all your oblations, shall be for the priest. Ye shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on thy house. ³¹The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast.

CHAPTER 45

¹Moreover, when ye shall divide the land by lot for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation to Jehovah, a holy portion of the land. The length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand measures, and the breadth shall be ten thousand. It shall be holy in all the border of it round about. ²Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred by five hundred square round about, and fifty cubits for the suburbs of it round about. ³And of this measure thou shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand. And the sanctuary shall be in it, which is most holy. ⁴It is a holy portion of the land. It shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to Jehovah, and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵And twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession to themselves, for twenty chambers. ⁶And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and twenty-five thousand long, side by side with the oblation of the holy portion. It shall be for the whole house of Israel. ⁷And whatever is for the ruler shall be on the one side and on the other side of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy oblation and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward, and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border. ⁸It shall be to him for a possession in the land in Israel. And my rulers shall no more oppress my people, but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes. ⁹Thus says the lord Jehovah: Let it suffice you, O rulers of Israel. Remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness. Take away your exactions from my people, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁰Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. ¹¹The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer. The measure of it shall be according to the homer. ¹²And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh. ¹³This is the oblation that ye shall offer: The sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley, ¹⁴and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer, (for ten baths are a homer), ¹⁵and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel, for a meal offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the lord Jehovah. ¹⁶All the people of the land shall give to this oblation for the ruler in Israel. ¹⁷And it shall be the ruler�s part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel. ¹⁸Thus says the lord Jehovah: In the first month, in the first day of the month, thou shall take a young bullock without blemish, and thou shall cleanse the sanctuary. ¹⁹And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it upon the door-posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court. ²⁰And so thou shall do on the seventh day of the month for each one who errs, and for him who is simple. So shall ye make atonement for the house. ²¹In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten. ²²And upon that day the ruler shall prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. ²³And the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Jehovah, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days, and a he-goat daily for a sin offering. ²⁴And he shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah. ²⁵In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, he shall do the like the seven days, according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meal offering, and according to the oil.

CHAPTER 46

¹Thus says the lord Jehovah: The gate of the inner court that looks toward the east shall be shut the six working days, but on the sabbath day it shall be opened, and on the day of the new moon it shall be opened. ²And the ruler shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate outside, and shall stand by the post of the gate. And the priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate. Then he shall go forth, but the gate shall not be shut until the evening. ³And the people of the land shall worship at the door of that gate before Jehovah on the sabbaths and on the new moons. ⁴And the burnt offering that the ruler shall offer to Jehovah shall be on the sabbath day six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish, ⁵and the meal offering shall be an ephah for the ram, and the meal offering for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. ⁶And on the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram. They shall be without blemish. ⁷And he shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for the bullock, and an ephah for the ram, and for the lambs according as he is able, and a hin of oil to an ephah. ⁸And when the ruler shall enter, he shall go in by the way of the porch of the gate, and he shall go forth by the way of it. ⁹But when the people of the land shall come before Jehovah in the appointed feasts, he who enters by the way of the north gate to worship shall go forth by the way of the south gate, and he who enters by the way of the south gate shall go forth by the way of the north gate. He shall not return by the way of the gate whereby he came in, but shall go forth straight before him. ¹⁰And the ruler, when they go in, shall go in in the midst of them, and when they go forth, they shall go forth together. ¹¹And in the feasts and in the solemnities the meal offering shall be an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs as he is able to give, and a hin of oil to an ephah. ¹²And when the ruler shall prepare a freewill offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to Jehovah, a man shall open for him the gate that looks toward the east. And he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings, as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go forth, and after his going forth a man shall shut the gate. ¹³And thou shall prepare a lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering to Jehovah daily. Thou shall prepare it morning by morning. ¹⁴And thou shall prepare a meal offering with it morning by morning, the sixth part of an ephah, and the third part of a hin of oil, to moisten the fine flour, a meal offering to Jehovah continually by a perpetual ordinance. ¹⁵Thus they shall prepare the lamb, and the meal offering, and the oil, morning by morning, for a continual burnt offering. ¹⁶Thus says the lord Jehovah: If the ruler gives a gift to any of his sons, it is his inheritance. It shall belong to his sons. It is their possession by inheritance. ¹⁷But if he gives a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his to the year of liberty, then it shall return to the ruler. But as for his inheritance, it shall be for his sons. ¹⁸Moreover the ruler shall not take of the people�s inheritance, to thrust them out of their possession. He shall give inheritance to his sons out of his own possession, that my people be not scattered each man from his possession. ¹⁹Then he brought me through the entry, which was at the side of the gate, into the holy chambers for the priests, which looked toward the north. And, behold, there was a place on the rear part westward. ²⁰And he said to me, This is the place where the priests shall boil the trespass offering and the sin offering, and where they shall bake the meal offering, that they not bring them forth into the outer court, to sanctify the people. ²¹Then he brought me forth into the outer court, and caused me to pass by the four corners of the court. And, behold, in every corner of the court there was a court. ²²In the four corners of the court there were courts enclosed, forty long and thirty broad. These four in the corners were of one measure. ²³And there was a wall round about in them, round about the four. And boiling-places were made under the walls round about. ²⁴Then said he to me, These are the boiling-houses, where the ministers of the house shall boil the sacrifice of the people.

CHAPTER 47

¹And he brought me back to the door of the house. And, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the house was toward the east. And the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. ²Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of the gate that looks toward the east. And, behold, waters ran out on the right side. ³When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured a thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles. ⁴Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the loins. ⁵Afterward he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. ⁶And he said to me, Son of man, have thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river. ⁷Now when I had returned, behold, upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. ⁸Then he said to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah. And they shall go toward the sea, into the sea which were made to issue forth, and the waters shall be healed. ⁹And it shall come to pass, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish (for these waters have come there) and shall be healed. And everything shall live wherever the river comes. ¹⁰And it shall come to pass, that fishermen shall stand by it. From En-gedi even to En-eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, very many. ¹¹But the miry places of it, and the marshes of it, shall not be healed. They shall be given up to salt. ¹²And by the river upon the bank of it, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, nor shall the fruit of it fail. It shall bring forth new fruit every month, because the waters of it issue out of the sanctuary. And the fruit of it shall be for food, and the leaf of it for healing. ¹³Thus says the lord Jehovah: This shall be the border by which ye shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions. ¹⁴And ye shall inherit it, one as well as another, for I swore to give it to your fathers. And this land shall fall to you for inheritance. ¹⁵And this shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad, ¹⁶Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath, Hazer-hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran. ¹⁷And the border from the sea, shall be Hazar-enon at the border of Damascus, and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side. ¹⁸And the east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan, from the north border to the east sea ye shall measure. This is the east side. ¹⁹And the south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea. This is the south side southward. ²⁰And the west side shall be the great sea, from the south border as far as opposite the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side. ²¹So ye shall divide this land to you according to the tribes of Israel. ²²And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you and to the strangers who sojourn among you, who shall beget sons among you. And they shall be to you as the home-born among the sons of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. ²³And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourns, there ye shall give him his inheritance, says the lord Jehovah.

CHAPTER 48

¹Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar-enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east and west), Dan, one portion. ²And by the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one portion. ³And by the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one portion. ⁴And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one portion. ⁵And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one portion. ⁶And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one portion. ⁷And by the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one portion. ⁸And by the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the oblation which ye shall offer: twenty-five thousand measures in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side. And the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. ⁹The oblation that ye shall offer to Jehovah shall be twenty-five thousand measures in length, and ten thousand in breadth. ¹⁰And for these, even for the priests, shall be the holy oblation: toward the north twenty-five thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length. And the sanctuary of Jehovah shall be in the midst of it. ¹¹It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my charge, who did not go astray when the sons of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray. ¹²And it shall be to them an oblation from the oblation of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites. ¹³And answerable to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth. All the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. ¹⁴And they shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first-fruits of the land be alienated, for it is holy to Jehovah. ¹⁵And the five thousand that are left in the breadth, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs. And the city shall be in the midst of it. ¹⁶And these shall be the measures of it: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. ¹⁷And the city shall have suburbs: toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. ¹⁸And the residue in the length, answerable to the holy oblation, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward. And it shall be answerable to the holy oblation. And the increase of it shall be for food to those who labor in the city. ¹⁹And those who labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall till it. ²⁰All the oblation shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand. Ye shall offer the holy oblation four-square, with the possession of the city. ²¹And the residue shall be for the ruler, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city, in front of the twenty-five thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions. It shall be for the ruler. And the holy oblation and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst of it. ²²Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the ruler�s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall be for the ruler. ²³And as for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, one portion. ²⁴And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one portion. ²⁵And by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one portion. ²⁶And by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, one portion. ²⁷And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad, one portion. ²⁸And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath-kadesh, to the brook of Egypt, to the great sea. ²⁹This is the land which ye shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their several portions, says the lord Jehovah. ³⁰And these are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand and five hundred measures by measure. ³¹And the gates of the city shall be according to the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one, the gate of Judah, one, the gate of Levi, one. ³²And at the east side four thousand and five hundred measures, and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one, the gate of Benjamin, one, the gate of Dan, one. ³³And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one, the gate of Issachar, one, the gate of Zebulun, one. ³⁴At the west side four thousand and five hundred measures, with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one, the gate of Asher, one, the gate of Naphtali, one. ³⁵It shall be eighteen thousand measures round about. And the name of the city from that day shall be, Jehovah is there.

DANIEL

CHAPTER 1

¹In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and besieged it. ²And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God. And he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasure-house of his god. ³And the king spoke to Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in certain of the sons of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the ranking men, ⁴youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skilful in all wisdom, and endued with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king�s palace. And that he should teach them the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans. ⁵And the king appointed for them a daily portion of the king�s food, and of the wine which he drank. And that they should be nourished three years, that at the end of it they should stand before the king. ⁶Now among these were, of the sons of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁷And the ruler of the eunuchs gave names to them. To Daniel he gave the name of Belteshazzar, and to Hananiah, of Shadrach, and to Mishael, of Meshach, and to Azariah, of Abednego. ⁸But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king�s food, nor with the wine which he drank. Therefore he requested of the ruler of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ⁹Now God made Daniel find kindness and compassion in the sight of the ruler of the eunuchs. ¹⁰And the ruler of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths that are of your own age? So ye would endanger my head with the king. ¹¹Then Daniel said to the steward whom the ruler of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹²Test thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink. ¹³Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the youths that eat of the king�s food. And as thou see, deal with thy servants. ¹⁴So he hearkened to them in this matter, and tested them ten days. ¹⁵And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared finer, and they were fuller in flesh, than all the youths who ate of the king�s dainties. ¹⁶So the steward took away their food, and the wine that they should drink, and gave them vegetables. ¹⁷Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom. And Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. ¹⁸And at the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the ruler of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹And the king conversed with them. And among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. Therefore they stood before the king. ²⁰And in every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm. ²¹And Daniel continued even to the first year of king Cyrus.

CHAPTER 2

¹And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams. And his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him. ²Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³And the king said to them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream. ⁴Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live forever. Tell thy servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. ⁵The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me. If ye do not make the dream and the interpretation of it known to me, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill. ⁶But if ye show the dream and the interpretation of it, ye shall receive gifts and rewards and great honor from me. Therefore show the dream and the interpretation of it to me. ⁷They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation. ⁸The king answered and said, I know of a certainty that ye would gain time, because ye see the thing has gone from me. ⁹But if ye do not make known to me the dream, there is but one law for you, for ye have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me till the time is changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that ye can show me the interpretation of it. ¹⁰The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth who can show the king�s matter. Inasmuch as no king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. ¹¹And it is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is no other who can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh. ¹²For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. ¹³So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain. And they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain. ¹⁴Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch, the captain of the king�s guard, who went forth to kill the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁵He answered and said to Arioch the king�s captain, Why is the decree so urgent from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel. ¹⁶And Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would show the king the interpretation. ¹⁷Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, ¹⁸that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret, that Daniel and his companions should nor perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. ¹⁹Then the secret was shown to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. ²⁰Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his. ²¹And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings, and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding. ²²He reveals the deep and secret things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. ²³I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who has given me wisdom and might, and has now made known to me what we desired of thee, for thou have made known to us the king�s matter. ²⁴Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon. Bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation. ²⁵Then Arioch brought Daniel in before the king in haste, and said thus to him: I have found a man of the sons of the captivity of Judah, who will make known the interpretation to the king. ²⁶The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are thou able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation of it? ²⁷Daniel answered before the king, and said, The secret which the king has demanded, neither wise men, enchanters, magicians, nor soothsayers, can show to the king, ²⁸but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets. And he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these: ²⁹As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter. And he who reveals secrets has made known to thee what shall come to pass. ³⁰But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living man, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that thou may know the thoughts of thy heart. ³¹Thou, O king, saw, and, behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee, and the appearance of it was fearful. ³²As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass, ³³its legs of iron, its feet part of iron, and part of clay. ³⁴Thou looked until a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, was broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them. And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. ³⁶This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. ³⁷Thou, O king, are a king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory. ³⁸And wherever the sons of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, he has given into thy hand, and has made thee to rule over them all. Thou are the head of gold. ³⁹And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things. And as iron that crushes all these, it shall break in pieces and crush. ⁴¹And whereas thou saw the feet and toes, part of potters� clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom. But there shall be of the strength of the iron in it, inasmuch as thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay. ⁴²And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken. ⁴³And whereas thou saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cling one to another, even as iron does not mix with clay. ⁴⁴And in the days of those kings the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty of it be left to another people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ⁴⁵Inasmuch as thou saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter. And the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. ⁴⁶Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an oblation and sweet odors to him. ⁴⁷The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since thou have been able to reveal this secret. ⁴⁸Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon. ⁴⁹And Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon, but Daniel was in the gate of the king.

CHAPTER 3

¹Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it six cubits. He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. ²Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ³Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up, and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. ⁴Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages, ⁵that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up. ⁶And he who does not fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ⁷Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. ⁸Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews. ⁹They answered and said to Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live forever. ¹⁰Thou, O king, have made a decree, that every man who shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image. ¹¹And he who does not fall down and worship, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. ¹²There are certain Jews whom thou have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men, O king, have not regarded thee. They do not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou have set up. ¹³Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. ¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, Is it of purpose, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that ye do not serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? ¹⁵Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made, well. But if ye do not worship, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that god who shall deliver you out of my hands? ¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. ¹⁷If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. ¹⁸But if not, be it known to thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou have set up. ¹⁹Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was accustomed to be heated. ²⁰And he commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace. ²¹Then these men were bound in their coats, their tunics, and their head coverings, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²²Therefore because the king�s commandment was urgent, and the furnace very hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. ²³And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. ²⁴Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his counselors, Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said to the king, True, O king. ²⁵He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no harm. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods. ²⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace. He spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth out of the midst of the fire. ²⁷And the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king�s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power upon their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed. Neither were their coats changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them. ²⁸Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his agent, and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king�s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God. ²⁹Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other god who is able to deliver after this sort. ³⁰Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

CHAPTER 4

¹Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. ²It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has wrought toward me. ³How great are his signs, and how mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation. ⁴I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house, and flourishing in my palace. ⁵I saw a dream which made me afraid, and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head troubled me. ⁶Therefore I made a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. ⁷Then the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers came in, and I told the dream before them, but they did not make the interpretation of it known to me. ⁸But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And I told the dream before him, saying, ⁹O Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in thee, and no secret troubles thee, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and the interpretation thereof. ¹⁰Thus were the visions of my head upon my bed: I saw, and, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height of it was great. ¹¹The tree grew, and was strong, and the height of it reached to heaven, and the sight of it to the end of all the earth. ¹²The leaves of it were fine, and the fruit of it much, and food was in it for all. The beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the birds of the heavens dwelt in the branches of it. And all flesh was fed from it. ¹³I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from heaven. ¹⁴He cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off its branches. Shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches. ¹⁵Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field. And let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. ¹⁶Let his heart be changed from man�s, and let a beast�s heart be given to him. And let seven times pass over him. ¹⁷The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones, to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men. ¹⁸This dream I, king Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. And thou, O Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, inasmuch as all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation. But thou are able, for the spirit of the holy gods is in thee. ¹⁹Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered and said, Belteshazzar, let not the dream, or the interpretation, trouble thee. Belteshazzar answered and said, My lord, may the dream be to those who hate thee, and the interpretation of it to thine adversaries. ²⁰The tree that thou saw, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached to heaven, and the sight of it to all the earth, ²¹whose leaves were fine, and the fruit of it much, and in it was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the birds of the heavens had their habitation, ²²it is thou, O king, who have grown and become strong. For thy greatness has grown, and reaches to heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth. ²³And whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from heaven, and saying, Hew down the tree, and destroy it. Nevertheless leave the stump of the roots of it in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field. And let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field, till seven times pass over him; ²⁴this is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: ²⁵That thou shall be driven from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And thou shall be made to eat grass as oxen, and shall be wet with the dew of heaven. And seven times shall pass over thee till thou know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will. ²⁶And whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree, thy kingdom shall be sure to thee, after thou shall have known that the heavens do rule. ²⁷Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, if there may be a lengthening of thy tranquility. ²⁸All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. ²⁹At the end of twelve months he was walking in the royal palace of Babylon. ³⁰The king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty? ³¹While the word was in the king�s mouth, a voice from heaven fell, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: The kingdom is departed from thee. ³²And thou shall be driven from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. Thou shall be made to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will. ³³The same hour the thing was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. And he was driven from men, and ate grass as oxen. And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair was grown like eagles� feathers, and his nails like birds� claws. ³⁴And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me. And I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. ³⁵And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand, or say to him, What are thou doing? ³⁶At the same time my understanding returned to me, and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned to me, and my counselors and my lords sought to me. And I was established in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added to me. ³⁷Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, for all his works are truth, and his ways justice. And he is able to abase those who walk in pride.

CHAPTER 5

¹Belshazzar the king made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand. ²Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from there. ³Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem. And the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them. ⁴They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone. ⁵In the same hour the fingers of a man�s hand came forth, and wrote opposite the lampstand upon the plaster of the wall of the king�s palace. And the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. ⁶Then the king�s countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him. And the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. ⁷The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing, and show me the interpretation of it, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. ⁸Then all the king�s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation. ⁹Then king Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his countenance was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed. ¹⁰Now the queen came into the banquet house because of the words of the king and his lords. The queen spoke and said, O king, live forever. Let not thy thoughts trouble thee, nor let thy countenance be changed. ¹¹There is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods. And in the days of thy father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him. And the king Nebuchadnezzar thy father, the king, I say, thy father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers, ¹²inasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation. ¹³Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Are thou that Daniel, who are of the sons of the captivity of Judah, whom my father the king brought out of Judah? ¹⁴I have heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in thee. ¹⁵And now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known to me the interpretation of it, but they could not show the interpretation of the thing. ¹⁶But I have heard of thee, that thou can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts. Now if thou can read the writing, and make known to me the interpretation of it, thou shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about thy neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. ¹⁷Then Daniel answered and said before the king, Let thy gifts be to thyself, and give thy rewards to another. Nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation. ¹⁸O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom and greatness and glory and majesty. ¹⁹And because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he wanted, he killed, and whom he wanted, he kept alive, and whom he wanted, he raised up, and whom he wanted, he put down. ²⁰But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne. And they took his glory from him, ²¹and he was driven from the sons of men. And his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will. ²²And thou his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled thy heart, though thou knew all this, ²³but have lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. And they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and thy lords, thy wives and thy concubines, have drunk wine from them. And thou have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor know. And the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou have not glorified. ²⁴Then the part of the hand was sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed. ²⁵And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN. ²⁶This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE, God has numbered thy kingdom, and brought it to an end. ²⁷TEKEL, thou are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. ²⁸PERES, thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. ²⁹Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain. ³¹And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

CHAPTER 6

¹It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom a hundred and twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom, ²and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one, that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king should have no damage. ³Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him, and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. ⁴Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no occasion nor fault, inasmuch as he was faithful, nor was there any error or fault found in him. ⁵Then these men said, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God. ⁶Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus to him: King Darius, live forever. ⁷All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong interdict, that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of thee, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions. ⁸Now, O king, establish the interdict, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter. ⁹Therefore king Darius signed the writing and the interdict. ¹⁰And when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his chamber toward Jerusalem) and he knelt upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did formerly. ¹¹Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God. ¹²Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king�s interdict. Have thou not signed an interdict, that every man who shall make petition to any god or man within thirty days, except to thee, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered and said, The thing is true according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter. ¹³Then they answered and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the sons of the captivity of Judah, does not regard thee, O king, nor the interdict that thou have signed, but makes his petition three times a day. ¹⁴Then the king, when he heard these words, was very displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him. And he labored till the going down of the sun to rescue him. ¹⁵Then these men assembled together to the king, and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no interdict nor statute which the king establishes may be changed. ¹⁶Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. Now the king spoke and said to Daniel, Thy God whom thou serve continually, he will deliver thee. ¹⁷And a stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den. And the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. ¹⁸Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting, nor were instruments of music brought before him. And his sleep fled from him. ¹⁹Then the king arose very early in the morning, and went in haste to the den of lions. ²⁰And when he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou serve continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? ²¹Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. ²²My God has sent his agent, and has shut the lions� mouths, and they have not hurt me, inasmuch as before him innocence was found in me. And also before thee, O king, I have done no harm. ²³Then the king was exceedingly glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of harm was found upon him, because he had trusted in his God. ²⁴And the king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their sons, and their wives. And the lions had the mastery of them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den. ²⁵Then king Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. ²⁶I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, and steadfast forever. And his kingdom is that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even to the end. ²⁷He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. ²⁸So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

CHAPTER 7

¹In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters. ²Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of heaven broke forth upon the great sea. ³And four great beasts came up from the sea, different one from another. ⁴The first was like a lion, and had eagle�s wings. I beheld till the wings of it were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon two feet as a man, and a man�s heart was given to it. ⁵And, behold, another beast, a second, like a bear, and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: Arise, devour much flesh. ⁶After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it. ⁷After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, a fourth beast, fearful and powerful, and exceedingly strong. And it had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. And it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. ⁹I beheld till thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat. His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and the wheels of it burning fire. ¹⁰A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. ¹¹I beheld at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke. I beheld even till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. ¹²And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. Yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. ¹³I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven someone like a son of man. And he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. ¹⁴And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. ¹⁵As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. ¹⁷These great beasts, which are four, are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸But the sanctified of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever. ¹⁹Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was different from all of them, exceedingly fearful, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass, which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet, ²⁰and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was greater than its fellows. ²¹I beheld, and the same horn made war with the sanctified, and prevailed against them ²²until the ancient of days came. And judgment was given to the sanctified of the Most High, and the time came that the sanctified possessed the kingdom. ²³Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. ²⁴And as for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise. And another shall arise after them, and he shall be different from the former. And he shall put down three kings. ²⁵And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the sanctified of the Most High. And he shall think to change the times and the law, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. ²⁶But the judgment shall be set, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. ²⁷And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the sanctified of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. ²⁸Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me much, and my countenance was changed in me, but I kept the matter in my heart.

CHAPTER 8

¹In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first. ²And I saw in the vision, now it was so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam, and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. ³Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns. And the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. ⁴I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward, and no beasts could stand before him, nor was there any that could deliver out of his hand, but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. ⁵And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and did not touch the ground. And the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. ⁶And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power. ⁷And I saw him come close to the ram. And he was moved with anger against him, and smote the ram, and broke his two horns. And there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him. And there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. ⁸And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly. And when he was strong, the great horn was broken, and instead of it there came up four notable horns toward the four winds of heaven. ⁹And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious land. ¹⁰And it grew great, even to the host of heaven. And it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them. ¹¹Yea, it magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host. And it took away from him the continual burnt offering, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. ¹²And the host was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through transgression. And it cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered. ¹³Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, How long shall be the vision of the continual burnt offering, and the transgression that make desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? ¹⁴And he said to me, To two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings. Then the sanctuary shall be cleansed. ¹⁵And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it, and, behold, there stood before me someone as the appearance of a man. ¹⁶And I heard a man�s voice between the banks of the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision. ¹⁷So he came near where I stood. And when he came, I was frightened, and fell upon my face. But he said to me, Understand, O son of man, for the vision belongs to the time of the end. ¹⁸Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground, but he touched me, and set me upright. ¹⁹And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation, for it belongs to the appointed time of the end. ²⁰The ram which thou saw, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia. ²¹And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king. ²²And as for that which was broken, in the place of which four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power. ²³And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding hidden things, shall stand up. ²⁴And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power, and he shall destroy amazingly, and shall prosper and do his pleasure. And he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people. ²⁵And through his policy he shall cause deceit to prosper in his hand, and he shall magnify himself in his heart. And he shall destroy many in their security. He shall also stand up against the Prince of princes, but he shall be broken without a hand. ²⁶And the vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true. But shut thou up the vision, for it belongs to many days to come. ²⁷And I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days. Then I rose up, and did the king�s business. And I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.

CHAPTER 9

¹In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans, ²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years of which the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years. ³And I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ⁴And I prayed to Jehovah my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and fearful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy precepts and from thine ordinances, ⁶nor have we hearkened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our rulers, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷O Lord, righteousness belongs to thee, but to us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where thou have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee. ⁸O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our rulers, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. ⁹To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, ¹⁰nor have we obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside, that they should not obey thy voice. Therefore the curse has been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God. For we have sinned against him. ¹²And he has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil, for under the whole heaven has not been done as has been done upon Jerusalem. ¹³As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us. Yet we have not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in thy truth. ¹⁴Therefore Jehovah has watched over the evil, and brought it upon us, for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice. ¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who has brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and has gotten thee renown, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. ¹⁶O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, let thine anger and thy wrath, I pray thee, be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain. Because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people have become a reproach to all who are round about us. ¹⁷Now therefore, O our God, hearken to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord�s sake. ¹⁸O my God, incline thine ear, and hear. Open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name. For we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousness, but for thy great mercies� sake. ¹⁹O Lord, hear. O Lord, forgive. O Lord, hearken and do. Defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, because thy city and thy people are called by thy name. ²⁰And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God, ²¹yea, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. ²²And he instructed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I have now come forth to give thee wisdom and understanding. ²³At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment went forth, and I have come to tell thee, for thou are greatly beloved. Therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision. ²⁴Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. ²⁵Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the anointed one, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. It shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troublesome times. ²⁶And after the sixty-two weeks the anointed one shall be cut off, and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and the end of it shall be with a flood. And even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined. ²⁷And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week. And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate. And even to the full end, and that determined, wrath shall be poured out upon the desolate.

CHAPTER 10

¹In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar, and the thing was true, even a great warfare. And he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. ²In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three whole weeks. ³I ate no pleasant bread. Neither flesh nor wine came into my mouth. Neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled. ⁴And in the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel, ⁵I lifted up my eyes, and looked. And, behold, a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with pure gold of Uphaz. ⁶Also his body was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. ⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. ⁸So I was left alone, and saw this great vision. And there remained no strength in me, for my fitness was turned in me into debility, and I retained no strength. ⁹Yet I heard the voice of his words. And when I heard the voice of his words, then I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground. ¹⁰And, behold, a hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. ¹¹And he said to me, O Daniel, thou man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to thee, and stand upright, for I am now sent to thee. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood, trembling. ¹²Then he said to me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou set thy heart to understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy words were heard. And I have come for thy words� sake. ¹³But the ruler of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. And I remained there with the kings of Persia. ¹⁴I have come now to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for the vision is yet for many days. ¹⁵And when he had spoken to me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground, and was mute. ¹⁶And, behold, someone in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to him who stood before me, O my lord, because of the vision my pains have turned upon me, and I retain no strength. ¹⁷For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? For as for me, straightaway there remained no strength in me, nor was there breath left in me. ¹⁸Then someone like the appearance of a man touched me again, and he strengthened me. ¹⁹And he said, O man greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be to thee. Be strong, yea, be strong. And when he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak, for thou have strengthened me. ²⁰Then he said, Do thou know why I have come to thee? And now I will return to fight with the ruler of Persia. And when I go forth, lo, the ruler of Greece shall come. ²¹But I will tell thee that which is inscribed in the writing of truth. And there is none who holds with me against these, but Michael your prince.

CHAPTER 11

¹And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him. ²And now I will show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all. And when he has grown strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. ³And a mighty king shall stand up, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. ⁴And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides these. ⁵And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his rulers. And he shall be powerful over him, and have dominion. His dominion shall be a great dominion. ⁶And at the end of years they shall join themselves together. And the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement, but she shall not retain the strength of her arm, nor shall he stand, nor his arm. But she shall be given up, and also those who brought her, and he who begot her, and he who strengthened her in those times. ⁷But out of a shoot from her roots shall a man stand up in his place, who shall come to the army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail. ⁸And also their gods, with their molten images, and with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, he shall carry captive into Egypt, and he shall refrain from the king of the north some years. ⁹And he shall come into the realm of the king of the south, but he shall return into his own land. ¹⁰And his sons shall war, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall come on, and overflow, and pass through. And they shall return and war, even to his fortress. ¹¹And the king of the south shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north. And he shall set forth a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand. ¹²And the multitude shall be lifted up, and his heart shall be exalted. And he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. ¹³And the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and he shall come on at the end of the times, even of years, with a great army and with much substance. ¹⁴And in those times many shall stand up against the king of the south. Also the sons of the violent among thy people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision, but they shall fall. ¹⁵So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, nor his chosen people. Neither shall there be any strength to stand. ¹⁶But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in the glorious land, and in his hand shall be destruction. ¹⁷And he shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and with him equitable conditions, and he shall perform them. And he shall give him the daughter of women, to corrupt her, but she shall not stand, nor be for him. ¹⁸After this he shall turn his face to the isles, and shall take many. But a ruler shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease. Yea, moreover, he shall cause his reproach to turn upon him. ¹⁹Then he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found. ²⁰Then someone shall stand up in his place who shall cause an exactor to pass through the glory of the kingdom, but within a few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. ²¹And in his place he who is contemptible shall stand up, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom. But he shall come in time of security, and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries. ²²And the overwhelming forces shall be overwhelmed from before him, and shall be broken, yea, also the ruler of the covenant. ²³And after the league made with him, he shall work deceitfully, for he shall come up, and shall become strong, with a small people. ²⁴He shall come in time of security even upon the fattest places of the province, and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers� fathers. He shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance. Yea, he shall devise his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. ²⁵And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army. And the king of the south shall war in battle with a very great and mighty army, but he shall not stand, for they shall devise devices against him. ²⁶Yea, those who eat of his food shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow, and many shall fall down slain. ²⁷And as for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table. But it shall not prosper, for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. ²⁸Then he shall return into his land with great substance. And his heart shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall do his pleasure, and return to his own land. ²⁹At the time appointed he shall return, and come into the south, but it shall not be in the latter time as it was in the former. ³⁰For ships of Kittim shall come against him. Therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do his pleasure. He shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant. ³¹And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual burnt offering, and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate. ³²And he shall pervert by flatteries such as do wickedly against the covenant. But the people who know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. ³³And those who are wise among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, many days. ³⁴Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help, but many shall join themselves to them with flatteries. ³⁵And some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end, because it is yet for the time appointed. ³⁶And the king shall do according to his will. And he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods. And he shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished, for that which is determined shall be done. ³⁷Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he shall magnify himself above all. ³⁸But in his place he shall honor the god of fortresses. And a god whom his fathers did not know, he shall honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. ³⁹And he shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god. Whoever acknowledges him he will increase with glory, and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price. ⁴⁰And at the time of the end, the king of the south shall contend with him, and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships, and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through. ⁴¹He shall also enter into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the sons of Ammon. ⁴²He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. ⁴³But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt. And the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. ⁴⁴But news out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him, and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and to utterly sweep away many. ⁴⁵And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain, yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.

CHAPTER 12

¹And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands for the sons of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book. ²And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. ³And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. ⁴But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. ⁵Then I, Daniel, looked, and, behold, another two stood, the one on the brink of the river on this side, and the other on the brink of the river on that side. ⁶And one said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? ⁷And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half. And when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. ⁸And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things? ⁹And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. ¹⁰Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. ¹¹And from the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days. ¹²Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. ¹³But go thou thy way till the end is. For thou shall rest, and shall stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

HOSEA

CHAPTER 1

¹The word of Jehovah that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. ²When Jehovah spoke at the first by Hosea, Jehovah said to Hosea, Go, take to thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom, departing from Jehovah. ³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived, and bore him a son. ⁴And Jehovah said to him, Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease. ⁵And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. ⁶And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And Jehovah said to him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah, for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them. ⁷But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by Jehovah their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen. ⁸Now when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived, and bore a son. ⁹And Jehovah said, Call his name Lo-ammi, for ye are not my people, and I will not be yours. ¹⁰Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said to them, The sons of the living God. ¹¹And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

CHAPTER 2

¹Say ye to your brothers, Ammi, and to your sisters, Ruhamah. ²Contend with your mother. Contend, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband. And let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts, ³lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst. ⁴Yea, I will have no mercy upon her sons, for they are sons of whoredom, ⁵for their mother has played the harlot. She who conceived them has done shamefully, for she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. ⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths. ⁷And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them. And she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then she shall say, I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now. ⁸For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. ⁹Therefore I will take back my grain in the time of it, and my new wine in the season of it, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness. ¹⁰And now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of my hand. ¹¹I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies. ¹²And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, These are my hire that my lovers have given me. And I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. ¹³And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, says Jehovah. ¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak soothingly to her. ¹⁵And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope. And she shall make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁶And it shall be at that day, says Jehovah, that thou shall call me Ishi, and shall no more call me Baali. ¹⁷For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name. ¹⁸And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely. ¹⁹And I will betroth thee to me forever. Yea, I will betroth thee to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in loving kindness, and in mercies. ²⁰I will even betroth thee to me in faithfulness, and thou shall know Jehovah. ²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, says Jehovah. I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, ²²and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel. ²³And I will sow her to me in the earth. And I will have mercy upon her who had not obtained mercy. And I will say to those who were not my people, Thou are my people, and they shall say, My God.

CHAPTER 3

¹And Jehovah said to me, Go again, love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress, even as Jehovah loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins. ²So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley. ³And I said to her, Thou shall abide for me many days. Thou shall not play the harlot, and thou shall not be any man�s wife. So I will also be toward thee. ⁴For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king, and without ruler, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim. ⁵Afterward the sons of Israel shall return and seek Jehovah their God and David their king, and shall come with fear to Jehovah and to his goodness in the latter days.

CHAPTER 4

¹Hear the word of Jehovah, ye sons of Israel, for Jehovah has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. ²There is nothing but swearing and breaking faith, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery. They break out, and blood touches blood. ³Therefore the land shall mourn, and everyone who dwells in it shall languish with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens. Yea, the fishes of the sea shall also be taken away. ⁴Yet, let no man strive, nor let any man reprove, for thy people are as those who strive with the priest. ⁵And thou shall stumble in the day, and the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night. And I will destroy thy mother. ⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because thou have rejected knowledge, I also will reject thee, that thou shall be no priest to me. Since thou have forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy sons. ⁷As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame. ⁸They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity. ⁹And it shall be, like people, like priest. And I will punish them for their ways, and will requite them their doings. ¹⁰And they shall eat, and not have enough. They shall play the harlot, and shall not increase, because they have left off taking heed to Jehovah. ¹¹Whoredom and wine and new wine take away the understanding. ¹²My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declares to them, for the spirit of whoredom has caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God. ¹³They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because the shadow of it is good. Therefore your daughters play the harlot, and your brides commit adultery. ¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery. For themselves go apart with harlots, and they sacrifice with the prostitutes. And the people who do not understand shall be overthrown. ¹⁵Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend, and come not ye to Gilgal, nor go ye up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As Jehovah lives. ¹⁶For Israel has behaved himself stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Now Jehovah will feed them as a lamb in a large place. ¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. ¹⁸Their drink has become sour. They play the harlot continually. Her rulers dearly love shame. ¹⁹The wind has wrapped her up in its wings, and they shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices.

CHAPTER 5

¹Hear this, O ye priests, and hearken, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king, for to you pertains the judgment. For ye have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. ²And the revolters have gone deep in making slaughter, but I am a rebuker of them all. ³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me. For now, O Ephraim, thou have played the harlot; Israel is defiled. ⁴Their doings will not allow them to turn to their God, for the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they do not know Jehovah. ⁵And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity. Judah also shall stumble with them. ⁶They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek Jehovah, but they shall not find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. ⁷They have dealt treacherously against Jehovah, for they have borne strange sons. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields. ⁸Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven, behind thee, O Benjamin. ⁹Ephraim shall become a desolation in the day of rebuke. I have made known that which shall surely be among the tribes of Israel. ¹⁰The rulers of Judah are like those who remove the landmark. I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. ¹¹Ephraim is oppressed. He is crushed in judgment, because he was content to walk after man�s command. ¹²Therefore I am to Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. ¹³When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb. But he is not able to heal you, nor will he cure you of your wound. ¹⁴For I will be to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear and go away, I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver. ¹⁵I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.

CHAPTER 6

¹Come, and let us return to Jehovah, for he has torn, and he will heal us. He has smitten, and he will bind us up. ²After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live before him. ³And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah. His going forth is sure as the morning, and he will come to us as the rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth. ⁴O Ephraim, what shall I do to thee? O Judah, what shall I do to thee? For your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goes away early. ⁵Therefore I have hewed them by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth. And thy judgments are as the light that goes forth. ⁶For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. ⁷But like Adam they have transgressed the covenant. There they have dealt treacherously against me. ⁸Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood. ⁹And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem. Yea, they have committed iniquity. ¹⁰I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel. Whoredom is there in Ephraim; Israel is defiled. ¹¹Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for thee when I bring back the captivity of my people.

CHAPTER 7

¹When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, and the wickedness of Samaria. For they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the troop of robbers ravages outside. ²And they do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own doings have surrounded them; they are before my face. ³They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the rulers with their lies. ⁴They are all adulterers. They are as an oven heated by the baker. He ceases to stir the fire, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened. ⁵On the day of our king the rulers made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He stretched out his hand with scoffers. ⁶For they have made their heart ready like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire. ⁷They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings are fallen. There is none among those who call to me. ⁸Ephraim, he mixes himself among the peoples. Ephraim is a cake not turned. ⁹Strangers have devoured his strength, and he does not know. Yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, and he does not know. ¹⁰And the pride of Israel testifies to his face. Yet they have not returned to Jehovah their God, nor sought him for all this. ¹¹And Ephraim is like a silly dove, without understanding. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria. ¹²When they shall go, I will spread my net upon them. I will bring them down as the birds of the heavens. I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard. ¹³Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me. ¹⁴And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howl upon their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They rebel against me. ¹⁵Though I have taught and strengthened their arms, yet they devise mischief against me. ¹⁶They return, but not to him on high. They are like a deceitful bow. Their rulers shall fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

CHAPTER 8

¹Set the trumpet to thy mouth. As an eagle he comes against the house of Jehovah, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law. ²They shall cry to me, My God, we, Israel know thee. ³Israel has cast off that which is good. The enemy shall pursue him. ⁴They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made rulers, and I knew it not. They have made themselves idols of their silver and their gold, that they may be cut off. ⁵He has cast off thy calf, O Samaria. My anger is kindled against them. How long will it be ere they attain to innocence? ⁶For even this is from Israel: the workman made it, and it is no God. Yea, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces. ⁷For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The blade shall yield no meal. If so be it yields, strangers shall swallow it up. ⁸Israel is swallowed up. They are now among the nations as a vessel in which no man delights. ⁹For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey alone by himself. Ephraim has hired lovers. ¹⁰Yea, though they hire among the nations, I will now gather them, and they shall begin to be diminished because of the burden of the king of rulers. ¹¹Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, altars have been to him for sinning. ¹²I wrote for him the multitude of my law, but they are counted as a strange thing. ¹³As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it, but Jehovah does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins. They shall return to Egypt. ¹⁴For Israel has forgotten his maker, and built palaces. And Judah has multiplied fortified cities. But I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the castles thereof.

CHAPTER 9

¹Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy like the peoples, for thou have played the harlot, departing from thy God. Thou have loved hire upon every grain-floor. ²The threshing floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail her. ³They shall not dwell in Jehovah�s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria. ⁴They shall not pour out wine offerings to Jehovah, nor shall they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of mourners. All who eat of it shall be polluted, for their bread shall be for their appetite. It shall not come into the house of Jehovah. ⁵What will ye do in the day of solemn assembly, and in the day of the feast of Jehovah? ⁶For, lo, they have gone away from destruction, yet Egypt shall gather them up. Memphis shall bury them. Their pleasant things of silver, nettles shall possess them. Thorns shall be in their tents. ⁷The days of visitation have come. The days of recompense have come. Israel shall know it. The prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great. ⁸Ephraim was a watchman with my God. As for the prophet, a fowler�s snare is in all his ways, and enmity in the house of his God. ⁹They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will visit their sins. ¹⁰I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season. But they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved. ¹¹As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird. There shall be no birth, and none with child, and no conception. ¹²Though they bring up their sons, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! ¹³Ephraim, just as I have seen Tyre, is planted in a pleasant place, but Ephraim shall bring out his sons to the slayer. ¹⁴Give them, O Jehovah�what will thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. ¹⁵All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more. All their rulers are rebels. ¹⁶Ephraim is smitten. Their root is dried up. They shall bear no fruit. Yea, though they bring forth, yet I will kill the beloved fruit of their womb. ¹⁷My God will cast them away because they did not hearken to him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.

CHAPTER 10

¹Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. According to the goodness of their land they have made goodly pillars. ²Their heart is divided. Now they shall be found guilty. He will smite their altars. He will destroy their pillars. ³Surely now they shall say, We have no king, for we fear not Jehovah. And the king, what can he do for us? ⁴They speak vain words, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgment springs up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. ⁵The inhabitants of Samaria shall be in terror for the calves of Beth-aven. For the people of it shall mourn over it, and the priests of it, who rejoiced over it for the glory of it, because it has departed from it. ⁶It shall also be carried to Assyria for a present to king Jareb. Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. ⁷As for Samaria, its king is cut off, as foam upon the water. ⁸The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us. ⁹O Israel, thou have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they stood. The battle against the sons of iniquity does not overtake them in Gibeah. ¹⁰When it is my desire, I will chastise them. And the peoples shall be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions. ¹¹And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught, that loves to tread out the grain. But I have passed over upon her fair neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah shall plow. Jacob shall break his clods. ¹²Sow to yourselves in righteousness. Reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek Jehovah, till he comes and rains righteousness upon you. ¹³Ye have plowed wickedness. Ye have reaped iniquity. Ye have eaten the fruit of lies. For thou trusted in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. ¹⁴Therefore a tumult shall arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel in the day of battle; the mother was dashed in pieces with her sons. ¹⁵So shall Bethel do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

CHAPTER 11

¹When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. ²The more the prophets called them, the more they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. ³Yet I taught Ephraim to walk. I took them on my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. ⁴I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love, and I was to them as those who lift up the yoke on their jaws. And I laid food before them. ⁵They shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be their king, because they refused to return to me. ⁶And the sword shall fall upon their cities, and shall consume their bars, and devour them, because of their own counsels. ⁷And my people are bent on backsliding from me. Though they call them to him who is on high, none at all will exalt him. ⁸How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I cast thee off, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me. My compassions are kindled together. ⁹I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee, and I will not come in wrath. ¹⁰They shall walk after Jehovah, who will roar like a lion. For he will roar, and the sons shall come trembling from the west. ¹¹They shall come trembling as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria. And I will make them to dwell in their houses, says Jehovah. ¹²Ephraim encompasses me around with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit, but Judah yet rules with God, and is faithful with the Holy One.

CHAPTER 12

¹Ephraim feeds on wind, and follows after the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. And they make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt. ²Jehovah has also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways. He will recompense him according to his doings. ³In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his manhood he had strength with God. ⁴Yea, he had strength over the agent, and prevailed, as he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us. ⁵Even Jehovah, the God of hosts, Jehovah is his memorial. ⁶Therefore turn thou to thy God. Keep kindness and justice, and wait for thy God continually. ⁷He is a Canaanite. The balances of deceit are in his hand. He loves to oppress. ⁸And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich. I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors they shall find no iniquity in me that is sin. ⁹But I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make thee to dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast. ¹⁰I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions. And by the ministry of the prophets I have used similitudes. ¹¹Is Gilead iniquity? They are altogether false. In Gilgal they sacrifice bullocks. Yea, their altars are as heaps in the furrows of the field. ¹²And Jacob fled into the field of Aram, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept sheep. ¹³And by a prophet Jehovah brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved. ¹⁴Ephraim has provoked to anger most bitterly. Therefore his blood shall be left upon him, and his reproach his Lord shall return to him.

CHAPTER 13

¹When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he offended in Baal, he died. ²And now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves. ³Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passes away early, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney. ⁴Yet I am Jehovah thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shall know no god but me, and besides me there is no savior. ⁵I knew thee in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. ⁶According to their pasture, so they were filled. They were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me. ⁷Therefore I am to them as a lion. As a leopard I will watch by the way. ⁸I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart. And there I will devour them like a lioness. The wild beast shall tear them. ⁹It is thy destruction, O Israel, that thou are against me, against thy help. ¹⁰Where now is thy king, that he may save thee in all thy cities, and thy judges, of whom thou said, Give me a king and rulers? ¹¹I have given thee a king in my anger, and have taken him away in my wrath. ¹²The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up. His sin is laid up in store. ¹³The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, for it is time he should not tarry in the place of the breaking forth of sons. ¹⁴I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death. O death, where are thy plagues? O Sheol, where is thy sting? Repentance shall be hid from my eyes. ¹⁵Though he be fruitful among his brothers, an east wind shall come, the breath of Jehovah coming up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up. He shall make spoil of the treasure of all goodly vessels. ¹⁶Samaria shall bear her guilt, for she has rebelled against her God. They shall fall by the sword. Their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.

CHAPTER 14

¹O Israel, return to Jehovah thy God, for thou have fallen by thine iniquity. ²Take with you words, and return to Jehovah. Say to him, Take away all iniquity, and accept that which is good. So we will render as bullocks the offering of our lips. ³Assyria shall not save us. We will not ride upon horses, nor will we say any more to the work of our hands, Our gods. For in thee the fatherless finds mercy. ⁴I will heal their backsliding. I will love them freely. For my anger is turned away from him. ⁵I will be as the dew to Israel. He shall blossom as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. ⁶His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. ⁷Those who dwell under his shadow shall return. They shall revive as the grain, and blossom as the vine. The scent of it shall be as the wine of Lebanon. ⁸Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have answered, and will regard him. I am like a green fir tree. From me thy fruit is found. ⁹Who is wise, that he may understand these things, prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of Jehovah are right, and the just shall walk in them. But transgressors shall fall therein.

JOEL

CHAPTER 1

¹The word of Jehovah that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. ²Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Has this been in your days, or in the days of your fathers? ³Tell ye your sons of it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons another generation. ⁴That which the palmer-worm has left the locust has eaten, and that which the locust has left the canker-worm has eaten, and that which the canker-worm has left the caterpillar has eaten. ⁵Awake, ye drunkards, and weep, and wail, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth. ⁶For a nation has come up upon my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the jaw-teeth of a lioness. ⁷He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree. He has made it clean bare, and cast it away. The branches of it are made white. ⁸Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth. ⁹The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of Jehovah. The priests, Jehovah�s ministers, mourn. ¹⁰The field is laid waste; the land mourns. For the grain is destroyed, the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes. ¹¹Be confounded, O ye husbandmen. Wail, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley, for the harvest of the field is perished. ¹²The vine is withered, and the fig tree languishes. The pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. For joy has withered away from the sons of men. ¹³Gird yourselves with sackcloth, and lament, ye priests. Wail, ye ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God. For the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. ¹⁴Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the old men and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah. ¹⁵Alas for the day! For the day of Jehovah is at hand, and it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. ¹⁶Is not the food cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? ¹⁷The seeds rot under their clods. The garners are laid desolate. The barns are broken down. For the grain is withered. ¹⁸How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because they have no pasture, yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate. ¹⁹O Jehovah, to thee do I cry. For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field. ²⁰Yea, the beasts of the field pant to thee, for the water brooks are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

CHAPTER 2

¹Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble. For the day of Jehovah comes, for it is near at hand, ²a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as the dawn spreads upon the mountains, a great people and a strong, there has not ever been the like, nor shall be any more after them, even to the years of many generations. ³A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Yea, and none has escaped them. ⁴The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen, so do they run. ⁵They leap like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. ⁶At their presence the peoples are in anguish; all faces have grown pale. ⁷They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like men of war, and they march each one on his ways. And they do not break their ranks. ⁸Neither does one push another. They march each one in his path, and they burst through the weapons, and do not break off. ⁹They leap upon the city. They run upon the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like a thief. ¹⁰The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. ¹¹And Jehovah utters his voice before his army, for his camp is very great. For he is strong who executes his word. For the day of Jehovah is great and very fearful, and who can abide it? ¹²Yet even now, says Jehovah, turn ye to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. ¹³And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to Jehovah your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents of the evil. ¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to Jehovah your God? ¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion. Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. ¹⁶Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the old men. Gather the sons, and those who suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. ¹⁷Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and do not give thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, Where is their God? ¹⁸Then Jehovah was jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. ¹⁹And Jehovah answered and said to his people, Behold, I will send you grain, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith. And I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. ²⁰But I will remove the northern army far off from you, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its rear part into the western sea. And its stench shall come up, and its foul odor shall come up, because it has done great things. ²¹Fear not, O land. Be glad and rejoice, for Jehovah has done great things. ²²Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field, for the pastures of the wilderness spring, for the tree bears its fruit, the fig tree and the vine yield their strength. ²³Be glad then, ye sons of Zion, and rejoice in Jehovah your God, for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, in the first month. ²⁴And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. ²⁵And I will restore to you the years that the locust, the canker-worm, and the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm has eaten�my great army which I sent among you. ²⁶And ye shall eat in plenty and be satisfied. And shall praise the name of Jehovah your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never be put to shame. ²⁷And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and there is none else. And my people shall never be put to shame. ²⁸And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. ²⁹And also I will pour out my Spirit upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days. ³⁰And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. ³¹The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and wonderful day of Jehovah comes. ³²And it shall come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of Jehovah shall be saved. For in mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as Jehovah has said, and among the remnant those whom Jehovah calls.

CHAPTER 3

¹For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, ²I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will execute judgment upon them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. And they have parted my land, ³and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. ⁴Yea, and what are ye to me, O Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will ye render me a recompense? And if ye recompense me, I will return your recompense swiftly and speedily upon your own head. ⁵Inasmuch as ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly precious things, ⁶and have sold the sons of Judah and the sons of Jerusalem to the sons of the Grecians, that ye may remove them far from their border, ⁷behold, I will stir them up out of the place where ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head. ⁸And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they shall sell them to the men of Sheba, to a nation far off. For Jehovah has spoken it. ⁹Proclaim ye this among the nations: Prepare war. Stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. ¹⁰Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. ¹¹Hasten ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together. Cause thy mighty ones to come down there, O Jehovah. ¹²Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. ¹³Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread ye, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow. For their wickedness is great. ¹⁴Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. ¹⁵The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. ¹⁶And Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake. But Jehovah will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. ¹⁷So ye shall know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy, and no strangers shall pass through her any more. ¹⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the brooks of Judah shall flow with waters. And a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and shall water the valley of Shittim. ¹⁹Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the sons of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. ²⁰But Judah shall abide forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. ²¹And I will cleanse their blood, that I have not cleansed. For Jehovah dwells in Zion.

AMOS

CHAPTER 1

¹The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. ²And he said, Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. ³Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron. ⁴But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. ⁵And I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and he who holds the scepter from the house of Eden, and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir, says Jehovah. ⁶Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom. ⁷But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces of it. ⁸And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon. And I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the lord Jehovah. ⁹Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Tyre, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they delivered up the whole people to Edom, and did not remember the brotherly covenant. ¹⁰But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour the palaces of it. ¹¹Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity. And his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever. ¹²But I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. ¹³Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border. ¹⁴But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces of it, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. ¹⁵And their king shall go into captivity, he and his rulers together, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 2

¹Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime. ²But I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. ³And I will cut off the judge from the midst of it, and will kill all the rulers of it with him, says Jehovah. ⁴Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, according to which their fathers walked. ⁵But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. ⁶Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment of it, because they have sold a righteous man for silver, and a needy man for a pair of shoes� ⁷those who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek. And a man and his father go to the same maiden, to profane my holy name. ⁸And they lay themselves down beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge. And in the house of their God they drink the wine of such as have been fined. ⁹Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks, yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. ¹⁰Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. ¹¹And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye sons of Israel? says Jehovah. ¹²But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Do not Prophesy. ¹³Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presses that is full of sheaves. ¹⁴And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, nor shall the mighty deliver himself. ¹⁵Neither shall he stand who handles the bow. And he who is swift of foot shall not deliver himself, nor shall he who rides the horse deliver himself. ¹⁶And he who is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 3

¹Hear this word that Jehovah has spoken against you, O sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying, ²You only I have known of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities. ³Shall two walk together unless they have agreed? ⁴Will a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den, if he has taken nothing? ⁵Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no net is set for him? Shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all? ⁶Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah has not done it? ⁷Surely the lord Jehovah will do nothing unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. ⁸The lion has roared, who will not fear? The lord Jehovah has spoken, who can but prophesy? ⁹Publish ye in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold what great tumults are in it, and what oppressions are in the midst of it. ¹⁰For they do not know to do right, says Jehovah, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces. ¹¹Therefore thus says the lord Jehovah: An adversary shall be, even round about the land, and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered. ¹²Thus says Jehovah: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the sons of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria in the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed. ¹³Hear ye, and testify against the house of Jacob, says the lord Jehovah, the God of hosts. ¹⁴For in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground. ¹⁵And I will smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 4

¹Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink. ²The lord Jehovah has sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that they shall take you away with hooks, and your residue with fish-hooks. ³And ye shall go out at the breaches, each one straight before her, and ye shall cast yourselves into Harmon, says Jehovah. ⁴Come to Bethel and transgress, to Gilgal and multiply transgression. And bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes every three days. ⁵And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, and publish them. For this pleases you, O ye sons of Israel, says the lord Jehovah. ⁶And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places, yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah. ⁷And I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon, and the piece upon which it did not rain withered. ⁸So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah. ⁹I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. The multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees the palmer-worm has devoured. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah. ¹⁰I have sent among you the pestilence according to the manner of Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses, and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah. ¹¹I have overthrown cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning. Yet ye have not returned to me, says Jehovah. ¹²Therefore thus I will do to thee, O Israel, and because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. ¹³For, lo, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads upon the high places of the earth�Jehovah, the God of hosts, is his name.

CHAPTER 5

¹Hear ye this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel. ²The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise. She is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up. ³For thus says the lord Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel. ⁴For thus says Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye me, and ye shall live. ⁵But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba. For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to naught. ⁶Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. ⁷Ye who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth, ⁸seek him who makes the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth (Jehovah is his name), ⁹who brings sudden destruction upon the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. ¹⁰They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks uprightly. ¹¹Inasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions of wheat from him. Ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them. Ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof. ¹²For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins�ye who afflict the just man, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the gate. ¹³Therefore he who is prudent shall keep silence in such a time, for it is an evil time. ¹⁴Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live, and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say. ¹⁵Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate. It may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. ¹⁶Therefore thus says Jehovah, the God of hosts, the Lord: Wailing shall be in all the broad ways. And they shall say in all the streets, Alas! Alas! And they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing. ¹⁷And in all vineyards shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of thee, says Jehovah. ¹⁸Woe to you who desire the day of Jehovah! Why would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness, and not light. ¹⁹As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. ²⁰Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness, and not light, even very dark, and no brightness in it? ²¹I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. ²²Yea, though ye offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. ²³Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. ²⁴But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. ²⁵Did ye bring sacrifices and offerings to me in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? ²⁶Yea, ye have borne the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, your images which ye made to yourselves. ²⁷Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Jehovah, whose name is the God of hosts.

CHAPTER 6

¹Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure in the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! ²Pass ye to Calneh, and see, and from there go ye to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your border? ³Ye who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near, ⁴who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall, ⁵who sing idle songs to the sound of the viol, who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David, ⁶who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief oils, but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. ⁷Therefore they shall now go captive with the first who go captive, and the revelry of those who stretched themselves shall pass away. ⁸The lord Jehovah has sworn by himself, says Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces, therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is therein. ⁹And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. ¹⁰And when a man�s uncle shall take him up, even he who burns him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No, then he shall say, Hold thy peace, for we may not make mention of the name of Jehovah. ¹¹For, behold, Jehovah commands, and the great house shall be smitten with breaches, and the little house with clefts. ¹²Shall horses run upon the rock? Will a man plow there with oxen? That ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood, ¹³ye who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? ¹⁴For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says Jehovah, the God of hosts, and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.

CHAPTER 7

¹Thus the lord Jehovah showed me: And, behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth, and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king�s mowings. ²And it came to pass that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O lord Jehovah, forgive, I beseech thee. How shall Jacob stand, for he is small? ³Jehovah relented concerning this. It shall not be, says Jehovah. ⁴Thus the lord Jehovah showed me: And, behold, the lord Jehovah called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and would have eaten up the land. ⁵Then I said, O lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee. How shall Jacob stand, for he is small? ⁶Jehovah relented concerning this. This also shall not be, says the lord Jehovah. ⁷Thus he showed me: And, behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. ⁸And Jehovah said to me, Amos, what do thou see? And I said, A plumb-line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. ⁹And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. ¹⁰Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. ¹¹For thus Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land. ¹²Also Amaziah said to Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thou away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there. ¹³But do not prophesy again any more at Bethel, for it is the king�s sanctuary, and it is a royal house. ¹⁴Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, nor was I a prophet�s son, but I was a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees. ¹⁵And Jehovah took me from following the flock, and Jehovah said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel. ¹⁶Now therefore hear thou the word of Jehovah: Thou say, Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not drop thy word against the house of Isaac. ¹⁷Therefore thus says Jehovah: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line, and thou thyself shall die in a land that is unclean. And Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.

CHAPTER 8

¹Thus the lord Jehovah showed me: And, behold, a basket of summer fruit. ²And he said, Amos, what do thou see? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then Jehovah said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. ³And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, says the lord Jehovah. The dead bodies shall be many. In every place they shall cast them forth with silence. ⁴Hear this, O ye who would swallow up a needy man, and cause the poor of the land to fail, ⁵saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit, ⁶that we may buy the poor for silver, and a needy man for a pair of shoes, and sell the refuse of the wheat? ⁷Jehovah has sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. ⁸Shall the land not tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells therein? Yea, it shall rise up wholly like the River, and it shall be troubled and sink again like the River of Egypt. ⁹And it shall come to pass in that day, says the lord Jehovah, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day. ¹⁰And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. And I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head, and I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. ¹¹Behold, the days come, says the lord Jehovah, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Jehovah. ¹²And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east. They shall run to and fro to seek the word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. ¹³In that day the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. ¹⁴Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, As thy god, O Dan, lives, and, As the way of Beersheba lives, they shall fall, and never rise up again.

CHAPTER 9

¹I saw the Lord standing beside the altar. And he said, Smite the capitals, that the thresholds may shake, and break them in pieces on the head of all of them, and I will kill the last of them with the sword. There shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape. ²Though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand shall take them, and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. ³And though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there. And though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. ⁴And though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. ⁵For the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell therein shall mourn. And it shall rise up wholly like the River, and shall sink again like the River of Egypt. ⁶He who builds his chambers in the heavens, and has founded his vault upon the earth, he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth, Jehovah is his name. ⁷Are ye not as the sons of the Ethiopians to me, O sons of Israel? says Jehovah. Have I not brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸Behold, the eyes of the lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth, except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says Jehovah. ⁹For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, just as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet the least kernel shall not fall upon the earth. ¹⁰All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us. ¹¹In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof. And I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, ¹²that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations that are called by my name, says Jehovah who does this. ¹³Behold, the days come, says Jehovah, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him who sows seed, and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. ¹⁴And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of it. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. ¹⁵And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says Jehovah thy God.

OBADIAH

CHAPTER 1

¹The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the lord Jehovah concerning Edom: We have heard tidings from Jehovah, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. ²Behold, I have made thee small among the nations. Thou are greatly despised. ³The pride of thy heart has deceived thee, O thou who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? ⁴Though thou mount on high as the eagle, and though thy nest be set among the stars, I will bring thee down from there, says Jehovah. ⁵If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night (how thou are cut off!), would they not steal only till they had enough? If grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? ⁶How are the things of Esau searched! How are his hidden treasures sought out! ⁷All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee on thy way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee. Those who eat thy bread lay a snare under thee. There is no understanding in him. ⁸Shall I not in that day, says Jehovah, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? ⁹And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter. ¹⁰Shame shall cover thee for the violence done to thy brother Jacob, and thou shall be cut off forever. ¹¹In the day that thou stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou were as one of them. ¹²But look not thou on the day of thy brother in the day of his disaster, and rejoice not over the sons of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor speak proudly in the day of distress. ¹³Enter not into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Yea, look not thou on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor lay ye hands on their substance in the day of their calamity. ¹⁴And stand thou not in the crossway, to cut off those of his who escape, and deliver not up those of his who remain in the day of distress. ¹⁵For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations. As thou have done, it shall be done to thee. Thy dealing shall return upon thine own head. ¹⁶For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually. Yea, they shall drink, and swallow down, and shall be as though they had not been. ¹⁷But in mount Zion there shall be those who escape, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. ¹⁸And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. And they shall burn among them, and devour them, and there shall not be any remaining to the house of Esau, for Jehovah has spoken it. ¹⁹And those of the South shall possess the mount of Esau, and those of the lowland the Philistines. And they shall possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. ²⁰And the captives of this host of the sons of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, shall possess even to Zarephath. And the captives of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad shall possess the cities of the South. ²¹And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be Jehovah�s.

JONAH

CHAPTER 1

¹Now the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ²Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. ³But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. And he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare of it, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah. ⁴But Jehovah sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken. ⁵Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god. And they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it to them. But Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he lay, and was fast asleep. ⁶So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, What do thou mean, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we not perish. ⁷And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. ⁸Then they said to him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? And from where do thou come? What is thy country, and of what people are thou? ⁹And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land. ¹⁰Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, What is this that thou have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Jehovah, because he had told them. ¹¹Then they said to him, What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. ¹²And he said to them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea be calm to you. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. ¹³Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get themselves back to the land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴Therefore they cried to Jehovah, and said, We beseech thee, O Jehovah, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man�s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For thou, O Jehovah, have done as it pleased thee. ¹⁵So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶Then the men feared Jehovah exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to Jehovah, and made vows. ¹⁷And Jehovah prepared a great sea creature to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the sea creature three days and three nights.

CHAPTER 2

¹Then Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God out of the sea creatures belly. ²And he said, I called because of my affliction to Jehovah, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou heard my voice. ³For thou cast me into the depth, in the heart of the seas, and the flood was round about me. All thy waves and thy billows passed over me. ⁴And I said, I am cast out from before thine eyes. Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. ⁵The waters encompassed me around, even to the soul. The deep was round about me. The weeds were wrapped around my head. ⁶I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with its bars closed upon me forever. Yet thou have brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God. ⁷When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah. And my prayer came in to thee, into thy holy temple. ⁸Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy. ⁹But I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of Jehovah. ¹⁰And Jehovah spoke to the sea creature, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

CHAPTER 3

¹And the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the second time, saying, ²Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid thee. ³So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, of three days� journey. ⁴And Jonah began to enter into the city a day�s journey. And he cried out, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. ⁵And the people of Nineveh believed God, and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. ⁶And the news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed, nor drink water, ⁸but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and beast, and let them cry mightily to God. Yea, let them turn each one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we not perish? ¹⁰And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. And God relented of the evil which he said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

CHAPTER 4

¹But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. ²And he prayed to Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hastened to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that thou are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relent thee of the evil. ³Therefore now, O Jehovah, I beseech thee, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. ⁴And Jehovah said, Do thou well to be angry? ⁵Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. ⁶And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very glad because of the gourd. ⁷But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered. ⁸And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. ⁹And God said to Jonah, Do thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even to death. ¹⁰And Jehovah said, Thou have had regard for the gourd, for which thou have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night. ¹¹And should not I have regard for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand men who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?

MICAH

CHAPTER 1

¹The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. ²Hear, ye peoples, all of you. Hearken, O earth, and all who are in it, and let the Lord Jehovah be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. ³For, behold, Jehovah comes forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. ⁴And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be split, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. ⁵All this is 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 are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem? ⁶Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as places for planting vineyards. And I will pour down the stones of it into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations of it. ⁷And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces. And all her wages shall be burned with fire, and I will lay desolate all her idols. For she has gathered them from the wages of a harlot, and to the wage of a harlot they shall return. ⁸For this I will lament and wail. I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches. ⁹For her wounds are incurable. For it has come even to Judah. it reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. ¹⁰Tell it not in Gath. Weep not at all. I have rolled myself in the dust at Beth-le-aphrah. ¹¹Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan has not come forth. The wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay of it. ¹²For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem. ¹³Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. ¹⁴Therefore thou shall give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath. The houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. ¹⁵I will yet bring to thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him who shall possess thee. The glory of Israel shall come even to Adullam. ¹⁶Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the sons of thy delight. Enlarge thy baldness as the vulture, for they have gone into captivity from thee.

CHAPTER 2

¹Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. ²And they covet fields, and seize them, and houses, and take them away. And they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. ³Therefore thus says Jehovah: Behold, I devise an evil against this family, from which ye shall not remove your necks, nor shall ye walk haughtily, for it is an evil time. ⁴In that day they shall take up a taunt against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation. And say, We are utterly ruined. He changes the portion of my people. How he removes it from me! He divides our fields to the rebellious. ⁵Therefore thou shall have nobody to cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah. ⁶Prophesy ye not, they prophesy. They shall not prophesy to these, so reproaches shall not depart. ⁷Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah restricted? Are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? ⁸But of late my people have risen up as an enemy. Ye strip off the robe with the garment from those who pass by securely as men turning back from war. ⁹Ye cast out the women of my people from their pleasant houses. Ye take away my glory from their young sons forever. ¹⁰Arise ye, and depart, for this is not your resting-place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. ¹¹If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, I will prophesy to thee of wine and of strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people. ¹²I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make great noise because of the multitude of men. ¹³The breaker has gone up before them. They have broken forth and passed on to the gate, and have gone out there. And their king has passed on before them, and Jehovah at the head of them.

CHAPTER 3

¹And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know justice? ²Ye who hate the good, and love the evil, who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones, ³who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. ⁴Then they shall cry to Jehovah, but he will not answer them. Yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings. ⁵Thus says Jehovah concerning the prophets who make my people to err, who bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace. And he who does not put into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. ⁶Therefore it shall be night to you, that ye shall have no vision. And it shall be dark to you, that ye shall not divine. And the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them. ⁷And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded. Yea, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. ⁸But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. ⁹Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity. ¹⁰They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. ¹¹The heads of it judge for a bribe, and the priests of it teach for a wage, and the prophets of it divine for money. Yet they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us. ¹²Therefore for your sake Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

CHAPTER 4

¹But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of Jehovah�s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and peoples shall flow to it. ²And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. ³And he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war any more. ⁴But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid. For the mouth of Jehovah of hosts has spoken it. ⁵For all the peoples walk each one in the name of his god. And we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God forever and ever. ⁶In that day, says Jehovah, I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted. ⁷And I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation. And Jehovah will reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even forever. ⁸And thou, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to thee it shall come. Yea, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. ⁹Now why do thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee? Has thy counselor perished, that pangs have taken hold of thee as of a woman in travail? ¹⁰Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. For now thou shall go forth out of the city, and shall dwell in the field, and shall come even to Babylon. There thou shall be rescued. There Jehovah will redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. ¹¹And now many nations are assembled against thee, who say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see our desire upon Zion. ¹²But they know not the thoughts of Jehovah, nor do they understand his counsel, for he has gathered them as the sheaves to the threshing-floor. ¹³Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thy horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass, and thou shall beat many peoples in pieces. And I will devote their gain to Jehovah, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

CHAPTER 5

¹Now thou shall gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. ²But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which are little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee he shall come forth to me who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. ³Therefore he will give them up until the time that she who travails has brought forth. Then the residue of his brothers shall return to the sons of Israel. ⁴And he shall stand, and shall feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God, and they shall abide. For now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. ⁵And this man shall be our peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then we shall raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. ⁶And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances of it. And he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our border. ⁷And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as showers upon the grass, that tarry not for man, nor wait for the sons of men. ⁸And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver. ⁹Let thy hand be lifted up above thine adversaries, and let all thine enemies be cut off. ¹⁰And it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots, ¹¹and I will cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy strongholds. ¹²And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand, and thou shall have no more soothsayers. ¹³And I will cut off thy graven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee, and thou shall no more worship the work of thy hands. ¹⁴And I will pluck up thine Asherim out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy cities. ¹⁵And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations that did not hearken.

CHAPTER 6

¹Hear ye now what Jehovah says: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. ²Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah�s controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth, for Jehovah has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. ³O my people, what have I done to thee? And in what have I wearied thee? Testify against me. ⁴For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage. And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. ⁵O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him. Remember from Shittim to Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah. ⁶With what shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ⁷Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸He has shown thee, O man, what is good. And what does Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God? ⁹The voice of Jehovah cries to the city, and the man of wisdom will see thy name. Hear ye the rod, and who has appointed it. ¹⁰Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure that is abominable? ¹¹Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights? ¹²For the rich men of it are full of violence, and the inhabitants of it have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. ¹³Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound, I have made thee desolate because of thy sins. ¹⁴Thou shall eat, but not be satisfied, and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee. And thou shall put away, but shall not save, and that which thou save I will give up to the sword. ¹⁵Thou shall sow, but shall not reap, thou shall tread the olives, but shall not anoint thee with oil, and the vintage, but shall not drink the wine. ¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels, that I may make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing. And ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

CHAPTER 7

¹Woe is me! For I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat. My soul desires the first ripe fig. ²The devout man has perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt every man his brother with a net. ³Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler asks, and the judge asks for a bribe. And the great man, he utters the evil desire of his soul. Thus they weave it together. ⁴The best of them is as a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of thy watchmen, even thy visitation, has come. Now shall be their perplexity. ⁵Trust ye not in a neighbor. Put ye not confidence in a friend. Keep the doors of thy mouth from her who lies in thy bosom. ⁶For the son dishonors the father. The daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man�s enemies are the men of his own house. ⁷But as for me, I will look to Jehovah. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. ⁸Rejoice not against me, O my enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. When I sit in darkness, Jehovah will be a light to me. ⁹I will bear the indignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness. ¹⁰Then my enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said to me, Where is Jehovah thy God? My eyes shall see my desire upon her. Now she shall be trodden down as the mire of the streets. ¹¹A day for building thy walls! In that day the decree shall be far removed. ¹²In that day they shall come to thee from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain. ¹³Yet the land shall be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. ¹⁴Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which dwell solitarily in the forest in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. ¹⁵As in the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt I will show marvelous things to them. ¹⁶The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might. They shall lay their hand upon their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf. ¹⁷They shall lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places. They shall come with fear to Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee. ¹⁸Who is a God like to thee, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. ¹⁹He will again have compassion upon us. He will tread our iniquities under foot, and thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. ²⁰Thou will perform the truth to Jacob, and the loving kindness to Abraham, which thou have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

CHAPTER 5

¹Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying roll. ²And he said to me, What do thou see? And I answered, I see a flying roll. The length of it is twenty cubits, and the breadth of it ten cubits. ³Then he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cut off on the one side according to it, and everyone who swears shall be cut off on the other side according to it. ⁴I will cause it to go forth, says Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the stones thereof. ⁵Then the agent who talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what this is that goes forth. ⁶And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land ⁷(and, behold, a talent of lead was lifted up), and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. ⁸And he said, This is Wickedness. And he cast her down into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth of it. ⁹Then I lifted up my eyes, and looked. And, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. ¹⁰Then I said to the agent who talked with me, Where do these carry the ephah? ¹¹And he said to me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar. And when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.

CHAPTER 6

¹And again I lifted up my eyes, and looked. And, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass. ²In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses, ³and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot strong grizzled horses. ⁴Then I answered and said to the agent who talked with me, What are these, my lord? ⁵And the agent answered and said to me, These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶The chariot in which are the black horses goes forth toward the north country, and the white went forth after them, and the grizzled went forth toward the south country. ⁷And the strong ones went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth. And he said, Get you from here. Walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. ⁸Then he cried to me, and spoke to me, saying, Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. ⁹And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, ¹⁰Take from those of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon. ¹¹Yea, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ¹²And speak to him, saying, Thus speaks Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch. And he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah, ¹³even he shall build the temple of Jehovah. And he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne. And he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. ¹⁴And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah. ¹⁵And those who are far off shall come and build in the temple of Jehovah. And ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of Jehovah your God.

CHAPTER 7

¹And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Chislev. ²Now those of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech, and their men, to entreat the favor of Jehovah, ³and to speak to the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years? ⁴Then the word of Jehovah of hosts came to me, saying, ⁵Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did ye at all fast to me, even to me? ⁶And when ye eat, and when ye drink, do ye not eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves? ⁷Should ye not hear the words which Jehovah cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited? ⁸And the word of Jehovah came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹Thus Jehovah of hosts has spoken, saying, Execute true justice, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. ¹⁰And do not oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the sojourner, nor the poor man. And let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart. ¹¹But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. ¹²Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which Jehovah of hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from Jehovah of hosts. ¹³And it has come to pass that, as he cried, and they would not hear, so they shall cry, and I will not hear, said Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁴But I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned. For they laid the pleasant land desolate.

CHAPTER 8

¹And the word of Jehovah of hosts came to me, saying, ²Thus says Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. ³Thus says Jehovah: I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem shall be called The city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, The holy mountain. ⁴Thus says Jehovah of hosts: There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age. ⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets of it. ⁶Thus says Jehovah of hosts: If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes? says Jehovah of hosts. ⁷Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country. ⁸And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. ⁹Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Let your hands be strong, ye who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of Jehovah of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. ¹⁰For before those days there was no wage for man, nor any wage for beast, nor was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men each one against his neighbor. ¹¹But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days, says Jehovah of hosts. ¹²For there shall be the seed of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. ¹³And it shall come to pass that, as ye were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not. Let your hands be strong. ¹⁴For thus says Jehovah of hosts: As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says Jehovah of hosts, and I did not relent, ¹⁵so again I have thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not. ¹⁶These are the things that ye shall do: Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates. ¹⁷And let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath. For all these are things that I hate, says Jehovah. ¹⁸And the word of Jehovah of hosts came to me, saying, ¹⁹Thus says Jehovah of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace. ²⁰Thus says Jehovah of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, and the inhabitants of many cities. ²¹And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts. I will go also. ²²Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Jehovah. ²³Thus says Jehovah of hosts: In those days, ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

CHAPTER 9

¹The burden of the word of Jehovah upon the land of Hadrach, and Damascus its resting-place (for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward Jehovah), ²and also Hamath, which borders on it, Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise. ³And Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets. ⁴Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will smite her power in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. ⁵Ashkelon shall see it, and fear, Gaza also, and shall be greatly pained, and Ekron, for her expectation shall be put to shame. And the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. ⁶And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. ⁷And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth. And he also shall be a remnant for our God, and he shall be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. ⁸And I will encamp the army around my house, that none pass through or return, and no oppressor shall pass through them any more. For now I have seen with my eyes. ⁹Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king comes to thee. He is just, and having salvation, lowly, and riding upon a donkey, even upon a colt the foal of a donkey. ¹⁰And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace to the nations. And his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. ¹¹As for thee also, because of the blood of thy covenant I have set free thy prisoners from the pit in which is no water. ¹²Turn you back to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will render double to thee. ¹³For I have bent Judah for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim. And I will stir up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and will make thee as the sword of a mighty man. ¹⁴And Jehovah shall be seen over them. And his arrow shall go forth as the lightning. And the lord Jehovah will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south. ¹⁵Jehovah of hosts will defend them. And they shall devour, and shall tread down the sling-stones. And they shall drink, and make a noise as through wine, and they shall be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar. ¹⁶And Jehovah their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people, as for the stones of a crown, lifted on high over his land. ¹⁷For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain shall make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

CHAPTER 10

¹Ask ye of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain, even of Jehovah who makes lightnings, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field. ²For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are afflicted, because there is no shepherd. ³My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the he-goats. For Jehovah of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his goodly horse in the battle. ⁴From him shall come forth the cornerstone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. ⁵And they shall be as mighty men, treading down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle. And they shall fight, because Jehovah is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded. ⁶And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back. For I have mercy upon them, and they shall be as though I had not cast them off. For I am Jehovah their God, and I will hear them. ⁷And Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine. Yea, their sons shall see it, and rejoice. Their heart shall be glad in Jehovah. ⁸I will whistle for them, and gather them. For I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they have increased. ⁹And I will sow them among the peoples, and they shall remember me in far countries. And they shall live with their sons, and shall return. ¹⁰I will also bring them again out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria. And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, and until space shall not be found for them. ¹¹And he will pass through the sea of affliction, and will smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile shall dry up. And the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart. ¹²And I will strengthen them in Jehovah, and they shall walk up and down in his name, says Jehovah.

CHAPTER 11

¹Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. ²Wail, O fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the fine ones are destroyed. Wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down. ³A voice of the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is destroyed. A voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste. ⁴Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter, ⁵whose possessors kill them, and hold themselves not guilty. And those who sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not. ⁶For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says Jehovah. But, lo, I will deliver the men each one into his neighbor�s hand, and into the hand of his king. And they shall smite the land, and I will not deliver them out of their hand. ⁷So I fed the flock of slaughter, truly the poor of the flock. And I took to me two staves, the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands, and I fed the flock. ⁸And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. ⁹Then I said, I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die, and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off, and let those who are left eat each one the flesh of another. ¹⁰And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹And it was broken in that day, and thus the poor of the flock who gave heed to me knew that it was the word of Jehovah. ¹²And I said to them, If ye think good, give me my wage, and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my wage thirty pieces of silver. ¹³And Jehovah said to me, Cast it to the potter, the good price that I was valued by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of Jehovah. ¹⁴Then I cut apart my other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. ¹⁵And Jehovah said to me, Take to thee yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, nor will he seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound, but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and will tear their hoofs in pieces. ¹⁷Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye. His arm shall be entirely dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

CHAPTER 12

¹The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus says Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: ²Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also it shall be in the siege against Jerusalem. ³And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it shall be severely wounded. And all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. ⁴In that day, says Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness. And I will open my eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God. ⁶In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left, and Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. ⁷Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah. ⁸In that day Jehovah shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And he who is feeble among them at that day shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God, as the agent of Jehovah before them. ⁹And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. ¹⁰And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication. And they shall look to me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him, as a man mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as a man who is in bitterness for his firstborn. ¹¹In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. ¹²And the land shall mourn, every family apart, the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart, the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart, ¹³the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart, the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart, ¹⁴all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

CHAPTER 13

¹In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness. ²And it shall come to pass in that day, says Jehovah of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered. And I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land. ³And it shall come to pass that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother who begot him shall say to him, Thou shall not live, for thou speak lies in the name of Jehovah. And his father and his mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies. ⁴And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed each one of his vision, when he prophesies, nor shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive. ⁵But he shall say, I am no prophet. I am a tiller of the ground, for I have been made a bondman from my youth. ⁶And a man shall say to him, What are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. ⁷Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is my companion, says Jehovah of hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. And I will turn my hand upon the little ones. ⁸And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, says Jehovah, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third shall be left in it. ⁹And I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, It is my people, and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.

CHAPTER 14

¹Behold, a day of Jehovah comes when thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. ²For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle. And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity. And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ³Then Jehovah shall go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. ⁴And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. And the mount of Olives shall be split in the midst of it toward the east and toward the west, a very great valley. And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. ⁵And ye shall flee by the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel. Yea, ye shall flee, just as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And Jehovah my God shall come, and all the holy ones with thee. ⁶And it shall come to pass in that day, that there shall not be light; the bright ones shall withdraw themselves. ⁷But it shall be one day which is known to Jehovah, not day, and not night. But it shall come to pass, that at evening time there shall be light. ⁸And it shall come to pass in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea. In summer and in winter it shall be. ⁹And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that day Jehovah shall be one, and his name one. ¹⁰All the land shall be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. And she shall be lifted up, and shall dwell in her place, from Benjamin�s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king�s wine-presses. ¹¹And men shall dwell therein, and there shall be no more curse, but Jerusalem shall dwell safely. ¹²And this shall be the plague with which Jehovah will smite all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. ¹³And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them, and they shall lay hold each one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor. ¹⁴And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and apparel, in great abundance. ¹⁵And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the beasts that shall be in those camps, as that plague. ¹⁶And it shall come to pass, that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁷And it shall be, that of the families of the earth he who does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Jehovah of hosts, upon them there shall be no rain. ¹⁸And if the family of Egypt does not go up, and does not come, that there shall be the plague with which Jehovah will smite the nations that go not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. ¹⁹This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles. ²⁰In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLY TO JEHOVAH, and the pots in Jehovah�s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. ²¹Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to Jehovah of hosts. And all those who sacrifice shall come and take of them, and boil in it. And in that day there shall be no more a Canaanite in the house of Jehovah of hosts.

MALACHI

CHAPTER 1

¹The burden of the word of Jehovah to Israel by Malachi. ²I have loved you, says Jehovah. Yet ye say, How have thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob�s brother, says Jehovah. Yet I loved Jacob, ³but Esau I regarded inferior, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness. ⁴Whereas Edom says, We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places, thus says Jehovah of hosts: They shall build, but I will throw down, and men shall call them the border of wickedness, and the people against whom Jehovah has indignation forever. ⁵And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, Jehovah be magnified beyond the border of Israel. ⁶A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says Jehovah of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And ye say, How have we despised thy name? ⁷Ye offer polluted bread upon my altar. And ye say, How have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of Jehovah is contemptible. ⁸And when ye offer the blind for sacrifice, ye say, It is no evil! and when ye offer the lame and sick, It is no evil! Present it now to thy governor. Will he be pleased with thee, or will he accept thy person? says Jehovah of hosts. ⁹Ye say, And now, I pray you, entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us; this has been by your means. Will he accept any of your persons? says Jehovah of hosts. ¹⁰Oh that there was among you who would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, says Jehovah of hosts, nor will I accept an offering at your hand. ¹¹For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the Gentiles. And in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name is great among the Gentiles, says Jehovah of hosts. ¹²But ye profane it, in that ye say, The table of Jehovah is polluted. And the fruit of it, even its food, is contemptible. ¹³Ye also say, Behold, what a weariness it is! And ye have sniffed at it, says Jehovah of hosts. And ye have brought that which was taken by violence, and the lame, and the sick. Thus ye bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand? says Jehovah. ¹⁴But cursed be the deceiver, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing. For I am a great King, says Jehovah of hosts, and my name is feared among the Gentiles.

CHAPTER 2

¹And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. ²If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says Jehovah of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart. ³Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung upon your faces, even the dung of your feasts, and ye shall be taken away with it. ⁴And ye shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi, says Jehovah of hosts. ⁵My covenant of life and peace was with him. And I gave them to him that he might fear, and he feared me, and stood in awe of my name. ⁶The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity. ⁷For the priest�s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth. For he is the messenger of Jehovah of hosts. ⁸But ye are turned aside out of the way. Ye have caused many to stumble in the law. Ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, says Jehovah of hosts. ⁹Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have had respect of persons in the law. ¹⁰Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹²Jehovah will cut off out of the tents of Jacob, the man who does this: him who wakes, and him who answers, and him who offers an offering to Jehovah of hosts. ¹³And this again ye do: Ye cover the altar of Jehovah with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, insomuch that he does not regard the offering any more, nor receives it with good will at your hand. ¹⁴Yet ye say, Why? Because Jehovah has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou have dealt treacherously, though she is thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant. ¹⁵And did he not make one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? And why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. ¹⁶For I hate putting away, says Jehovah, the God of Israel, and him who covers his garment with violence, says Jehovah of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, that ye deal not treacherously. ¹⁷Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, How have we wearied him? In that ye say, Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delights in them, or Where is the God of justice?

CHAPTER 3

¹Behold, I send my agent, and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple. And the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he comes, says Jehovah of hosts. ²But who can abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner�s fire, and like fuller�s soap. ³And he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver. And they shall offer to Jehovah offerings in righteousness. ⁴Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant to Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. ⁵And I will come near to you to judgment, and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who turn aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says Jehovah of hosts. ⁶For I, Jehovah, do not change. Therefore ye, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. ⁷From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, How shall we return? ⁸Will a man rob God? Yet ye rob me. But ye say, How have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. ⁹Ye are cursed with the curse, for ye rob me, even this whole nation. ¹⁰Bring ye the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and prove me now with this, says Jehovah of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for it. ¹¹And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, nor shall your vine cast its fruit before the time in the field, says Jehovah of hosts. ¹²And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightful land, says Jehovah of hosts. ¹³Your words have been stout against me, says Jehovah. Yet ye say, What have we spoken against thee? ¹⁴Ye have said, It is vain to serve God, and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts? ¹⁵And now we call the proud happy. Yea, those who work wickedness are built up. Yea, they challenge God, and escape. ¹⁶Then those who feared Jehovah spoke one with another, and Jehovah hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for those who feared Jehovah, and who thought upon his name. ¹⁷And they shall be mine, says Jehovah of hosts, my own possession, in the day that I make. And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him. ¹⁸Then ye shall return and discern between the righteous man and the wicked man, between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.

CHAPTER 4

¹For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace, and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, shall be stubble. And the day that comes shall burn them up, says Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. ²But to you who fear my name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings, and ye shall go forth, and frolic as calves of the stall. ³And ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make, says Jehovah of hosts. ⁴Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances. ⁵Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and fearful day of Jehovah comes. ⁶And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.